Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail

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Where is END? (Ch. 3)

Part 1: The Misery

"It was like I was being electrocuted and burned alive at the same time from the inside out," Lucy explained hastily as Porlyusica ran throughout her small house to get the supplies she needed. "It started with vibrations."

"Vibrations?"

"Well, more like shaking…or, I don't know, something like that! My stomach began to ache a bit, but it felt more like my insides were shivering, then it spread to my bones, my muscles, and I could feel it! Then I was shaking all over and I couldn't stop it! Levy said I was a little warm in the guild too; I didn't feel any different, but when my bones were shaking at home, I had a fever. It went up…" Lucy rattled on and on about last night's events.

"When did this happen?" Porlyusica asked. "When did this start?"

"Um, I don't know. It was dinnertime."

"When did it end?"

"I-I don't know, but the sun was down and it was late…"

"You should've come see me immediately after your panic attack. No matter how late it was," Porlyusica ran over to Lucy, pushing her blonde locks out of the way and stuck something in her ear. It made the Celestial wizard jump out of surprise.

When it beeped and Porlyusica glanced at it before sticking it in her other ear, Lucy could see that it was a thermometer. "I'm sorry, I'll make sure I come here immediately afterwards next time."

"You better."

The thermometer beeped again and Porlyusica looked at it before muttering something under her breath and walking over to her calendar. "All this happened yesterday, correct?"

"Yes, last night."

She marked something down before walking toward her alchemy station. As she began to brew something, Lucy, who had been sitting on Porlyusica's small bed, stood up and walked over to her calendar to see what she had written. It was on yesterday's date. She had circled it. "100.3'F left ear; 100.6'F right ear," (37.9'C and 38.1'C) on it.

"I…still have a fever?...I don't feel sick…"

Porlyusica mumbled something, concentrating on her work. Lucy slowly turned to her. "Porlyusica?"

"What is it?! I'm a bit busy trying to help you if you haven't noticed!" She didn't turn to face her when she snapped.

Despite her harshness, Lucy had no one else to talk to about this situation, "You don't think…this panic attack came from…t-the demon seed…do you?"

Porlyusica stopped, turning to the blonde.

It was a long, quite moment of silence and staring. The two women seemed to be reading each other's minds, but the elder spoke anyway, scowling and turning back to her work: "Of course it did! I warned you what would happen if you moved the demon seed from Natsu into you, but you refused to listen to reason! Now, you'll suffer the same fate he would've if he didn't have a suppressed dragon seed."

"But that's the thing!" Lucy exclaimed, taking a couple of steps toward her. "I knew this was coming, but I didn't expect it to be now!"

"When did you expect it to start?!"

"In nineteen years when I'm thirty-eight!"

Porlyusica continued to work, but was looking back at the blonde again, "Now why would you think that?"

"Natsu had always been a demon, but the transformation never started until a week earlier; he's nineteen." Of course, Lucy knew Natsu was born as a human and hadn't turned into a demon by Zeref until he was…whatever age, but she just estimated. "Maybe the dragon seed would've turned him into a dragon quicker if it wasn't suppressed, but the demon seed was never suppressed and it's acting up now! I don't understand!"

"Yes, Natsu had always been a demon up until a week ago, but the demon seed hadn't been activated until Zeref told Natsu the truth and activated it. The demon seed doesn't 'start over' when it's moved into another body. It'll continue to grow despite different flesh. Think of a plant."

Lucy blinked and ran her fingers through her bangs.

"Lucy, the demon seed will slowly turn you into a demon, but not in nineteen years. So, I'm afraid that panic attack you had will not be the only one, but I don't know when the second one is. I'm afraid this will only get worse and worse until you're completely a demon."

Lucy nodded, sighing.

"There's one more thing."

"What?"

"All the demons Zeref created were incubated in lacrimas, including Natsu. Over time and time they were given a certain amount of ethernano each day before they became 'etherious'. Zeref gave it to them little by little so their bodies would get used to it. You, however, were just given it all at once. You weren't incubated in a lacrima; you're body hadn't had a chance to take in the ethernano. Because of that, after you become a complete demon, you'll die."

For some odd reason, Lucy wasn't as surprised as she thought she would be. Her breath came out in a small puff, "How long do I have?"

"I have no clue. It'll be minutes, hours, days, weeks…I don't know."

"H-how do you know all this, Porlyusica? You seem to know a lot about demons."

"Books. Most of ones I've read on this matter are over there," she pointed to the bookshelf. "I'm sure Levy knows everything about this matter as well, most likely more than I do. I heal humans, I'm not used to working with demons; this is new for me."

"She just called me a demon…" It dawned on Lucy. It felt strangely weird hearing that, not as a joke, but as seriously imperative reality.

Porlyusica finished brewing her potion and turned to give her a bottle of grayish liquid. "Now I know it's not even noon and long after your attack, but I want you to go home and take a nap. This is a drowsy potion. It's supposed to relax you and help you sleep. It'll kick in about an hour after you drink it so get home quickly."

"Okay," Lucy took it, thanking the old lady, "My friends will never know that I'm dying, especially Natsu, okay?"

"Yes, yes, we've been down this road before," she began to shove her out of her house. "Don't come back unless you have another attack!"

"Yes ma'am!"

The door slammed shut and Lucy sighed, beginning to walk home.

