Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail
Ch. 3: What Happens Now?
Everything hurt.
Breathing, thinking, even doing nothing brought about excruciating pain. Every pore on her body felt as if they were being stabbed with a jagged knife and each inhale burned her insides. Her heart fluttered weakly as if even continuing to beat was too difficult a task.
Lucy wondered if she was dying.
And while that thought should have alarmed her, relief at the thought of escaping the overwhelming agony overshadowed the nagging sense that something was wrong.
"You're giving up already?" A deep, husky voice echoed from the confines of her memory.
Giving up...? Yes, maybe she was. She was just so tired…tired of running, tired of fighting, tired of struggling to survive. If she let herself fall into oblivion, would the pain finally go away?
"I thought you were stronger than that, Lucy."
Stronger? Yeah, she had thought that too, once. But now, she knew better. She'd been through too much to turn away from the reality of just how pathetically weak she really was.
"So you're going to end this by dying? Stop running away!"
The condemnation ignited a flame of anger within her. Why couldn't he ever leave her alone? What more did he want from her? She'd tried her best, god damn it! So now that it was the end, couldn't she get some peace and quiet? Didn't she deserve as least that much?
But even as she internally seethed, the niggling sense of wrongness grew. It felt as if she was forgetting something extremely important and that only made her angrier. What! What was she not remembering!?
"You're part of Fairy Tail, the guild that doesn't know when to stop! So get up and fight!"
'Fairy Tail,' she thought, repeating the familiar words over and over until her fractured memories fell into place and her mind clawed its way back to consciousness.
Chestnut eyes snapped open despite the drowsy weight and unshed tears that glued them shut. A choked gasp left her dry throat when the view of the ocean from hundreds of feet in the air entered her vision.
The rapid beating of her heart burned her chest and her breaths came in panicked pants. The sudden height certainly frightened her but it was the thought of what she had almost done that terrified her the most.
How could she have even considered giving in like that? The pain she felt right now was nothing compared to the agony of losing every person she had ever loved. The thought of having nearly wasted the chance of saving them filled her with horror.
"Wha-wha'z hap'nin?" the blonde slurred out, tongue heavy. Her aching limbs flailed weakly in distress.
"It's okay!" a childish voice assured her from above, "I've got you."
'Happy' her mind supplied helpfully, finally registering the sound of beating wings from overhead. Instantly, her heart calmed its rapid beating and her breathing slowed, the familiarity of his presence soothing her nerves in a way nothing else could. Lucy trusted the blue feline to keep her safe, knowing he could be pretty reliable when he put his mind to it.
"Natsu and I came as soon as we could. We heard you screaming when got close to the ship. What did they do to you?" The Exceed asked, worried.
Lucy's fuzzy mind struggled to process the words. Once they sunk in, she shook her head fractionally, not up to explaining. "Na'zu?"
"He's still onboard that flashy ship taking out the creepy weirdo with the purple hair."
Lucy blinked slowly, urging her dazed thoughts to focus. The adrenaline from her earlier panic was finally kicking in enough for the pain to become bearable. She glanced behind them to the ship that was still sailing away from the harbor. "We gotta go ba' an 'elp 'im."
Happy shook his head frantically, "Natsu can handle a weakling like that easy!" the cat determinedly, trying to mask his concern for the Dragonslayer. "We have to get you to a doctor first. You look like you're going to faint again and I can barely feel your magic!" he insisted, alarm making his voice shrill. Exhausting one's magical store could be deadly for a mage.
The Celestial mage made a sound of disagreement, "I'm fine," she said slowly, glad that her mouth decided to start agreeing with her brain. "We need to stop that ship. Natsu won't be able to if he's too busy fighting Bora."
Against his better judgment, Happy hesitated. Lucy brought up a good point. She couldn't have known it, but getting the ship to stop would be doing Natsu a huge favor. The feline knew how crippling Natsu's motion sickness was. It was very likely that the Dragonslayer was getting his butt handed to him while they were hovering indecisively. There's no way Natsu would be able to put up a decent fight as long as that ship continued swaying.
Still, Lucy was sick. She neededmedical attention. Badly. But as much as he'd like to drop her off on the shore and come back to help Natsu out, Happy knew his Aera wouldn't last that long.
"Happy," the blonde pleaded, "we have to hurry. If we wait any longer it'll be too late." Every second they wasted, the vessel sailed farther and farther away from the harbor.
