Hi guys! It's been a while, hehe... I'm sorry this chapter took so long, it's partially my fault =-=" I had started this chapter really late and since I only ever write in the middle of the night now - well it took a while. I'm so happy so many of you stayed round and read though, despite my slower-by-every-minute updates, I'm really grateful.

School's been keeping me busy (I'm not the only one so I can't complain ^.^") so the chapter shouldn't be up until next month - I'm really sorry I can't get it any faster but on the bright side, the story will be reaching it's end soon.

Big thanks to my Beta who always has to receive all my emails in the middle of the night - I know you've been busy yourself ^.^" And to you guys for waiting so patiently!

Side note: The new Fairy Tail chapters have been - surprisingly not disappointing recently XD I didn't have a lot of faith in this arc but it seems it's not a bust after all, lol trust Hiro Mashima to do this kind of thing. Anyways, enjoy the chapter!

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.

Chapter 34 (Scarlet Red Blood: Pt 2)

Normal POV

Erza could feel the saliva that had built up in the back of her throat as she stared at Lucy's resentful gaze. She tried to look away from the pair of glaring brown eyes as the GMG mascot explained the rules away - to her, it was taking more time than it really needed.

Erza could tell without truly looking at the blonde Mage that she hadn't forgotten about what had happened all those months ago, but Erza had called it anyway - she doubted anyone could forget the day they had lost everything that had once mattered to them.

She understood the feeling of loss well enough and knew exactly how long it took for one to even begin to get over such a betrayal from the people she was once so close to - an eternity.

Erza was ashamed that she ended up casting a burden this heavy on someone else, but that wasn't what was worrying her at the moment. She looked up towards at the other Mage again, her dark eyes meeting with Lucy's for just a moment before flicking away.

The red-headed Mage couldn't help but catch a fleeting glance of the blonde's emotions as she looked away - a cloudy mix of resentment and fear - resentment of her, fear of her. Erza frowned as she remembered what Jellal had said that night, "Lucy is a perfect weapon for him and against humanity."

She stared at the blonde Mage as Jellal's voice echoed through her head - she didn't know why she found it so hard to believe him.

She had met up with Jellal two days ago, the same day Natsu was temporarily ex-communicated from the guild after the big blowout with Sabertooth.

She had been standing out on the balcony of her shared bedroom, thinking about whether Master was serious about the ex-communication or not when a familiar pigeon greeted her with a urgent message from Crime Sorceire.

Erza, not as sceptical as the first time she had received a message, went straight ahead to the agreed upon spot at midnight and waited. It wasn't long before Jellal appeared, his face unreadable as he approached the red-headed Mage.

"What's wrong? Why did you ask me to come here?" Erza had asked, her voice almost toneless, but in her eyes Jellal could already see fear rearing it's ugly head. He felt bad that he had to be the one to tell her the news next.

"It's Zeref; Zeref is in Crocus."

Erza's eyes had widened as the sentence settled into her mind, her blood ran cold. Zeref was in the city right now, this city - the city that thousands of innocent people were living in now, not to mention everyone that she cared about and herself.

She couldn't help but feel extremely exposed then as she stared at the blue-haired Mage; was the Dark Mage watching her now - she had wondered? Was she wobbling at the edge of her own death for even daring to come out that night?

"Why?" Erza had asked softly minutes later, her voice visibly shaking as she spoke to Jellal. The former council member could only laugh as he heard Erza's ominous question - he had wished he didn't have to be the one to tell her this.

"Lucy Heartfilia. He wants Lucy Heartfilia." Jellal hesitated for a few seconds before continuing on, taking Erza's silence as a signal to continue.

"The dark magical energy I had told you to look around for three months ago, we found out a few days ago that it was Zeref. One of our informers told us he's been hiding out in the more secluded area of Crocus, talking to someone about Lucy."

"Apparently he's been looking for her ever since I caught wind of his magical energy a few months ago - I've been tracking him all over Crocus since then. I don't know why he decided to leave Tenroujima so suddenly but he's here and he's looking for Lucy."

"I've looked at some recent reports too and it seems there've been spottings of Zeref's demons all across Fiore. There's been an huge increase of dark magic activity around the city too - there's no doubting it - Zeref is here."

Erza sighed softly, "But why her? Of all people, why Lucy?" Jellal chuckled bitterly before looking back at Erza, "Why? You've heard the rumours about her after she left Fairy Tail, destroying dark guilds, searching for Zeref - he must have gotten impatient of waiting for Natsu to become strong enough to kill him, plus with Tartarus gone he has no other demons on his side."

Erza bit her lip, "But Lucy stopped searching for him ever since she joined Sabertooth right? No way would they let one of their guild members do this and let it slide."

