Hey guys! I'm sorry it's been a while (it seems like I'm saying that a lot lately). I've been busy with life and afterwards, I went into depression. I'm still in it and my emotions really affect the way I write. If I'm angry, my characters – well, they aren't my characters, they're Hiro Mashima's but you know what I mean – will be angry. If I'm happy, their happy. In my depression, Natsu and Lucy will be depressed in my stories, but since this story has a lot of that depressing feeling, I'm going to use this to my advantage! I don't really know how long I'll be depressed, but you'll probably get a lot of chapters in this story, at least until I feel better.

Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail

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Eruption (Ch. 4)

That dead hope welling up inside of her put tears in her eyes…it sickened her. Lucy knew it was a fools' errand: going to Magnolia to look for survivors. There was a blasted volcano eruption! There wouldn't be any survivors, but there will be burnt corpses…and that's what she was afraid of.

You can tell who a corpse was by taking a DNA sample, but what if one turned out to be one of her friends?

She wiped the tears away as they formed at the corner of her eyes and looked out the window before the prime members of Sabertooth could notice. They were inside a carriage, taking a bumpy, but less exhausting way to travel. Running for three days really took it out of the blonde; she would've taking the carriage any day.

That dead hope swelled even more…

She hoped and prayed that she would find her friends who survived there. She hoped that they had found a place to hide before the lava reached them. She hoped that she would fine them and reunited with them again…but she knew that no one would be there. Even if there were survivors, they wouldn't be there. They would've left. She knew that no one was there…

But still, she hoped. That dead hope still keeping her heart pumping with dread.

"We're almost there," Sting announced, bringing her out of the cold, bitter thoughts, but that dead hope was still there.

"Please…" She begged, mentally. She didn't know who she was possibly talking to and she didn't know what exactly she was begging for, but she pleaded anyway, "oh please…please…"

She knew they wouldn't be there, but she couldn't help hope anyway.

It was five dreadful minutes later when she realized the carriage had stopped and she was the first one out of it.

The sight was dreadful.

There was nothing, but ash, ash everywhere. Somewhere behind her, Yukino gasped and she vaguely heard Rogue say that they were still in Magnolia's forest, but just on the border.

Mt. Hakobe did this to the forest?! There wasn't anything left of the trees! Everything was ash! Magnolia was closer to the volcano than the forest was. If it did this to the forest, what about the town? The guild hall?
Lucy took off running.

The ash had cooled over the past four cold nights, making it only a little difficult to walk through. It was like snow, but not as cold.

"Lucy!" Minerva had shouted and she could hear the others running after her. As they went up the hill, Lucy realized that dead hope was partially a reality.

There, in fact, were people…

But not Fairy Tail…

"I want every corpse found from every house and brought here!" Captain Lahar commanded the reinforcement unit. His trusty friend, co-worker, and assistant, Doranbolt, stood next to him. "We need to know who all has passed away."

Lucy's eyes wandered Magnolia: the buildings were still there, but all the paint and shingles were ripped off. All the wood had been burned; what was left of the houses were just barely on their last leg, about to collapse any minute now. Despite that, the ground was still ash, the roofs were still ash, everything was still ash and there were no survivors around. Only the Magic Council, carefully moving statues of solid ash and bones to the tents for DNA tests.

"Mest!" Lucy called out, not knowing his real name and vaguely forgetting Lahar's. "Mest!"

Doranbolt's eyebrows went up as he looked around. Nobody ever called him that anymore, at least not after the Key of the Starry Heavens incident. Only Fairy Tail called him that during his infiltration.

"Who in the…Lucy?!" He gapped like a fish as the blonde Celestial Wizard ran up to him. He was about to bombard her with questions until he saw Sting not far behind her. It seems she was with Sabertooth during the eruption.

Before he could ask what she was doing here, Lucy had opened her mouth quicker: "have you found any survivors?!"

What? Was she insane?

It wasn't him who answered. "No," Lahar replied, "this was a very powerful, dormant volcano. Nobody would've survived this for miles. You're lucky you did, Lucy."

