A/N: This is DRAMATIC GUYS! Don't panic! I'm updating again today, but not for a few hours! Let me know what you think of this one, cause it's getting to the serious stuff now. :) ;)

Had a panic attack when writing this, my computer randomly restarted and I was screaming because I hadn't saved for a while! THANK GOD FOR AUTOSAVE! ;) xx enjoy! xx

Lucy's POV

I felt magic coursing through me, my body humming in anticipation, literally vibrating with the power surging through my body.

Still, I forced myself to pull more into my body, despite the fact my magical container within my body had overflowed hours ago.

Mavis had said it would take a couple of days for me to reach the level of magic I needed, but I don't think she expected me to get so close to the energy source, as I'd only been here 8 hours and already I was powered up enough to cast the spell.

I opened my eyes, to see I'd been levitating off the floor. I squealed as I lost concentration and collapsed to the ground in a heap.

'Kyaah! That hurt!' I mumbled, rubbing my sore butt, before looking down at my arms in astonishment.

I was literally glowing with magic power beneath my skin. I blinked, rubbing my eyes, and pulled out my pocket mirror to look at my face.

My skin was shining gold, and my eyes were completely blue.

'Creepy!' I muttered, staring into my filled in eyes before snapping the mirror shut and slipping it away, hardening my resolve as I stood, my legs shaky with cramp.

'Please, work.' I whispered, looking up at the pulsing blue orb of magical energy above me as a couple of bolts shot down to blast me with more power. I felt my body shake, with the amount of magic it had absorbed.

'LUCY! CAST IT NOW! YOU'VE GOT TOO MUCH IN YOU! DO IT NOW!' I turned my creepy new eyes to stare at Master Mavis who'd appeared outside the circle, and nodded, smiling, before shutting my eyes and beginning to chant the spell Crux had taught me.

"Survey the heavens, Open the Heavens,

All the stars, far and wide

Show me the key I search for

Far and wide

Oh Tetrabiblos,

I am the keeper of the stars

Aspect become complete

Open they malevolent eye

Oh 88 stars of the Heavens,

Search!

Key of the Phoenix! Phoenicis!

Reveal yourself to me,

Celestial Scan!"

Immediately, I felt the magic I'd absorbed into my body pouring out, leaving me in such a rush I felt myself falling to the ground on my knees, in a silent scream as the golden magic circle beneath me enlarged further to cover the entire stone floor, the markings carved into the stones shining in resonance with my spell.

My heart hammered sharply against my chest and I shut my eyes in pain, before screaming as my magic poured out of my body, arching my back in agony.

Master Mavis's POV

I watched on, horrified as a scream tore through her body, echoing and resonating with the magic coursing out of her body.

I'd miscalculated her abilities.

'LUCY!' I shouted, trying to enter the area, but was pushed back by the magical barrier her spell had created around her, sparks of blue and gold magic striking me back.

Her eyes flew open suddenly as her scream was cut off.

They were pure white and were moving around in her skull in every direction. The spell was working.

'LUCY!' I heard a voice beside me, and saw Leo the Lion beside me staring in shock at his master, before he tried to enter the spell, being thrown back by her magic.

'LUCY STOP!' He screamed, tears streaming down his face, as his hands lit up, trying to punch his way through the barrier, but only being thrown away.

By all rights, he should have returned to the spirit world from the damage, but he just ran back, ignoring the pain as his body began to disintegrate from the lack of celestial power fuelling him. 'She'll be fine Leo, return to the realm. I'll watch over her.' He turned to look at me, finally noticing my presence. His eyes were wild and crazed with worry and fear, all for the celestial mage before me.

'She wouldn't want you to see her like this.' I whispered, as blood began to trickle out of her nose, tracking down the outside of her open mouth and dripping to the floor from her chin.

'NO! I PROMISED I'D SAVE HER! I PROMISED!' He screamed, hitting the barrier over and over again, the skin pealing from his hands.

Suddenly, I saw her face turn to face us, her white eyes looking in our direction. Leo froze, staring at her in shock.

'Lucy!' He let out a pained whisper as she pulled his key up in a shaking arm.

"Forced... gate... closure. Leo the... lion!" She gasped out, her eyes still roving around her head, caught in the spell. He roared as he was thrown back to the spirit world.

I stared on in astonishment as she lowered her arm, collapsing onto her back, her eyes still uncontrollably swivelling in her face.

Her magical energy was depleting dangerously fast after she'd forced Leo's gate closure, and I knew I had to do something.

Just as I was about to stop the spell, she screamed again, her body arching off the ground before she collapsed, the spell suddenly disappearing as her body shook on the ground, sparks of magical energy flying from her still glowing body.

Slowly, her convulsions slowed, and the magical barrier around her dissolved. I ran forwards, grabbing her hand and searching for a pulse in her wrist, before I grabbed onto her and teleported her back to the guild.

'I'm sorry Lucy.' I whispered, tears leaking from my eyes. It was my fault for underestimating her, and not preparing for this kind of situation.

I flinched as I heard her friends voices scream her name as they realised who had appeared before them. I stepped back as they began to attend to her, Bickslow shoving people out of the way to pick her up and run her to the infirmary, her body still shaking uncontrollably.

Bickslow's POV

I stared down at her body. She'd been asleep for two days, shaking as the magical energy she'd absorbed tried to escape her; her body not strong enough to hold it.

I saw her soul within her body, a shining golden light, waver and flicker, before bursting back, strong as ever.

