I don't really know what to say about this. Just . . . don't hate me for it . . . ne?

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail, I mainly do free advertisement

~~FT~~

Lucy stared at the bleeding sky as a massive red-scaled creature came crashing down to earth from the heavens. There was a pregnant pause after the gush of wind passed that accompanied the loud crash.

"IGNEEL!"

The voice she knew and held very dear to her echoed in pain across the vast battle field.

A voice rang in her ears.

Lucy Heartfilia

Almost afraid, she looked around her but no unfamiliar faces were around. She was surrounded by equally startled friends.

Do not look for me child. Only you can hear me.

Lucy gulped. "Who are you?" She answered in her mind.

It is I child. Natsu's father, Igneel.

"Igneel." She whispered but no once seemed to notice. "Why are you talking to me? Shouldn't you be spending this time with Natsu . . ."

Do not fret child. I had given him my last words, however, I do not think he will be taking the news of my passing very well.

The blonde woman furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. "What makes you say that?"

Suddenly, a large surge of magical power erupted from the direction Natsu and his Father were in.

Lucy felt a nasty chill crawl down her spin in response. She looked down at her arms as they wrapped themselves around her body.

This news will affect Natsu to a great degree. He will lose control and give into the power of E.N.D. He is not strong enough to handle that kind of power.

"E.N.D.?" She looked up. "What is that?"

Lucy Heartfilia, I hate to put this burden on you, but I must ask you to finish a task that I could not finish over 400 years ago.

"400 years?" She was confused. "Igneel-san, I'm sorry but I don't understand what you are saying? And what does E.N.D. even mean?"

"Lucy, are so much like your mother. Layla"

"You knew Mama?"

And for that, I feel a great regret for damning you to the same fate. I truly wish there could have been another way but even Layla could not change the outcome.

Lucy shook her head in frustration. "I don't understand! What does Natsu and Mama have to do with anything? What is E.N.D.?"

Lucy, many years ago it was your mother who helped seal us dragons in our brats' bodies. It was because of all of the magic she used that she ended up passing away. But that wouldn't have been needed if I would have eliminated E.N.D. all of those years ago.

"But Mama died because of an illness!" She yelled in her mind.

That is what your mother requested be told to you. She didn't want you to know the real reason why she passed away. She didn't want you to follow in her footsteps. Lucy heard the great beast sign in her mind. But it seems that Layla could not prevent it in the end.

Lucy squeezed her eyes shut and gulped. There were so many questions she wanted to ask but the Flame Dragon King was everywhere with his words. She needed to get them both focused. "What task are you giving me?"

I want you to do what I could not. I want you to eliminate E.N.D.

"If you couldn't do it, what makes you think that I can? You are more powerful than I!"

Because you have the courage and will that I did not have back then.

Lucy felt frustrated with the Dragon's words. "Why couldn't you eliminate E.N.D. yourself?"

There was a pause before the Great Beast spoke once more. Because, E.N.D. became my son.

Realization hit Lucy like a ton of bricks. "Natsu." She felt her entire body tremble. "H-how can I do that?! I can't! Even if I managed to find the courage to do what you want me to, there is no way I would be a match for him! Natsu is strong!" She shook her head and felt tears run down her face but no one noticed the blonde girl's internal dilemma. "Natsu is strong! He can fight it! There won't be any need for me to-"

Listen to me child! The Flame King roared in her ears. I do not have much time left. You can and will go through with this task. Your mother foresaw it in the stars many years ago. And even though both your mother and I tried our best to stop this future from becoming what it is, we couldn't. So, we now leave everything to you Lucy. Do you understand this?

Hesitantly, she nodded even though she wasn't sure if the Great Dragon could tell.

There is one last thing I must tell you about this task.

Lucy's opened her eyes, her vision blurred with tears. At her side, she felt her spirits calling out to her, but she ignored them. Loki 's power pulsed as he tried to force his gate open, but she used her power to push him back.

"Lu-chan?" Levy, who only now realized the distress her blonde friend was in, called out to her worryingly, snapping the other girl out of her thoughts.

Hurriedly, the blonde brushed away her tears with her forearm. She then turned to her blue-haired friend and gave her a tearful smile. "Levy-chan, I need you to do something for me." She reached to her side and unbuckled the key holder that held her precious friends.

Levy's eyes scanned Lucy's face as she handed her the Celestial Keys. "Lu-chan?"

"I need you to give this to Sting. Tell him that I am passing them to Yukino now." Her voice slightly broke. "S-she will be able to treasure them as much as I do."

"Lu-chan," her voice was loud with worry now, it caught some of their companion's attention, "what's going on?"

"Levy-chan, everyone," she looked at the faces of all her precious friends, "thank you for letting me be a part of Fairy Tail. Thank you for being my new family." She gave them all a big smile as a tear rolled down her face.

Before anyone could stop her, before she lost her will, her bolted and ran in the direction of the raging magic source leaving a trail of fresh tears.

She could hear her friend's voices calling out to her but she tried her best to ignore them just as she was trying her best to ignore the pain that burned in her heart.

When she reached her destination she was almost blown away by the force of energy that surrounded Natsu, but she held her ground and pushed forward to reach him. As she got closer, she could make out his figure more clearly and the clearer he got the more afraid she become. He was kneeling on the ground, hands fisted at his sides, and his body pushed back as he faced the sky as if he was pushing the energy towards the heavens. The flames surrounding him form figures. The shapes of horns form on his head, and blood red wings sprouted from his back.

Was this really Natsu? Same old goofy Natsu? Natsu that always took care of her, protected her?

