Chapter Three
Saved by the Bell
"Everyone, take your seats."
Natsu glanced up as his homeroom teacher entered the classroom, his eyes wide as he did a double take of the blonde following behind Mr. Clive, wearing their school uniform. He kept his focus on the girl as he blindly whapped at the raven haired boy who had his head on the desk next to his, excitedly whisper screaming, "Gray! Gray! Isn't this fate?"
The raven haired boy groaned as he lifted his head to follow Natsu's gaze, all grumpiness disappearing from his features as he straightened himself in his seat upon seeing the girl who had caught his interest Friday night. There was just something about her that intrigued him, though he lacked the eloquence to put the feeling into words.
Gildarts had a soft grin on his features as he walked to his podium at the front of the room, the quiet blonde following behind him with her eyes trained on the floor, "Everyone, be quiet." He nodded his head towards the girl, "She'll feel awkward since she came all the way from Crocus, so I want you all to be extra nice to her. Understand?"
"Yes, sir," several of the students eagerly responded, one salmon haired boy in particular sounding more excited than the rest.
The teacher turned his gaze to the blonde, still smiling warmly as he gestured towards the class with a nod of his head, "Go ahead. Introduce yourself to your friends."
She swallowed heavily and quickly swiped her tongue across her lips nervously, finally lifting her gaze from the floor, "I'm Lucy Heartfilia."
Natsu's lips quirked as he heard her light voice, glad to finally have a name to attach to the girl that had been running through his head on and off since he'd first caught sight of her Friday night. He wasn't normally one to obsess over girls; having to constantly hear Loke rambling on about them and his endeavors with them in excruciating detail had somewhat decreased his interest in dating and the like, at least for the time being. But something about the blonde had made her unforgettable, and it was something more than just her golden hair and pale, perfect features. Her chocolate brown eyes held fire and passion unlike any he'd ever seen before, but for whatever reason, she was holding it all inside, the rest of her features perfectly controlled and meticulously set in an expression that held none of the deviance and yearning for adventure that he saw in her irises.
He was roughly snapped out of his daydreaming and appreciation for the blonde's appearance as Gildarts called his name, eagerly shooting to his feet at the chance to have something to do with Lucy, "Yes sir."
The teacher looked towards the girl, smiling warmly, "You see that empty seat next to him? That's yours."
As the blonde quietly nodded and walked through the aisle in between the desks with her eyes still trained on the floor, Natsu smiled smugly to himself, happily overhearing a few envious whispers of jealousy shot his way from boys calling him lucky. He looked over his shoulder at Gray to smirk at him victoriously, knowing that his rival had taken interest in her as well. But the raven haired boy didn't even glance at him, his dark blue irises still trained on the blonde as she took her seat.
"Now, where'd we leave off yesterday?"
Natsu unintentionally tuned out Gildarts' voice as he glanced over at the blonde, hoping to catch her gaze and give her a warm grin. But her focus remained dutifully trained on their teacher as he wrote something on the board, and he smiled smugly to himself once again when he thought about how she wasn't just pretty, but smart, too.
Sting nervously licked his lips, the only thing on his mind the four pairs of eyes he could feel boring into his back from behind.
They were in his class. The four who had assaulted him.
They looked even more unnatural in their school uniforms, their hair and makeup still wild and heavily contrasting the neatness of their clothes, which barely managed to pass dress code, he was sure.
He was lost on how his life only managed to grow worse with each passing moment; on how out of all the senior classes in the school, he'd somehow managed to be placed in the same one as the four who had haunted his every moment since that day in the library bathroom.
A crumpled paper suddenly landed on top of the open book on his desk, flying over his left shoulder from the desk diagonally behind his, the spot where he'd seen the black haired boy sitting.
He swallowed heavily as he smoothed out the note with trembling hands, his lips pressing tightly together as he read over its message.
'Have you been well?'
The writing was accompanied by crude drawings of male genitals, and as Sting crumbled it in his shaking hands, he heard their snickers carrying through the air from behind him, taking him back to when they had surrounded him, his hands pinned to his sides and unable to do anything as his pants were torn from his body.
At the coach's whistle, the huddle of students broke off into groups of two, each pair carrying one volleyball as they scattered themselves across the dirt field.
Natsu's body turned to the side as he caught the ball Gray served to him, his angle allowing him to catch sight of Lucy as she wandered off on her own, lacking both a partner and a volleyball. Her hands were nervously fiddling with her gym shorts as she tried to sneak away, her eyes downcast in an attempt to better her chances of avoiding detection.
The salmon haired boy tossed Gray a glance before he jogged off towards her with smug grin on his face, the volleyball tucked safely under one of his arms.
Her frame tensed when he suddenly stumbled to a stop in front of her, her chocolate brown eyes slowly traveling up from his feet to his face.
"Yo!" Natsu gave her a warm smile, gesturing with his free hand between himself and Gray, who was still standing back where Natsu had left him, his hands tucked into his pockets and his face completely blank as he silently watched the exchange from afar. "You remember us, right? We're the ones who helped you out Friday night, when it was raining really hard."
She nodded her head softly, her answer escaping her a quiet, breathy whisper, "Yeah…"
The salmon haired boy gave her his signature bright grin, taking a page from Loke's book about how to pick up girls as he held out his hand in accompaniment to his introduction, "It's nice to officially meet you, Lucy. I'm the handsomest man in all of Magnolia, Natsu Dragneel."
