words i didn't say / nalu

eight

-- natsu dragneel --

"you little shit! stop crying, for fuck sake!"

the man angrily slams the glass bottle over his son's head, shattering it. the pink-haired boy screams in pain.

i almost can't bear to watch as he slips in and out of consciousness.

"it's all your fault! the tears you're crying? they're because of you!"

he kicks his son who's cowering in the corner of the room, blood dripping from his hands and head. i notice there's a huge gash of red on his neck too.

the son stays silent, the only sounds coming out of his mouth being sobs. he doesn't tell his father to stop, mostly in fear of what the man would do next.

"you're getting blood everywhere, you pathetic shit!" he once again kicks his son, in the stomach this time. the boy coughs out a few drops of blood.

i try and close my eyes, banging my balled fist against my head to beat the scene out of it. but no matter how hard i try, it keeps replaying.

the bloodbath in my memories i tried so hard to forget was once again eating me up.

--

i wake up and feel sick to my stomach. i didn't even have enough time to make it to the bathroom before puking my guts out all over the wooden floor.

my body is trembling, i notice, and tears are falling from my eyes. i put a hand on my scar, wanting to erase it from my body.

i haven't had that dream in years.

i pass out before i can remember anything else.

-- lucy heartfilia --

natsu's seat was empty today. jellal didn't know why, and nor did erza or cana.

i'm kind of worried. we haven't talked in about a week or so, and it seems like he's not really doing that well.

he doesn't talk much anymore, not with anyone. it's not as if he was very vocal in the first place, but now it's just silence coming from him. i was told by gray and gajeel that he's just been kind of mopey the past few days; staying in his room, never going out with us when we made plans.

i do want to apologise because i miss him. i miss hanging out with him and seeing that cheeky grin.

erza told me earlier that natsu was usually very out of it around this time of year, the beginning of november, but it seemed to be a lot worse at the moment. she didn't tell me why though.

it's lunchtime currently and we're questioning if gray knows anything about natsu's disappearance. gajeel's in the music rooms doing fuck knows what, so we can't get an answer out of him.

"i don't know what exactly is up with him." he rests his chin on the cap of his water bottle. "sting found him passed out this morning on the floor in his room with a puddle of puke beside him. i can't tell you much because i refused to go in there, but he's in the infirmary now."

jesus. sounds like he had a rough night. my heart sinks thinking about it.

"sickness bug?" erza suggests.

"probably, i don't know." gray shrugs and takes a bite out of his food. "he didn't look too good when sting carried him out of there."

"and the people in the infirmary are taking good care of him?" i ask. being new to this school and, not to brag, practically immune to sickness, i'm not really familiar with how good the medical services are here.