Chapter Eleven
"Lu…" Erza looked at her friend and held her hand out. Lucy grasped it and looked down at Wendy.
"What's the verdict?"
"What do you mean? I am not a judge." The girl looked confused.
"I meant, what do you think? Can you heal her?"
"Well…" Wendy sighed. "The poison from the Silverback has infected some of the tissue around the injury."
"Poison?" Erza asked, fear lighting up her eyes. Lucy blanched, but held tighter onto her friend's hand.
"All Silverbacks have some poison on their claws and on the barb of their tails. It's used to immobilize their prey."
"A lot suddenly makes sense." Cana said looking over at Natsu. Then looked back at Lucy and then to Erza. "How did you make it back from the shop to the dorm?"
"How far was the distance she traveled?" Wendy asked and Natsu growled something and her head jerked up. "I wonder if the poison is not able to infect your blood."
"Can that happen?" Levy asked and Wendy shrugged.
"This planet has been one surprise after another." She said and looked at Gray. He and the other two brought three cases up and set them along the length of the desk. Wendy opened them and started to pull things out. She looked at Erza. "I promise to do everything I can to heal you. But can I take some samples? If something in your blood has made the poison ineffective, it could lead to a major advantage for our squads and victims on other planets."
"Of course." Erza nodded and turned her head away. Lucy smoothed her hair out of her face. Her friend put on a brave face as Wendy started removing the samples. The pain was real but Erza just gritted through it. Lucy looked over at Levy.
"Grab her something to eat. Something cool if possible."
"Got it!" Levy disappeared out of sight and then came back within moments with a can of peaches. She held it out and Lucy reached backwards and sighed.
"I knew I needed my backpack." She looked at Natsu. Gajeel walked over with Levy eyeing him coldly. He grabbed the can and they watched as his other hand turned into a black blade and he sheared off the lid with one swipe. He handed it back and Lucy nodded slowly. She turned back around.
"I wonder what else…"
Lucy got a hard stomp to her instep from Levy before she could finish her thought. Levy leaned over and helped to feed Erza the canned fruit. Wendy smiled at them. Lucy squeezed Erza's hand and looked at the younger female.
"Can I help you with anything Wendy?"
"Just keep comforting her." She said and Lucy nodded. Cana turned when she heard shuffling. The Dragis had all tensed. Several girls looked around and Cana held her hands up.
"They're friends and they're treating Erza's injury."
"Oh thank goodness!" They cried and hugged each other. Laxus stared at them and then looked over at Natsu. He growled softly and Natsu responded. Laxus tapped Lucy on the shoulder. She turned and he leaned closer.
"How many females are there?"
"About twelve of us in all. There were more but some were taken by Raiders, others joined militant groups to survive. Some were killed by the Draconics, before we learned how to avoid them."
"Twelve? But the readout on this building had fifteen heat sources identified." Laxus said and Lucy pulled free as Cana pushed down on Erza's shoulders. Levy looked up startled.
"Is there anyway to know where they all were?" Laxus pulled out a black flat disk and clicked something and a yellow 3-D replica of the library appeared. Lucy's eyes shots over it and she pointed to three dots on the third floor by the clock tower. "There. Those have to be the other survivors."
"But it could be…"
"Draconics would have attacked before now." Lucy cut off Levy. "And raiders would have as well. Militants might be waiting but I doubt they'd be this quiet."
"Natsu, Gajeel, Gray." Laxus nodded at them and Lucy spun and started after the three. They immediately froze and looked at her in surprise.
"What? You think you're going to run up on three humans alone? Wendy needs to focus on Erza, not patching up you idiots."
"Take her. She's got a point." Laxus said and Natsu grabbed her left hand and the two headed up for the third floor.
"Shushhh." Lucy heard the soft voice whispering for silence. She pulled free of Natsu and motioned for the three Dragis to hang back. She slowly walked up to an edge of a bookshelf.
"Hello? My name is Lucy, and I want to come around the shelf, but I don't want to get attacked. Is it okay for me to come around?"
"Who are you with? I heard multiple steps." A feminine voice called out.
"I'm with three friends. They're several shelves back. We don't want to scare anyone."
"If you just go away…we won't bother you." The voice said, breaking and Lucy's heart twisted. Especially when she heard a moan.
"Was someone hurt?"
"Go away!" The voice cracked and Lucy turned around the corner and ducked. A book hit the wall with a thud and she gasped. A girl around her age, with a short pixie cut was blocking the bodies of a rather large male and another female. She had her arms held out like a shield, tears running down her face. "I won't let you hurt them. Go away."
"Oh sweetie, we don't want to hurt anyone." Lucy said and the girl looked at her through her tears. "We have medicine and a…doctor of sorts downstairs. Let us take them down."
