Decades Gone By Series: Insanity Takes All - Book 1 (Fairy Tail)

Chapter 18 - Natsu vs Lucy

        When Natsu entered the arena, he wasn't surprised by the amount of debris but the number of bodies was a surprise. The entire perimeter was completely distorted, the top bleachers missing and a gigantic hole behind them. Only two balconies had been spared, the ones he and Fairy Tail had occupied clattered on the dusty ground.

       The bodies were mixed, some of them from the audience while others were part of guilds. He recognized the bodies of the guilds but couldn't put names to them. When Natsu saw Sherria, he got what Gray and Erza had been saying, it definitely being Ruby. He walked along them, passing her body as he glanced around the broken arena.

      He only stopped walking when the sound of sharpening blades grew to his left. Natsu glanced over, finding Lucy sitting on top of a large boulder. She held a long sword in hand, sliding a large knife over the silver blade. She sat on her left leg, her right dangling over the side of the boulder. She looked like she had gotten caught in mayhem, for her blonde hair was in a bun but it was falling out, strands already flowing in the gust of wind. The dress she wore had a ripped skirt, showing the side of her right leg and her arms were bare, the dress being completely strapless. The top looked like a corset, tight around her torso, making Lucy look skinnier than she really was. The corset pushed her breasts up, the Aquarius necklace latched around her neck. Her nails were chipped, the paint beginning to peal off. 

      Natsu turned towards her, not speaking as Lucy didn't look at him, her chocolate brown eyes focused on the blades. Insanity was gone from her cheek, just a black smudge below her eye where it had once been. She wore black high heels which was covered in dry mud, making them more light brown than black now. A small cut was below her right cheekbone, scratches crossing on her arms like she had gotten clawed at my a vicious animal. 

     "I was hoping you'd show up," she said, her voice barely a whisper. Lucy stopped sharpening the blades and glanced at Natsu, who stood with his hands curled into fists below her. When their eyes met, he could see that her eyes were wide, shaking like the rocks did when she slid down from the boulder, landing on her feet swiftly. The knife and sword stayed in her whitening hands the more she clenched them, her movements toward Natsu slow but unsteady. 

      She swayed, acting like she had drunken to much or was hit with such a hard blow that it made her dizzy. But watching her, Natsu knew it wasn't either of those things. He took one step back in caution as she grew closer. He uncurled his hands when Lucy stood still, at least four paces away from him. 

     They stood in the middle of the crumbling arena, the smell of death starting to drift through the air. Lucy cocked her head to the side, as if she was studying the pinkette carefully. Even when she was standing still, she swayed. "I would've been disappointed if you hadn't. I've been itching to fight you since the day I realized I hated your guts. The feeling had intensified when I saw you that day, in the lodge."

    The way the words left her mouth, it told Natsu that she wasn't in her right mind. The event that had taken place the previous night seemed to have taken a toll on her, which Erza had guessed. Having let her feelings spill out like a slash of the skin, Lucy had fallen into a daze of anger, which explained the way she swayed, the way her eyes shook. 

     "I don't want to fight," Natsu said, which earned him a surprised look from Lucy.

      "Did you hear that?" She said to no one in particular. He wasn't sure if she knew no one else was around or if she had an imaginary friend. "Natsu Dragneel doesn't want to fight. Those are words I never thought I'd get to hear come out of your mouth."

      "Neither did I," he admitted. "But when it comes down to you, Luce, I don't want to. I just want to talk." But this seemed to put her on a breaking point because she bit her lip hard, making blood draw from the chapped area that covered her lips like snowflakes. Her eyes reddened but no tears were shed.