Newest story I have been developing in my mind for the longest time. I have been wanting to give my try in doing a fanfiction story within the current time line of the manga, so here is my first attempt! I hope you all enjoy it - It's going to be an angst, horror, suspense, adventure, etc. type of story. I'm hoping to envelop some major feels within this, so make sure you read and review - Let me know what you think! :D

The Lost Dragon Slayer

Chapter 1: Foreshadowing

No. This couldn't be happening.

It wasn't happening.

She had just gotten him back. He had just come back. He couldn't disappear again like this.

Not because of her.

Not again.

Why wasn't she strong enough?

Why couldn't she save the one damn good thing that came into her life?

"NATSU!"

She watched his prone form, beaten and bloodied, take the hit of the attack meant for her but he still stumbled forwards.

Always protecting her.

Always defending her.

When was it going to be her turn to save him?

Seeing him still moving hurt her, but she could do nothing as her leg was crushed beneath something heavy. She saw him turn back towards her, giving her that grin that made her heart race too quickly, while mouthing the words, "I'll see you soon Luce."

No. No. No. This wasn't happening. It couldn't be!

She forced her legs to move, finding freedom in her perch and she dashed for the edge of the cliff trying desperately to get there before he was gone. She reached for him, but tripped over her own broken leg and watched helplessly as he fell backwards in a tackle along with the dark mage she was fighting.

Tears fell from her cheeks as she watched over the edge of the cliff Natsu disappear into the darkness below. Her last glimpse of him was him grinning up at her, giving a mock salute and spreading his arms and legs out, almost as if he was enjoying the fall.

"Natsu…"

"No. No… Natsu."

"NATSU!"

Lucy sprung up from her sleep and gripped her light pajama shirt over her stammering heart. She took deep, gulping breaths of air as she looked frantically around the room. Her arm reached out to her left seemingly looking for something and she instantly calmed down when her hand met with a head of soft, pink tufts of hair.

Her dream wasn't real.

He was still here with her.

She sighed as she continued to play with Natsu's hair. She knew she wouldn't be able to get back to sleep after that nightmare. It was the same one again that she has had for the past week. The same nightmare that would wake her up screaming out in terror and tears streaming down her face. It felt too real sometimes, being trapped within that dream. She wished she knew what it all meant. Maybe it was because of the pain he caused her when he had left her all alone over a year ago to go on that training trip. Maybe it was her conscience telling her that it was time to tell him just how much he had hurt her – finally get the weight and pain off her chest. But she really couldn't bring herself to do it.

She looked over at Natsu lying next to her and she couldn't help the small smile that played on her lips as she watched him lightly snore. She was thankful he had come back to her and helped her in her quest to find the members of Fairy Tail once again. She would be forever grateful for all that he has done for her.

First bringing her along to find Wendy from Lamia Scale. Then of course the whole Gray and Avatar thing that transpired and finding Erza and Juvia all along the way. And running into Levy and Gajeel who had shockingly joined the Council Guard. Now, being back in Magnolia and seeing everyone gathering around once again had filled her with such joy – especially when she was told it was all because of her letters that had reached everyone.

They had just named their seventh guild master, Erza Scarlet, to take the position until they found Makarov. Rebuilding the guild was the first step to truly bringing Fairy Tail back to Magnolia, and the people had so kindly accepted them back into their arms. Their next mission was to go gather information on the western continent, Arbaless, where Mest had told them all Makarov had left for after disbanding Fairy Tail. Finding their master was great importance, since Fairy Tail wouldn't be complete without him. Natsu, Happy, Erza, Gray, Wendy, Charle, Mest and herself were leaving bright and early in the morning to set out on a course for Arbaless.

They first had to travel to a port city that was closer in distance to the continent than Magnolia, so setting course on the road was their first objective before grabbing a boat and sailing the distance to infiltrate Arbaless. She glanced down at sleeping Natsu while thinking about this, wondering just how well he was going to be able to handle the transportation this kind of rescue mission was going to take.

Seeing a light shining through her curtains, Lucy began to move knowing their departure time was set for a few hours just after dawn. This way they all could leave before the rest of Fairy Tail saw them for the day. Packing a few essentials and going through her morning routine, she stepped out of her bathroom to see that Natsu was up and stretching. Happy was still curled up on her bed but he was talking sleepily with Natsu about the day's travels.

Natsu turned and grinned at her, sticking his thumb up and winking. "Ready to go Luce?"

"Hmmh! You bet." She returned his smile with one of her own even though she had this nagging feeling in the back of her mind that something wasn't right.

"Now I want everyone to be on their best behavior on this trip." Erza gave each of them a stern look before facing back towards Natsu and Gray who had their foreheads pressed together spewing insults back and forth. "Do I make myself clear, Natsu? Gray?"

