Chapter Three
Lucy was dropped over the ledge; only her legs still hanging into the alley. Whatever had wrapped around her hand was gone, leaving only residual heat. She felt the dragonoid pulling on her leg and she started to kick again. She felt warmth engulf her her lower back, butt and thighs as something leaned over her.
New growling echoed around her as she felt fire run along her leg and the dragonoid that held onto her leg let go. Her stomach tried to rise into her throat; but it was still painfully empty. She hated that she hadn't eaten over the last few days, but at the same time she was grateful she wasn't puking all over herself as she tried to get away from the fire breathing orange dragonoid that was fighting the black one off of her. She felt something land on the top of her thighs, just under her butt and it almost felt like a hand and she wanted to scream in outrage. Dragonoid or not, fondling was not cool. But the pressure was quick, and she found herself laying on her stomach on the roof.
She forced herself to roll over, and pulled her legs back, prepared to kick out but froze. Standing in front of her by the ledge was not an orange dragonoid. Or any dragonoid for that matter. It was a person. She thought. It was hard to tell as the moon had chosen that moment to hide behind some clouds. Dark eyes seemed to glow with fire, and her mouth fell open. Who or whatever it was, was also giving off a lot of heat. The clouds changed course, and the moon came back out and her brow furrowed.
Pink hair? She blinked a few times and crab walked back until she hit a metal exhaust pipe. Pink hair, that was definitely pink hair and it stuck out all over. Those glowing eyes were narrowed slightly. In the moonlight she could perfectly see the face of the…person in front of her. She used that word loosely. He had a semi-human face but with scales around the corners of his eyes, along his jaw and down his neck, as well as around his hairline. He was tan but the scales were reds and tans of a lighter shade than of the majority of his skin. He squatted down, his arms resting on his knees. She pulled her legs close and mimicked his stance. He tilted his head to his right and she did the same only to her right.
He grinned and she saw bright white teeth, with two prominent fangs on both the top and lower jaws. But there was something about the grin that relaxed her. It was almost…playful. He growled and moved his right hand in a circling motion and flipped it palm up at her. When she didn't react he growled again, moving his right hand again.
"Uh…hello?" She waved with her left hand. He tilted his head and growled. She shook her head, some of her hair falling around her face. "I don't understand you."
He growled and started to stand up. But at the same time motion behind him caught her eye. She felt her heart start to race and she lunged forward, pulling the pipe from between her back and the pack. She wrapped her left arm around his waist, pulling him towards the roof, and swung as hard as she could with her right. The pipe connected with the jaw of the black dragonoid, forcing its head back.
She felt the male under her growl, before she was gently thrown off of him and he jumped up and raced up the side of the ledge. She watched as he jumped up in the air, crossing his arms in front of him and they started to glow. His arms started to actually freaking glow. Her mouth dropped open as fire erupted along his arms, making the scales that spotted his flesh glisten like jewels in the flames. He uncrossed his arms while growling and the fire flew forward and hit the black dragonoid in the chest and sent it careening into the roof across the street. He landed on their ledge and roared.
Lucy felt her breathing pick up the pace, and her vision started to blur. She realized she was having a panic attack, because the male in front of her was not human. And she was guessing he was part dragonoid. She felt a wave of warmth roll over her and lifted her head. He was leaning over her, his mouth open to show all of his sharp white teeth. Her panic attack cranked it up a notch and she decided to stop fighting the inevitable. If he was going to kill her, she sure as hell did not want to be awake for it. As her eyes started to roll back, she thought she saw fear wash over his face. But why would he be scared?
Lucy groaned as light started to penetrated her eyes. She rolled her head, trying to figure out why light would be getting into her window after she'd carefully secured the blinds before leaving. Her cheek landed on something soft, softer than anything in her room. Her brow furrowed.
She heard some soft growling and immediately she jack knifed up as her eyes popped wide open. In front of her were beautiful stain glass windows. She turned her head and saw him. The dragonoid male from the roof. He was frozen at the foot of the…nest she was in. He looked startled. She clenched her fists and felt the softness again and looked down. She was lay on what looked like several dozen of the softest throw blankets ever made. She looked back up and he was kneeling at the foot of the pile…nest…bed she was on and held his hands up and growled.
She looked around, her backpack and pipe were on a table over by the windows. Along with her long sleeved hoodie. Her hoodie! She looked down and realized the duct tape top was still on. She looked up and saw him tilting his head as he slowly lifted his right hand. It held a metallic bowl and what looked like a rag hanging over the edge. He shook it ever so slightly and when she didn't take it, he narrowed his eyes before lifting the rag out. She saw water drip off of it. He dropped it back and held it out. She slowly took it and he grinned.
