Chapter 9

Darkness was all Laxus could see when an image suddenly flashed through his mind. Only, it wasn't an image. He was much too familiar to this memory. It was his every nightmare. He looked at the person lying before him. It was Lucy, bloodied, battered and bruised beyond repair. Despair clouded his psyche and it was like he's a machine being shut down.

"Lucy, w-why did you do that? Are you stupid? Are….y-you..." Erza, wiped the never-ending tears from her eyes with her arms. Her voice was blurred like he can't understand what she's staying. Time seemed to have slowed down to put him in more agony.

"Lushyyyyy… Don't die yet. It's y-your birthday. W-We made a cake f-for y-you a-and…" Happy can't finish his sentence because he was crying and gasping for oxygen. The words the Exceed left echoed through his mind.

'Die.' 'DIE.' 'DIE!' Those word slapped him with the hard reality. He stared down at her. Blood. BLOOD. BLOOD! Crimson liquid was screaming to him, sending him into a spiral of internal calvary.

"Lucy, please don't do this to us! You just got home and…and…and now…" Gray couldn't finish his sentence; he just hugged her barely conscious beaten body. She raised her right hand Laxus was holding and gently patted Gray's back saying that it will all be alright.

"Natsu…" She barely breathed but still managed to spoke up. Laxus' heart crumped like a paper when he heard her voice, so pained. She looked at Natsu straight in the eye and removed her hand from Gray and cupped Natsu's cheek. It was damp from all his crying and continued while enduring the pain on her battered body. "I'm sorry I wasn't able to keep my promise…I'm sorry I won't be able to…to...be S-Class." She managed, coughing blood. "I guess I really am weak." She chuckled, her arm weakened, causing her hand to fall which Natsu caught. He put it in his lips, his hands trembling.

This scene was too much to bear. His heart wasn't just a crumpled paper anymore, it was a glass broken into shards. Laxus gasped for air, for an exit but there was none. He was glued there in his place, making him relive the past. He can't find the voice to speak.

"Luce, you're gonna be okay. You're not weak, prove that to me. We're going to do jobs as soon as you get well. You, me, Gray, Erza and Happy…and…and…and you still have to…pay your rent." Natsu begged.

Seeing this, it felt like all air was taken away from his lungs, his heartbeat stood still. Everyone went silent and wept their tears in sadness.

'Help!' He plead. The silence is deafening him.

"Please stay alive. PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEASE!" Team Natsu is becoming more hysterical as they chanted those words.

"La…xus?" Lucy spoke, barely a whisper. Such a simple word, in its low volume but it seemed to have saved him from the abyss. Everything was becoming clearer now, his sight, his hearing and his rapidly beating heart. He could feel them now.

"Yes. I'm here, Lucy." Laxus squeezed her hand. He only noticed it now that tears were streaking his face and whimpers were escaping his lips. Never have he felt this way before. When his father abandoned him for greed, it was okay. When he was expelled, he was okay. It stung but over time, he grew into it but this, its weight is too overwhelming.

"Laxus, t-thank you for everything…" Lucy gently caressed Laxus' gift on her neck. "...who knows I'll die this way…" Lucy chuckled and looked at him, his face contorted in sadness and eyes drowning in tears. "…I can't risk you dying…y-y-you will be the next to lead the guild. The n-next…" She winced in pain. "…G-G-Guild Master."

"Lucy, you're stupid! I…I don't care about that anymore…If losing you will be the reason, I don't want it anymore…Please, please, please stay with me. I love you!" Laxus begged, hugging her in his chest. She was cold. Lucy was obviously taken aback by his confession. Her face said that she was confused but then smiled.

Struggling, she lifted up both of her hands and cupped Laxus's cheeks. She rose up and kissed him full in the lips, tears streaming from her face.

"I-I love you, too…" She said as her body went limp, closed her eyes and breathed her last, all the while smiling.

"Lucy?! Lucy?!" He shook her limp body but there was no response. "Don't you dare die on me!" He barked.


Laxus quickly scrambled to sit up. He was sweating bullets and his throat seems to have been swept by drought.

"That dream again…" He put both of his hands in his face and brought it to his hair to rummage it. There was never a night that he didn't dreamed of it. He just put up an imposing front to everyone in hopes that they'll see him as indestructible. With Lucy, he covered it in smiles so as not to worry her but whenever he was alone; it was all he could think of.

'Blood.' An image of a crimson liquid momentarily crossed his mind. It was the resulting trauma he received but just as his emotions, he tried to conceal it with his oh-so tough and bad ass exterior. He doesn't want to see any of it anymore. It's torturing him of Lucy's supposed death.

He looked at his clock. It was nine in the morning. Quite late for a breakfast. He stood up and took a quick shower. After that, he saw that there was still a scar running across his right shoulder. Last night took out most of his sanity trying not to scream at the sight of blood in his body. It wasn't the pain from Erza's slash that caught him off guard. It was the thick trickling sensation that drips across his chest and drenching his clothes.

