Carrier of E.N.D
Chapter 4: Riot

The early sun rising where the sun's rays shined over Lucy's closed eyes, she groaned as she struggled to open her eyes and say good morning to the world. Shuffling around where she shivered to the biting cold, she slowly forced her eyes opened to only squint when the sun blinded her for a while. "Urgh," she muttered as she sat up to stretch her arms and back.

"Lucy," a voice whispered where she slowly turned her head to look over to her closest Celestial Spirit standing beside her with a frown on his face. Tipping her head to the side, she yawned and rubbed her eyes. "What is it Loke? Is something the matter?" she asked, dropping her arm to look at him this time with full attention.

Noting how he was struggling to maintain his composure, she furrowed her brows. "Loke?" she asked once more before watching him go down to his knees in front of her where he placed a hand on her shoulder with a unsure smile on his face. "Is something the matter?"

The lion tightened his hold on her shoulder. "I don't think you should go to the guild..." he stated where she tipped her head to the other side in confusion. Her mind running around in circles as she stared at him, she opened her mouth where suddenly her door opened to reveal a panting Gray standing in front of them with wide eyes.

"The guild is beyond reasoning. They're enraged about how we were unable to rewrite the book completely and they're just talking shit about us!" Gray informed where Loke growled in which made Lucy to rise from her sleeping bag. Her eyes wide, she stared at Gray in horror before snapping her head to her spirit. "Is this what you mean about not going to the guild?" she questioned.

Her heart tightened when both men looked away from her. Her hands to her hair, she shook her head. "How are they enraged? We did our best and they're not being supportive like always?!" she cried out before snapping her head to Gray in horror. "They're not like this! Why is it like this?"

Gray running his fingers through his hair in frustration, he leaned against the door frame without a proper answer to his close friend's question. "I'm not too sure about it myself but even Erza had no words when I approached her. Levy was screaming how she could've done better and Natsu was just... He was just helpless and pitiful. He couldn't even look at me," he informed.

"I spoke to Makarov, and he told us to go and meet him in his office," Gray said where Loke gave a smile to Lucy which wasn't reaching his eyes.

She could feel all of her spirits growing restless, and she too knew and understood their feelings - This trouble was sudden. Too sudden, one may add.

"Alright... Allow me to get ready and I'll go with you to meet Master," she replied. Loke taking a step forward, he placed a hand over his chest, "I'll come too. Just in case anything happens."

With a nod, both men went outside where Lucy quickly got changed and brushed her teeth. Her mind in a daze as she then brushed her hair, she shook her head and thought of the positives and forced herself to look at the mirror and give herself a shaky smile. "Maybe they're just angry since they're having to deal with a hangover," she told herself before walking out of her little home to have both boys turning to look at her.

"Alright, let's go while there's little people at the guild," Gray muttered, grabbing her hand where they all began to jog to the guild building. Their hearts racing as their heads tried to reason out the possibilities of what may have made them angry, they soon found themselves standing in front of the guild doors with heavy pants following their every breath.

Lucy, Gray and Loke all looking at each other before giving a nod in sync, they braced themselves for the worse as they opened the large doors together to find all eyes on them with the emotions of anger and hatred attacking their inner souls. With every glance in different directions, all emotions were the same, and it destroyed them from within.

"Look who decided to show up," a voice whispered from the corner where another voice followed it from behind. "The one who failed to save a life, causing greater damage rather than helping."

Gray adding pressure to his hold on Lucy's hand, he glanced over to the blonde to see her face pale in despair. His eyes scanning around the guild as they stood there in front of the doors, his eyes spotted a pair of glowing crimson eyes within the shadows of the corners of the second storey and eyed them before watching a figure emerge out from it to stand above them.

He knew that Sakura was an observer, and he knew that Sakura knew more than the answers provided last night.

"Come on," Gray whispered, gently pulling Lucy along with him where he looked over his shoulder to see the speechless Lucy lower her head in shame. He guessed that the guilt of not being able to save her crush was finally hitting her hard - Like a large rock thrown into thin glass.

Leading the blonde upstairs, he glanced over to Sakura who still had her eyes glued to the scene below her. Not knowing what the girl was thinking, he looked away and shook his head before guiding Lucy towards the Master's office. "Don't let their words get to you completely. They just need to understand that you were sacrificing everything to help Natsu," he whispered once more, trying to lighten the mood where the blonde forced herself to smile once again.

"You're right. Maybe the rest aren't going to be like this... I mean, Fairy Tail overall won't shun us..." she replied before raising her head up to him. "Right?"

He swallowed down his guilt of bringing up her sacrifice to help the pinkette downstairs. Forcing himself to smile back to her, he nodded his head. "That's right. They just need time," he muttered, unable to tell her that the majority of the guild felt the same negative emotions that she had just witnessed.

The crimson watching everything unfold from the shadows, she gritted her teeth as she watched the three enter Grandfather's office. Shaking her head where she held herself back from entering the same room, she balled her fists as she turned away and walked, only to hit her head into Laxus's chest. "Laxus..." she began where the taller blond looked down to her and simply shook his head.

What they were witnessing was none of their business. It was between the guild, Lucy and Gray, and not theirs.

Within the naturally-lit room, Gray, Loke and Lucy stood stiffly within Makarov's room. Their eyes unable to look at the old man seated in front of them directly, they froze when they heard a loud sigh come out from the little man. "Lucy and Gray..."

