A/N: I'm a really shy person so I never posted this even if it was sitting in my phone for like 2 years lmao. That and I said this story was going to be chronological. Turns out it's not going to be like that after all *laughs*.

This is my dramatic interpretation of what happened to F!Lucy and F!Natsu during the Eclipse Gate arc.

Dedicated to Fiamatta Montague because she was the first person to dedicate something to me here in FFN and she's also made me cry a lot because of her stories. I hope this one makes you sad at least.

Without further ado, please enjoy.

He's up again. Fighting. He thinks it's only fitting. Because at least, he muses, he dies having lived his life to the fullest. A dodge to the right and a quick flash of yellow brings his thoughts back to earth.

Ah, Lucy.

She'll be all right, he thinks. Lucy has always had the smarts to get herself out of any situation, while he's always been the one to barge straight into any sort of predicament without thinking things through. At least he could buy her some time. At least he could save her. At least she could survive this.

"Natsu!"

A dodge a millisecond too late and he's sent careening to the dusty earth. He attempts to stand up and fails.

This soon? He thinks as he stares at his raised bloodied hands. Whatever's left of anything past that, he doesn't want to see.

Lucy stumbles towards him. He sees her crying. He'd rather she not really. He wants to see her all smiling and pretty before he goes, but he doesn't think he has the right to reprimand her when he feels like crying too.

Barely a second later, she's next to him, her one arm desperately trying to stop the bleeding from all his wounds. He holds out his arms to stop her, but she persists. He's nothing but a bloody wrangled mess now. He won't survive. Lucy knows this of course, but she still tries, hurriedly casting quick first aid spells while explaining to him in a garbled mess how Wendy taught her this and that.

When he notices the flowing sparkles in her eyes brought by her tears, he is reminded of the last time she had cried. Back then, Lucy had cried tears of happiness. ... Suddenly, he understands how much of an idiot he's been waiting on the time when everything will settle and they can finally be honest to each other. It's not too late. He struggles.

"Shush, shush," she whispers when his back arcs and blood splutters out of his mouth. She cries and holds his hand tightly.

Three words, he thinks, three words is all it takes. He pulls her hand and drags her body towards his, she complies. He cups her face in his other hand and touches his forehead to hers.

Three words, just three words.

He ignores the extreme pain it takes even to lift up his bloodied hands, grins the sunniest grin he could muster, and he speaks.

"Survive."

She sobs against his chest, and he let's her. Lets her grab his torn clothes and lets her tears slide down his torso and mix with his blood.

He couldn't leave her hanging. Not now, not when he couldn't be with her. Not when he couldn't give her the future he would've promised her. When his breath stills, she touches their foreheads together one last time and lets her tears flow against his eyes. A fleeting thought of the story of sleeping beauty crosses her mind. She wishes that somehow, like Briar Rose, she could give back her prince's sight with her tears. But he doesn't wake up, and she lets the suffocating feeling of sadness overwhelm her. The unspoken words remain in the still air, in their clasped hands, and in their memories.

I love you.

When she finally has the strength to stand, she decides that she will fix everything. Her future might be broken, but she still has a way to fix the past. It might mean breaking all the rules of time itself, but she doesn't care. She has nothing to lose anymore.