"She's got her own guild now and since she's so powerful, can't she handle this herself?" Erza added softly. Jellal laughed again, "She can't. She's not as brave she makes you think, Erza. She's human and gets scared, just like the rest of us."

"She knew in advance Zeref had been planning something and has been trying to find a solution since but Zeref had still come. She told me Acnologia, her dragon had a biological link with Zeref and he was the one who told her Zeref was planning something.

"She thought Zeref was just coming to take revenge for killing Acnologia but that doesn't seem to be the case."

"Lucy is a perfect weapon for him and against humanity, if he gets her on his side he'll destroy Crocus, even Fiore for sure. Plus she's a Dragonslayer, the Chaos Dragon Slayer to be exact, which means she was trained by none other than the Chaos Dragon himself. If she could destroy Tartarus in one afternoon, imagine the damage it would do if she were on his side."

Erza stared at Jellal in silence, her arm crossed across her chest. "So you think Zeref will take her by force and control her that way?" A slight nod from Jellal confirmed it. Erza sighed, "We'll keep a close eye on her, stop her from doing anything stupid. What are you gonna do?"

Jellal turned away, "We'll watch Zeref to see what his next move'll be." Erza nodded and began to leave, "Be careful, Jellal." Jellal nodded and gave her a tiny smile. "I will." Erza hesitated a few minutes before leaving, her mouth opened to say something else but she closed it.

"Jellal.. I-" Before she could finish her sentence, though, she was wrapped into a tight hug. Softly, he rested his chin on her head and nodded, as if telling her he understood.

Erza blushed bright red as her forehead rested on Jellal's chest, his heartbeat pounding in her ears. "It'll be alright, Erza, I promise." He whispered quietly as he hugged the red-headed Mage tightly to him. Erza chuckled and nodded, leaning her head against his chest.

"I know. I know."

The next day she woke up to the same bedroom, to the same people but for some reason nothing seemed to be her within grasp anymore - she felt tiny, almost insignificant.

She knew that inside, Lucy was still the same old Lucy she had once considered her nakama; no amount of warping or anger or even hatred could change that - Erza knew, but whether she was a threat to humanity or not was another thing.

Erza didn't want to be on the other side of the war when it came time to take Zeref down.

Part of her wanted to just believe in Lucy - have faith that the old Lucy was still inside her somewhere, the old Lucy that would have spat in the face of evil no matter how scared she was. But that was back when Lucy had something to protect, something that was counting on her, something that was hers and hers alone.

Desperation and loneliness did things to people that could change who they were forever.

Erza knew Lucy would never forgive Fairy Tail completely, so she could only hope that Sabertooth was important enough to Lucy that she would want to protect it.

"Alright, if you are ready please begin on the count of three."

Erza looked at Lucy straight in the eye for the first time that day in almost six months and smiled softly.

"Two,"

"Hey Lucy?" Erza whispered softly as she faced the blonde Mage.

"One."

"I'm sorry."

Lucy looked up, shocked, as the words left Erza's mouth; at the same time the referee's whistle blew and in that split second Lucy's resentment seem to melt away at the sound of the apology before snapping back into reality.

Erza apologising was just making it harder for her to go.

Lucy had already decided that morning she was going to leave that night, she was going to take everything she had - which wasn't a lot - and leave to find Zeref. She had made a decision to take down Zeref and if that meant she had die along with him then it was fine.

She had wanted at the beginning to protect her friends, to stop them from seeing the atrocities she had been through herself but now she was doing everything and anything that would stop them from finding her after she left tonight.

Lucy wanted to think of it all as a noble sacrifice but even she knew she was just running away - again. It was the same with Fairy Tail, she didn't even bother fighting for justice, to prove she was innocent after all. As soon as things got complex she ran, hoping the people left behind would fix it.

Now she had nowhere else to run to and the only solution that seemed to have any meaning to her now was... Death.

At least she would be doing the world two favours after she was gone.

Lying to herself, convincing herself that this was her trying to right a fatal mistake of hers - in reality she knew, she was just trying to find an excuse to end it all, to end everything that was overwhelming her.

She was selfish, she understood, but she was a coward, and no matter how many times she accepted death as her ultimate fate, she was still scared.

Without a reason to mask the fact that she was just trying to find purpose in her life, she would be too scared to end it all - but she would have a reason, her death would have a reason now.

She would take down the basis of all Dark Magic and destroy it from it's core - the ultimate sacrifice for those few and precious seconds of peace.

She knew without a doubt that people would find another great evil once she took down this one, but she'd just have to leave that up to her old friends. If anyone could do it, it would have been them.

