Hello, everyone !

I'm back with the second chapter :D

Enjoy reading this one~

Disclaimer: Fairy Tail characters belong to Hiro Mashima

Today was the sixth day since that angel made himself comfortable at that particular branch. Lucy chose to join the children in their outdoor activities today, hoping to get a better look—or at least, a glance—at that angel. To be honest, Lucy had never seen what that angel's face looked like. She wasn't born with a sixth sense either, so that angel's face looked more like a blurry focus whenever she tried to look at him. When she shifted her gaze away, however, and used the corner of her eyes to look, she could roughly saw the overall feature of the angel.

Lucy followed the children out while occasionally glanced up to that particular branch. The angel was nowhere to be seen at this moment. Lucy tilted her head a bit to a side, wondering whether that angel is working right now or not. She noticed how he had always been watching her from afar, even when she had activities outside. Today was the first time she had an outdoor activity right at this yard, so… Perhaps that angel was hiding?

Maybe angels had a rule to not be completely seen by a human?

"Lucy-nee, why are you spacing out?"

Lucy's focus came back to her as one of the children curiously asked her. She chuckled and gently patted the child's head, shaking her head to say that it was nothing. The child shrugged away as well, asking Lucy to help her to draw.

The child was planning to draw a cherry blossom tree. A tree which was located directly across Lucy's hospital ward, the same tree where Lucy's eyes were locked on to just seconds before.

Ten minutes into drawing, Lucy still couldn't find any trace of that angel on that branch. She stared at the empty branch for a few more seconds, before concluding that the angel was indeed away at the moment.

Natsu was indeed away, because he was picking up the souls that were scheduled to leave today. He had left much earlier than the previous days, because there were more souls he had to pick up today.

Natsu still hadn't returned even after the sun started to set. Lucy sat on her hospital bed in silence, her eyes couldn't leave that particular cherry blossom branch.

"Is there something on that cherry blossom tree, Lucy?"

Lucy's focus came back and she turned her head to look at her curious mother, Layla Heartfilia. Lucy giggled and shook her head. "No, it's nothing."

"Are you sure?" Layla asked. "You've been staring at that tree for quite a while."

"Really, it's nothing." Lucy smiled back. "I was just wondering… Whether I can see it bloom again on the next spring or not."

Well, it wasn't entirely a lie, though. Lucy knew that angel was her death angel, which meant the end of her life was coming. This year's spring was about to end, so…

"Of course you can, honey." Pain flashed in Layla's brown eyes but it quickly disappeared. "Let's do Hanami again once you're well."

Lucy nodded and smiled, although her gaze softened. Hanami, huh… The last time she had a Hanami with her family was on spring three years ago, before she had to stay at the hospital not long after that. She knew she wouldn't be able to go to a Hanami again for next year, and Lucy couldn't help but feeling annoyed.

This whole thing wasn't fair.

She was born healthy, why did she have to suddenly suffer from this illness? She didn't even get the chance to finish her freshman year in senior high because she had to stay at the hospital. She had to lose a lot of chances in her life because her body wasn't strong enough. She had to move several times because her parents were always looking for the better hospital for her treatment. Before she had any chance to build a solid friendship with anyone, she had to move away.

Before she had any chance to savor her life, this illness took everything away from her.

Lucy unconsciously gripped her blanket and that was when her body decided to act up. Lucy closed her eyes and groaned when pain suddenly shot through her entire body.

"Lucy…!" Layla eyes widened, she stood up from the chair and grabbed her groaning daughter. "Lucy! Lucy! HELP! ANYONE!"

Tears started to fall from Lucy's eyes as her body writhed in pain. Layla kept calling her daughter's name, her own tears had started to fall.

"LUCY! LUCY!" Layla shouted. "HELP! ANYONE! DOCTOR! NURSE!"

The door was suddenly opened and two nurses rushed inside. One of them hurriedly stepped out again to call for the doctor, while the other rushed to Lucy's bedside to give her some help. A few minutes later, Lucy's doctor as well as a few other nurses came running into her ward.

