An unearthly, rather heartbroken scream left the heartbroken mage's mouth, hand instantly covering her mouth as an unfit attempt to silence the shriek, but it failed. Instead it rung out loud and clear, giving her away, leaving her vulnerable. But right now, she couldn't care less. All she cared about was the young, broken body in front of her, blue hair a messy tangle as it flowed down over her shoulders and many strands covered her face. A far off shriek of a dragon made her flinch, and she looked at Wendy's body once more, tears unwillingly trailing down her cheeks.

"L-Lucy?" the little girl's eyes flickered open, looking at the older mage amid her tumble of hair in front of her face. Her lips were cracked, most of her body unmoving- had it not been for the arm that reached out to her, visibly bringing the young bluenette pain, yet she didn't stop until she linked Lucy's hand with her own. "I'm sorry.. I couldn't even destroy the thing I'm on earth to do." Wendy whispered despite her throat aching and tongue seemingly useless in her throat. She let out a dry laugh, eyes shutting closed against her will.

"Wendy.. Please don't… please.. Nobody blames you, nobody else could stop them.. Stay with me Wendy, please don't leave me.." Lucy sobbed softly, bringing the child to rest in her lap, stroking her hair, fingers delicately weaving among the tangled, ashen strands, hoping that someone will come. Someone will save her and Wendy. They had to.

Loud crackling of crushed asphalt and pavement brought Lucy's attention to the nearby crest, which had formerly been a beautiful hill dotted with flowers, which now lay in ruins just like the rest of Crocus, alerted her to the presence of someone, though her heart dropped to her stomach once they arrived.

Crocus, the formerly beautiful capital of Fiore now lay in ruin and disrepair, undoubtedly not to be repaired soon. Mercurius and the Domus Flau both now reside in crumbled states, anyone inside undoubtedly killed. The flower capital it was, the dragon capital it is.

Lucy stood, shaking, as she took out her keys.

As she and Yukino united to close the portal that lead out more dragons than she could count, the celestial spirits were pushed back and thrown away as more dragons followed the seven that originally came out, them being even larger and stronger than all before.

As more filed through, the dragon slayers were overwhelmed, though Natsu had seemed excited at the prospect of a challenge. Lucy could do nothing but watch as hers and Yukino's efforts had failed, and fled together, running for a way out of the capital. Before long, Motherglare had sent a wave of destruction through with a roar heard for miles. The buildings began to collapse and crumble as innocent people's shrieks reached the duo's ears, yet they kept moving, determined to get out of Crocus and escape to Magnolia or anywhere- anywhere safer than here.

After standing their own against Motherglares' minions, they had reached where Crocus had originally ended, but now a dragon had taken up residence atop crumbled buildings, its simple mic of purple and blue scales glittering in what little light shined from the night sky. Both of them crumbled at the sight of the tyrant, Lucy finally giving into the tears that had threaten to overflow since the dragon's arrival and her failure to stop them.

All the spirits fought valiantly to protect their masters, not bothering with their normal remarks due to the situation. The dragon too was relentless as it poured on with attack after attack, but paused as Motherglare let out another roar. It growled, spreading its wings and flying off, leaving the two confused as they watched its destination.

Atlas Flame, a bright firey beast of a dragon crumbled to the floor with a loud thud, the flames slowly diminishing and dying as the host's eyes slipped shut, granting him an eternal rest. Looking closer, Lucy noticed Future Rogue holding Natsu's throat, before a hollow crack sounded and the salmon-haired boy's body hitting the ground next to Atlas Flame, and the blonde lost sight of him.

"Lu….cy..?" Yukino's now familiar voice croaked, holding her hand over her chest as blood began to spread through her clothing and onto her hands, and she collapsed onto her knees, looking at Lucy in confusion. One of Motherglare's so called 'children' stood, mouth closing as the blow was dealt. It didn't see Lucy, and continued towards the sounds of others fighting against dragons. The sounds were slowly fading as more fell to the power of these beasts, but the celestial mages chose to ignore it.

"Yukino... "

"What's happening to me?"

"You'll be okay.. Just.. close your eyes." Lucy stifled a sob, wrapping her arms around Yukino as the mage's eyes slowly closed.

"Good idea… I'm feeling tired anyways.. Thanks, Lucy." Yukino went limp and Lucy's cries rang out as she held the dead body of the mage so similar to herself, wanting this to be over. This couldn't be real. She was dreaming, right? Maybe she'd wake up now, and her guild would be there, and they'd be revelling in the win of The Grand Magic Games. This wasn't real. She ran, back towards where she saw Natsu fall. Maybe he was still alive.. he was Natsu after all.

And now the mage stood, facing the pack of the laser-shooting beasts that had murdered so many of her comrades, she could tell, by the blood on them and everywhere. She cracked out her whip, knowing her keys wouldn't work, but before either side could move to attack, lightning flashed in front of her eyes and in seconds all of them were dead.

"Blondie."

aHHAAAH i promise not all of my chapters are short and sucky

if you liked it do w/e if you didnt like it do w/e i really dont care this has just been circling my mind for too long and its death

will continue sometime ! schools almost out for me so i'll have all the time in the world !