Chapter 48: We Still Have Each Other

Lucy sat motionless in the small hospital room. The beeping noises of various machines that were hooked up to the man laying prone next to her filled the room. She held onto the older man's larger hand with both of hers. Since the last time she had seen her father he had lost so much weight to the point of being nearly skin and bone, his normally well kept hair had grown out to his shoulders. Where he once had a perfectly trimmed mustache he now had a full wild beard that made him look more like a hobo than someone who had once been the Mayor of the city.

An IV bag was feeding him nutrients his body was in desperate need of. He looked so pale and sickly. It made Lucy feel weird seeing her father who took such good care of himself looking in such a rough state.

"How long does he have?" Lucy croaked out with her dry throat turning her head to look at the tall doctor who stood awkwardly by the foot of the bed. The man sighed and gave her a sympathetic look.

"It's hard to say for certain….the virus has gone unnoticed, and untreated for long enough that it has shut down many of his organs….he's at what we refer to as end of life….meaning it could be tomorrow, a week from now…..or in an hour….we simply don't know…"

"I-I see…." Lucy frowned, her eyes watering a little. Sure she had a complicated relationship with Jude, but it didn't mean that he wasn't her father. She did still love him, and it hurt her to no end to see him in such a sorry state. He was the only living family member she had left. She had only ever met her grandmother Anna once before she passed away, and never met Jude's parents. They had died when he was younger, before Lucy was even born. So for her entire childhood it was just her mother and father.

"I'll leave you alone to say your goodbyes….I'm terribly sorry there was nothing more we could do to help." The doctor bowed his head and exited the room leaving two Heartfilia's alone. Lucy sniffed and sobbed quietly. She squeezed his large hand.

"I-it's me D-Dad….it's L-Lucy….I-I k-know….that I haven't visited you in a long time…..I-I've missed you…" She took a shaky breath trying to keep her composure and not start crying.

"S-So much has happened since I last saw you…I-I'm almost a-about to graduate…..I-I'm even s-starting to get letters from colleges….N-Natsu w-wanted t-to come as well, b-but he had to work…a-and they wouldn't have let him in anyway….." She chuckled quietly remembering Natsu ready to fry the receptionist who told him that only family could visit, and how he stormed off when Ooba called him to ask him to watch the store.

"OH!...I-I didn't t-tell you yet….w-we started dating….I know…surprising right? W-We finally figured everything out….I-I love him so much….I wish I could tell you more, b-but there's too much t-that I-I don't even know where to start…." A single tear trickled down her cheek as she frowned. Her lips quivered.

"J-just k-know….I'm doing my best to make you proud….b-both you, and mom….I-I love you so much! I'm not ready to be alone!" Lucy finally broke down and sprung out of her chair and knelt next to the bed on her knees sobbing on to his chest. A rush of memories swirled in her head, yes they had lots of ups and downs, but what father-daughter relationship didn't. She still loved him and regretted not visiting him in the prison while she could, he was now just a husk. She clung to her father for an hour.

Almost as if fate was waiting for her to see him, two days later she received the dreaded phone call that he had passed away in his sleep. When she got the call, she didn't cry. She didn't break down. She just sat down on the foot of her bed in a dark bedroom staring blankly at the wall where a picture of her, and her parents in the old cafe they used to own hung. She didn't cry. It wasn't that she didn't want to…she just couldn't. When Natsu got home from school that day he stayed by her side the whole night holding her close, and she held onto him tightly afraid that if she let go of him, he too would vanish.

Natsu was angry, this wasn't like when his father, or Daphne died. There was no evil that needed to be fought, no injustice that needed to be righted. This felt worse, there was nobody to blame, nothing could have prevented this. It was unfair, and now Lucy, his Lucy, was broken, because of it. All he could do was hold her closer to him, and not let go.

"Brothers, and Sisters. We are gathered here today to honor the life of Jude Heartfilia. Father to Lucy, Husband to Layla…." The pastor began, but Lucy tuned out the rest of his speech as she just stared forward at the casket in front of her. The last time she was at a funeral it was Igneel's, it had been a closed casket funeral. Right now she felt like that would've been preferred, her father had been cleaned up, his mustache, and hair returned to how they normally were for her entire life. Clad in his favorite suit, the only one Layla had gotten for him when he decided to run for Mayor.

"I'm so sorry for your loss…"

"My deepest condolences."

"Your father was a great man."

"If you need anything, feel free to reach out to us."

"I'm sorry about your old man, but don't forget your rent is due this Friday."

"How are you holding up kiddo?"

