A/N: So for those who follow along with my stories, I know I said I wasn't going to start another one. I have so many other works in progress that I'm currently trying to finish up, and I promise I'm still working along the schedule I set. I was recently rewatching some Fairy Tail episodes though, and I just wanted to put this story out there to see if I can do FT justice.

The update schedule for this fic is... not really going to have a schedule. I have about 8 chapters written out in advance, but none have been edited so far, and my Inuyasha fics will be my main focus to wrap up for the time being. So I will update when my muse allows, along with when I can get some editing done.

Before you start reading, I'm warning you that this story is not going to be your typical sunshine & rainbows with happy endings that FT is used to. There is going to be character death, tragedy, angst, and grief. Even I grimaced a few times while writing because I didn't enjoy what I was putting the characters through. But this is also going to be a story about overcoming those things while still keeping the Fairy Tail atmosphere true to self. I hope that I can do the characters and story justice in that regard. This is also going to be a slow-burn fic, in which things are going to take time to come to light. Constructive criticism is always welcomed.

If you're still on board, then without further adieu, I hope you enjoy!

Special shout-out to Divinion for beta-ing this chapter for me.

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The Last of Us

Chapter 1

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"I'm all fired up now!"

When Lucy Heartfilia had stumbled into the port of Hargeon so long ago, she had never really expected to be swept away by fairies into a world of chance encounters. It had been her dream, of course. The runaway heiress to her father's fortune, the cliche rich girl running from the burdens of her family's wealth, wanting more than the walls of her courtyard and proper lessons to fulfill her. Her fearless soul had led her into more trouble than she could name, but the company she kept wasn't exactly known for being on their best behavior either.

That's probably why she fit so well into Fairy Tail. Even during that first day of walking into the guildhall, an all-out brawl beginning within moments of arrival, she had melded seamlessly into one of them. In the blink of an eye, she had become acquainted with their strange habits and unruly behavior, but it had been fun and exciting. She never knew what the day would bring, and that's what she loved most about her home. It was a never-ending adventure.

Blonde hair tumbled over her face as Lucy shifted, her cheek pressed against the ground as fingers curled around the loose red-stained gravel. Her dark eyes blearily glanced around at what had survived. The blackness of the night had descended, lit only by the glow of scattered fires rising from the rubble, and the pale moonlight partially obscured behind the clouds. She felt the sweltering heat accompanying the ringing silence as a warm wind swept through what remained of the small, cheerful town.

A breath filled with soot, she coughed, tongue rolling over the metallic taste in her mouth. Her head pounded and her eyes stung from the sweat and blood that trailed down her forehead. Something hard dug into her ribs as a heavy weight pressed against her leg. She winced, brown eyes surveying in an attempt to make sense of up or down.

Everything had gone so very, very wrong.

Lucy groaned as she fought to move to her hands and knees, feeling her limbs shake with the effort. She managed to pull her leg from beneath a piece of crumbled building and ignored the pain that rocketed through every part of her body as her teeth sank into her lip to hold back a shrill cry.

"N-Natsu," she called hoarsely, finally getting her voice to work. Her eyes swept the battlefield for the dragon slayer, worry lines creasing her brow. "Natsu?"

Her chest constricted painfully with each intake of the humid evening air, her throat burning from the dark smoke curling away from the fires surrounding her. She looked down, clenching her hands into fists slowly and then releasing them. Every muscle in her body trembled, completely drained of magic energy. No wonder she felt so incredibly weak.

Lucy let her gaze wander to what lay before her, the bodies of townsfolk buried beneath rubble or half-charred from the blasts, the shops and roadways almost completely demolished. Magic mobiles had been turned over and crushed into mere metal fragments, almost unrecognizable from their original forms. How… How could this have happened?

Somehow managing to pull herself up on what remained of nearby framework, Lucy tested out her strength to stand. A large gash ran along her right thigh, sticky with dried blood; her clothes were tattered and torn, strung together by mere threads, and exposing her wounded flesh. She paused, attempting to will away her pounding headache and the searing agony with a few deep breaths. Her mind worked to recall what had happened, her stomach twisting in knots with each flashing memory. She closed her eyes against the burn of tears, and steeled her resolve. She needed to… She had to…

Grinding her teeth against the ebb and flow of the pain, she pushed off the framework and took a step, and then another, as she began searching through what was left of the town. She limped over collapsed buildings to the town square, her gait that was smooth only that morning was faltering and uneven. Her ponytail hung raggedly, loose hair falling over her features that contorted with effort.

Lucy winced as she stepped on something sharp and looked down, just now realizing that both of her shoes had somehow gone missing. "E-Erza?" she tried screaming, her voice straining with the effort. "Gray?"