"W-what?" Lucy's eyes widened. No survivors for miles?! Fairy Tail would've never made it…

Rogue spoke up, "have you found any of Fairy Tail's corpses though? If there were no survivors, you would have to at least found some of them."

"We haven't found any Fairy Tail Wizards yet," Doranbolt said, "but Lucy…we found your landlady's body…"

In all honestly, Lucy didn't even like her landlady, she was mean and selfish, but still, it broke her heart to hear of her passing….

"The first place we looked was the Fairy Tail guild hall, we didn't find any bodies, but we'll be sure to find them elsewhere. When we find them, we'll go to Sabertooth and let you know, Lucy. We promise," Doranbolt, despite his position in the Magic Council, he had always been a fan of Fairy Tail. What they believed in and their doctrine, even though it went against him and the council, was the thing he liked most about the guild. It broke his heart as much as it broke Lucy's, but he was glad at least one of them had survived.

Tears slid down Lucy's face; no one survived? No one at all? Just her? "C-can I look in the guild hall?"

"Of course not!" Lahar said, "we don't want you going in there! The building could collapse on you and we don't want you in our way-"

"Of course you can," Doranbolt interrupted, ignoring the incredulous look Lahar was giving him. "Just be careful."

Lucy nodded, wiping her tears and ran off. She didn't know whether or not Sabertooth was following, but she didn't care. She just had to see for herself.

Lucy could tell the guild was about to collapse, like more of the buildings left standing in Magnolia, but she went in anyway. When she entered the guild hall, she lost her breath: There was hardly anything left of it except for the posts barely holding it up. She could make out outlines with all the stone left for her to see the bar and the stage. It was all nearly completely desolated. There were debris and dirt covering the ground and Lucy found the tears slipping down again.

The good news was there was not one burnt corpse in the guild, but of course not. She heard Master say that they were going to evacuate the townspeople. Of course none of her friends would be here…but that didn't mean they weren't dead…

The library was totaled; not a single book in sight. The cabinets in the kitchen and the tables in the main hall were ash. Not one single flag of their emblem stood out, not even their name…

There was nothing left of Fairy Tail…There was nothing left of her home…

Collapsing on her knees she began to let go of her river of tears, gasping for breath as she sobbed.

When she looked up what felt like hours later, something white and shiny caught her eye. It was in the debris of the fallen roof that had caved it. The sun was shining through as if saying it was a beautiful day…

Tsk…Yeah, a beautiful day…

The sun lit up the white, causing it to shine into her eyes. She shielded her chocolate pupils and curiously crawled over to it, not finding the mental strength to tell herself to stand up and walk.

It was dirty except for the part shining at her. Lucy had to move a rock and a wooden beam in order to be able to pull it out. It was long like a snake and even scaly like one too.

Wait…

Scaly?

…

Oh no…

"No…no, no…no, no, no…" The tears appeared back into her eyes and she frantically brushed the dirt away with her hands, praying it wasn't what she thought it was. The white began to show more and more. "Oh no, no, no, no, no, please no…no…"

Her prayers were answered, but the answer wasn't what she wanted:

It was Natsu's scarf…

Natsu is…dead?

"No! No!" Pushing the scarf aside, she threw herself on the pile of debris, clawing at the rocks and pushing them aside. Natsu had to be in there! He had to be!

"Lucy, cut it out," It was Sting's voice; it was scratched up and full of sorrow and sympathy, but she completely ignored it. She could barely hear Lector, Frosch, and Yukino crying in the background.

Lucy suddenly cut her hand on a jagged rock, but she continued to dig and pull and push and dig and pull and push…Natsu was buried under this rubble! She had to get him out!

"Lucy…"

"Natsu! Natsu, hang on; I'm going to get you out of there!" Her hands were going raw and the tears blurred her vision.

"Lucy, stop!"

Sting had grabbed a hold of her, an arm around the waist and chest, and forcefully pulled her away from the rubble.

