Title: Until I Die

Author: a Porcelain Doll

Summary: Lucy was his, and he'd be damned if he was going to let anything happen to her. "It's ok Lucy, you don't have to fight anymore. I'm going to protect you, until I die."


Notice: So, this is my first NaLu story, well, it's my first Fairy Tale story for that matter! To be honest, I'm not that far in the show either, so I'm sorry if I'm behind on some of the themes or character development in the story. Please, though, welcome my story! Since this is my first, comments would be awesome! (Well, feedback in general would be nice.) Tell me if I should continue or not! Thanks for reading! Enjoy!


Warning: I am an EXTREMELY slow updater, so I'm sorry if a chapter takes a while to come out. I have a lot of school work right now and it sucks, but it has to be done. Please support me and send me some positivity you guys! Oh, and don't be afraid to push me to get a chapter out (just be nice about it please). I do respond to questions, so don't be afraid to PM me, I like making friends! Anyways, I'll shut up now and let you read! Enjoy!


Until I Die

Chapter One: Make the pain go away


Why? Why was he here? Why did he come? Anyone, anyone but him. This can't be happening. This shouldn't be happening.

Lucy was lying on the cold stone floor, limp and lifeless. Her bones broken, her face swollen from the bruises, and the ache in her heart. All she wanted to do was complete one mission by herself, one all alone. "Why do I have to be so weak?" She thought "Why can't I do anything by myself? All I wanted was to prove to Natsu and the Guild that I was just like everyone else. Every time I'm in danger, someone would always come to save me. Why am I so helpless?"

Lucy took a mission involving a large troll demon that had been worth 30,000. She went off without telling her teammates where she was going in hopes of coming back successful. All she wanted was to do something by herself for a change, and not get herself caught in a situation. Well, it seemed luck hadn't been on her side, as the troll had managed to almost beat her to death. She was sick of being rescued by her teammates all the time, and the man that rescued her the most and the one that she so desperately wanted to impress was here now. He was standing right in front of her facing the troll, prepared to handle whatever the demon had up his sleeve. Lucy knew very well that once Natsu got involved, whether or not she was injured, Lucy would no longer be able to fight. Natsu wouldn't let her, or any of his friends for that matter. He would rather die than watch his friends suffer.

However, the troll was a relatively weak demon, and it was the fact that Natsu had killed it so quickly that brought her even more shame. Lucy stared at his back for awhile, knowing that he didn't want to look at her. She knew he would be mad at her, he hated when his friends got hurt, but for some reason whenever it was her, he stopped showing emotion all together. Finally, after a long, grueling minute, Natsu turned around and began to walk towards her. She squinted her eyes, desperately trying to see his face through her swollen sockets. His eyes were blocked by his hair, but it was evident that no emotion lay on his face. Not wanting to face her shame, she closed her eyes. Slowly, she was lifted off the ground, carried bridal style out of the building.

Lucy's shame overwhelmed her, as painful tears began to leave her eyes. "I don't belong in Fairy Tale" She cried softly "I'm not good enough for the guild, I just hold everyone back. I'm always getting rescued, and I'm always the third wheel." It hurt to cry, but she couldn't help it. "I'm sorry Natsu, I'm so sorry".

"Stop talking" Natsu said, his voice completely monotone. "Rest".

The tears kept on coming, but the more she cried, the more her surroundings began to fade. Her body had finally had enough, and her heart was tired. "I'm so sorry", she began, slowly fading "I'm so sorry Natsu". The world turned to black.


The light was harsh on her swollen eyelids. Her body was laying on something soft, but she still felt broken. Slowly, she opened her eyes, and she blinked rapidly, her eyes adjusting to the light. When they were able to focus, she was looking up at the familiar ceiling of her bedroom. She sat up, trying her best not to inflict more pain upon herself. Looking around her room and out the window, she noticed that she was all by herself and that it was around noon. Her body had been bandaged, and her body felt clammy, most likely from the combination of her sweat and probably the many ointments that were applied to her scratches. Lucy did feel better, but the pain was still evident.

She swung her legs around and began to stand up, careful not to put much weight on her, probably once, broken leg. Hobbling out bedroom, she saw a pair of crutches leaning against the counter top, a note taped to them. Putting the crutches under her arms, the amount of pressure that was released felt amazing. Opening the small paper note, she could immediately recognize the beautiful, cursive handwriting of Mirajane. It read:

"Hey! Since you're reading this, I'm glad you're feeling better!

