Natsu was the one who always got up first. He was the one who always managed to throw in one more punch when his friends needed it. He was always the one who pushed himself up when everyone thought it was impossible. He always came out okay. Letting injuries get the best of him just wasn't who he was. Everyone had started to expect his unexpected recoveries. So when they were faced with a new enemy, a new war, and a new fight, they expected injuries and they expected sacrifices but they didn't expect him to give in to his injuries.

It happened quickly, almost too quickly. It was just him and Lucy against the leader of the attack. Lucy's magic was draining fast, both of them were covered in injuries, and they were losing the upper hand they had managed to get at the beginning of the battle.

One by one, the three Celestial Spirits Lucy had summoned left as her magic drained from her. Little by little, Natsu's flames were decreasing in effectiveness. Hit by hit, their enemy was getting closer to victory. It was once Lucy's magic power had drained and she was left with her whip alone to protect herself. It was once Natsu was left struggling to catch his breath as another attack was thrown at him.

One second the two of them were fighting with everything they had to offer and the next, there was a flash of black mixed with dark purple. It left Lucy confused. It hadn't seemed to hurt her in any way but there surely wasn't any way it was anything other than an attack. It had seemed to fill the whole room and surround her but she was fine. It was only when she really looked around that she noticed what it had done.

Natsu was kneeling down on one knee in the rubble, clutching his chest where his heart was. His breathing was sharp, ragged, and quick. His body was visibly shaking and a huge gash had been created along his abdomen. He had his eyes closed, trying to get himself to focus on the fight instead of the pain that was overwhelming him. Lucy could tell that even kneeling was a huge effort for him. It was the worst she had ever seen him and she had seen him in some pretty terrible conditions.

With each passing millisecond, she watched as the shaking increased, his breathing got worse, the bleeding from the gash continued, and his fist tightened as it stayed resting against his chest. She didn't know how long he would be able to stay like that. It would only be a matter of time before he lost the ability to even kneel as he was.

Knowing she didn't have the time to continue watching him, she turned to the cause of it, who was just darkly chuckling. It angered her knowing he was enjoying Natsu's pain so much. Her eyes darkened as she watched him some more. Her eyes were locked on him just as his eyes were locked on Natsu and Natsu's were locked in darkness. Finally, she had enough of just watching him. "Hey! Look at me you monster!" she yelled. When his gaze transferred from Natsu to her, she could feel the anger still growing inside her. "Stop laughing at his pain and fight me! You don't deserve the luxury of seeing what amuses you! Especially if it's something as cruel as someone in unimaginable pain!"

His laughter simply grew at this and she saw the dark purple grow around his hand. "Girl, you don't know your place. You have no chance against me. Your friend here is immensely more powerful than you and well, you see what I've effortlessly done to him. I could disintegrate your very existence with the flick of my wrist," he growled, his voice dark yet laced with laughter.

"How about you prove that then and fight me!"

"Gladly."

Before either of them could attack the other, however, Natsu's low, pained voice broke in. "L-Lucy..." The blonde mage quickly turned to look at him. He was now on both knees, his arms struggling to stay locked, causing his body fall and rise as they unlocked, locked, unlocked, and repeated. "Lucy, I..." He stopped as another flash of pain shot through him. "Tell th-the g-guild I love them a-all."

"No! You can tell them yourself Natsu! You're going to be okay!"

He weakly shook his head. "I-I know that's w-what we both want b-but I can't..." He stopped as he took in a desperate breath. "Can't be sure."

"Hope's all you need! You can make it!" she screamed desperately.

"O-one more thing, Luce. I should've t-told y-you this a long time ago..." A cough interrupted him. The cough brought up a little blood that trickled out of his mouth and down to the rubble beneath him. And once again, he took in a painful breath. "I n-need to tell you. Luce, I-"

"Enough of this crap! It's my time to kill you both!"

Before the man could do anything to put Lucy in danger, Natsu jumped up with the last of his already nearly gone strength. With some last magical power, he thrust himself at the enemy as flames lit up around him. "No! Don't touch her!" Despite Natsu being near death, the attack hit the man hard and left him hurtling back, flames still dancing around him. Both males fell at the same time.

The man hit the floor on his back, the air escaping him as he did. Natsu, however, fell forward. As he hit the ground, he knew that attack had done him in pretty well. he had used up all his strength in that one attack. Lucy had quickly run over to him, flipping him over onto his back so she could look at his face. "Natsu!"

"L-Luce...I...P-please k-know I l-love you with e-ev-ery f-fiber of my b-being. You're m-my e-every-thing. Never f-forget t-that..." After this confession, his lungs had lost most of the air within them and he was left gasping for breath, his body tensing with each breath that brought less air than the last.

At this point, tears were streaming down Lucy's face and she clung tightly onto the dying boy. "I love you too Natsu! I always will! I promise you!"

