Updated: May 31, 2024

Chapter 12: Two boys and a punch

Standing before the large mirror, Lucy looked at her reflection as she watched Levy enter the cubicle. The bathroom was almost quiet and Lucy couldn't bear the growing silence so she turned on the faucet to wash her hands.

"Lu-chan?" Levy calls, breaking the silence, "If I may ask," she pauses and Lucy hums audibly as a reply, "What do you think if Lisanna and Natsu…got together?"

Lucy suddenly looked up and stared at Levy's door through the mirror. Her eyes were big as she felt her heart pound inside her chest. Slowly, her eyes return her gaze on her face. She swallows hard as she tries to ignore the pricking feeling in her chest.

"I don't think I should have any comment about that Levy-chan…" She shook her head as she closed her eyes, trying to keep her eyes from tearing up, "I can only hope for the best for the two of them,"

"But, what about being Natsu's best friend?" Levy inquires.

Lucy opens her eyes and sees it glassy. She released a shaky breath, "Nothing," she then looked down at the sink and watched the water pool below. She still felt that tugging sensation inside her chest, "They want to get together, then…" She swallows the growing lump in her throat, "Good for them. They are good people…good for each other,"

Lucy then looked up and turned off the faucet as she watched a tear roll down her face. She then quickly wiped it away.

"Lu-chan—"

"I'll step outside for a bit, Levy-chan. I'll wait for you outside," Lucy then quickly turned away when she heard Levy rustle inside the cubicle as if hurrying to step out.

As Lucy steps out of the bathroom, a sob quickly slips out of her throat. She clasps her hand over her mouth to muffle the sound as she hurries to walk away from the bathroom. She didn't know where she was going but knew she needed to be alone momentarily.

Stumbling towards a building, a group of girls suddenly blocks her way. She tried to side-step but to her confusion, the group intentionally followed her direction. Lucy then wiped her face before looking up.

"Um, is there a problem?" Lucy asked and looked at each of the girls. She then realized these were the same girls in the bathroom. And just as she had thought, they were not from their school.

"Are you lost?" she asked again when none of the girls responded to her.

"No," one of the girls said, crossing her arms as she raised a brow at the blonde.

"Oh, then…" Lucy tried to smile, "I'll leave you be," She turned away heading back to where she left Levy. But before she could step away, the five girls ran up to her and held her back.

Lucy's eyes grew wide in surprise as two girls held her arms. Another girl pulled her shirt back, making her stumble. The two other girls stood before her, smirking and crossing their arms.

"You're Lucy Heartfilia, right?" the brunette asked as she scowled at Lucy.

"You do realize that this isn't your school to act like this," Lucy sternly says as she tugs on her arm free, but the purple-haired girl tightens her grip. "I could report you to authorities,"

The blonde in front scoffs at her, "Are you trying to scare us?"

"It's an abysmal job, you're doing," the brunette adds, mocking her before she and the blonde laughed with the other girls. "I'm not going to ask if you are Heartfilia again, because I know that you are that girl,"

"Why, the hell, do you care if I'm Heartfilia or not?" Lucy then grunts as she glares at the girl on her left, "Let me go!"

"Because you have no right to be Sting's girlfriend!" the ash-white-haired girl, on Lucy's left, bellowed. She then squeezed Lucy's arm, making the blonde groan in pain, "No girl like you deserves to be Sting-sama's attention,"

"Who are you people?!" Lucy then looked at the two girls before her, "Why are you doing this?!"

"We are protectors of Rogue-sama, and Sting-sama is Rogue's best friend. We must make sure that no girls like you ever lay a finger on them,"

Lucy's eyes grew big in bewilderment, "What the hell are you talking about—ow!" she then looked at the girl on her right side. The girl scratched Lucy's arm and dug her sharp nails into her skin.

"Shut up!" the girl shouted, "You have to be taught a lesson," she muttered menacingly.

The girl at Lucy's back suddenly shoved her, making her fall on her knees, scrapping her skin on the ground. Lucy whimpered at the impact and sat on the ground. She immediately saw her knee having a large gash and started to bleed. She felt the stinging feeling and quickly blew on it. But the two girls pulled her up again before she could tend to it.

Lucy couldn't pull away as she limped upward. Soon enough, her eyes were covered and she started to panic. Her heart was pounding as one of the girls tightened the blindfold. Unsure of what to do, Lucy turned her head, left and right, trying to decipher what was happening.

Soon enough, she was being pushed towards somewhere she didn't know before four hands gripped her arms and dragged her someplace.

Standing alone in a dark space, Lucy couldn't see anything. She could hear muffled voices, laughing at her, mocking her. She turns her head from side to side, trying to find the source of the sound. But she found none, but the laughing continued.

