He needed to remember to breathe. He'd always do those breathing exercises with Lucy when she got too anxious so he knew how to do it well. He couldn't lose control because Lucy was in the thick of of those despicable mages. He wanted to tear them apart from limp to limp. He didn't want to stop even when they inevitably cried for mercy, he wanted them all dead. In...and out… Come on, he knew how to do this. He glanced back over at Lucy who was staring back at him. He expected to see fear, horror, sadness or any multitude of negative emotions but instead he saw one positive one. Love. Natsu couldn't understand why that was the one emotion glittering in the girls eyes. Why wasn't she scared?

Lucy's once smooth and beautiful skin was ripped open in various different places. Some of her wounds were small, like paper cuts, yet others were so big that a heavy stream of blood leaked out of them and onto the filthy stone floor that she was sprawled out on. Natsu never thought he'd see of Lucy as anything but the most beautiful thing in the world but in that moment, he was struck but how awful she looked. Clumps of her hair had been yanked out, bruises coated her body and blood soaked her ripped garments, or what was left of them. Even looking like some kind of prey that has been left to die, Natsu knew that the Lucy that he knew was under all of it and he would kill to be able to see it. Natsu's eyes trailed across the room as the mages in the room began to shift and murmur between themselves, not expecting the dragon slayer to find them so quickly and wondering if the rest of the guild were on his heels. Behind the pink haired mage, a black haired one wearing no shirt ran up behind him and skidded to a halt at his side.

"Couldn't have waited huh flamebrain?" the ice mage huffed under his breath. At his arrival the crowd began to grow more restless. Natsu's hands lit up in flames when some of the mages began to start summoning their magic. Gray moved his hands in front of him and stood in his ice make position. As if on cue, the crowd launched their attacks, storming towards the two male Fairy Tail wizards and throwing whatever magic they had at them. Across the hall to the two fighting mages, the three people that had been gathered around Lucy when he entered turned back towards her. The one in the middle, the only woman of the three, grabbed Lucy by the neck and pulled her off the floor, dangling her body a little above her whilst Lucy clawed at her hand. Natsu growled and the dark mages closest to him hesitated for a moment before continuing their attack. The dragon slayer knew that he needed to get over to Lucy before they killed her, and they would now that they've been discovered. Sucking in a large breath Natsu readied himself for one of his signature moves.

"Fire dragon… ROAAAAAAR"

The attack created a pathway towards the blonde mage that Natsu immediately took advantage of. He stormed across the room as fast as his legs would carry him until he saw a glint of metal and then Lucy's face erupted in pain. Natsu made a guttural sound and launched himself at the woman with the blade. The three dark mages looked at him in surprise as he reached them.

"Fire dragon iron fist!"

The mages surrounding Lucy fell like bowling pins but Natsu wasn't able to relax. He spun around at lighting speed and looked at Lucy's ashen face. The girl was now halfway to the floor, leaning against the wall. The most alarming thing with the long jagged sword that was impaling her. Natsu stared at the girl, fear creeping up behind him at her appearance. They'd done this. Medusas Wrath had not just hurt the girl he loved, no, they had destroyed her. Before he could think to deeply about the things he wanted to do to the dark mages that had dared to lay a hand on her, the girl in question smiled at him. Natsu tilted his head in confusion. Lucy was dangerously hurt, maybe even dying yet she still managed to give him one of her blinding smiles that melted his resolve. Tears gathered in Natsu's eyes and he furiously tried to blink them away, this wasn't the time to be getting emotional.

"I'm glad I got to see you...just one more...time," Lucy choked out, blood dribbling out of her lips. All of a sudden, she slumped forwards into Natsu's arms who held her a a slight distance as to not push the further into her bruised and broken body. A loud boom came from the doors where only Gray stood battling the mages and a cloud of dust formed, hiding him from view. Emerging from the dust came Erza, Wendy, Gajeel, Levy and almost every other member of Fairy Tail. With a battle cry from the red headed warrior, the group surged forward, assisting Gray with the termination of the dark guild.

Natsu didn't notice any of this however as he was so focused on Lucy. He was having an internal conflict about whether or not he should leave the sword in or pull it out and cauterize the wound. On one hand, leaving it in may stop blood loss but it could be hurting her a lot more whereas on the other hand pulling it out could ease her pain but cause more blood loss. He could burn the wound closed to stop the blood but the thought of hurting made Natsu feel sick.

A hand touched Natsu's should and he span around and growled at the offending person, hands never leaving Lucy's body. Natsu recoiled as he saw who he had shown aggression towards as the sky dragon slayer was knelt just behind him. Before he could apologise Wendy held up her hand and shifted closer to Lucy.

"Natsu, I need you to hold her still." Wendy said shakily. Natsu did as he was instructed and watched Wendy's hands grip the sword. The young girl began to pull the sword out, attempting to ignore the squelching and tearing noises coming from the wound. Slowly and carefully Wendy manoeuvred the sword out of Lucy's body, ensuring the the jagged edges of the sword did no further damage to the stellar spirit mages body. The room had gone quiet as the battle had begun to wind down and the Fairy Tail mages watched the two dragon slayers tend to Lucy. Just as the sword was almost out, the female dark mage that had been with Lucy at the beginning of the fight grabbed at Wendy, jerking the sword to side and ripping Lucy's wound open further.

Lucy screamed.

Hi, so I know I keep disappearing and I'm really sorry but I hope posting makes up for it a little bit? Well the next chapter should be the last so this story is almost over! I hope you've enjoyed this chapter and I'll see you next time!