Chapter 2 Never ending pain

"Natsu are you okay?" a familiar voice spoke at Natsu.

It was clearly obvious. Natsu was , for lack of any better words, not himself.

Why… why is this happening? What is causing this? Why does he know she is about to die?

"Natsu" she called

How many times… did this happen? He remembered thinking this before. How could he… stop it?

"Natsu, You want my fish? Happy called out.

Opening his eyes Natsu could feel the numbness that seemed to spread through his body. He was confused to say the least. He felt sick, sick to his stomach.

This day… it has repeated.

"How many times?" he asked himself

His eyes became blurry, so much so that Lucys golden hair turned into a blurry mound. He was crying without any cause.

Or every cause.

"Natsu?" Lucy now worried about her best friend.

"Natsu, hey!"

"Natsu!"

He wasn't sad. He was angry. He was angry at himself. He was supposed to save her. All the memories of her dying came tenfold.

Why did he remember now of all times? How many times had he done the same thing over and over, being too block- headed to notice?

He wondered why it is that he had to watch her death repeat. He tried desperately to fight off the tears so he could see her. So this time he could save her. He heard her pleas and jabbing of her finger into his bicep. But it was more than he could handle.

Who watches their best friend die, and even worse , more than once? Why?

"Natsu, please tell me you got dirt in your eye or something! Just answer me!?" Lucy begged

If only it were just dirt

"Sorry.", was all that he could muster. Normally he would've tried to cover it up with an excuse, but…

"Is that all you're going to say?" Lucy argued gently.

What was he supposed to say? ' Luce I'm going to save you?'

He whispered in a low voice that was hard to understand. He turned his head a few times, trying to figure out exactly what the danger was. Natsu couldn't afford to waste any time now answering questions. He could always answer her after she was safe.

For a split second he thought he saw someone out of the corner of his eye and immediately turned to face him, but when he came to face that direction no one was there.

He turned again.

Again.

All he saw was Lucy and Happy. The smell wasn't different. It didn't feel like any danger was approaching. Maybe it wasn't approaching at all. Maybe it was already there. It was causing him to panic. He turned around on his feet searching for someone, anyone. He couldn't find a scent anywhere other than Lucy and Happy's

How was that possible?

Given the circumstance, it was a city. People are everywhere. He yelled furiously into his mind.

"I think Natsu has gone bonkers…" Happy sighed

There was something that was going to happen. If only he could remember that much. If he knew, then he wouldn't be so cautious. After all it was the middle of the street. Anything could happen. The wind seemed to escalate the situation, ruffling his hair and Lucy's scent thrashing across his nose, blocking everything else.

Could he prevent it? more like… Why should he have to prevent it?

Lucy was still speaking to him. Something was wrong, that much she could deduce by his low growl every time he shifted. What was she supposed to do? The breeze was strong and she thought about leaving for the guild once or twice. Natsu was being a little more than odd, maybe she needed help.

"Happy."she called to the Exceed.

Happy was just as startled about Natsu's behavior. He too wondered if they needed help containing or helping Natsu. Whichever came first.

Happy bolted on cue from Lucy to the guild to find help.

Growling, fury and annoyance he tried to turn his head ways to see the person he knows he saw once before. It was rather hard to see, much less hear, if someone was coming.

Natsu jumped slightly at the shift in breeze and a voice in the direction of his ear.

"Come out!" he yelled.

"I'm sick of this game!" he growled.

"What are you talking about Natsu?" Lucy said from behind him. She was more confused than she was to begin with. Her distance from Natsu was four steps max.

That's all it took.

That's all THEY needed.

Natsu turned his head to answer her. His world seemed to stop. The breeze, his breath, his gaze, his world.

The person seemed to note Natsu's hesitation on the matter as the figure cloaked in black robes and covered in wraps grinned wickedly. He started to laugh in a menacing laugh as if it was timed perfect, down to the last millisecond. It was so unnatural and demonic that Natsu could only stare as reality crashed.

Natsu almost twitched as he suddenly felt a hand grabbing his shoulder with an incredible force and turning him away from Lucy. It was just a moment. An instant. A flash. A memory.

Lucy was screaming.

Why?

He had just come to grips with his reality as he stared at the blood covering the cobble streets; Blood that he assumed to be his own. A pulsating headache swept through him as he wobbled to lift himself.

"Let go of her!" he screamed. His head not agreeing with the set of movements pulsated once more like a thunderstorm's lighting trying to blast through his skull. For some reason his surroundings got more and more blurry as he stared at Lucy. Tears formed from the corners of his eyes.

It had happened as he remembered it, just moments ago.

He stiffened for a second as he tried to move toward her. This person was laughing at him but a second ago. It was a voice that cared not for his life or Lucy's.

It's a game isn't it?

He heard voices in the background. Maybe it was him going crazy, but he swore it was Gray and Erza. He couldn't get a hold of those voices though and managed to scream the first thing on his mind.

"Lucy!"