By then, Lucy had lost her consciousness. Her body started to shake in seizures, her eyeballs rolled into the back of her head and her breaths became ragged. Layla cried in fear, but one of the nurses calmly took her to the end of the room to give some space for Lucy's treatment.

"Miss Heartfilia?" The doctor called. "Miss Heartfilia! Miss Heartfilia, can you hear me? Miss Heartfilia!"

"Doctor, the patient isn't responding." One of the nurses said.

"Miss Heartfilia!" The doctor tried once more.

BIIP, BIIP, BIIP!

The doctor looked up at Lucy's heart monitoring machine and cursed under her breath. "Her heart's failing!"

Layla screamed at the words and almost fainted if it wasn't because of the nurse that kept holding her tight. Tears wouldn't stop flowing from her eyes as she kept pleading to God to let her daughter live. She wasn't ready yet to let Lucy go.

"Prepare the ICU!" The doctor said.

Lucy's bed was then taken outside of the ward towards the ICU. The doctor didn't stop trying to make Lucy's heart beats again. Once they arrived in the ICU, Lucy's body was hurriedly connected into various tubes and machines.

Natsu returned to his favorite branch when the sun had nearly set. He tilted his head to a bit though when he saw Lucy's empty ward. Even her bed wasn't there. Where could she possibly be?

Curious, Natsu decided to fly into the hospital to look for Lucy. He glanced at left and right for her blond locks, but he couldn't find anyone like that. Just then, his ears caught something.

"Lucy…"

"It'll be okay, Layla." Jude Heartfilia hugged his wife tight. "It'll be okay. She'll be okay. Our daughter is very strong."

"Oh God, please…" Layla begged. "Don't take my daughter away from me…"

A shiver ran down along Natsu's spine and he flew closer towards the source of the voices. He found two people who were hugging each other, sitting in front of a long bench outside of a room. Natsu slowly glanced towards the room and he felt his body was cold all over.

Lucy was there.

Natsu was no doctor nor did he understand anything about medicine, but he knew Lucy was in a bad condition just by seeing how many tubes were connected to her body. He unconsciously clenched his fists, recognizing the two people waiting outside as Lucy's parents.

"Lucy…" Layla sobbed. "God… Please…"

Hearing Layla's sobs made Natsu's heart felt as if it was being clenched so tight. Especially when he saw how Lucy's soul starting to leave her body bit by bit. Her soul was scheduled to be picked up by him by tomorrow, after all. Tonight was the last day for Lucy to be alive.

Natsu suddenly gritted his teeth.

Last day?

Today was her last day?

Lucy's smile suddenly appeared in his mind, the very smile that calmed him down. The smile that fully captured his attention, making him unable to take his eyes off of her. The smile that drawn him to her existence from the very first time he saw her photo.

Lucy's laughter suddenly rang in his ears, the laughter that sounded as clear as the church's bell. The laughter that reminded him of the beautiful birds which chirped early in the morning. The laughter that made him felt like everything would always be okay.

His nose suddenly smelled Lucy's scent, the scent he didn't think was existed. He was surprised to know that a mix of vanilla and cinnamon could be a scent he loved so much. The scent that eased his entire being and even lulled him to deep slumber.

Natsu knew what he was feeling was wrong—so wrong—but he couldn't help himself. The thought of picking up Lucy's soul was too much for him to bear. He didn't want tonight to be the last day for Lucy being alive. He didn't want to stop seeing her smile, hearing her laugh, nor stop smelling her scent.

After being entranced by her the moment he saw her and spent five days watching her, Natsu fell in love with the human girl. There was no logical reason for his feelings, he just loved her. He didn't need any reason as well, for his feelings couldn't be justified simply with words. Determined to save Lucy, Natsu then opened a portal and stepped inside in order to return to the Heaven.

As a death angel, Natsu had the privilege of opening a portal to return to the Heaven from wherever he was in the human world. Once he had finished his list, he had to return to the Heaven as soon as possible to recover. It was one of the rules he needed to obey.

Once he had arrived back in the Heaven, Natsu wasted no time and flew directly to the Heaven's library. Time was running out for Lucy and he had to get the answer as soon as possible. He flew as fast as he could, reaching the front doors of the library in no time.

