Chapter 22: Crime Sorcière
Lucy awoke to find herself on the floor alone, her hair was a tangled rat's nest she slowly sat up and stretched her arms above her head. She was sore from her night of sleeping on the floor instead of her actual bed. She could smell something coming from the kitchen, she wrinkled her nose, it smelled like whatever it was, it was definitely burning.
"This is why I don't let Natsu cook…" She stood to her feet and walked out of Natsu's bedroom sure enough the second she entered the living room area it was filled with smoke and the horrible smell of something burning she sighed and walked into the kitchen where Asuka was sitting at the counter laughing her butt off while Natsu hopped around the kitchen in a horrible attempt at multitasking, the kitchen was filled with smoke coming from the bacon which was sizzling on the stove and was currently burning to a crisp, there were eggs on the floor along with syrup and flour everywhere. Lucy cringed at the sight.
"What is going on in here?!" She asked in horror. Natsu whipped his head to face her and put on an innocent smirk.
"Oh! Hiya Luce! How'd ya sleep?"
"LUCY! WE ARE MAKING YOU BREAKFAST NATSU SAID IT WAS A SURPRISE!"
"Oh….I'm surprised that's for sure….NATSU THE BACON!" Lucy's eyes grew wider.
"Huh?" Natsu turned to the skillet and let out a yelp as his bacon had combust into flames. He quickly grabbed a towel and began trying to smother the flames, Lucy ran over and grabbed the lid for the skillet and covered it before turning off the burner. The flames were put out almost instantly, she turned to glare at Natsu.
"You...are from now on….forbidden from cooking anything…." She muttered quietly , and Natsu smiled at her pitifully. She began scraping the remnants of the burnt bacon into the garbage. She then dumped the pan into the sink and began scrubbing it off, Natsu and Asuka looked at each other and nervously watched Lucy.
"Are you upset Lucy?" Asuka asked softly. Not understanding why she would be since they were trying to do something nice for her. Lucy took a deep breath and turned to face the small girl with a warm smile on her face.
"I'm not upset...cooking is hard and I'm proud of you for trying….now Natsu, you know better I expect this kitchen to be spotless once I am out of the shower." Lucy handed Natsu the kitchen sponge, he looked away sheepishly. Before she exited the room she turned to face him.
"It was very sweet of you to try and make me food, but we will just go to the diner down the street….I know Igneel never really taught you how to make food so I will help you out, nevertheless you still need to clean up your mess."
"Okay...Sorry bout the mess Luce…"
"Yeah! Sorry!" Asuka and Natsu apologized.
"It's okay, I'm going to shower, we'll get food afterwards." Lucy exited the room completely.
"AYE!" Natsu and Asuka saluted at the same time and at once began cleaning. Well Natsu was cleaning, Asuka was just moving stuff from one place to a different place while humming to herself and wearing a large smile at the idea of going to the diner, her parents never took her to get breakfast they only gave her cereal or sometimes eggs. Lucy grabbed a change of clothes from her bedroom and walked into the lone bathroom of her and Natsu's apartment, she turned the water on allowing it to warm up and began brushing her teeth. Her mind wandered to the events of the previous night, she hadn't gotten too much sleep, her brain kept replaying the almost kiss with Natsu, he had been so close and she had panicked. He probably thought that meant that she didn't like him which was the total opposite of what she wanted. Her heart began beating a bit harder as she thought about what would've happened if she didn't freak out. She stripped and hopped into the shower reveling in the feel of the hot water trickling down her body.
"I don't know how much more of this I can take…." She muttered as she began scrubbing her body. Flashes of previous near kisses had filled her head, and then as if that wasn't enough her mind remembered something from the night she had been kidnapped by Phantom Lord. An involuntary shudder trickled up her spine as she remembered Jose. Levy had locked the two of them inside her bedroom at the time, and she was about to tell him that she liked him, but the words never came out thanks to Gajeel's ambush. Since then so much has happened she just has never had the chance. She needed to tell him soon or she was going to explode, suddenly a lightbulb went off in her head.