"You think you're pretty? You're just some bimbo with big boobs. He doesn't care about you, you don't deserve his attention!"

"Who the hell is there?!" Lucy bellowed in the dark. She then turns around and sees endless darkness, "Hello?! Is anybody there?!"

The sound of a chain in the distance was heard, making Lucy scared. However, despite the fear, she took a step forward trying to find any sign of life or even another living being. She needed to get out.

"Hello?!" she took another step and then another until she almost ran towards the sound of the chain. But suddenly a sound of laughter echoed.

"No one will ever find you here,"

"You'll rot in this place!"

"Wait! No!" Lucy shouted as she ran to the sound of a creaking door, "Don't leave me here!"

Then the sound of a metal door shuts, cutting off any other sounds. Lucy suddenly stopped in her tracks as she breathed hard. The darkness was enveloping her. She couldn't even see her feet. She couldn't see anything. She could only hear her labored breath.

Lucy suddenly felt a warm feeling envelop her hands. She lifted it and tried to stare at it even if she couldn't see it. The longer she stared the more she thought she could see her hands and then she felt that warm squeeze.

"Luce…" a warm voice called, making her look up to a vast of darkness, "Luce, it's me…I'll get you out of there…"

"N-Natsu?" she whispered and then she felt another squeeze in her hand.

Suddenly a glowing light appeared at the end. Lucy stared at it as it grew bigger by the second. She felt another squeeze in her hand, and this made her smile, knowing she was safe now.

"Luce?" a voice called, making Lucy groan as she tried to open her eyes. She felt a squeeze in her hand, giving her that warm feeling inside her chest as if she was being told she was safe.

Slowly, Lucy opened her eyes and immediately saw that familiar salmon-pink hair, "N-Natsu?" she hoarsely spoke.

"Hey…" The pinkette stood up from his chair and quickly settled on the side of the bed. He didn't drop his hold on Lucy's hand, "You're finally awake…I told you not to, you could have had a concussion,"

Lucy felt sluggish but a smile appeared on her lips. She scoffed at the pinkette, "I did not sleep, I just closed my eyes for a minute,"

Natsu huffed a laugh, "I don't think an hour is a minute," he then scooted closer to Lucy before squeezing her hand again, "Do you feel better now?"

"Um…" Lucy cleared her throat as her voice was still rough. She then remembers how much shouting she did over that gaged cloth in her mouth, "I feel sore but I'll live,"

"Here," Natsu stood up and grabbed a glass of water. As Lucy slowly sat up, Natsu assisted her before handing the glass, "Drink some water. I'll call Levy in, okay? She had been worried sick for hours,"

Before Lucy could reply, the pinkette turned away and called some people in. Soon enough, Natsu entered the make-shift private room in the clinic, followed by Levy and Erza.

"Oh, Lu-chan!" Levy quickly hugged her, making them both stumble a little. Lucy wraps an arm around her best friend.

"I'm fine, Levy-chan," Lucy then tries to laugh to make the blunette less worried. But Levy quickly glared at her as they pulled back.

"You are certainly not fine!" Levy retorts before her eyes scan Lucy's state.

Lucy's arms had various small pieces of gauze to cover up deep cuts. She also had bruises in the shape of a hand. Levy then lifted the blanket and saw a large bandage on Lucy's knee. She pointed at it, "You see that?! That is completely not fine!"

Lucy pulled down the blanket and quickly tucked it under her legs, "Levy-chan, I scraped my knees when I was a kid. This is far from causing me death, so relax,"

"Still!" Levy bellowed. Erza quickly stepped up and placed her hands over Levy's shoulders.

"She means well," Erza suddenly muttered, smiling at the blonde, "She was just really worried when you disappeared on her,"

"I know, I'm sorry," Lucy sheepishly looked at the blunette then to Erza, "I'm sorry girls if I worried you. I wasn't just feeling great,"

Lucy then realized what she said. Looking at the girls, she knew that Levy had an idea what she meant, and guessing from Erza's expression, she also had a clue. So, Lucy cautiously looked at Natsu, who was standing at the far end of the room. He was stoically watching her but she couldn't read if he had an inkling of what she meant.

Trying to cover up whatever Natsu could possibly know, Lucy cleared her throat and explained, "I was having a terrible headache when Levy and I left the gym,"

Natsu stared long before he nodded his head. He didn't speak at all but kept his eyes on her. Looking away, Lucy focuses on Levy and Erza again.

"So, where did you guys find me?"

"Natsu found you—" Levy starts but is immediately cut off by the pinkette.

