Ohayo! Sorry for the long delay between updates – we're in the process of writing our final exams at school and the first one is tomorrow and I haven't started studying, but oh well! At least I'm caught up on Fairy Tail. xD
"I think you need to be honest with me, Laxus. Now."
Laxus rolled his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. He dumped his plate of food next to Lucy's and sat elegantly on the floor. His motions were smooth, fluid and elegant – he was unworried, unconcerned and apparently uninterested in the conversation that Lucy had planned for him. He delicately sliced a chunk of bacon and placed it into his mouth, raising his eyebrows at Lucy. She glared harder at him before beginning her interrogation.
"Why didn't you tell me about those things? What if I hadn't locked my door last night?" She snapped accusingly, furrowing her eyebrows at him. Laxus swallowed the bit of bacon (which was a little too crispy for his liking) and took a brief moment to consider her question. "I've already told you, Blondie. You wouldn't have believed me if I'd just told you that the first floor is run over by zombies. You'd have tried to observe them, you'd have been caught and I would have been alone in this god-forsaken hospital. Simply put, if you hadn't locked your door last, you'd have been the main course in the First Floor Banquet." Lucy nibbled her lower lip, and Laxus found himself staring at it. It was… amusing, how she had been so worried about zombies eating her and here she was, eating herself. Laxus snorted at this random thought and turned his attention to the food in front of him. As Lucy chewed her lip and debated which question to ask next, Laxus devoured the rest of his food. As he put his plate back on the floor, knife and fork placed neatly beside each other, Lucy spoke up. "Do you mean that those things eat people?" She wrinkled her nose and looked queasy for a minute. Laxus shrugged and leaned back on the floor, folding his arms behind his head to act as a cushion. "I wouldn't say 'eat'. That's too mild. They rip, shred, slurp, gobble, devour. Whichever suits your fancy. Once they find you, you have every likelihood of ending up in their stomachs." Lucy turned her back for a moment with her hand in front of her mouth, and Laxus got the impression that she was trying to fight nausea away. He felt a brief flash of guilt, but pushed it away.
Lucy crawled to where Laxus lay and sat beside him, staring at his chiselled face and golden hair. She frowned down at him and asked, "So why are they only down there? Why are there none up here?" Laxus closed his eyes and spoke in a relaxed tone. "After I escaped from my room, I worked out pretty quickly that they're useless during the day. They don't die, but they're paralysed and can't attack you. I waited till one morning after they'd all dropped, and moved them from this floor to the first. That was before I knew you were there, of course." Lucy pondered this new information, and realised that the noises she'd heard outside her room at night were definitely those creatures. "Okay, so what are they? How did they get like that?" Laxus' gaze became shifty and mysterious, and he pulled his eyes away from her face quickly. "Told you already, Blondie. They're zombies. Dead people brought back to life. I have no idea how it happened in this hospital, though." He waited for her to fire off another question, but turned to look at her when none came. She sat with her arms folded expectantly across her well-endowed chest, an eyebrow raised sceptically. Laxus rolled his eyes and decided to just tell her the truth – at least he'd find answers sooner. Hopefully.
