Disclaimer: I own nothing except my lovely muse.
~~~~~~~~~"~~~~~~~~~~~~~~"~~~~~~~~~~~~~~``
"Lucy? Lucy! Lucy where did you go" Natsu screams, Gray turned over as he rolled across the battlefield.
"Natsu? What happened? Where did Lucy go?"
Natsu spins as I stab the guy who is running come up behind me with the ice I just made.
"Gray, she is gone! They took, her they were going to take me! They saw her keys and then they grabbed her and sped off Gray something is wrong I can feel it in my gut they are going to hurt her Gray we have to find her!"
Natsu and I race off in the direction of the car thing; we barely make it in time to see Loke running right behind the car screaming as he jumps through the back window. The car veers, we hear Lucy scream in fear. She calls out both our names. We run harder. Loke is stabbed but has Lucy. Then the gun goes off, Loke roars and the car swerves off the road, as Lucy and Loke fly out the window. Loke wraps himself around Lucy as a red blossom stains the side of her body, we run faster.
Two months later, the coma passes and she can't remember anyone, just us and Loke, she is scared, and wants to leave the Guild, we are going to let her, it must eb for the best after all... Maybe when she remembers she'll come back, if she even does. Will she still want to stay? Erza cries as Levy stayed away. Lucy apologizes and leaves. She hugs me and Natsu once, Loke leaves with her. Maybe she'll remember everything we went through together one day. But it is obviously not today.
"G-goodbye Luce, we love you!"
Natsu and I call out to her as Loke carries her bag. She turns, smiles, and then calls out happily.
"I know you two I love you both as well!"
Then she turns to him and tells him something. He hugs her tightly as they then kiss. Natsu and I flinch, single matching tears roll down our faces. That is when we know she is gone. But she still lives in her apartment, we just never come over again, no need to hurt her more with what she can't remember other than we needed to. We know we lost her.
I remember the times we spent together
on those drives
We had a million questions
all about our lives.
Lucy, why did you go? What happened? Why did you do this to us? We would have been fine; you never understood that did you? I loved you Luce, I know I loved you. You shouldn't be leaving me stay with me please! I slam a Guild table as the tears fall.
"Damn it! She shouldn't have left! I should have made her stay, thing could be different, we could have had a life. I am a failure!"
I scream as Gray hits a table.
"Natsu! She might not have stayed anyway give it up! She- she is gone!"
His voice cracks in the last sentence as he collapses to the ground. I throw a chair.
"SHE MIGHT HAVE STAYED IF WE ASKED HER TO GRAY NEVR FORGET THAT! I KNOW I HAVEN'T AND I LOVED HER JUST AS MUCH YOU ASSHOLE! SHE MIGHT HAVE STAYED THINK ABOUT IT!"
And when we got to New York
everything felt right.
I wish you were here with me
tonight
Stupid, I felt so stupid.
"Natsu look I am sorry, I am unsure what if we both were by her, would things have been different?"
I let her stand next to Natsu, I thought he could protect her, I never thought that he would need to be protected. Too bad this happened when we went to town, I feel so stupid. Think it. Me, Gray Fullbuster, feeling stupid for leaving the girl I love in the hands of my best friend/enemy, and another man who loves Lucy. And because of that, we both lost her.
I remember the days we spent together
were not enough
and it used to feel like dreamin'
except we always woke up
Never thought not having you
here now would hurt so much
Memories flash of us all hugging Lucy in our sleep, her smooshed between us as we held her sleeping form, she never objected, even when she woke up. So Lucy, did that mean you loved us? If so, why didn't you stay, we loved you Lucy! Tears pour down my face as I look to him, his face mirrors my own. We lost her. She isn't coming back and Loke must have her, he must be loving erh right now… The stars even fell for you Lucy, they always did…
Tonight I've fallen and I can't get up
I need your loving hands to come and pick me up
And every night I miss you
I can just look up
and know the stars are
holdin' you, holdin' you, holdin' you tonight
Lucy. How does it feel without me there? How does it feel without him next to you as well, how does it feel without us nearby to tell you you're safe, to stop you from worrying to help you laugh when you wanted to cry, tell me, do you still love me? Oh are you even out there?
