PART I – Resolution

Chapter XXIV – Atlas

"Someday, Locke Lamora," he said, "someday, you're going to fuck up so magnificently, so ambitiously, so overwhelmingly that the sky will light up and the moons will spin and the gods themselves will shit comets with glee. And I just hope I'm still around to see it."

"Oh please," said Locke. "It'll never happen."

- Scott Lynch, The Lies of Locke Lamora

Natsu panted and winced in pain as he ran down the corridor, trying to remember where the exit was. He knew the guards were right behind him, he could hear their boots against the stone as they ran. He spat blood. He had been shot and he knew that they were still at least two bullets inside his body.

"Here!" a guard yelled near him.

Fuck, he had been found. He ran faster and whimpered in pain when his wounds and tired limbs protested against the effort. His vision blurred and he fell to his knees, cursing his own weakness. He had to stand up. Stand up, good for nothing, stand up! Gritting his teeth, he leaned on the wall for support as he laboriously stood back up. He had to get out of there, if he didn't there would be no way to save Jude. He had been so fucking close! The guards started firing again and he did his best to riposte, but he was exhausted. He tripped on a large stone and fell down a set of stone stairs. In the commotion, the guards lost sight of him and ran down the corridor without paying attention to the narrow stairs on the side. But Natsu knew they would be quick to understand that they had made a mistake. Yet, he couldn't move. His body wasn't responding anymore and his will to fight was evaporating through his open wounds, along with his blood. He was already losing consciousness when he saw a pair of boots come to a stop right by his head.

"How could they..." the man growled, "to a child..."

Natsu blacked out after that. When he woke up, he was lying on the backseat of Erza's car. She was taking him to the Academy's hospital.

The pouring rain drenched him to the bone, blinded him and made the road slippy as he ran faster than he ever had. He couldn't remember how many times he lost his balance, but he somehow managed to prevent every fall. He felt like he was having a nightmare: like when you try to run, but your feet refuse to move normally and you look like an idiot running in slow motion. His lungs were burning and, for the first time in many years, he was terrified. He heard the sirens and saw the swirling light of the beacons and lightbars ahead. His heart hammering in his chest, he sped up until he reached the police roadblock and jumped over the first car blocking his way, sliding across the hood. An officer yelled after him, but he ignored the man, knowing Erza would explain things when she caught up. A second officer walked up to him and held a hand up when he saw him run through the roadblock.

"Sir," he hammered, "step back! This area is out of... ouf!"

The commander's mind didn't really register that pushing a police officer so hard that the man crashed into the nearest car to get him out of his way wasn't the wisest idea he ever got, his mind too focused on the bright lights behind the police cars and fire trucks. When he was close enough, the sight of the accident almost paralyzed him. All around, people were crying, screaming, bleeding and limping away from the scene. Natsu's own laboured breathing sounded muffled to him, as if his mind was drifting away from the harsh reality of what he was seeing. But there he was, standing in front of the gutted, knocked over bus. Someone was trying to extricate himself from the busted metal jail, skin and clothes lacerated by the broken glass of the window.

"Help me!" he screamed, tears running down his face. "Please, help me!"

The bus was lying on its side, it had apparently slid through the road until it crashed against a large building. The metal walls of the vehicle had been distorted by the violence of the impact with both the heavy truck and the building. The truck in question was heavily distorted as well, but was still standing over his agonizing victim. Several men were trying to climb on the bus to help the man out, but the policemen had been ordered not to let them near the accident scene.

Finally breaking out of his trance, Natsu looked all around him, desperately searching for a familiar blonde head in the crowd.

"Natsu!" the commander turned around, hope filling his heart. "I asked the medical staff if they saw her, but they're completely overwhelmed. Mira's still with them... Did you find her?"

The young man did his best to hide his immense disappointment, but obviously failed and his face gave him away to the doctor. She understood everything right away.

"No way..."