At this, a weak smile formed on his lips and he put everything he had to bring on arm up to her face. Cupping her cheek, he wiped away all the tears he could manage. She grabbed his wrist as he did so. The two simply stared at each other, enjoying the other while they still could, until Natsu was sent into a coughing fit. More blood flew out of his mouth and when the fit was over, he clutched his stomach as pain took over all his senses and thoughts. The pain was overwhelming and as it continued on, his vision became blurry until it started fading to black altogether. His body shook worse than it had ever before and his breathing came to a near halt. Natsu could feel his consciousness fading as the blinding pain persisted but he fought it. Lucy needed him. He couldn't let her down. So he held on. He did his best to focus on the faint feeling of her holding his hand.

Eventually, the rest of his senses began to weaken as well. Sounds became muffled and he couldn't make out what noises came from where and what they were. Smells faded to nothing until even with his heightened sense of smell didn't pick anything up. He realized he couldn't even taste his blood anymore. Finally, he noticed that he couldn't feel things. He no longer felt like he was laying on rubble. He was just laying. He couldn't feel his hair sticking to his forehead with sweat and worst of all, he couldn't feel Lucy's hand against his. With his loss of feeling, came a change in the pain. With no better words to describe it, to him it felt like the pain had been glazed over so it wasn't as sharp. It still hurt just as much though.

After he lost his senses, he couldn't do anything. The slightest movement sent torturous amounts of pain through him and he was losing all thoughts. Lucy was what he tried to think about but even she was losing to the pain.

Lucy. Her smile. Her laugh. Pain. Oh the pain. No, Lucy. Lucy. Her blonde hair. Her beaut- pain. This pain. Worst pain. Lucy. Lucy Heartfilia. Pain. Pain. Pink guild mark. Pain. More pain. Pain. On her hand. This pain. Loves her Celest- pain. Pain. It's agonizing. Can't focus. Pain. Too much.

It went on like this for Natsu for what felt like eternity but when he felt a hand against his, hope struck up a little bit. Maybe it was fading. And he was right. It did fade eventually. Slowly but surely, the pain dulled and he regained his senses. His sight came back first. His black vision slowly lightened up and once he could see basic shapes again, it slowly became less and less blurry. He could see the rubble beside him clearly at first and then after that, he saw her beautiful face. If he had the strength to smile, he would have. As this was happening, his hearing also came back as well. When he first heard the noises again, they were just a blur of sounds that didn't make any sense. Then he realized there were muffled voices and crashing. He focused his hearing on the voices, trying to make them out. It took him a while but he finally realized the one that sounded closest to him was actually Lucy and she was mumbling his name. He didn't bother to trying to figure out the rest. After his sight and hearing had returned, his taste came next. This one came quickly. One second he couldn't taste anything and then within the next five seconds, he could clearly taste the metallic blood. Fourthly came feeling. The sensation of the rubble digging into his back, the wetness of the sweat holding his hair against his forehead, and Lucy's hand, they all came back. Lastly, was smell. Her scent slowly invaded his nose.

With all his senses back and the pain continuously dulling, he felt much better though he was still undoubtedly weak. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get his muscles to listen to what his brain told him. He was physically exhausted, unable to do much more than breathe. As he laid there, he kept his eyes on hers and watched. He watched her tears falling. He watched and felt as she squeezed his hand. He watched as she kept glancing behind her to see what was happening. He watched as her eyes finally looked at his. The smile he saw invade her face after this made him happy and he wished he had enough strength to at least smile back at her.

"Lucy! Watch out!" As suddenly as the smile appeared, it left. Erza's warning made her turn around and before Natsu knew it, she was on her feet and pulling him way. It was hard for her and he cursed himself for not being able to help her help him but soon they were out of that room. When she let him go and his arms flopped pathetically against his body, she fell to the ground breathing hard.

A sharp pain shot through him and his muscles finally reacted to something as his shoulders shot forward in a cough which led into more and more. Of course more blood made an appearance. When the coughing fit subsided, Natsu decided to try his luck at moving his muscles at his own accord.

When he felt his thumb twitch, he took it as a good sign so he kept trying and soon his arm had reached up to touch her face gently. A small smile somehow found its way onto his face.

"Natsu..."

"L-Luce...Remember, I...love you." As he got that sentence out, Natsu knew it was going to be the last. With the ability to move his muscles again came his energy draining even faster. His consciousness was fading fast and he knew once it did, it wasn't coming back.

Without saying another word, her lips crashed against his, her tears in the mix as well. It was desperate and sloppy but it was the only one they had ever shared and it would be the last so that didn't matter to either of them. As they pulled away, their eyes locked and Natsu gently squeezed her hand. His eyes were feeling heavy at this point. It was a fight against time. She could tell he was fighting to stay conscious so her grip on his hand tightened and she watched him intensely, the tears streaming down her face only increasing.

With all his strength, he gave her his signature grin and then let his eyes close. Fairy Tail had lost the one who always got up.

New update! Today I made it kinda sad. I don't know how that happened. I honestly meant for it to be happy but then war and death happened. Oh well. Hope you enjoyed!