The door opened again, "one more thing!" she shouted.

Lucy turned to her, "yes?"

"Take cold showers!"

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Despite what Porlyusica told her to do, Lucy did not drink the potion and take a nap when she arrived at her apartment. Instead, she wrote her temperatures on the calendar like the healer had done. Afterwards, she took a cold shower, shivering as she scrubbed herself.

"I guess I just have to get used to it," Lucy sighed, covering herself in a warm, dry towel when she finished. Looking in the mirror at herself, she sighed again, "its still hard to believe…."

"I'm dying…"

"Luce? Are you in here?"

Lucy nearly screamed, turning toward the closed bathroom door. She could hear Natsu come through the window and land on her bed. "Luce?"

"I'm in the bathroom! What is it, Natsu?!"
Natsu opened the door walking in, "Got a job; wanna go?" He smiled at her, waving the flier back and forth.

Lucy glared at him. He was so utterly lucky she was wrapped in a towel. If so, he would be getting a kick to the face. Of course, if that was the case, it wouldn't do anything. When the next scenarios like this appear and he'd just walk in again.

Lucy groaned, shaking her head back and forth. "I just can't anymore with you…"

He cocked his head to the side, "you can't what?"

She groaned again, "Never mind. Get out so I can change…and yes, I'll go on that mission with you."

He flashed her his goofy smile, "awesome!" He exclaimed, shutting the door.

Lucy felt an icky feeling rise into her throat from the pit of her stomach. She swallowed the foul taste that slid antagonizing slowly down her throat again. Lucy cringed, biting her lip, and turning back to the mirror to look at her reflection.

"It's hard to believe that one day, I'm not going to be able to see that smile again…I'm not going to be able to go on missions with Natsu and Happy…I'm not going to be able to hang out with them. I'm not going to be able to kick them out when they break in. I won't be able to stay with all my friends in Fairy Tail…

I'm sick…and I'm dying…"

"Lucy? Are you crying?"

She jumped in her position, staring at her reflection again for her gaze had drifted toward the sink. She was crying.

"I can smell salt," Natsu's concerned voice was right outside the door.

"No," Lucy rubbed at her eyes. "I just got soap in my eyes! I'm fine."

"Are you sure?…"

Quickly dressing and rubbing at her eyes again, she walked out of the bathroom. "Yes," she smiled, "I'm fine really."

Then Natsu hugged her.

It surprised Lucy at first, but then again she should've seen it coming. Ever since the war with Alvarez, they had become touchy-feely. There were so many reasons why too…

Lucy smiled and hugged back. As she buried her face in his hair she decided that she'd take as much as she could get while she still had time. No more kicking them out of her apartment; she was going to get as much of her crazy partners as she could…

And she'd get as much of Fairy Tail as she could…

"You'd tell me, wouldn't you?" Natsu's lips were next to her ear, whispering those five words. His nose was buried in her hair and she could hear him inhaling her fresh, clean scent deeply. "You'd tell me if something was wrong, right?"

She searched her voice for a three letter lie, but she couldn't find it. Instead, she nodded, but even then, her head barely wanted to move.

She hated lying to him; she had never done it before and had never wanted to experience it, but here she was, lying to him. Of course, she would tell him if something was wrong; she always has, but this? No, no. She would never tell him. He would just do everything in his power to reverse what she did and she wouldn't let him…he would die in her place if so.

Heck! She was supposed to die in his place!

"That's the best way to go," Lucy decided then, smiling to herself. "That's the best way to die…in Natsu's place."

She realized that they were still hugging, not that she minded, but this was most likely the longest embrace they've shared…that was good; she needed it.

"Thank you for being such a great best friend, Natsu," She found herself murmuring, mainly to herself. It was to let herself know how blessed she was.

"Thank you, Luce," he replied, nuzzling into her hair more.

"Natsu! Lucy!" Happy had flown in through the window, "what's taking you two so long-oooh…"

Lucy shoved Natsu back like he had burned her, which is something he would never-in-a-million-years do, but it was about right: her face was burning up.

Happy snickered, "I see how it is…"

"HAPPY!"

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It had only been a week since the war with Alvarez ended and everyone was still licking their wounds. Because of that, Team Natsu had taken an easy job: simply moving a fallen tree caused by a storm the other day from an elderly couples' property…Well, Lucy and Happy were doing the moving; Natsu was karate-chopping the tree into pieces with his magic.

"Hwuaaahhh!" He exclaimed, slamming his flames into the log, cutting it clean in half.

"He's having fun with it," Happy mused.

Natsu looked over at them, raising his scarf to cover his face and putting his hands together, "I am a ninja!"

Happy, Natsu's ninja-sidekick, immediately dropped the small log he was carrying and posed, "ninja!"

Lucy burst out laughing. She remembers that day; she was annoyed with the two of them then. Those were the days she didn't even know if Natsu and Happy were even human – ironically, neither of them were human.

" 'You gotta be stealthy, like a ninja,' " Lucy repeated herself from eight years ago, a large smile on her face. She put her hands together to mimic them.

His scarf was covering half his face, but she could still easily see the smile underneath it. Natsu turned back to the fallen tree, "Hwuaaahhh! NINJA POWER!" He punched it.

Lucy began laughing again, hard. She could barely breathe…

Ah! The good times…but they don't last forever…

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I hope you enjoyed!

-zEllie