"YES MAM!" They instantly separated and flung their arms around each other's shoulders. Lucy sweat dropped at the display before her. Even though they were about to embark on a dangerous mission, these two were acting as normal as ever.

"I still totally won that fight Popsicle, and you know it." Natsu grinned and crossed his arms over his chest as they all began to board the train. He seemed hesitant to even take one step closer to the train and his face displayed his anxiety about the transportation choices for this journey.

Gray scoffed and turned back to look at him, "Watching you suffer on this train will be payback enough for me fire for brains." He entered the train and took a seat, grinning as he watched Natsu visibly pale from stepping on the train.

"Urg… Damn it." Natsu placed a hand in front of his mouth, his face becoming clammy and green. "Why can't we walk again?" He took a few steps forward before face planting right into Lucy's lap. She let out a squeak as he curled himself up onto the train's bench and moaned out, rubbing his face deeper into her lap.

Lucy puffed out her cheeks that had a light blush coating them, but didn't attempt to remove Natsu from her lap. "Natsu! You can't just do that. We are in public you know!"

"But Luuuusshhhii! I can't, urg…" He seemed to visibly get paler as the train lurched forward from the station, "I can't help it…"

Lucy's face softened as she began to run her fingers through his hair in an attempt to sooth his sickness. "Fine. Just try and take it easy okay? No throwing up on me again."

"No… ugh… promises Luce."

After a few hours, Lucy's lap was beginning to get tired. They had about an hour more to go before reaching their destination and grabbing a short carriage ride through a mountain terrain to reach the port city. She looked out of the window and sighed out loud, her hand still moving in soothing circles through Natsu's hair.

"Is everything okay Lucy?" Erza had her arms crossed over her chest and had been watching Lucy for some time now. It seemed she was in deep thought about something.

"Yeah everything is fine… It's just…" She glanced back down at Natsu who had moaned out in his sleep. "I keep having this sinking feeling that something isn't right. Each passing moment I feel as if I am walking towards something I shouldn't be."

"I see… So you feel it as well then."

Lucy looked up startled towards Gray who was sitting in the booth next to them with Mest and Wendy who seemed to fairing as well as Natsu was at the moment. "You too Gray?"

"Yeah… I keep feeling as if I shouldn't be doing this. Almost as if my body wants to turn me around right now and go back to Magnolia." His fists tightened in his lap. "But we all know we can't do that. Gramps needs us, so we have to carry on."

Lucy smiled towards him and saw similar grins spread across both Mest's and Erza's faces.

"I agree. We will all have to be on our top game. Arbaless isn't to be taken lightly, especially from what all we heard from Mest." Erza looked from each of them before standing up just as the train came to a stop. "Let us go and find a carriage. We need to get a move on if we wish to catch the boat that is setting sail soon." She picked up Natsu from his prone form in Lucy's lap and flung him over her shoulder before walking out of the train.

"Damn it. If it's not one thing, it's the next with all this stuff. Do we really have to take a carriage now? I just got over the train ride and now I have to deal with this?" Natsu groaned out as he watched Erza stacking their luggage into the back of the carriage. He really wasn't enjoying this.

"For once I agree with Natsu-san. I'm still feeling sick from the train ride." Wendy placed a delicate hand over her mouth and swayed on her feet.

"Hey, at least now you are true dragon slayer Wendy!" Natsu grinned down at her while petting the top of her head. "You're just like Metal Head and myself now!"

Wendy smiled up at him before paling at seeing them ready to go. "I'm not so sure how I feel about that yet…" She reluctantly got into the back of the carriage and instantly swayed on her feet before collapsing, Natsu following right behind her.

"Now that those two are taken care of, we will be on our way." Erza shut the back of the carriage and got into the front seat alongside Mest. He pulled on the reigns of the horses pulling their ride and they set off for the mountain terrain that was visible in the distance. "This trail will take us through the mountain path correct?"

Mest nodded and peered at her through the corner of his eyes. "That's right. I followed Makarov to see which way he was taking to get to Arbaless. This was his exact path. It must be the quickest way there."

Erza gave no reply as she kept her eyes forward, her arms over her armor chest plate. There was something wrong with this picture. It was too quiet out on the trails at the moment. The port city they were heading towards was a largely populated one and normally had thru-traffic coming and going on this pathway. Was there a reason why no one was currently taking this path?

While stuck in her thoughts, she missed the telltale signs of a shadow following them in the nearby underbrush. She glanced over in that direction to see nothing out of the ordinary and faced back forward.

They reached a steep slide in the mountain pathway, and the horses pulling the reigns jerked to a stop suddenly. Erza got out to see a large boulder blocked their pathway. As she approached it, a large sword swung down towards her and she jumped back out of the way before more had surrounded her.

