Lucy woke to a pain in her chest; it was only a small pain, nothing like the other pains she often dealt with. She sighed softly and snuggled up in the warmth that surrounded her. She tossed herself over and back again trying to get comfortable, but quickly realized it was impossible with her back pressed against something hard and unmoving. Groaning she sat up as best she could to find an arm blocking her from sitting fully up, her eyes traced down the muscular arm to a mop of pink hair lying crossed her floor. A small shriek fled her lips before she could stop herself, the noise didn't even faze the sleeping Natsu, however Wendy bolted up right from where she lay on the couch.
Wendy blinked a few time to clear sleep from her eyes and looked around to try to figure out where she was, her eyes landed on Carla and Happy who were hugging each other closely in their sleep. Slowly realization dawned on the sky dragon slayer as the previous night rushed back into her mind, bringing with it a flood of tears. Natsu drew Lucy closer to him in his sleep causing her to fall back down the little bit she had risen; the action forced the air out of Lucy's lungs causing Wendy to notice them. Slowly Wendy stood and made her way towards Lucy with a small, but sad smile "Lucy-san?" Wendy whispered, Lucy looked over at the girl with a shocked, but slightly relieved smile "How are you feeling today? We were worried about you and, and" Wendy's voice trembled "I was so scared!" Lucy wiggled her way out of Natsu's grasp and patted Wendy on the head.
"Wendy, it's okay. I'm fine, if you hadn't been here I'd be another star in the sky right now" the blond pulled the small girl into her chest " thank you for saving me" tears feel from both girls eyes as they held onto their embrace, both holding on tight not wanting to let go.
Lucy and Wendy remained in their hug until a certain blue cat sat straight up yelling fish at the top of his lungs, thus causing both Natsu and Carla to wake up. Carla opened her eyes without moving and immediately her face turned red seeing her proximity to the yelling creature. Natsu on the other hand snorted and awoke with a start on high alert, his eyes dashed around the room franticly until they landed on Lucy then he visibly relaxed with a yawn. The two girls were so startled by the sudden movement and noise that the quickly let go of one another and wiped away their own tears. Lucy stood, her legs shaking at first and stretched "I'll make breakfast!" she announced and rushed out in a bit of a hurry, Wendy followed shortly behind to help. Natsu lay there on the floor slightly confused as to why the girls suddenly wanted to leave.
As soon as Lucy and Wendy entered the kitchen both girls screamed once again Natsu was on high alert and ran to see what was the matter only to find a very naked Grey standing in Lucy's kitchen, accompanied by no other then Erza. It took almost an hour and several fights but soon everyone had made their way to Lucy's room so they could discuss what was going on. Lucy sat on her bed with Natsu holding her close, Grey (who at least put some pants on), Wendy and Erza sat on the floor facing Lucy. As for Happy and Carla, they were bickering like an old married couple in the corner of the room something about eating fish.
It was a tense moment before an of the mages spoke, each waiting for the other parties to begin first. Finally it was Erza that spoke "Wendy, I assume you were here last night? Mira was quite worried when you were not in your room this morning, in fact she had asked me and Grey to come find you" Erza's voice was stern, but yet at the same time kind and caring.
Wendy looked down at her lap "I'm sorry for making you come look for me; Carla woke me and brought us here because something was wrong with Lucy. I was so worried and scared I forgot to let anyone know" the girl spoke quietly.
Erza nodded in understanding, but before anything else could be said Natsu had spoken up "Yeah! Luce, what was up with that? You looked like you were in such pain, and you wouldn't keep still so Wendy could help you." Natsu's playful face melted into sad seriousness "there were several times I thought you were going to leave us, Wendy was so exhausted when you finally calmed down she fainted. I watched over you until you returned to normal, but I guess somewhere in there I also fell asleep" he looked over at her, his eyes were full of nothing but worry for his comrade.
That is until a certain stripper spoke up. "Oi! Flame brain you mean Lucy was maybe about to die and you fell asleep? Remind me again why I'm on the same team as you?" Grey shot at the pink haired flame brain in question, Natsu's eyes sparked with anger but it quickly disappeared under Erza's glare. Lucy let out a smile sigh of relief that her apartment was not about to be destroyed, however that relief was short lived because everyone was watching her now, waiting for an explanation of what was going on.
Lucy's blood ran cold as she looked each one of her companions in the eyes, she then let her gaze drop to her lap "I don't have much longer left to live" she began drawing everyone's full attention, even Carla and Happy's "you see my mom died from some illness at a rather young age, and no one knew if it was from a curse or if she was born that way, but that also means no one knew if it would affect me as well" Lucy's words were like poison to the peaceful gathering of her friends, her every word stung them deeper, made them sadder, angrier, but her words also made them feel guilty "When I first started showing signs of the same illness I tried to do the math, I mean mom was twenty-nine when she died, but she started showing signs two years before that. I kept thinking about it, I'm only 17 and even if my time didn't stop when we were sealed off for seven years that would make me twenty-four. I did some research and found illnesses that are genetic are always exact, such as when symptoms start to show up. The whole thing still bothered me, how the numbers weren't adding up assuming time didn't stop for me, there is still a three year gap. I wondered if it was sped up because of the infinity clock, or maybe I'm just fated to die young." Tears slid of Lucy's face and onto her lap, she clenched her hand into a feeble fist, afraid to look up and see pity in any of her friends' eyes. Natsu covered Lucy's fist with his hand, giving it an encouraging squeeze.
Grey was the first to break the silence "Not going to happen Lucy!" his fist made contact with the floor sending a shockwave of cold throughout the room "There has got to be a way to save you, there always is!" his words shocked everyone in the group back out of their sorrow, slowly everyone stopped crying (it took awhile, Wendy is such a cry baby sometimes). Realization to the truth Grey spoke slowly dawned on everyone, every time someone was endanger there was always a way to save them, even when all seemed lost they still pulled through.
Lucy slowly looked up, she studied each face carefully, relieved to see a look of determination on their faces, rather than pity as she feared. Natsu flashed his signature toothy grin "We know someone who might be able to help us find a way too!"
Erza's eyes flashed to his and she smiled softly. "We won't take no for an answer, Lucy is our nakama we will do what we must!" she declared standing up. Grey stood as well "It's at least worth a shot" he said taking his normal relaxed standing slouch.
Happy and Carla helped Wendy to stand "I'm sure she'll help if we ask" the dragon slayer spoke softly. Lucy looked from face to face of her smiling optimistic friends, a smile split crossed her face and tears of joy slid down her face as she cocked her head to the side looking at all of them.
"Aye!" Lucy called gently.
AN: Hello again! Chapter 2 edit done, seriously all I'm doing is fixing the grammar and any spelling issues I see (which i keep missing way to go Alice). Yeah so I'm not telling what Natsu and Wendy faced but you'll understand everything soon!
"Fools" the pink haired mage said as she looked over the smiling bunch before her home, just the sight of them irritated her. The mage turned and went back into her cottage leaving the door open. The group wasn't sure rather to take the open door as a good sign or not. The pink haired mage sighed "Well are you coming or not? Just the two dragon slayers and the injured" the three people in question hurried up into the house not wanting to provoke the wraith of the mage "Now the rest of you stinky humans SCRAM!" she yelled.
A certain blue cat decided to tempt fate "I'm a cat!" he called, but all the same he left the clearing with the others. Of course they didn't go far; instead they hung around in the forest, always close enough to keep an eye on the door.