It couldn't be. But as much as she hated to admit it, it was. Not matter what shape or form he took, she would always know it was him. And yet, when she reached an invisible force field she wasn't sure if she was thankful for it or hated the fact that is prevent her from reaching him.

"N-Natsu!" She yelled hesitantly at first. But with more yells and some pounding on the invisible wall, the force she used to get his attention increased. "Natsu! Natsu you idiot! Let me in!" If she wanted to get his attention then she would need to talk to him like she normally did, and that meant ignoring the fear the sprouted in her the moment he turned his head to face her.

His eyes where completed whited out, as if his eyes had rolled to the back of his head. "Lucy?" His voice was rough, and it sounded as if someone else spoke along with him. It was almost demonic sounding.

"Natsu, let me in or else I'll never let you spend the night at my place anymore!" It took a lot for her voice not to crack as she yelled at him.

She saw his eyebrows furrow inward, as if he was trying to focus. "Lucy." Seeming to recognize who she was, his voice cleared a bit as he called out to her, losing some of the demonic sound it had before.

Lucy, who had been leaning against the invisible wall, nearly feel as the force field slowly disintegrated. Catching herself before she fell, she started walking forward towards her partner, only to stop when she heard a familiar voice in the distance.

"Natsu!" Lucy recognized the flying blue figure to be Happy.

"Happy!" She called out, and almost reached out to him only to find that the invisible wall was up once more.

"Lucy?" He slowly came to a stop when he spotted the blonde girl. Lucy was thankful for that, otherwise he would have flown right into the wall. "Lucy! Natsu, he . . . he's . . ." The blue feline couldn't get the words out as he choked up with tears.

"Happy, I know." Lucy watched as the feline slowly flew to where she was and laid his small paw against the wall.

"You can save him, right?"

Lucy swallowed the lump in her throat. "I'm . . . I'm going to try to bring him back. I'll try my best Happy."

With his other paw, he brushed the tears away. "I believe in you Lucy."

Lucy nodded before she turned and ran in the direction of her partner.

Happy watched the girl until she disappeared into the distance. "Natsu, Lucy, please come back home."

The closer she got to the evil magic, the hotter the temperature rose. The wind surround Natsu had picked, up making it even harder to reach him. She ignored the little flickers of pain she felt as the little debris scratched her. All she knew was that she needed to reach him. And when she finally did, she wasn't sure how to approach him.

"Natsu?" She called out.

His still white eyes blinked at her. "Lucy." An attempt to smile appeared on his face, but what surprised her the most was the tears that started to flow down his face. "Lucy, it hurts." She watched him as he reached for the horns on his head. She hadn't noticed it before, but there was blood running down his head where the horns sprouted. The same could be seen on his back where the wings broke through his skin. "I can't make the pain stop" He pulled at the horns as if hoping that pulling them off would ease the pain.

Lucy stopped in front of him and dropped to her knees, ignoring the pain that came with the rocks that dug into her skin. She could feel more tears come down her face as she reached for him. As gently as she could, she took Natsu by the shoulders and laid his head on her chest, disregarding the way the heat of his skin burned her. "Natsu," she felt him slowly ease into her as she stroked his blooded hair, "I'll make the pain go away, okay?" She felt him nod against her.

She took in a couple of deep breathes and calming herself. "Mama, give me strength." When she felt she was ready, she pushed all of her magic into Natsu's body.

They both screamed.

Him for having the new magic trying to force out the evil magic within him, and her for having so much magic being used as once.

If you want to save your friends, then you must defeat E.N.D. That is the only way to save them all. The Great Dragon's words rang in the back of her mind. However, in doing so . . .

She didn't know how long they had lasted in that excruciating pain. It could have been minutes or hours, but when she felt Natsu's body go slack against hers, she knew it was over. She had been at her limit and because of that she couldn't hold their bodies up anymore so the fell to the ground.

"Lu . . . cy" Natsu called out to her, the second voice was no longer there nor was there any demonic sound to it either.

"Yes Natsu?" How her partner had any strength left to speak was a mystery to her. She could barely muster enough energy to reply back.

"I don't feel any more pain." Lucy heard him nearly cough out a lung. "But I'm really tired now."

She knew her eyes where open when she turned to the sound of Natsu's voice but she couldn't see anything. It was all dark. "Me too, Natsu."

"Lucy." As he called out once more to her, she felt something against her hand. Even though it was faint, she recognized the warmth as Natsu's hand. The heat from his hand was gradually fading. "I wish we could be in your bed."

"Me too." Lucy squeeze his hand back with the little energy she had left. "Hey Natsu."

"Yeah?"

She could hear her friend's voices in the background. "Find me in the next life okay?"

Even though she couldn't see it, she knew he was grinning. "You bet I will."

She heard him breath in and out one last time before all she heard was the sound of her weak heart against her ears and the voice of their worried friends nearing them.

Lucy knew that in Fairy Tail, you never gave up your life for the ones that you love. You live on for them. But it seemed that could not be the case here, yet she knew that they would always live on in the hearts of their loved ones.

She breath in.

However, in doing so . . . There is a huge chance that neither one of you will make it out alive. She remembered the words of the Flame Dragon.

She breath out.

And everything faded to white.

~FT~

Food For Thought:

If I can't hear your heartbeat, you're too far away

Pleeeaaaassseee don't hate me for this. There is another chapter coming up in the next two weeks. Hopefully that will make up for this. If it's not up two weeks from the date that this story was published, please remind me because that means I might have forgotten.

By the way, this will only have two chapters so no need to worry about it super long and having to wait for other chapters to come out.

Please ignore any typos, spelling, or grammar problems. I tend to do that a lot and completely miss it even when I've proof read it a couple of times.

See ya next chapter.

Ja Ne