She simply stared down at his outstretched hand, her only reaction being a small, uncomfortable step backwards.
Natsu forced himself to ignore his rival's snickers, awkwardly withdrawing his hand and making a mental note to pound Loke for lying about how that line made every girl swoon, "Oh…okay." He glanced over his shoulder, pointing to the raven haired boy behind him, "And that idiot's Gray Fullbuster."
The raven haired boy shifted on his feet at the insult, but he didn't make any move to attack the boy like he normally would, his gaze simply turning back to Lucy as if to see her response to his name.
But her gaze was fastened to the salmon haired boy's face, obviously trying to end the conversation as fast as possible, "So what is it that you wanted to say?"
Natsu pursed his lips, nonchalantly tossing the volleyball between his hands, "Wanna play with us?"
"What?" she asked flatly after a moment of silence, squinting up at him in the light of the sun.
He quirked a brow at her bluntness, a mischievous smirk playing across his features as he playfully taunted, "Do Crocus girls know how to play volleyball?"
Lucy momentarily glanced down at the ball in his hands, and he swore he saw her lips quirk in the tiniest of grins as she stared at it. Her lips were pressed back into a thin line as she reconnected their gazes however, crushing his hopes of seeing her smile. But her eyes were alight with a new emotion that he'd yet to see in them: determination.
She wordlessly took the ball from his hands and he scurried back towards Gray in excitement, the raven haired boy quirking a brow at his silly grin.
Natsu really didn't expect too much from the blonde, not slating her as the athletic type based on her smaller, softer build.
He should have known not to judge someone by their looks alone.
The salmon haired boy let out an undignified, pained squawk as she spiked the ball into his shin, hunching forward to clutch at the abused area. It happened three more times, Natsu fruitlessly trying to dive out of the way of the ball only to hurt himself worse by throwing his body around, her spikes giving the ball too great of a speed to dodge.
"Gray," Natsu suddenly huffed out in pain. "It's your turn."
The raven haired boy startled from the trance he'd fallen into as he watched Lucy spike the ball, a strange mixture of awe and terror on his face as he stared at the blonde.
He hesitantly stepped forward, giving Natsu a wide, fearful look that promised revenge later as he clasped his hands in front of him in the appropriate stance, just like their gym teacher had demonstrated.
Lucy didn't bat an eyelash as her target changed, throwing the ball up into the air before hitting it with her palm to send it flying towards Gray.
The raven haired boy flinched at the last second, cowering backwards a fraction and tipping himself off balance, completely tumbling over his feet as the ball struck his hip.
The three earned a few spectators as he landed in the dirt, snickers and giggles filling the air.
Gray ignored the stinging throb at his hip and hurriedly shot to feet, dusting off his gym clothes and clearing his throat awkwardly.
Natsu's mouth was slightly agape as he stared at the blonde, "Wow…Crocus girls are scary."
She looked to the salmon haired boy before throwing the ball up in the air again.
Natsu briefly wondered how she'd gotten the ball back so quick, but he panicked as soon as it left her grasp, his hands shooting in front of himself in protection as he hurriedly blurted out, "Hey! No, no, no, stop it! That's enough!"
The ball landed back in her hands harmlessly, her gaze dropping to the dirt beneath her feet as she let out a single breathy laugh, her lips quirking in the smallest of smiles.
Natsu grinned, a low whistle slipping through his lips, "Wow…so she does know how to smile after all."
The corners of her lips immediately fell as she heard the comment.
The salmon haired boy took a small step closer to Gray, whispering out of the side of his mouth, "Frosty…did you see her smile?"
Gray had a small smirk on his own features, his hands once more tucked into his pockets as he stared at the blonde.
Natsu let out a content sigh, remarking in admiration, "She can be pretty scary…but I guess she's kind of cute when she smiles."
Lucy overheard him again, throwing the ball into the air in preparation.
The salmon haired boy scrambled, "Hey, hey, hey, hey!"
Lucy huffed out a heavy breath as she washed her hands in the sink on the edge of the field, looking up from her task when a tan hand suddenly set a water bottle behind the faucet.
The hand's owner leaned against the wall next to the sink, simultaneously clearing their throat, "It's for you."
She glanced over at Natsu as he folded his arms over his chest, a smug smile on his face and his eyes trained on the floor as if in humble embarrassment.
Lucy turned the water off, shaking her hands in a meager attempt at drying them before she gestured to his gift, "Why?"
The salmon haired boy scratched at the back of his head as he shifted his gaze between her and the bottle, "It's just…It must've been tiring to spike that ball over and over with your small hands."
She swallowed as she decided to just let her walls down for a second and tell him, a lightness to her voice as she explained, "I was on the volleyball team at my old school with these hands."
He glanced down at them, sighing to himself as he nodded in understanding, his gaze dropping to the floor as he grumbled out, "Makes sense." He was sure he'd have bruises from how hard the ball had smacked against him.
Lucy quirked a brow as she glanced back at the bottle once more, the rest of her expression still completely and perfectly composed as she quipped, "It must've been tiring to get by the ball over and over, so why don't you drink it instead?"
Natsu stared after her in stunned silence as she started back towards the school, previously not expecting the quiet Crocus girl to have that much fire. But a devious grin was quickly replacing his surprised expression, his interest in the girl increasing even more at her sass.