"Okay," he relented, hoping he wouldn't regret the decision. "But only long enough to stop the boat! After that we're taking you straight to the doctor!"
Lucy nodded. She could work with that. Now their only problem was how they would go about accomplishing that. Without her spirits…Lucy cursed her sluggish mind. It wasn't as if they had all the time in the world to work with. She formed a rough plan with difficulty.
"Happy, take us to the helm!"
Eh, they'd figure it out along the way. That was the Fairy Tail way after all.
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A fist covered in purple flames slammed into Natsu's face, sending him flying harshly into the wall. Getting up slowly, the Dragonslayer's growl of frustration quickly turned into a moan when the boat swayed violently.
Bora laughed at the pitiful visage of his opponent, "Are all Fairy Tale mages this pathetic?"
Natsu glared darkly; smoke seeping out of his nostrils in anger. He had no doubt that he could take this joke of a fire mage out with a single punch. The only problem was that he couldn't seem to focus long enough to land one. It took everything he had not to decorate the floor with his lunch.
Just as he was about to respond to the egoistical man, the boat made a sharp turn and all the occupants of the room fell to the ground at the rough movement. Slipping and sliding across the deck, Natsu could feel food rising to his throat and he almost lost it right there.
"What the hell was that?" Bora shouted angrily, "Who gave permission to change course?" The thugs looked at one another in confusion. No one had an answer and their employer snorted derisively, "Then someone better find out why we're heading back to Hargeon!"
A trio of henchmen moved to the only door leading out of the chamber only to be surprised by the view of a flying cat blocking their way. The blue feline flew past them to grab the flabbergasted teen in the back with his tail.
"Happy!" Natsu cried, snapping out of his shock, "What the heck are you doing here? What about Lucy?"
"I've learned something today, Natsu," Happy said sagely, ignoring the question, "Lucy is just as stubborn as you are."
"Huh?"
"Enough!" Bora practically frothed out, apoplectic. "You think having your flying pet around will allow you to defeat me?"
Natsu and Happy looked down at the man with an expression that seemed to say, 'Oh yeah, that guy was here,' which only served to infuriate him further. The Dragonslayer smirked at the man's anger, reveling at a frustration that wasn't his own. Now that he wasn't fighting the urge to barf, Natsu could properly enjoy the beat down that was about to occur.
"Happy ain't a pet, idiot," Natsu replied, irritated by the assumption but amused at the man's rage. "And I would have been able to kick your ass ages ago if this stupid ship would stop moving. But enough talk," his gaze sharpened, aging his normally boyish features. "It's time to make you pay for looking down on Fairy Tail."
"Oh, really? I'd like to see you try!" Bora sneered, raising his arms to take aim at the flying duo. "Prominence Typhoon!" he yelled, shooting a forceful stream of purple fire at the pair. It lit the room with a violet glow and heated the air with its intensity.
Natsu simply grinned, opening his mouth to nosily slurp the flames up. As the lasts wisps of flames were sucked into his mouth, he let out a loud satisfied belch, "Thanks for the food."
Bora and his men stared in horrified shock, "Wha-What the hell are you?"
A thug to his right answered the question, trembling in fear, "Sir, I-I think that's the real Salamander," to which Bora responded by paling, swallowing audibly in dread.
Natsu raised his fists to his mouth, stomach expanding with the warmth of his inner flames, "Fire Dragon's Roar!" he breathed out, scorching the cowering men beneath him.
They screamed in terror, dropping their female hostages. The girls, finally waking from their drug induced sleep, screeched in fear and hastily fled to the upper deck of the ship, hoping to get away from the raging madman belching out fire.
Soon the room cleared out and the only ones remaining were the duo flying in the air and the purple haired fake. Bora, having fallen to the ground onto his bottom in shock, gazed up at Natsu in petrified awe.
"Natsu," Happy murmured weakly, "I won't be able to hold you up for much longer."
"That's fine," he answered darkly, hand already lighting up with a malevolent scarlet flame. "All I need is one punch."
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Lucy gave a tired sigh as she slumped against the captain's wheel, aching limbs shaking with fatigue. It had taken everything in her to get the ship to turn. As it was, she didn't think that she had enough energy to even lift a pinky at the moment.
She took a deep breath, relishing how cool the sea breeze felt on her fevered skin. Gazing around the deck, her eyes landed on the unconscious captain and she couldn't help breathing out a small chuckle. Seeing the red footprint on his forehead reminded her of the surprised look on his face when she and Happy appeared in the air out of nowhere and she greeted the man with a "Lucy Kick!" to the face.
