It took Gray about three and a half minutes to catch his breath. His legs were growing weak from running, his chest was heaving from lack of breath, and his mind was reeling from the fact that from his relentless search, he couldn't find any of his friends. He couldn't divert his thoughts from worrying about Juvia, because it seemed like her to not want to leave the ship if someone she cared about was still there, and Cana and Loke were nowhere to be seen. Since he had found Natsu several minutes before and they split ways, it felt as though part of his burden had been lifted from his shoulders, but to his dismay, he was still stressed and overwhelmed.

Straightening his back, Gray took his knuckles and cracked them, then rolled his shoulders to relieve his tension. Glancing around, he flinched when another rocket flare went up, exploding itself in the sky. The smoke was illuminated by hues of red, calling out for distress to nearby ships, but it was easy to see with a glance out into the distance that there were no ships near the Titanic. There wasn't a single light in the abyss as a sign of hope and safety, and the darkness of the ocean below was swallowing the ship whole, and many of the passengers with it.

Removing the silver pocket watch from his pocket, Gray glanced down at the time. The hands were a bit off, he knew, but it was about 12:50 - ten minutes until midnight. Putting the watch away, Gray could pick out the face of Thomas Andrews, who wiped sweat from his brow. He gently directed women and children in the direction of lifeboats, and after cleaning is face with a handkerchief, he prepped himself to dismiss himself back inside the ship.

"Mister Andrews," Gray called out, slipping between people. The man perked up, and slumped at the sight of him. It was a slump because he assumed it was a question regarding if there was a lifeboat available for men, but instead, Gray asked, "How long until the ship sinks?"

"You're very frank, sir. You don't believe she'll stay afloat?"

Gray shook his head. "Of course, not. Her head is going down, and you can see it from here. I'd like to be hopeful, but it's a bit late for that."

"Ahh," Thomas Andrews said. "Well, I estimated until two, maybe less. It's a matter of luck at this point, I think. You see, sir, there's a low chance you'll be allowed to make it onto a lifeboat, so I suggest making it to a place where you can be safe when the ship plunges into the water. Do your best to live, alright? Best of luck to you."

Gray nodded. "Thank-you. Best of luck to you, as well."

Thomas Andrews dismissed himself, slipping into the innards of the ship. Gray, still standing in the cold and open air, took in a deep breath. He wanted to live - Gods, he really wanted to live, but death was inevitable. The temperature began to freeze his skin, and he was beginning to feel numb to the bone. He wasn't sure if the numbness was from the cold or because of the slow acceptance of his impending death.

"Gray," he heard someone call. The voice was soft and sweet, and filled him with a sense of safety. Turning around, it was Juvia, who was hugging a coat close to her body to preserve her warmth. Had Gray been wearing a coat, he probably would have handed it to her. "You're still lingering."

"I was going to say the same about you. You need to get in line for a lifeboat. Only one has left so far, I think. Go," he ordered, pointing towards the closest line.

When Juvia adamantly shook her head in protest and refused to move her feet, Gray was pulled aback. She was feisty, he knew, but he hadn't expected her to refuse him on a topic so important. She shouldn't be so silly and be wasting her life with him on the sinking Titanic, and he would do whatever it took to get her into a lifeboat.

"You need to get off this ship, Juvia. This is your life, we're talking about."

"I refuse to leave you behind on here. I was taught to not abandon my friends, and that is a moral I refuse to abandon here."

Had it been a tad bit earlier, Gray might have been able to persuade her that there was a way that he could get into the lifeboat and abandon her there, just to ensure her safety, but she was too knowing then, and there wasn't a single way he could lie to her to get her out of his care.

"What about your father? Don't you care about him?"

"I do - very much. He's entrusted me to make sure that you're safe, and he's found his own means to ensure his safety. I believe he'll be alright, and now i would like to make sure you will be, too."

"Juvia," Gray sighed, "I can't get onto a lifeboat. You need to get to one, since you have that privilege."

"Then may some other person - a child, maybe - take my seat. I'm staying here with you. Sorry to say so, but that's the way it's going to be."

Juvia averted her eyes, hoping to not see the sorrow in Gray's. She was going to do whatever it took for her to stay with him, and she wasn't going to allow him to let her leave the Titanic. She felt the pain in her chest at the possibility of her - and anyone's - impending death and she even shivered at the thought of the cold water below, but she felt no regret for her choice. Sweeping up Gray's hand in hers, she gave it a tight squeeze to reassure him that everything was going to be okay.

He audibly exhaled in defeat, and rolled his shoulders. It was his stress technique, and Juvia imagined she would see him doing so quite frequently for the next hour or two.

"Fine, but we've got to find Loke and Cana."

"Looking for me?" Cana's voice chimed from inside the building behind them. It was obvious she was doing the same as Gray - looking for comrades. She'd probably been searching through the halls for the ginger boy, but to no avail. "I saw Natsu a moment ago," she said, biting her lip.

"I did, too."

Cana noted Juvia, who awkwardly let go of Gray's hand, cheeks heated in embarrassment. "You must be Juvia, huh? Nice to meet you," the brunette said, patting Juvia's shoulder a bit roughly.

"N-nice to meet you..." Juvia said, covering her cheeks.

"I'm Cana," she said. Turning her attention back to Gray, Cana continued speaking to him. "I'm looking for Loke, so don't worry your pretty little face about him. You've got a friend to take care of, so pay attention to her."

Gray sighed. "Yeah, I know, but still... I boarded with him, so how am I supposed to leave without him?"

