Fairy Tail: Falling Towards the Chaos

Chapter 41

Lucy leaned herself against Natsu's shoulder, cherishing the heat radiating off his skin, cradling Aquarius' broken key. Loosely secured around her body was Natsu's black jacket—it was tattered, but it was better than nothing. Levy and Juvia sat around tending to Laxus as Gajeel watched over them with a serious look on his face.

Lucy sniffled quietly, her tears had long ceased, but her nose was still a bit runny.

The demons had successfully been defeated thanks to her friends, now, all that was left was transporting Laxus and the demon's blood back to Porlyusica, so the healer could make an antidote.

Natsu tugged Lucy's hand, so he could hold it gently, absentmindedly rubbing soothing circles into her skin. She didn't protest, allowing him to manoeuvre her as he'd liked. She knew in the back of her mind that the battle was far from over, but she settled for this small pocket of peace. Tearing her eyes away from her cherished spirit's key, she observed Levy and Juvia as they talked amongst themselves.

She had no idea what grave danger they were in.

Suddenly, Natsu's body tensed, his hand on hers tightening slightly. She sat up more abruptly, touching a gentle hand to his chest in concern. Still, his eyes seemed unfocused, senses tuned to something Lucy couldn't hear.

"Gajeel," he spoke curtly, "do you hear it?"

Lucy's head snapped over to Gajeel, who also seemed to be enraptured with something none of the girls could sense. Her heartbeat quickened. What was it?

"What are you talking about?" Levy asked, voice wavering with uncertainty.

As she spoke, a loud growling sound filled the air.

There was no mistaking that sound. Lucy's first encounter with a dragon was something she'd never forget. The sound was something that couldn't have been mistaken for something else. Natsu and Gajeel's eyes searching the sky gave it away. She knew. There was no doubt about it.

"Acnologia," Juvia whispered with a hint of astonishment. Lucy almost couldn't tear her eyes away as the black dragon flew into view, flying directly over her without even acknowledging them; she didn't know whether that was a good or bad thing.

Her attention was drawn away when Natsu's body began to shake.

"Hey Natsu? What's wrong?" Lucy inquired, but he didn't respond. Even when she grazed his bare shoulder with her hand, he remained silent, steadfastly staring at the ground with wide eyes. Just as she touched him, she quickly pulled away with a slight hiss. His skin felt like it was molten lava, like she would melt just by being in his vicinity. Vaguely, from behind her, she could hear Juvia and Levy asking Gajeel the same concerned questions.

"A-are they reacting to Acnologia?"

To Juvia's question, Lucy held no answer.

Natsu's body was wound tight, like a bubble about to burst, before he erupted in flames. Lucy squeaked in alarm, flying backwards as to not get caught up in the heat as it rose and climbed high above Natsu's figure. She could only watch as the flames took a form; slowly moulding and melting itself into a large creature.

It seemed Natsu had finally gained his awareness too, staring at the ball of flames with an equal amount of surprise.

"I'm sorry for deceiving you, Natsu, but in reality, I've been closer than you could ever imagine,"

As the details and form became more clearly, the voice—though bellowing and deep—spoke loudly, echoing through the uneasy silence.

"Dad?" Natsu whispered brokenly.

The look on his face was gut-wrenching.

-----

It seemed some time ago, Tartaros had been defeated. Honestly, it was sad to say that Lucy barely noticed. Between the amount of members wounded or lost in battle, as well as the broken key burning a hole in her hand, it hardly felt like a victory at all. So, she sat back and watched as everyone rejoiced with a soft smile full of hidden emotions. Even when Cana had pulled her in for a joyous hug, she barely reciprocated.

Instead, she caught wind of the smoke rising from the east, and before she could ask what happened, she was drawn back to the conversation occurring with the four large dragons gathered around the mass of people.

Thanks to the appearance of the dragon slayers' foster dragons, they had stopped all of the Face devices. All fifteen thousand of them.

Lucy sighed. She felt exhausted; physically and emotionally.

She moved forward as the dragons began saying their goodbyes. Wendy was moved to tears, and Lucy wrapped her arms around her lovingly. Regardless of how Lucy felt; how much she was mourning on the inside, she could never lose sight of what was important. Her family. Her guild.

As the dragons began to dissipate into gold particles, Lucy, alongside everyone else, waved them goodbye.

"Thank you for all you have done for us," Lucy said, "rest well."

Eventually, everyone started to disperse. Gajeel, Wendy, Levy, and Lily had gone off somewhere while the others started to head back to the site of the destroyed guildhall to see what remained or what could be salvaged. Lucy started to follow the crowd, but paused when she realized Happy and Natsu were nowhere to be found.

"Lucy, where are you going?" Mira called out to her as the blonde mage turned towards the sight of the smoke rising in the air.

"I'm going to find Natsu and Happy, I'll catch up," she offered, starting the tiring trudge up and over the crumbled rocks of the Plutogrim, Tartaros' base.

She caught sight of Happy's blue fur and the pink tuffs of Natsu's hair. She also saw the massive splatters of blood on the ground in front of Natsu where he was standing, the fading body of the Fire Dragon King Igneel disappearing before him.

"Natsu," Lucy whispered. She watched as his kneeling frame trembled violently before he eased himself to stand on his own two feet, clenching his fists tight as he lifted his head up. The sound he made at first was low before it gradually climbed in volume, a ferocious roar tearing its way out of his throat.

It sounded like extreme longing, but also a sad farewell.

Happy turned to Lucy, tears streaming down his face and, wordlessly, jumped into her chest. She cradled him gently, shushing him as she struggled to reign back her own emotions. She was shocked when Natsu turned away from her father's disappearing body, and even more broken when she saw the dried tears on his cheeks. Lucy had never seen Natsu display such raw emotion and when he slowly dragged himself towards her, she let her own dam of tears burst open.

They clutched each other in a tight embrace, mindful of Happy, as Lucy let out short choked sobs.

She had to remember that she wasn't the only one who lost someone important.

"I-I'm s-so sorry," Lucy cried. Even as Natsu graced her with a small smile, shushing her softly, rubbing her cheeks soothingly. She felt like something was off.

"Its nothing to be sorry about, it's better this way,"

"Why did things have to be this way?" Lucy muttered bitterly, staring up at Natsu with wet eyes.

He stared at her briefly, only for a moment, before he pulled both of them closer.

"I don't know,"

That night, Gramps disbands the guild and Lucy receives a letter.

To be continued...