Remember

Cover art: MEMIsWonderwall

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or any of its characters

Hope you like it!

Lucy didn't know when she had started sprinting, but she knew she couldn't stop.

Explosions surrounded her as she ran through flying debris and the remnants of buildings, Crocus city's beauty now ravaged by the battles raging between the wizards and dragons. Lucy clutched the diary of her future self tightly and dodged an attack from a baby dragon. She wanted to help the other wizards that she caught glimpses of but she had to tell the others about the contents of the diary. There wasn't any time to lose.

"Natsu! Happy! Erza! Gray! Wendy!"

When you don't want to see them, they're everywhere and when you look for them, they're nowhere, Lucy thought desperately as she ran towards a source of commotion. There was a flash of fire and an angry roar, followed by…Rogue's shouts and Natsu's laughter. Lucy pushed her legs and sprinted faster.

"Natsu!"

Lucy finally sprinted into a clearing and what she saw almost made her stop running completely. Motherglare and Atlas Flame stood across from each other, with the future Rogue on Motherglare and Natsu on the flame dragon. Four impressive figures stood outlined by the light of the red moon; the tension was thick enough to cut with a knife. Small fires burnt the ground around them and seemed to lean towards the fiery pair. Natsu looked a little worse for wear but he stood defiantly in front of Rogue. Possessed with new determination, Lucy ran towards him.

"Natsu!"

When Natsu heard his name being called by someone who sounded like Lucy, he thought his ears were malfunctioning. Lucy wasn't supposed to be anywhere near here. She was supposed to be safer somewhere else, maybe fighting the little dragons that Motherglare had dropped. But when he turned, there was no mistaking that blonde head, clutching something that looked like a notebook.

"Lucy! Don't come over here, it's too dangerous!"

Lucy was confused. What was Natsu saying? She ran closer to hear him better. "What?"

Natsu looked between Lucy and Rogue, his gaze conflicted. Rogue smirked. "Oh…so she means something to you, does she?"

Natsu's gaze hardened. "Don't you dare touch her."

"I won't, Natsu…" Rogue gave him a smile that chilled his bones. Rogue looked him in the eye. "Motherglare. Dispose of the girl."

Natus's eyes widened. "NO!"

If someone asked Natsu afterwards what happened, he wouldn't be able to say anything. He felt like he was frozen to the spot but he couldn't bring himself to move his eyes away from Lucy. As if in slow motion, Motherglare gave an almighty roar and turned to face Lucy. Her footsteps faltered slightly as Motherglare raised a deadly claw. Natsu felt like crying out but for some reason, his voice stuck in his throat and wouldn't work properly. Lucy's eyes widened in realisation and her hand automatically reached for her keys but Natsu could see that even she knew there wasn't enough time. Motherglare's claws swatted her aside with a thud that seemed to stop his own heart, as if she were nothing but a pebble in the way. He watched, powerless, as his best friend was thrown into the air and seemed to hang suspended in mid-air for a millisecond, her body graceful even as she started to fall. And then gravity caught up to them and Natsu felt a pain deep within him that seemed to echo Lucy's pain, before she crashed into a building with a sickening crack.

Natus didn't know what possessed him after he saw Lucy fall. All he knew was that he felt a rage and a fear more intense than anything he had ever felt in his life, more intense than the fear that gripped him when Igneel vanished or when he saw Gray about to do Iced Shell or when he thought Erza was gone. All he knew was that he was engulfed by flames and he couldn't think properly, and it was just attack, after attack, after attack. Even Atlas Flame seemed to feel his new determination to beat Rogue and Motherglare.

After what seemed like a cloudy haze of fire and heat and anger and fear, Natsu collapsed to his knees, Rogue and Motherglare defeated in front of him. But he didn't let himself rest. He dragged his battered body to the building he knew Lucy had crashed through and sifted through the debris, hands shaking. His eyes landed on something golden. Celestial keys.

He darted forwards towards the light, almost dreading seeing his best friend. Natsu searched through the rubble and wood until his hand touched another's. Lucy. With a deep breath, he pulled her towards him and into his arms.

Lucy looked ten times worse than he did. She had scrapes all over her body and bruises were forming quickly, purple, green and black blemishes on her normally perfect skin. She felt fragile, and Natsu was afraid that if he held on too tight she would break. Natsu listened intently; a heartbeat. And the smallest puffs of breath left her mouth. Natus thought he would die of relief.

"Luce? Luce, can you hear me? Answer me!"

For a horrible moment, there was nothing. And then, a shuddering breath. Two brown eyes looked up at his.

"Lucy!"

"N-Natsu…"

Something touched his hand. A notebook. It was brown and plain, but the look in Lucy's eye made him take it. She seemed to relax as his hands grasped the little book and she smiled that special smile that would light up any room.

"Read…"

Lucy's eyes started slipping close again. Natsu panicked briefly, almost dropping the book as he grasped her shoulders.
"Luce! Don't you die on me! Come on, Luce, we're a team! Don't you close your eyes!"

But Lucy just smiled as her eyelids fell and covered the perfect shade of chocolate brown, a peaceful expression on her face. Natsu felt like his heart stopped beating. His eyes stung.

And then his Dragon Slayer hearing picked up the faintest of heartbeats; soft and irregular, but undeniably there. Natsu looked down at her unconscious form and the notebook grasped in his hand. Keeping her in his arms, he opened the book and read from the very beginning.