Act 3

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48

The Last Unicorn

"Great heroes need great sorrows and burdens, or half their greatness goes unnoticed. It is all part of the fairy tale."

― Peter S. Beagle, The Last Unicorn

Happy carried the sobbing Lucy to the guild, his little wings straining and exhausted under the effort he made to keep her in the air. He was confused and scared.

Never had he seen Natsu like that, so angry and out of control. The book Lucy held in her burned hands seemed to weigh them down, but she stubbornly refused to let go of it, so it came along for the ride.

And when Happy dropped down in front of the guild, nudging Lucy in with soft paws to the back of her leg, silence threatened to swallow the guild at the sight of her.

Burned, crying, and holding onto the book like a lifeline, Lucy hesitated by the door.

Erza jumped to her feet at once, rushing over to Lucy and grabbing her shoulders when it looked like she was about to fall over, "Lucy! These injuries! Are you okay!"

Her eyes went wild, searching over her shoulder for her ever-present shadow. And with a pang, Lucy knew she would not find him.

"Natsu isn't here," Lucy whispered. Her bottom lip trembled as the reality of what she was going to say hit her.

"He's gone."

There was a moment of complete silence at that pronouncement before the entire hall started talking at once.

"Gone? What do you mean gone?"

"How can he be gone? You've got your bond!"

"Is he fighting someone?"

Lucy felt her heart break even more, if that were possible, at the confused babble, and fresh tears spilled hotly down her cheeks. They hurt where they came in contact with her burns, but she didn't care. It wasn't like she could stop them anyway.

She managed to spot a flicker of movement at her side and looked down to find Wendy standing there, a determined glint in her eyes despite her wobbly chin, "Miss Erza please help me get Lucy to the infirmary." She said fiercely, if quietly, "I need to heal her."

Erza nodded, despite her own very real alarm over Lucy's news and carefully guided her to the back and into bed so Wendy could tend to her.

"Lucy..." Makarov crooned, equal parts worried and alarmed, as Wendy got to work, "I know this is hard child, but please... you must tell us what happened."

Lucy's tears renewed themselves again as she tried to bury her face in her pillow, "He found the book." She sobbed, "He read it all. I never got the chance to explain it to him. He thought... he thought I was using it to control him. But that wasn't it! I haven't read it in months! I wanted..."

She shook her head incoherently, "The bond's broken." She whispered hoarsely, "He left. He promised he wouldn't leave me, but he's gone." Just like her mom and dad. Grief and hurt tore through her and she lost herself to her tears, barely even feeling Wendy's soothing healing.

"He's a real piece of work," Gray growled angrily, his arms crossed and aggression in the set of his shoulders. He was staring at the burns disappearing under the flow of Wendy's magic.

"So, can we count on fighting against Natsu?" He asked bitterly.

"He had no bond, and the one person we would have thought he'd never attack-," Juvia murmured, a hand covering her mouth.

There were several members of the guild who murmured in confusion and agreement. No one knew what to do. It was much more simple when they were simply enemies. But now they had all thought they had become friends.

Hesitant doubt was cast on Natsu, and no one knew if on the heels of an attack from Tartarus and Grimoire Heart, they would be under siege from a vengeful fire dragon that now knew all their tricks. None wanted to believe it, it wasn't the Fairy Tail way, but the evidence of Lucy's burns was damning.

Lucy shook her head and stood up, pulling away from Wendy.

"No! It's not- It's not like that!" Lucy protested. She looked at her shaky hands, "He didn't mean to burn me like this. It was an accident. Natsu warned me he didn't have control over his magic, but I didn't listen."

She hiccupped a little, "Natsu hasn't had his bond for months. Since that time we got back from my world."

"I'm sorry we kept that fact a secret," Lucy murmured and looked down, "We only discovered it a little while ago ourselves, and Natsu was afraid if everyone knew he was no longer bound-... "

"He wouldn't be welcome," Jellal finished where Lucy trailed off, his expression grim, but of one that knew too well what Natsu might be thinking.

The guild once again fell silent, no one knowing what to do or say.

Makarov sighed and straightened his shoulders, "We cannot let this go on the way it has been."

He looked at Lucy firmly, "We will find Natsu. Don't worry over his whereabouts."

"We will send out some teams to look for him, but Lucy, I need you to stay here in case one of the guilds attack."

"But-" Lucy protested. She wanted to argue, to demand to be taken along. After all, she had been the one to keep that secret from him. Even if he over reacted to the truth, that alone had been her decision.

"He's family Lucy, and none of us will rest until our family is whole again," Makarov said sagely.

Gajeel snorted loudly, catching the attention of those gathered. He slammed his heavy, studded boots into the floor, standing up taller than Lucy.

"Alright enough of yer bawwin,' we're going to find that shitty lil' salamander and drag him back so he can beg you for mercy," Gajeel snorted.

Lucy blinked as Sting and Rogue perked up at Gajeel's proclamation, "Yeah!" Sting agreed while Yukino wrapped her arm gently around Lucy's shoulders, "We'll beat some sense into him if we have to." He gave Lucy a confident grin that had her heart jolting with hope despite the pain of how similar it looked to Natsu's when he was truly happy.

Yukino smiled as she guided Lucy back to bed, "Don't worry. The nest will find him and sort him out." She looked up at Sting, "I'll stay here and help guard Lucy since I'm useless when it comes to tracking."

