Author's Note:Hey thank you everyone who commented on my previous chapters. I really tried taking what you guys said to heart. I hope this chapter lives up to the your expectations of me. Again this is my first time so if you don't like it or just think I really need to fix stuff you can of course comment just please be kind while doing so. No need to be rude. Also any other comments on anything pertaining to my writing or the story is greatly appreciated.

As always I own nothing in regards to Fairy Tail


Flashback

"Come on, Natsu, were going to be late" Lucy shouted at Natsu as he approached the train with his head down mumbling something. "What on earth are you mumbling about, Natsu? Oh, let me guess. You don't want to ride the train because you don't like trains. Is that about right?" Lucy teased Natsu while he approached her.

"So what if I don't like trains" shouted Natsu as he threw his arms in the air and stomped like a child. "Can't we just walk there instead" He pleaded. "Noooo! It's a four day train ride which is almost a month long walk, and I'm not doing that so hurry up and get on the train, Natsu!" Lucy yelled at him since they were now the last two people still standing on the platform of the station.

"But I don't wanna!" Natsu wailed at Lucy like a toddler. Lucy getting visibly agitated at Natsu's current behavior decided there was only one thing left to do. "Lucy kick!" Lucy triumphantly declared as she kicked Natsu onto the train. "Oww, you didn't have to kick me, weirdo. I was going to get onto the train." Natsu said as he rubbed his head where it made impact with the train car's floor. "Well it sure didn't look like it since someone decided that he would act like a whining toddler instead." Lucy indignantly said while scowling at Natsu. "Alright, now hurry up and find us our room" Lucy said while still scowling, and at the same time trying to hide her blush at that fact that she had to share a train car room with Natsu.

Natsu just grinned at Lucy and said, "Aye, sir." while saluting her at the same time. All Lucy could do was let out a long sigh and think, "This is already starting to turn out to be a long trip and we haven't even left Magnolia. How am I supposed to deal with him cooped up on this train for four whole days?" Lucy groaned to herself.

"Hey Luuucy, Luuuucy, what are you staring at, weirdo? I found us the car we got for just the two of us" Natsu said waving his arms in front of the face of blonde dragging her out of her thoughts. He was also oblivious to the implications of what he just said. Lucy starting to show a lot of pink across her cheeks, "Natsu, we didn't get the car 'for just the two of us'! We simply decided to share one since it was cheaper, and so I could keep an eye on your motion sickness! Also stop calling me a weirdo!" Lucy started to shout at Natsu while she pushed him into the room trying to hide her red face and embarrassment from the other passengers.

"Geez, I don't get what you are so embarrassed about Luce. That's the same as what I just said." The completely dense dragon slayer stated plainly with a confused look on his face. "No it's not! Now just shut-up and put your bags away" commanded a clearly still embarrassed Lucy. "Alright, just don't kick me again." Natsu said as he grinned at Lucy who was still quite flushed at his earlier comments.

Now that they had gotten everything settled in the room they had purchased, the two mages decided to leave and go take a seat with the rest of the passengers. This was in part because Lucy was too embarrassed to be in the same room with Natsu alone right now. The pair sat down in a booth to themselves. They managed such a feat only because it was very early in the morning and most people from Magnolia didn't like to start to travel till a little later on in the day.

"We will be departing in five minutes" The engineer of the train stated over the loud speakers. "humph" said Natsu dreading the fact that the next four days are probably going the be the worst in his entire life. As Natsu absent mindidly stared out the window waiting for the inevitable with a pained expression on his face; Lucy who had now recovered from her previous embarrassment, was looking over at Natsu with deep concern. "He must really not want to do this mission. He only did this because I complained about my rent again in front of him. As soon as I complained I see Natsu coming back from the job board with that silly grin on his face saying 'Hey Luce, check it out! It's perfect for your rent.' I looked over the job request which was just taking care of some forest Vulcan which paid 400,000 J. I remember being so ecstatic that Natsu picked this job for us. 'This is great! I'll be able to cover rent for at least three whole months with this much money and the job is easy to boot!' I remember Natsu's grin just get even bigger as if he had won some prime. Thinking about it now makes me want to blush a little.