Lucy met Erza's soft look one last time before closing her eyes and forcing a smile onto her face, "You know what, Erza? Let's keep the apologies until the end, alright?"

Erza stared surprised for a minute before chuckling, "Alright, if that's what you want." The blonde Mage couldn't help but think Erza was probably not expecting an answer like that from her - maybe something less like her old self, she wondered.

"Let's go, the crowd's waiting." Lucy added before straightening a bit to get a better angle at Erza, she decided then as her heart thundered in her ear that she was going to have make the fight short, short enough so she doesn't get reluctant about leaving again.

"Chaos Dragon Roar!" Lucy yelled, her voice almost shaking as the sky began to darken. Thunder boomed across the Domus Flau all the way until they met up with Lucy's shadowy figure.

The lightning flashed behind Lucy, illuminating her in white light as a churning pillar of a Dark Energy collided towards Erza, who was only a few feet in front of her. The Dark Energy collided with a bang as the shower of dust rained down from the sky.

The lightning flashed again, giving Lucy enough time to see through the dust cloud only to see Erza decked out in her Heaven's Wheel Armour. Lucy couldn't help but feel a sense of helplessness shake her as she caught sight of the armour's familiar ivory glow - she was still shaken by it after seeing it's power for so many years.

But this was different. She was standing on the other side of the battlefield now - fear couldn't stop her, no matter what Erza pulled out of her sleeve she was going to face it and take it down. Was she really forgetting that she was powerful herself?

As if realising that for the first time, a burst of adrenaline shot through her body and she couldn't help but feel excited. She was going to die soon, might as well enjoy every minute she still had.

"Chaos Dragon Wing Slash!" Lucy tried again, taking the Dark Energy to her arms, she swung them around like rope attached to her wrist and sent to them whipping across to Erza. The electric purple strands made contact with the armour...

A loud boom echoed across the playing field as the strands of pure energy went crashing into the hovering swords surrounding Erza, getting tangled up as they went. Lucy stared in shock as she tried to pull away but she was stuck.

Erza glanced at Lucy for a minute but let the strand of energy go, sending Lucy recoiling to the other end of the playing field. Lucy crashed into the ground, the marks her feet left ingrained into the dry compact dirt.

Lucy looked up towards at Erza who was hovering a few feet away from her and winced, her breath getting faster and faster - she was getting tired but she knew Erza wasn't really fighting at all, not at all.

She knew Erza wasn't exactly a genius herself but even an idiot could have seen the opportunity she had just now - Erza wasn't taking her seriously at all.

Suddenly Lucy got up again, dusting herself of shakily as she went - hadn't Erza asked her how strong she was in the beginning? Doesn't that mean she was taking it for real? Was she just there to buy time for Natsu?

That idea seem to stick in Lucy's head as she glanced over at Sting and Natsu and frowned - she was not gonna be finished with Erza quickly at all if Erza doesn't give her her all. She needed to find out her strongest move quickly and learn to take it down.

After that, it would be a cake walk.

"Erza, you're not even fighting for real are you?" Lucy yelled hoarsely across the field grinning slightly. "Why not?" Erza was silent for a few minutes before smiling herself.

"Fine, you caught me. I'm not here to fight."

Erza stepped to the ground as the sword she had hovering around her fell one by one to the ground. She walked closer to Lucy, her armour clinking behind her as she walked.

"If you're not here to fight me, then you're buying time for Natsu aren't you?" Erza chuckled as she neared Lucy's already heaving figure. "No, I'm not here for that either."

Lucy looked up surprised - Erza wasn't even here for that? "You look surprised. Is that all you see me as, tactics and nothing more?" The blonde laughed shakily and took a step back away from the Re-Equip Mage. "Well, we're in the Grand Magic Games after all, on opposite teams - if you're not here to fight then what are you doing here?"

Erza laughed and gestured towards the people around them, the arena, the judges even the Sting and Natsu, "I'm here for them." Lucy frowned impatient, "What are you talking about?" She asked nervously. Erza looked up at that moment and met her gaze.

"What do you think I'm talking about, Lucy?"

Lucy's fists tightened as her mind immediately thought of Zeref but she quickly brushed that aside - no one knew about this, other than her and Minerva, she had told no one else about this other than - Jellal.

No, no way could Erza be talking about that. Unless... Jellal decided to tell her...

"This... This isn't about him, is it?" Lucy whispered, her voice shaking almost uncontrollably as she forced the words out of her throat. A gust of wind blew through the arena then, making Erza's bright red hair fly like the red flag of destruction in the sky.

