This chapter fairly ripped my heart out and tore it into little pieces. I didn't realize how much it would hurt to write Team Natsu's pain, and I did so with tears streaming down my face.

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Fairy Tail. All belongs to Hiro Mashima.

CHAPTER 5: MISTAKEN IDENTITY

AT THE HOSPITAL

Natsu's POV

I had just burst into the hospital, Gray and Erza running frantically behind me. It had only been a short time since Master had gotten the urgent message about Lucy. He had given no specifics of why Luce was in the hospital, saying only we had to leave immediately. Everyone at the guild was waiting anxiously to hear from us. I knew they wouldn't be able to handle waiting for long; they were just as worried as we were. I didn't know what to expect, and looking back briefly at my team, neither did they. All we knew is something bad had happened; Master's face had been more worried than I'd seen in a long time. We ran up to the information desk, and the nurse looked up, startled.

"Lucy Heartfilia...she was brought in earlier." I gasped. The woman began looking for the information, and I knew the minute she'd found it. She lifted her head nervously, her eyes suddenly sympathetic. "Go to the nurses desk on the 4th floor. They'll call the doctor for you." she replied softly. I spared her one more glance before hurrying up the stairs. We ran, speaking not a single word, each of us lost in our thoughts. As we opened the door the woman had indicated, we realized that Lucy was being cared for on the floor for critical patients and wasted no time getting to the nurses station. We hurriedly asked for Lucy's doctor and the nurses again looked pained upon hearing our request. Their reactions were making me panic; something was very wrong. Erza and Gray turned to me and I could see my fears reflected on their faces.

"I'm Lucy Heartfilia's doctor. May I ask who you are?" We spun around to see a man behind us. His name tag identified him as Dr. Roan Jerstin, Chief Surgeon. "We are from Fairy Tail; we're Lucy's teammates" Erza quickly answered. Gray anxiously followed up with "What happened to Lucy?" Dr. Jerstin sighed, "She hasn't woken up as of yet, so we don't know all the specifics. However, we do know that she suffered some kind of attack. We had quite a hard time stabilizing her, as she had lost a great deal of blood. It was very fortunate that we got to her when we did. Much longer and we would have lost her." I could feel tears rolling down my face with every word he spoke. I croaked, "Can we see her?" I needed to see for myself that she was going to be okay. The doctor nodded "You may see her for a few minutes. She is still not out of the woods yet, so it must be brief."

He led us to her room and stopped with his hand on the door knob. "I must warn you - she looks very rough. I don't want you to go in there without a idea of what to expect. She likely looks nothing like herself." He looked us each in the eyes, making sure we understood; then opened the door quietly. We filed in together, and he closed the door behind us. Erza, Gray, and I shared a glance, then pulled the curtain aside. And there she laid, my beautiful Lucy, but not the Lucy we knew and loved. Not her smiling, happy face. No, her face was so bruised and swollen, I almost couldn't recognize her. I took a step towards her and fell to my knees, sobbing. I could hear Erza wail "Oh God..." but at the moment I couldn't help her. I couldn't help anyone. All I could see was Luce, beaten and cut up; I felt sick. My body rebelled, my legs refusing to stand back up. How could this have happened? I looked up to see Gray standing beside her bed, reaching his hand out, trying to find a spot to touch her that wasn't hurt. It broke my heart again that he couldn't seem to find one. His face looked completely ravaged, and I knew without a doubt mine matched it perfectly. This was so much worse than I had imagined. I could never have imagined something as horrifying as this reality. I finally managed to get to my feet and seeing her again, I felt the grief pushing back to make room for the biggest wave of anger I'd ever felt. My blood began to boil, and I welcomed it. Anything was better than this desperate aching in my chest. I wanted to know who had done this. They would pay. Oh yes, whoever did this would pay with his life. It took everything inside me to hold back my flames, and looking at Erza and Gray, I knew they were feeling it too. Their eyes agreed with me - the bastard would pay in blood.

My eyes were drawn back to the bed when I saw Lucy begin to move. She was whimpering in her sleep, her head turning from side to side. I wanted so badly to hold her and comfort her, but I held back, knowing it would only hurt her more. Suddenly a shriek burst forth from her mouth, "Nooooo! No, please!" I reached out my hand to her shoulder; I didn't even think it through. When my hand connected with her body, she began flailing violently. "No! Don't touch me!"she screamed."Rogue!" I froze. Rogue...Rogue did this? Erza's head shot up, looking between Gray and me. Our eyes seemed to narrow at once. They knew just what I was planning and by the looks of it, they were all in.

Rogue's POV

I had almost reached Lucy's room when I heard her scream my name. I ran to her door and flung it open, and abruptly stopped. There, standing around her bed, was her team. And they were all looking at me, fury fairly sparking in their eyes. Alarmed, I had the sudden realization that they had mistaken Lucy's words. I recognized their looks of suspicion; they believed I was the one who had attacked her. I knew they weren't going to listen, but I had to try. "You have the wrong idea..." I started. Natsu simply advanced on me and growled, "You bastard!"

A/N: Merry Christmas! I wanted to give you all this chapter as a present :) Thanks for sticking with me through this heart-wrenching tale. See you in Chapter 6 soon.