And, and someone is coming back, we see them just down the road. This better be good news! Loke came back. Hair amiss, shades cracked, face bloody, all he can say echoes in the air like deadweight.
"They came back, and, they took her. Gray, Natsu, help me get her back, I think they might have… I don't feel her to be dead but she will be if we don't hurry. Please we need to protect the only that ever mattered to us. I can't live with another death on my hands! I'm sorry I couldn't wait."
He to falls to the floor sobbing. It wasn't fair, people always take her. Why her?
I remember the time you told me about when you were eight
And all those things you said that night that just couldn't wait
"Lucy told me about her first Christmas with her mother."
He said. We smiled, it will be okay, right?
"Loke, she'll be- okay we should- no we need to go get her right now! Come on Loke!" We race outside, the cold night air hits our face but we keep running, Lucy is what we always loved, without Lucy, there is no life…
I remember the car you were last seen in
and the games we would play
All the times we spilled our coffees
and stayed out way too late
"No! This is it! This is the Car guys!"
We rushed out faster; we hear her screaming for us, we can't help it. All of us cry out. "Lucy! We are coming! I swear it!"
The sound of her scream, a gun, the acrid smell of smoke, it scared us all. Loke panics.
"Lucy!"
"Shut up, stupid cat, I need help up and some coffee." She growls as Loke pulls her to her feet.
"I-I think you three deserve to hear this first, I remember you. All of you, Gray I remember you at Galuna, when I first saw you cry, and how you stopped smoking when I told you how much I hate the smell. Natsu I remember you bringing me to Fairy Tail. Loke, you are the sneaky one, I remember you telling me you were going to die and then you made it a joke, oh God I could have killed you then and there!"
She hugs us three as we hug her back.
"Please, let me come home, I love you. All three of you idiots."
She falls to the ground, blood from a deep gash bleeds, she swears, we hold her and race back to the Guild Wendy panics as she heals her. We all stand outside and wait for the better news. "Please let her live, she remembers everything, she even remembers us!"
Gray screams. And we rush to the hospital hoping that it isn't too late and they will still open.
I remember the time you sat and told me about your Jesus
and how not to look back even if no one believes us
When it hurt so bad sometimes
not having you here...
We made it to the hospital in tears; Lucy was pale, so very pale.
"Natsu, Gray, I-I- think we should pray together. Lucy told me about a man named Jesus and said when we pray he can hear it so; I think we should pray for Lucy. Please."
His voice was barely even more than a whisper, we grabbed our hands and began to pray, but of course that never means what we said worked, especially since we never believed in him anyway, Natsu Loke and I all have a good reason to hate God, but the one thing we loved him for was Lucy.
Finally after three days waiting, he took her away to.
We all died a bit on that day. Goodbye, Sweet, sweet love. I miss you.
Lucy.
I sing,
Tonight I've fallen and I can't get up
I need your loving hands to come and pick me up
And every night I miss you
I can just look up
and know the stars are
holdin' you, holdin' you, holdin' you tonight
That night I fell to the ground in tears. I growled at anyone who tried to take Lucy's body from me, I looked out the window tears streaming down my face as Master had picked me up and took me out of the room since he and Levy were the only ones I'd let near her body. No one else, not Gray, not Loke, not even her other Spirits who felt the loss of their Master like a knife through the heart. I still sobbed. Master threw me into the grass yelling at me.
"Stupid Boy! You think Lucy wants to see you from Heaven like this! A little whining snotty tear-stained mess? NO! SHE LOVED YOU AND HER TEAM TO DEATH! UNDERSTAND THAT! LOOK! I'LL BET THAT RIGHT NOW YOU CAN SEE HER IN THE STARS! THEY WERE WHAT ALWAYS LOVED HER NO MATTER WHAT HAD HAPPENED!"
Master finished yelling and then left the outside to go in the Guild and prepare for her funeral. Natsu had wiped the tears away and looked up at the stars. He asked a simple question.
"Why Lucy, why did you have to go? I loved you!" He yelled at star filled sky.
He could almost see the outline of Lucy in the stars, it had every little detail of her in them, her eyes, her hair ribbon, even the faint wrinkles in the corner of her eyes. He smiled at the stars as he could hear her voice in the air almost as if the stars willed the wind to carry what she wanted him to know.
