A/N: First of all, I want to apologize. I sort of knew I wasn't going to finish this for some time and I just didn't know how to wrap it up or even if I should. So this my apology that it will not be completed. I really appreciate everyone's reviews and support and I wish that those of you receiving updates on this fic can understand that I just wasn't able to finish this. I've sort of fallen out of love with Fairy Tail. I'm only reading it still because it is so close to being done. The characters and story hold a special place in my heart, but most of that is behind me now.

So this last chapter of LotS contains what I had written since the last chapter and my generalized plans to finish it at the end (I had a post-it note of points to include). I hope you still enjoy it.

"Natsu!"

Natsu ignored Erza's cry and kept his determined path out of the guild towards his house, fists clenched. What the hell was going on? Lucy was supposed to be fine!

"Chill out, you sad excuse for a campfire!"

Natsu stopped short, gritting his teeth and whipping around to face Gray. His tongue pressed rebelliously against the cage of his teeth, begging to unleash a tirade against the ice mage and Titania. Erza gazed sternly at him, her long hair shifting in the light breeze that ruffled Magnolia. Gray stuffed his hands in his pockets, frowning.

"What happened, Natsu? Why was Lucy like that?" Erza's voice was steady. Natsu wished he could remain that level-headed.

"Why were you even with Lucy?" Gray took a step forward. "You've been avoiding her ever since…"

Natsu's tongue clicked and he let out a hissing dismissal, breaking eye contact.

"How the hell should I know?"

Erza was in front of him before he could blink.

"You found her, so if anyone knows, it's you."

Natsu stood his ground, but tensed even further as Gray stepped up to Erza's shoulder.

"Did you trigger her?"

That made Natsu flinch. He could feel that creeping sense bubbling in his gut and roiling in the back of his brain. He growled and gritted his teeth, feeling the demonic part of his soul seeping out from his frayed edges. Erza's eyes widened at the display, but Gray actually took a small step back, eyebrows raised enough to push his scar almost to his hairline.

"What… the fuck do you know?" Natsu could feel the hellfire burning through his veins and couldn't decide whether he wanted to reign it in for his family's safety or if he wanted to just let it out, just this once.

"You get to talk to her every day. You get to see her every day. You get to laugh with her every day." With each uttered sentence, Natsu backed up a step, unconsciously moving away for Erza and Gray's protection, and away from where Lucy was in the guild. Each step he took scorched more grass to a quick black death underfoot. "She remembers your favorite food. She remembers your face. She remembers your name. But me-?"

There was a blinding flash, a miasma of purples and reds and golds. Erza and Gray were momentarily sightless in that brief moment of magic expulsion. When they could see again, Natsu was still standing there, yet limp. Everything within a five foot radius scorched. Fists unclenched and slack jawed, eyes open and raw.

"Me? She doesn't remember… a damn thing."

Cana sat at the bar, nursing a pint of warm ale, her cards laid out in patterns that only she could deduce. The Fates were practically humming from the plain cardstock that lay before her. They whispered to her, their prescient magic tickling around her senses. None of the signs were good, at least not in conjunction with each other.

The Devil, literal. Eight of Cups, friendship and attachment. The Hanged Man, self-sacrifice. The Foolish Man, wavering. Knight of Sceptres, separation. Reversed Death, death just escaped.

She glanced through lowered lashes at the still closed door. While Pantherlily had taken over guarding the clinic from Charle and Master has dispersed the crowd with a few short and sharp words, the tension stagnant in the great hall was palpable.

The card mage flipped over one last card and the magic that exuded from the final symbol made her quickly drop it. The reversed Six of Cups floated to land on The Hanged Man. Cana was off her stool before the cards touched.

Racing up the stairs, Cana could feel her pulse pushing faster than even her feet. If anyone had stopped their mulling to watch her climb to Makarov's office, she didn't notice. She didn't have the time to. The reversed Six of Cups was burned into her mind's eye, screaming at her. Lucy didn't have time.

She busted the thick oak door open and it rebounded harshly against the wall, slamming back into place. Cana had already made it through the threshold and found Makarov staring seriously at her, hands folded and elbows on his desk. Levy sat in the chair across from him, looking over her shoulder with clear signs of whiplash and surprise.

"Cana. Sit."