"Alright, fine! Stop looking at me like that, Blondie." He snapped. "When I first came up to this floor, there were files and shit everywhere. Obviously, I read those files. They said something about a machine that can reanimate the magic in a person's body once they've died. Something about a Mana Algorithm. I only have half the file though – up to page 16 and after page 84 are missing. I was going to look for them yesterday but you kind of put a stop to that plan." Lucy's face brightened and she scurried over to where she'd left her bag of papers from her room. "I have up to page 16, and from page 85 to 100." She exclaimed excitedly. "I read them last night but all they told me was that I had to refer to pages 17-84 for reference. It was pretty useless." Lucy scratched her head sheepishly and handed the pages into Laxus' outstretched hand. He frowned and started reading the pages, his eyes scanning the pages almost as quickly as Lucy's had. Wordlessly, Laxus stood up and strode to the desk, where he retrieved a thick sheaf of pages, which he handed to Lucy. She took them eagerly, and they both started reading the booklet. They sat in relative silence for over an hour, the only disturbances being short enquiries on information in the pages. "Hey, Laxus. What does this do?" "Blondie, tell me what this word means" and so on. Laxus appeared to have in-depth knowledge on all things mechanical – he was able to decipher the complex formulas that Lucy had been unable to make heads or tails of the previous night. The further he read, the deeper his scowl grew. He started muttering to himself about "idiot doctors" and "playing God", which concerned Lucy. She hadn't identified anything in the pages that would provoke such a reaction. Had she perhaps missed a page? Laxus finally reached the last page of the now-complete booklet and tossed the pages angrily between Lucy and himself. He was deep in thought, so Lucy took the opportunity his distraction provided and hurried to the kitchen to make tea. Upon her return with two cups of tea, she was astonished to find Laxus scribbling on a wall in the study. He'd found a thick black marker pen in one of the drawers of the desk and had started writing formulas, equations and mindmaps on the far wall of the study. Lucy stared in wonder as he splashed complicated variables and symbols haphazardly onto the wall. Laxus stopped only to drink his tea, but quickly returned to the wall. Lucy, content to sit and watch him, lay down on the floor and tried to make sense of the scrawling on the wall. Before she knew it, her eyes had drifted shut, her breathing had evened out and she had slipped into a restless sleep.
-x-
5 year old Lucy wandered the halls of her house desolately. Her bottom still twinged from the hiding her father had given her the previous night. The empty stretch of corridor continued for a long time, expensive decorations brightening the stunningly ugly beige walls. A soft red rug spread out underneath Lucy's feet. A noise from down the corridor – Lucy hurried to an alcove and hid behind a large golden pot. She peeked out from behind the pot, desperate to see who had made the noise but too scared to confront the person. The hairs on the back of her neck raised, and her flesh broke out into prickly goosebumps. Lucy felt the strangest feeling: as if someone were watching her too. She backed away from the vase and her heart stopped as she bumped into someone – a rather large someone. She turned slowly, her heart thudding in fear. Lucy breathed a sigh of relief as she saw that she had bumped into Capricorn, their butler. His fluffy white goat face comforted Lucy, and she giggled to see him cramped up in the tiny space with her. He silently drew her into his arms and stepped out of the alcove. "Lucy-sama, you should be in your dancing lessons. I will escort you to the ballroom at once." Lucy pouted at Capricorn and fluttered her eyelashes, acting as cute as she possibly could. "But Capricorn, my legs are tired and it's so far to the ballroom…" Capricorn smiled gently at the young heiress – she was so much like his beloved master Layla. Layla lay rotting in a hospital, her own magic sapping the strength from her body. Lucy had been told that her mother had died, to spare her the pain of seeing her mother weak and vulnerable. In everything Lucy did, Capricorn saw Layla. He picked the gleeful child up and placed her gently onto his shoulders, ensuring that she did not hurt herself on his sharp horns. He strode briskly down the corridor with Lucy, eventually falling prey to her infectious giggles. Capricorn ran and jumped and skipped, Lucy screaming her head off in joy. Both were oblivious to the dark eyes, glaring out at them from an alcove.
Lucy and Capricorn ran to the dance lesson, both with grins on their faces. As they burst out of the long corridor, they were both laughing and chattering about silly things. Capricorn came to an abrupt halt as he spotted Jude and Mei standing stiffly on the marble staircase. He lifted Lucy off of his shoulders and stood her up in front of him, his hands resting protectively on her slender shoulders. "Mr Heartfilia-sama, I was just retrieving Lucy-sama for her dancing lessons in the ballroom. I forgot to warn her this morning that she had dancing, and as such it is my fault that she is late." Capricorn spoke swiftly and seriously, no hint of the truth betrayed in his steady voice. Jude frowned at them from behind his folded arms. He stalked forwards and grabbed Lucy roughly by the arm, dragging her away from the protective butler. As he dragged her to the ballroom, Capricorn could hear Jude muttering about "rude children" and "disrespect for the position of an heiress". Capricorn stared sadly after them, his heart breaking at Lucy's cries of pain and heartbreak. A dark aura flooded the room the minute Jude and Lucy had left it. A powerful wave of dark magic swept over Capricorn, yet he stood his ground and glared at the source of the power – Mei. He took a step forward and spoke though gritted teeth: "Leave Lucy-sama alone. You are not Mei Nikko, and you do not deserve to be in this house. You do not deserve to see that beautiful girl. Leave her alone, witch, or I will be forced to take care of you." Mei's face split into an unnaturally wide grin, the corners of her mouth splitting. She laughed a high-pitched cackle, and grinned at Capricorn with wide eyes. "Finally, someone smart enough to see that I am but an illusion of the real Mei Nikko!" She clapped her fists together and released a bolt of dark energy straight at Capricorn's heart, but he deflected it with a silvery burst of light. Suddenly, a sharp cry of agony travelled through the room. Capricorn's head whipped around to identify the location of the single girl capable of making a noise like that. He surrounded Mei with silvery particles of light, distracting her long enough to sprint for the doors through which Jude and Lucy had passed. He used his keen sense of hearing to find the spare bedroom that Jude had forced Lucy into. Crashing through the thick wooden door, he was horrified at the sight that met his eyes. Young Lucy crouched on the floor in a quivery ball of fear and desperation; Jude stood over her, his fists bruised and bloody; Lucy's face, bleeding from the corner of her mouth. Capricorn tackled Jude from behind and knocked him out with a single fist to the temple. Capricorn gathered the tiny bundle of fear into his arms and ran with her to the infirmary room.
