Lucy's body starts to spasm and tense. The extent of her injuries and the weight of her own body started to strain her neck, causing a tortured whimper to escape her lips now and then. "I cant wait to pop that cute little head of yours off" Kain smirked and glanced at Natsu who was looking at Lucy with pure panic in his eyes, trying his best to think of a way to save her! This expression on his enemies face pleased Kain; he continued to squeeze her head more, causing another blood-curdling scream to come off Lucy's lips.

"YOU LET GO OF HER!" Natsu's voice was deadly serious and gravelled with pure angry towards Kain. "Careful, you might break my concentration, I might not squeeze enough the first time" Kain smirked. Natsu growled loudly, punching the rocks as hard as he could, it was working slowly, the rocks cracked and he kept groaning loudly with each attempt to escape this rocky prison.

Lucy could feel the pressure on her head getting tighter and tighter "N-Natsu…" She whimpered, catching the fire dragon's attention.

"Lucy! Hold on! I'm almost free!" He shouted at her, hoping he will get to her in time!

Kain smirked "You're too late flame boy" and with those words and a final deathly scream from Lucy, Kain threw her to the ground still holding her head tightly, before throwing her at the rocks above Natsu. The impact caused her to break her arm, her head hit the rock badly, cutting it open, and she had also broken more ribs after previously having a couple broken from the stomps earlier. He body fell limply a foot away from Natsu, limp and lifeless… Blood ran down the side of her face, her pale skin bruised and beaten, her eyes closed having lost consciousness from the impact.

Natsu stared in silence for a moment at the body in front of him "N-No…" he whispered, his body began to shake if fear and pure anger "NO!" With one last punch Natsu managed to get out and the first thing he did was go straight for the kill.

Having previously worn himself out, the pure anger charged him up to the point of overload, his flames consumed him as he landed one hit after the other, knocking Kain this way and that way "You bastard!" Natsu cried out repeatedly as he attacked Kain.

During the rage-filled attack, Happy slowly made his way over to Lucy, standing near her face, his paws on Lucy's shoulder. "L-Lucy?... H-Hey… Come on… Wake up… P-Please?" Happy whimpered as tears streamed down his face, shaking Lucy's shoulder with his small soft paws but he got no reaction.

Kain was defeated within moments and sent flying into the distance, landing in the ocean to be left to sink unconsciously.

Natsu's flames calmed as he panted heavily, he forced himself to look in Lucy's direction. His body shaking in fear of what he might find out if he got too close. "L-Luce?..." he stuttered, slowly making his way over and falling on to his knees beside her, he gently rolled her on to her back before pulling her upper torso into his arms "L-Lucy… Hey… Wake up Luce, come on~ we have the dark guild to defeat still…" Natsu tried to be chipper hoping Lucy would wake up and be just fine.

Lucy didn't move.

"N-No… She can't…" Natsu trembled in pure fear, holding Lucy close to him trying to hear a heartbeat or breath, anything! He prayed and soon let out a sigh of relief with a sniffle as he could hear a faint heartbeat "Happy! She's alive! We need to get her to Wendy!" He exclaimed standing and carefully holding Lucy in his arms bridal style.

They walked fast towards where Wendy and Carla were still trying to treat the master.

"Wendy! Please! You have to help her!" Natsu begged, dashing over to them.

Wendy gasped and covered her mouth in shock at the sight of Lucy "T-That was Lucy we heard scream?" Carla asked in shock, Wendy didn't say a word, instead, as soon as Lucy was placed down gently, she started to try and heal her.

The Master awoke during the ruckus and glanced weakly at Lucy "N-Natsu" The master called out for him, Natsu kneeled next to the master "Yes sir?" he asked, still glancing at Lucy with worry. "Natsu, you have work to do… get those dark wizards off our island… find the others… Y-You know what to do…" Master ordered, however the pink haired mage hesitated "B-But… Lucy…" He didn't want to leave her side… if something happened and he wasn't there… He'd never forgive himself… it's gunna be hard enough to forgive himself for allowing this to happen in the first place.

"Wendy is taking good care of Lucy" The master told him, Wendy was exhausted, she'd used up a lot of her magical power healing two people already. She was fully concentrated on healing Lucy, but it was slow and very difficult. Wendy's eyes began to tear up in fear that she wouldn't be able to heal Lucy but she couldn't admit this! She never forgive herself for being responsible for Natsu's pain as well as Lucy's death…

Carla could see that there was something bothering Wendy but she knew Natsu had a responsibility to the guild as well "Don't worry, we will take care of Lucy, if anything happens we will shoot a blue flare into the sky" she told him. Natsu could only nod and stand "Come on Happy… Let's get this over and done with! I have a fire in my belly and I need to get my revenge!" he said with a pained voice and anger.

Time passed. Almost 12 hours, night had come and gone, the morning sun rose in the sky and the battles were over.

Natsu hadn't mentioned Lucy at all to the others, and without warning he ran back to where he'd left her. Once he was there his eyes widened, Master was laying on the floor, tears silently falling, Carla was hugging Wendy and comforting her with soft words "It's not your fault" she cooed. Wendy was sat next to Lucy sobbing her eyes out. After trying to heal Lucy for several hours she realised that her magic power was out, all she could do for Lucy was the traditional forms of healing, cleaning the wounds and bandaging them…

"W-What's going on?" Natsu asked nervously, pretty sure he'll regret asking. He knelt down on the opposite side of Lucy to Wendy and looked at her, his hand reached out and touched Lucy's cold cheek, his eyes widening at how cold she was.