At this point I realized where the job was located. "Hey Natsu, you do know this job is like a four day train ride away, right?" I asked him. He just said "So what? I'll have Wendy do her awesome spell!" He continued grinning at me and I almost started to blush. "You forgot Wendy is out on a mission with Happy and Carla didn't you?" I said sighing. Natsu's face didn't even fall after that. All he said through his grin was "Oh well, I guess I'll just lie in your lap like normal." That last statement he made was far too loud and before I had to the chance to even yell at him; he ran out of the guild shouting "See you tomorrow, Lucy". I of course turned a deep red color trying to hide my face from everyone now staring at me in the guild hall. Mira and Levy teased me the rest of the day for it. Oh it was so embarrassing! He was so going to…."

"Lucy, Luce, Luce!" Natsu half shouted at Lucy while shaking her to get out of her thoughts. Lucy just started to blink her eyes repeatedly at him while coming back to reality. "You were just staring at me, weirdo. Are you ok?" Natsu asked with concern in his voice for his partner. "Y...Yeah I'm fine" Lucy said turning away from Natsu hiding her flushed face from being caught staring at him. "Good, now can I lie my head down in your lap before the train starts moving?" Natsu asked with his big toothed grin.

Lucy became even more flushed at his last request, but she didn't know why since this was a normal routine for them. She simply nodded which caused Natsu to lie his head down into her lap and he closed his eyes. Lucy recovering from her latest embarrassment again looked with concern at the dragon slayer. The only reason he was doing this in the first place was so he didn't feel as sick as normal. Lucy then got a bright idea into her head.

"Hey Natsu, why don't you get sick when Happy flies you around?" asked Lucy already knowing the answer. "Because Happy isn't a mode of transportation. He is family." Natsu answered Lucy slightly annoyed at her question because she basically compared Happy to train which he hated. Lucy then smiled at Natsu and asked, "Am I a mode of transportation, Natsu?"

"Uhh, N...No" Natsu replied with confusion in his voice. "Then how come when you lay your head down in my lap you still get sick." Lucy asked fake pouting at Natsu. Natsu whom is really confused at this point then responded "I d...don't know."

"Well then, since this trip is long; while your head is my lap, don't think that you are riding a train, but instead think that you are using me, your family, to get around." Lucy said proud of what she just came up with. "Ok...ka...ay" was all Natsu could muster up for a response.

Natsu decided to try and take Lucy's advice. Sure enough the train started moving, and surprisingly he didn't really feel sick. He felt kinda sick since only his head was on Lucy, but he felt much better. "Now isn't that better?" Lucy whispered softly into Natsu's ear. He replied by nodding his head in her lap. Shortly after their conversation Natsu fell asleep on Lucy's lap. Lucy started stroking Natsu's pink hair with her hand which caused him to let out a small contented sigh. Lucy couldn't help, but blush at this because to her he looked really cute right now.

Later that evening Lucy and Natsu decided to head into their 'shared' room as Lucy would adamantly claim. It was time for bed, and Lucy had gone into the room to change first that way she was alone while doing so and so Natsu couldn't see. She then called out to him telling him that it was ok to come in. All Natsu did was take off his vest so he would be more comfortable. This particular event was actually interesting to watch since the entire way to the 'shared' room he was wobbling back and forth trying his best not to throw up. It's like he had been playing put the tail on the donkey and had just been spun in a circle 30 times. Lucy literally had to lead him there like a dog. Once he was out of his vest he very clumsily climbed into bed with Lucy much to her shock.

"What are you doing in my bed?! We agreed your bed was the top bunk when we got here!" Lucy said with shock and with major embarrassment at Natsu climbing into the same bed with her. "Oh come on, Luce!" Natsu whined at her. "You are the only reason that I haven't been sick this entire trip. He groaned at her. "Besides you smell really good Lucy and I think that's what calms me down when I lay my head in your lap." He said while bearing his head in her hair inhaling quite loudly.