We've all been really worried about you, especially Natsu.

Please take it easy for the next couple of days, get lots of bed rest!

Oh, and don't worry about missions, Natsu and Happy are going to do them solo while you recover.

Levy and I are going to come over later in the afternoon to bring you supper.

Now, go back to sleep, and no going outside!

Love you!

Xoxo Mirajane"

All Lucy could do was stand there, unmoving, staring at the middle line of the note. Of course Natsu could go alone, of course no one thought wrongly about that. Even if he was with Happy, Natsu would do everything by himself. She gritted her teeth and crumpled the note and threw it into the garbage. Lucy couldn't stand herself anymore. What was wrong with her? Why did she have to be so weak? Worst of all, her friends from the guild still cared enough to take care of her. No, she didn't want anyone to look after her anymore. She wasn't a child anymore. She wasn't the rich kid she used to be.

Grabbing her jacket, she hobbled her way over to the door. She was just about to turn the handle when she stopped. Lucy did want to get out of her house, it felt like a prison to her right now. Though, she didn't want people on the streets to see her, a member of Fairy Tale, beat up like this. She was trapped. Punching the door as hard as she could, she threw down the crutches and did her best to walk back into her bed.

Pulling the covers over her head, she began to sob. Lucy hated being like this; that cry-baby that couldn't do anything for herself. Why would Natsu want to stay in a team with her for so long? What made him continue to be her partner after all the times he had to break his back and bend over backwards to save her? Natsu was capable of great things, everyone knew that, and all she was doing was holding him back.

Tired of hearing herself cry and wine, she closed her eyes and forced herself to sleep.


Lucy awoke to the smell of chicken broth and tea. Opening her eyes, a figure slowly came into clear view, it was Levy.

"Well, look who finally woke up." The blue haired mage chimed.

"What's that?" A voice called out from the kitchen. Mirajane came into her doorway, wearing a cooking apron with a ladle in one hand and oven mitt over the other. "Well hey there sleepy head, you woke up just in time, your supper is just about done!" She smiled that motherly smile that made everyone in Fairy Tale swoon to her.

Lucy grabbed her head in pain as she sat up "Ugh, what time is it?" She groaned

"About 8-ish," Levy started "Mira and I have been here about an hour now. Mira's cooking up the leftovers from the feast we had at the guild tonight. I just did a little cleaning here and there."

Lucy smiled, "Thanks guys, it smells amazing." Her head was still pounding. "Any chance I could get some headache medicine?"

"Sure" Mirajane said, walking out of the doorway, only to come back a moment later with a small cup of red liquid.

"Thanks" Lucy smiled, swallowing the horrid tasting liquid in one gulp. "I've got to visit the restroom; I'll be back in a sec." She started to stand up, but her legs gave out from under her, and Levy had to catch her.

"Whoa there ma'am, you're not going anywhere without your crutches." Levy proclaimed

Lucy watched Mirajane walk into the room with the two crutches. "We saw them knocked over on the floor" Mira started "So we thought that you hadn't woken up at all, but the note was gone. Please use the crutches Lucy, you need them."

Lucy stared at the two metal poles. Without saying a word, she grabbed them and placed them under her arms. Looking down, she slowly made her way towards the restroom. With a clack of the door and the locking of the knob, Lucy plopped down on the closed toilet seat. Levy had cleaned in here, she could tell from the rose scent lingering in the air. It took all of her strength to look at herself in the mirror. Part of her wanted to wash the sweat off her forehead, the other was too terrified to look. Slowly opening her eyes, she saw what she had feared the most.

She had been beaten. Both of her eye sockets were black and blue and swollen. Her bottom lip had been badly cut, and it gave her a nasty fat lip. A bruise lay on her check, which had been covered by a large band aid. That was just the start though, it got much worse. Her neck was wrapped in gauze , but pulling it down slightly revealed large, painful scratches. Going down lower, though, she was shocked to see was wearing an unfamiliar baggy shirt and pants. Touching the seams of the shirt, she winced in pain. Lifting up the shirt revealed the problem, her entire left side was covered in gauze, but even that couldn't hide the massive black and blue splotches lining her side. Looking lower, her pants were covering her gauze wrapped legs, but what worried her were the red stained splotches that stained the white bandages. Deciding she really didn't want to know, she looked back up at the mirror. God, she looked absolutely terrible. The only, relatively, good looking thing about her was the perfect little hair bun that sat at the top of her head. Most likely Levy's doing. She wasn't at all, surprisingly, self conscious about the way she looked. All it did, though, was bring her more shame.

