NaLu: Just Experiments

CHAPTER 17: That Pill

(Natsu's POV)

     Well that didn't last very long. For a second I was scared they would actually take us back to the lab, but Lucy came thru. When this is all over, I definitely want another kiss. I am watching her release balls of light at Zayn when Wendy and Erza come jumping from rafter to rafter to reach us.
     "Whoa, how did you get up here?" I ask. "Since Wendy was already holding my hand, I just used my super jump to get us up to the rafters." Erza explains. Oh right, I forgot she could do that. "Wow, who made Lucy mad?" Erza says after spotting Lucy. Now she's taken it to a whole different level. She awoke Loke and Libra to fight with her and- what?
"Uh Natsu?" Wendy asks, "Who's pretty girl fighting with Lucy?" "I have no idea, but I think it's another one of her spirits." I stare at her with wide eyes. 'Hey Lucy!' I yell in her head. 'Um...I'm a little busy...can you come here?' she says. 'Yup, coming!' I reply happily.
I jump from the rafters and yell, "Lucy!" She looks at me shocked and realizes I'm falling. "Natsu!" she screams, quickly flying to catch me, "What were you thinking!? What if I didn't catch you!?!" I just laugh, "Come on Luce. The day you don't catch me is the day I stop falling...in love." "How you joke at a time like this?" she yells, trying to suppress a grin.
     "That was a horrible joke anyway...." she adds. I just smile. She waves her hand over me and I hover in the air. "When did you learn to do that?!" I ask quickly. She giggles, "I'm making it up as I go. Oh, and that's Virgo." She motions towards the girl I didn't recognize, "She's my spirit of justice or fair punishment. She appeared next to me after I started fighting."
     I stare down at Zayn as he shouts orders to the guards. They look like ants, scrambling to grab their gadgets and guns to- wait. Guns, the thing they shot us with in the neck, the purple pill. What was that? A tracker? Is that how they found us? My instincts never fail, and right now my instincts think something is off.
'Lucy,' I say in her head, 'we need to go.' 'No, not until we save the students. Zayn has plans for them. I don't know what we'll do with them, but we need to save them.' she persists, 'I've distracted Zayn and the guards. You need to get the others and start leading the kids.' I look her in the eyes and nod, not finding the words. 'Natsu... our escape was too easy. Something is wrong... You need to hurry.' she says as I shift my weight and float over to the rafter with my friends and give them the orders.
     We crawl through the rafters to a vent in the ceiling and climb into it. I use my nose to find a way down to where all the kids are and quietly kick open the vent. I'm face to face with somebody's small flower sandals and I try to gently poke one of their legs. She freezes and a giant, pierced hand slams down on my wrist and pulls me out of the vent. "Hey! Who do you think you- Natsu?" I look up into his face, still a little red. "Yeah it's me. Now let go and let us crawl out." Gajeel lets go and grabs our other friends as quietly as he can.
The girl I poked was Levy, and Gajeel....well I guess he has a soft spot for her. I'll have to tease him later. Soon we all make a small circle and I explain everything new to them. After I finish, Mira speaks up, "What now?" Hmmm... Got it! "Wendy, go back into the vent and look for a way outside." I say. "Okay." she scurries back into the vent. "Start organizing small groups of ten people to go into the vents group by group as soon as Wendy gets back." I say to everyone else.
I hope this works. I look back up at Lucy and sigh. What would have happened if the Indigo Project never existed? If we were never targeted to be experiments? If we were normal people? No. We had a rough past, but I wouldn't trade it for the world. If it weren't for the Indigo Project, I wouldn't have met any of my friends, we would never have shared the great memories I have, and I never would have fallen in love. Huh, even the darkest clouds have a silver lining.
Wendy comes back through the tunnel and eagerly grabs my arm, "I found a way out!" "Great!" I say, "Okay, the first group needs to enter the vent. Wendy will show you the way." A line of people forms and kid after kid escapes through the vent. We start with the youngest and work our way up. Eventually the groups blend together and we become one long line, leading each other out. Erza leaves and helps fight with Lucy, and all goes according to plan.
Then I hear it. The scream of pain and fear swirled together, making a terrifying combination. My feet carry me closer to the source by instinct. No....Lucy.
Everything else is a blur. Lucy is on the ground, holding her head. There's no blood or physical wounds, but I can tell she's in pain. To my horror, Erza screams and falls to the ground too. What is happening? I hear children yelling to be let go, Wendy's scream, the sound of Gray hitting the ground, and then Zayn's voice.
"Did you really think you got away?" The world is getting blurry and pain vibrates from my skull to every part of my body. I groan and fall to the floor. "What do you think that pill was for? I've been working on it for quite some time now, and believe me when I say I am very pleased with the results." I can't think straight, but my mind still manages to hear Zayn's every word.
     "I didn't think I would need to use it, but you have always been full of surprises. This pill I gave you is very special technology. It allows me to control you to a certain degree, but one day I will make it so improved, so powerful, that I could completely take over someone's personality." He leans down and looks me in the eyes, "Then I can force Lucy to love me as a wife, and I could sell the controls to your future owners."
     My eyes close slowly and the last thing I see is a guard picking up Lucy and carrying her to a cage.