Natsu immediately carries the unconscious and bleeding Erza, bridal style.
Though his mind was to go to the Ship's doctor, Erza words echoed through his head as he was running through the Ship's interior corridors. No one can know about this... Her words stuck inside his head in repeat.
Natsu had to choose and fast. This woman! He could feel some of the blood go through his white buttoned up shirt. Fuck, alright let's just go to our room, it is the closest here!
After several minutes he made it where Juvia had showed them their room. He bashed his door right in and placed Erza onto the bed. He quickly closed and locked the door and headed immediately to the bathroom where the first aid kit was.
There was no time to think anymore and Natsu simply ripped the med kit from the wall and brought it next to him to the bed. He went back in to get the bathroom towel, soaking it in bot water. He rushed right back with it.
He ripped off the blood soaked part of the dress, now showing the gun wound. A precise shot, went in and out and from the looks of it, did not hit any vital spots. With the brown towel, he placed and applied pressure to the entrance wound first. After a few minutes, some of the blood finally stopped coming and now did the same thing to the exit wound.
After finally stopping the wound from bleeding as much as it did, Natsu checked Erza's breathing and heartbeat. Phew, she still alive! He let out a small sigh of relief.
Though his hands and shirt were bloodied, he still continued on with her wounds, patching it up with the sutures and seams, cleaning the wounds as best as he could with the alcohol wipes and finally, wrapping around the bandages.
"Finally." Exhausted, Natsu wiped away sweat from his forehead and made his way to the single couch that was close to the bed. He didn't bother with the mess he made of dirty alcohol wipes and a few broken sutures and seams.
He sat there, awaiting her to finally gain consciousness.
...
A few hours passed, the night was now fading and the sun eagerly moving to show morning.
Erza finally gained consciousness. "... huh?..." She opened her eyes, having a bit of a blur vision as she came back. After a few seconds, her vision was back to normal and saw that she laid on the bed.
As she tried to move, she felt a small sting coming from her wound. She looked and saw that it had been patched. She tried moving slowly in hopes of evading the pain. "Eh..." She placed her right palm over her wound.
"You finally awake sunshine?" Erza looked over and saw Natsu, half awake on the single couch with his bloodied shirt.
"You p-patched me up?" She didn't expect him to have some medical background knowledge.
"You should be thankful," Natsu got up from his chair, slowly walking towards the bedside. "My dad was a Medic in the war, he taught me a few things here and there about patching up a wound or two."
"Then I am thankful." She saw the mess of he made of the medical equipment in the First Aid kit.
"Seriously though, would've been much easier for me to have taken you to the ship's doctor." Natsu groaned, still tired from watching over Erza.
"I just didn't want no one on the ship to know about the incident..." Erza sat on the bed in silence for a few seconds before speaking. "Speaking of incidents, what happene-"
"Don't worry, told the Janitor you had an accident and without a lot of questions, he agreed to clean it." Natsu revealed. The bloody fight between Erza and Mirajane no longer seemed to have appeared on the ship.
"What about my gunshot wound?" She asked, looking at her ripped dress and bandages.
"The bullet went through and hit no vital spots or major organs," he told her. "Still, I urge you to go see a doctor about it, you may have a few small shards of metal in you."
"I'm okay, I have this doctor friend who owes me a favor." She told him. "Thank you again for this."
"Alright I guess." He didn't seem to question that.
"Are there any spare clothes?" She asked, hoping she could change out of her dreadful dress she wore.
"Yeah, I have to change too." Natsu walked over to the closet and opened it, taking out a pair of mismatching clothing.
"Is that all?" She looked at the pile of clothes.
"Yeah, while you change, I'm just going to pick up the mess." He started to pick up the unused materials and placed them back unto the first aid kit.
Erza, moving gently, looked through the pile of clothes to find a good pair of clothing to wear. She found a nice white blouse and good light blue jeans to wear and got up from the bed to go the bathroom. Wasn't an easy task anymore due to the pain from the wound.