"We know that he's here, Lucy." Thunder echoed through out the purple sky as Erza spoke, almost drowning out her voice entirely but Lucy clung onto every word; they knew - they knew.

Were they trying to stop her?

"Jellal told me yesterday what you had told him and more. He said Zeref was in Crocus, he said Zeref wasn't just here to take revenge for what you did to Acnologia." Lucy gritted her teeth as Erza spoke, her fist tightening even more.

All she could think about how she already knew this, how she already knew how hopeless the entire situation was - how totally and royally screwed they were.

"He told me Zeref was trying to recruit you." Recruit you. Those words echoed in Lucy's ears as she met Erza's hard gaze, frustrated tears tumbling gently of her cheek. "Shut up."

Erza's eyes widened as the retort, "What?" Lucy gritted her teeth even harder, "I said shut up." Lucy glared straight into Erza eyes as the tears continued to fall, "I know all of this already Erza, don't you get it?! I know! I KNOW HOW DAMN SCREWED WE ARE!" Lucy yelled her voice coarse as she roared.

"If I didn't... I wouldn't have decided what I was going to do tonight." She added softly. "What are you saying?" Erza asked dubiously as she stared at the wet spots where Lucy's tears had fallen in the dirt.

"I'm telling you to leave me alone, alright? Zeref wants me, right? That's why he's here at all so that's what I'll give him - I'll find him and take him down tonight... Even if he takes me with him, I'll do it." Erza's gaze hardened, "What do you think you're doing?! He wants you to be his weapon, don't you get it?!"

"I know what had happened with Acnologia, what makes you think the same thing won't happen this time?!" Erza added, her voice tense. Lucy scowled, "So what do you want me to do anyway? Join your petty little guild again and we'll fight together?"

"If I can't even take him, none of you can! You think you're so strong but Erza, you don't know a thing about what Dark Magic feels like." Thunder boomed against the skyline again and Lucy raised her hands.

The dark clouds began to swirl around Lucy as the thunder got louder and closer to the arena, suddenly it hit right behind them illuminating both of them in bright white light. "This... this is Dark Magic."

"Good will never be able to conquer evil." Lucy whispered as she dropped her hands slowly to her side again. Erza stared at her, her face twisted into a scowl. "I thought you would still be the Lucy we knew from before." She hissed, her hair whipping behind her.

Lucy forced a smirk onto her face, "Like hell I would be." Erza's eyes softened as she stared at the tight smirk on Lucy's face, "Dying alone... Is a scary fate Lucy."

Erza's scowl softened as well as she walked closer to Lucy. "You're human like the rest of us Lucy, fear is just part of being who you are." Erza raised her arm out to embrace the former Celestial Mage but she stepped back.

"Fear may be part of you Erza, but fear isn't a part of me. There's nothing more I care about; not you, not Sabertooth - hell, not even my spirits." Lucy threw the bag of golden keys to the ground. "Take them, I don't need them where I'm going."

Lucy gave one last look at the keys before glancing at Erza, "And I will tolerate no one who gets in my way." Summoning all the energy she had, Lucy reached up to the skies and gathered all the Dark Matter around her before firing it straight at Erza in a single attack - Soul Extinction.

Explosions hit the dirt below them and dust flew into the air. All around them was the ringing sound of recent explosions and the smell of burning metal.

Thunder and lightning lit up the churning purple sky as Lucy looked across the playing field, only to see Erza but this time she was unconscious on the ground.

It was over; Lucy had won.

Lucy could feel her body shaking as the crowd cheered her name - the last attack had been gruesome on her body and had almost eaten away at all her magic power.

She barely had any energy left to continue, but she knew the fight in itself wasn't over. Natsu was next.

Lucy stared at Erza as she lay on the dirt ground beneath them, and couldn't help but remember the times she had seen Erza pick herself up again and go on fighting, even after certain defeat from a strong opponent.

Lucy wondered why she wasn't doing it now.

Silently Lucy glanced over at the fight on the other side of the arena and couldn't help but feel a tinge of guilt run up her spine. She was going to leave all of them behind, without a single word or letter - she was just going to leave them all behind and possibly never come back - just like she had done all those months ago.

Lucy chuckled bitterly as a single thought lit up in her mind, she wondered who would find her corpse first... or would it be entirely annihilated by then?

She guessed she wouldn't be around to find out anyway.

I just realised this was a shorter chapter than usual, ahaha... Sorry ._. I hope it was worth the wait anyway and if it wasn't well... Feel free to hit me? Gomen ;-; Seriously though I hope you liked it, the Erza vs Lucy fight wasn't as dramatic as I had planned but The story plot kinda just directed itself here so I went along with it. Anyways please read and review!