Apparently, I only like Natsu heartbroken or dead. Maybe both. I kid, I kid! This is just the first (very short) chapter of something I've been working on. I've lost a lot of people in my life, so I wanted to do something about finding the strength to move forward with life and how incredibly difficult it can be, but I honestly don't know how this came about because of that idea. This will (maybe?) eventually be GrayxLucy but first Natsu has to die. :O I'm such a terrible person!

Oh, be warned, there's blood. But just blood. Squeamish people beware…? I dunno, I've never been squeamish, not even when I had my kid, so I don't know how squeamishness works exactly. It's not too bad, though, I promise!

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Barely aware of what was happening around her, all of Lucy's focus was upon his face and how quickly his color was draining. His breathing was ragged as she begged him to stay conscious, refusing to acknowledge the giant crimson pool beneath him that was spreading far too quickly. She was straddled atop his hips, both of her hands pressing down hard into the wound in his neck where the blood was originating from, muttering to him in as soothing of a voice she could muster. If only she could get him to stay coherent for a second, for just enough time to get him to cauterize the wound with his own flames… but no, the spurts of his blood had told her what she so badly wanted to deny. One of his arteries had been severed, and unless Wendy could, in minutes, travel the hundred miles to where they were, Natsu would soon…

No!

She would not think like that!

Natsu would live! He had to!

A scream from behind her pierced her ears, but she would not remove her gaze from Natsu's face below. The beloved scarf Igneel had given him was now soaked in a red so deep the color might have been beautiful on anything else, anything else but him. How had this happened? One second they were fighting a team of bandits, Natsu yelling gleefully about the fire in his belly, the exhilaration of battle clear upon his features, and the next there was a magic knife protruding from his neck. The instant he collapsed, Erza had issued a battle cry so fierce it could be heard for miles. Lucy had sprinted to him, her heart stopping as she repeatedly screamed, "No!"

A weak cough emerged from his lips, and she felt another burst of blood try to force its way through her fingers. He was paler than before, the puddle even larger. Her bare knees were slick with the thick liquid, and she was slipping on the pavement as she fought to stay upright. "Stay with me," she whispered as she put even more pressure on his neck. Since Lucy was such an avid reader, she'd often come upon tragic death scenes in novels, and she usually found them to be heartbreakingly beautiful, maybe even a bit romantic.

But there was nothing beautiful or romantic about this.

Suddenly, Natsu locked a determined gaze on her face and smiled feebly. "Lu…"

"No!" she shrieked. "Save your strength! We have to stop this bleeding and then we can get you to a doctor-" She was interrupted by a violent roar so terrifying only Erza could have produced it. Natsu smiled again and lifted his hand up to her face. She wanted to take his arm and force it back down, but she dared not move her hands.

"Lu," he said again as he gently caressed her face. Tears clung to his eyelashes and she knew what he was trying to do, what he was trying to say. No, no, no, no! She would not let him die, not after all they had been through together!

Taking a deep breath, Lucy said in a shaking voice, "I love you, you know that? You can't leave me. Not now. All those promises you made to me? You can't break them! You said we'd be together forever, so don't leave me!" She found she was screaming hysterically now, and her tears were pouring down onto his bare chest. For a second, the only sounds she heard were the dripping of her tears and Natsu's uneven breathing. His own tears were now unyielding and his hand trembled near her face. Lucy wanted to lean into the comfort of his hand, as she did so often, but knowing this might be the last time, she couldn't gather enough strength to do so. Instead she leaned down and kissed him, as if this were any of the nights they had spent together, and she told him that he was everything to her and he better not dare leave her all alone in this world. Looking into his beautiful emerald eyes, with almost no space between them, she begged him to hold on. There was chaos all around, but for them, this moment consisted of only the love they held for each other. He caressed her face again and closed his eyes.

Then he opened them one last time.

"I love you, Lucy."

His hand fell, and with it, Lucy's heart.

She took hold of his shoulders and frantically shook him. "Natsu, Natsu! No, no, no, no! You promised! You promised you'd never leave me!" But no matter how hard she shook him, no matter how many times she sobbed his name, he would not be awoken. His fluffy pink hair she teased him about so much was now wet with blood. The hands that touched her tenderly during the nights were now cold. And the chest he always held her to, the heat she loved with all her being, was now unmoving, his heart no longer beating, his lungs no longer breathing. Seeing his face, with the small smile he would wear for the rest of eternity, made her mind go blank. Her vision blurred. Her ears rang. Her heart stopped. Then she finally understood.

She would never see that wonderful smile of his again.

He was gone.

Lucy flung her head back and wailed, screaming until her voice broke and no more sound would come.

Later, when they tried to pry her from his lifeless body she could not be moved. Minutes, hours, days, she did not know how long she laid there, holding onto Natsu and silently weeping. She did not know, nor did she care. There was nothing without Natsu, she had nothing. There was no point in living without him, without his smile and love. She would wait until the time came when they could be together once more, even if it meant she could never move again. That was fine. She would stay with him, forever.

Forever, she'd be drowning in this lake of her lover's blood.

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While I was writing this fic I couldn't think of a name so I just kept saving it as "Dead Natsu." Now I must write something with a good, happy, ALIVE Natsu. I've decided. I can only be a jerk to him for so long. Sigh. I just have to come up with something first.

Please leave reviews telling me if you hate me or love me. Thank you!