While the card mage had half a mind to argue—her cards were telling her something important!—she clamped her mouth shut and sat with the same intensity she barged in with. Levy was still gaping, mouth open, but Cana didn't need to look at her to know that the many small and perfect gears in the script mage's head were whirring into overdrive.

Makarov breathed deeply, eyes closed for a moment, before directing all of his attention to his resident prophetic drunk.

"What do you know?"

She opened her eyes to never-ending plains of white. She stood still, taking in the empty space for a moment. A deep inhale of a faint lingering scent settled her soul: lavender. Lucy took a step and then another.

Without a particular direction to head in, she strode in a straight line towards the faintly visible horizon. A white sky touched the white plains in the distance, never getting any closer. Lucy walked hundreds, thousands of steps, yet never got tired, never got hungry. Slow noiseless steps through the void, Lucy did take.

Happy did not know what to do. Natsu had stormed off after the infirmary door was closed hours ago, so he had remained in the guild. Slumped on a bar stool, tail hanging limply between his legs and over the seat, he shakily removed his knapsack. He reached in and pulled out a fish, but as he brought it up to his mouth, the thought that he might feel better if he ate his favorite food vanished.

It wouldn't help. Nothing would help. He could literally do nothing to help Natsu or Lucy now. He put the fish on the bar and pushed it away, nose wrinkling. His ear barely twitched when Charle came up to him. He didn't look at her. How could he prove he could be there for Charle when he couldn't even be there for Natsu or Lucy?

Charle clicked her tongue and Happy looked askance at her. Her arms were folded and her pretty white face was molded into a frown. She opened her mouth then closed it. The white exceed took a deep breath then began again.

"Wendy has Lucy in a stable condition. We're still not sure what's wrong with her, but she isn't in any… she doesn't appear to be in any danger."

Happy turned his head, eyes daring to hope.

"Would you... like to see her?"

Happy could only swallow noisily and nod. He hopped off the stool and followed Charle into the infirmary, Pantherlily shooting him a quick glance of sympathy.

Inside, Wendy was wringing out a small towel into a basin of water. She smiled as Happy came into her line of view and beckoned him up to Lucy's bedside. Handing him the small damp cloth, she gave him a small pat on the back.

"Can you help me? I need this cloth to stay warm and damp. Please place it on Lucy's head and change it when it gets cool."

Happy looked at the cloth before folding it lengthwise and laying it gently on Lucy's forehead, her bangs already pushed up and away.

"I'll be back soon. Stay with Lucy and tell Lily to get me if anything changes."

Happy didn't turn to look at Wendy as she and Charle reached the door back into the guild hall.

"This will definitely help Lucy feel better, so thank you, Happy."

As the door clicked shut behind the pair, Happy let out a small sigh. A tiny chunk of his guilt broke off. He patted the damp towel softly, checking the temperature. Lucy's face remained the picture of stillness.

Her cheeks were still drained of color and her hair was a tangle under her head, long bangs pushed up and away by Wendy. Her pale hands were folded meekly over the blanket that had been tucked around her. She was still breathing, but the puffs of air escaping slightly parted lips were light.

The towel had gone cold.

Happy removed it and sank it into the water, soaking it. He didn't like getting his paws wet, but he would for Lucy. Wringing it out, he refolded and placed it back on her forehead. Drawing back, he realized that the water- and now his fur- smelled faintly of lavender.

Lucy slept on.

"How much do you know about heart strings?"

Levy sat up straight in her seat, eyes wide. She had not been expecting that question. Her mind immediately latched onto the most logical explanation and as she opened her mouth to start spewing medical fact, Cana gave her a short look. Oh. Not medical then.

Makarov gestured for Cana to continue.

"Heart strings, red string of fate, soul mates. All things of lore. There is no reason to believe that these exist because they cannot be seen by normal people." Cana flipped through her deck, a fidgeting habit when booze was out of reach and she wasn't feeling her usual confidence. She stilled her hand as the last card flicked back to the deck. No, she was confident in her reading. She always was. "But someone who can read destiny can, if that bond is strong enough."

Makarov's folded hands fell from beneath his chin to lay on the desk. His gaze showed he knew what Cana would say, but was tentative to hear it.

"You believe you've seen this then? And it has to do with Lucy?"

Cana swallowed. She knew what she saw was no illusion. Red strings were no joking matter. She had to be sure, though.

"Yes. Lucy has one."

