In-Between

Chapter 28

Warning PTSD in this chapter.

The Halloween store was filled with countless costumes, decorations, and bags of candy. As Jellal and Wendy searched for a suitable costume her ghoulish friends took note of the decorations that were on sale. They paid particular attention to the large statues of ghosts and ghouls that were shown to be extremely grotesque, bloody, and some even had a few guts spewing out.

"This is how we're represented? Unbelievable." Gray said.

"Ghosts and ghouls don't even have blood." Juvia said. "Or guts. A few bones maybe but none of this." 

 "Where do these morons get their facts about the dead?" Natsu asked.

"And what's with pig mask on that one?" Lucy asked. "What's that all about? Are pigs now considered scary to people."

"Apparently so." Juvia said.

"This is just sad." Natsu said. "None of this crap is scary. Do these people actually expect some of this to scare people? It wouldn't even scare kids. What kind of wimp would find this junk to be scar- Ahhh! What is that?!"

Natsu became so startled by a statue of a mutant clown that he jumped on to Gray which caused to see his friend in a more pathetic light.

"Natsu relax it's just another statue." Juvia said.

"And it's of a clown." Lucy said. 

"Clowns! Anything but the clowns!" Natsu he shivered then finally noticed how irritated Gray looked at the moment. "Heh...Heh...Hold me?"

"Get off!" Gray said dropping him.

"I didn't know you were afraid of clowns Natsu." Juvia said. "Been together for a hundred years and we're still learning about each other."

Natsu started to stand up but he saw more and more scary clown costumes and statues. Next thing everyone knew he got into a fetal position and started to rock back and forth.  At the moment he didn't seem like he was there anymore. It was like he was somewhere else.

"Natsu? Are you alright?" Gray asked. But he didn't respond. Gray snapped his fingers, waved his hand in front of his face, even slapped him but there was no response. "What's wrong with him?"

"Wait I think I know what's happening. Cana told me about this once. He's reliving a memory." Lucy said. "Sometimes certain things can trigger a ghoul or ghost to remember something from their past. So right now he's remembering something."

"And it was triggered by these ugly things?" Gray said pointing to one of the clown statues. 

"I guess."

"Will he be okay?" Juvia asked.

"He'll be in an unresponsive state for awhile but he should be fine once the memory passes."

"How long will that take?"

"No clue."

"Do we just leave him like this?" Gray asked.

"I don't think that would be a good idea." Lucy said. "We should probably stay with him until he comes out of it."

"Fair enough. So do you think he'll move at all while he's in this state?"

"Doubtful."

Just then Natsu came out of the fetal position and started clinging to Lucy's waist and pulling her close to him. Holding her tightly.

"Hey! What the- Oh I get it! Very funny Natsu! Fake a memory state just so you can touch me! You just reached an new low!" Lucy moved to smack him but Gray grabbed her arm.