"I'm so naive" Lucy thought. Deciding there was nothing she could do about her appearance; she gently washed her face with cool water and brushed her teeth. It was funny, just cleaning herself up a bit actually made her feel better. Looking at the mirror, Lucy tried to pull a smile, but to no prevail; it hurt too much to smile. Giving up, Lucy grabbed the stupid crutches leaning against the wall and hobbled back out of the bathroom. The small apartment smelled heavenly, and it drew her to the kitchen table, where she found Levy and Mirajane sitting down already. A plate of chicken noodle soup and bread with herbal tea waited for her. As soon as Lucy sat down, she dug into her meal.

"It's no wonder you were hungry, you were out for two days." Mirajane smiled "I'm glad to see you eating. Hopefully you'll regain your strength soon."

Levy smiled too "Yeah, we were all pretty worried about you, even Master asked about you often." Lucy kept eating as Levy continued "Though, Natsu took it pretty hard. I've never seen him so worried before, even Happy had never seen him like that."

Lucy looked up "What do you mean?"

This time, Mira answered "Natsu was really worried about you. He shut himself out and stopped talking to people, he didn't even argue with Gray when he bumped into Natsu. He just, kept to himself, not talking, not smiling."

Lucy couldn't really understand, what was up with Natsu? Yeah he stopped showing emotion when she got hurt, but it never lasted this long. After she was healed, Natsu would always be there to laugh at her. This was odd.

"Where is Natsu anyways?" Lucy asked, whipping away the remaining crumbs on her face with her napkin and sipping the last bit of her tea.

"No one knows, we haven't seen him since yesterday. All he said to us was to tell you to stay in bed and that he would be handling the team's missions for the week. After that he walked off." The blue haired mage said, putting a finger on her chin, looking up at the ceiling as if deep in thought. "Hmm, what is with that boy?"

"So what happened yesterday?" Lucy asked

"After we found out that you had taken the mission alone, Natsu ran out of the guild so fast, Happy couldn't even catch up to him. He came back about an hour later, carrying your lifeless self into the guild hall. He put you on the table so Mira could start helping you."

Mirajane continued the story "Your clothes had been so torn up, that Natsu said he had to wrap his blanket around you. You probably noticed the clothes you're wearing already. They're Natsu's; he had Happy fly to his place to get you the clothes since none of us had any extra clothing and your apartment was locked. After I bandaged you up, Natsu took you back to your apartment. This morning I came by to drop off the crutches and the note, I hope you don't mind, but Natsu left the door unlocked for me."

Lucy was looking down, but underneath her hair, she was blushing like crazy. Natsu had taken off her clothes for the blanket? Natsu had seen her naked? That creep!

Levy laughed "I know what you're thinking Lucy, but don't worry, Natsu isn't that kind of person."

Levy was right, Natsu was anything but a pervert, though, he did have his moments. The thing that made Lucy smile was the thought of him effortlessly getting into her locked apartment after such a long time of barging in uninvited.

"Thank you guys, I feel a lot better." Lucy smiled

"I'm so glad!" Mirajane smiled back "You know we're always here if you need us."

Looking at the both of them, Lucy's heart was warming. She was lucky to have friends like these two, even though she didn't deserve them.

"Go back to sleep, Lucy, you need your rest." Mirajane began, taking her plate and cup to the sink to wash them.

"But I've been asleep for two days." Lucy groaned

"No buts" Levy commanded "You need to recuperate from those injuries. You're pretty beaten up Luce." She smiled

"Don't worry, we'll let ourselves out. Have a good night's rest." Mirajane smiled warmly, which oddly made Lucy sleepy.

As she made her way towards her room, her two friends called goodbye as they left. She curled herself up in her bed, the soft sound of raindrops getting heavier, lulling her to sleep. Her final thoughts were about Natsu. It was funny; he's all she could think about these days. She didn't know why, they were just friends. It aggravated her headache more trying to think of the answer as to why. She decided it was best just to go to sleep.

This odd feeling struck her though, just as she was drifting into darkness. She thought she could sense someone watching her outside in the rain.


Next chapter is in Natsu's point of view! Hope you enjoyed it! Feedback would be much appreciated as well. :)