Lucy shook her head, over and over. She didn't do it, she didn't mean to. They weren't in love, these sentences ran through her mind on repeat, like a mantra.

Zeref clicked his tongue, eyes that once were beautiful and full of dirty excitement to Lucy being terrifying, and sickening, "Because of you, Natsu will be made to a human, to live the rest of his days as a mortal. He's far too weak to be a demon here. You'll never see him again. And he'll never see you. But more importantly, he'll never remember you. You'll live with his memory, but he won't. It's what you deserve for what you did to him. To me. To our family."

Zeref's words echoed in Lucy's mind, her eyes glossed over and her body stilling in the man's arms. She didn't fight the weight, she didn't say anything. She stood there.

Fright and sadness filled every nick and cranny of Lucy's body, numbness. The pain in her arms and back suddenly became nothing. Natsu's going to be a mortal? Because of me? Because Zeref believed he loved me? He will never remember me, but I'll always remember him..

Lucy's thoughts clouded her conscious, only being broken from it as Zeref turned and walked back to the abandoned book filled to the brim with Latin spells for the underworld.

Lucy's eyes didn't last on him very long, slowly panning over to her demon that lay on the floor. Natsu's newly colored brown eyes were already on Lucy, his neck bent at what appeared to be an uncomfortable angle.

The mortal's heart softened, Natsu's raw lips twitching into a smile. Lucy couldn't remember a time that the demon properly smiled, so she treasured this moment.

A small smile flashed back to the pained boy on the floor, Zeref beginning to read from the book again. But the two didn't mind the Latin being read loudly, their eyes stayed on each other.

After quite a few minutes, Natsu swallowed and shut his eyes and took a fresh breath of air. Lucy couldn't help but note how beautiful he was, even with brown eyes instead of vibrant red eyes. When his eyes opened, his lips twitched.

"1- I-love you, L-Lucy"

Lucy couldn't hardly hear the whisper over Zeref's reading. Nobody else seemed to pick up on the words, but She most certainly did. Her eyes could only widen, heart softening.

Love? He actually does?

Before Lucy could react further, or ever reply, the spell came to an end. Zeref shut the book, watching Natsu's form. Lucy kept her eyes on Natsu, and Natsu on hers. Even when the room began to become cold, so cold, their eyes remained on each other. Lucy sent him a supportive grin, only the corners of her lips pointing upwards.

She couldn't imagine how scared the demon must be. Soon Lucy's vision began to blur, as did Natsu's. It was something Natsu had been so used to, ever since he was a young sin, but today was much different. He almost shut his eyes, but instead he kept them open. He wanted to drink in as much of the mortal before him before she disappeared from his memory forever.

"Close your eyes. It'll be over soon." Lucy spoke the exact same words Natsu had spoken to her when they first met, just as the room around her became her comfortable bedroom. And for the first time since becoming Natsu's soul, Lucy couldn't be happy about returning to Earth.

Today, it was the last thing she'd ever want.

The room was cool, cold even. It was dark outside, dark in the whole house. Typically Lucy couldn't stand the dark, but today she peeled the clothing from her body, before tossing herself into bed without flickering on any lights. Once her body her the springy mattress, she let the sobs rack her body.

Screams and cries filled the dark house that night, one name on the tongue of the broken-hearted girl, one name that she will remember forever.

Natsu

One week turned into two weeks, which turned to four, which turned to eight. Lucy lost track of how long it had been, really. But time really did take its toll.

It was clear, at least to Gray and Levy. It was clear to Lucy's mother.

Visits to both parties, his closest friends and ill mother, became rare and infrequent. She didn't mean for things to turn out the way they did, she didn't mean to treat the people who meant the world and all of eternity the way she had. Things just happened that way.

You see, mornings and nights were the hardest. Everything in between was a blur most days. In the mornings, the warm sun would wake Lucy, warming her skin in typically a comforting way. But instead it only reminded her of the burning heat in Hell, the hot water from the bath Natsu had shared with her.

The bath that they discussed topics regarding Hell, and life there. Nights were even harder, most evenings Lucy would find herself sitting on the end of her bed, eyes casted out the window. she felt numb, but then minutes later, be screaming into her pillow as pain racked her body.

Lucy no longer hated the darkness as she did before. Now, she found himself waiting for the sun to go down, to enveloped herself into complete and utter darkness and hope that Natsu would be standing in the dark corners of her room as he always had. But Natsu never did come from those corners.

Lucy's mother was making a fast recovery, she'd even was able to come home soon. The doctors couldn't hide their smiles as they spoke to her, but behind the closed door, they talked in a hushed voice about her troubled daughter. The one who visited everyday for so long, then suddenly only visited when forced by friends, arriving looking distraught and distracted.

But nobody knew what Lucy was dealing with. Not even her best friends understood how she felt, but they supported her as best as they could.

So, she spent her days with a certain red eyed demon on her mind, the short memories they made together. The sexual experiences that Lucy could hardly believed happened, even the time where they sat in the tub filled to the brim with hot, steaming water. They all played on repeat for days, and weeks.

Months.

But the one memory that hurt the most, was the latest memory Lucy had of Natsu. The dark, hot library, the sin's lifeless eyes stood in a circle, Natsu's pained body, quirky grin, and his declarations of love.

Love

Lucy thought hard about it. Was it love? Did she love him? she'd never loved anyone before, but she did know that the demon had become so important to her quickly, without even realizing it. Lucy hated how long she denied her feelings for Natsu, but hated even more so the fact that he had feelings at all.

Maybe if he didn't have feelings then Natsu wouldn't have fallen, things could've been the same. Lucy wanted to blame herself. She really did. Lucy found herself thinking about the possibilities everyday, questioning his love.

At the end of the day, did it matter anymore if Natsu wouldn't have fallen? If Natsu truly loved her?

At the end of the day, Natsu would never remember, wherever he spawned on this Earth.