Heeeyyy here's chapter two, I hope you like!

I don't own Fairy Tail (*sobs*)

Lucy POV

When my drifting conscious returns to my body it feels like my brain has been turned inside out, stepped on, and then dunked in fire before finally being put back into my pounding skull. My mouth is incredibly dry and tastes of bile, and my tongue feels like something close to an old marshmallow, without sugar. I can hear shivery voices floating around me, but I can't tell if they're really shaking or if that's my head making them collapse around one another. I feel something soft and warm beneath my head and around my body. I try to move, but I can't even make my hand twitch. Did I have another fit of memory loss? If so, I'm glad I was old cold the entire time. I don't think I'd be able to handle it if I had to go through the pain of another fit.

Instead of trying to remember what happened I concentrate on the sound surrounding me. There are a couple of low pitched voices somewhere by my feet, and about the same amount of high-pitched ones clustered around my head. It seems the people to whom the high-pitched voices belong don't want the others to come any closer, but I can't figure out the reason.

My senses slowly returning to me, I can hear more clearly what the voices are saying.

"No- health- not good- again-. She- closer- time," one of the higher voices murmurs. Closer to what?

A low-pitched grumble, and then a crash as someone breaks down the door of the room.

"Natsu!- away- Lucy- magi-" the stricken voice stops abruptly as I groan.

I feel a slight pressure on my side and open my red eyes to see the blurry outline of a face hovering over me. My eyes focus a little bit more and I can see that the worried face belongs to Mira. Behind her are Erza, Levy and Wendy, while the two retreating backs belong to a struggling Natsu being pulled out by our resident ice-maker mage. I close my tired eyes again and try to talk, but to no avail. A comforting hand gently raises my head and I feel a cooling liquid being poured into my mouth.

I swallow the water and croak out a dry, raspy, "what happened?" Luckily Wendy is there, otherwise no one would have heard me.

"You don't remember?" she inquires with her soft voice. I try to shake my head negative, but my muscles won't respond. The sky dragonslayer and the two others seem to have understood, however, so they start explaining to me in worried voices.

"Well, you finally came back to the guild," Mira begins, "and we were all so happy to see you again. Then Natsu ran in and called your name..."

"And you sort of freaked out." Erza finishes for her. "You ran into the girl's bathroom and we found you out cold on the stone floor with your head resting on the toilet rim..." Her voices fades off and her face takes on a slightly greenish tinge. The redhead gazes at Mira, willing her to continue.

"There was a small puddle of vomit around you, it seems you threw up after falling asleep. You're lucky that you were already leaning on the toilet, otherwise you could have choked." Mira continues the story. I shudder at the mental image this gives me. Not the most pleasant way to die. "We carried you to the infirmary and Wendy immediately set to work healing you-" I grunt a thank you "-and then we changed you out of your dirty clothes. You were out cold the entire time and sleeping ever since."

A sliver of a voice escapes my mouth. "How long?"

"Three days."

"H-how? What's happening to me?" I'm talking more to myself than to my friends at this point. "First my memory, now th-this..."

The confused looks on their faces tells me that they have absolutely no idea what I mean, but I'm too tired to explain, and the room slowly disappears as I fall back into a deep, dark sleep.

Natsu POV

"Please, just let me see her!" I shout, not caring that people are staring at me.

"Shuddup fire brain, there's a reason you're not allowed in."

"Oh yeah, then what is that reason ice princess!"

"You know we can't talk about that here, people shouldn't know, it'd ruin our reputation!"

"If this has something to do with Tartarus, then just say so! I had no-" I'm cut off by Gray slapping his hand over my mouth.

"Just. Stop. TALKING!" The sudden venom in his voice scares me a little, although I wouldn't show it for a million jewels.

I bite his hand so that he lets go and run away, anywhere, just not where there are constantly eyes on me, watching my every move. What did I do to deserve this? I was only trying to save my friends, only trying to save-

Her.

But I couldn't.

And now she's like this.

And it's all my fault.

Lucy POV

I'm going crazy.

I know I am.

It can't be...

I groan as my chest clenches, and I roll into a fetal position. The demon is still standing there. Still watching with that curious look. Still standing there, and it's killing me, the pain, it won't go away, just like the demon won't go away. And the memories, they're flooding into my head, but they hurt, I don't want to see this, I don't want to feel this. My head is pounding, the pain is flooding through my entire body, through my entire being, and all of a sudden, silence. Utter, complete, silence. And the silence won't go away.

I gasp and air comes rushing into my body, I've got to calm down. It's nothing, I try to tell myself. Just a stupid nightmare. But somehow I can't convince myself that this is true. The pain felt all too real, all too familiar. And the silence, the silence that pushes all sound away, it was the same. The exact same.