Natsu gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. He could imagine hundreds of scenarios in which Lucy hadn't boarded the bus, or just wasn't inside anymore when the truck had collided with it. But deep down, he knew the truth. Lucy was still in the bus.

An hour earlier...

Natsu glanced at his watch for the hundredth time. The recruits had decided to throw a party in Juvia's honor and he had been forced to take part. Makarov allowed them to buy beers and snacks for the party, but had everyone promise they'd behave. From what he could see, it looked like they were going to keep their promise. From the corner of his eye, he saw an officer escort the referee to the car. The man swore he tried his best to move and stop the fight, but his body had refused to cooperate somehow. He was going to the hospital to see if he had been drugged.

The party was being held in the arena, so there wasn't any wind and they still could see the stars. The commander sighed and put his glass down on a nearby table, deciding that he had spent enough time among his recruits. He knew that Gajeel had left a long time ago and Gray was somewhere with Juvia. The other officers said they were too busy to attend the party, Mirajane excepted, but he was starting to think that they probably just didn't want to come. He turned to exit the arena when he saw two of his friends talking in private, hidden by the shadows inside a corridor. Erza and Loke. Natsu clenched his jaw and averted his eyes. He had noticed that the boy wasn't around much lately, he always had something to do and it intrigued him. So, several days ago, the commander followed him to see what he was doing. It turned out that he was meeting Erza and the commander was pretty sure that the doctor wasn't cheating on Jellal with the playboy, so he questioned her about it. She had been reluctant to talk, but she ended up telling him about Loke's situation and Natsu wished he hadn't asked about it. That boy was a really good guy, a loyal friend and a brave warrior. He deserved so much better... Natsu had no idea how and when in the world he was planning to say that to Lucy... He didn't even know if he was planning to do it at all. Would she be furious at Natsu if she came to learn that he was in the know and kept Loke's secret? It wasn't the kind of news you could just spread lightly and she was already very stressed out. He was no idiot, even he could see that she was very nervous about the fight with Bacchus. There was no reason to be, though. He'd jump over the balcony's railing to put an end to the fight if he had to.

He didn't want to interrupt them, so he walked toward another corridor to exit the arena. A minute later, the commander felt a cold drop of rain fall on his nose. He blinked and looked up to witness the start of an intense downpour. The party naturally reached its end as everyone started running around to gather the important things and run back to the dormitories. Sting slipped on the already soaked earth and fell face first in the mud, yelling at his brother for passively watching the scene while doing absolutely nothing to prevent the fall. Elfman looked at his older sister dancing in the rain with a bright smile on her face and the commander didn't pay it too much attention at the time, but Elfman's smile looked a bit off. Natsu didn't run back to the dormitories, there was no way he'd run for cover for something like that: it was only water, not sulfuric acid. Since he was among the only ones who refused to run, he was soon walking relatively alone and had to admit the sudden moment of peace greatly appeased him. Even the rain drops weren't a bother at all.

He took his sweet time to walk around the Arena and head to the main part of the campus, where the dormitories and school buildings were. As he finally reached the dormitories, the commander caught a glimpse of a surprising sight: Juvia wearing Gray's coat and waiting for the rain to die down while his cousin held her from behind, arms around her waist and chin rested on her shoulder. None of them looked like they were trying to hide from the others, but the commander still thought they looked really close. When in the world had Gray opened up enough to embrace a girl like that? Natsu knew he had always tended to completely overlook several aspects of his personal life, but it seemed to happen more frequently lately.

Lost in his thoughts, the commander didn't see the person running toward him from inside the dormitories. The door was literally kicked open and violently bumped against his face.

"What the fu..."

Febrile hands grabbed him by the collar of his shirt before he could curse and he suddenly found himself facing a very agitated Mirajane. There was no trace of the bright smile she was wearing just moments earlier as she danced around her brother.

"Natsu!" she yelled in his face. "How could you let her do that!? Wait, that's not I meant, I know it's not your fault... But what are we going to do? We have to go after her, now! I hope you know where the abandoned Bank Tower is..."