"Hey, I was just going easy on ya 'cause it's your first day here! I totally let you hit me!" He huffed out a breath when she didn't acknowledge his cry, snatching the water bottle from the sink before chasing after her.
Lucy spun around just he caught up to her, her eyes narrowed in suspicion as she examined his face, "Why are you doing this? Do you feel sorry for me because I just transferred here and I'm on my own?"
Natsu pursed his lips, "Do I need reason to want to be friends with you? Did you need a reason to become friends in Crocus or something?"
Her gaze fell to the ground at the mention of 'friends' and 'Crocus' in the same sentence, three faces appearing vividly in her mind at the combination. She forced the thought of her and Sting's old friends away before it could do more than cause her throat to tighten, the image of them always bringing tears to her eyes.
"Thanks, but…I don't think I'm ready for friends just yet." She spun around so that he didn't have to see the tears that threatened to spill down her cheeks, quietly breathing out, "Later."
Natsu quirked a brow as he watched her walk away, her hands clenched into fists at her sides and her gaze trained the ground. She seemed like she was holding herself back again, shoving her own desires aside for the sake of playing it safe and keeping to herself.
He couldn't help but wonder what she'd been through to make her so reserved, but her restraint only made him more determined to see what parts of herself she was keeping locked away.
Sting quietly took a seat on the very edge of one of the cafeteria tables, placing his backpack in the seat next to him to save it for his sister. He hurriedly tore open his silverware packet and took a small scoop of his mashed potatoes with the spoon, desperately needing something to distract his mind with until she arrived.
Unlike their father had said, this certainly wasn't the new, fresh start Sting had been promised. If anything, the bullying and haunting memories had only increased in quantity. He hadn't been able to focus on the teacher all period, his mind trapped in horrid flashbacks of his assault.
He paused after only one bite of his food, his brows furrowing in confusion when he caught sight of the three girls at the end of the table hurriedly grab their trays and leave.
But his focus was immediately dropping back to his tray of food when he saw the reason, four more students snickering as they joined him at the table.
An arm was suddenly slung around his shoulder, spiky blond hair and a sharp jawline appearing in his peripherals. He now knew the boy as Sawyer because of the nametag on his uniform, the blond keeping an arm over his shoulders as shoved Sting's backpack off of the seat at his right and plopped himself into it, "Let's eat together, my friend."
The other three placed themselves in a circle around Sting, Eric crouching at the end of the table while Macbeth and Sorano sat across from him.
The blond nervously swallowed, holding completely still and avoiding eye contact in a desperate attempt to get them to leave. Some small part of him gave him the hope that if he just ignored them and refused to give them the reactions they wanted, they'd just go away. It was a nearly hopeless plan, but it was the only one he had. With his leg in the condition it was, he had no chance of running, and he knew there was no way in hell he'd be able to take on all four of them.
Eric reached across the table, overly fake affection in his voice as he snatched the boy's spoon, "It won't taste good if you eat it like this." He scooped all of the food on the tray into the center, stirring the contents together in a repulsive, slimy lump, "It'll taste better if you mix everything together." He smirked cruelly, leaning forward over the tray, "And here's the finale." He pursed his lips, a big glob of spit dripping from his mouth and onto the horrid mixture, "Now, this is what you call dog food. Perfect for someone like you." He slammed the spoon down next to Sting's idle right hand, "Now, eat."
The blond anxiously licked his lips, his brows furrowing in revulsion as he stared at the gruesome sight that used to be his lunch, "I…"
Macbeth stretched from his seat to grab Sting's ear, roughly yanking on it and sub sequentially jostling his head around, growing angrier the longer he sat idle, "Hurry and eat."
He continued to tensely sit still, his eyes nervously quivering in fear as he stared at his tray.
At his lack of reaction, their anger grew. Sawyer roughly shoved him from his right, Eric simultaneously swiveling around to his back to dig his fingers into his shoulders. He used his merciless grip to throw the blond to the ground, Sting barely catching himself with his hands.
At the commotion, everyone else in the cafeteria stood, abandoning their trays to make way for the fight, none of them brave enough to stand against the four who were tormenting the crippled blonde.
Macbeth sneered as he dumped the disgusting mix of food onto Sting's head, some of it clinging to his blond tufts while the rest spilled across the floor as he demanded, "Eat." When the boy on the ground didn't even flinch, he crouched down and fisted his hand in the blond's hair, yanking his head down towards the spilled meal, "I said eat!" He made of point of shoving the boy's head backwards as he withdrew his hand, seething as he pulled back.
Sting's throat tightened uncomfortably as tears stung the back of his eyes, his mindset shifting and making him believe that if he did what they wanted, they'd finally leave him alone. He knew he was pathetic, but there was no way he could bring himself to be anything else in this moment.
Chuckles filled the air above him as he slowly leaned forward, his mouth only inches from the food on the floor.
Sting flinched back at the sound of something slamming into the back of the boy who was still crouched in front of him. He nervously glanced up to see milk pouring over the black haired boy's shoulders, a now empty, completely broken-open milk cartoon tumbling to the floor behind him.
Macbeth shot to his full height, whipping around as he screamed, "Who the hell threw that?!"
The black haired boy spun to find the culprit, Sting catching sight of the offender as the Macbeth stepped out of his line of sight.