She held the warm bowl of water to her chest and stared as his grin made his face look younger. He growled some and then jumped to his feet and turned to walk over to the door. Before she could figure anything out, he was out of sight. She looked down at the bowl and rag and then the empty doorway before looking at the bowl again. She dipped the rag in and wrang it out. She lifted it to her face and carefully started to wash her face. It felt amazing. She was running it over her neck when the male came back in.
He knelt at the end of the nest and held out a metallic plate. On it looked like cooked food. She looked at it then up to him and back to the plate. The meat was steaming and smelled decent. Her stomach growled and the pain of its emptiness twisted her muscles. She bit her lip and he looked concerned and shoved the plate at her. She caught it with the hand that held the rag and stared at him. He mimed eating and she looked at the plate and then back at him. He was sitting now, his legs crossed at the ankle, and his arms resting on them. His eyes on her face. She set the bowl down carefully and then took the plate in the free hand and put the rag in the bowl.
The meat was nearly too warm to pick up with her fingers but she did so nonetheless. She couldn't smell any spices or sauces, but the aroma of cooke meat made her mouth salivate anyway. She took a hesitant nibble. The meat was not familiar, but it wasn't bad. The next bite was bigger. Much bigger. Before she realized it, the plate was half empty, but her stomach felt fuller than full. So full in fact, she had to scramble out of the nest of blankets. She barely made it to the edge of a gap in the floor before she puked. Her body heaving violently.
When her body stopped heaving, she leaned on her side and struggled to breathe. She was suddenly cold, and she realized during the puking episode she'd started to sweat profusely. If she didn't get the layer of duct tape armor off soon, she'd get sick. She knew it. She shivered and started to struggle to remove the duct tape but she didn't have the energy.
"Come on. I have to get you off." She muttered and started to tug and tried to tear the tape. Then she felt the warmth from the roof. The male was over her, his face a mask she couldn't understand. He reached out a hand and she watched as a long claw grew out an otherwise normal looking human finger. He ran the sharp claw down the tape, and it fell off of her arm. He repeated it with the other arm and then reached forward to do the tape covering her chest and stomach but she instinctively jerked away. He grabbed onto her with his unaltered hand, it landed firmly on her him and he pressed down until she stopped trying to move. Then he ran his finger along the tape. It crackled and hissed a little. Then he carefully pulled it off and leaned back and did the same for the tape on her legs.
She watched as he held up the tape of her left leg and saw the deep indentions where nearly all the way through where the black dragonoid had latched on. She shuddered a breath and shook as the cool air hit her sweating body. She tried to push up off of the floor but her arms shook and she ended up falling back to the floor. Suddenly she found herself picked up and cradled against his chest. He was insanely warm. But since he'd erupted in flames that made sense. She shivered and his steps hastened and she found herself back in the nest. He was wrapping her with the blankets and she felt like a burrito when he stopped. Only her face was visible and she watched him as he moved her into the position he wanted. Propped against the wall and immobile.
He left the room but came back quickly with water in a glass and made her drink. She was trying to figure him out. Whatever he was, he didn't seem to be a danger to her. But she didn't understand why he was so concerned over her.
She watched as he picked up the plate with meat and held some to her mouth. She both wanted to and didn't want to eat but he was insistent. She ate but to her surprise, after a few pieces he set the plate down and leaned back and tilted his head and watched her. She wasn't sure, until she realized that he was waiting to make sure she didn't get sick again. She tried not to blush. She couldn't remember the last time someone had been so…tender towards her. The girls in the dorm obviously tried to care, but they didn't have the means to; and sometimes they didn't have the time to.
He held the plate up, and her stomach growled before she could nod. His lips quirked and he held more meat up to her. She started to feel full after about two more pieces and she turned her head and he nodded and took the meat away. He came back with a fresh bowl of warm water and a new rag. He started moving her around again. She found herself on her back and he started to unwrap her. Before she understood why, she wrinkled her nose and tried to fight him off as he started wiping her with the rag. Way too intimately. Then he wrapped his hands around the waistband of her legging and started to tug them off. That had her sitting up and pulling her right leg to her chest and then kicking forward. It connected with his chest and he tumbled over the blankets and landed sprawled on the floor.