"The senior prom is coming up soon….Maybe I could ask him to be my date, and then tell him I like him there!" She covered her mouth as she realized she had said that out loud, and quite loudly. Blushing furiously she finished her shower, dried off and dressed herself in a pair of tight pink jeans, and a black sweater. She tied her hair in her signature side ponytail. She walked out of the bathroom to find something horrifying happening in the living room. Natsu was…..unpacking their boxes? He was doing chores….She blinked a few times in disbelief standing in the bathroom doorway awestruck. Natsu noticed her standing there and he smiled.
"Ah there you are, perfect timing! Where should I put these?" Natsu asked, holding up a stack of books. Lucy stood there silently still trying to process Natsu Dragneel of all people doing house work.
"Ummm….just throw them on my bed for now….I guess…." Natsu nodded and grabbed his crutches allowing him to move himself over into Lucy's room. Lucy then saw that Asuka was sitting on the floor, Natsu had turned on Sesame Street for her. Slowly she walked into the kitchen and her jaw dropped, it was literally spotless, he had even mopped the floor!
"Ohhhhh I can so get used to this side of him…." She muttered to herself. Shaking her head she figured she should help Asuka get ready for the day. She got Asuka changed into one of the spare outfits her parents had packed her made of denim blue jeans, brown boots, a button up shirt and a brown vest with her brown cowgirl hat. Lucy thought she looked adorable the way she dressed.
"Natsu, are you ready to head out?" She called out, a second later Natsu emerged from his own bedroom wearing a pair of black skinny jeans, a maroon long sleeve shirt that clung to him tightly showing off his well defined arms. Over his shirt was a black winter vest. Lucy's heart thumped in her chest. Her breathing hitched, he had no right being this hot and he wasn't even wearing anything abnormal, he was just wearing a normal winter outfit.
"Yep! Let's go, I'm starving!" He beamed at her, and her heart started beating faster again as she looked at his smile.
"O-Okay….l-let's get going…..A-Asuka do you want me to carry you?" Lucy turned to look down at the little girl to avoid staring at Natsu, to prevent herself from running across the room and jumping him there and now.
"YES PLEASE!" Asuka held her arms up and jumped up and down in excitement, Lucy smiled at her and picked her up, turning towards the door she exited their apartment holding the door open for Natsu before she locked it. Unbeknownst to her Natsu had been having the same thoughts as her all morning, and when he saw her in her outfit for the day he just wanted to march over to her and finish what he was going to do last night, what stopped him, however was that he was unsure of what to think. She had after all put a cat in his face to stop him from kissing her so maybe it was best for him to drop it, after all he had been crushing on her since middle school, and has never acted on it, maybe it just wasn't meant to be….He slowly moved behind Lucy on Asuka on the sidewalk lost in his thoughts. For years he wanted to know if she shared the same feelings as him, and when they had kissed at the school dance he thought maybe, just maybe they would become something more, but now it would seem it was just a spur of the moment peck, at least that's probably what she thought. For him however, it was the best thing to ever happen to him, he wanted to be more than friends with Lucy, but it appeared that his suspicions were correct. He wasn't her type, she really did want someone who could match wits with her, or treat her like a princess, he was just her best friend, and that's all he was ever going to be.
"I shouldn't have tried to kiss her….she probably thinks I'm an idiot…." Lucy turned to look at him with an eyebrow raised.
"Did ya say something?" She called back to him, he just shook his head in response with a fake smile on his face. She shrugged, and continued walking in the direction towards the diner. He let out a sigh, man this sucked why did it love have to be so hard? He just wished she would feel the same way he did, but he guessed it just wasn't meant to be. They finally reached their destination, a small 1960's retro diner they walked inside and were welcomed inside the warm building they found an empty booth and sat themselves. Lucy and Asuka sat on one side allowing Natsu to slide into the opposing side. Lucy watched him carefully, he was acting weird, he hadn't said anything their entire walk, not to mention he was refusing to even look at her. She flashed him a sweet smile when he finally glanced at her, but he just looked away quickly. Her smile fell to a frown, Asuka looked between the two, with a pout why were they being so weird? After a few minutes of awkward silence their waitress came to their booth, she was about their age, her long dirty blonde hair was tied up in a ponytail that went down to her waist. Her pink waitress dress hugged her figure well, she smiled brightly as she handed the two teens menus, and a kids menu for Asuka.
