Hey, y'all. Hope you're all having a great weekend. Figured it was about time I gave this one an update. Thanks for sticking with us.
Guest: Thanks for reviewing. I'm glad you're enjoying :) It always makes my day to know that someone's reading my stories.
Guest: You're in luck! I was just thinking about this last night. I appreciate you dropping by. :)
- K. Chandler
Natsu was the last person that Gray expected to come charging into his study. They hadn't spoken since the day that Natsu had arrived.
"Where's the fire?" Gray asked, half amused. "Or are you here to threaten me with violence again?"
"I need some lillyglove," Natsu blurted. He sagged against the desk, breathing hard.
"What?! Why?" Gray jumped up, his chair making a raucous scrape across the floor.
He'd done enough trials to know how toxic Lillyglove was, even in small doses.
What sort of idiotic scheme does Natsu have planned? Gray wondered.
"Listen, man, now is not the time," Natsu said. "It's an emergency."
"What sort of emergency?" Gray asked, his eyes narrowing. "You'd better have a good explanation."
"No time to explain!"
"Tough. Then you can't have any," Gray said. He wasn't about to give the idiotic fire-breather something that could easily be used to take a life. While Gray didn't think that Natsu would ever intentionally do something like that, he was accident prone and careless.
"It's Lucy," Natsu said. "Wendy healed her, but she says that she still needs lillyglove berries for the convulsions."
"Wendy said?" Gray repeated, shaking his head. "Lucy? Convulsions?! What happened?"
"Gray, please," Natsu said. There was a look of desperation in his eyes that spoke to much more than a childish prank or a bid for attention.
Gray nodded. "…One condition," he said. "I get to carry it."
Though the idea of retrieving a toxic substance made Gray uneasy, he trusted Wendy. The little Draghi girl was the granddaughter of the legendary healer Porlyusica, and the old lady had taught her well. And if she had a reasonable use for lillyglove berries, then that was good enough for Gray.
Gray let Natsu accompany him to the medical wing. Aside from the regular supplies that one might expect when visiting a chemist or a healer, there was a tall cabinet encased in opaque layers of thick ice. Aside from his steward, who also used ice magic, Gray was the only one who could access the cabinet.
Over the years, Gray had amassed a collection of various poisons and toxins, carefully stored and cataloged in this cabinet. He had only personally experienced a third of them, so he still had a long way to go, but many of the substances were similar, so his efforts would still provide him with some protection.
With a wave of his hand, Gray melted a hole in the ice to access his dubious collection. Gray tipped one of the lillyglove berries into a glass before sealing the container back up and encasing the cabinet with ice once more. There was no such thing as too much precaution when it came to things like this.
Gray kept alert as he transported the poison, raising a questioning eyebrow at Wendy.
"Do you know what these are?" he asked, pulling his hand back before she could reach for them.
"I know what they can be," Wendy said.
Wendy had better know what she's doing, Gray thought, ignoring the uneasy twist in his chest as he handed the poison over.
Wendy crushed one of the berries against the glass, scraping a sliver of the dark blue mash to administer. Gray held his breath as Wendy slipped the miniscule amount of toxin past Lucy's lips.
Slowly, Wendy proved capable once more. The lillyglove eased the tremors, and Lucy fell into an exhausted doze.
"Dump that in the fireplace," Wendy instructed, handing Gray what remained of the berries.
Gray mixed a fistful of ash with the berry mush before dumping the whole thing in the hearth. This was a safe place for it, since anyone who was eating out of the fireplace had bigger problems than being poisoned by the lillyglove.
As he stood, Gray's caught sight of the painting across the room. Gashes were scrawled across Lucy's painted face, shredding the canvas as someone crossed her out of one scene. Next to it, another portrait of Lucy had been stabbed, the icepick dents of the sharp object tearing into her chest five or six times. The worst was one where the vandal had decapitated her, sawing her neck clear through, and carving her eyes out.