"Shit! Erza – it's an ambush!" Mest jumped down from his spot on the carriage and ran forward to help her. Lucy and Gray quickly followed and ran out of the back of the carriage and into the heavy dose of fighting. Lucy pulled out her whip to take a few of the men by surprise. Gray was right behind her with his ice make magic, forming a lance and taking on a few men.

"Why do I feel like I know these guys from somewhere?" Lucy commented as she was backed up against Gray who raised his eyebrow at her.

"You know them Lucy? Are they a couple fans of yours?" Gray blocked an attack from an axe that swooped a little too close to his neck for comfort and began to push back.

"If they are, what a lousy way to ask for a signature." She quickly summoned up Virgo and Loke to help them in the fight against these bandits.

Back in the carriage, Natsu tried desperately to move from his spot in the carriage, crawling towards the now open door. "Urg, Wendy. We gotta… go help them…"

"Natsu-san… I can hardly move… Ugh." Wendy placed her head down on the floor but moved slowly and eventually out of the carriage. A dark shadow loomed over top of her and grinned down at her.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here? A little girl played magician?" The big burly man grabbed Wendy by her hair, lifting her up and bringing her eye level with him. "You don't look like much you brat. Why would they bring you along?"

"Wendy! Y-you get your filthy hands off of her!" Natsu had sweat dripping down his face in his attempts to get his body to move. The big man glanced down at Natsu and there was a glint in his eyes as he threw Wendy behind him and went to grab for Natsu.

Charle was quick to fly and grab Wendy before she crashed into a large boulder behind her. Happy watched helplessly as Natsu was grabbed by his scarf and lifted from the carriage as well. "You let him go!" Happy dove to help Natsu before he was swatted away by another thief who was stationed on top of the carriage.

"Ha-Happy!" Natsu watched with shock in his eyes to see Happy crash into a large boulder behind him, shaking it loose from its position on the side of the mountain path.

"If it isn't the pink haired bastard we were sent to look for. So you were with this group now were you? Looks like the boss was correct again." He commented snidely as he slammed him into the same boulder Happy was just forced into before. Natsu let out a gasp of air as the rough rocks carved into his back. "If you come with us quietly, we'll be sure to let your friends go, you hear?"

"Natsu!" Lucy ran towards him and lashed out with her whip, catching the man's ankle by surprise. She pulled hard on the whip, causing the man to lose his balance and fall to his side, letting go of Natsu in the process. Natsu fell roughly on his back, but he was all fired up now.

Standing up from his spot, Natsu glared down at the guy and picked him up by the front of his shirt, thrusting him into the same boulder he was just forced into moments ago. "Listen here you bastard! You can threaten me all you want, but you don't lay a hand on my nakama!" He slammed him once again into the boulder lifting his fist up to carve his face into the rock, not noticing the large boulder from before coming out of its perch and slowly rolling down towards him.

Lucy was quick to realize what was happening and ran forwards, pushing Natsu out of the way and having the boulder hit both her and the man they were just fighting off the ledge of the pathway. They rolled down the side of the mountain, before coming to a stop at a large out pass that jutted out from the side of the mountain.

"Ugh…" Lucy looked up from her spot to see the big burly man move to get up. She tried to force her body to move to grab her whip that was a few feet in front of her before realizing that she couldn't move her right leg. She looked back behind her to see it trapped underneath the large boulder that she just saved Natsu from before. Her eyes widened as the pain from her broken leg finally hit her, and she screamed out in both the pain and shock of having her leg crushed by its weight.

"You little bitch! I'll kick your ass for this!" The burly man held his hand out, a dark sinister magic seemed to be wrapping around his fist. "For the cause of my pain and my men's, I will bring you to hell with this fist!" Rocks formed around his wrist, taking the shape of a large gun pointed straight at her. "Hope you had a good life missy." He said as he shot a large pelted rock towards her.

"LUCY!" Natsu jumped down from the pathway, sliding down on the side of the mountain before jumping in the way of rock bullet. The bullet went straight through his right shoulder, nicking his guild mark and burning through the skin that surrounded it. Natsu grasped his shoulder in pain, blood seemed to pour from the wound as he held it tightly. "You okay Luce?" He looked back at her, seeing her eyes wide in fear, tears gathering at the corners. "You stay there. I'll handle this bastard." Natsu charged forwards, his right arm hanging loosely at his side as he fought with the flames from his left.

Lucy watched Natsu spring towards the dark mage, her mind going blank as it was finally registering that this looked familiar.

Too familiar.

She tried to speak up and get her body to move, but it seemed as if she was frozen in Gray's ice make magic. She watched Natsu driving the man back towards the edge of the cliff. His right arm was covered in blood from his wound. The bandages that were wrapped around his forearm soaked in the red liquid, coloring them a dark red. She had always meant to ask him why he had begun to wear those…

Being shaken from her thoughts by a cry of pain, she whipped her head back to the fight, seeing Natsu being blasted by another bullet from the man's gun while standing right in front of her. When had he gotten there? When had she become the target?

