A/N: This was written for the Destiny Competition of Love-Fairy-Tail on Deviant Art, where my team won 2nd place. The prompt was "a dragon's roar" which could be about anything. This was my take.
Disclaimer: Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima. Warning: Short, sad, and shocking.
A Dragon's Roar
a Fairy Tail fanfic
by Rhov
She couldn't be dead!
Natsu ran with all of his might. He heard the news, but he refused to believe it.
Dead? No...no, not again. Please, not again!
A couple of unwanted tears escaped, leaving horizontal streaks from the corner of his eyes back to his hairline, blown away by the wind that whipped at him as he ran, driven on blindly by panic, desperation, and a prayer that this was a lie. Somewhere behind him, he heard Happy shouting at him to slow down, but the dragon slayer refused. He nearly tripped as he raced down the cobbled road leading from the guild hall—where he heard the news from a very solemn Gray—all the way to the hospital.
She can't be dead! It's a lie! It must be a lie!
At the hospital, Makarov was standing outside, apparently waiting for him. The tiny guild master looked older somehow. Natsu didn't think anything could slow down his feet, but the frown under the master's mustache worked as an instant break.
"How...how is she?" he panted.
Makarov's mouth pulled down lower, and Natsu thought he saw a tear in the wrinkle beside his eye. The teen began to shake his head in protest.
He jumped when Happy collapsed on his shoulder. "Natsu, you run too fast. What did Gray say to you? Why was everyone so quiet? Did something bad happen?"
The doors to the hospital opened, and Mira stepped out first, dabbing her eyes. Elfman lumbered out next, and Natsu saw that his shirt was colored scarlet in blood. Tears had cleared two paths down an otherwise dirty face browned with mud, burn marks, and more blood.
Natsu swallowed hard at seeing them. It confirmed what Gray told him, something Natsu wished was merely a sick joke. He would rather punch Gray for lying to him than deal with the harsh truth.
"No," Natsu quietly protested, still feeling numbed with shock. His eyes burned, but the tears refused to come.
Not again! Please, not again!
Lisanna stepped out next. She was also dirty with mud and blood that had caked thickly onto her dress, turning what was once a teal skirt into blackened rags. She ran up to Natsu and hugged him, using his scarf to bury her tears. Slowly, moving in robotic motions of instinct, he hugged her and patted her back in hopes of consoling her, although he himself felt empty inside.
"I should have gone with you guys," Natsu whispered. "Why didn't I go? If I had been there, none of this would have happened."
"Oh Natsu!" the white-haired girl sobbed. "You can't blame yourself. She wouldn't want you to feel guilty. She...she saved us."
"She really did," a solemn voice said, and one more person stepped out of the hospital. The sun shined on her golden hair, but Lucy was covered in bruises and blood. She looked worst of all of them, with her arm in a sling and a patch over one eye. She limped with every other step, but she still came forward. "She sacrificed herself for all of us...like a real hero."
Still, Natsu didn't want to believe it. He pulled away from Lisanna and backed away from their group. His breathing came erratically, and his throat began to jolt with the sobs he tried so desperately to swallow back.
"No...she can't be..."
Lucy looked down sadly. "I'm sorry, Natsu."
Denial turned instantly into rage. Then, in a single burst of emotion, Natsu's head threw back, his mouth opened wide, and he let out a dragon's roar. It shook the windows of the hospital and deafened all of them. Everyone in Magnolia heard that howl of protest for the fallen fairy queen.
The End
A/N: This was an entry to a contest as well as an experiment in withholding a truth so the reader suffers a gamut of emotions while remaining in suspense to the very end. Wild guesses form in the reader's mind (i,e. "Oh no, it must be Lisanna...oh, she's there. Ack, that means it must be Lucy. Oh wait, there's Lucy. Then who...oh no!") Something like that was the reaction I was aiming for. I hope it worked as I intended.