"We won't go back to another base."
"We aren't militants." Lucy denied and inched closer. She held her hands out. The girl looked at her. "I'm going to tell you the truth, but you're going to need to trust me."
"O…kay?"
"I'm with eleven other girls and seven aliens."
"You've been drugged by Raiders haven't you?"
"No…Natsu…come here…just Natsu." She called out and he appeared instantly, wrapping his arm around her waist. The girl gasped as she looked at him. She looked at the edge of the shelf, behind her and then lowered her arms.
"They'll help right?"
"Oh yes…we'll help." Lucy promised. The girl started to cry and waved her hand behind her.
"Big brother Elf shielded me and big sis Mira when a black dragonoid came out of nowhere and attacked. We got away but he was hurt really bad. Mira and I tried to take care of him but then a flying gray one hit Mira when she was trying to…find…"
"Shush." Lucy pulled free and pulled the girl close and wrapped her up in her arms. Natsu growled and Gray and Gajeel came around. Gray and Gajeel picked up the brother, growling about it. Natsu picked up the girl and Lucy rubbed her hands up and down the girl's back. After a few moments she pulled back. "Do you have any possessions you want?"
"No." She shook her head and Lucy helped her get to her feet and they headed downstairs. As they got to the circulation desk, Lucy saw that both of the siblings had been laid out on their own tables. Laxus had taken his duster off and it was draped over the older sister. Levy looked up and headed over to Lucy and the new girl. The other girls were huddled together behind Erza and Cana.
"Hi. I'm Levy. What can I do to help?"
"I'm Lisanna." The girl whispered and looked around, obviously trying to take it all in. Natsu arrived back to Lucy's side and smiled at him as he looked at Lisanna with concern. "I just want to make sure Mira and Elfman are okay."
"When was the last time you ate anything?" Levy asked and pulled Lisanna out of Lucy's arms.
"Ummm…a few days ago. I've been trying to make sure they ate more since they…"
"They're going to be okay. Here, sit here next to Erza and I'm going to get you something to eat."
"Oh don't do that…I don't want to hurt your food supplies."
"It's fine. Lucy managed to bring enough back we can share." Levy said and disappeared. Lisanna looked over at Lucy who was having a conversation with Natsu. She looked around and then looked at the girl named Erza beside her.
"It's ok." Erza's voice made her meet her brown eyes. "It's a lot to take in. The aliens and everything else."
"Yeah, I guess. But I mean, after the dragonoids aliens aren't too much of a stretch. I think it's more the fact that they aren't trying to eat us that I'm confused by."
"Apparently they're enemies of the dragonoids."
"Oh…nice." Lisanna nodded and Erza patted her hand but jerked her hand back as pain rippled through her. Wendy looked up from Mira's prone form and Erza waved at her.
"I'm fine. You…focus on them. We know I'm not going to die any time soon."
Wendy ducked back down and Lisanna looked over at Erza with concern. Levy arrived with a box. She pulled out a plate and a fork and a spoon. She looked at Lisanna as she handed them to her. "Do you have any food allergies? Or dietary restrictions?"
"No…" Lisanna shook her head.
"Okay. Here, have some canned chicken, and there's a can of corn and some canned pineapple."
"Oh wow." Lisanna's stomach growled and she looked at the three cans that Levy started to open. Levy looked around her.
"Do you want to try some of the chicken and corn Erza?"
"No…Food doesn't sound good." She said and laid down. "Kinana, are there any girls who haven't eaten since we got here?"
"Yeah." Kinana and another girl stepped forward and Levy handed the half empty cans to them. Then walked over to the shelves and started to eat. Lisanna looked back at Lucy to see that Natsu was gone.
"How are two females fleshies not dead after getting poisoned by Silverback venom?" Rouge asked looking over the tables and the desk in front of him. Sting shrugged. His eyes were dancing over the girls huddled in the far corners, just on the edge of the light from the electronic lanterns and candles.
"Don't forget that male fleshie was hit by multiple Shadowcrawler shurikens. Those are lethal to fleshies."
"I suspect any fleshies left are either unremarkably strong or just too stubborn to die." Gray said as he looked around the room.
"We're a pretty stubborn species to be sure." Lucy's voice made them jump and they turned, growling. She raised a brow and crossed her arms over her chest. "And if you don't stop calling us fleshies, I'm going to personally descale each and every one of you."
The three flinched back and away from her. She walked around them and picked up a bag they hadn't realized was laying on the floor near them. She walked over to Mira was on the table. Wendy was having trouble stopping the bleeding. She pulled out some strange packages wrapped in crinkling layers. Carefully she pressed them down onto the wounds. Wendy's mouth fell open as the pad absorbed the blood.