"I promise you'll be able to dock in America with him. Take care of her, you hear? And Juvia," Cana said, touching her shoulder, "take care of him, too. He's a bit reckless, so make sure he doesn't do anything stupid. See you two!" Cana spun on her heels, which were bare. Her shoes were in her hand, her feet a bit swollen from running a lot.

To Gray, "stupid" stung like a knife, but he laughed. Cana was probably right, because he'd probably end up making a reckless decision that wouldn't end well. He took in a deep breath, his shoulders rising with his chest, and he exhaled. "I've got this. We've got this."

"What's our objective?" Juvia asked, taking Gray's hand again. She was nervous, Cana's relaxing presence gone, and at her sudden touch, Gray didn't seem to mind. He gripped her hand, squeezing briefly to calm her a bit.

"Since you won't get off of the ship without me, our goal is to get somewhere safe and live. The ship's going down by the head, so we'll probably need to get to the back of the ship and cling to the other side of the railing as soon as she's vertical. Think quickly, you hear?"

Juvia nodded. Thinking quickly was something she was good at, especially if her heart was leading her.

Lucy... No way... Why are you here...?

Natsu couldn't breathe. His chest tightened up and his legs went stiff. The bottom edge of his eyes blurred and stung from the tears forming from his stress. His lips wouldn't move to call out to her, to ask her why she had come back, how she had come back. She'd returned to the floating death trap, and gods, he hoped she wasn't doing something so reckless for him.

He wanted her to board whatever ship rescued the lifeboats, to see her mother - the person that loved Lucy with all of her heart. She wanted her to make it to America and run free, because after all, America was "the land of the free, and the home of the brave." It was Lucy's best opportunity, but instead, she was back on the Titanic, handing her life over.

He yearned to say something like, "Why are you being so stupid!?" or, "You have so much promise, so don't give up!" At the same time, though, he wanted to hug her and kiss her and say, "Thank-you for not leaving me behind." It was selfish, he figured, but dying alone scared him. Dying without anyone who loved him around shook him to the bone.

Finally, Natsu's hands and feet begun to move, and he begun to run blindly towards Lucy. His feet hit the wooden deck with loud thuds, his breathing heavy and tight, causing him to loudly wheeze. Blinking his eyes to force the tears to go away, he opened it and watched as Lucy vanished into the shifting and conforming crowd. She walked away and vanished from Natsu's line of sight.

No, come back... Come back... His thoughts were loud, screaming from the depths of his mind, but nothing came out of his lips. They still refused to move, to speak, to do anything. He was left in silence in a world that required him to use his voice.

He forced himself into the crowd that Lucy had vanished into, but he couldn't catch a glimpse of her golden hair or the dress that was endless amounts of shades and hues of pink. He couldn't see any of that, and that was what worried him. Had he just dreamed her up, so that he didn't have to face the reality that Lucy wasn't there with him anymore? Had he really been that scared to admit that her father had swept her away from him?

Lucy never emerged from the crowd, and Natsu stood there, knowing that the part of his heart that she had filled was empty again, and it would never fill. Lucy was gone, and he was about to die.

His weight heavy, - heavy with disappointment and emptiness - Natsu dragged his feet out of the crowd. For the time that he walked, fighting the pain in his chest, he ignored all of the times he saw Lucy's face on the people who waited in line for the lifeboats, ignored the sights of blonde in the crowd. He knew that there was no way that she was back on the ship, because he had seen with his own eyes that her lifeboat had touched the water. Unless she could fly, Lucy was still inside the lifeboat.

Every woman with blonde hair caught his attention for a brief second, but he would tear his eyes away when he saw Lucy's face there. His mind was desperate, hoping for her to be there when he turned her head, but it was never the real Lucy. He was glad that she was safe, but he wished that it didn't hurt him to know that he couldn't be safe with her.

He saw her brown eyes everywhere he looked and her kind smile on every woman. He was in despair, and there was nothing he could do to prevent the hallucinations from occurring.

When Natsu's haze lifted, six lifeboats had left the Titanic. They floated away from the ship in distress, and already, people were handing their lives over to the sea, jumping in, hoping someone would pull them into the lifeboats. Natsu moved closer to the bar, looking down at one of his options below. To jump, or to stay...

"Excuse me, ma'am?" Natsu asked the woman standing beside him. He didn't look at her, keeping his eyes trained on the ocean. She looked up frantic.

"Yes?"

"What time is it?"

"About 1:20. I wonder how long the ship has left," she commented, hanging onto the bar.

The Titanic was reaching a notable slant, the ocean's surface at the ship's name plate. Already, the people were fleeing from the front of the ship, scrambling to get away from the water's edge, hoping to escape the cold temperature and water before it could swallow their body whole.

"Probably an hour," Natsu said, saying it in an optimistic light. With the water up to the bow's edge already, the ship had only forty or so minutes left before it was below the sea.

A/N: I hope you guys will leave a review with your thoughts! Those really help motivate me for the next chapter!

I realize now how bad I feel for not thinking up a way to incorporate certain characters, like Wendy, Lisanna, Mira, Zeref, Mavis, Makarov, and many others. I feel like it would have been enjoyable to write them, but I couldn't think of anything for them at the time, when I was planning this fic. Maybe next time...

Anyhow, we're nearing the end now, so I would really appreciate if you readers would draw up some art for this fic! I would love to see it, and I will surely reblog it if you tag me on Tumblr (my URL is emichama).

I hope you guys are still hanging on to the Lucy cliffhanger, as well as Loke! (I know Melly is definitely upset with me about those.)

Can't wait to hear from you all! See you next chapter!