Chapter XIV

Summoning as much magical power as she could, Lucy hovered over Anna's body. Wendy sat nearby, also concentrating with her healing powers, which Lucy had no idea she had.

It took a lot of time and effort to heal Anna, but even then she still wasn't completely off the hook. At the very least, however, she was alive and in less pain. She looked a lot better than the sickly air she had when Lucy met her, too.

"I'm so glad you're okay!" Wendy cried when Anna opened her eyes.

"Oh, child…" the woman said, giving the girl a hug. "I'm alright. Now, go heal your other comrades." She pointed to Laxus and the other man.

"Yes, ma'am!" Wendy hurried over, starting to work on Laxus. Lucy went to help her, but Anna stopped her.

"Check on Natsu for me," she requested. "Please."

Lucy's brown eyes widened at the mention of the fiery boy. How could I have forgotten about him? She had found herself too busy with defending Anna during the battle, she hadn't realized that Natsu didn't stop Zeref when the dark mage came after them.

"Y-Yeah, sure," she told the woman who looked like her, already turning towards the front door. Her legs carried her quickly through the entrance and outside.

He was fighting Zeref the last time I saw him, she remembered with a sort of panic rising in her. If Zeref was here inside Anna's shack… Oh, no!

She made her way through the crowd as they were carrying the injured towards a larger building. Lucy searched for Natsu, eventually finding him being carried by a flying blue cat. Happy. The boy was unconscious.

Lucy thought the worst when she saw tears forming in Happy's eyes, threatening to fall. She hurried over, vivid concern in her eyes.

"Happy, what's wrong with Natsu?" she asked, already looking him over for injuries and finding a few large bruises and a noticeable scar on his jaw.

"Natsu… He stopped breathing!"

"No…" Lucy's eyes widened again. "Natsu, get a hold of yourself!"

No reply.

"Natsu… Don't you die on me!"

Only one chapter again this week! ^-^"

I'm thinking about how to properly end CE, though there will be at least a couple more chapters after this one before the story is ended.

I hope you're enjoying CE! Next chapter(s) will be in late next week.