"What is that?" She asked in awe as Lucy worked with her on trying to stop the bleeding from the wounds that were being uncovered.
"Its called a pad."
"A pad? Of what?"
"Pad is short for sanitary pad, or period pad. Do Dragis women have menstrual cycles?"
"What is that?"
"When the lining of your reproductive organ sheds from the walls of the organ and is forced out of the body." The entire room got quiet and the Dragis all hissed. She looked up and saw that Natsu looked horrified. She bit her lip to keep from laughing. "I'm going to take that as a no."
"Does that not hurt?"
"Like a bitch." Cana said as she waked over and set a bowl of water down on the table next to Mira.
"Sometimes some medicines help with the pain. Or we would have coped with ice cream and chocolate. Pre-Dragonoids." Levy said as she washed the sweat off of Elfman's face. Avoiding the wound over his eye.
"What is ice cream and chocolate?" Wendy asked and looked at Lucy.
"Ice cream is a cold form of dairy and sugar and ice that has a lot of flavors. And chocolate is…"
"Amazing." Natsu sighed and Lucy giggled at that. He looked at Wendy. "She found some and let me try it. It was so creamy and perfect."
"Preach it brother!" Cana held up a clenched fist which made all of the girls laugh as the Dragis looked so confused. Lucy cleared her throat.
"It's a phrase on Earth. It just means you agree with what someone says and that they could keep going and you'd agree."
"But I'm not her sibling." Natsu said and looked at Cana who was grinning wildly as she brushed out Erza's hair and started to braid it.
"We can call others brother, sister or any other family moniker and not mean blood related family. Just that we feel close to that person. Or to add emphasis."
"Humans are strange." Natsu tilted his head. He was sitting on the edge of a table, his legs spread wide and his arms braced between them. "How long does the organ shred itself?"
"Three to seven days."
"That isn't so bad." Wendy nodded.
"Every month from roughly the age of ten to sixty." All the Dragis hissed and Wendy's mouth fell open. Lucy was laughing as she pressed down on the last pad. Mira groaned and her sister appeared.
"Mirajean...I'm here. I'm right here."
"Lis…anna?" The soft voice was filled with concern. Her eyes were still closed, her face twisted in pain.
"We were found by some nice people. And they're going to take care of you and Elfman."
"Lis…if you…" Mira struggled to speak. "..have to…run…don't…look back."
"I would never leave you!" Lisanna shook her head and wrapped her hand around her sister's. "Either of you. We're a family. We stick together no matter what!"
"Lis…"
"Your stuck with me." Lisanna cut her sister off. "So stop trying to argue with me and rest."
Lisanna…you…"
"Lisanna is safe here." Lucy lowered her head and brushed hair out of Mira's face. She was a beautiful girl. "As are you and your brother. We aren't Raiders or Militants. Wendy is going to help take care of both of you."
"Who…are…."
"My name is Lucy. Lucky Lucy Heartfilia. And we're here with the last of my dorm. And we have seven friends who are…a little different. But I promise you, I won't let anything happen to Lisanna."
"Thank…you." Mira was crying as she passed out. Lucy closed her eyes and stood up.
"Mira…" Lisanna cried and leaned against the table, sitting on her knees. She braced her head on the edge of the table. Lucy looked like she wanted to say something but she stopped. Instead she looked over at Levy as she looked at Elfman's injuries. Lucy whistled and Levy looked up right as Lucy tossed a box at her. She looked at it and then at Lucy before nodding with a raised eyebrow. She pulled out another crinkly wrapped item, but this, when removed from the wrapper, was a tube shape. She pressed it into the deeper wound and pushed down on a smaller tube. They watched as white stuff came out into the wound and slowly started to absorb the blood.
"What is that?" Laxus asked as he dropped a blanket over Lisanna's shoulders. Natsu had brought a stack in and forgotten about them when Lucy had mentioned what pads were.
"A tampon. It's something human women insert into their…lower region," Lucy blushed as she waved at the area between her thighs. "…to catch the blood and uterus lining. Not all women like pads. And some women don't use pads or tampons. Instead they use reusable cups they insert up there."
"Gah!" He shivered in mild unease and Lucy nodded in understanding.
"Technically they were created for use in plugging injuries in a war zone but the female nurses started borrowing them for their own war zones." Levy giggled and ducked her head when red eyes zoned in on her.
"Thank you Historian Levy for the lesson." Cana said and Erza hit her with her head. Cana chuckled as Levy flipped her off behind her back.
"What is that signal?" Gajeel asked and Levy blushed as she lowered her hand.
"It's rude." Levy said and he chortled.
"All the more reason to tell me."