Natsu paced in front of the vehicle for what felt like hours waiting for Gray, Erza, and Happy to get out of the house.

Juvia sat inside the vehicle with Lucy, her hands turned to cold water, one resting on Lucy's swollen ankle, the other on the blondes forehead. The water mage watched Natsu pass by the open vehicle door over and over again. She poked her head out, worry riddled her face.

"Juvia thinks Natsu should sit down, as Juvia see's that he is also badly injured." Juvia suggested nervously, nodding towards the bloody vest tied around his shoulder.

"I'm fine." Natsu growled quietly. Juvia flinched at his harsh tone. Natsu noticed it and tried to speak softer, knowing it wasn't Juvia's fault any of this happened. He placed his forearm on the roof of the vehicle and leaned in to look at Lucy.

"How's she doing?" He asked, fear in his voice.

"Juvia is not sure, Juvia apologizes that she cannot be more help."

"Don't apologize, at least you can do something." He whispered, angry at himself for being so utterly useless.

"Juvia fears her water may not be helping enough. Gray-sama's ice magic would be much better suited for this job." She continued to hold her cold hands against Lucy's injuries.

"Seriously, don't worry about it Juvia, Lucy will appreciate it when she wakes up." He insisted, his voice quivering a bit near the end of his sentence. He looked back at the house. Juvia saw what she could only describe as longing in his eyes. She knew what he was thinking.

"If Natsu truly wishes to go help Gray fight, Juvia will not stop him."

Natsu looked at the water mage, raising an eyebrow. He seemed to debate it for a minute, before sighing, and sitting down in the vehicle next to Juvia.

"I can't leave her." He mumbled, looking at Lucy with determination in his eyes. Determination to keep her safe.

Juvia couldn't help but smile at the scene. "Juvia wishes to someday have a love with Gray-sama as strong as Natsu's love for Lucy." She sighed dreamily.

Natsu froze. "W-what? Me and Lucy aren't in love!" He sputtered. "As if I would ever love someone as weird as her!" He protested.

Juvia simply smiled and giggled.

"Don't smile like that! It's creepy!" Natsu shivered. His gaze fell back onto Lucy. "Besides, that ice-freak cares about you, he's just shit at showing it."

Juvia blushed. She opened her mouth to respond, but stopped as she saw Natsu's head dart up. He went silent, his breathing slowed. Juvia had seen this before from Gajeel, she knew what he was doing.

He was listening. He had heard something.

Sure enough, Natsu practically jumped out of the car.

He had heard footsteps, and the clanking of armour. As he scrambled out of the car, he saw red hair running towards him. He broke into a run too, and met the requip mage halfway.

"Erza! Where's Gray and Happy?" He shouted. Looking over her shoulder in search of his friends.

"Calm down Natsu!" She shouted back. "Gray went to get Happy a couple of minutes ago, they'll be back soon." Her voice had it's usual stern tone, though it wavered in her next sentence. "How's Lucy?"

"She's…I don't know." Natsu trembled, it was too much. Everything felt too heavy. He got her out but they both got hurt in the process. He abandoned Happy and he didn't know if Gray would find him. He was scared and helpless to do anything while Lucy's breathing got weaker and weaker.

"I don't know." He repeated hoarsely. "She might die. She could die Erza, and it would be my fault." He muttered, tugging at his hair. He felt like everything was spiralling downwards.

Erza's hands pulled him out of his own mind. She had grabbed his wrists, gently she pulled his hands from his hair, and brought them down to hang beside him. She moved her hands to his shoulders and forced him to make eye contact.

"Lucy is going to live. Thanks to you going to save her when you did, Lucy is going to be okay." Erza's voice was strong and sure. It calmed Natsu down, even if it was only slightly.

"Now, I need you to take me to her, can I see her?" Erza asked cautiously, knowing how protective the dragon slayer could get.

Natsu nodded. "She's in the vehicle with Juvia."

Erza made her way towards the car, Natsu turned to follow her, but immediately turned back around when he heard…wings.

"Natssssuuuuuu!" Happy cried as he flew towards the dragon slayer. Gray was walking a few feet behind the cat, hands in his pockets, seemingly in no rush.