"Natsu, please don't cry for me, I am home again, Momma is here, and Dad isn't angry any more, I am happy. Natsu don't cry for me, and I love you forever and always too. Thank you for loving me when I couldn't even think of the feeling!"
Then the wind let the sweet smell of Lucy go, the one that smelled forever of Strawberries, sakuras, and vanilla roses. He grabbed the thing that seemed to kiss his face goodbye. Pulling it back from his face to get a look at it, tears of happiness rolled down his face; what he pulled back was the ribbon that Lucy tied her hair up with it was the color of his name, with pink summer roses. Completely clean and sweet smelling just like the way she smelt. He tied it around his wrist looking at the celestial sky one last time that night. It showed him a beaming Lucy smiling and without a hair ribbon.
"Lucy, thank you, I love you forever and for always. Ja' ne."
I sing,
Tonight I've fallen and I can't get up
I need your loving hands to come and pick me up
And every night I miss you
I can just look up
and know the stars are
holdin' you, holdin' you, holdin' you tonight
Loke had walked out of the Guild and was waiting for the Spirit King to yell at him and banish him forever, but instead it was Aries, she wailed like a Banshee in his arms after barreling into him.
"L-Lucy d-d-died!" She sobbed harder when he had nodded into her head. Aries looked at him and smiled tearfully whi8le falling to the grasses below them.
"She left you this; it was in the grass, you walked by it. It looks like hers; she must have had someone leave it for you Loke-kun."
She looks out to the border of the forest. Loke gasped as he saw a shimmering version of his one true Master, Lucy.
She was sitting on a narrow rock, soon hopped off, dusting off her skirt and smiling, she waved and used her hands to cup her mouth. The words didn't reach him until she walked behind a tree and then never walked out. That wouldn't have been a problem, except the tree was the width of a pencil; it was a birch tree with bleeding bark. He smiled as the words finally reached his ears.
"Loke, never forget me you stupid cat, I'll miss you but please don't worry, you'll live I talked with mustache man and made sure you weren't accountable for my death, never worry about it! I love you as well. Silly Cat, you'll see me every night, just look up! Everytime you miss me, look up!"
Her words faded as he wrote them down on a paper, then he looked up, when he looked up, after looking closely you could see her, sitting on the star Regulus spinning on the star's axis, as her hair blows in the breeze it makes as it spins fast, her hair is loose and a green ribbon is in his hand. He smiles.
"She always thought of everything, didn't you?"
He can almost hear her laughter as he ties it around his wrist. It smells like her, strawberries, sakuras, and oranges. He always loved it when she had eaten oranges, the fruit clung to her lips and tainted the natural way she smelt, with a warm loving citrusy scent. He smiled up at the star and blew it a kiss.
"The stars are holding you, tonight."
~Gray~
He walked home, slamming the door of his apartment shut. He screamed into his lips as he bit them hard enough to taste blood. he lost her, we lost our love. Lucy. I punch the wall breaking through it in a fury of dusty insulation packed debris. I swear and walk to the balcony of the place Tears silently fall as I walk out to the railings. There is something tied to the railing, I grab it and untie it. I feel the tears stop for a brief moment. It's Lucy's hair ribbon. The ice blue on he'd bought for her on her thirteenth birthday here at the Guild.
He clenches his fists as a small feather light touch of wind laces his face, he looks up as the Crescent Moon has a figure on it, her blonde hair flowing smiling while a beautiful pink tattoo plays in the light on the back of her hands. She has wings either that or the way the moon shines on her make it look like she has beautiful golden wings. She holds onto the moon with one arm while the other calls out to him. He cries and falls to his knees she has a look of concern on her face as well as sadness. Soon she vanishes, as he sobs more openly, the ribbon caught in his death grip between iced fingers. Then I hear a voice from my neighbor, Gary.
"Gray-kun there is a girl underneath you, she must be mute she is tryna get your attention!"
I look down and there is Lucy. She is looking at me and then points to him making a walking motion, I nod, we never once had to speak to know what the other wanted.
"Gary, thanks and can you leave please?"
"Yeah Gray, later." He walks in an waves, while he leaves.