"You need help?" Natsu saw her struggling to get up from the bed.
"I'm fine." Nonetheless, she got up and headed straight into the bathroom.
She closed the door behind her and stood in front of the mirror. She looked pale, probably because of the blood loss. She looked down at the sink and opened the water, preferably the cold. She poured some unto her hands and used it to wipe her face.
She took off her dress revealing her black matching colored bra and panties. She looked at her wound more closely, placing her right hand once more over it. She could remember the heat from the bullet as it entered her body. Dammit Mira...
She grabbed the jeans first. As she changed into her new clothes, her thoughts lingered to Mirajane's final words before meeting her demise with the water. How much do you really know of Jellal? Those exact words echoed in her brain. What did she mean by that? Is just to rile me up? Erza shook her head, taking herself away from her thoughts.
Almost done changing. And what exactly did she know about my parents? She was still in her thoughts once more again. I don't even remember them... the last thing I knew about them was being sent to an orphanage as a toddler... She paused. This was something Jellal had told her.
The topic in her head was back to Jellal. Was what he told me a lie? She couldn't help but think bad of Jellal, he was practically the one who raised her. No, this is just something Mirajane wanted to trick me with...
"Oi, Erza, you okay in there?" Natsu's gentle knock on the door was enough to bring Erza back to reality.
"Y-Yeah, I'm alright." Erza hurried up. She looked in the mirror once more and tied her hair up. She headed back out.
"You sure?" Natsu asked her once more as she exited out the bathroom.
"Yeah, I was just taking it slow because of the wound." She explained herself.
"I guess," Natsu scratched his head. He now headed into the bathroom along with the first aid kit. "You want me to throw away the dress along with my shirt and the rest of the other garbage?"
"Yes please." Erza answered. She saw the room was finally cleaned and the bed sheets were taken off.
"Alright," Natsu had placed the first aid kit back to where it belonged. He came back out with Erza's bloodied and torn dress and places it in the bag in which Erza assumed to be the garbage. "There you go."
"Thanks." She appreciated it.
"Pass me those clothes, please," He pointed at the clothes at the corner of the bed. Erza picked them up and threw them at Natsu. "Thanks, I'm going to change now."
Natsu went ahead into the bathroom but didn't bother to close the door. He took of his shirt, revealing his six-pack abs which made Erza slightly blush. "... you gonna close the door or what?"
"Oh sorry." And with that, Natsu closed the door.
After several minutes, Natsu came back out in his new clothing: a black normal shirt and navy blue jeans. He had his dirty clothes in his hand placed it in the same bag he put Erza's dress.
Suddenly, someone knocked on the door. "Oi, Natsu, where has yo ass been all day?" It was the sound of Gray's voice, Natsu's best friend and the newly wed.
Natsu walked up to the door and opened it. "Oh sorry about that." He instantly smelled the scent of booze coming from Gray.
"Eeeyyy, what happened to the tux you were- once wearing?" A hiccup cut him mid-sentence and an unbalanced stance gave Natsu signals that his friend was indeed drunk.
"Oh, it got dirty and I just changed." Natsu explained.
"Did you nail that bodyguard of yours? Is that why you changed? Hahaha good job I knew you had it in you!" Gray continued to tippy toe around.
"I think you had enough to drink already." A small sweat drop came down Natsu's side of the face as he was embarrassed at what Gray was telling him.
"Noooo." Gray couldn't keep his balance and fell to the floor.
"Come on now fellow, let's take you back to your room." Natsu picked him up from his side, placing Gray's right hand over the back of his head and dragged him.
"I'll just wait here 'til you come back." Erza told him.
"Don't worry, I'll be back before you even know it."
After several hours of waiting, the ship finally docked back at the docks. Awaiting Erza and Natsu was the limo in which they got here from.
Exhausted from the events, the long drive back to Natsu's mansion was silent.