It was Lucy.
He dropped his gaze back to the floor before she could make eye contact with him, an overwhelming sense of worthlessness piling onto his shoulders as he realized how much stronger than him she was. He couldn't do a thing to hold his own against these four, yet his sister was standing tall before them, not an ounce of fear in her expression as she squared her shoulders.
Her features were etched in restrained fury, her voice relatively calm, but firm enough to get her underlying threat across, "Apologize to him. Now."
"Who are you?" Macbeth snarled. "His little girlfriend?"
Lucy's expression didn't flinch at his jibing tone, still speaking evenly, "If you don't apologize right now, I'll report you to the police."
Eric chuckled as he looked between the two blondes, particularly their nametags, "Ah, I get it. She's his sister."
"Sister?" the black haired boy ground out.
"I heard he had a twin. It must be her."
"That so?" Macbeth sneered, stepping closer to the girl as he lifted his shoulders to gesture to his milk-soaked jacket, "You owe me money to get this dry cleaned, bitch."
"You guys harassed him first," a trace of her anger finally slipped into her voice, her hands tensing into fists at her sides.
"Do you have any proof?" He quirked an amused brow as he turned around, projecting his voice outwards for all of the students gathered on the edges of the cafeteria to hear, an underlying threat in his voice as he shouted, "If any of you saw me harassing this idiot, come forward."
'Why aren't they saying anything?! Why the hell has no one gone to get a teacher?!' Lucy spun around as they all dropped their gazes to the floor or turned their faces away entirely, her chest tightening and voice rising in desperation, "Say something, you cowards! All of you saw it!"
Macbeth and his friends chuckled at her helplessness when no one made a peep, the black haired boy pointing towards her as he remarked, "This chick's fun." He closed the rest of the distance between them with his hands in his pockets, leaning over her as he asked in a suggestive tone, "Hey, you wanna be my girlfriend? I'll make you feel real good and I might even let you-"
The rest of his lewd suggestion was cut off as her fist buried itself in his left cheek, his unprepared frame stumbling sideways and into a table from the force of her heated punch.
As his friends went to his aid, Lucy shot past them to get to her brother, who was still helplessly collapsed on the floor. She ignored the ache in the knuckles of her right hand as she cupped Sting's cheeks to raise his head, her anger blazing stronger as she saw the tears in his eyes. Her fingers quickly moved to hurriedly scrape the disgusting mix of food out of his hair, forcing herself to momentarily ignore the fact that he wouldn't meet her gaze. Scolding him wasn't what she needed to worry about right now.
Fingers rapidly threaded through her own hair from behind, the calloused and rough appendages mercilessly clamping down on her golden strands and yanking her backwards and upwards. A small shriek tore from her throat as she was forced to face her attacker, her hands desperately grabbing onto his wrist as her scalp thrummed with pain.
The boy with the maroon hair jerked even harder on her hair, sneering in her face, "Are you fucking insane, bitch?!"
She dug her finger nails into his wrist in an attempt to force his fingers out of her hair, but he quickly released her strands on his own, his other hand finding purchase in the collar of her school uniform as his fingers slid out of her hair and tightened into a fist.
As he used his left hand to yank her closer, his other fist poised to punch, Lucy clutched onto his left wrist with both of her hands and ducked her head to the side in fear. Her eyes clenched shut as she prepared for the blow, knowing she had absolutely no chance of escaping his strong hold with only the balls of her feet still upon the floor.
"Hey!"
Her eyes slid open at the furious shout, a spark of hope alighting in her heart at the new voice. Her eyes widened as she found the source, her mouth dropping open a fraction at the sight of a familiar salmon haired boy running across the tops of the cafeteria tables to reach them in the quickest way possible.
Eric's grasp loosened in surprise, and Lucy took advantage of his shock, yanking herself out of his grip without any regard for how she'd most likely fall to her butt without him holding her up. She stumbled backwards and prepared to catch herself, but a pair of firm hands clasped onto her shoulders before she could fall to the ground, her back coming into contact with a muscled chest.
She whipped her head around, prepared to launch an attack if the hands on her shoulders belonged to one of Macbeth's friends. But she froze when she made eye contact with a pair of dark blue irises, her eyes widening in recognition.
It was the raven haired boy again, the one she'd dubbed her 'kindred spirit' in the rain on the night her family moved to Magnolia.
Her gaze snapped back to Natsu as he let out something akin to the battle cry upon launching himself off of the nearest table, his foot landing in the center of Eric's chest and sending him flying backwards into a row of chairs.
Lucy had immediately recognized both of the boys when she'd first lifted her gaze from the floor upon introducing herself earlier, but she had opted for ignoring their strange connection to her for the sake of keeping to herself, not wanting to allow herself to form relationships with others so easily like she used to. But after what had happened during gym and now that they'd come to her aid, she knew it'd be nearly impossible to ignore them if they chose to seek her out again, their good deeds for her and her family making it harder for her to stop herself from feeling like she could trust them.
She couldn't help but wonder where the other two of their little gang were since she'd assumed they were the type of friends that were always together, her thoughts turning to whether or not the bespectacled red head and the muscled tan boy even went to this school.
Gray pushed the blonde behind him as he went to stand beside his friend, both of them forming a protective blockade in front of the twins. Lucy crouched down next to Sting to continue scraping the food from his hair, her gaze jumping between her brother and the two that had saved them.