The commander had started to worry the moment Mira had started to ramble on, which was pretty rare, and her unintelligible words didn't help.

"Mira," he interrupted her ranting, "I don't understand a word you're saying. Calm down and explain yourself clearly."

He thought she was going to do just that when she took a deep breath in, but instead she held out a small piece of paper. The commander unceremoniously took it and felt his blood freeze the moment he recognized Kyoka's handwriting.

"Do you have the keys?" he asked, voice low.

"Erza's already starting the car," Mira answered, "let's go!"

Before leaving the Academy with a car, Erza had had to warn the general to obtain an authorization and on the way to the south district, Mira got a phone call from him. Natsu's heart painfully contracted when he heard that a heavy truck had collided with the only bus going toward the south district and knocked it over. They were lots of victims, according to the medical staff. Erza unconsciously started to drive much faster as she yelled her questions to Mira's phone. The general sounded very tense as well, but he refused to admit that the fact that he could get no information about Lucy was bad news. The ride to reach the accident scene felt hellishly long for the three of them. At some point, they tried taking a shortcut through the town and got stuck behind a very slow grandma driving a moving trash bin. The shortcut ended up taking more time than the normal road and it deeply displeased the commander and Erza.

Natsu didn't believe in God, at least not in the god people were talking about. If there really was a god somewhere, it wasn't a creature human beings could relate to and picture as an old man with a beard. It would be an unimaginable entity, unaware or uninterested in mankind's existence. But even if this entity was deaf to prayers, it definitely operated for the wellbeing of the planet and may even have the power to unconsciously produce miracles which would benefit some individuals. If it was the case, Natsu hoped from the bottom of his heart that Lucy would benefit from this entity's power. He knew it was most probably useless, but he still prayed for her to be safe. It was the only miracle he needed.

When the car came to a stop, Natsu heard Erza curse and swear at the roadblock. The commander was out of the car before the doctor had the time to turn around and explain the situation.

Back to the story's present time...

"My son's in the bus!" someone cried.

"Jill! Answer me! Where are you, Jill!?"

"Someone... please, help me... my leg..."

Natsu didn't shut them out on purpose, his mind only went on self-protection mode. It wasn't the first time that something like that happened to him, though. There was this one time when he was in Alabasta: a very old building had collapsed near a school and killed hundreds of people, mainly children. One voice did manage to catch his attention, though. The voice of one of the police officers who was talking with a fireman.

"Where's the driver of the truck?" the fireman asked. "If he's still alive, judging from the force of the impact, he's probably dying from his wounds."

The policeman snorted at this and answered without paying any attention to his surroundings.

"Nah, that bastard jumped out of the truck before the collision. It was no accident, he did it on purpose."

Natsu's blood froze. It wasn't an accident, someone threw a fucking truck at the bus. In his head, the commander saw Lucy's sad smile as she told him that there was nothing he could do to keep her safe. She was right. He thought that after all these years of training he was strong enough to protect her, but he kept failing her. Fuck it, he was done playing by the rules. There was no way in hell he was losing her again, no matter what he had to do to prevent that. Someone tried to kill her tonight, and might have succeeded. It had to be someone related to Kyoka and the Octagon, he was sure of it. Fine, you motherfucking bastards, he inwardly growled. If that was how it was going to be, Natsu was willing to play along. He'd tear the whole army to pieces if he had to, he'd just take his magical injection more often to increase his strength and endurance.

First things first, he had to find the bastard who drove the truck and jumped out before it collided with the bus. He wasn't stupid enough to believe that Kyoka had done it herself, but the driver had to be someone she trusted. During his fourth mission with the Elite Squad, Natsu was captured by the enemy. It took his team almost three weeks to find and free him. In the meantime, he was tortured all day and all night long. In other words, he knew how to make somebody talk.