"In a storage room, the old one in the Vermillion Building," Natsu replies on behalf of the two, stepping up to Lucy's bed. Natsu could feel the baffled eyes of the other two girls, but he deliberately ignored it. "Jiji-Ken found the girls that tied you up. He was cleaning that time when he heard them. He just didn't realize that these girls were doing something wrong,"

Lucy stared at Natsu as she felt gratitude for her best friend. She softly asked, "You looked for me?"

Natsu stared back at the blonde, contemplating whether to answer her or not. But before he could say anything, he craven and looked away, taking a step back, "Um, Jiji-ken thought he heard someone shouting and figured that could be you,"

Lucy immediately notices the hesitance of the pinkette. It wasn't usual for Natsu to cave in, but she wasn't ready either to question it. So, she just nodded her head and said, "I was blindfolded when those girls dragged me. I had no idea where we were,"

"I had requested the security to check on the CCTVs and they did find those girls. They had been escorted out of the school already," Erza then scowls as she crosses her arms, "They were from Sabertooth Academy. I'll make sure that none of those idiot girls ever steps foot in our school again,"

"Why were those girls even here? There isn't even an event for them to drop by," Natsu questioned with a frown on his face.

"They were here for Sting," Levy then eyed Lucy, who quickly looked down at her hands and fumbled. "What did they tell you?"

Lucy didn't look up as she knew her friends were watching her immensely. She was even certain that Natsu was growling at the end of her bed.

"They…they were admirers of Rogue and…when they knew that Sting was his best friend, they came here to check up on him too. They also knew that Sting was courting me, so…they came here to teach me a lesson—" Lucy then jumped when Natsu hit his fist on Lucy's bed railing.

She looked at her best friend alarmed. Levy and Erza whipped their head to look at the pinkette, stunned as well.

"A lesson?!" Natsu growled, curling his fist, "What fucking shit is that?!"

"Natsu, language," Erza warns but the man ignores her.

"This is Sting's fault—"

"Natsu, no—" Lucy leaned forward to grab the pinkette's attention, but the man was completely furious as he mumbled to himself.

"If that idiot didn't attract those psycho-fans this wouldn't have happened!" Natsu abruptly looked at the blonde.

"Natsu, I don't think Sting even knows that there are those girls—"

"I don't care!" Natsu then turned away and Erza quickly stepped up to block the pinkette.

"Dragneel, calm down," Erza then placed a hand on his chest to stop further, "What do you plan to do? Punch him for something he isn't aware of?"

"He should take responsibility!" Natsu bellowed.

"I know that you don't like seeing Lucy hurt, but you can't just start pinpointing people just because you're angry," Erza stared hard at the pinkette, who finally took a moment to listen.

Natsu let out a haggard breath, running his hand through his pink mane. He silently cursed before turning away from the scarlet-haired president. He sat down heavily on the foldable chair and crossed his arms.

Lucy could only sigh in relief as she watched her best friend mutter in annoyance. Soon enough, a nurse came in and checked up on her again. After asking questions if there was anything painful around her body, the nurse left after telling her that she should head home in a bit. The nurse would be calling Lucy's home.

Levy, Erza, and Natsu waited around in Lucy's bed as they let Lucy rest up while waiting for Lucy's driver. The trio were hushed talking to one another when suddenly Juvia and Gray appeared in the clinic.

Natsu and Erza quickly stepped out and told the two what had happened. While doing so, Sting suddenly came in and Natsu's eyes quickly saw him. His eyes narrowed on him and his fist curls up again.

"Bastard!" Natsu grunts as he stumps towards the blonde. Sting was surprised at the furious look of the pinkette.

"Natsu!" Erza called out as soon as she realized who he called.

"You're coming with me!" Natsu shouted as he grabbed Sting's shirt and dragged him out of the clinic.

Sting stumbles out of the clinic and nearly falls to the ground. When he got a hold of his footing, he swiftly turned to look at the pinkette.

"What the hell, Natsu?!" Sting bellowed.

Natsu was fuming with anger as he approached the blonde boy. He then shoved him and pointed a figure, "Your fucking psycho-fans are the reason why Lucy's in the clinic!"

"What psycho-fan?! What are you talking about?!" Sting then deflects Natsu's hands when the pinkette attempts to push him again.

"Oh, don't be an idiot!" Natsu banters, "Don't tell me that you haven't noticed that you have weird fanatic girls following?!"

"I—" Sting tried to counter but then shut his mouth.

"Exactly!" Natsu growls as he takes another step closer to the blonde, intimidating him, "You should have been more protective, idiot. The fact that you—fucking walk Lucy home, you put her in the spotlight for your weird fan girls. Now, look what happened!"