Eric snarled as he lunged forward to attack again, flinching backwards a bit when the raven haired boy roughly kicked a nearby chair in a threat, his voice rough and low, "If you come any closer, I'll beat you to a pulp."
Macbeth finally came forward once more, his left cheek red and beginning to swell as he sneered, "Do you know who you're dealing with here?" He spoke those words like his identity alone should be enough to scare them both off, his hands confidently tucked into his pockets, "I have the strongest fist in the entire school."
Gray chuckled, his own hands tucked into his pockets as well, though unlike with Macbeth, his carefree pose seemed natural instead of faked, "Oh, is that so?"
Natsu quirked a brow in amusement, "You do?"
The black haired boy yanked the milk-stained jacket of his uniform off as if in preparation for a fight, his red eyes alight with irritation as he tossed the soaked clothing to Sawyer, "Are you guys really so stupid? Then shall we have a showdown?"
Eric's eyes widened a fraction as he caught sight of the name tag on the salmon haired boy's school uniform, lunging forward to hold Macbeth back as he charged forward, "Let's just go."
The black haired boy tried to shake him off, his angry crimson gaze turning to him, "What the hell are you talking about? I'm gonna teach them a serious lesson. You think I can't take them or something?"
"It's not that," Eric ground out. He nodded his head towards the salmon haired boy, "He's Natsu Dragneel."
Macbeth furiously quirked a brow, "Is that supposed to mean something to me?"
Before the maroon haired boy could answer, the cafeteria was filled with the sound of chimes.
Macbeth finally managed to shake out of his friend's hold, but instead of charging forward, he simply pulled back, straightening out the wrinkles in his shirt as he glared at the two boys who had dared to oppose him. "The bell saved your lives today," he furiously ground out. "I'll see you both soon, you got that?"
Gray quirked a brow as he watched Macbeth and his friends leave the cafeteria, heatedly arguing amongst themselves, "What the hell was his problem?"
Natsu shrugged, letting out a heavy sigh, "Who knows."
They turned back to the twins, finding them both standing now, Lucy with her arms wrapped around her brother's shoulders to keep him on his feet.
The salmon haired boy quirked a brow as he looked over Sting's pale face, the blond looking like he was about to pass out at any second, "You guys alright?"
"Yes," Lucy answered simply, obviously trying to end the conversation quickly so she and her brother could leave.
"Those jerks will probably try to bother you guys again," Natsu warned. "You should tell someone about them."
Lucy pressed her lips into a grim line, "Thanks for your help today, but we'll figure out what to do."
Without another word, the blonde dragged Sting away, the boy hurriedly limping to keep up with her fast pace.
Natsu quirked a brow at their eagerness to leave, glancing back at his rival to see his reaction. But the raven haired boy was still staring after the pair, his expression void of any readable emotion.
"Watch this!"
"Just shoot already! Be a man and accept your inevitable defeat!"
Gray chuckled as he approached the school's noisy basketball court, catching sight of the two who completed their group of four. Loke was obviously trying to show off, blatantly cheating and taking way too many steps with the ball in his hands in a fruitless attempt to get around Elfman's towering form and to the basketball hoop.
The school day was over, and Gray couldn't have been more relieved. He didn't mind learning new things, and most of the people at school weren't overly annoyingly or bothersome, save for one salmon haired idiot. It was the fact that at school he was being forced to learn that made him hate the place.
The raven haired boy left Natsu behind as he ran up to his other two friends, a smirk on face as he held up his hands, "Pass!"
Loke unskillfully chucked it to him, looking between Gray as he caught it and the salmon haired boy as he quirked a brow, "I heard you had a fight at lunch today."
Gray dribbled the ball a few times, grinning smugly, "It was hardly a fight. They ran away as soon as they saw Natsu's last name."
As the salmon haired boy finally caught up to their group, Loke bumped a fist into his chest, "I'm telling ya, you're different from lower-class people like us. I don't know why you stick around."
Although the orange haired boy's words were said in a joking manner, sometimes Gray couldn't help but wonder why Natsu stuck around when he could have been friends with anyone he wanted because of his brother's position as governor. Their encounter with the boys in the cafeteria was proof of the power of the last name Dragneel, and Gray knew that the name would have a similar effect over anyone who heard it uttered.
But that trail of thought always ended with the same conclusion, and the answer for why Natsu stuck around was as clear as day. The salmon haired boy was unceasingly loyal, and the friendship that had begun between the four of them on the first day of kindergarten all those years ago had only grown stronger with time.
Natsu glanced at the basketball in Gray's hands, giving them all a regretful smile, "Sorry guys, but you'll have to play without me today. I'm leaving."
Loke caught his sleeve as he turned to go, his brows furrowed, "Where are you going? We can't play without you. You and Gray are always a team."
The two boys both cringed at the statement, even though it was entirely true. Something about the sentiment of such a saying, about the idea of them always being a team, irritated them both to no end.
Elfman grasped onto the orange haired playboy's shoulder to yank him off of Natsu, "If you're gonna be so oblivious, at least have some sense not to get in the way." He shooed the salmon haired boy with a knowing look on his face, "Go on."
Natsu waved back over his shoulder as he continued on his way, "See you guys later."