Now that she was stuck with waiting, Lucy could feel the pain the adrenaline had numbed before creeping back. Eyes she hadn't realized she'd shut, opened in alarm when three beefy men climbed to the deck hurriedly. They rapidly made their way to her, glaring as they recognized her. "You again," one hissed in annoyance.
The blonde gave them a weak smirk in response, inwardly panicking. They closed in on her, fist raised, and she felt herself tense in preparation for the imminent strike when the ship suddenly shook violently. The bulky men fell to the ground at the movement, cursing and yelling all the while. Lucy held on desperately to the wheel.
The tremors soon calmed down and the men looked at one another, bewildered. "Wha-what was that?" they asked one another.
A knowing look entered the Celestial mage's eyes as the smell of burning wood entered the air. 'Natsu…' she thought, grateful for the distraction.
The trio, however, received their answer in the form of screaming men and women that ran out from the hull. Looks of terror decorated their faces as they bemoaned their fate, hysterically jabbering about some kind of "fire-breathing demon" down below. The cacophony of noise ricocheted in Lucy's head and it took all her concentration to focus past the black spots that dotted her vision.
Chaos further exploded on deck when a panic-stricken girl pointed a quivering finger toward a spot in the distance. "The shore," she gasped, "We're going to hit it!"
Lucy turned lethargically, chest aching with how fast her heart was beating. 'Ah, I knew I was forgetting something,' she thought, oddly detached, breathes getting harder and harder to take. The blonde closed her eyes and braced for impact, the only one in the frenzied crowd to remain calm.
Her eyes opened in shock, however, when a pair of arms wrapped around her in a protective embrace. A woodsy smell mixed with the scent of ash seeped into her nose and her body relaxed unconsciously. "Natsu," she gasped out, relieved enough to cry.
"Got…ya…" he managed to gurgle, past the nausea that churned the contents of his stomach. The Dragonslayer managed to tuck her head into his chest just as the ship crashed into the port ruthlessly.
The wooden structure hit the harbor with a booming crack that sounded as if the earth had been split in half. Lucy's teeth rattled in her skull despite the solid protection of Natsu's arms. People around them were screaming and crying as companions were tossed overboard from the force of the collision.
As the dust and debris from the impact settled, the surprised hush that befell the on looking crowd swiftly escalated into a roar. Terrified yells transformed into cheers when the Magic Council rushed to the scene, pushing past bystanders to get to the source of the commotion.
Natsu muttered an oath, "Looks like it's time to split. Happy you alright, buddy?"
The feline, poking his head out from where he was clinging onto Natsu's back, gave a shaky, "Aye, sir," in reply.
"How about you, Lucy?" The Dragonslayer murmured, furtively keeping a look out on the Magic Council's progress. After a silent moment, he turned a concerned look to the girl still wrapped in his embrace, "Lucy?"
He pulled her away from him to get a closer look at her. As soon as she left the warmth of his overheated body, the blond began shivering uncontrollably. Her head lolled back and Natsu could see brown eyes with dilated pupils glazed over. Though the night air was cool and she was shaking as if she was cold, Lucy's pale face was lined with sweat. "Lucy!"
Natsu's scared shout had Happy finally leave his perch. The sight before his eyes made his heart drop, "Wha-what do we do Natsu? Lucy is, Lucy is –" and though the feline didn't finish the statement, both of them knew what he was going to say.
Lucy was going into magical shock.
And if they didn't find her help soon, she would most likely die.
Not waiting another moment, Natsu gathered the girl into his arms in a bridal carry, expression unwavering. "We're heading straight to the Old Lady's place. Happy, if I give you some time to rest, will you be able to carry Lucy the rest of the way at Max Speed?"
Happy pushed his worry down, saluting resolutely, "You can count on me!"
"Then let's get going!" Natsu said, hoping off the side of the destroyed ship with Happy hanging tightly to his back. The two ran from the wreckage that had once been a beautiful port, ignoring the yells from the guards chasing after them. Soon enough, the beautiful stone buildings of Hargeon transformed into the brush and bramble of the surrounding forest. Natsu pushed himself to move faster, ignoring the stitch forming in his side.
