Chapter Two: The Beginning of the End

Lucy's eyes became pits of darkness as she witnessed Elfman speak such words to her. "They what?!" she hollered once again. Whilst Natsu was looking up at the sky, having a confused face, Lucy was accompanied by Levy, who was all dressed, yet looked as though she had just woken up, Gajeel, a sour face as he always had, and Pantherlily, still in his Exceed form.

The first thing Lucy did when she saw Levy was wrap her arms around her. "Lu-chan!" Levy yelped as she copied the action the blonde had done. That action had definitely arisen the awareness of the bluenette. Lucy, as quickly as she embraced Levy, let go and looked up, mortify written all over her face.

Levy could see Lucy's trembling, even from her peripheral vision. Lucy was terrified of what was going to happen next – Alvarez was attacking THAT MOMENT. This was not at all planned, rather, unexpected. "Levy… They are attacking…" murmured Lucy as she glared at the object in the sky once again.

Elfman and Gajeel, who were right behind Lucy, Levy, growled and started to dash toward the air ships. Pantherlily, who was on Gajeel's shoulder, flew back to Levy. "We are going to fight," the black Exceed stated as he levitated in front of the wide-awake bluenette, a serious frown, as always, on his face. He looked severely impatient.

Levy nodded in agreement, her blue hair slightly moving with the nod. "I'm coming, too," she stated as she stood beside the black, flying Exceed. "I need to fight!" she stated as she start to run with Panterlily toward where Elfman and Gajeel were headed. Levy's skirt flowed gracefully in the breeze behind her as she ran toward them, determination blazing in her eyes.

"But-" Lucy started as she began to pace toward Levy. "We aren't ready yet!" she shrieked horrifically as tears started to roll down her cheeks. Her face was flushed with redness from the crying she had done earlier, but this was worse than before. She was confounded with fear, it was a given. But as Lucy made her way, she was stopped, by the pull of her hand.

When she looked back, it was Natsu…

Natsu…

Natsu…?

Natsu stopped me? The blonde asked within her head as she glanced at Natsu, tears pooling in her eyes, which made Natsu grip his other hand tight to his side. Was he angry that Lucy was trying to follow her fiend, Levy? Was he?

Conversely, Natsu's eyes were sincere, but full of anger at the same time – sincerity toward Lucy, anger toward Alvarez. "You aren't goin'." Natsu stated harshly, examining almost every feature of Lucy's face, be the features blush red or pale white.

Natsu stared at Lucy's doe brown eyes, which sparkled as though there were tiny galaxies blossoming within them. As he looked at her, he had to admire her golden blonde hair as well. He couldn't help himself from pulling Lucy into himself gently. Natsu's gripped palm carefully landed on Lucy's hip, whilst the other one caressed a lock of her hair. "Lucy, don't go… And don't cry… Please," the pinkette pleaded with Lucy, pain pulsing in his chest.

"Natsu…" Lucy hummed gently as her tears continued their waterfall down her flustered cheeks. Yet, at the same time, her heart fluttered slightly at the action that Natsu had just made. And only Natsu had actually ever made her heart flutter like that. "I promised I'd protect you, Natsu… I have to go…" she continued as she broke away from Natsu's hold, as much as it hurt her to do so.

At that moment, Lucy found her hand locking with Natsu's, pulling him by her side. It was subconsciously, which was so weird. That action was rarely done between the two. It was rarely done by anyone of the guild of FairyTail, but this was a different occasion, was it not? Like, they were going to war… One that they may not escape or, only one could escape.

"Then let's go together!" chimed Natsu in a cheery tone of voice. Lucy's eyes widened, realising that in all of this chaos, Natsu would be able to smile. That, out of everything, gave her hope – it gave Lucy hope that the both of them can get out alive.

The thought made Lucy giggle slightly. Her other hand went down to her waist, grasping her key pack. With that, she withdrew her whip. "YEAH!" the blonde cheered as she brushed her hair out of her face, allowing her sight. Her hair had been getting very long, which was to be expected from the Celestial Spirit Mage.

As Lucy had done such an action, a voice had projected through all of the members of Fairy Tail – it was most likely Warren's voice, which meant a message from the first master, Mavis Vermillion, was coming through. It would have either been about going onto plan A or other plans that they had in store for their opponents.

'Team Flying Dragon, team Osprey, commence! This is a message coming from the First Master of Fairy Tail,' the voice of Warren bellowed in their minds as Natsu's and Lucy's eyes glanced toward the attacking airship. With that message, Lucy's eyes began to overflow with high levels of worry and stress. Even though she knew that it was chosen by Fairy Tail's Tactician and first master, she was still anxious about the whole thing.

That message signified that Natsu, Gajeel, Wendy, Happy, Pantherlily and Carla were to head up to the airships and attack. Well, Happy, Pantherlily and Carla were going to fly the three Dragonslayers up there; the Fairy Tail first Generation Dragonslayers would be the ones attacking. Whilst Bisca and her family would be shooting the Jupiter Canon; the first was hoping to hit their opponent and at least emit some damage to the airships.