Somewhere inside him, something changed when he unconsciously accepted the fact that he was ready to become a true executioner to destroy anyone threatening Lucy's safety. It felt like he had been holding on all this time to keep a door open despite the pressure on the other side and now he was tired of fighting to keep the door open. He let go of the door and went numb as it slammed shut. One thing was for sure: if Lucy didn't make it out of this bus alive, the door would never open again.

One of the firemen walked by him and it seemed to wake him up. He grabbed the man by the collar of his protection jacket and glared at him with predatory eyes.

"I don't see any of your men going inside," he growled menacingly, "when are you going to go help the victims out?"

The man gulped, but quickly gathered his courage to stand up to the angry officer. He straightened up and pushed the commander's hands away with a scowl.

"Don't touch me," he warned. "I don't know who you think you are, but I know you have no authority over us. The walls and balcony over the bus were weakened by the impact, there's a high risk of the whole facade collapsing. No one's allowed to come close, not even us."

The commander groaned in annoyance and turned away. Deep down he knew the fireman was right to be careful and he knew he shouldn't have been this aggressive, but this was Lucy they were talking about. The whole world could fall apart for all he cared, as long as his friend was fine. He walked with determination toward the debris of the accident, his mind set on getting her out of there himself. A large hand landed on his shoulder and his owner was strong enough to pull the commander back, forcefully turning him around. His first reaction would normally have been to punch the nuisance away, but he luckily recognized Laxus and managed to hold himself back.

"What the hell are you doing here?" he growled.

"Mira called me," he said. "I heard what the fireman said just now, you can't go near the bus."

The commander roughly removed his friend's hand from his shoulder and resumed walking.

"Watch me," he retorted.

He didn't have to wait long before his tall friend moved to block his way again. The commander's jaw contracted menacingly, but Laxus was just as stubborn and even stronger than he was. His words hit the commander like thunder and efficiently calmed him down.

"I don't care if you want to die in the collapse," he said with a low voice, "but everyone will be devastated if your reckless actions get both you and Lucy killed. We can find a way to save everyone in this bus, but we need to take the time to think about it and I won't let you deprive us of our chance to do so."

The reality of these words sank into him like acid and he averted his eyes, ashamed of himself. His friend was right, he had to stay away from the bus. Each and every organ in his body burned with the need to move and actually do something useful. Natsu wasn't used to being this powerless, he knew the wait until the facade was secured would last a hundred years in his head. He nodded weakly to let the lieutenant know that he would behave and decided to go ask the firemen and medical staff if they needed any help. The rain seemed to be falling harder with each passing second, which matched the commander's mood pretty well and reduced the number of bystanders around them.

When approaching a small group near a fire truck, Natsu saw Erza talking with two policemen, four doctors and a fireman. He frowned when he noticed how agitated Erza looked and decided to approach them as discreetly as possible.

"It happened less than half an hour ago," the first policeman growled. "If the blood we found is his, he's probably still around. We have to give it a try."

"No," another policeman countered, "we have to obey orders. What if we really go after him and something happens here? I don't wanna get fired."

"It really was a lot of blood, though," a doctor mused out loud, "and it matches the various testimonies we heard about the accident. The driver wasn't as well prepared as we had thought."

"He's still near," Erza concluded. "And he's badly injured."

And suddenly, Natsu had something to do. Passively waiting for the facade to be secured and for Lucy to be evacuated wasn't an option anymore. He had a target. First things first, find the blood. Even if there really was a lot of it, the heavy rain would quickly wash it off. Natsu walked away from the group and around the truck to make sure none of his friends would see him. He noticed several policemen near a specific spot in the street ahead and walked in that direction. He wasn't the only hunter in the game, but he was the best.

"Stop right there," one of the policemen ordered, "no one's allowed to... oh."

The commander rarely used his insignia to get what he wanted, but he had to admit it was awfully efficient. He crouched down near the puddle of blood lazily flowing down the pavement and gritted his teeth, angry at the rain for damaging his precious clue. The doctor was right, though, that was an awful lot of blood.

"There has to be more blood," he said to himself.