I think back to what is now more than three weeks ago, when I woke up from a silence so perfectly quiet that it made my blood run cold. I remember seeing my comrades gathered around me, but I still couldn't hear, the silence was bearing down on me and I still couldn't hear. I remember screaming, but not hearing myself scream, only feeling the vibrations in my throat and the tears streaming down my face. I remember fearing I was deaf, or even dead, and screaming my pain to the world. I remember the arms around me, comforting me, and slowly my brain could perceive and translate the vibrations on my eardrums into sound. I remember feeling relieved.

So relieved.

That was the first time; when I had been asleep for almost a week after we defeated Tartarus. They told me it was severe magic depletion that had caused it but loss of magic power doesn't steal your memories, and it sure as hell didn't give you fits where all you can think about is the pain coursing through your veins and the silence threatening to crush in your skull. I didn't ask about it though, because I could tell they weren't going to say anymore on the topic.

There were many fits after that, some in my waking hours, but many more that would wake me while the moon was still in the sky. But then I was alone, and that was better. Would they see that I'm still affected by what happened during Tartarus they'd think I'm weak. They'd think I'm incapable of getting over the trauma. But it's not only the trauma of what I saw- what I went through. It's also my memory. The moments before the pain floods my body, I forget what I was about to say, what I was about to think even. I forget things that are important- things I should never forget.

But I have to be strong. I can't let this affect me. No matter what happens I have to be strong.

Mira POV

I've sat by Lucy's side ever since she's returned to the guild. After the first time she woke up her fever has gotten better; she's not burning up as much as before. However it seems she's been having horrible nightmares and I'm afraid to ask what they're about. She would start shivering like mad and then her eyes would open, as if she were awake, but they didn't see anything. The brown orbs would be fixated towards the ceiling, but focused on nothing. Then she'd start whimpering and speaking, but I couldn't understand what she spoke. Once her mouth opened in a silent scream, and her bloodshot eyes were ripped open, her muscles contracting and her back arched against some sort of unimaginable pain.

That's when I started thinking. Was she finally remembering? Were the memories finally returning to her?

I gazed down at Lucy's troubled features and wondered what she was dreaming about now. She looked different now, as if she were trying to listen for something but failing to hear it. All of a sudden her body convulsed and her brown eyes stared straight into mine as she gasped for breath.

I sit still for several minutes, not daring to wake her or see if she's already awake. The entire time her eyes never leave mine. After countless minutes she finally stirs and starts breathing normally again, but her eyes don't close and I can see that she's awake. I stand up to get her some water and she slowly sits up, rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand.

"You seem to be getting better, Lucy." The blonde grins weakly at me.

"How long was I out cold this time?"

"Two days. Your fever's gone down, but you need to eat and drink before going back to sleep this time. It didn't help us that you passed out last time." She giggles and falls back into the pillows, her hair spread out around her head like a halo. Then she frowns.

"Where are the others?"

"They're on a mission. Wendy is in the library with Levy though, they're combining their knowledge and skills to figure out how out how to heal you."

Lucy's frown deepens.

"It's not going to work," she whispers so quietly that I can barely tell what she said, "there's more to it than you think."

With this the spirit mage rolls over and goes quiet, leaving no doubt that she wants to be left alone. I creep out of the room and close the door silently behind me, shaking my head at Gramps, who promptly disappears into his office while I continue over to the bar.

Natsu POV

It's been five days since Lucy showed up at the guild and passed out. No one has told me anything, not that I expect them too, but I'm going crazy not knowing what's up and I need someone to fight, someone to release my anger on. Fighting Erza would be nice, but she's been sent on a different mission and I don't know where she is. Just great. I kick the stones littering the path before me and fight the temptation to scream at everyone walking around me. They have no idea. They don't know what I've done, how it's tearing me apart, and I want to scream in their oblivious faces every time someone laughs or says good morning in those stupid cheerful voices.

Instead I run. I run, my feet pounding against the ground and sweat dripping down my face. I don't know where I'm headed but I sure as hell don't want to be here, where everything smells like Her, everything reminds me of what I did. I run until I'm surrounded by trees and thorny bushes rip at my clothes and leave small red lines all over my skin. I ignore the pain and keep on running, scaring birds out of their trees and making rodents scurry away into their burrows.

Finally I stop. I'm standing in a clearing and I have no idea where I am.

Lucy POV

I can finally hear again. The shard of glass crunch under the feet of the demon as he starts walking towards me, still with that look of mild curiosity on his face. I grab for the keys on my waist but my hands feel empty air, and I know I'm doomed. How ironic. The person that saved my life countless times, be the one to end it. I would laugh if it wasn't so deathly serious. I cough instead, blood dripping out of my mouth onto the ruined ground, dying the stones a glimmering shade of scarlet.

That was chapter two! Please review and follow!

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