As Capricorn disinfected the young girl's wounds and rubbed anti-inflammatory salve onto her multiple other injuries, Lucy sobbed. She mumbled the whole story to Capricorn, explaining that her dad had thought she had been rude to Mei when she hadn't been. Lucy's repeated denials of guilt had infuriated the highly-strung business man, who turned his fists on the innocent angel in front of him. The door to the infirmary slammed open, and young Lucy screamed—
-x-
Lucy bolted upright, shrieking in fear. After a moment of silence, she glanced around the room and saw Laxus looking at her in concern. She put a hand to her forehead to find it drenched in sweat, and her hands were shaking violently. She dissolved into tears. Laxus moved from his position against the other wall to where Lucy sat shivering, and hesitated before putting his hand on her shoulder. He spoke gruffly, unsure of how to deal with crying females. "C'mon, Blondie. Let's go make some tea and you can tell me about it. If you want to, I guess." Lucy nodded and, sniffing and snivelling, stood up. She walked unsteadily to the kitchen and activated a heating lacrima to boil water. Lucy leaned against a counter and slid to the floor. While the water heated, Lucy explained every dream she could remember about the man named Jude and the woman accompanying him, Mei Nikko. She explained the fear, the pain, and the desperation to please her father and Mei. "But it can't be real, right? I mean, a goat-man who can talk? And a father who hates me? It's ridiculous!" Lucy laughed uneasily, desperately trying to convince herself that the dream was nothing more than a figment of her scared, lonely imagination. Laxus frowned at her, eyeing her tense shoulders, terrified face and vulnerable body. He hoisted her up by her upper arms, shoved the tea he'd made and a packet of biscuits into her hands and motioned for her to follow him back to the study. She did so, stopping just inside the door. He turned and saw her, then said, "Well, come on. Put that stuff on the desk, then come here. I'm going to explain what I've found out so you can help me research." Lucy's eyes brightened, ever eager to gain more knowledge. She scurried over to him and searched the wall for the beginning of what she assumed was some system of logic. Laxus steered her over to a point in the middle of the wall and informed her that this was the start of his discovery. They worked until night, analysing the formulas to decipher the Mana-machine. As it drew closer to late night, Lucy could barely stifle her yawns. "So this… machine-thingy, it uses 'magic' to provide a spark to the corpse, thereby animating it and frying its brain simultaneously?" Lucy muttered, a frown creasing her forehead. "It says magic, but I don't know if they mean some sort of particle found in the air, or the non-existent magic we read about in fairy tales." Laxus replied gruffly. Lucy scanned the machine's booklet again and took note of the repeated mentions of 'magic'. "It definitely says magic, but we already know magic can't exist. But then, this formula here…" Lucy gestured to an equation on the wall, "… wouldn't make sense unless there were some other force driving the machine." Laxus made a growling noise deep in his chest, and Lucy blushed, although she didn't know why. Laxus rubbed his bloodshot eyes and mumbled, "We can carry on tomorrow. Let's just go to sleep now." As Laxus headed towards the door, Lucy hesitated, unsure where to go. Laxus turned to look at her. "What now, Blondie?" Lucy shook her head slowly and said, "It's too late for me to go downstairs to my bed. I guess I'll just crash here." Laxus looked deep in thought for in a minute before saying, "You can come sleep in the kitchen with me. I have a few extra blankets and loads of space." She smiled gratefully and followed Laxus to the spot behind the bread-making machines. Piles of blankets and pillows, stacked invitingly against each other, beckoned Lucy forward. She collapsed onto the squishy pile and sighed in contentment. Laxus kneeled down and poked Lucy's hip to get her to move from her position in the bed. As Lucy rolled over to the very edge of the pile, he picked up a heavy duvet and tossed it over her limp body. Laxus pulled his shoes off and nestled into the blankets and pillows surrounding. Mere seconds before he drifted off into sleep, a thought slipped through his mind: "She smells nice…"