His pleading eye's went up to Wendy "S-She's not…" He began but Wendy shook her head "N-Not y-yet…" she sobbed and covered her face with her hands, "YET?!" Natsu exclaimed, "I-I'm so so so so sorry… I-I tried… but… she's too… too far gone… I cannot heal her… I'm sorry!" Wendy continued to sob, and soon Happy joined her, he held Lucy's hand with his paws and cried heavily.

"N-No… This can't be…" Natsu whispered quietly, his eyes wide with sorrow and pain, watching Lucy's beautiful pale face. Just at that moment, Lucy's hand twitched as he began to gain consciousness slightly "Egh…" she groaned, in great pain.

"L-Lucy? Are you with me? Can you hear me?" Natsu slowly and gently pulled Lucy's upper torso into his arms in hopes of making her more comfortable. He looked down at her as her brown orbs looked up at him weakly.

"N-Natsu…" he hoarsely spoke with a weak smile.

Natsu felt a wash of relief wash over him, the tears in his eyes fell gently, hidden away from the other's except Lucy by his pink fringe. "Lucy… I-I'm so sorry… I shouldn't have let this happen to you" he said though tears and couldn't help but let out a sob, fearing for the worse as Lucy appeared to be having difficulty keeping her eyes open.

Lucy looked up at Natsu, he was crying! She couldn't believe it, why was he crying? She thought to herself, she slowly raised her free hand and cupped Natsu's cheek, wiping away the tears on one cheek with her thumb weakly. Her strength was limited and just as her hand was about to fall Natsu grabbed it and kept it on his cheek, wanting her touch and keep her close. This made Lucy smile softly "N-Natsu, please don't blame yourself" she spoke softly "I should have moved" she admitted though her words from previously were still true. She was happiest near Natsu.

"B-But… You're hurt… You're… You're…" Natsu couldn't finish his sentence, he didn't want to believe Lucy was dying but his dragon slayer hearing could hear her weak pulse. Lucy kept her eyes on Natsu's, not tearing their gaze for a moment "Natsu… I… I've never be able to admit it… But… I… I've always had feelings for you… Strong ones… At first… I thought it was friendship, I enjoy being with you all the time~" she chuckled softly, making Natsu smile sadly. "B-But… more recently… I've been realising that I couldn't live without you…" These words widened Natsu's eyes and allowed more tears to fall.

"L-Luce… I can't live without you either!..." he choked on a sob "Y-Youre what I look forward to every morning, you're who I want to see when I barge in to your place…" He admitted, he hadn't really considered telling Lucy this until he was deadly sure but… Now… He knew and he regretted not initiating the feelings earlier. "Lucy… Please… I can't live without you… Please… I love you Lucy… I have for a long time… I just… I… I never found the right time to tell you… I was… I was afraid…" He admitted.

Lucy's eyes welled up, tears flowed down her cheeks mixing with the dried blood "I-I love you too Natsu… I-I'm sorry I wasn't strong enough…" she said quietly through tears, her voice was getting quieter and her strength was slowly draining away.

A few metres away the rest of the guild had made it to the rendezvous point, all celebrating and happy. Gray, Erza and Juvia were the first to see the scene in front of them. Gray and Erza both stared in shock as tears welled in their eyes, seeing their strongest dragon slayer brought to a sobbing mess and the stated Lucy was in.

"W-What happened?" Gray asked running over and kneeling close by, the rest of the guild did the same, circling around and covering their mouths in shock, some shaking their heads in disbelief.

Mira held her younger sister as they both cried; their older brother Elfman circled them both with his arms. Juvia and Evergreen stood watching in sorrow, there were no lack of tears, even Erza was brought to tears, even though it was from only one eye. The one who couldn't bare it the most however was Cana; she had left Lucy all alone… Tears poured down her face as she covered them with her hands, No… This couldn't be happening…

Natsu and Lucy had simply looked in each other's eyes while Carla and Happy explained the situation to the others, Gray and Erza both trying to strategize a solution to heal Lucy but the master shook his head, halting them, forcing them to prepare for the worst.

"N-Natsu… I-I… I wish… we co… dhave… go… more ad…enture…" Her words were weak and scrambled, Natsu began to panic and sniffled, his breath increasing, these were Lucy's last words and he couldn't understand them!

"L-Luce… I don't understand" he told her.

Lucy smiled "I-I love you Natsu…" With all the strength she had left she spoke her final words "I-I wish we could have had more adventures T-Togethe-er-…" Her voice trailed at the end as the light in her eyes were snuffed out, closing them slowly, her last breath exhaled and her arms went limp, but Natsu strongly held the one by his cheek.

"N-No… No… NO! Lucy come back to me! PLEASE! Y-You can't die! You cant! I need you Luce…!" he shouted and begged, sobbing, everyone else was reduced to sobs as well… Fairy Tail had lost a precious member.

And Natsu had lost the girl he loved.

- 2 days later -

The S class trials were over and the candidates had returned. The rest of the guild waited eagerly for their return, the other candidates had almost fully healed, physically. The trip home was quiet, not a word was spoken, Lucy had been preserved in a coffin of ice to keep her body fresh, making her look as if she were just sleeping.

The doors of Fairy Tail opened and the unsuspected guild cheered for their return, however, the cheer died down when they saw the looks on their faces. The master entered first, with Erza and Grey behind, expressionless. The guild was confused but didn't dare speak. It wasn't until Natsu walked in holding one end of the coffin and Cana holding the other end that the guild gasped, noise began to fill the room with talk, confusion, sorrow and sobs. Levy ran over and screamed in sorrow, this started off a chain reaction.

The day of celebration had quickly turned in to a day of sorrow.