The thought of something bad happening to the strange girl in his arms made his stomach clench painfully, which was odd. Why did he care so much? What was it about this blond, that he had met just this morning, that made him so desperate now? Sure, Natsu was moral enough to do everything in his power to save someone dying before his eyes but somehow this was different. From the moment he and Happy had met Lucy, he'd felt as if he'd always known the girl. To not have her in his life, by his side felt wrong.
"Just hang on Lucy!" the Dragonslayer panted out, frustrated that the only thing he could do at this point was encourage the sickly girl. "We'll get you help in no time and then I'll show you what the number one guild in Fiore is really like. So don't you dare give up!" He chanced a glance down and noticed that Lucy's lips seemed to be moving as if she were trying to speak. Knowing that it had to be important for her to attempt to speak in her condition, he leaned in further to decipher words that held no sound.
For Lucy, the world had blended into a blur of color. Vague shapes resembling blobs floated in and out of her vision until there was only one in front of her. The pink figure moved closer and she wondered if it was someone trying to speak to her. But for some reason, everything had become muted so that the only noise she could her was the pounding of her heart and the rush of blood in her ears. Fear clawed at her frantically, dragging silent words to numb lips before the black creeping in on the edges of her vision covered everything in darkness.
'N-na..tsu…sor-ry…don't…t-think…going…to…m-m-make…it…'
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Porlyusica was just settling down to a freshly brewed cup of morning tea when the peaceful silence of the woods was interrupted by the violent banging at her front door.
"Help, help! I need your help, Porlyusica-san! Please open up!" A high-pitched voice cried.
The old woman grit her teeth, determined to ignore the request. When the pounding on the door only increased and the shouting got louder, she rose to her feet in anger, "Go away! I don't accept visitors! Didn't you see the sign out there? NO HUMANS ALLOWED!"
"I'm not a human," the voice bit out impatiently, "But whatever, that doesn't even matter. My friend is dying. We need your help, please. If I told you I was from Fairy Tail would that change your mind?"
There was a desperate edge to the voice that had the old woman curious despite herself. Dying? What an over exaggeration. Still, if the person was actually from Fairy Tail, Makarov would never let her hear the end of it if she didn't at least hear them out. Besides, this way the old geezer would owe her and Porlyuscia wasn't one to pass up the opportunity of gaining a favor from the normally stingy man. "Fine," she gritted out, moving to open the locked door.
From the open doorway, the strangest sight greeted the healer. A familar small feline hovered at the doorway, carrying an unconscious girl with a long blue tail. Its dirty blue fur was riddled with leaves and twigs that were clinging onto sweat slicked hair. Yet it wasn't that, that caught the woman's eye. It was the young girl in the cat's grasp that drew her attention. The blonde was deathly pale and her chest hardly moved from the shallow breathes that she took. Sweat dripped heavily down her face onto a damp shirt that clung to her as if it were a second skin. Porlyuscia's senses as a healer swiftly took over, "Quickly, lay her on the bed," she said, no nonsense tone severe.
Maybe it wasn't such an over exaggeration after all.
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Natsu had never been gladder in his life to see the old lady's bizarre home. His lungs burned with the need to breathe and the ache in his side was nearly unbearable but none of that registered through the sense of satisfaction at having finally reached their desired destination. That relief rapidly faded when he heard the shouts coming from the tree house.
"What's happening!? Can't you help her?" Happy's voice reached his ears. Natsu was frightened by how it had taken on the choked quality of someone who was speaking past sobs.
"What's happening," Natsu yelled bursting into the cluttered room.
He'd always hated the medical smell the clung to the walls of the old lady's home but he would have preferred it to the metallic scent that clung to the air. Panic reared its ugly head as he watched Porlyuscia and Happy doing their best to hold Lucy down as her body convulsed. Her lips were painted red from the blood that accompanied each harsh cough that ripped out of her throat.
Natsu turned to the old woman urgently, "Isn't there anything you can do? You're a healer, aren't you!?"
"Shut your fool mouth and get over here and help!" she replied with difficulty.
Natsu rushed forward to hold down the girl's legs that had begun to kick violently. "Why is she getting worse?" he gnashed out, loathing how helpless he felt, watching Lucy suffer.
"Look kid, just because I'm a healer doesn't mean I'm some kind of miracle worker. This isn't something I can fix!" The woman answered, frustrated. "Her body is going into shock because it's rejecting her magic! I've never seen anything like this happen before. The only thing I can do at this point is try and stabilize her for as long as possible. Everything else is up to her."