Gray huffed out a heavy breath, looking at the ball in his hands. Loke had been right. He and Natsu were always a team, and playing without the salmon haired idiot wouldn't feel right. He tossed the ball to the orange haired playboy, uncaring as Loke had to scramble to catch it, "I'm leaving, too."
"You sick or something?" Loke called after him.
The raven haired boy didn't bother giving him an answer as he ran to catch up to his rival, tucking his hands into his pockets with a small smile on his face as he asked, "It's Wendy's birthday today, isn't it?"
The scuffing of their feet in the dirt below them was his only answer, Natsu's shoulders falling forward and a bitter smile spreading across his lips at the thought of his sister.
Gray whapped him on the shoulder, "Hey, stand tall. The pathetic and pitiful look doesn't suit you."
Natsu whapped him back for revenge, a joking grin replacing his solemn expression, "You stand tall. You're the one that always slouches like a slob."
The raven haired boy punched his side one last time with a little more force, enough to send his rival stumbling forward a bit, "I told you first!"
They continued bumping and slamming shoulders as they walked on, insults flying and chuckles filling the air around them.
Lucy kept her focus worriedly trained on her brother as he limped out of the front gate beside her, his gaze never leaving the ground. He hadn't said a word to her after what happened in the cafeteria other than stopping her from going to tell somebody about the four bullies. He had gripped her arm harder than he ever had before and refused to let her leave, escaping back to his own classroom before she could do anything to stop him.
She had a hunch that today hadn't been his first encounter with Macbeth and his friends, and if so, she wondered if what had happened while he'd been in the bathroom yesterday had something to do with them.
"Lucy."
The blonde finally peeled her gaze from her brother, freezing her steps when she saw the source of the call of her name. Zancrow was standing there in front of the Zentopia van, seemingly waiting for her and her brother near the school's front gate.
The red eyed man's lips quirked in a poor excuse of smile, "Apostle Milkovich said she has something to give you. Do you have time to go to Zentopia?"
Lucy looked to Sting, figuring he'd want to go straight home after the day he'd had. But to her surprise, his eyes had lit up a fraction at the mention of the church, his head nodding softly in affirmation.
The blonde girl swallowed heavily, hesitant to get in the van for fear of seeing Precht again if she went with Zancrow. She really didn't mind Ultear too much, but the preacher and his other apostles were an entirely different story.
Despite her own desires, Sting had made it obvious he wanted to go, and she had no intent on making her brother feel worse by turning him down.
Zancrow grinned when she nodded her head, "Then let's go."
Natsu wrinkled his nose as the familiar scent of the hospital room stung his nostrils, his hands clasped around the edges of a cake box. No matter how many times he visited, which was nearly every day, he never got used to it, the unnatural smell of medication and sanitizers overpowering his sensitive nose.
He set the cake on the bedside table, right next to a bouquet of red and purple flowers that had a note with handwriting he easily recognized as Zeref's.
Wendy had been lifted out of her bed and placed into a wheelchair near the window, her eyes blankly staring out at the gardens that rested two stories below.
The salmon haired boy crouched down next to her and retrieved one of her hands from her lap to clasp it between his own, forcing himself to ignore the fact that her fingers were limp in his grasp. He anxiously licked his lips, trying to keep his sorrow and pain out of his voice as he lightly asked, "Wendy…please get up already. Do you know how long Zeref and I have been waiting for you?"
It was eerie to receive no response. Her eyes didn't shift in his direction, nor did her face so much as flinch.
She simply kept staring forward, completely unresponsive and unaware of the world around her.
"Please…please listen to my prayer…"
Sting didn't bother to hold back his tears any longer now that he was alone, seated on the ground near the stand of the Zentopia church's chapel. There were no benches in the room yet, the space instead still littered with boxes and construction materials even though the room was completely finished.
Similarly, the only light in the room came from the large red cross on the wall at the back of the stand, the thick, sheer, white curtains on the windows blocking out the majority of the sunlight that poured through the glass.
The blond had his hands clasped tightly together in front of his chest, his head bowed and his eyes squeezed tightly shut as he quivered out, "It's too hard. I can't hold on any longer. I just want-"
A hand suddenly, but rather gently came to rest on his shoulder, and he jolted in surprise, relaxing only a small portion when he turned over his shoulder to see Precht standing behind him.
Sting quickly swiped at his tears in a panic, misinterpreting the old man's pained expression as anger and hurrying to stand, "I…I'm sorry. I didn't think anyone else was here."
"That's alright. The Almighty's heart is always open," the preacher remarked softly, his hands clasped behind his back.
The blond boy pushed himself to his feet, quietly breathing out, "Then…I…I'll be going now…"
He paused in his escape as Precht softly called out his name, turning around to face the man once more, the red light of the cross catching in the tears still running down his cheeks in lines.
"If you could escape your pain, would you believe in the Almighty?"
The old preacher's tone made it seem like there was far more to his somewhat simple question, his voice hinting at something deeper.
"What?" Sting's brows furrowed in confusion.
"The Alimighty has always said that when someone trusts him and prays to him, anyone can be saved from their pain." He took a step closer to the boy, one of his brows quirking upwards, "Would you be willing to do something so simple for your salvation, Sting?"