It had been such a simple mission, promising enough jewels to satisfy her rent for the month. Her team had taken the job, minus Wendy who stayed behind with Charle, thankful for the reprieve after their battle with the dragons that followed the Grand Magic Games. What she wouldn't give for Wendy to be there now…

Lucy's vision blurred as tears again filled her eyes. "Happy?" she cried out meekly for the blue exceed. Even his annoying comments would be better than the eerie silence.

A whimper escaped her lips as she realized she was utterly alone.

She paused in her walking to regain her breath, eyes sweeping over the once green lands of the earth, now no more than ash and charcoal. The air was heavy with the smell of burnt flesh and smoke hung in a haze that partially obscured the moon. What remained of the town stood like skeletons, a barren wasteland, and empty now that destruction had taken whatever the fire didn't. All while the oppressive heat rained down like the breath of hell.

Wrapping her arms around herself, Lucy tried to stop the shaking in her limbs, the silence of the night sending a chill down her spine. Jaw rooted, she realized the town around her reminded her so much of the battle with the dragons - the destruction, the fires, the derelict shells of what remained. The only difference was that there were no battle cries in the distance or bursts of magic energy. There was no one.

Suddenly, she heard it, a voice ringing out over the carnage. "Princess!"

She turned and immediately felt relief at seeing the celestial maiden in the distance. "Virgo!" she breathed, her cracked lips pulling into a smile. Although battered and bruised, her spirit looked relatively unharmed. "You came."

Wide, cerulean eyes gazed at her as Lucy stumbled closer. "Of course," she responded gravely, her voice absent of her usual chipper attitude. She pointed to her left. "I have located the stripper."

A few yards away, Gray sat against corrugated iron, dark blue eyes meeting her own as she approached. "L-Lucy?" he rasped out, wincing as he shifted and blood pooled from a wound to his abdomen. He clutched it tightly, his chest heaving as he drew in shuddering breaths.

She gave him a shaky smile, tears coming to her eyes. "Hey, Gray," she greeted quietly. "I'm so happy you're okay."

He drew his eyes to the ground, his gaze suddenly hard, as he shook his head. "Y-Yeah," he choked out, clenching his hand into a tight fist. "But Erza…"

The celestial mage's stomach dropped as her wide eyes swept the surrounding area, and her gaze finally fell on the crumpled body of their comrade. "Erza!" She staggered over to where her friend lay, her thoughts racing. "Erza!"

Falling to her knees, Lucy crawled to the requip mage's side. Her eyes fixated on Erza's blank stare, her scarlet hair forming a bloody halo around her head. Her armor had been broken beyond repair, laying in shards on the ground beside her, slowly disappearing as its magic faded. "Erza?" she called aimlessly, trying not to think about the ashen color of her skin.

She reached out to brush a stray piece of hair from her cheek. She was cold - the warmth already leaving. Still, Lucy rested her head against her chest, free of its armor, and listened to the empty cavity that held no beating heart. The life that had dwelt within her was gone, and she reluctantly knew what had become of the famous Titania.

"S-She's gone," she whispered brokenly, tears spilling from wide, disbelieving eyes.

"No!" she heard Gray shout from behind her, his voice screaming with denial. "Not Erza! She can't be!"

Lucy swallowed thickly, her mind reeling as she battled to stand. Gray's hysterical cries blurred to a monotonous white noise. Fear suddenly clutched her heart as she murmured, "Natsu," before turning and running toward the last place she thought she had seen the dragon slayer.

"Princess!" Virgo called after her, worried for her mistress's well-being.

"Stay here with Gray!" Lucy instructed over her shoulder, ignoring the agony shooting through her core with every step she took. Tripping and bumbling over the carnage, she continued to shout her partner's name. Brown eyes swept the expanse of the battlefield, searching for any hint of where he may be.

Then she saw it, a flash of pink amidst the brownstone. Among the rubble lay the dragon slayer, covered by a slab broken from a building.

"Natsu!" she yelled, a deep layer of terror in her voice. He laid incredibly still. A twisted piece of shrapnel, cemented to the slab of concrete, pierced his chest, as blood ran freely in thick scarlet rivers before soaking into the fabric of his long overcoat. Lucy fell to her knees and struggled to push the concrete off of him to no avail - her shaking limbs and the growing pain in her shoulder proving just how weak she was.

Onyx eyes turned to look at her, prompting a small smile from her lips. Natsu grinned, and she felt her heart ease for the briefest of moments, until she saw the blood bubbling from his mouth. It slipped down his chin and melted into the white scales of his scarf. Panic gripped her as she quickly pulled his head onto her lap, cradling his broken form.

"Natsu?!"