-x-
Laxus awoke early the next morning, sweating and far too hot. Before he opened his eyes, he shifted around and found himself unable to move. Cracking a single stormy blue eye open, he was shocked to note the lithe body curled around him. Lucy's arm was draped around his waist, her leg cushioned between his legs. Laxus chanced a glance downwards, but had to look away immediately. Lucy had stripped to her t-shirt and underwear, and the t-shirt had ridden up, exposing a pair of long, smooth legs, a pert bottom clad in lacy black panties and a slim waist. Laxus could feel Lucy's breasts pressing against him, and he gulped nervously. An all-too-familiar feeling was stirring below his hips, and he prayed that Lucy wouldn't wake up until he'd had a chance to extract himself from her embrace and… get rid of the problem. Lucy shifted in her sleep, and Laxus had to bite back a groan as her leg brushed a rather sensitive part of his anatomy. A rattling groan, combined with a clattering in the drawers, drew Laxus' attention away. Slowly pushing Lucy's arm and leg away, Laxus leopard-crawled forwards until he could see underneath the breadmaker. What he saw did not impress him at all. A creature, moving feebly around the kitchen, was sniffing the air around where Lucy had collapsed the previous day. The flesh was melting from the face of this corpse, dropping in jelly-like blobs onto the smooth tiles and tattered lab coat it was wearing. It moved unsteadily, as if unused to walking, but it was drawing closer and closer to the area where they had innocently slumbered. Laxus grabbed a heavy light lacrima from next to his makeshift bed and stood as silently as he could.
He stalked forward and peered around the edge of the breadmaker. The zombie was almost at the breadmaker now, but moving slower than before. Laxus glanced up at the clock hanging on the wall: 5:58 AM. The sun hadn't quite risen yet – as it was winter, the sun would only rise in around 10 minutes. Laxus threw one of his shoes over the zombie's head, wincing at the loud clatter it made against the metal dishwasher. The noise, however, distracted the zombie long enough for him to sneak behind the zombie and bring the lacrima smashing down onto its skull. The skull split apart with a sickening crack, and the zombie crumpled onto the ground leaking brain matter and clotting blood. Laxus perused the kitchen for signs of any more zombies and, upon finding none, ran to the door. Peering outside into the corridor, Laxus spotted several more zombies ambling slowly around. As the sun rose high enough to flood the kitchen with its warm light, the zombies started crumbling onto the ground. They twitched once, twice, before finally laying still. Laxus heard a sound behind him and he whirled, the lacrima ready in his hand to smash a zombie. He flinched as he realised it was just Lucy, and he lost his grip on the heavy sphere. They both watched silently as the glass accelerated towards the ground. A tinkling, musical sound as the ball smashed against the floor. A moment of shock when Laxus realised that the lights he'd assumed worked by battery power, contained no batteries. Lucy stared up uncertainly at Laxus. His eyes had gone almost comically wide, but he looked like he was having an epiphany. He raised his head to look at her. His next words made Lucy feel as if she had been dunked in a tank of ice-water.
"Magic… It's all magic. It's all real."
-x-
So, that's that! Not bad for an afternoon of work, if I do say so myself. Which I do. As always, please review or drop me a PM I love hearing all the feedback from you guys, not to mention the warm fuzzy feelings I get when you tell me you like it.
Bubbles xx