Natsu quickly opened the door and was face-to-face with another angel.

"NATSU?" Gray widened his eyes. "What are you doing here?"

"Move aside, ice breath." Natsu lowly groaned, he really didn't want to deal with Gray.

"Wait a minute, flame brain." Gray grabbed Natsu's shoulder. "Seriously, what are you doing here?"

"What? I can't be here?" Natsu asked back.

"This is the library, Natsu!" Gray retorted, half amazed and half confused. "L.I.B.R.A.R.Y. And you came here?"

"I know what place this is." Natsu rolled his eyes. He was really tempted to punch Gray's face so he could come in, but he fought back the urge to. He knew Lucy's time was running out minute by minute, but he still couldn't hurt his own best friend.

Never tell Gray he thought of that.

Now Gray is more curious to know why Natsu suddenly stepped his foot in the Heaven's library, one place that Natsu had never visited before. "Are you looking for something?"

"Duh."

"What is it?" Gray asked. "I can help you find it."

Natsu's body tensed a bit but he quickly shrugged his shoulder away so Gray couldn't catch that. "Nah, I'm good. You can just fly away from here."

"Why are you being so impatient?" Gray raised an eyebrow.

"Am not." Natsu said. "Just fly away, will you? I don't need you to keep rubbing it on me just because I decided to read some book!"

"Read!" Gray gasped. "Wow, Natsu, did you clash your head with something when you're picking up souls?"

"Whatever." Natsu decided to ignore Gray instead. He flew into the library, while Gray snickered behind him.

"Happy reading, flame breath!"

"Jerk." Natsu mumbled under his breath so it wouldn't be heard by other angels. Obviously, he couldn't and shouldn't curse due to being an angel. There were originally no curse words in the Heaven, but the angels picked some from the human world. As an angel, he had the privilege of having a voice that couldn't be easily heard by God. If he wanted to curse, he had to say it with a voice as soft as possible so God couldn't hear it. However, if other angels heard him instead and reported to God, then he would be screwed.

Natsu flew towards the section for the death angels. He scanned the shelves carefully one by one, until finally he found the one book he was looking for. Natsu quickly took it and opened it to a particular chapter. He read the words carefully and his heart thumped in excitement.

There's another way to save Lucy!

Natsu closed the book and put it back onto the shelf before making his way to the portal. His hands were a bit trembling in excitement at the thought of saving Lucy. Tonight wouldn't be the last day for her!

It felt like minutes for Natsu, but in the human world, hours had past. When Natsu returned to Lucy's bedside, the clock's hand was just 30 minutes away from striking twelve. He silently breathed a sigh of relief. Thank goodness he made it! If he were even a second too late, he could no longer save Lucy. The way he found on the book must be done before the day the human's soul was scheduled to be picked up.

Natsu looked at the unconsciousness Lucy and smiled. "I'll save you, Lucy."

He then opened his palm and an orb of light appeared on top of it. Natsu stuck out his palm and the orb of light slowly entered Lucy's body. Unbeknownst to Natsu, Lucy actually regained a bit of her consciousness when she felt somebody's presence beside her. She weakly cracked her eyes open, just enough to see a figure's silhouette. A man with pink hair and a pair of blazing red wings. Lucy's eyes softened as she finally could see her death angel for today.

He's here…

Lucy's eyes closed again as she felt strength was leaving her body. In the back of her mind, Lucy knew her time was running out. Perhaps, in a bit more… Just in a few more hours or even minutes, that death angel would pick her soul up.

One last thought ran across Lucy's mind before her consciousness faded.

Dear death angel, what is your name?

Lucy's hands twitched as her consciousness started to seep back in. A gentle squeeze on her hand that followed a second later made Lucy opened her eyes weakly. The first thing that she saw was her mother's face which was crying out of relief and happiness.

"Ma…ma…?" Lucy croaked.

"Lucy…!" Layla hugged her daughter gently. "Thank goodness, Lucy!"

Another sob came from the other side of her and Lucy weakly turned her head over to see her crying father.

