Lucy's Resolve

"Natsu! Please wake up!" Lucy cried as she held onto Natsu. The rest of Fairy Tail could only stare in horror as one of their most capable fighters was now down on the ground. As she held him, Lucy noticed more scales starting to gradually crawl over his face.

"What's… what's happening?" she muttered.

"Well that is a serious pity," Hades said, rubbing his head slightly, "That boy actually had quite an amount of ability to brag about."

"What the hell's happening?" Gray demanded.

"Wendy!" Lucy cried out, "We need help!" The Sky Eclipse Dragon Slayer tried to run over to Natsu and Lucy, only to be struck but a blast of energy from Hades and knocked away.

"Wendy!" Erza called, as she leapt over to her, only to be struck back by the same blast of magic.

"Ice Make: Battle Axe!" Gray said as he leapt at Hades. However, the dark mage merely held up his fist, as the ice shattered against it. Hades then flicked his wrist, knocking Gray away again. Before the ice mage could get back up, he was struck in the side by Hades finger gun.

"Sky Eclipse Dragon's Whirlwind!" Wendy said, letting out a twister of sky and eclipse magic at Hades. This one Hades actually had to dodge, but another blast of his magic sent Wendy tumbling away. Erza moved to do something as well, only to knocked away as well. Hades then pointed at Erza, creating a chain out of it, which wrapped around Erza's. With a flick of his finger, Erza was sent rolling away, slamming into Gray, who was just starting to stand up.

"Sky Eclipse Dragon's Roar!" Wendy said, releasing her signature attack. Holding up his opposing attack, Hades deflected the attack, before swinging Erza at Wendy as well, knocking her down.

"It seems that dragon boy was the lynchpin to your efforts," Hades sneered, as he dusted off his hands, "Truly a shame, since it seemed like this might actually have been entertaining."

"You bastard!" Gray said as he tried to get up. Using the Ten Commandments, Erza pushed herself up. With a cry, she then leapt at Hades, who created another series of chains. Using the Runesave form, she managed to cut through the chains. That actually caught Hades off guard slightly, which gave Erza a chance to shift the Ten Commandments into its Explosion form, and when Hades created a blade of dark energy to block the attack, it created an explosion. Erza leapt back, panting slightly.

"That is an Edolas weapon," Hades said, as he emerged from the dust more or less unscathed, "I would certainly be interested in learning its story."

"Damn you!" Erza said, as she shifted to the Gravity Core, and tried to jump at Hades again. However, she got struck in the knee by Hades finger gun.

"You're all absolutely pathetic," Hades sneered, "This is truly beyond disappointing." The Fairy Tail members were quickly running out of options.

"Damn it," Erza said, "How are we supposed to be able to beat him?"

"Big brother," Wendy called out softly, crying. Lucy only cried as well, as she clung onto Natsu.

(with the Exceed squad)

"It would really help if we knew what we were looking for," Carla spoke up. She, Happy, and Lily had managed to get into the airship, and began looking for anything that could be used to disable it. They were currently crawling through the air ducts.

"We should be looking for some kind of power source," Lily said.

"Where would we even find it?" Happy asked.

"We should look in the ship's center if we're looking for a power source," Lily said, "Though that begs the question of where the ship's center is."

"If we keep looking, we're bound to find something," Carla answered, as she opened one of the vents, and the Exceeds dropped down to the floor, and started hurrying down it. Right then, there was another crack of thunder, which made Lily squeak.

"Calm down," Carla said, "We're safe in here."

"Are we?" Happy asked.

"Yes we are!" Carla said, "Why do you feel the need to ask such things?"

(with Mest)

Mest had relayed the news he gave to Makarov to the Council, as he had to do. After that, Lahar had ordered the entire band to evacuate.

"We can't just leave Fairy Tail here!" Mest said. While he knew the Master had told him not to at this point, he couldn't in all good conscious not try.

"If what you heard is true, than we don't have time to get them together!" Lahar countered.

"But…"

"If they want to get away, its their responsibility," Lahar said, "If they're as strong as everyone says they are, then we have to assume they'll make it." Mest's jaw tightened. While he had no doubt in what his guild was capable of, they were not invincible, and if he heard was true, then maybe even they couldn't deal with what was coming. But he had his orders, and he had to follow them.

