~Magnolia's Number One Assassin~ (Fairy Tail)

Chapter 32: Falling Hard

Falling Hard

Flashing images.
Blurry faces.
Muffled voices.
Rain falling.
Cold.
So very cold.
Mom? Dad? Where did you go? A small voice echoes then fades. Pain. Hunger. Loneliness. Someone please help...please help me!

No one comes. People turn away. Acting as if they didn't see or hear anything. Why won't anyone help me? See me! Please...see me...before you can't anymore...
No
One
Comes...

Blackness. Hate. Fear. Desperation. Hurt. Anger. Confusion.

All swirl up inside.

Lashing out. Hunger. Fear. Desperation.
Blood
Everywhere...
No remorse. Now they finally see me...but they fear me. Hiding. No longer hungry. Blood still everywhere...but...I survived.
Survival
Is
Everything...
...Everything...

"Freya!"

I shot up screaming. I was sweating and breathing heavily. I grabbed my face with trembling hands. Half expecting to feel the hot and sticky sensation of fresh blood. I was only half aware that someone had their arms wrapped around my shoulders, and they were saying something softly in my ear.

I couldn't hear anything but my pounding heart. I looked around frantically. I was fully expecting to be lying down in a alley somewhere, sleeping inside a card board box. Instead all I saw was...my apartment room?

I slowly turned to the person who's arms were still wrapped around my shoulders. Emerald green eyes pierced through me. He...he was here. With a choked sob I put my hands to my face and cried into them. The dream...it had felt all too real.

"Fey...its okay. It was a nightmare. Just a nightmare." Natsu told me gently as he hugged me. Oh, if only it was a just a nightmare. But, I suppose it was. It was a nightmare that I had lived through.

Still shaking, I wrapped my arms around the boy next to me, and clung to him like he was the only thing anchoring me to this reality. To this life. "Fey, it's okay, it's okay. I got you. I'm here." I sucked in a shuddering breath and closed my eyes. I hugged him tighter and buried my face into his shoulder.

"I-I'm sorry. I-I didn't m-mean to bother you...or wake you." I stuttered out as I tried to control myself. After a moment of calming myself, I started to feel less shaken up. I was about to loosen my grip on him when he suddenly wrapped his arms tighter around my back. I felt him let out a breath. "Fey, whenever you need me, I'll always be here for you. You'll never be a bother to me. Whenever you need me, I'll be there."

My heart,
my breathing,
my whole world just stopped. My heart started to pound against my chest again. His words had shattered, completely obliterated, my locked up heart. The wall that I had built to keep me safe, he completely set fire to it, and burned it to ashes.

Natsu let go of me for a moment and reached up to his neck. To my surprise he took off his beloved scarf and...wrapped it around my neck. "There, no more nightmares." He put his hands on my shoulders and looked straight into my eyes. "Okay?" Natsu then gave me a bright, closed eyed smile that I loved so much. I reached up and clutched his scarf.
No more nightmares?

I closed my eyes and laid my head back on his shoulder. I wrapped an arm around his neck and clutched his scarf with my free hand.
No more nightmares...

Natsu's arms were still wrapped around me as he put his chin on the top of my head. "I'm here, Fey. I'm here." He muttered.

Right then, with Natsu holding me tight, with his precious scarf wrapped around me, and with his words still ringing in my head...I fell.

I fell hard.

I had fallen in love with The Fire Dragon Slayer...Natsu Dragneel.