The nearest policeman heard him, though, and figured he was supposed to answer.

"Well," he hesitated, "we found some more, but only drops of it and the rain washed it away..."

"Drops? We aren't talking about drops here, you should have found more puddles." Unless he used a makeshift tourniquet to stop the blood flow, the commander thought. "Where were the drops?"

The policeman took him to a perpendicular street that led down to the commercial area and the river. If the driver really had dragged his bloody carcass there, someone would have noticed him. The commander slowly walked down the street and carefully inspected his surroundings until he finally found what he was looking for.

"Go back," he ordered the policeman that was accompanying him. "Make sure no one approaches the blood puddle."

"What about you, sir?"

He shrugged and waved the other man off.

"I'll keep looking for a clue," he lied. "I'll call you if I need anything."

When he was finally alone, the commander turned to face the left wall. A bloody handprint had been applied on the stone right next to a very narrow passageway with stone stairs leading down to a dark alley leading to a dead end. The commander didn't hesitate to climb down, right hand going to his belt to grab his gun. The other side of the alley was entirely engulfed in darkness, but Natsu could hear sobs and whimpers from over there. It didn't take him a minute to find himself standing over a crouching man smeared with blood. The man had his left leg in a garbage bag, but the commander saw the disturbing bump on the plastic and quickly understood that he had an open tibia-fibula fracture. Natsu crouched in front of him.

"I guess you're done running," he said.

The man kept crying as his hands hovered over the wound, dying to ease the pain, but not daring to touch it.

"Help... please..."

The commander looked at him with eyes cold as ice, not moving an inch.

"I saw a woman near the bus with the same wound," he said.

The injured man sobbed, his nose running, his entire body shaking with pain and fear. He had blood all over his hands and spread it on his face every time he tried to wipe it.

"I'm so... sorry," he cried. "I didn't..."

"You didn't what?" Natsu interrupted him. "Didn't want to throw a truck at innocent people? Didn't want to break your leg while jumping out?"

"I'm sorry..." the man kept crying.

"I don't give a damn," the commander growled menacingly. "You're gonna talk, buddy. I know it was Kyoka who sent you. Where is she now?"

The driver opened wide, terrified eyes that were almost as red as the blood on his face.

"She'll kill me..." Natsu stared at him with eyes that clearly showed he couldn't care less. "I can't..."

Still keeping a neutral look, the commander harshly covered the man's mouth with his left hand before punching his injured leg with his right fist. The man screamed with pain, his body shook with so much strength that it probably worsened the fracture. His face entirely tear-stained, the driver instinctively punched the stone walls to try and counterbalance the pain in his leg. Natsu violently grabbed him by the neck to stop him and force him to look at him in the eye.

"I can do much worse than this," he warned. "Where is she now?"

It took him two more punches before the driver gave in and started talking. He swore he didn't know where Kyoka was, but he told him she always gave her orders through her assistant. Said assistant happened to be the spy Makarov was trying to unmask and whose name was known by the driver. Makarov wouldn't have to try anymore, for Natsu now knew who the traitor was. And he really wished from the bottom of his heart he could go back to the time he didn't know.

"You're lying..." the commander groaned.

"I'm not, I swear," the driver countered, still crying. "I told you everything I know, I promise!"

The driver even gave Natsu a complete physical description and a handful of explanations that confirmed what he was saying. Even if he didn't want to accept it, the fact that the traitor was one of his friends didn't change.

"I'm sorry," the driver said when he saw the commander's devastated look.

For some reason, this deeply angered him and he punched the injured man unconscious. He stood back up and cursed, violently punched the wall and turned around. There, standing in front of him with a very serious look in here eyes, was Erza. She had heard everything.

"Erza..." Natsu mentally berated himself when he heard his voice tremble.

The doctor's jaw contracted and she nodded, understanding how he felt.