"N...Natsu...u y...you...u c...can't sa...ay th...hings l...lik...ke th...hat...t" Lucy barely got that out as her face turned a completely new shade of red because of her overwhelmingly sudden surprise at Natsu's latest comments. She didn't think Natsu of all people would say something like that to her. Natsu couldn't see her since he was still enjoying Lucy's scent, but Lucy's face had become so red that it put Erza's hair to shame.

"Why not if it's true?" Natsu happily asked. "So please can I stay here?" he asked the now extremely shy blond. Lucy could only nod at him to which he responded by putting his arms around her and snuggling against her.

"Oh. My. God. I am cuddling with Natsu!" Lucy mentally yelled at herself. She couldn't even believe the situation she was currently in. She had never actually cuddled with anything other than her stuffed animals. What was worse is she actually liked it even though it was Natsu. She started to have a panic attack which caused all of her muscles to tense up. Natsu sensed this and simply pulled Lucy in tighter as if it was a hug and warmly whispered while smiling in his sleepy state "Thank you Luce, this really means a lot". This actually caused Lucy to tense up even more because of how flushed she was getting at their current situation. This only caused Natsu to pull her tighter into a hug which she resisted, but she started to grow tired from day's events and the the long train ride. As she fell asleep she couldn't help but think with a soft smile on her face how warm she was when he was there.


The rest of the train ride continued as the first day. The worst part was when they had to eat, and Natsu insisted eating while he was laying his head in her lap which caused many stairs to be thrown their way. Of course Natsu didn't notice as he was stuffing his face so he again left Lucy to feel embarrassed for the both of them.

They arrived into the small town where the job request came from and met up with the mayor of the town. He briefly explained what happened and why they needed help. Apparently at night a few of the town's people were attacked by forest Vulcan in the middle of the night which has led to a large amount of fear in the town. The reason there was so much fear is because all of the people were being killed and their mangled corpses showed up in the morning in the town square. They were being attacked on one of the many walking trails that exist throughout the town. After explaining the situation to the two mages; Natsu and Lucy assured the man that the problem would be taken care of by nightfall. The mayor was ecstatic with the news that it would be dealt with so quickly.

Nightfall came and Nastsu and Lucy entered the trail together. It was quite dark so Lucy reached out for Natsu's hand. For some reason this made her feel safe and caused her cheeks to get a slightly rosey color to them. She was thinking how nice it was to hold his hand when they found a small circular clearing that was around 30 feet in diameter and then they waited for the inevitable Vulcan attack. The Vulcans started to attack them about 30 minutes later. Natsu and Lucy made short work of the problem with minimal effort. They started congratulating each other on a job well done when laughter made them freeze.

"I honestly didn't expect to see the Salamander and his blonde bimbo show up to this, but you can't be mad if a gift is placed right at your feet." The man howled at the two wizards.

"Hey I'm not just some blonde bimbo! I'm Fairy Tail's best celestial wizard!" Lucy shouted back out at the darkness. Lucy then began to back up toward Natsu

"That may be true, but no matter how strong you are you cannot take on three of the most powerful dark guilds all at once blondie." He mockingly asserted at Lucy and Natsu.

"Oh, Yeah! Dark guilds are not so tough! I like to see you try to take us on. I'll knock you out just for insulting Lucy and the Fairy Tail Guild!" Natsu roared at the darkness. At this point Lucy finally reached Natsu and they were back to back in the center of the circle. Both were trying to find the mysterious man, but he voice appeared to be coming from all around them.

"Just the stubbornness I was told to expect from you Salamander. Alright we shall see!" the mysterious man shouted. As soon as he stopped talking Natsu and Lucy were swarmed with enemies from every possible direction. They were completely surrounded. Natsu only grinned saying I'm all fired up now while Lucy tired to look as confident as her partner even though she was terrified.