"Then there's nothing to worry about," Natsu replied firmly, trying to hide his worry behind a show of confidence, "if she's anywhere near as stubborn as me, right Happy?"
The Exceed offered him a shaky smile, "R-right!"
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Brown eyes opened, squinting through the bright sunlight that burst forth from the cloudless blue sky overhead. Lucy tried to raise her right hand to shield against the glare only to notice the absence of feeling in the appendage. Sitting up in surprise, she looked down and discovered with a jolt that her appearance had changed back to that of her future self, raggedy cloak, scars, burns and all. It was the body she remembered but it felt foreign somehow, because for the first time in years she wasn't in any kind of pain.
She rose to stand, slowly taking in the endless field of golden grains before her, "Where in Earthland am I?" she wondered.
"Who are you?" a familiar yet unfamiliar voice questioned behind her. Lucy turned around sharply and was met with the most peculiar sight. Herself.
Only not exactly, because it had been over a decade since she'd stopped wearing her hair in such a childish style or bothered wearing such revealing and ostentatious clothing. 'My past self,' Lucy thought in wonder. Coming face to face with her old naïve self, made an uncomfortable feeling slither its way through her until it settled heavily in her heart.
"I'm you. From the future," the cloaked girl responded.
"Me?" her counterpart breathed out in disbelief, eyeing the wounds and welts that disfigured what was supposed to be her own face years from now. Her face paled further when a gust of wind revealed the fact that her "future self" was missing her right arm. "But how? Why?" she asked, voice quivering.
The ground beneath them shook and the sky above them seemed to darken. Future Lucy understanding the signs for what they were, responded with hurried words, "Look, we don't really have the time for me to explain."
Past Lucy looked around them in confusion, "Why, what's happening?"
Fighting down her irritation at the girls lack of comprehension, future Lucy's responded bluntly, "We're dying."
"WHAT!?"
"Calm down and listen," the cloaked girl's harsh tone softened as she watched the other's attempt to remain composed, realizing how unfair she was being. "Your body is failing because it's rejecting my magic but we can fix that. You just need to let yourself accept my presence here."
"But what happens if I do? To me and to you?" the young girl responded suspiciously, doe eyes conflicted. Was it selfish of her to be hesitant to follow the girl's instructions when she didn't understand why her future self was even here? When it wasn't even clear she would regain control of a body that was hers in the first place?
As if to reflect past Lucy's doubts, the world around them blacked out briefly before relighting.
"You don't trust me. I get it. We might both be 'Lucy' but that doesn't mean we're the 'same'. How can we be, when we haven't shared the same experiences?" Future Lucy breathed out a sigh before continuing, "But I need you to believe me when I say this: If we don't do something soon the two of us will cease to exist."
Past Lucy bit her lip, trying to come to terms with their predicament with difficulty, pressed for time as they both were. "Okay," she finally said, eyes resolute, "I'll believe in you so tell me what you need me to do."
Future Lucy approached the other blond until they were a step apart. "Take a deep breath and focus on your magic. Bring it to the surface and let it envelope you."
The younger girl nodded, following the instructions, concentrating past the tremors that continued to rock the landscape around them. Soon enough, a golden glow glimmered around her. Future Lucy mirrored the actions but the light that surrounded her was murkier, tainted with a darkness that her counterpart's lacked.
The older girl offered a sad smile when she caught the other blonde's horrified look, "I made a deal with the devil to save the people I love. As you can see, it's left its mark."
Young Lucy grabbed the other girl's hand in both of her own, "Was the future really that bad for you?"
The heartbreaking pain reflected in her future self's eyes was all the answer she needed. It was filled with such an all-encompassing sadness that for a moment the younger girl feared her counterpart would fall apart right then and there.
But even as her heart bled in sympathy for the other, there was another emotion that came to the surface, one that was darker, uglier. 'People that I love.' The lonely little girl in her was jealous that the future girl had found the companionship she had craved, even if she had lost it. If the two of them merged, would past Lucy be allowed that slice of happiness?
"What happens now?" the young blonde asked, breaking the silence that had formed between them. The magic that gleamed around them had begun to mix, lightening the dirty yellow and darkening the bright gold until they reached a shade in between. When the melding was complete, the bodies of the two girls slowly began to fade.
Future Lucy's voice was barely above a whisper when she answered, "I don't know."
And with that, the two disappeared as the grains of wheat disintegrated into dust and the ground crumbled beneath them.
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TBC
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