"Let's go," she said. "We'll leave him to the medical staff."

oOo

They didn't say a thing about what they had learned from the driver, they didn't need to. They both knew what they had to do, even if it broke their hearts. When they got back to the bus, Mira ran to them with a scowl on her face. By tacit agreement, Natsu and Erza agreed to keep this new information to themselves until they could tell Makarov about it.

"Where have you two been!?" she exclaimed. "The facade's almost secured, they're going to start the evacuation!"

This efficiently made Natsu forget everything about the spy and the rest of the world. He followed her hurriedly through the crowd of people and watched the specialists working on the facade. The firemen surrounded the bus, several of them climbed on its side while the medical teams brought the ambulances closer and got ready for the evacuation. Natsu's heart hammered in his chest when the firemen received the signal and started cutting large openings around the broken windows. Three or four of them entered the bus and the real wait started.

Soon enough, their colleagues started to hand them stretchers, oxygen bottles and medical equipment. The first person to be evacuated was an old man with some kind of metal pole stuck in his stomach. An old lady, probably his wife, ran to him and cried as she held his hand. Natsu doubted he would survive. After the old man, Natsu saw nearly ten persons being pulled out of the bus by the firemen. Most of them had very serious injuries, but some of them weren't that badly injured. It took a long time to evacuate them and Natsu of course noticed that none of the victims that had been pulled out of the bus were dead. The corpses would be pulled out last and the commander prayed that he'd see Lucy get out before that.

While they were waiting, some of their friends joined them. Gray and Juvia were the first ones to arrive and Natsu even saw Ultear, Dan and a handful of other revolutionaries wearing hoods and other things to hide their faces. All hell broke loose when Loke got there with Cana and Gildarts, right after Gajeel and Levy. Loke looked terrified and literally jumped out of the car when he saw the bus. Erza managed to pull him back by the collar of his shirt when he ran by her, but his breathing was very laboured and his whole body shook. His skin was so pale it made Natsu's stomach churn in worry.

At some point during the evacuation, the rain stopped and was replaced by a cold wind that froze him to the bone. It was nothing compared to the cold he felt when the firemen pulled out a stretcher on which was lying a young, blonde woman with short hair. The commander felt Erza's hand grip his and heard her gasp. Loke froze and stopped breathing as he stared at the woman. She was lying on the stretcher and was covered with blood, one of her arms had been torn off.

"No way..."

"Don't jump to conclusions," Gray muttered while looking very worried himself.

Natsu felt so sick he thought he was going to throw up, his body started to shake and his stomach contracted so painfully he was sure he was going to cough up blood. He took a step forward, not even noticing he had started to move. His mind was a chaotic mess in which his inner, honest self was screaming in fear and despair. A stray tear ran down his cheek and he walked faster, softly calling her name. He didn't know if Erza or the others were following him, didn't even know if they really were still here or if the entire universe had disappeared. He was entirely focused on the blood in the blonde hair. When he was close enough to her, he stopped and frowned. Something was amiss.

"Natsu!" Mira called and he glanced at her over his shoulder. "This isn't her! Look at her left arm!"

He did just that and his eyes widened when he saw a large tattoo on her forearm. Two colourful fishes were dancing on the skin and around the arm. This wasn't Lucy. At the same moment, Mira started to laugh loudly and Erza pointed at the bus with a large smile on her face. When the commander looked back at the bus, he saw a fireman holding Lucy's arm and helping her down. She had a cut over her eye, bruises almost everywhere and was unable to move her left arm correctly. And yet, she was smiling brightly when she noticed her friends calling her name with tear filled eyes.

For a moment, the commander found himself unable to move at all. She was alive. It was everything he could think about, until her eyes found his. She sent him the most adorable smile he ever saw and his heart melted. Loke was the first to react and ran at full speed toward her, openly crying tears of joy when she welcomed his embrace with a heartwarming laugh. The girls got to her just as quickly and Lucy found herself surrounded by oversensitive idiots all trying to hug her. Natsu finally started walking and Mira dragged Erza and the others away from their blonde friend when she saw him, giving them some privacy. Lucy first smiled at him, but her eyes widened when she saw another tear run down the commander's cheek.