Natsu broke into a sprint. Tears of relief forming in the corners of his eyes.

"Happy!" He cried. Natsu leapt into the air and dragged the cat into a suffocating hug. Burying his face into the cats fur as happy tears ran down his face.

"Im so glad you're okay!"

"Natsuuu why did you leave me there?" Happy asked, sounding hurt.

"I'm sorry Happy, I promise it won't happen again!" Natsu shouted. That seemed to be a good enough answer for Happy, as he snuggled into Natsu's neck.

The fire mage hugged Happy tighter. Happy, his best friend, was okay. For the first time since Lucy had gone unconscious, Natsu didn't feel alone. He quickly wiped his tears and looked up to see Gray approaching.

"I guess you can do something right after all, droopy eyes." Natsu said, the usual fiery tone he had while teasing Gray missing.

Gray gave a sly grin. "Now is that any way to thank me flame brain?"

"It's the best you're getting." Natsu replied, a grin also forming on his face.

Gray just nodded in acceptance.

He looked ahead to where Erza was leaning into the S.E. plug vehicle, checking up on Lucy and whispering concerns to Juvia.

"Is Juvia in the car with Lucy?" He asked. Natsu nodded.

"Okay, lets hurry up and get Lucy back to the guild, she needs medical attention immediately."

With those words said, the two boys and Happy ran to the vehicle. Erza was already hooking up to the S.E. plug, ready to go. Natsu gave it a brief look of disgust, not looking forward to the nausea he was about to face, before scrambling in. Happy flew in after and curled up on the seat next to Natsu. Juvia was sitting on Lucy's seat, the blondes head in her lap. Juvia was still holding a cold water hand to Lucy's forehead. When the water mage saw Natsu, she made to move to a different seat, but Natsu stopped her.

"Thanks but no thanks, Juvia. As much as I wanna help Luce right now," He gagged, "I'm starting to feel sick already."

Natsu scowled, 'useless again' he thought. Then the vehicle came to life with a jerk, and Natsu promptly flung himself out the window, torso dangling, as nausea washed over him.

"Gray my darling!" He heard Juvia call worriedly. "Please come inside the car, thats dangerous!"

Natsu used all his energy to turn his head upwards, to see the ice mage riding on the vehicles roof, holding on with white knuckles.

"Nah, too crowded in there!" Gray had to shout over the roar of the engine.

'Swear he really does have ice where his brain should be.' Natsu thought. He felt bile rise in his throat, and let out a groan as he prepared himself for the long drive back to the guild.

When the car finally rolled to a stop, Natsu let out a huge breath of relief. But he quickly realized something was wrong when he took in his surroundings. They appeared to be on a trail in the middle of the forest, no where near Fairy Tail yet.

Curious as to what was going on and slightly concerned, Natsu slowly pushed himself back into the vehicle. Finally sitting back on the bench, he rubbed at his ribcage, sore from leaning out the window for so long. He looked for Happy, seeing his best friend was still curled up on the seat next to him, now fast asleep.

His vision was still slightly blurred, and his dragon senses were a mess. He leaned his head back and waited for his nausea to fade. But before his head was completely clear, he felt the car jostle around.

He jerked his head up to see the car door was open and Juvia was cautiously exiting the vehicle, with a still unconscious Lucy in her arms.

Natsu's worry and confusion spiked.

"Wait, what are you doing with her?" He called hoarsely, but Juvia, having already exited the car, didn't hear him.

As his senses cleared he focused in on Gray and Juvia's voices.

"Is Jet here yet?" Juvia whispered nervously.

"According to Warren, he should be here any minute now. How's Natsu?" Gray asked.

"Still feeling very sick from what Juvia can tell."

"I'm hoping he stays knocked out while we do this, otherwise this could be problematic."

"Natsu will not like being apart from Lucy again." Juvia lowered her voice even more. But it wasn't enough, Natsu had already heard her.

"Well he will have to deal with it, it's the best thing-" Gray was cut off as Natsu threw himself from the vehicle. Still too dizzy to stand, he crashed to the ground, landing on his hands and knees.

He looked up at the two mages with a mix of fear and fury in his eyes.

"What are you doing with her?" He growled.