Lucy pulled her leggings back up and started to scramble off the nest. Feeding her and washing her suddenly made sense. He wanted something in thanks. Something she was not willing to hand over. She made a dash for her bag and felt him behind her. She grabbed the pipe and swung and he bent backwards to avoid it. He growled something but she grabbed her bag and swung the pipe again. He rolled his eyes and caught the pipe. She refused to let it go and tried to pull it back. He tugged and she nearly fell into him before she planted her feet and tugged the pipe back. She saw his lips quirk in a grin and she smirked before letting go of the pipe right as he tugged, sending him sprawling onto his back again.
She used the moment to turn on her heel and run for the opening. He was growling behind her but she didn't bother to pay any attention. It obviously hadn't gotten through to him that she didn't understand him. She flew through the door way and started to windmill her arms when the missing floor became very apparent. An arm snaked around her waist and pulled her back against a warm chest and she gasped. She tilted her head back and he was glaring down at her. He lifted his free hand and pointed to the narrow strip of unbroken stairs and then pointed to the gaping hole where the floor should have been. He took a few steps and stopped and dropped his arm.
Lucy was breathing hard and shaking her head. Nothing was making sense. He had let her loose; obviously he wasn't trying to stop her from going for the stairs. But as she stood there she felt the coolness of the air sinking through her thin clothes. Obviously she was not dressed well enough to go out onto the street. The duct tape had protected her. She needed to recreate that armor if she wanted to get back to the dorm. She sank to the floor, squatting and wrapping her arms around her bent knees. She shuddered and struggled to calm her breathing. She turned her head and saw that the male had also lowered himself to the floor. He was sitting, propped against the doorjamb.
"If you could speak English this would be so much easier." She muttered and he just stared at her. "What even are you?"
He just kept staring and she shook her head. She carefully reclined to sit fully on her bottom and pulled her backpack around to her front. She opened it and dug around until she found the duct tape. She spun the roll until she found the paperclip she'd wrapped with some of the tape to show where it started. She pulled and leaned forward to start wrapping the ankle of her leggings when the male growled.
She turned her head and he looked unhappy and was shaking his head. She lifted the tape away and he stopped growling and started moving his hands towards the room. She leaned the tape towards her ankle and he stared growling and jumped to his feet. Motioning wildly. When she put the tape on her legging his hand appeared and he tried to grab the tape. She had expected it and quickly wrapped the tape around his wrists and he went still in confusion. She leaned down and was about to start wrapping her ankle when she smelt burning plastic. She looked up and her mouth fell open as the tape around his wrists caught fire and started to curl and fall off of him.
"Oh come on. That's cheating!" She lamented and he reached over and grabbed her tape and threw it haphazardly into the room behind him. She lunged to follow but his arms caught her around her waist and he picked her up and she started to thrash. He growled down at her, his face twisted in annoyance.
"I have to get back to the others. Put me down and let me get my tape." She yelled and he growled and she found herself dropped on the blankets. She tried to scramble over to the side but he grabbed her, pushed her down, then pinned her with his legs on either side of her hips. She sneered at him and was about to throw a punch when he wrapped a blanket around her. "No…don't turn me…into a burrito."
She struggled but it was useless. She thrashed in her soft cocoon and glared at him. He glared back at her and then turned and left her alone to stew in her anger. She gave up after a few minutes and started at the stained glass windows. They were beautiful. She sighed and wondered if the girls thought she was dead. She felt the tears start to well up. She had no idea what was going to happen to her, but the fact that she left without telling anyone goodbye started to weigh heavily on her. The first tear slipped past her eyelashes and she took a deep breath. Crying wouldn't help matters. She felt more tears fall as she struggled to breathe. Then, she felt heat engulf her. She opened her eyes right as arms wrapped around her. She whipped her head around but instead of seeing the irritated expression or even an angry one, she saw that he looked as upset as she felt. He carefully unwrapped her but didn't release her. Instead he pulled her close and started to run a hand up and down her back.
As much as she didn't want to, she started to cry harder. She gave into the fear she's held in for the past two years, and the pain and fear of seeing Erza injured the other morning. She cried for how close she came to dying the night before and how kind he was treating her even when he was also acting like a controlling jerk not letting her wrap up in duct tape. She realized that he didn't realize she had a reason to go back out there. He couldn't understand her. But she hated that he was holding her captive even though he was protecting her by doing it.
He growled as her sobs shook her, and the growling was soft; almost like a purring cat. She slowly stopped crying, and struggled to calm her breathing down. The running of his hand up and down her back didn't change. He kept at it, until she calmed down enough that she was limp against him. Her eyes felt heavy and she sighed. His warmth mixed with the exhaustion of her meltdown had her drifting off to sleep even as the light danced down on them through the church's windows.