Lucy sighed heavily as she descended the steps of the church, glad that she could finally go home as she headed back to the van with the cartridge of antler milk that Ultear had given her grasped tightly in her hand. She'd been more than just a little surprised at what the dark haired apostle had sought to send her home with, her eyes widening as she was offered the precious and rare, restorative drink that was usually reserved for the sick and elderly. But despite Lucy's humble refusal, Ultear had insisted, shoving it into her grasp and urging her to accept someone's sincerity when it was offered.
The blonde's brows furrowed when she caught sight of the van, finding that her brother wasn't inside like he had been when she'd left. She hadn't expected him to wander off on his own, but he was nowhere in sight.
"Sting?" she lightly called, her hands digging into her pockets for her phone. She bit her lip when he didn't answer, hanging up when the answering machine told her the phone she'd been trying to reach had been turned off.
The blonde figured he must've gone inside the church given there weren't many other places to go other than into the forest, but she knew he would never attempt such a thing with his leg in the condition it was. She placed the milk on the middle bench of the van before she started back up the stairs, wondering why her brother had wanted to come to the church in the first place.
The first rooms she searched were all void of anyone's presence, including the chapel, the sight of which had sent shivers up her spine due to the eerie, glowing red cross at the back of the room. She turned down the first hallway she passed, its walls and floor covered in plastic sheets, the only light coming from a glass door to the outside at the very end of the hall.
Something akin to a muffled whimper suddenly issued forth from behind one of the doors and she froze in confusion, unsure of whether or not she'd imagined the sound. But she started forward again when she heard the same moan once more, now moving more out of curiosity instead of a desire to find her brother.
Her hand froze on the knob of the door where the cry had originated from, hesitating when she saw that the plaque on the door read 'Private Prayer Rooms.' Whoever was whimpering was probably doing so out of prayerful repentance and confession, not out of pain and in need of aid like she'd originally thought.
Figuring she didn't have the right to intrude, she turned to leave, only taking a few steps before she was freezing in place again, her entire body tensing and her eyes widening as a feminine, bloodcurdling scream of pain echoed from behind the door.
Now she was sure. Someone was in desperate need of help, and so she turned back, wrenching open the door without a second of hesitation. On the other side, a dimly lit staircase descended into near darkness, another set of double doors resting at the bottom.
Despite the unsettling sight, Lucy started down the cold, concrete staircase, driven by the thought of the person who needed her help. Her hand anxiously pressed against the concrete wall of the stairwell, nervously attempting to steady herself as she shot down the stairs.
She let out a shaky breath as she came to stand in front of the door, hesitating when she noticed the lack of noise from the other side. She hadn't heard another scream nor whimper since the one before, but she brought her hand to grasp the knob anyways, desperately needing to investigate the noises she'd heard before.
The silence around her was deafening, her spine prickling and hair standing on edge.
A soft touch grazed against her right elbow from behind, a small shriek slipping from her lips as she whipped around, her back slamming against the door.
Her eyes widened as she found Zancrow standing directly behind her, his hand still outstretched to where her elbow had been. His lips quirked in an attempt to smile, but she could easily distinguish the restrained anger in his red irises, "What are you doing down here?"
Lucy swallowed nervously, fighting to get the tightness in her throat to loosen and her voice to work, "I…I couldn't find Sting."
He hummed lightly in understanding, something akin to malicious intent in his eyes and voice as he purred, "Is that so?"
The blonde girl nodded nervously, breathing heavily despite her attempts to calm herself, "Yes."
Zancrow took a step closer, his eyes focused on where her right hand was crossed in front of her body to still anxiously squeeze the knob of the door.
She nervously pressed her back further into the metal behind her as he came even closer, her voice quivering as she nervously began, "What...what are you-"
Her voice cut itself off as his hand slowly lifted and came forward to brush her hair behind her shoulder, her eyes widening when his fingertips lightly stroked her jawline as he pulled his hand back.
He hummed in satisfaction, his voice low, "Your hair is very soft."
Panic overwhelmed Lucy's senses, her whole body tensing and quivering as he tucked the tips of two of his fingers into the collar of her button up shirt. He began to pull on the fabric, her breaths quaking and tears gathering in her eyes at her own inability to fight back. When Sting was the one in peril, she would do anything to save him from it, even punch a boy who was much larger than her in the face without a second of hesitation like she had earlier that day. But when it came to saving her own skin, she was completely helpless, paralyzed in terror and trapped in her own fearful thoughts about what was going to happen to her.
The same bloodcurdling scream from before suddenly sounded out again from the door behind her, this time accompanied by a pained scream from a male.
Her head whipped over her shoulder towards the sound, but Zancrow caught her chin between his thumb and index finger, forcing her to look back at him as he whispered, "Don't be alarmed." His hand slid down her skin from her chin to land on her shoulder, leaning in closer as he lowly breathed out, "The believers who are going through pain or hardship come here to pray." His voice grew even quieter, the tips of their noses nearly brushing, "And for that reason, they cry …and scream."
He suddenly pulled back, his fake pleasant persona from before fully intact once more as he grinned at her.
Lucy stayed glued against the door, her breaths still rapidly quivering out and her eyes wide. His change had occurred so quickly that she was still paralyzed in fear, her trembling growing stronger at how he was now carrying himself, the man before her baring to resemblance to man he'd been a few seconds ago.