Gray shuddered. Whoever had tried to kill Lucy had taken the time to deface her image in this grotesque and deliberate way.
"Is it safe to move her somewhere else?" Gray asked grimly.
"That might be for the best," Wendy said.
Natsu scooped Lucy into his arms, cradling her to his chest. "I'll take her back upstairs."
Gray offered Wendy a hand, pulling her to her feet. The little girl clung onto Gray's arm like a lifeline. Using her magic had taken a lot out of her.
"Are you going back to your room?" he asked.
"Actually, I think I should probably stay close to Princess Lucy," Wendy said.
Natsu shook his head. "Take the night off, Wen. You've earned it."
"What about the princess?" Wendy asked.
"I'll—" both Gray and Natsu started to say.
Gray looked away. The place by Lucy's side belonged to Natsu. Besides, he probably needed to clean up anyways. Managing the aftermath was his job.
"I'll take her," Natsu said. "Bring some extra blankets up to my room, Ice Block? We can take turns crashing on the floor."
Gray nodded, recognizing the olive branch for what it was. "I'll meet you up there after I've walked Wendy back to her room."
Gray let the young healer lean on him as he shuffled towards her room, keeping pace with her weary footsteps.
"What you did today… that was impressive," Gray said.
"Your collection is what's impressive," Wendy said, fixing him with the ghost of a shrewd smile.
Gray cleared his throat uncomfortably. There was something about the young medic's knowing gaze that made him feel exposed.
"People can't hurt you with something that doesn't work on you," Gray said tersely.
"All things in moderation," Wendy said. "Maybe, someday, you'll let me show you how to save a life with it."
"Actually, I've been meaning to talk to you about that," Gray admitted. "When you're feeling up to it, we should discuss sending some of our healers to apprentice under your grandmother."
Lucy awoke to a gentle touch. Something cool and refreshingly damp whispered across her forehead. It ghosted her right cheek, then her left, as if it wanted to wash away any traces of the nightmare that had been.
She could tell who it was without having to look.
Natsu.
When she tried to call out to him, her body wouldn't respond. It wasn't like the waking nightmare of muscles that jerked every which way without her say-so. It was more like being on the edge between wakefulness and sleep. Her mind was alert, but her body lagged behind, clinging to the rest that it so desperately craved. It was like being carved marble, and even opening her eyes required more energy than she had.
Natsu swabbed her chin, cleaning away the remain traces of sick from her face. He rubbed at a particularly stubborn spot at the corner of her mouth. He paused, his thumb running a trail of fire across her lower lip. Lucy would have gasped if she could have.
"I know, I know," Natsu said. "'Don't.' But after today, I can't keep quiet anymore. Do you even realize how scared I was?"
Lucy wished she could reach out for him. She didn't mean to make him worry.
"That's probably not fair of me to say, huh? I know you must have been plenty scared too."
Terrified, Lucy thought. But like always, you found me.
Natsu sucked in a breath. "There's something I need to get off my chest. Something that I'd never say if you were awake."
Wait. He thought she was asleep?!
"Truth is, Luce, I love you… There. I said it. I know, I know, it's corny, huh? But it's true," he said. "You are so precious to me. More precious than the moon and all the stars in the sky. My feelings on this won't change."
Natsu sounded so sure. So confident. Even after she'd pushed him away? Even she'd told him that she could never see him that way?
Lucy felt her resolve fading by the moment. How was she supposed to keep her distance when Natsu was being so impossibly sweet?
He was her weakness. She loved him. She always had.
"But…you've made your thoughts clear too," Natsu continued, his voice tight. "And I respect that. So, I promise, I'll never bring this up again. I just had to say it. Just this once," he said with a resigned chuckle.
This was what she had wanted. Right? To stay friends with no threat of furthering their relationship?
For some reason, Natsu's words gave Lucy a sense of regret, like she had lost something that she could never get back.