When Mavis appeared with Lucy in that state, my heart stopped and I felt as though my guts had been ripped out of my body. My eyes had blurred as I'd shoved through the worried and dithering crowd, to grab her. Freed and Ever had followed me, along with Mira and both Masters.

Laxus had joined us not long after, along with Natsu, Gray, Wendy, Erza, Levy and Gajeel. The whole guild would be here if Master hadn't put his foot down, and declared only the Raijinshuu and Team Natsu were permitted to enter with Wendy and Porlyusica's permission.

Levy looked depressed, but nodded, accepting it and asking to be told when she woke up.

I'd been sitting beside her bed ever since she'd come in. Laxus and the rest surrounded her bed too, having grabbed chairs from other rooms as we watched over her.

Ever had fallen asleep gripping her pale hand, her head resting on the mattress beside her, and Laxus hadn't slept at all. Not many of us had.

I'd taken my mask and hood off days ago, ignoring Team Natsu's curious glances, before they seemed to get used to seeing me without them, and ignored me in favour of watching over their friend.

I stared at her closed eyes. Last night, her body had finally stopped shaking, and the golden glow that had been emanating from her still body had diminished slightly.

We'd barely spoken, our only reason for being there to watch her, to make sure she was going to recover.

Yesterday, Loke had opened his own gate and appeared at the foot of her bed, pale and beaten up. He staggered forwards, shoving past everyone to collapse against her, hugging her tightly in his arms and crying silently.

'I tried to stop her, I tried-' Erza had calmed him down slightly, but looking into his eyes, we could see he blamed himself for what happened.

Suddenly, her body started shuddering, and she turned to the side, retching. We all stood, panicking before Wendy shoved past us all with a bucket, holding it in front of Lucy's mouth as she puked out blood.

'What the fuck?' Laxus shouted, staring in shock as the red liquid poured from her mouth.

'PORLYUSICA!' Natsu screamed, gripping the iron bed rail between his hands, the metal starting to glow red hot as he trembled in fear.

I reached forwards and pulled her hair out of her face, trying to help in any pathetic way I could. Ever had reached forwards and was stroking her back soothingly, whispering in her ear as tears leaked out of her still closed eyes.

'Get out you useless human! OUT!' Porlyusica burst in shouting upon seeing the scene before her, and shoved us all out as she and Wendy began some emergency treatment.

I looked at my hands, to see some of her blood had splashed on me, and stared emotionlessly before my hands started shaking.

I felt a hand on my arm, and flinched, looking to see Freed had gripped on to me to try and calm me down.

'What the hell's wrong with her?' Laxus shouted at Master, pacing across the floor.

The guild was silent except for some of the women sobbing at the idea of Lucy's condition worsening.

'She's dying.' I muttered, still in shock, staring at the spots of her blood that glistened on my hands. I felt myself sink to the ground, still staring at my shaking hands as there was silence around me.

'Don't even think that.' Laxus hissed, striding forward and grabbing my shirt, lifting me up and shoving me into the wall, hitting me out of my stupor.

'She'll be fine. This is blondie we're talking about. She's too damn stubborn and annoying to d... Just don't say it!' He shouted, storming over to a corner and punching the wall, lightning crackling all around him.

'Luce is strong. Luce is strong. Luce is strong.' Natsu was standing with his eyes closed, repeating the words over and over as Erza and Ever sat down together, gripping each other's hands as tears dripped down their faces.

'Lucy.' I whispered clenching my shaking hands into tight fists and slowly standing to go to the men's changing room. I desperately washed my hands, rubbing the soap across my skin, scouring at my flesh with my nails, desperate to remove the memory of her blood on my hands.

'Lucy. Lucy. Lucy.' I muttered desperately, scrubbing and scrubbing, repeating her name over and over again to make up for all the times I refused to say it, to refuse I cared for someone other than my team.

'Please, please, please.' I whispered, my hands red from where I'd rubbed them raw, the skin angry at my treatment. But I had to carry on.

I felt a hand land on my shoulder, and saw Gray standing behind me, looking at my soapy, clean hands. He shook his head, and guided my hands to rest under the cool water. I let him pull me back to wait outside the infirmary door, my babies hovering behind us. They hadn't spoken at all since I'd seen Lucy lying on the guild floor, blood pouring out of her nose and her tiny body shivering.

I listened as the sound of her retching permeated the infirmary door, and closed my eyes, rocking back and forth with my hands clenching tightly to my head.

I heard someone sit beside me and didn't have to look up to see it was Laxus.

It felt like we'd been sitting outside for hours till the sounds of her retching finally stopped. Laxus had begun pacing again, and we all jerked to look as the door opened, and out came Porlyusica.

'Wendy is resting. The blonde is stable, and will begin to recover. Her magic levels have returned to normal.' I let lose a breath I didn't know I'd been holding and rubbed a hand across my gritty eyes.

'Thank God.' Erza whispered, before hugging Ever in happiness. Laxus clapped his hand on my shoulder before walking and dragging the pink haired old woman into a hug.

'Thank you.' He whispered, before releasing her and walking back into the infirmary.

'Tch. Stupid humans.' She muttered, before glaring at us all and walking away.

Slowly, we all trooped back into her room. The blood had been cleaned up, and her skin was a shade paler, but it wasn't shining at all, and she was breathing more regularly than before.

We silently all sat back down to resume our silent vigil over the woman we all seemed to love.

Please Lucy. Come back to me I thought, lifting her still hand up to my face and clutching it desperately, clinging on to the last anchor of my sanity.