𝙃𝙚'𝙨 𝙈𝙮 𝙍𝙤𝙤𝙢𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙚 • ɴᴀʟᴜ

Chapter 17 • Get It Done

Natsu's P.O.V

The sunlight shines through the curtains and against my closed eyelids. My eyelids slowly twitch as I roll over, facing away from the sunlight. It doesn't take long for me to notice that a familiar warmth is no longer present.

My eyes slowly blink open as I see Lucy is no longer in my arms. I sit up and examine the bed. I then look over to her bed; which she isn't there either.

I get up and knock on the bathroom door. I can see the lights are off from under the door and there's no sound of water running. And of course, no response. Lucy definitely isn't here.

Did she run off again?

I clench the area between my eyes in disappointment and slight frustration. Does she regret last night? It's not like we did that but... she seems like the type to take whatever it was seriously.

Maybe she just went out to get breakfast. Let's not jump to conclusions.

I rub my eyes as I go up to the fridge to pour myself a glass of milk when all of a sudden there's a knock on the door.

Wow, speak of the devil I guess. Wait no. Why would Lucy need to knock? She lives here. Ugh, my brain must not be 100% booted up.

I put the gallon of milk down as I go over to the door and open it. My eyes widen as I feel a knot form in my stomach at the visitor.

"Heya Natsu, long time no see huh?" the visitor says.

Shit...

Before I can find the words to say, she ducks under my arm which was up against the door frame and rudely enters uninvited.

I turn around, my mouth gaping open a little.

"Don't catch flies," she says in a snarky tone alluding to the fact that my mouth is still open. I quickly close it and then the door.

"Wow," she says as she begins to walk around the room, examining the place. "I'd say 'nice place you got here,' but this is honestly pretty shitty."

I roll my eyes as I pick one of my shirts from off the floor and put it on.

"I mean, the kitchen and beds are in the same room and I don't want to imagine how small your bathroom is. How can you even breathe in here?" she complains as she plops herself a seat at the end of my bed.

Once my shirt is on, I walk over to her and stand right in front of her with my arms crossed. I look down at her with a serious expression. "What are you doing here, Meredy?"

"Well that's rude. Not even gonna give me a warm welcome?"

"You're one to talk when you barge in uninvited and immediately begin to insult the place."

"Oh come on Natsu, we've known each other forever. Do I really need an invite anymore? And can you blame me? You went from penthouses and private jets only to be reduced to these living conditions?" she says with a mocking smirk on her face.

"It's the only thing she could afford," I sigh before realizing I just brought up Lucy, which is definitely what she came here to talk to me about.

"Pffft, sucks to be her then." She says before staring out the window for a moment. The fact that she can just passively insult Lucy like that somehow makes my blood boil. I clench my fists slightly and she quickly turns her head and notices. Her facial expression doesn't change though - it's as if she isn't surprised.

Her eyes move from my fists to my face. "Oof, did I strike a nerve?" she says with her smug tone returning.

Deep breaths.

"Well, anyways. It should be obvious why I'm here but at this point I don't know if you even have the brains to put that together. So I'll go ahead and lay it out for you. I'm here on behalf of your father. You've been ignoring his phone calls and have given us no updates on the status of the target. It's been well over a month Natsu. Has she been eliminated?"

I flinch at that question. She notices, and it's enough to answer the question for her.

"So she's not," she says as she crosses her arms and furrows her eyebrows. "Natsu, like I said, it's been over a month. How long are you going to drag this out?" She crosses her legs.

I run my hand through my hair in frustration, "I-- look. She's the princess of Magnolia. I mean, I just thought it'd be interesting to maybe try to get some information out of her before I strike."

Meredy stares for a moment before her eyes widen a bit. "Oh my Makarov, Natsu are you sleeping with the target??" she asks as she covers her mouth.

"What?? No!"

"Then where was your shirt when you answered the door?"

"I sleep shirtless all the time. It's normal." I sigh.

"Fair," she says. "I mean, it's not like sleeping with her would be that big of a deal I guess. But it just wouldn't be necessary here. We don't need information. We need her dead."

"Look. I'm working on it, okay? I just need a little more time. I'm just... having a bit of fun is all; like a cat playing with its prey." I mutter the last bit.

"You sure you're not getting cold feet? Or worse, attached?" she says with a stern look.

"No, definitely not."

"This is your first hitjob you know. Don't fuck it up. You need the experience for when you take over the organization."

"I know, I know. I promise by the end of summer, Lucy will be dead and--"

"The target." she corrects me.

"..the target will be dead." I heed her correction.

She sighs again, "and now you're referring to the target by name to me. How far gone are you?" she shakes her head.

I go silent and look away, feeling as if I have nothing to say that.

"The Dragneel Organization saved me, Natsu. And I'll be damned if I'm going to let it fall by having a pathetic leader take control once Igneel steps down." She says, obviously jabbing at me. "Your Igneel's son, meaning you have Dragneel blood. Which means you should be just as capable of the things Igneel is. You have the potential. So I'm going to keep some of my faith in you. However, I think you need a little push. So, I'm going to return to Japan and tell Igneel that you're finally done playing around and you have a kill date set. The target will be executed in 3 days."

I feel my blood run cold and sweat form all over me.

"Wait, you can't--"

"Would you rather me tell him that you haven't made any progress at all? Because trust me - he will not be happy. Who knows? He might even send someone else to do it~"

My subzero blood all of a sudden scorched again. I could fucking kill her right now.

All of a sudden, I hear the door open. And there's Lucy, her eyes glued to Meredy sitting on my bed.

Meredy looks at Lucy with no expression before returning her gaze to me. She stands up and puts one hand on my shoulder and stands on her tippy toes to whisper into my ear, "get it done."

She steps down and exits the hotel room, walking right past Lucy without bothering to give her another glance or say any words.

The door shuts and now I am face to face with a very puzzled and concerned Lucy.