Countless strangers came up to pay their respects, and Lucy dryly thanked the many people who she couldn't be bothered to remember the names of for coming. So many of the same recycled lines were given to her, that eventually she got tired of hearing and just began to tune out.

It was a much larger event than Igneel's had been, almost everyone in the city came by to pay respects to their former Mayor. Sure he had been corrupt, but he did still do so much good and helped the city in a lot of ways. Of course, the citizens of Magnolia were keen to thank him. Schoolmates, teachers, total strangers, all came up to Lucy to ask how she was doing, and gave her a sappy it'll get better speech. Eventually her actual friends made their way to her.

"Hey, Lucy…just know, I'm here for ya." Gray patted her on the head, Juvia quietly sobbed at how caring her boyfriend was before hugging Lucy.

"Lucy, stay strong…I know things will get better…the sun can't stay behind the clouds forever." Erza bowed her head and walked off letting Wendy go next. The young girl cried into Lucy's stomach as she squeezed her tightly.

"I'm so sorry Lucy!" The young girl cried. The blonde just gave the young girl a dry, lifeless smile and hugged her back.

"Thank you Wendy." She croaked out.

"Yo! Blondie…just know…if you need a drink you can just come on over to my place whenever. It helps me cope with shitty stuff." Cana joked, but the tone, and her expression told Lucy that it wasn't a joke.

"Oh Lulu, I love you girl! If you want to come over, we can binge read Zekua Melon's books to make you feel better….or whatever you want!" Levy squeezed her best friend tightly, Gajeel stood awkwardly behind the bluenette, and didn't say anything. He just flashed her a sympathetic look. Next was Makarov, and Mira, then Alzack, Bisca, Asuka, Jet, Droy, and Elfman. Even Laxus and the Thunder Legion showed up each one giving Lucy words of encouragement and a hug, or a pat on the back. Yukino came all the way from Crocus to support Lucy.

All it did though was suffocate her. So many people showed up, so many people that she didn't know. Even the people she did know were trapping her, and causing her to feel claustrophobic. Like she was in a box with no way to escape, as person after person came up to her to give her the next generic statement they thought would help. It didn't. To make matters worse the only person she genuinely wanted to come visit her made no effort to. Her eyes landed on the pink haired boy who was still sitting there stone faced while everyone else was coming up to her. It hurt her heart, what was he doing? Didn't he know how much she needed him. Meanwhile Natsu was watching her closely, a frown on his face as countless strangers crowded in on her personal space and attempted to be comforting. He wished he could muster the strength to do the same, but he couldn't use his legs without them shaking. He tried thinking of something to say, but there was nothing that came to mind.

Why did this keep happening? That was the only thing that kept popping up in Natsu's head, what did the world want from him? When he was Salamander bad things happened, and now that he stopped being Salamander bad things are still happening. He shook his head clear of those thoughts. It was selfish to think about his own problems now that Lucy was hurting so badly. He looked at her, her normal sparkling brown eyes were devoid of their trademark glimmer and looked devoid of all life. She looked ready to collapse, her posture was slouched and tense. Her hair tied up in a tight bun was starting to come unraveled, overall she looked close to her breaking point. After a few more minutes of Lucy shaking random people's hands or receiving awkward hugs from strangers she excused herself and stepped outside for fresh air. She took a deep breath, and closed her eyes. She wanted nothing more than for all of this to just be over.

After a few more days things were finally starting to calm down, it was funny after the funeral everyone just went back to their normal lives. Lucy wished she could as well, but there was still one more thing she needed to take care of before she was able to move on. So when she found herself sitting in the office of her father's lawyer she was quite eager to get everything over with. An older man in a suit sat on the desk opposite to her. He had a bushy white beard, and a shaved head. His eyes drooped in a way that made it look like he would fall asleep at any second.

"Greetings, Miss Heartfilia….before we start allow me to offer my condolences…how are you holding up?" The older man asked, Lucy just frowned.

"I've been better….thanks for asking Mr. Crux." The man nodded his head politely before reaching under his desk and fishing out a briefcase, and setting it on top of the desk. When he opened it Lucy saw that it was stuffed full of papers. Mr. Crux grabbed a stapled packet of papers from inside of it before putting the briefcase back on the ground. He cleared his throat and put on a pair of reading glasses.

"The last will and testament of Jude Heartfilia." He read out loud, Lucy stayed quiet to listen intently. She sat back preparing to be in the office for a while.