Natsu stroked her face, the warmth of his touch lingering on her cheek.
Lucy's pulse quickened. Was he going to kiss her?
He couldn't kiss her! She wouldn't be able to resist him if he did.
But she wanted him to.
But they shouldn't.
But she needed this. Needed him.
Her heart thundered in her chest, so loud that she was surprised Natsu and his Draghi hearing hadn't noticed. She buzzed with a desire that burned so bright she might explode.
Natsu leaned in. So close. So warm.
Lucy waited to feel the press Natsu's lips on hers. But all she sensed was the ghost of his breath, like the barest brush of butterfly wings against her cheek. Then, suddenly, nothing. The heat was gone, and the moment was over.
What happened?
"Please, don't mind me," came Gray's voice.
"I hate you," Natsu said.
For once, Natsu's attitude toward their friend was justified. Lucy hated Gray too right now.
"That's not news," Gray said.
"How much did you see?" Natsu asked.
"… not a thing," Gray said, in a tone that implied otherwise.
It was probably taking all of Natsu's self-control not to punch Gray in the teeth right now.
"You have the worst timing," Natsu muttered. "You couldn't have waited ten more seconds?"
"How's she doing?" Gray asked, serious again.
Lucy felt the edge of the bed dip under Natsu's weight. Close, but not too close.
"Sleeping," Natsu said.
Gray made a noise of acknowledgement.
"She's a regular magnet for trouble, isn't she?" Natsu asked. The warmth and affection in his voice made her melt.
"Don't act like that's a good thing," Gray said.
"She wouldn't be Lucy if she wasn't, though," Natsu said.
"Probably not," Gray said.
There was a beat of silence.
"Hey… Gray…" Natsu said. He sucked in a breath. "I think I owe you an apology."
A pause. "Oh? Why's that?"
"What d'ya mean 'why?' I… I shouldn't have… When it came down to it, I wasn't any better than you were at keeping Lucy safe," Natsu admitted.
Another heavy pause.
"…I'm to blame for this too," Gray said. "I should have snowed in the pass. It would have kept whoever did this out. Then none of this would have happened."
"If you did that, Wendy and I would never have made it here that first night," Natsu said.
"You could have melted through it," Gray said.
"You're giving me too much credit. If your magic was that weak, then you wouldn't be capable of keeping anyone keep anyone out."
"…you were saying?"
"I didn't mean it that way!" Natsu said.
"Maybe so," Gray said. "But I still feel responsible."
An enormous weight lifted from Lucy's chest. These were two of her favorite people in the world. She was glad they were mending their relationship.
"Aw, geez. Don't tell me we're fighting over this too…" Natsu said. "C'mon, man. Let's hug it out."
"Get off."
Lucy heard shuffling. She could imagine the boys roughhousing, taking swipes at each other and ducking playful punches.
"I know you're starved for attention, but you're barking up the wrong tree," Gray said.
"W-whatever…" Natsu said. "Forget it."
"Jokes aside," Gray said. "We've got other things to worry about."
"You're right," Natsu said. "The only thing that matters is protecting Lucy and keeping her safe."
"Keeping everyone safe," Gray said. "From this psychopath…"
Anybody else really hate Gray right now? XD A little bit of a cliche, but all in good fun.
And also, the boys are back together, fighting on the same side (as they should be), which makes me happy.
Speaking of changed outcomes, Lucy's being alive leaves us in uncharted territory. If we remember our classic Brothers Grimm, this one ended just a little differently. So... where does that leave us? With an escalation perhaps? How much more evil do you think this wicked version of Juvia can get?
Next time, in Toxic: An angry screech emitted from Juvia's throat. She swung her scrying bowl, hurling it to the ground. It clattered as it rolled along the stones.
"How is she still alive!? She's supposed to be dead!" Juvia screamed.
Stop back next Monday for the next installment, or just follow me, Karine of R011ingThunder.