"Hello, my name is Jenny. I will be your server for today, can I start you off with something to drink?" She asked sweetly, her eyes landing on Natsu who buried his face in his menu immediately after he had been handed it.
"Ummm can I just have water?" Lucy asked nicely, Jenny didn't even acknowledge her, but wrote down on her notepad, so Lucy assumed that meant she could.
"I wantttttttt….juice!" Asuka smiled brightly, Jenny looked to the small girl and put a smile on her face.
"As you wish, sweetie...what kind of juice would you like?"
"Ohhh…..ummmm…..Natsu? What should I get?" She asked Natsu who had put his menu down, Jenny turned to look at him as well with a sickeningly sweet smile on her face.
"Imma do orange juice, so you could do that?" He stated, the girl instantly nodded and wrote down Natsu's drink.
"OKAY! I WANT AN ORANGE JUICE TOO!" Asuka announced proudly, the waitress smiled and wrote it down.
"Okay I'll be back with those in a second." She twirled around letting her skirt flap a little, and walked away but not before giving a quick second look at Natsu and smiling at him. Natsu smiled back, and Lucy who watched this felt like gagging, and felt a tugging sensation in her gut. Jenny came back a minute later with a tray and their drinks on it. She gave them their drinks and took their orders for food, when they handed back their menus Lucy didn't fail to spot how her hand stroked Natsu's. Lucy's fist tightened underneath the table, a grimace formed on her face. Jenny turned to leave, but accidentally bumped into Natsu's crutches that were resting on the side of the booth, they fell to the ground.
"Oops! Oh my God I am so sorry!" She apologized quickly, turning to face Natsu once more.
"Don't worry bout it, I put them in a stupid spot, that's my bad." Natsu brushed it off a smile on his face.
"No it's my fault, I should have looked out for them! Here I'll pick them up." She stated and bent down to pick them up, Lucy's jaw dropped she couldn't be serious...But sure enough it was happening and Natsu...wasn't looking at her? He was playing tic-tac-toe with Asuka. Jenny also seemed to notice Natsu not watching because she quickly stood back up with his crutches her face in a pout. Lucy smirked at her failure, thank goodness for Natsu's denseness.
"Thank you." Natsu looked back at Jenny as she rested his crutches on the booth, Jenny smiled sweetly once more.
"No problem, I'm terribly sorry about that...I'll go place your orders…" She stated once more walking away from the booth, Lucy rolled her eyes at the girl and looked over to Natsu who was watching Jenny walk away….wait….was he BLUSHING?! No! No! NONONONONO! She cleared her throat to gain his attention, he turned to look at her confused.
"Soooo Natsu, how did you sleep?" She asked nicely. Why was she this hot and bothered by another girl hitting on him they weren't dating, at least not yet.
"Hmmm? Oh I slept alright, what about you two?" He asked, the pink dustings on his cheeks fading away as he began a conversation with the two girls across from him. Asuka smiled brightly blissfully unaware of everything that has been happening.
"I slept good! I had a dream!" Lucy, and Natsu smiled at the girl's enthusiasm.
"You mean you slept well…" Lucy corrected her, but giggled.
"That's good to hear! What did you dream about?" Natsu asked her.
"It was SO FUN! I dreamed that I was a real cowgirl! A-And I had a real horsey! I named him Natsu because he had pink hair! Like you!" Natsu resisted the urge to correct her and inform her again that his hair was actually salmon.
"Aww that's sweet!" Lucy smiled warmly. Natsu nodded in agreement.