"Lucy, what are you doing here? You- you're dead love. You should go."
She looks worried and then cups her hands like she is shouting, the wind delays her words as I blink, she is gone but I hear her words.
"Gray, stop crying, I am okay now, I haven't hurt since I met you, even when I died I felt no pain, you were all there, I never hurt when you three are there. Please don't cry for me. I am safe now, if you ever need me, just look up, I'll be okay, and you'll always see me! Here take my hand! I love you ice boy."
He looks up from his position on the floor of the balcony, he see the same ribbon on the railing, it's just behind the image of Lucy sitting on a different star as she stretches her hands out at him.
"I see Lucy, I am sorry for making you worry, I love you too, don't worry love I could never forget you! See I am not crying anymore!"
He wipes his face as reaches his hands out to grab the ribbon. He then pulls himself up after one last set of melancholy tears spilled. I put the ribbon to my nose. It smells of Strawberries, sakuras, and mint. Giving that cold feeling just like ice. He always gave her mint leaves when they were on long missions, they would chew them and then after they lost the flavor they spit them out, seeing who could spit it out farther. She always won. He smiles and ties it to his wrist. He smiles and then goes to bed.
~Any one~
The next day three heartbroken men came to Fairy Tail. Each having a small hair ribbon tied to their wrist. The men look at each other's wrists, and smile in a secret knowledge. Then they grab a friend's shoulder before sighing dejectedly.
"We all should know this by now. She isn't coming back but we can just look up, and know the stars are holding her tonight."
They say at the same time. Natsu had grown old, the summer rose hair band still staying brand new, impervious to wear and tear, and still smelling of Strawberries, sakuras, and vanilla roses. Gray became the same color as his hair, his ice blue band still the same as before he spent seventy years on the planet along with his friend Natsu. His band still smells of Strawberries, sakuras, and mint. He presses it to his face and smells the girl he lost. Soon a strapping young man with ginger hair and a green tattoo on his back walks in.
"Loke, how are you old man?"
The eighty-seven-year-olds joke.
"Now, now boys don't be jealous. I am not as spry as we used to be eh?"
They laugh as Loke presses a kiss to the inside of his wrist where the dark forest green ribbon that smells of Strawberries, sakuras, and oranges still lays a single tear escapes the men's eyes as they know, she is gone, she isn't ever coming back. They sigh and wipe the one tear with their hands. Each man visiting a nostalgic memory of a girl they'll never see again. They made plans and then they meet up, Loke had been waiting over 75'087 years before he could do this. He took of his ring and let it fall to the ground. His clothes changed to the clothes that he wore before he met Lucy, he then looks 87 years old, and he smiles at the sky. It is just beginning to show stars. All the men lie on their backs, the ribbons wrapped around their ancient, semi-decrepit wrists. They smiled at the sky where a young blonde had tears falling down ehr face, body surrounded by a small glow.
Soon they close their eyes and then they faded away, stiff corpses on the ground outside the Guild, each with the ribbon to their lips. In the late evening around four in the morning, you could see, if you only looked close enough to the brightest star in the entire sky, you could see the outlines of a young blonde, next to her, were three men, on behind her, the other two on each side. The one with hair the color of summer roses was behind her, gripping her in a deep hug, a black haired one with only boxers on, hugging tight to her waist the third one, a face she knew well, hold her hand to his lips and an arm around the available amount waist left. The last figure had ginger hair and special shades that always blocked his eyes. She was happy. She cried, the sky raining down celestial diamonds as the three fade out into the stars of the morning, each single person became a group of stars but only four in that group of stars shone the brightest. The four in the tightest group, one above, one below and two beside the vertical pair, in the very early morning, a white haired old maid walks out to the Guild, and sees only the bodies of her three friends. She smiled.
"And every night I miss you I can just look up and know the stars are holding you, holding you, holding you, tonight."
With that, the white haired bar maid cried on last time as she looked into the rapidly fading sky. And she could swear that she sees Lucy, Gray, Natsu, and Loke even looking at her and waving. She smiled and cried.
"I know the stars are holding you tonight you four!"
Then they vanished, from the sky and from the one that trusted them most forever.
"Sayonara Loke, Gray, Natsu, and Lu-chan... I'll miss you all."