"You guys better make it back," he muttered, looking towards the island.

(back with Team Natsu)

Things weren't looking good for Fairy Tail, as they desperately tried to hold their own against Hades. Three of them were still trying to fight, with little to no luck whatsoever. During all of this, Lucy was still desperately clinging onto Natsu, tears streaming down her face. In a desperate attempt, Wendy sprung at Hades.

"Sky Eclipse Dragon's…" The Dragon Slayer couldn't finish, as Hades snagged her in his chains. With a snap of his fingers, the chains wrapped Wendy exploded. When the dust faded, she had shifted out of her Sky Eclipse Dragon mode, her Eclipse power having finally run out. Erza tried to rise to her feet to continue the fight, but chains formed around her body, binding her. During this, Gray was trying to muscle through a blown leg.

"Initially I thought you had all potential," Hades said, as he walked towards the beaten mages, "And yet this is all you can give? I'm not more disappointed than anything else. Is this what Fairy Tail has amounted to you?"

"Shut your mouth!" Erza said, "What gives you the right to speak of Fairy Tail?" Hades just laughed at that.

"Makarov was a naive fool," he said stroking his beard, "He thought magic to be a thing of light, and caused it to lose its power."

"What do you know of the old man?" Gray demanded.

"I hear that this generation calls him 'gramps'," Hades said, "If that were the case, you should be calling me 'great-grandfather'." It didn't take long for the Fairy Tail mages to put two and two together.

"You lie!" Erza snapped, "There is no way a monster like you would ever be part of Fairy Tail!"

"It was back when I was known as 'Precht', when my time came, I left the guild, and willed it to Makarov," Hades said, ignoring her, before chuckling slightly, "I can even remember when the seeds of the guild were first planted, when I first stepped onto this island's sands looking for the Tenrou Jade."

"We couldn't give a crap about your past!" Erza suddenly shouted, "It doesn't matter if you were at one point a member of Fairy Tail! You're an enemy of it now! And we must defeat all enemies of our guild!" Hades just laughed as he held up his hand. A series of purple ribbons appeared around, Erza, forming an Amaterasu seal, before creating a massive explosion.

"Erza!" Lucy cried, as she watched the scarlet knight tumble away. She looked around at the rest of her guild mates, who were down and beaten.

"Truly pitiful," Hades said, folding his arms, "I expected so much more of you at this point. This isn't even entertaining at this point. You should just give up at this point. What chance do you have against me? If nothing else, I will make it painless." Lucy shut her eyes tight, as she pressed her forehead against Natsu's, ignoring his rough scales. Was this really it? Was this how it would all end? After all Lucy had been through, with Natsu, with Fairy Tail, with….

"Mommy!"

Lucy's eyes then open wide. Haru….

"No!" Lucy said softly, as she slowly stood up, before shouting, "I'm not giving up!" Everyone stared at her, as the blonde stood tall.

"Got something to say little girl?" Hades sneered. For a time, Lucy was tempted to back off then and there, but she didn't. Instead, her body began to glow, as she felt new magic energy surge through her.

"I won't give up! I can't give up! Not when my little boy is at home waiting for me!" Lucy declared, "And I don't care what what I have to do! This time its my turn to protect Natsu! I'm going to fight, and keep fighting! And if you kill me, I'll come back and keep fighting!" With that, she held up Taurus' key, and slammed it into her abdomen. There was then a great flash of golden light that enveloped Lucy.

"Lucy!" her teammates all called out at once. Hades just narrowed his eyes. The light then parted, revealing the Celestial Spirit Mage, now looking thoroughly different.

"Star Dress: Taurus!" Lucy said. She was now dressed in a bra and sleeves that had a cow pattern, with black pants that left her right leg exposed. Her hair was now in two separate buns. On her belt buckle, was the symbol of Taurus.

"This power," Erza said, before thinking, Its almost like my own. With that, Lucy leapt at Hades, bringing her fist back.