Zancrow smiled warmly at her, suddenly gasping lightly in revelation, "I think saw Sting outside by the van." He turned to head back up the stairs, casting her a glance over his shoulder to where she was still pressed against the door, his tone dark and suggestive as he ground out, "Let's come back here sometime to pray together. Then, maybe it'll be your turn to scream."
Lucy quietly and slowly spooned her rice into her mouth, her teeth lightly clinking against her spoon.
She couldn't stop thinking about what had happened with Zancrow earlier, her body still tense and her chest still feeling tight. She could still feel his touch on her skin, the places where he had skimmed tingling with phantom traces of his fingers.
The blonde was drawn out of her gruesome flashbacks when her mother softly hummed in delight, Layla's focus on the cartridge of antler milk that her daughter had brought home, "I feel bad for always receiving things from them."
Jude nodded as he sighed, "We should all go to the church service together this weekend in thanks."
Layla hummed in agreement to the idea while Lucy froze, fear rushing through her veins at the thought of seeing the blond apostle and creepy preacher again.
Her mother finally turned her gaze to her children, slightly leaning across the dinner table to be closer to them, "How was school? Did you make a lot of friends?"
Lucy glanced at Sting, remembering his wish for her to keep silent on the matter of what had happened in the cafeteria. She knew he didn't want to look weak and make their parents worry more, and she couldn't blame him. She hadn't spoken a whisper to anyone about what Zancrow had done to her, the underlying threat in the blond apostle's voice enough to seal her lips shut.
The blonde girl took the liberty of responding for both of them, decidedly vague as she answered, "It was only our first day, so there were a lot of other things to think about."
Jude nodded in understanding, "That's alright. There's no rush." He turned his focus to Sting, "What about you, son? How was your day?"
The boy took a moment to respond, his voice barely audible as he answered, "It was good."
Lucy swallowed heavily as she dropped her gaze to her ricebowl, catching his lie in the slight quiver of his voice.
"It seems like the people here are really nice," Jude smiled admirably. "They're simple and honest."
Sting suddenly dropped his silverware, the utensils clinking on the dinner table as he excused himself from their meal, "I…I'm gonna go to bed."
Layla's brows furrowed in concern, "Why so early? Are you sick?"
"I just…don't have an appetite," he stood, sliding his chair back under the table.
"But you should still eat all of your food, Sting," their mother pressed in worry.
"That's okay," Jude started, his voice understanding. "It must've been tiring to adjust to a new place." He turned his focus back to Sting, "At times like this, sleep is the only cure. Sleep well."
Her brother left the room without another word, the door to their room quietly clicking shut behind him.
Lucy went back to eating her food quietly, thinking about things quietly. She didn't know how they were going to make it in this town if so much misfortune had already befallen them in the few days they'd been there. Keeping her mouth shut and enduring until things got better would only get her so far, and she didn't know how things would go after she finally lost her will to keep fighting back and pretending like everything was fine.
"Lucy."
She glanced up as her father softly called her name, her spoon still trapped between her lips.
He kept his voice low to avoid being overheard by the boy in the other room, "Take care of your brother, dear. You're his guardian at school. You know that, right?"
The blonde softly nodded her head, thinking over how what had happened earlier was proof of that fact.
She knew she had to look out for her twin, and she would even say her need to protect him was etched into her very existence.
But a small part of her desperately wanted to turn the questions back on her father, hopeless wondering who was going to look out for her when she was so caught up in defending Sting. Given how she'd been completely frozen in fear during her encounter with Zancrow earlier, she knew she was incapable of protecting herself.
When it came to her own safety, she was too afraid of the consequences of fighting back, so if she was supposed to be Sting's keeper, who would be her guardian?
For no apparent reason that she could determine, at the word 'guardian,' the memory of two boys standing protectively in front of her and her brother appeared in her mind once more, tufts of salmon and raven hair poking over the jackets of their school uniforms.
Natsu and Gray had both appeared rather guardian-like then, and for a moment, she let herself get lost in the idea of getting closer to them. Thus far, they were the only two people she'd met in Magnolia that didn't terrify the shit out of her, though she was sure she'd feel differently if she had been on the receiving end of the glares they'd given Macbeth and his friends. It seemed like they used their strength with good intent, and they had gone out of their way to help her and her family twice now; first in the rain and once more in the cafeteria.
But before she could let herself get too caught up in that trail of thought for too long, she reminded herself that her tendency to easily gift her trust to others was part of the reason she was so unhappy now. The betrayal of the people she and her family had once called friends was one of the reasons why they'd left Crocus, the combination of the treachery and the incident with Sting too much for them to endure.
She didn't believe in fate anyways, and the fact that the boys who had helped them in the rain that night were in her class was far too much of a coincidence for her to believe that she was supposed to become friends with them.
So she forced all thoughts from her mind, of both Natsu and Gray and Zancrow, silently going to back to shoving spoonful after spoonful of rice in her mouth.
AN
More misfortune has befallen the Heartfilia twins…and it'll only continue to get worse. But now Lucy is connected more closely with Natsu and Gray, and their interconnectedness will only continue to grow from here on out!
Again, I apologize for OOCness, but since I'm adapting this story, there's really no way around it. I'm trying the best I can to make them more like themselves, but there's only so much I can do…
Anyways, let me know your thoughts! Any predictions, critiques, and/or compliments are welcomed and appreciated!
The next chapter's an important and eventful one, so I'm excited for you guys to read it!
As always, thanks for reading!