Disclaimer: The author owes none of the rights to the anime or manga Fairy tail. Or the plot. Or the characters.

WAR

1. Farewell

"Where were you on the night of Friday the twenty-fifth between six-thirty and ten?"

Lucy looked drained, as if in the final stages of a terminal disease. Her voice was steady but parched, lacking any conviction. She merely droned,"In the room at the motel, 209, sleeping."

"Can anybody confirm that?"

"No, I was alone."

The room she sat in was a claustrophobe's windowless cubic nightmare, one she shared with two officers of law sitting across from her. The light overhead was stark and sterile. All of which contributed to the unreal sense that Lucy's mind was drifting through.

"So nobody can confirm your whereabouts?" the female one of the interrogators iterated with aggravating insinuations.

Lucy was still recovering from the shock, aggravation slipped off her like dews over lotus petal.

"No." Lucy sighed, spent, eyes blinking sluggishly.

The officers exchanged a look, a it's-gonna-be-a-slamdunk look, Lucy noted distantly. But she could not bring herself to be alarmed. Her system still hadn't processed it all.

"Let's talk crime scene, then." the male investigator pushed a sheaf of papers on the steel table between them, he positively vibrated with suppressed excitement. "What were you doing there?"

Lucy reached for the papers, rectangular photographs placed between them. She pulled them towards her. Her hands caked in grime as were her boots, and the jeans upto their calves. There was a streak of mud running through her golden hair pulled back in a loose ponytail.

She ruffled through the pages and photographs absently- the muddy bank of the river inside the woods where the body was discovered, shots of the boot prints in the mud, of scratches on the bark of trees and torn shrubs scattered. Lastly it was the body, who when alive had been Lucy's best friend. Stiff, cold and bloodied. She pushed them away.

Her mind was reeling and spinning. She felt absolutely nothing at the death of her guildmate, or that barring some miracle she would be convicted of it. No guilt or rage, just a hollow melancholy that would shroud her till she slumps into the waiting arms of death.

The realization caused a small spasm of panic in her stomach. But she was still a long ways from recovering her bearings. And growing ever closer to the gallows.

Barring some miracle.

The door to the interrogation cell slammed open. The officers jumped to their feet, hands on their weapons. Lucy just sat in her chair, rigid and stunned.

"Get out and pray I don't sue you all out of your cowardly lives! Interrogating without her lawyer present?! Out!" the intruder's voice was icy razors, tone condemning. And the sound of their voice managed to accomplish what all threats against her survival had failed to achieve- Lucy's face crumpled into lines of misery.

"Guys, lets move out."spoke another voice with tired resignation- the aged Captain of the precinct. The officers looked caught between outrage, terror and utter befuddlement. "C'mon." the Captain urged. The officers finally stumbled on towads the door.

But Lucy's mind registered none of that, just the voice and the overwhelming assurance it brought.

She flew out of her seat and flung herself into the Mira's welcoming arms. She enfolded Lucy into a hug, as if trying to shut the world out away from her. As if trying lock the suffering out.

Lucy sobbed and wailed, the panic that had risen into a tsunami bled out in tears. She cried her heart out, and as the sorrow ebbed the knowledge began taking roots. Realizations crashed down on her, terrible wave after another terrible wave.

"He's gone, Mira!" she brayed into her neck hoarsely. "Natsu's gone!" and she broke down into tears all over again. "And it's all my fault!"

Mira hugged her tighter. "I know, darling. And mine. too."


A/N: This one had been gathering dust since i don't know how long. Going through it an idea struck me. I thought it was cool; but I am not be trusted. So it's out now. I have a rough idea where it's to go. Updates will be short ones, no longer than this chapter here. Because otherwise I wouldn't be able to put up another chapter at all.

Review, please. Nothing motivates an author like an audience responsive.