"Yeah it was awesome!" She giggled, causing Natsu and Lucy to look at each other with broad smiles. Lucy let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding in, at least it seemed like things were back to normal. The three enjoyed their conversations for another twenty minutes until Jenny came back with their food. She didn't say much but winked at Natsu when she set down Natsu's food. Little did she know though that once there is food in front of Natsu his mind cannot focus on anything else. Lucy smugly smirked in Jenny's direction who stuck her tongue out at her. Lucy felt her blood boil, this girl was asking for it. The three ate in silence, minus Natsu's obnoxious chewing of his pancakes, when they finished Jenny came to collect the dishes.
"Now would you like me to get you two separate bills?" She clearly did not understand that Lucy and Natsu were together. Well not together in that way.
"No thanks, I've got it." Natsu said, pulling out his wallet, Lucy tilted her head.
"You sure? I can get it, you're not making any income right now, but I am…." Lucy asked him quietly. He shrugged.
"Sure why not? I still have a bunch from Igneel's will…." Lucy frowned at this, she didn't want him to use his money on her, so she reached into her purse for her wallet.
"I'll get it Natsu, save your money…"
"Nah, don't worry Luce. My treat!" He fished out his debit card and handed it to Jenny before Lucy could reply.
"Thank you sir, I'll have this back in no time!" She practically ran up to the counter.
"Hey Asuka, what do you wanna do when we get back to the apartment?" He asked the small girl. She racked her brain for thoughts of things to do.
"Hmmm…..How bout we watch Toy Story?" She asked, Natsu shrugged after looking at Lucy who was putting her wallet back inside her bag.
"Yeah we can do that, I'm guessing Woody is your favorite?" Natsu jokingly asked, pretty confident he knew the answer. Asuka shook her head though catching him by surprise.
"Nope! I like potatoes!" She smiled, Natsu looked down at the table. Lucy laughed.
"You know what they say about assuming Natsu…" Lucy joked. Natsu nodded his head in agreement.
"Personally I like Buzz…" Jenny butted in as she had returned to the table. Lucy rolled her eyes.
"Buzz is cool! But I like the potatoes!" Asuka replied. Natsu smiled at her.
"So I heard...Here's your receipt and card back by the way." Jenny spoke sweetly handing Natsu back his card and a piece of paper. Jenny winked at him and walked away, Lucy resisted the urge to throw up, but then she noticed Natsu's face blushing once more as he looked at the receipt. Both him and her turned to look at Jenny who was back at the counter, when she saw Natsu looking at her she held up to her face mimicking a phone, and mouthed the words call me. Lucy growled, she rose to her feet, picked up a very confused Asuka, and stormed out of the restaurant leaving Natsu behind, who watched her storm out in confusion, he threw the receipt back on the table with no intention of calling Jenny, and grabbed his crutches following after her. Jenny waved at him as he left the building, he nodded his head in acknowledgement at her. Now he just needed to catch up to Lucy, easier said than done what was she upset about anyway?
Lucy had practically jogged the entire trip back to the apartment complex, Asuka had been very confused as to why Lucy had just left without Natsu, but nonetheless remained quiet. The pair entered Natsu and Lucy's apartment, and Lucy sat Asuka down. Bending down to look at her she put a sweet smile on her face.
"Sorry bout that, how about you take a bath before we watch your movies?" Lucy asked, Asuka nodded in her agreement, Lucy smiled and walked over to the bathroom, holding Asuka's hand and started the bath making sure that it was at a good temperature. She added some soap to make it bubble up, and walked out of the room allowing Asuka to be alone. Lucy sighed as she made her way into the living room and turned on the television. She began flipping through channels all that was on her mind were negative thoughts revolving Natsu and that stupid waitress. But she wasn't jealous, nope not at all….Okay maybe she was, but just a little. Her thoughts were soon interrupted by what she saw on the TV it made her blood boil, she tightly clenched her jaw shut. The news anchor was talking, but Lucy was focused on the banner underneath him.
Mayor Mard Geer Sworn in earlier today, made a huge announcement!