He felt like he was given the chance to welcome her like he should have when he had found her for the first time after the explosion, so he couldn't resist the urge to embrace her when he was close enough. He took her in his arms and buried his nose in the crook of her neck. She winced when he touched her injured arm, but certainly didn't push him away. Her right hand gripped the fabric of the back of his shirt and she relished the feel of his hands on her waist and neck. Natsu knew she could feel his body shake, but he knew she wouldn't look down on him for that. He didn't know if he was supposed to say something, he felt like he'd never find the words to tell her how fucking terrified he had been. He held her tighter when he still couldn't find the right words, hoping she'd never get away from him again if he was strong enough to hold her back.

"You're crushing me," she laughed.

"I know," he answered, "I'm doing it on purpose. I'm going to kill you for being so stupid."

This wasn't exactly what he had been meaning to say, but he figured it would do for now. They stayed like that for a moment, without talking, until a member of the medical staff came to check Lucy's condition. Ignoring her protests, he decided to have her go to the hospital and undergo more medical examinations. The whole gang obviously tagged along and after several hours of wait, Lucy got her results. Turned out she had a broken arm, three lightly cracked ribs, a sprained ankle and multiple bruises and cuts.

"You're lucky," the doctor smiled at her, "it could have been much worse. We'll apply a cast to your broken arm, give you adequate medicine and you'll be good to go."

As soon as the doctor left the room, Erza turned around to glare at Lucy.

"Alright, pick one," she said.

Lucy blinked and cocked her head to the side, slightly worried.

"Pick one what?"

Erza pointed at the others and went on.

"Natsu, Mira and I all want to hear your explanation," she said. "But none of us have the confidence to stay calm while listening to you, so chose the one you want to scold you."

"Oh..." Lucy hesitated, "um..."

Before she could say anything, though, someone suddenly entered the room. Even under the long black cloak and the scarf partially hiding her face, Natsu recognized Ultear. Lucy did too, if her stunned look was anything to go by. What in the world was she doing here? They were soldiers everywhere, and not all of them were on their side.

"Get out," she ordered, "we need to talk."

Erza usually being the one to order others around was the first to protest.

"Wait, that's something we easily can..."

Ultear glanced at her over her shoulder and answered calmly.

"This little girl almost got herself killed tonight," she said. "I heard from the others that something like that happened before too. You all are too soft on her, it's time that someone clearly explains things to her."

Angry at Ultear for underestimating them and butting in, Natsu took a step forward.

"We don't need you to deal with this," he groaned. "She's our friend, we can..."

"Exactly," Ultear interrupted him. "She's your friend and not only that from what I heard. This is exactly why you won't have the balls to say what she has to hear. Next time something like that happens, she'll die for sure."

After a silent battle Ultear had with Erza and Natsu, Lucy's friends reluctantly agreed to get out of the room. Ultear was a bit rough, but she was right. Lucy had to change and talk to them more. If she kept doing things like that on her own, she really would die sooner or later.

They heard no scream from the room, no alarming sound. It didn't even take Ultear five minutes to open the door and get out. She nodded at them and left without telling them anything about what had been said in that room. Natsu was the first to go back inside and he frowned when he saw his blonde friend sitting on the bed. She hadn't cried, she didn't look sad or defeated, but the look in here eyes and her attitude were different.

"Are you ok?"

When she lifted her eyes to meet his, Natsu felt his heart beat harder. She had never been weak, but it was the first time Natsu witnessed such determination in her eyes. She suddenly looked a bit older, a lot more mature. He'd never know what Ultear had told her on that night, but it changed her and greatly impacted their future.

oOo

Lucy opened her eyes and winced in pain as soon as she did. She was so tired, so weak. What was happening? Everything around her seemed to be upside down and cloaked in darkness. A few more seconds passed as she progressively came back to her senses. She started hearing cries of pain, whimpering, sobs and whining. Lucy frowned when she realized she was lying on a hard surface and tried to stand up. When she did, her arm suffered terribly and she fell back down with a moan of pain. A large metal beam had fallen on her and her arm was stuck underneath. In front of her eyes, a little girl's body was facing the broken window above them. The rain was washing the blood off her face, as if the sky itself was grieving her death.