The fighting continued well into the night with Natsu and Lucy pulling out most of the stops. Natsu and Lucy tried to stay close to each other in the center of the circle. Many times they would get separated with both being forced to the opposite ends of the circle. This happened on multiple occasions since Nastu moved around a lot as he fought. Turns out all the forest Vulcans were created with picto magic. This meant that over half the foes Natsu and Lucy were fighting were not even real. They both realized this too late because of the sheer size of the force they were up against. It made it too hard to read the actual battle situation. By the time they figured this out Natsu had several bruises while Lucy had broken her wrist using her whip while also tripping and breaking her ankle. Both of Lucy's injuries happened while Natsu and Lucy were separated. Both times Natsu came from where ever he was and saved Lucy. This is actually how Natsu ended up with bruises because he was so busy trying to save Lucy he forgot to protect himself. Since they figured out most of the force was caused due to picto magic they worked their way to find the several mages behind the magic. Stopping these dark wizards was easy work and this caused all the enemies to disappear at once. Natsu and Lucy both had difficulty breathing since they had been fighting for several hours now. Lucy magic power was essentially gone, but she was not giving up. Natsu wasn't doing much better.

"I'm impressed that you survived. No one has ever seen through our ruse before. However, that doesn't matter because I know your weakness Salamander." The mysterious man cried out.

"I don't have any weaknesses!" Natsu roared back into the darkness indignant that an enemy whose butt he thinks he just kicked would even dare to mock him. Natsu and Lucy were moving in a slow closing arc. Both keeping on their guard, and both trying to make their way back to the center of the circle and at the same time each other.

"Yes you do Salamander, I noticed during the fight that you were quite worried every time your blonde bimbo got hurt or was even about to get hurt. You even rushed to help your blonde bimbo multiple times at the expense of yourself taking damage. It was quite romantic" the man slyly stated.

"Of course I protected her when she needed it. She is my partner. I won't let anyone hurt her" Natsu roared back getting even angrier than before.

"Really? That's all I needed to hear." The man stated. You could feel the wicked grin he was giving off. "Grab the girl" the man quietly ordered. Before Natsu or Lucy could begin to react a man appeared from the darkness behind Lucy and Natsu. He wrapped his arms around Lucy restraining her. He then placed a small knife at her neck while dragging her as far away from Natsu as he could.

"LET HER GO OR I'LL…" Natsu roared with pure rage coming from the dragon slayer's voice as he started to make a move to save Lucy.

"Or you will do what exactly" The man whom Natsu turned his back while he was trying to protect Lucy mockingly asked. "You are going to do exactly as I say or the girl dies". The man calmly stated as if her life was worthless. Just as he said this, the man holding Lucy pressed the knife on Lucy's neck and drew a small amount of blood which caused her wince at the pain. The mysterious man finally came out of the shadows and was in full view of Natsu and Lucy. "You are going to get rid of all that fire around your body right now and kneel before me and if you do not do it within the next five seconds your blonde bimbo dies" the man threatened with eerie calmness in his voice. The smile that grew on his face was one of a sick man who enjoys watching things suffer.

"5…" Natsu was just glaring at the man with the fire actually currently increasing around him since his rage was boiling over more than it ever had. "4…" Lucy had gone wide-eyed and couldn't believe the situation she and Natsu were in. She desperately clung to the idea that Natsu would think of something to get them out of this. "3…" Lucy's horror at her situation began to exponentially increase when she realized Natsu was no longer in a fighting stance. He still had his fire around him, but Natsu was shaking. "No he can't actually being doing what that man is asking. He just can't!" Lucy started to go into a complete panic when she saw the fire around Natsu waiver. "2…" "No, No, No, No, NOO!" Lucy screamed in her head as tears started falling down her cheeks. "Natsu can't give in because of me. He just can't! He has to fight!" Lucy was beginning to sob at the scene before her and the only thing she could think of doing was screaming out at Natsu.