"Yesterday evening Duke Everlue stepped out of the Mayoral race allowing frontrunner Mard Geer to claim victory, he was sworn in approximately three hours ago, and Magnolia welcomed him as our new Mayor starting today." The camera cut to show a large crowd of people cheering and holding up signs that were very anti-power. The camera then cut to an interview with a man with a long unkept beard within the crowd, he was talking into the microphone the journalist was holding up.
"You know it is just such a great day! Following what that bastard did to Kardia Cathedral, I believe we have done an amazing thing in electing a Mayor who will hold him to justice…." The man then got up close into the camera showing off just how disgusting he looked.
"Yeah! I'm talking to you Salamander! I know you're watching! We are coming for ya! We aren't scared! Bring everything you got! You will ROT INSIDE A PRISON CELL!" A group of people around him began cheering in agreement. Lucy frowned as the screen went back to the anchor.
"As you can see it was a day of excitement for many Magnolia citizens. After he was sworn in our new Mayor came forth with a gigantic announcement…" The screen cut to show Mard Geer standing at a podium on top of the stage. He cleared his throat before smiling a wicked twisted grin.
"Ladies and Gentlemen! We have done it! I now stand before you Mayor of this fair city! I wish I could stand here, and deliver a victory speech to remember for years to come, but unfortunately certain circumstances prevent me from doing this. I am of course talking about the total disregard….the lack of respect for this great city, and the utter destruction of a historical landmark at the hands of The Salamander…I made a promise, and I intend to keep it. Starting today there will be a taskforce with the sole purpose of hunting down The Salamander, we will bring him to justice. We will prevail! So without further ado I present to you….CRIME SORCIÉRE!" He moved away from the podium temporarily holding his arm out as the crowd erupted in cheers. Lucy leaned forward slightly, this wasn't good at all. Five people walked onto the stage from behind the curtain, the crowd cheered louder, Mard Geer returned to the microphone.
"Allow me to introduce you to the heroes who will save us from Salamander! Up first, his bite is very much worse than his bite...Cobra!" The crowd cheered as one of the people stepped forward, clad in a white leather jacket, he had purple spiky hair, and one of his eyes had a scar over it causing him to keep it closed. He smirked and gave a small wave to the crowd.
"Up next, the beautiful Angel!" Cobra stepped back, up next a beautiful young lady stepped forward, she wore a feathery robe, her silky white hair was done in a way that made it look like she had a halo. Several men in the crowd cat called her as she walked forward with a sway in her hips. She winked and turned and walked away.
"He's faster than the speed of light! Racer!" The next man walked forward, he had spiked up blonde hair, goggles on his face, a red and white leather jacket, as well as white pants and running shoes on.
"The very Earth bends to his will...Hoteye!" A large ginger man slowly walked forward, his eyes closed and he gave a large wave.
"And last, but certainly not least...The nightmare...MIDNIGHT!" The final man walked forward, he definitely seemed like the least intimidating, he was smaller than all of them. He had black hair, along with some black eyeliner, he had some streaks of white in his hair. He wore a black and white vest, and yellow banded pants. When he returned to the others the crowd was so loud with cheers.
"Brothers, and sisters! Salamander started a war with us! I shall end it! WE WILL PREVAIL!"
Lucy grew so disgusted she clicked off the TV, must've been perfect timing, because after she threw the remote down Natsu walked through the door. Before he was even inside Lucy rushed over to him forgetting all about Jenny and the events at the diner. She threw her arms around him and squeezed him tightly. He lost his balance and they fell to the ground with Lucy on top of him. He blinked a few times in shock.
"Ummm hi?" She looked up at him sadly.
"Hi…."
"Natsu! You're home! Can we watch Toy Story now!" Asuka's voice came from the bathroom, Lucy smiled softly and turned to look at the girl, her eyes went wide.
"Only after you put on clothes!" She shrieked. Natsu chuckled, as the little girl huffed and waltzed back into the bathroom. When she emerged she was thankfully wearing clothes, and Lucy popped popcorn they began watching movies, and that's what they did all day. Suddenly Natsu stood up and stretched midway through The Incredibles. Lucy looked at him confused with the napping Asuka in her lap. He smiled brightly at her.