Natsu just got off work and was currently laying on the couch in their living room, Happy was on his chest as he scrolled through social media on his phone. The door to the apartment swung open as Lucy waltzed in with a large cardboard box. Natsu glanced at her with an eyebrow raised as she dropped it on the ground with a thud and walked straight to their bedroom. Natsu sighed and stood up to follow her. Happy's complaints of being moved and woken up fell on deaf ears as Natsu strolled into the bedroom to find that Lucy had literally planted herself face first onto the bed.

"Luce?" Natsu muttered quietly as he slowly approached the bed where the blonde lay still.

"Hmm?" Was all she replied with, Natsu sat down on the edge of the bed and began to rub her back.

"Is everything okay?" She groaned and sat up.

"I'm tired of people asking me that…..yes, everything is okay! I'm just peachy!" She snapped at him causing his eyes to widen and slowly pull his hand away. He gulped.

"Uhhh, yeah I can see that….sorry for asking…" He mumbled, Lucy sighed in frustration and rose to her feet. She began getting out of her dress clothes and changing into comfier attire.

"It's okay I'm just sick of people asking me the same questions. Lucy, how are you doing, are you okay? Lucy I'm sorry for your loss, do you need anything?!...YES I'M FINE, NO I DON'T NEED ANYTHING JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!" She angrily undid her pigtails and began furiously brushing her hair.

"Luce…."

"WHAT?!" She spun on her heels to glare at him only to see that he was standing right in front of her looking down at her sternly. She was so caught off guard by his sudden closeness that she didn't have time to process his arms wrapping around her and pulling her close to his chest until it was too late. He held her close to him with a tight grip. If there was any resistance from Lucy it was gone almost immediately as she dropped her hairbrush and it fell to the ground. Her throat clenched, and she hugged him back.

"I'm here for you…" Was all he could say as she silently wept into his arms, clenching onto him as if he would disappear forever if she let go, but he didn't disappear. Instead he gently picked her up and brought her to the bed and laid her down softly. She felt him get into the bed right next to her, and whisper into her ear.

"I'll always be here for you." Those were the words she had needed to hear him say, and the floodgates were opened. For the first time she was able to not just silently whimper, but full on sob over the loss of her father, but she knew everything alright. After all she still had Natsu, she still had Happy, Gray, Erza, Levy, Wendy….and they would be together forever. After a short while of crying into Natsu's arms she calmed down and closed her eyes, snuggling into her boyfriend. He kissed the top of her head, as Happy jumped into the bed to join them.

"It's okay to be sad Luce….nobody will think less of you for it, it's only second nature of humans to feel sadness, it's nothing to be ashamed of. Whatever else comes our way we'll be ready…and we will overcome them as long as we still have each other we will be okay." He glanced down and noticed she had fallen asleep, he shrugged after all she had a long, long week. He closed his eyes to join her in a peaceful slumber unaware of the hardships that were still yet to come…

Minstrel - 1:30am

The small country of Minstrel is a relatively large country southeast of Fiore. It is a luxurious vacation spot as the country is nicknamed the dancing country. Music was played 24/7 on every town square and in the center of the country was the largest ballroom in the world, where numerous high class members of society were gathered. From the looks, and sounds of things they were all enjoying their time there. That was until a loud rumbling could be heard from the roof. The building began to shake.

"Oh my…is this an earthquake?"

"Everyone find cover!" Someone yelled as they ran and hid under the massive banquet table, plenty of others joined him in running around looking for anything to protect them, but there was none to be found, because it wasn't an earthquake as the residents of the country soon found out as a loud, gigantic explosion drowned out the music, and sent shockwaves for miles. The building was soon left a pile of rubble, all of the occupants buried under the debris most likely lifeless. Only a singular figure stood amidst the screams of onlookers and smoke filling the air. The figure grinned maliciously and slowly rose to his feet, his blonde hair spiked upwards. A sadistic grin on his face as he took a large breath inhaling as much smoke as he could. Relishing the sounds of the screaming citizens. He burst into a maniacal laughter, he spread his arms out wide.

"PEOPLE OF MINSTREL HEAR ME! YOUR PATHETIC LIVES SHALL END TONIGHT AT THE HANDS OF TARTAROS!" He slowly trotted over to a nearby building and placed his hand on it, causing a golden circle to appear where his hand had been. With his malicious grin never leaving his face, he uttered one word before breaking into another fit of laughter.

"Boom."

With that the building like the ballroom blew up. Over the course of the night three more explosions were heard throughout the country. This would send ripples all over Fiore.

"Chapter 49-A World Turned Upside Down."

I'M BAAAAAAAAAAAACK HEHE.