Love of my Life

Chapter 8

Lucy woke up as soon as her body fell hard against the ground. Her memory was fuzzy and her vision was still black in some places, and it took all of her energy to focus on not passing out again. Through her limited vision, she saw a young boy laying a few feet away from her, and a very small pair of legs standing next to her head.

The legs were shifting, as if uncomfortable. One foot scratched the other's calf. Lucy followed the legs up until a sickly little girl came into view. Her dark hair was limp and flat, and all of her limbs were barely thicker than Lucy's thumb.

"Who are you?" she asked. The girl's face froze and she backed up quickly. Lucy propped herself up onto her elbow.

"Who are you?" she repeated.

The little girl shook her head fearfully, her eyes as wide as saucers and filled with terror.

"I'm not going to hurt you," Lucy said slowly. "And even if I was, I don't think I could do much damage. You don't need to be afraid of me."

The girl opened her mouth as if to speak, but closed it almost immediately.

"Can you speak?"

She shook her head sadly, turning around and lifting her hair so that the back of her neck could be seen. Lucy nearly threw up.

A long, thick scar ran down the girl's neck, the skin still raw and red.

"I'm sorry," Lucy whispered, overcome with the urge to take the little girl in her arms and hug her gently for hours. But if she did, Lucy was certain it would only make her more scared.

Instead, she pointed to the boy who was still unconscious next to her.

"Is he alright?"

The girl looked at him for a moment before shrugging her shoulders slowly. She looked like she might burst into tears.

Lucy pulled herself towards him, still unable to pick herself up off of the ground. The boy was older, maybe a teenager. Strange black markings covered every inch of his skin, inching closer to covering his entire face.

Hesitantly, she grabbed his shoulder, but immediately yelped and recoiled her hand. Touching him felt like her hand had burst into flames.

She looked at the girl for some kind of help. Tears were collecting in her eyes, and Lucy saw the same black marks covered her right shoulder. The girl pointed to Lucy's own hand, which to her horror, spotted the same markings that were found on both of the children.

She inched back, staring in fear at the mark on her hand. It was so black that it looked like an endless pit of despair sitting on her palm. And slowly but surely, the mark was spreading. Sooner or later, it would cover her entire hand.

***

Panting, Natsu wiped a smear of blood away from his mouth. He and Blythe had been exchanging blows for the last 20 minutes with no end in sight. He had figured out that she used some kind of freezing magic, but it was unlike Gray's ice. One hit from her and he would be down for the count.

He had been able to dodge all of her attacks thus far, but his arms and legs were growing tired. Blythe, on the other hand, hadn't even broken a sweat.

Lucy's keys dangled at her hips, and the sight of them on anyone but Lucy made him angry. Those were her spirits, her friends, and he would make it back to return them to her no matter what. 

"Give up already!" Blythe frowned as she shot bolts of her magic from her hands. One of them nearly hit him in the arm.

Natsu didn't respond, focusing instead on beating her. He brought fire to his hands and aimed for her head, but she bent her back and dodged his fist. He landed behind her, stumbling over his feet.

She laughed at his misstep and summoned more of her magic, seizing her opportunity for a clear shot as his chest. Natsu scrambled away as quickly as he could, but the magic shot towards him faster than he could dodge.

Just before the magic hit him, Natsu was pulled up into the air. Happy had grabbed onto the collar of his shirt, and smiled down at him as they soared towards the ceiling. Blythe cursed loudly from the ground.

"Happy!" Natsu cried, grinning uncontrollably at his best friend. "You just saved my butt down there!"

"You can thank me later. Right now, we have to get out of here."

Happy pulled Natsu to the side as another bolt of magic shot towards them. Natsu's smile disappeared from his face.

"Get out of here?" he asked indignantly . "Happy, we can't leave, I have to beat this chick! Plus, she still has Lucy's keys!"

"Can you get her from here?" Happy asked, flying around a barrage of magic bullets.

Natsu cracked his knuckles. "No problem."

Now that he had the advantage of height, he easily was able to hit Blythe with a stream of fire. She screamed in pain, still standing as she took the full effect of his fire. However, after a few seconds, she fell backwards onto the ground.

"Nice. Now grab Lucy's keys and let's leave," Happy said, setting Natsu down on the ground.

Natsu frowned as he secured the keys to his belt. "Why do we have to leave so fast? I've got a bone to pick with that one guy, the Heart-Stopper, or whatever his name was."

Happy turned his back to him and shook his head. "These guys are really scary. Their leader is really strong, maybe stronger than the master. I saw things, Natsu. After Blythe took down Lucy, she just kicked me down and left me there. When I got up, they were both gone. I wandered around for a while until I walked into this laboratory-thing. There was a person in a giant tube, and this guy dressed in all white was standing there looking at him." Happy turned to face Natsu. Tears were falling down his face.

"They're taking magic from people, and they're using it to make themselves more powerful," Happy said. "You were going to become their next victim."

Natsu watched in silence as Happy began to sob harder. As much as he did want to beat everybody in the facility to a pulp, he didn't want to upset Happy any further. Besides, if Happy was right, and these guys were stronger than Gramps, he didn't know if he could beat them, and he certainly wasn't ready to die.

He picked up Happy with one hand and cradled him in his arm.

"Let's find Lucy," he said. "And then we'll go home, I promise."

***

Fortunately, it didn't take that long to find Lucy. After a few minutes of sneaking around, the two were able to find a door that lead to the dumpsters. And after a quick ariel scan of the surroundings, Natsu and Happy spotted three figures on the ground, one of which had Lucy's bright blonde hair.

Lucy's face flooded with relief as soon as they landed.

"Natsu, Happy, you're okay!" she cried, crawling towards them.

Natsu helped her stand before enveloping her in a hug, burying his face in her hair. She sighed deeply and melted into the embrace. She smelled like home.

He wrapped one of her arms around his shoulder, letting her lean on him while he fumbled with the keys at his hip.

"Here," he said, holding them out to her.

"My keys!" she cried, cradling them in her hand. "I didn't even know I lost them," she said, guilt creeping up in her voice.

"That's not your fault, and your spirits know that," he said, firmly but gently at the same time. "Don't beat yourself up over it."

She nodded, carefully hooking them back to her belt. "Thank you."

Natsu was about to say more, but at that point he became aware of the little girl who was watching them with a stoic face. The boy from the lab was lying unconscious not too far away. He felt a pang of disappointment that he couldn't spend some time alone with Lucy, put immediately pushed the thought away. He couldn't be selfish.

"Well, who do we have here?"