With a soft voice, Lucy lowered her head. "We both don't know what happened... We -" she was interrupted by Makarov who gave out a firm gruff which was enough to silence her completely.

"You don't need to explain yourself and reason about what you've done. I know you both well to know that you did everything you could to help Natsu's condition, and that it requires a lot of magic and strength to rewrite everything - You both have been fighting against the soldiers as well, so of course you both would be exhausted," Makarov began where all heads looked up to him.

"I don't know what's going on with their heads but what they've been saying to you both last night and today was unreasonable. I've told them all to shut their mouths up and think about what they're saying, and I cannot believe that even my own interruption wasn't effective," he said.

Lucy playing with her hands, she sighed. "I was almost there but rewriting that last chapter... I just don't know..." she muttered in complaint before shaking her head where anger settled into her system. "No one knew what to do about E.N.D and I took the risk of sacrificing my life to rewrite what was within it! Is there going to be no one there to say "You've done your best. We'll fix this together"? What utter bullshit is this?" she cried out before placing a hand over her heart. "Never once has Fairy Tail shunned a member for failure! Why now after everything we've been through?!"

Makarov shook his head. "You're definitely right about that child. Fairy Tail, our family, isn't the one to point out mistakes and stir up madness within the guild. We strive to fix everything together because we are nakama and family," he replied, easing some of Lucy's frustrations where he looked at Gray who was fighting against his tongue not to spout out his own frustrations to him.

"Gray... You don't have to hold it in while within the office. No one will be able to hear you from outside - No prying dragon ears will be able to hear you," he urged where Gray balled his fists.

"Lucy didn't do anything wrong. I could've helped her but I just stood on the sidelines," Gray began where Lucy looked at him in disbelief and shook her head. "You were looking out for me," she muttered.

And that's when everything grew quiet until madness struck within the guild, making the crimson slam the door open with raging red eyes. "If you don't shut this guild up, I will go down there and silence them myself. I come back to see this, Makarov?" Sakura growled, narrowing her eyes as she glared at the old man behind the table. "You know of my condition, and if this nonsense doesn't settle, then this place will be covered with the same color as my hair."

With that threat, the loudness from below made them realize that something was happening below. Everyone hastily leaving the office, they looked down to the main floor of the guild to see some people yelling, demanding Lucy and Gray to fix their mistakes.

"They tried to do the unthinkable and look at the results! Natsu is now on the line and we have no idea where E.N.D is! They need to get punished by Master Makarov!" a guild member yelled out in fury where agreements followed in cries. "Why should we allow them anywhere closer to Natsu after everything they've done?!" another cried out.

Makarov sighing, he stood on the railings of the second storey and looked at the pitiful state his family is in. With a loud voice, he told them all to shut up. "Quit your complaining! You all wouldn't know what to do and would've just stood there like sitting ducks waiting for the bomb to explode in front of you. Gray, Lucy and Happy were brave to tackle on the challenges in front of you," he boomed where a guild member dared to speak back.

"We were fighting against the soldiers. We weren't useless. Unlike us, they were playing with fire and obviously the fire was too much for them - They're weak!"

And that's when the insults came flying towards the two with Happy sitting in the corner of the guild room with tears in his eyes. The poor Exceed in tears, he was held tightly by Wendy who tried her very best to console him, only to fail as he continued to cry harder as Natsu broke a glass cup within his hand. Natsu unable to speak while he listened to the yells around him, he didn't know what to say for the first time which was frustrating.

"They can't do a thing! What's the point of even promoting them for the guild?! They can't do anything for the guild and all they know is how to cause trouble! It's useless to have them here when they're just going to cause trouble for us?!"

Lucy having tears in her eyes, she leaned over the railings with gritted teeth which caught the attention of the crimson-haired mage watching nearby. "We're the ones causing trouble?! You make it sound like we're the troublemakers here when we've been our best for the guild!" she cried out, taking in a large inhale of air. "You call this guild a family when you're shunning your family members?!"

"When you have people always crying for help and unable to do much for the guild, of course you'll be fed up of having to deal with their problems and issues! All you do is whine, complain and show off your looks while leaving the attacking to your spirits!" a member yelled where Loke narrowed his eyes and looked over the railings in anger.

"I dare you to say that again! Our Lucy isn't the type to hide behind our backs, and you know just how much magic it takes to support us! You wouldn't be able to hold our gates open, not to mention having two gates opened at once while fighting alongside us!" Loke spat, narrowing his eyes to one certain member before growling out loud.

Lucy's tears now flowing and unstoppable, she retreated with her hands covering her face in shame. They were right, maybe she was a splinter to the guild and that's why they're rioting and not supporting her.

Perhaps she was -

"She's weak and you know it! Not to mention how Gray couldn't do anything and just ran with her!"

Indeed, that was the bullet that inflicted the most damage to her fragile heart. Dropping onto her knees where Gray leaned against the bookshelf in disbelief, Makarov sighed at his disappointment to his children. The old man looking over to the crimson, he just simply gave her a nod where she gave one back as she glided to the railings and gave a long and threatening growl which held enough power to have everyone submit in silence.

"Pathetic humans," she scowled before looking down to the crying Lucy. Narrowing her eyes where she looked at the guild below her, she gave them a look of challenge, asking who was brave enough to challenge her power through her glowing eyes. "They're pathetic, but something isn't right with the air..." she muttered before Lucy got up and ran down the stairs to only leave the guild with Gray running after her.