Upon arriving, the two of them noticed Detective Laxus and FBI agent Gildarts, and based on their expressions they had on their faces, they weren't quite as happy to see them.
Natsu got out of the car along with Erza. "Thanks." He thanked the limo driver for bringing them home.
"Anytime sir." The limo drove to the back of the mansion.
"They look pretty pissed." Erza saw both Laxus and Gildarts stand in front of the mansion's doors.
"Nah, I'm sure they just have a rock in their shoe or something." Natsu as always tried to be optimistic at the situation.
"You know, you could've let us know beforehand that you were going to a party." Laxus told them as they walked passed them.
"I did leave a note." Natsu said.
"Tch, smartass." Laxus groaned at his response.
"So, what kind of party did you go to?" Gildarts asked as the four of them entered the mansion.
"Oh, a wedding party on a cruise liner." Natsu replied.
"Did anything happened?" Laxus asked.
"No." Like he and Erza talked earlier, it's better if they just pretend like nothing ever happened on the ship.
"Alright I guess, just making sure," Laxus was now leaving along with Gildarts. "Like yesterday, I'm gonna leave a few men posted outside, do not leave anywhere again, got it?"
"Got it." Both Erza and Natsu said in unison.
Gildarts and Laxus headed back to Laxus' car. "Why didn't you ask her about the woman?" Gildarts asked Laxus as he sat down in the shotgun part of the car.
"Maybe it's just a coincidence." Laxus started his car. He looked at his rear view mirror before getting out of the parking spot.
"Coincidence or not, we still should've asked that Erza chick." Gildarts told him.
"An alias isn't really a good reason as to why we should be questioning her." Laxus explained. Even if he did ask her before they left, it wouldn't really count in their investigation.
"Detective Laxus, a body was just discovered near Lake Saber Beach, just a few miles away from where you are." Someone on the radio told him.
"What's so special about the body?" He grabbed the walkie-talkie part of the radio, talking back to HQ.
"Because we sent another team over there and they think it's the assassin you and the FBI agent are looking for."
Both men looked at each other. "Alright we'll be there shortly." He radioed in once more.
"Copy that." And with that both men drove off to the beach.
...
After several minutes of driving, they made it to the beach were there suspect lied dead.
The two got out of the car and headed in. They saw the first officers on scene and Laxus's MEs already looking at the body that was brought by the waves of the lake.
Gildarts talked to the officers while Laxus walked towards the trio. "So is this her?" Laxus asked as he saw the blonde. Dry purple lips and stab wound to the chest.
"Yup, I'm just using the finger scanner to see if we at least get an ID on her." Evergreen held a small machine which had the whole database of fingerprints. She placed the index finger of the dead woman on the finger scanner and hoped for a hit.
"So what killed her? Drowning or the stab wound in her chest?" Laxus continued on with his questions.
"Stab wound," Freed said. He the pointed at the chest, showing Laxus his findings. "She died of massive blood loss. I'd be amazed if she lasted more than 5 minutes at best."
"How'd she end up here?" Laxus asked one more question.
"Maybe she was thrown off a boat or something?" Bickslow suggested to the other two.
"Could be." Freed said, putting his hand underneath his chin.
BEEP! The scanner didn't find anything. "I expected nothing less from the assassin."
Gildarts finally joined them. "The officers who came here first said that a couple found her here as they strolled around the beach."
"Anything else?" Laxus expected much more.
"Nada." Gildarts said.
"Guess it's going to be up to Levy with a face search." Evergreen placed the scanner back in her bag.
"I guess so," Laxus stared at the body once more. "Alright guys, let's just put her in a body bag and take her back to HQ."
"Aye." The trio said altogether.
Author's Note: Yep, Mirajane is dead. Don't worry though, she will be replaced.
Anyways, hoped you liked the chapter. I guess you can say this is the end of the first Arc of the story. Still, like I've said before, this story isn't done yet. I'd say we're at least ¼ done with the story so far.