"Hey… Papa…"

"Thank you, God…" Jude knelt as he held Lucy's hands dearly and also burst out in tears. "Thank you…"

Lucy furrowed her eyes a bit, her brain is starting to work right now. From her parents' words…

She… Was alive?

Lucy's brain tried to remember what happened last time, but she couldn't recall anything. She took a look around her surroundings and realized she was in her hospital's ward. But why were her parents crying as if they had just almost lost her?

"What… happened…?"

"You were almost gone!" Layla gently stroke her daughter's cheeks as she sobbed. "Your heart was suddenly failing and you were taken to the ICU… The doctor said we might lose you…"

Lucy widened her eyes a bit. "How long…?"

"A week, Lucy." Jude wiped his tears away. "You were unconscious in the ICU for one whole week. Your condition improved yesterday, however, and the doctor deemed it was safe for you to return to your ward."

"Mama will call the doctor to check on you." Layla also wiped her tears planted a kiss on Lucy's forehead. "You'll be okay, honey."

The doctor soon came to the ward and did a thorough check-up on Lucy's condition. Miraculously, her condition did improve despite the late-stage cancer that was still eating her from the inside. It was all Lucy could hear before her mind ran off to somewhere.

Now that she was more awake than before, she vaguely remembered seeing someone beside her bed. The scenery around her seemed different, so Lucy guessed it was when she was still in the ICU. Who was it, though? She was pretty sure that person wasn't her parents, even though her memory was so faint.

Lucy then lifted her head and looked at that particular cherry blossom's branch. That angel wasn't there again today. Is that angel picking up other souls right now? When would her soul be picked up? She entered the ICU and was unconscious for a whole week but seemed like it wasn't the time for her to leave yet.

Then… For how much longer would that angel be around her? For how much longer she had to wait for her time to leave? Would there ever be a day for her to properly see that angel?

Noticing that the sky is dark right now, Lucy suddenly had the urge to stargaze. Her parents denied her idea, but her doctor allowed her to go to the rooftop and stargaze, albeit she couldn't stay for too long. Lucy smiled her thanks to her doctor and wrapped a thick shawl around her body, before making her way to the rooftop.

When she got there, the stars were glinting at the night sky. But that wasn't what caught Lucy's attention. Someone else was there already.

A young man with pink hair.

Lucy was stunned to see the young man. It would be the first time in her life to see a pink hair on a man. He just stood there near the railing, his head was lifted up as he gazed at the sky. There was something about him that made Lucy's eyes couldn't falter away.

The night wind blew and the young man seemed to realize someone else's presence there with him. He turned his head over to look and Lucy's breath hitched when their eyes met. The young man also widened his eyes when he saw Lucy for a moment, before a smile made its way to his lips. He casually put his hands into the pockets of his pants and walked up to Lucy.

"Hello, young lady." he grinned. "What are you doing up here all alone?"

Lucy gulped down nervously. The young man possessed a pair of dark green eyes that looked so warm and gentle. And his voice… Oh boy, his voice… Lucy was instantly entranced by his voice.

"Hello?" The young man waved his hand in front of Lucy's face.

Lucy's focus came back and she laughed awkwardly, her face blushed a bit out of embarrassment. "H—hello. I… I'm here to stargaze."

"Ah yes, the night sky here is the best." The young man agreed.

"Have you ever stargazed here?" Lucy asked in curiosity.

"A couple of times." The young man shrugged. "Do you want to stargaze together with me?"

Lucy nodded.

The young man chuckled and reached out his hand. Lucy took it and the young man helped her walked towards the railing. Once they were there, they both sighed contentedly and stargazed in a comfortable silence. Lucy then suddenly remembered that she didn't know the young man's name yet. She turned her head to look at him and reached out her hand.

"I'm Lucy." Lucy introduced herself.

The young man also turned his head to look back at her and smiled, his gaze turned even warmer. He took Lucy's hand and she was surprised to realize how warm his hand was. "Nice to meet you, Lucy. I'm Natsu."

Done !

Man, talk about sniffling while writing… T_T

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