Bloody Love [A NaLu Fanfic]

Chapter 1: Stolen Heart

It was a mission gone horribly wrong.

The cave had just gotten deeper and darker, seeming to never end. Down and down and down...

To hell's gate.

They hadn't seen it coming. A thousand monsters lashed out at them all at once....

Someone had tricked them.

"Lucy...! Go... while you still... can!" Natsu yelled at Lucy as he tried to hold back the monsters. They had been fighting for so long that most of their magical energy was depleted, but they were almost at the cave entrance.

"No... Natsu... I won't... leave you!!!" Lucy screamed as the monsters kept pushing forward, their numbers not diminishing in the slightest.

"If you won't leave me behind, then I'll have to force you to! One of us can still save themselves!"

And then she saw him walk into the the insurgence of monsters, instantly swallowed by the mob.

"NATSU!!! NOOOOO!!!!!!!!"

Why....

Why did you do it?

Holding back tears, Lucy ran for her life.

__________________________

They found his body a few days later, almost devoid of life. In fact, how a shred of his life force managed to stay intact was still a mystery to them.

"Polyusica-san, will Natsu live?" Wendy cried as tears slid down her face.

Polyusica looked away. "N-no..." Wendy whispered. The hearts of all the Fairy Tail mages dropped.

Erza spoke up in a hoarse whisper. "How long does he have?"

"It's hard to say," Polyusica replied gloomily. "Perhaps a couple of weeks, perhaps a couple of months... this time, I really don't know."

Lucy had run out of tears. All this time, she had thought Natsu was infallible... how could he fail her now? "Natsu..." her voice was barely audible from the adjacent bed in the guild infirmary. She lay down and pulled the cover up to her chin and pretended to be asleep. Soon, the rest of the guild left.

That night, Lucy made a prayer to the Heavens. To anyone who would hear her. "Please save him," she weeped. "Please let him live. I'll do anything... Anything."

And someone had decided to take advantage of her weakness.

"We can make that happen, Lucykins," a female voice sing-songed from the shadows.

"What? Who's there?"

"It is I, the Grim Reaper... though some may know me better as... Death."

"That's nonsense. Who are you really and what do you want with me?"

"Now, now, Lucykins, don't make me mad," the voice scolded. "After all, I'm willing to make a deal with you..."

A tall cloaked figure emerged from the shadows. Her face was half-concealed by a large hood, but her long, flowing midnight-black hair with tints of red was visible. She held a long black staff in one skeleton hand, and in the other, normal hand, a scythe.

Lucy gaped, then set her jaw firmly. "I'm not interested. Go bother someone else."

"Not even if it concerns the life of your nakama... Natsu?"

Lucy inhaled sharply. "How do you know about that?" she demanded.

The Reaper chuckled softly. "If I have the ability to find you, I have the ability to know things."

"Fine. You've perked my interest."

"I can save your Natsu," the Reaper continued, "if...

"You give me your heart."

"WHAT?!" Lucy shouted. "WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN?"

"Ah, well, you have quite a nice heart, you know... not just the size and color, but the pure golden good in it. It would be a nice one to add to my collection. I just started that collection, and I'm really quite excited! You see, I have so many souls in my possession already, they start to bore me... Don't worry, Lucykins, you won't die. I'm simply taking the essence. You'll still retain the vessel; it can still pump blood in your body and stuff."

Lucy said nothing.

"Though there is one side effect... you'll have to consume a fresh heart every two months, or else your body will eventually rot away."

"And if I do this, what will you give me in return...?" Lucy asked suspiciously.

The Reaper raised her right hand, which was holding the scythe. "I solemly swear by the laws of the Universe, and by that which is true in Heaven and Hell, that if you give me your heart, I will ensure that your friend Natsu's life will be saved, and that he will be healthy as ever."

"Swear that he will live his life to its fullest possible length and capacity," Lucy demanded.

"All right, I furthermore swear that he will live his life to its fullest possible length and capacity. So what do you say, Lucykins? Shall we shake on it?"

The Grim Reaper stretched out her bony hand. Lucy looked at it hesitantly, then shook it.

I doubt what she said is true, Lucy thought. How can someone take my heart? But I have to do something, anything, to save Natsu...

Upon the joining of their hands, a bright white light appeared from their hands that expanded and filled the room for a second. Then, as the Reaper released her grip, a faint pink and yellow light floated out of Lucy's chest that became brighter and more defined as it landed in the Reaper's hand. It was the shape of a heart.

Lucy gasped, and her vision darkened.

__________________________

"What a silly, innocent girl..." the Reaper laughed, looking at the heart in her hand with satisfaction. "If only she had waited two months, her dear nakama would have been perfectly fine... But ah, it is such selflessness and purity that makes this heart the essence of gold..."

"Well, my job here is done. I'll be visiting you again, Lucy, you can count on it..." And with that, the Reaper vanished.

There was no one to tell Lucy that it had been just a lie.

No one to tell Lucy that Natsu wasn't going to die to begin with.

No one by Lucy's side when she had made the worst choice of her life, by giving the essence of her life away.

No one to comfort Lucy as, in her dreamless sleep, she shed silent tears from her bleeding heart.

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Hope you enjoyed the beginning of my new NaLu fic!! Stay tuned to see what happens to Lucy now that she has no heart!!!