Sting toppled when Natsu jostled his shoulder as the boy stepped away from him. He was baffled, unsure of how to grasp what he heard.

"I didn't realize I would attract such attention from those kinds of girls," Sting said, shaking his head, "I didn't even realize I had one,"

Natsu scoffed, "Then you are an idiot, more than me, apparently," he then turned to look at the blonde, exasperated, "You seriously didn't notice any girls looking or watching you leave every day at school? Not once?!"

"No—well, there were a few times. But I assumed it was for some other guys, I didn't know them. They were wearing another school's uniform. I don't know other students outside the school—!"Sting quickly stepped back when Natsu launched himself with a raised fist.

"Wa-wait!" Sting raises his hands in surrender.

Natsu then stops in his tracks and heaves deeply as he tries to stop himself from pummeling the blonde. As he clenched his fist tighter, he gritted his teeth and said, "If you really cared about Lucy, you would have noticed it and protected her from them. You would have seen how they looked at you and Lucy. You could have prevented this from happening to Lucy if you were more caring. You don't deserve Lucy."

Sting's hand slowly goes down and his face scrunches in confusion, "And you think you do?"

Natsu wavered for a second but his fist was still up. And then took a step forward to scare the blonde, but the boy didn't flinch, "What did you say?"

"I understand that you are pissed off that Lucy got hurt. I am too," Sting then closed their gap and stood face to face with the pinkette, "But you have no right to tell me who she deserves. You're just her friend, not her brother, not a relative, not even her boyfriend. You're just her friend."

"You think you have the guts to say this to me?" Natsu groans as he stares menacingly at the blonde.

"At least I'm honest. Unlike you," Sting then smirked when Natsu's eyes showed doubt, "You claim to be her best friend and yet you haven't told her about you and Li—"

"Shut up—!" Natsu shouted as he threw a punch at Sting's face.

"Natsu!"

"Dragneel!"

Erza and Gray shouted respectively, as they finally stepped up when they realized that the two were now punching one another. The others immediately shrieked after they thought that the two were just talking it out. But when the two started fighting with their fists, they knew that this needed to be stopped.

Unbeknownst to everyone around the clinic, Lisanna walked up to the crowd and quickly saw her boyfriend having a fistfight. She quickly panicked and ran up to the group.

She called out to the pinkette a few times as she helped Erza push him away from the blonde. When they stood a foot away from the blonde, she stared at the pinkette with surprise as she watched him shout.

"You're a fucking shit!"

"And you're a coward!" Sting bellowed back.

"Natsu—" Lisanna tries to call, cupping the cheek of the pinkette, pulling his head down to make him look at her, "Babe!"

Natsu stiffens and finally snaps out of his thoughts. He slowly looked down at the silver-haired girl standing before him, trying to calm him down. His eyes grew big as he recognized her.

"Babe, why are you fighting with Sting?" Lisanna then looked at Erza, who was quite stunned, staring back at her. She then turns to see everyone around them bewilderedly staring at them too.

"What is going on? Why are you here in the clinic? I was looking for you baby, and I couldn't find you at the gym. They said you were at the clinic so I came here. Are you hurt?"

"Lis," Natsu finally spoke, breaking the silverette's panic, "I'm fine,"

"Are you sure?" Lisanna then grabbed his face and inspected it closer, looking for any bruises. She then noticed his jaw was slightly swollen and red from the hit he got from Sting. "You got hit in the jaw. You should put ice on it," she then turned towards the clinic as she grabbed his hand.

"Hold on," Erza suddenly spoke, halting Lisanna from walking away. "What's going on with you two?"

Natsu couldn't look back at Erza and just stared ahead. To his surprise, Lucy was standing by the clinic door, staring at them with wide eyes.

"Oh, haven't you heard? I said yes to Natsu already," Lisanna then beamed as she entwined her hand with his and lifted it to show everyone. "Natsu's my boyfriend now,"

Natsu couldn't care what Lisanna was saying as his eyes were glued to Lucy. He quickly saw the shock and pain in her eyes. Natsu suddenly took a step forward to reach out to the blonde, but Levy quickly stepped up to Lucy and Sting was behind them. They immediately urged Lucy to head back inside.

"Come on, babe, you have to put ice on your jaw," Lisanna then pulled him towards the clinic.

As Natsu stumbled towards the facility, Erza quickly tapped his shoulder. He looked at her with a baffled and lost look.

"I guess a congratulation is in order," Erza then tried to smile, but didn't reach her eyes. Soon enough, she walked ahead and left them, leaving Natsu with a constricting feeling inside his chest.