When the sun rose the next morning, Lucy was back to the room she shared with the commander. The Academy was quiet and peaceful, just like it always was at this hour of the day. Lucy yawned and stretched in her bed, which was a bit difficult to do with her new cast on. She scratched her head and rubbed her eyes, distractedly looking around the room. The commander had been out all night long, explaining things to the general.

When they got back from the hospital, Lucy spent about an hour in the general's office, explaining herself. Of course, she got scolded and sent to her room like a six year old child, but Makarov still sent a squad to make sure that her adoptive mother was fine. The scolding she received from Makarov was nothing to the one she received from Ultear, though. Even now, she could still hear her harsh words. What really was unsettling was that everything she said was the truth.

"If you hadn't boarded the bus, all these people would have been spared. Start behaving like an adult, you irresponsible brat!"

Lucy knew that. She knew she'd have to live the rest of her life with the weight of her mistake on her shoulders. Now, she had a mission to carry in order to atone for her terrible mistake. It would be an insult to everyone who had been involved in the accident if she were to let Kyoka get away with it.

She stood up from bed and took her things to the bathroom. She had to get ready and find Natsu and the others. She knew that the commander had caught the driver of the truck and she also knew that he managed to have him talk, but that was about it. She had no substantial information about this and was determined to change that.

Unfortunately, washing and getting ready with a cast on the arm was far more difficult than Lucy had expected. It took her a freaking long time to put her stupid bandage on. When she finally got out of her room, she found Loke grinning at her. He escorted her to the Arena while making rude jokes and teasing her.

None of them could have known that the following day, they would see a close friend openly side with the enemy, the general would officially become a traitor and a man in particular would do something that would trigger the civil war.

End of chapter 24

Hello friends! Once again, I'm hella late, haha! You probably hate me by now, but since I'm about to bring some very good stuff in the story, you'll forgive me!

So yeah, the next chapter will be the last of the first part, meaning that some shocking things will happen.

As usual, don't hesitate to tell me what you've thought of the chapter. While I'm at it, I'd like to thank all of you who took the time to leave a review. I'll try to answer them all as soon as I can!

Reminder: I only post the previews and the news about the stories on my Tumblr blog: hungrypeanut.

Note: I already said it on Tumblr, my favorite author wrote a book intitled La Passe-Miroir: Les Fiancés de l'Hiver. Well, awesome news for those of you who can't read French, it's going to be translated in English! It will be intitled A Winter's Promise: The Mirror Visitor and you definitely should check it out!

Questions/Answers

Q (from ): its just part one that's ending?

A: Yup. Don't worry, the story goes on in the second part!

Q (from Vilchen): Do. Not. Make. Loke. The. Traitor. Don't think I haven't noticed how absent he's been lately... o-0. I'll never forgive you if kill the light of this fanfiction; I'll gather up an army of fan girls if I have to!

A: It's not really a question, but it's funny so I'll answer here. No, Loke is not the traitor, don't worry!

Q (from CodenameMise): Will you be able to post more frequently in the summer?

A: I'll try, but I'm a lazy bastard.

Q (from absterclaire): I don't know if I missed something but a bit confused about Rogue's sexual orientation from earlier chapters where it was mentioned?

A: It was implied more than clearly mentioned since I didn't want it to be something exceptional or anything. It's just the way he is, it felt more natural to have it that way than have him gather everybody to come out. If my answer isn't clear enough yo can send me a PM and I'll try to give you a better answer!

This it for now! Chapter 25 will be out way faster than this one!

Might as well warn you now, the second part will have lemons!