Gajeel nodded shortly at her and started clumping towards the door, "C'mon runts!" He growled over his shoulder, "Sooner we get started the sooner we can drag his sorry carcass back."

"Tch. I'm going too." Gray growled as he moved to follow them, "That firebreathing loser was never a match for my demonslaying ice. I'll turn him into an ice cube if I have to."

He might do it regardless.

He was pissed. Lucy was his friend, and had become something like a little sister since she'd arrived. And no one hurt his family.

He'd deliver Natsu back to Lucy alright, but not before he gave him the pounding of his life for this.

He didn't know that Natsu was already giving himself a worse pounding than anything he could ever dream up.

Natsu's hoard was trashed.

Mountains of coins were blown apart and smelted down into small, golden ingots. Paintings were smoldering, fine cherry wood was smashed in, and gems were shattered like shards of glass.

Natsu fisted his fingers in his hair, breathing heavily as he paced like a caged animal.

He had transformed three times already into his partial dragon form, but much to his displeasure, no longer found it was comfortable.

Nor did it dull the rage in his emotions.

His magic lashed out in an uncontrolled whip from him, smashing into the ceiling and sending a tapestry puddling on the floor behind him, burning. His magic was still unstable, still brimming over and hurt as it tried to find an outlet Natsu wouldn't give it.

Natsu no longer paid it any mind. At least here he didn't have to worry about hurting anyone.

Hurting Lucy.

Natsu had been angry. Angry enough to yell and shout, but never angry enough to lay a hand on her. He could never hurt her. To strike her would be worse than any injury he could cause to himself.

Which was stupid.

Because she lied to him.

She used him.

She had told him she loved him, and held him in her arms. Natsu had welcomed those touches. The intimacy that cloaked deception and the soft press of her lips against her ear at night. The soft whispers they shared as quiet, muffled laughter filled their room. None of it had been true. He felt used and pathetic. So desperate for love, she had been able to manipulate him with ease.

He should have wanted to kill her.

But he didn't.

Instead he felt sick beyond reason. His stomach rolled at the thought his flames had actually burned Lucy. And despite the betrayal licking away at his heart like some kind of festering wound, Natsu could only wonder if she was alright.

It was pathetic.

Was Zeref right?

The thought circled around in his brain, and as much as he didn't want to believe his jerk brother was right about anything he couldn't shake it. Every doubt he'd ever felt was feeding on it and at the moment he couldn't find a way to argue with any of them.

He blinked a little in surprise as he caught a whiff of Lucy's scent and looked around in surprise. Had she followed him or something?

He tried to suppress the wild surge in his heart at the thought she'd chased after him, not certain if it was happiness or anger, but the scent wasn't getting stronger like it would be if she was getting closer.

He sniffed around a little, wondering if she'd gotten lost or something, and began tracking it. However, his nose didn't lead him to Lucy. Instead it led him to the gown he'd given her weeks ago when they played here together.

It was saturated with her scent, and thanks to the spells on his lair it hadn't faded yet.

He reached out and caressed the beautiful fabric with a shaking hand. He remembered when he gave that to her. Her surprise. Her protests that she thought it was beautiful and loved it. The way they'd chased each other and played dragon and princess like a couple of little hatchlings.

She'd been so happy that day. And so had he.

The fight went out of him in a rush as the memories swept him and he curled his arms tightly around the mannequin the dress was adorning, refusing to acknowledge what the stinging in his eyes was.

"Lucy..." He whispered, guilt and disgust gnawing at him again, "I'm sorry."

He remembered her smile as he breathed in her scent, suddenly feeling very small and powerless. His heart ached, a reminder of every adventure he went on with her.

The way Lucy looked at him when he burned her. It was like she was looking at him like he was a monster. And in that moment, he finally accepted that truth for what it was.

He didn't blame her.

All those people he had blamed for calling him that in the past didn't matter. The only one who had made him into a monster was himself. He himself was the real enemy.

Slowly, he found he didn't care if Lucy was just manipulating him, if Lucy didn't really love him either, or if this was just an elaborate hoax.

She was the first friend Natsu had known in years and he loved her in all ways. It made the heartbreak even worse, but the clarity it brought him was worth it. Just so he could see through the haze of smoke in his mind.

Natsu buried his face in the dress, letting the scent of Lucy calm him. His heart felt hollow and it ached but there was something different lingering in him from before. Something similar to sad acceptance.

No one could really love him, but that was okay.

He could accept not being with Lucy. He could accept it if she didn't love him. But the time they spent together, Natsu had to believe there was at least something in the way of friendship there. It was a desperate and hopeless desire, but it was all he had to cling to. It couldn't have all been a trick. No one was that good. Even if it was just one-sided.

But he messed up and he hurt her. Even if it had been done accidentally, Natsu had still done it. The rage from his fires was gone, chased out of him by a totem so simple as a dress. Natsu wasn't even sure if he could go back and face her.

Now that he was grimly accepting the fact he could no longer be a dragon that raged and burned everything around him, Natsu didn't know what to do with himself.

No guild, no nest, no Lucy.

What was he anymore?

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And maybe, just maybe, it would be possible for him to regain a little of what he'd lost and stop being the monster.

He knew he wasn't a hero. But he didn't have to be the villain anymore. Maybe after this it would be okay to just be Natsu of Fairy Tail.

That was, if they would still let him.