Juvia, who was still holding a limp Lucy in her arms, took a step back.

"Go check on Erza, I'll deal with him." Gray said, stepping in front of the water mage. Juvia nodded and quickly made her way to the front of the car.

"Gray," Natsu began, but Gray cut him off.

"Just shut up, and let me explain, okay? Juvia and I have been communicating telepathically with Warren, and we decided the best thing to do was take Lucy straight to Porlyusica's place. The problem is, there's no vehicle friendly pathways through the East Forest, and even if there was, Erza's running out of magic power for the S.E. plug. So Jet's going to come to us, and take Lucy to Porlyuscia's. He will get her there fast and safe, I promise."

"What if something happens to her on the way there?" Natsu worried, he wanted her to get medical help of course, but if Jet got attacked, Natsu wanted to be there to protect her.

"I already told you, nothing bad will happen, Jet will keep her safe. He can outrun anything." Gray tried his best to reassure the dragon slayer.

As the last of Natsu's nausea faded, his dragon senses came rushing back. Sure enough, in the distance he heard the familiar pounding of Jet's feet in full sprint.

He quickly stood up. He had to find some way to go with Lucy. To make sure she got to Porlyuscia's house safely. He saw Jet come to a stop in front of Juvia. Natsu tried to take a step towards them, but Gray stepped in front of him, laying one cold hand on Natsu's chest as a warning.

He saw Jet's look of panic as he carefully took Lucy from Juvia's arms.

Lucy was being taken away from him, again. And there was nothing he could do to stop it. He tried to shove Gray's hand away, but the ice mage was faster. He pushed Natsu into the side of the car and froze his feet in place.

"Let me go!" Natsu roared. He watched helplessly as Jet turned away, and Juvia began helping a weary Erza out of the drivers seat.

"Lucy!" Natsu screamed. Jet looked over his shoulder at Natsu, an apologetic look on his face, before finally taking off in a sprint.

As soon as Jet and Lucy were out of sight, Gray broke Natsu's ice bindings, and removed his hold on the dragon slayers chest.

Natsu shoved the boy away, and quickly ran to the front of the car, knowing it was hopeless. He would never catch up with Jet.

"Dammit!" He screamed into the forest.

"Natsu…" Erza muttered.

Natsu turned to see the requip mage's arm slung over Juvia's shoulder, the effects of magic deficiency clear in the bags under her eyes.

"Sorry!" Natsu barked, more angrily than he intended to." Okay, i'm sorry it's just so-"

"Frustrating?" Erza finished.

"Yeah." He sighed.

"We'll drive to the edge of the forest and walk from there. If we do that we can get to Porlyuscia's by tomorrow morning." Gray cut in.

"But Gray-sama, Erza can't drive in her condition." Juvia tried to reason.

"I know." He stated cooly. "I'm driving."

Natsu shivered as he realized how much rougher the drive would be with Gray at the wheel, but decided it was worth it to see Lucy sooner.

Erza simply nodded.

Juvia, still being new to Fairy Tail, was the only one surprised by how calm they were about breaking the law.

"G-Gray-sama, do you have permission from the magic counsel to drive a magic vehicle?" Juvia asked with concern. But no one seemed to hear her.

Natsu was already taking Erza off Juvia's shoulders and helping the tired redhead into the car. Gray was hooking himself up to the S.E. plug.

"Oh dear." Sighed Juvia, accepting her fate, she got settled into the car next to Erza, and prepared herself for a bumpy ride.


Okay let me start by apologizing for that totally random mini hiatus. I kind of hit this huge writers block, and i'm trying to force myself back into the habit of fic writing, so I apologize if this chapter totally sucked. For a while I debated if I was even going to finish this fic, but then I realized how much I hate cliffhangers, and decided you guys deserve an ending.

So i'm hoping to get back on schedule with somewhat regular updates. But I do have exams soon so please forgive me if that doesn't happen right away.

Thank you all so much for your patience with me and this fic!

And as usual, thank you to anyone and everyone who has, followed, favourited or left a lovely review, on this story! :)

Check out my Tumblr for info and updates on this fic: a-fairy-tail44

(Any posts will be tagged as #I will go home nalu and #IWGH nalu)