"Knock! Knock!" It was Lucy. He stepped out of the shower room and wrapped a towel along his waist. He was, by far, practically nude and sexily naked under those sheets. 'This could be Laxus Jr.'s crowning moment.' He inwardly smirked.

"Who's there?" He played along. He walked towards the door, readied himself to be sexier (If that was even possible. The guy's a god, for Mavis' sake!) and also to turn the knob to welcome the goddess.

"Lucy who?" He grinned.

Lucy found herself slightly annoyed at her husband-to-be. Nonetheless, she just decided to just go with it but before she could make a witty comeback, the door burst open and she saw heaven. Ah, erm, she meant, Laxus. She felt like her soul was sucked out of her body and her throat run dry.

"Good Morning, Mrs. Dreyar, how do you do?" The man standing in front of her was leaning on the door in nothing but a towel. His eyes were half-lidded, arms crossed, his hair was dripping with water and he was licking his lips. And did she mention that he was naked? No words came out of her mouth. Instead, she felt like it was drool. How could she? The meal is just waiting to be eaten right here, right now.

"G-G-Good M-Mo-Mo-r-rn-n-ning…" She tried to conceal her blush by fooling herself that the floor was more interesting than a…than a… than a…god. It was futile, nonetheless. Laxus already saw her face right before she decided that a wooden floor was more worthy of her attention than him. He didn't felt jealous or what. It was a floor, for God's sake!

"Madame, would you like some hot and delicious food?" He gestured towards the bed. Lucy could feel heat rose in her face as she entered the room. Laxus closed it for 'privacy' and followed behind her, all the while, ready to take the towel off and start making blond and beautiful babies.

"Uhm…let me think about it." She was really carefully weighing the options this time. Her mother always told her in stories that Papa and Mama waited until after the wedding to do it. She wants that kind of thing too. And besides, self-control is a testament that love was never based on sex.

"Lucy…" Laxus was already on the bed, coaxing and tempting her with a sweet, sexy voice. Those muscles and abs. they could all be hers in just a single yes. Thankfully, the towel was still on or God knows what she'll do if it wasn't.

'Oh, I know!' A little voice inside her head said. 'You'll dive down there and enjoy the taste of a luscious heaven. 'She mentally shushed that voice.

"No thanks." She bolted towards the door giggling, leaving a very, very, and very disappointed hunk of a man.

'Oh, well. It was worth a try.' Laxus said to himself, smiling. Making babies right now wasn't actually his main goal. It was to protect her from all dangers. Mnemosyne was still lurking behind the shadows. There's no time to be fooling around now that there's a fugitive on the loose.

"And Laxus…" Lucy peeked at the doors.

"Yes?" He looked up to her as she walked towards him.

"Breakfast's ready. I've cooked something special for you." She kissed him on the lips, enough to 'reenergize' him but not too much as to tempt herself into tasting that heaven called Laxus.

"Lucy," He called just as she was on the door.

"Yes?" She turned around, smiling.

"I love you."

"I love you too, honey. And by the way, put some clothes on. See ya downstairs!" She exited, mimicking his half-lidded and sexy acting. He could never used to that. He'll definitely protect her.


"Thanks for the meal, Lucy-san!" Breakfast was on-going. It turned out that Laxus wasn't the only one who will be able to taste Lucy's cooking but thankfully and fortunately, all guild members were strolling around Crocus Capital except, of course Wendy and Charle.

"Thanks." The white Exceed said with an air of nonchalance.

"Welcome! Laxus, you want some more?" The blonde asked her fiancé. He nodded while still gobbling the food Lucy cooked. She was a good chef after all.

"Uhmmm…Lucy-san, pardon me but are you and Erza…okay?" Lucy stopped from her tracks, even Laxus paused. Taking this as a 'no', Wendy decided to drop the subject. "Sorry."

"That's okay. Want some more?"

"Yes!"

'So that's why. The reason there wasn't a redhead in the burial. It's because Erza must have felt responsible.' Charle thought to herself. The vision last night was slowly unfolding. She has to stop it from happening but how?


A/N: Hello, my dear friends! Yeah, I want to thank the movie Titanic because it inspired me to use the Chapter 23 of A Solemn Vow To Take as the starting paragraph but as you can see, it was written differently. That's because it was written in Laxus Dreyar's POV. And by the way, it was Charle's premonition of Lucy's death and not Erza's. The dream Erza has been talking about was the memory of Lucy's death in the Chapter 23 of ASVTT. I just did it that way because I really want to confuse you. Hahaha. Sorry about that :D

Anyways, thanks for all those who supported my story. Please do continue and as for the reviews, here are my replies:

Mromero18: Well, Levy said in the first OVA that Erza likes perverted books so I figured as much that she'll definitely put that 'knowledge' into good use. Hahaha XD

vampgirliegirl: Yah! I was definitely making myself suffer by making Erza suffer. It's too much. Hahaha :D

twilightamanda: Me too. I hope you find this chapter better :D

Painful Kiss: Thank you for the compliment. I hope you find this more dramatic :)