Natsu stumbled forward, and grinned with bloody teeth at the man before him. His left eye was shut tight from the heavy blood flow that was falling from a large cut that graced his forehead. His left hand now held tightly his left hip – the same one that was scarred by Future Rogue in the battle at Crocus – and it seemed a new large gash had just been cut there by another bullet form this man. Lucy watched with choked back tears, wondering how he was still standing and defending her.

"Natsu… Oh Natsu… No more… Please." She choked out, reaching towards him. She was beginning to lose her vision. The corners of her vision were beginning to blacken, and she knew she was close to losing consciousness, probably from the amount of pain she was receiving from her crushed leg. She scratched at the dirt below her, begging her body to move, to help assist in this fight. If only she could summon Taurus, but she couldn't reach for her keys and she could still feel the strain of holding both Virgo's and Loke's gates open. It was beginning to dawn on her that she knew where it was going to lead, and she had to help before she faced her worst nightmare.

She couldn't lose him or else her worst nightmare was going to come true.

"Don't worry Luce. He's not much better than I am." Natsu breathed heavily and cursed at himself. If only he could use his right arm right now – this fight would have long been over. Seeing the big man get up once again from his other attack, his eyes widened as he saw the dark magic gathering around the cannon he had just formed from the rocks around him.

"Shit." Natsu breathed out and charged forwards in a speed he hadn't shown before in an attempt to stop it from firing. Thinking quickly to himself, he forced his right arm to move and punched the man sharply in the face after feigning with his left, the cannon crumbling from the lost flow of magic. Natsu realized too late that he had over powered the punch, and both he and this dark mage were being sent flying over the edge of the cliff. He turned back around to glance at Lucy whose eyes were wide in fear – his own fear reflecting in them.

"N-Natsu?" Lucy gulped out as she forced her leg out from underneath the boulder. She moved, all of her pain forgotten as she watched her dragon slayer falling over the edge. "No. No. NO! NATSU!" She raced over there, stumbling and falling short of the ledge. She crawled quickly to the end and braced herself to look over and into the darkness below fearing that wouldn't see him again.

She breathed out a sigh of relief, seeing that Natsu had grabbed onto a rock sticking out from the side, his right hand's finger tips holding onto the ledge sharply. She reached out with her hand towards him. "Natsu hold on! I'll get you up here. Just reach for my hand!"

Natsu was looking down into the dark abyss below before looking up towards her. He hesitated before he reached up with his left hand, stretching as far as he could. "Luce… I don't think…"

"NO! Don't say that! Come on Natsu, I'm so close. We are so close. Reach for me! Please!" Her tears where streaming down her face, her eyes red rimmed from the amount of crying she had done. She forced her body more over the edge, and her finger tips graced his.

"Lucy… I have something to say. Will you listen to me?" Lucy snapped her eyes from their fingers to his face, seeing him looking at her with a calmness she had never seen before. "I need you to take care of Happy for me okay? I won't be able to hold on much longer with my bum arm. It's beginning to give out on me." As if true to his words, his right arm slipped a little, and their fingertips now had a gap in their space. "I'm sorry Luce… I-"

"NO NATSU!" Lucy cried down towards him, her hand reached out further before he was able to drop his left to his side and grasped his wrist. "I've got you. I'm going to pull you up. I'm going to save you from this. I'm NOT letting you go!" Her grip was tight on him, but she felt it slipping from the blood that coated his skin. "I can't let you go… I just got you back. I just got you back…" She cried deeply as she felt her fingers loosening, her body beginning to slide over the edge of the cliff along with him. "Natsu please…"

"Luce… You need to let me go. I won't allow you to be drug down into this as well…" Natsu glanced down towards the darkness once again before looking up and meeting Lucy's eyes. "Don't worry about me Luce. You know I can survive anything." He graced her with one of his trademark grins as he loosened his own grip on her wrist – letting his hand go slack.

"Natsu you can't! What about all of us at Fairy Tail? What about finding Master? What about all the promises of the future you made to Igneel? Natsu… You have to hold on. I'm sure Erza and Gray will be here soon… I'll help you." Lucy's grip was weakening, and she saw in his eyes a resolution.

"You're going to have to live those out for me now. You stay here and take care of everyone for me okay? I promise I'll be at your side soon. Besides it's always more fun when were together… Right?" Natsu's fingers were the only thing Lucy was able to grip anymore, and he gave her a heartfelt smile.

"R-right Natsu… I promise…" Lucy's hair covered her eyes as her tears sprang new once more. "Come back to me soon…"

"That's a promise I intend to keep Luce…"

Then his fingers slipped free.

Hope you all enjoyed that. I hope the suspense was alright !

Read and review! Would love to hear what you all think!~ :D