The fire mage's pink hair stuck to his forehead slick with sweat and so Lucy swept it back, smoothing her fingers through his hair as if that might keep it all together; feeling the coolness of his skin. His natural golden skin had sunken in tone to something so lifeless it scared her just to look at him.

"Help!" she cried out, her eyes lifting to look for a sign of life amongst the wreckage. "Virgo! Gray! Somebody help me!"

"L-Luce…" he spoke, his voice choked with the thick blood that gurgled from his throat.

Her wide eyes turned back to her partner. His body shook in her arms and all she could do was stroke his hair and hold his hand. It barely seemed enough, yet his body calmed with her touch.

"Shh, don't try to talk," she soothed. "It's going to be okay. You're all right. I'm going to fix this, okay? Just hold on."

But as their gazes met, an understanding silently passed between them that she didn't want to believe. They both knew that if it could be fixed, help would already be there, or she would be doing anything other than making promises on her knees.

Her eyes ran over the jagged hole in his chest and she covered it with her trembling hand, watching the dark red trickle over her pale skin. She squeezed her eyes shut to thwart the tears, and leaned down, listening to his breath, shallow and fast, slip from his lips.

"Natsu," she whimpered. "You-You can't-"

He caught her hand and squeezed, a far too feeble touch. "S-Sorry…"

She choked on a gasping sob, shoving the tears from her cheeks. "Natsu… Stop it, please. You're going to be okay. Look at me!" His eyes met hers. "You're going to be okay!"

"D-Didn't mean to make you c-cry." He drew in a sharp intake of air.

She defiantly shook her head. "Don't say that," she admonished fiercely. "Don't talk as if this is the end."

Natsu smiled so briefly with a wide toothy grin, making her heart skip a beat, before his breathing became a noisy rattle. His eyes drifted, becoming half-lidded, and then the light faded from his eyes until they were dark and empty.

Lucy, wide-eyed with incredulity, stared blankly at him, her fingers shakily coming to rest on his cheeks. "N-No," she whispered, blonde hair falling as she shook her head to deny the truth in front of her. She placed a hand over his chest that didn't rise or fall with breath. "No, no, no! Natsu! Come on, you can't do this! You can't die on me!"

She squeezed her eyes shut and buried her face into the crook of his neck, feeling the familiar scales of his scarf rub against her cheek. The celestial mage choked and sputtered through her tears, her anguished cries falling on the ears of the dead. She couldn't breathe or even hear the simplicity of her heart racing in her chest.

The pain was like a knife being twisted in her chest. It shot up fast, erasing every thought from her head and paralyzing her body. Apparently she screamed, but she didn't recall that part, only the pain. Black filled the edges of her vision as the rest of the world fell away, her breath coming in ragged, shallow gasps.

"Lucy!"

Suddenly, arms were around her, pulling her upright on her knees. Orange filled her vision as eyes skewed by azure-tinted glasses glanced over her with concern.

"Loke?" she whispered, vaguely recognizing the lion spirit.

"Hey there, Beautiful," he greeted, granting her a shaky smile. "You scared me there."

He must have come on his own.

"Can you stand?"

She listlessly nodded her head as he assisted her to her feet, curling an arm around her waist. "N-Natsu…" Her voice broke as she gasped on her tears.

"Come on," he coerced her gently, pulling her arm around his shoulders. "We have to get out of here."

Lucy stumbled across the remnants of town feeling utterly numb. Her heart squeezed as she almost fell over, saved only by Loke's presence. He casted worried eyes in her direction, but she ignored him, barely able to string a thought together. They had to get back to the guild, she knew, because that was where Wendy was. The sky dragon slayer could heal their fallen friends. She could save them.

Silently, Lucy tumbled. Loke barely had enough time to shoot out calloused hands. "Lucy!" he called, holding her upright. "Lucy!"

She didn't hear him, feeling as if the breath had been knocked from her lungs. Then all of a sudden, the ground disappeared beneath her feet and she was curled against the lion spirit's chest. "We-We need to get back to the guild," she murmured.

She felt him nod. "Yeah," he agreed. "That's right, Princess."

"They need help. They need to come home."

He stiffened beneath her, but pressed onward. "We'll come back for them," he assured her after a moment. "But we can't carry them all the way there right now. You and Gray are injured. You need Wendy-"

"They need Wendy!" she protested defiantly, her head pounding as if hit by a train. She glared up at him, wincing with fierce brown eyes. "Can't you s-see that? We need to get Wendy! She can heal them!"

Loke spared her a brief glance, his lips pulled into a thin line. She watched his Adam's apple bob up and down as he swallowed thickly. "Okay," he finally accepted. "We'll bring them home, Lucy."

Satisfied with his response that he would save their friends, she let unconsciousness take hold, her last image consisting of Virgo with concerned blue eyes.