Lucy finally shook herself, realizing that she had been staring at Natsu for quite some time now.
"That's not right," She whispered in disbelief. "Zeref promised. He wouldn't do anything like that again. You're just lying to make me upset, right?"
Her hands were shaking as she touched Natsu's shoulder, her eyes pleading with him to tell her that it was a lie. Begging him to tell her that Zeref had given that part of himself up and Natsu was just trying to upset her with his words.
Natsu felt his heart break as he looked into his best friend's eyes. Disillusionment and pain filled every inch of them, tears pooling at the edges as she tried to force herself back into the innocent state she'd been in before Natsu had brought reality crashing down around her.
"Lucy," He whispered, gathering her in his arms. "Lucy, I'm sorry."
His gut twisted as he held her. Part of him wanted to kill himself for being the one to bring her happy innocence to an end, the other part was furious with Zeref for making it so that he would have to be the one to hurt Lucy, something he'd sworn he would never do.
"Natsu," She whispered once more. "Does he love me though?"
Natsu pulled away, looking into her eyes. He had no idea how the dark mage really felt about his friend, but as he stared at her he decided he could afford one little white lie after the pain he'd already put her through.
"Yes, Lucy, yes he does," He whispered.
She smiled through her tears, "I'm glad not everything is a lie then."
Zeref sighed as he went over the notes one more time with Levy.
"Do you think it will work?" He asked.
Levy sighed as she tugged at her hair in frustration, "I think so. But I have no idea. It could cause the complete opposite reaction. I hate this."
He nodded in agreement, "Well, it's this or the R System and I've already decided against that."
"You realize that this has the potential to do the same thing as the R System, right? You could easily make her a demon instead of keeping her alive."
Zeref sighed, "What else can we do?"
Levy shrugged, "I don't know."
"Then I guess it's time."
The bluenette nodded her agreement as the two set to work.
Lucy walked with Natsu back to the guild.
"I don't want to hurt him," Lucy whispered. "I just want him to see the truth of what he is doing."
Natsu nodded his agreement, "I know. But we have to tell the Old Man about what is going on."
The blonde sighed again, knowing her best friend was right but not really wanting to. She followed behind Natsu as he led the way into the office, her head hanging Natsu took her hand in his own. She was surprised by the warmth in them, it had been so long since the two of them had held hands that she'd forgotten how right it had felt. He squeezed her hand reassuringly before swinging the door open.
"Gramps?" Natsu asked, hesitating in the doorway.
He really didn't want to tell Makarov what was going on either, but he knew it would be worse for all of them if he kept quiet about it. Makarov looked up from his paperwork, surprised to see his most destructive child standing in the doorway looking around in uncertainty.
"Come in Natsu, Lucy," He said after a moment, wondering what those two would want.
"Gramps, we have something important to tell you," Natsu said after a moment, letting Lucy shut the door behind them.
"I gathered that," Makarov said drily. "Could you get to the point?"
Natsu shifted uneasily, looking over at Lucy who was still staring at the floor.
"Zeref is building something to try to save me," Lucy blurted after a few more seconds, realizing that Natsu couldn't bring himself to actually speak the words.
"Save you from what?" Makarov asked in surprise.
Lucy sighed, "I'm not really getting any better since the last time I healed Zeref. My magic isn't replenishing like it should and I'm tired a lot. Zeref, I guess, thinks I'm dying and has decided to save me."
"Why would you say he's doing something like that?"
Once more Lucy sighed before telling the tale of Zeref's little brother for the second time that day.
"Natsu, can I speak to Lucy alone?" Makarov asked when Lucy finished her tale.
Natsu looked between them but nodded, leaving silently.
"I take it Zeref managed to save his little brother," Makarov stated.
Lucy nodded.
"I also noticed that you avoided using the brother's name. Which to mean seems to mean that you don't want Natsu to know who this brother is, which must mean that Natsu knows the brother."
Tears filled Lucy's eyes as she nodded again, staring down at the floor once more.
"Is it Natsu?"
Lucy looked up surprise, no one had figured that out so far.
Makarov laughed at Lucy's expression, "My dear I didn't make guild master on my looks alone. I am rather intelligent and perceptive when I want to be, even if my methods are a little unorthodox."
Lucy smiled for the first time since Natsu had brought reality crashing down around her. The smile was a wobbly one and likely to slip away at any moment but it was a smile nonetheless.
"Yes, it's Natsu."
Makarov nodded, pondering what this information could mean and wondering how a boy who looked no more than seventeen could possibly be older than he was. He shook his head, deciding that now was not the time to worry about that.
"So you think Zeref is going to try to same thing on you?"
"I don't know," Lucy replied. "But if he went that far for a little brother, wouldn't he do the same for me? If it was you, and you'd gone that far for a little brother, how much further would you go for the woman you loved?"
Makarov paled as he thought about it, "I would destroy the world for her."
Lucy nodded, "Now you see why I'm concerned."
Makarov strode around the desk, taking her hands in her own.
"Lucy, I'm afraid this is a battle you and Natsu have to fight on your own. There's no one else that Zeref will listen to. He's doing this to save you, and I'm afraid that only you can stop him now."
AN: OMG YOU GUYS! This story is almost done. T.T I'm going to miss all of you. I've got about 3-5 more chapters though :)