"No! Natsu!" Lucy cried, fighting him, but the white dragon slayer's strength was great.

"Lucy, stop it," Sting tried again, managing to get her to go limp in his arms. "Natsu's gone…they all are…"

Lucy hiccupped, swallowing tears that had flowed into her mouth; she had suddenly wanted to grasp something, to hold onto something and not let go. So she turned toward Sting and enveloped him in her arms, sobbing and screaming.

"I'm sorry," Tears stung his own eyes as he hugged the celestial wizard. "I'm so sorry…"

Lucy could feel Frosch set a gentle paw on her leg, the tears and shivers of the exceed caused vibrations in them both, "I-it'll be okay…" she slowly said.

Will it?...Will it, really?...

No…no, it won't…

It felt like an eternity, with Rufus, Rogue, and Orga standing quietly in the back, the silent, mournful cries of Yukino, Minerva, and Lector, and Lucy, sobbing and screaming louder than she ever has with Sting holding her tightly and Frosch snuggled against her leg. An eternity of sorrow was what it felt like: Natsu was gone, Happy was gone, Levy, Mira, Erza, Gray, Wendy, Cana, Master, Laxus…they were all gone…they were all dead.

Somehow, Lucy found the willpower to let go of Sting and actually stand up. No one could see her eyes because her bangs were covering them, but Sabertooth watched as Lucy walked over to Natsu's scarf, bent down to pick it up, wrap it around her neck, and lift her head to look at them. She hiccupped, still crying, but quieter; her eyes were visible now…and bloodshot:

"Let's *hic*…L-let's go back to the Sabertooth g-guild hall…There is no point in b-being here anymore…T-there's nothing, but sorrow…"

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Natsu and Happy had searched three entire towns in one and a half days, and according to the dragon slayer's poor math skills, that means it takes twelve hours to completely search a town for one blonde celestial mage. Natsu was beyond exhausted, not to mention frustrated; he hadn't been able to catch a whiff of Lucy's scent for even a moment!

"Na~tsu~," Happy slumped downward next to the pink haired man, following him around. "I don't meant to complain, but I'm starving! We haven't eaten all day; can't we stop at a restaurant?"

"We can't even if I wanted to; we don't have any money."

"There's fish in lakes and ponds. We can eat from there."

"Okay then, why don't you go catch some fish and bring them back to me to fry?"

"Why not come with me?"

"I gotta keep looking for Lucy."

"Natsu, listen," Happy flew in front of him, halting him in his tracks, "I want to find Lucy just as much as you do, but we're exhausted; we can't keep going like this! We need a break."

"I can't!" Natsu ran his fingers through his hair, grinding his teeth together, "I can't just sit around and take a break! She's probably….who knows where she is! I need to find her and make sure she's okay!"
"I want that too," Happy countered, "but if we keep exhausting ourselves, it'll take us longer to find her than simply taking a break for a while."

That was true, but Natsu was never one to just sit and that was just simply taking Lucy out of the problem entirely. Natsu never sat around and took breaks, he never waited; he always ran through obstacles until he reached his goal.

However, this was about finding Lucy as fast as he could and Happy was right: it'll take longer to find her if they exhausted themselves rather than take a breather for a day.

He wanted to find Lucy and faster meant taking a breather.

Sighing, Natsu agreed to let Happy lead him to the nearest lake, he had to admit that he was starving to.

"Alright, let's go…"

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Now, before you review, yes, I know you're thinking "when did Natsu lose his scarf?". Well, it was during the unwritten chapters of the evacuation of Magnolia as the volcano was erupting. I really stink at writing fight scenes which included the hectic volcano eruption and since the first chapter of this story was poorly written when it came to the volcano, I just decided to avoid it, but as I look at this story, I had intentionally decided this to be about a volcano eruption and the aftermath…not just the aftermath. This is short, it's supposed to be about 10 chapters so when I finish and probably take a break from it, I'll go back and add one or two chapters more at the beginning so you can read the actual volcano eruption and during those chapters, you'll see how Natsu lost his scarf.

-zEllie