Lucy's eyes trailed to Natsu, causing her smile to fade into a depressed expression. "Natsu…" she murmured whilst examining Natsu's being. Lucy had hoped to not have him battle, even though she knew that wasn't a possible action with any of the guild members, but it was especially impossible with Natsu. It caused her to wrap her arms around Natsu's waist once again, and she whispered, "Please be safe, Natsu… Don't get yourself hurt…"

And as quickly as she grasped onto his waist, she let go, just as he stated, "I will…" And with that, Happy lifted him up off of the ground and they soared into the sky. Happy's large wings flapped as they dodged oncoming attacks from above. Happy was not overworking himself by dodging such attacks, as he was used to it. Happy had always been Natsu's form of transportation – the only form of which none of the Dragonslayers would get sick by being on.

"Take care of yourselves!" Lucy called with worry. And she ran underneath the, for about five seconds until she figured it was too late to stop them. She carefully drew out her final following steps, stopping with a wave of her hand. She murmured to herself as she put her hand on her hip, "Stay safe, Natsu… You better come back alive…"

While the Dragonslayers of Fairy Tail flew up to attack the airships, Lucy anxiously awaited the shot from the Jupiter canon that Bisca, from team Osprey, was going to shoot. She drew out long breaths as her eyes followed Natsu and Happy, who were soon joined by Gajeel, Wendy, Carla and Pantherlily. Lucy's grip was harsh against her own wrist. She had hoped for the best, even though she was aware that this enemy was far beyond anything Fairy Tail has faced. But then again, they had all improved since they broke up a little over a year ago.

Out of the expected spot where team Osprey was, the Jupiter canon took its shot toward the airships, causing smoke to cloud the sight around the area. "NATSU! GAJEEL! WENDY!" Lucy shrieked as the large shot collided with its target. Worry apprehended her vision, causing the blonde female to be in a temporary blinded state.

"IT'S OKAY, LUCY!" wailed Natsu, of whom was seen zooming around the sky, with Happy on his back, once again. "We got this!" He continued, and after such, Natsu and Happy dove into the cloud of smoke. But seeing Natsu okay was all the female needed to be okay at that particular moment. That was all she needed.

Yet, when the clouds cleared, the head airship still remained in the air, whilst some other airships within the vicinity of the head airship were damaged. Perhaps you could say even one or two were headed toward the ground, but that never ceased the fact that the head airship was undamaged by the Jupiter canon. "What!?" Lucy shrilled, her eyes wide pits of horrid darkness, with some despair. "How did Jupiter now even collide with the one Ajeel was on!? Did he… Did he reflect it!?"

Ajeel had, in fact, reflected the Jupiter canon from hurting his airship, not giving a damn whether or not it's affect his comrades' ships. He wanted to set the Fairies on fire, and not in a good way. Rather, in a violent way. But he didn't have such a chance due to the fact that when the smoke had cleared, Natsu, Wendy, Gajeel, along with their Exceeds, had come barging in toward the airship.

The moment the Dragonslayers and their Exceeds attacked, however, they were forced to land on the tilting airship, which consisted of Ajeel, and other members of Alvarez. Yet, when they landed on the airship, Natsu, Wendy and Gajeel began bending over in motion sickness. "I can't… Fight…. Like this…" cried the Sky Sorceress, Wendy Marvell, as she bent over in stomach pain.

Lucy, oblivious as to what was going on in the sky, was headed toward the Fairy Tail guild- or was, until a half of the head airship broke in half. Lucy's eyes had hastily trailed toward the airship, which half of it was heading toward the ground. Lucy, being herself, dashed toward where she thought it'd land. But, as the blonde Celestial Spirit Mage did such an action, her eyes often scanned the remaining half of the airship which was, miraculously, still floating in the air.

It was such a fine slice, Lucy had found after close, or, in her case, several elongated glances. But as such was going on, Lucy found herself slowing down her running pace, of which she didn't really fancy. After she had come to the conclusion that it was Erza who had sliced such perfection out of the airship, Lucy once again started to dash toward where the other half, by now, had crashed into the ground.

Tears ran down the female's cheek as she approached the crash site. Lucy couldn't see any of the Dragonslayers, but their Exceeds were found and they were alright. "NATSU, WENDY, GAJEEL?!" the blonde hollered as she trailed around the crash site, which was full of flames and everything.

In a flash, Lucy was blinded by some material that covered her eyes. It was black, which she knew. She started to let out a scream, which didn't get her very far, as she was then duck taped, or something was put in her mouth. Her wrists and ankles were forced together, leaving her unable to fight for herself against whatever was hurting her at that moment.

In that moment, Lucy had lost her consciousness. Everything went black in her mind, and in her sight. The blonde was out cold, but what did this mean? The last words she had heard before she lost consciousness were, "You are coming with me, Blondie…"