"I'm gonna go to the gas station at the corner and get some drinks, do you want chips?" He asked her softly and quietly as to not wake up Asuka. Lucy looked out the window, it was darker out now thanks to the rain clouds that had appeared.
"...Yeah, just be fast, it looks like it's gonna rain soon and I don't want you to slip on ice…" Natsu through his winter vest back on and smiled at her.
"I'll be fine, no need to worry. It's not that far…" With that he walked out the door, leaving Lucy alone with Asuka feeling uneasy, she stared at the door.
"That's when I worry most…" She muttered. Natsu had carefully made his way down the sidewalk to the gas station. It was getting really dark, and rain had begun to fall. Natsu reached his destination and got Lucy and Asuka some sodas as well as a large bag of chips. By the time he left the gas station the rain was coming down hard drenching him, he should've packed an umbrella. He tried to speed up his walking, but the crutches slowed him down quite a bit. He stopped and took a sip of his drink. Letting out a sigh he spoke to himself as he slowly made his way back to the apartment.
"Ya know...I can get used to this no Salamander thing...I couldn't imagine my fire working in this weather…" Natsu muttered to himself as he passed an alleyway where a man smoking in it turned to him as he passed by.
"Salamander huh?..." He asked in a low gravelly voice. Natsu turned to the man he didn't even notice before.
"I didn't say that." He lied, but the man flicked his cigarette onto the ground and walked toward him.
"Lying doesn't work on me, I've got pretty good hearing. I can even hear your very thoughts…"
"Just who are you exactly?" Natsu deadpanned, backing up slightly as the man stalked towards him.
"Who me?...Guess who didn't see the news….The name's Cobra. Of Crime Sorciére, and I'm supposed to bring you in….Salamander." He was finally right in front of Natsu allowing him to get a good look at his face, Natsu gulped clutching his crutch tighter.
"I'm telling you man….you got the wrong person, how could I be the Salamander? Look at me I can barely walk…" Natsu tried, Cobra grinned wickedly and kicked one of his crutches out of his grasp. Natsu fell to the ground hard as he couldn't keep himself up without. Natsu glared up at him.
"What did I tell you bout lying….Get up!" Cobra grabbed the back of Natsu's shirt, but Natsu used the crutch that was still in his grasp as a weapon, he swung it like a bat at Cobra who saw it coming. He caught it and ripped it out of Natsu's hands. Natsu gulped as he fell back down to his knees. Cobra rolled up his jacket sleeves, and showed off his forearms as they began to morph, Natsu watched as they became reptilian claws. The sharp nails glowed purple Cobra grinned wickedly.
"My turn….He slashed at Natsu, who raised his arm to block. He cried out in pain though as Cobra's claws cut right through leaving three large scratches on his forearm, his shirt tearing. Wincing in pain Natsu tightened his fist and attempted to spark his flames, but to no avail the rain was smothering them before they could even ignite. Nothing but steam came from Natsu's fist. He swung his fist at Cobra still, but something had stepped in, and caught it. He looked to his side, and found a blonde haired guy with goggles holding onto his arm.
"I wondered where you ran off to Cobra….who's your friend?" He asked pushing Natsu back to the ground.
"He's not my friend….he's our target." Cobra's arms returned to normal, as he turned to face the blonde man. Natsu watched on, his vision blurred, and he suddenly felt woozy. He glanced down at the scratch marks on his arm, the veins around it were a dark purple color, Natsu felt like throwing up. The pain in his arm was so bad he felt like screaming and tearing it off.
"You sure?"
"Of course I am. I listened to his thoughts." Cobra watched as Natsu squirmed on the ground coughing. He smirked.
"I wouldn't fight it, the more you struggle, the faster the poison makes its way through your veins." Racer grinned at him and kicked him hard in the gut. He cried out in pain. Racer grin grew, and he kicked him hard again, and again, and again, Natsu was helpless soon the pain, and soon enough his eyelids fell, allowing himself to be enveloped by the darkness.
Chapter 23: Nirvana