Chapter III

A familiar warmth covered the blonde-haired girl. Warm and welcoming, she remembered, trying to think back to the time she felt it. It had to be recently, but she couldn't place it.

For a moment, she thought she was a kid again, with the morning sun beaming down on her bed. It felt similar to this warmth she felt now, though the sun could never be quite as lovely.

Lucy opened her eyes, half expecting to find herself at home and in her bed, with maids ready to tend to her every wish or bringing her to visit her father — though he was frequently too busy to bother with her.

As her chocolate eyes grew wider, the memories hit her like a ton of bricks. That's right, she remembered. I ran away.

She turned her attention to the forest around her, but instead of being greeted by the dark, daunting forest, she found the sunlight peeking through the trees. The morning sunlight felt nice on her skin, especially since it was still a little cold outside.

Outside. Cold. Forest. She was still there, where she had collapsed! She hadn't noticed the warm circle of earth around her until now, when she looked down. The ground was covered in a thin layer of frost, all except in the spot she was in. Her eyes went wide as the familiar voice that saved her greeted her from behind.

"You're awake," it said gently. It sounded like a young man, probably a little older than her.

She turned, staring at a flaming phoenix, who stared back at her with black orbs for eyes.

"W-Who are you?" she found herself asking. She frantically tried fixing her mistake. "Er... I… Um… T-Thank you. F-For saving me."

Her cheeks were flushed, but he didn't seem to notice. "No problem. I'm Natsu Dragneel."

"Lucy Heartfilia." The phoenix seemed to smile at her. Lucy wasn't sure how to react. "How did you know I was in trouble back there?"

Just as she asked the question, Natsu suddenly tackled her to the ground, his body still ablaze. "Get down!"

Lucy hardly had time to react before a dark wave of black magic shot through the forest, right above her and Natsu's heads.

She thought the flames would consume and burn her, but they didn't seem to have any intention of doing so. They simply grazed her skin with their warmth, retreating as Natsu got off her.

He stood up, looking in the direction of Zeref's magic, a scowl on his face.

Within a few heartbeats, the dark mage himself appeared over the nearby hill. His red eyes found Lucy on the ground, then they darted over to Natsu. "You," Zeref murmured at him.

"Yeah," the phoenix replied. "It's me. And this time-" He spread his wings and took a challenging step forward. "I'll burn your darkness to ashes!"

"I'd like to see that." Lucy couldn't decide if the dark mage actually meant that, or if he was just accepting the challenge.

"Stay back, Lucy," Natsu told her, not tearing his gaze away from the growing dark cloud in front of them.

The blonde nodded quickly, suddenly aware that the two wouldn't wait until she was at safer ground to commence their battle. She scrambled down the hill, nearly falling on her face. She only turned back when she was climbing up the next hill, a much steeper one. Unfortunately, it seemed like the only safe spot at the moment.

"Now," Zeref said in a voice that made Lucy shiver. "You'll finally have a chance to kill me, END."