Levy squeaked from her seat and both other occupants turned to her startled noise. Both hands over her mouth, Levy shifted to watch Cana again. Her hands lowered slowly.

"It's linked to Natsu, isn't it?" Cana's gaze was steel. Levy leaned towards her. "That's why you pulled his hand away from his chest."

Cana nodded. Her cards told a sorry story that explained a hell of a lot more than Natsu ever had about what happened the day Lucy lost her magic.

"What does this tell you? Is there anything we can do about her condition?"

"All it tells me," she sighed, "is that if it is really there, then that is why she is even still with us. I'm... not sure if it would help her regain her memories." She looked back up at Makarov. "I need to see Natsu in close proximity to Lucy again. I should be able to see it, to confirm."

Endless fields of white surrounded Lucy. The sky in the palest of greys hung overhead, still, peaceful. The steps she took in no particular direction were even and unhurried. With no landmarks and no reason, Lucy stopped.

It seemed just as good a place as any.

She sank to her knees and sprawled on the ground. Despite the impersonal shade, it was soft, warm and inviting. That lavender scent permeated her senses, emanating from the frost-colored world she lay in.

The absolute quiet rang in her ears until Lucy could hear buzzing. That buzzing simmered and crackled in her ears until it rose into mottled voices.

Each voice was different. Different in tone. Different in pitch. Different in volume.

There was no distinguishing the voices from each other; they spoke over one another in a flurry of words she could not make out.

They were calling to her, pushing at her, begging her, rejecting her. Each voice carried weight that bore down on her; her soul almost felt like it was drowning. The pressure kept building, building, building until the volume was too high for the vessel. Like an awning that caught too much rainfall, the tension ripped at the seams and the voices washed away until only one remained.

"Child of the Light."

A/N: And that was it. Essentially, what would have happened from this point included Lucy and the Voice talking about her sacrifice and how her memory loss was due to another's sacrifice when the bond that was severed wasn't cut fully because it wasn't just the other's to give up. A series of multicolored threads appear around Lucy and the Voice tells her she has a choice. She can stay here peacefully and become part of the Voice or she can choose one and pull. If she chooses correctly, her memories will return. If she chooses wrong, then she cannot stay here and she will not return. Lucy eventually decides she won't stay. Each string she plucks sounds like a different person instead of a normal twang. They say various things to her, about her, etc. Eventually there's one that catches her attention. She grips the string and pulls.

As for Natsu, his part was harder to plan ahead as I normally wrote with the flow of his interaction with in the inner demon. It's further to the surface than ever before. Eventually, though, I imagine he would have come through for his family some way. Happy goes to see him and maybe that conversation would pull him back into the fold. I neglected Happy a bit last chapter, but he is an integral part of their relationship.

Cana's cards and Levy. The reversed six of cups generally refers to how things 'used to be' and can be associated with memory loss. The cards are telling Cana that Lucy's memory loss is due to a self-sacrifice, which is sort of what they thought before, but in conjunction with the other cards, it indicated that it wasn't LUCY's sacrifice, but someone else's. Coupled with the other cards and what she saw when Lucy was brought in, she can deduce it is Natsu. Levy comes to much the same conclusion.

All of this would lead back to an eventual reunion where Lucy is half between remembering and not, fuzzy recollections and thoughts make her dazed and confused. Natsu somehow comes back to the guild and he sees her. Cana can see they have that red string and it grows deeper as they reunite. Lucy remembers him and Natsu is shaking with emotion.

A happy ending sort of stops there. But that doesn't really hold true to the weight of the prices.

A sad (a likely more true) ending has the red string get so deep and dark that it turns black as Natsu's fragile emotional state allows the demon to take hold and oops. Natsu and Lucy are both gone and their prices- negated and otherwise- are fulfilled. Lucy has spared everyone already by giving up her magic (it was a particular instance and it gave Natsu a chance to rein in the demon) and Natsu had his bond severed so she lived. Yet when that bond reconnected, she couldn't survive and he in turn let the demon take over.

Anyway, it might have ended entirely different, so the ending is up to your imagination. I'm not particularly know for happy endings, since this story was supposed to end after the first part. I hope this sates your curiosity on this story and again, I wish I could have finished it in full, but I just don't have it in me.

I hope you all enjoy the last couple chapters of Fairy Tail.

Much love,

happy