"NATSU DON'T, PLEASE STOPPP. YOU DON'T HAVE TO DO THAT FOR MEEHEE!", wailed a frantically sobbing Lucy. She was shrieking for him to stop, but couldn't get Natsu to even budge at her words. All she could do was breathlessly watch as Natsu put his fists down with the fire around them ebb away and to slowly get down on his knees. "this is nightmare, this has to be a nightmare, this can't be real, this just can't be!" screamed a horror struck Lucy inside her head. "GET UP! FIGHT! DON'T LET THEM DO THIS NATSU, PLEASE, IM BEGGING YOU PLEASEEEE!" screamed a desperate Lucy.

Her words were landing on deaf ears. She couldn't get him to listen. Then a sickly disturbed voice cooed with joy in her ears "This next part is my favorite part, and I'm going make you watch" as he then started to howl with laughter. He proceeded to take Lucy's face and point it toward the now currently kneeling fire mage. Another man then walked up out of the darkness past the man in charge to Natsu with a rather large blade. Lucy's eyes widened and her tears started pouring out more vigorously than before. "Please s...stop th...his, I'm beg...ging you." She cried. Natsu then looked back at Lucy and grinned his trademark grin and simply mouthed the words "everything is going to be ok, Luce." Right after that, Natsu was impaled on the other man's sword.

Lucy watched as Natsu slid off the man's sword into a lifeless heap on the ground. She wasn't even able to process what was going on. Her entire world had just shattered right in front of her. He was the one always saving her. He was the one was always smiling at her. He was the one who got her into Fairy Tail in the first place. She was quickly dragged out of her thoughts when the man restraining her slammed a fist into her gut which caused Lucy to howl in pain along with spit out some blood onto the ground. The man then let her fall to the ground. He began to savagely kick her repeatedly. Lucy was only able to scream in pain and constantly cough up blood. Her face was getting coated in a mix of dirt and blood. The man whom had killed Natsu had also started beating her. Right when she was about to pass out from the pain the man whom had orchestrated everything called off the attack.

"Leave her! Let her die in agony next to the Salamander knowing she is the cause of his death" The man howled with laughter because of the sobs that began to escape from Lucy. "You know it's true blondie. He would be alive right now if it wasn't for you" The man sickly mocked as his subordinates walked over away from Lucy towards him. "We are the leaders of the three most powerful dark guilds. You didn't even have a chance against us." The man stated with an aura of complete arrogance.

Lucy was sobbing thinking she killed Natsu. She was about to pass out from all her pain when she felt a rush a magic energy like she never felt before. She looked over and what she saw amazed her and stopped her crying. There was a pure bright orange pillar of light shooting up into the sky coming off of Natsu. It was so bright it reminded her of Nirvana. She saw Natsu standing as if he didn't just get mortally wounded with more power flowing off of him than she had ever seen. It terrified her. Lucy then passed out.

End Flashback

Lucy finished recounting the entire mission; she left out most of what took place on the train since it was quite embarrassing, and she didn't want Mira to tease her about it. Lucy then looked up at the master when tears started to form in her eyes. "That's all I remember. After that I woke up here in the guild hall" Lucy chocked out that last sentence as she began to sob. She started hugging her knees to her chest because she couldn't control her crying any longer.

"That's quite alright child. When Natsu wakes up I will get the rest of the story from him. You should rest now." Makarov stated with extreme sadness in his voice at the story he had been told. Mira then calmed Lucy down to get her to stop crying. She looked up and what she saw next surprised her. Standing in door way was Gray whose back was facing the room, but he was physically shaking. Erza had come in as well and was sitting on her right next to the master with a look of sorrow on her face for Lucy and Natsu. Levy was next to Mira on her left looking at Lucy with all the concern one person could muster. She placed her hand on Lucy's hand and held on tight. Happy was listening to her story curled up next to Natsu on his bed, which was on the opposite side of the room closer to Gray, cyring for his friends. What she didn't know was because since the door way was open the entire guild hall heard her retelling of the mission she went on. No one was drinking. No one was eating. No one was moving. The only thing on their mind was concern and sorrow for their guild mates. What they went through is something no one should ever go through.