"Wha…"

"Lucy Punch!" Hades was so surprised by this sudden power, he didn't have the time to react as Lucy drove her fist into his stomach. The punch sent Hades tumbling away, but Lucy wasn't finished yet. She then leapt into the air, and while Hades was on the floor, Lucy's foot collided into his sternum. The force was so great that it shattered the floor of the ship. The other mages all watched in awe.

"Since when did Lucy have power like this?" Gray asked.

"Its amazing," Wendy piped up. Erza smiled at the sight of it.

"Never mess with a woman in love," she said. Lucy panted slightly, as she fell back, looking at he enemy. Even she was thoroughly impressed by the power she now had at her disposal. But at this point, she knew it wasn't a good idea to start questioning it. She watched as her opponent pulled himself out of the dust.

"Not bad child," Hades said, wiping the side of this mouth, "It has been a while since I've seen Star Dress in use. You're Celestial Spirit Magic is truly something to admire."

"Stow it you old geezer!" Lucy said, as she pulled out her whip, "I'm not going to let you win this fight! I'm going to kick your ass!" Hades just chuckled sinisterly.

"Very well then girl, show me what you can do." Lucy tightened her hold on her whip, as she braced herself, and said five words…

"I'm all fired up now!" With that, she sprung forward, bringing her whip down onto the ground. This sent out a shockwave across the floor, that briefly offset Hades stance. This gave Lucy another chance, as she socked him in the face. However, Hades quickly recovered, as he formed a chain out of each finger. Each chain snagged Lucy, but before Hades could do anything else, Lucy broke all the chains at once with a large yank. Hades then (ironically enough), got snagged by Lucy's whip.

"Lucy Smash!" With that, she slammed Hades into the ground. Before Hades could gather himself again, he was yanked back up, and sent flying as Lucy threw him.

"You're awesome, big sister!" Wendy called. Yeah Lucy thought I guess I really am. However, she was broken from her pride, when she heard a sinister laughing. Right then, there was a blast of energy from the dust, that hit Lucy like a bag of concrete. The blonde was sent flying into the wall, hitting it head first. Dazed, she was almost unable to fully comprehend Hades approaching her. To Lucy's credit, he was now somewhat beat up, but still far from beaten.

"I take back what I said," Hades said, "This generation of Fairy Tail produced some truly exceptional mages." He then pointed, at Lucy as the Amaterasu seals appeared around her.

"It would be a shame to kill such potential, but necessity is quite a powerful force." With that, he started to clench his fist as the seals began to glow.

"Lucy!" Erza and Gray cried out together. Lucy instinctively shut her eyes.

Right then, a a bolt of lighting came down and struck the airship, much to the horror of Happy and Lily, who were still in the ship. Electricity crackled through air, as a bolt of lighting traveled down the wall towards Lucy. There was then a great flash of light. Lucy opened her eyes, noticing that someone was holding her under their arm.

"Don't get too cocky, blondie," a familiar voice said, "Natsu would never get over you dying." Lucy looked up to see an equally familiar face, with lightning crackling around him. Hades eyes widened at the sight of this newcomer.

"Yuri?"

"Laxus," Erza said softly.

Note: You didn't really think I was going to show the battle between Natsu and Smaug, one of the most important battles in the story, immediately, did you?

I wanted this chapter to feature Lucy being awesome. She's one of my favorite characters, and I'd even argue that while Natsu's Fairy Tail's hero, Lucy is the main protagonist. to that end, I gave her access to another Star Dress. I can't really give an in-universe reason as to why she was able to do it, though I can invoke suspension of disbelief. To invoke the MST3K mantra: "Its just a fanfic, I should really just relax".

Please review. Seriously. Last chapter I got a spam message from a guy who thought this was an appropriate place evangelize. I don't think anybody appreciates messages like those. And while I won't claim to speak for other writers, I think many will agree that getting review for a new chapter is very affirming for a writer. For some writers it can make their day.

On another note, I'm considering making a community centered around stories that deal with, or feature Fairy Tail's disbandment. I know a couple (including one of my own stories), but I would still need some more. Also, I strongly encourage people to write more stories about this concept, since in my opinion, its an absolute gold mine of ideas and opportunities.