It was over.

They had won.

Wendy and Carla had returned safely, the dragons had continued taking down all of the Faces, every last member of the Tartaros guild had been defeated with no chance of coming back. Gray had come back from his fight with Silver mostly unscathed, although Lucy could tell something had happened from the way both him and Juvia had been acting. Erza and Minerva had made up, the latter finally agreeing to come back to Sabertooth. Zeref himself had taken care of Mard Geer and the book of E.N.D. was now in his possession. It was all over.

Then why, why, did Lucy feel as if she had lost?

She felt broken, lost, pained, hurt, crushed, miserable, distressed, anything. Lucy felt terrible. The blonde felt terrible because she had just lost one of her most important Spiri- no, because she just had lost one of her closest friends.

Aquarius.

It didn't matter to her that the water bearer seemed to hate her, that she annoyed the Spirit to the point of attacking her. It didn't matter, she didn't care, she didn't care because she loved her anyway. The blue haired spirit had been one of her first friends, had been her only friend back when she was just a little kid. Lucy had had no one else after her mother's passing, and Aquarius had made her happy. She had been able to return some of the light that had left the sudden dark and bitter place she called her life.

But now...now that little source of light was gone too.

Fairy Tail was great, it had lit up the gloomy aura that surrounded and haunted her in every corner as quickly as Natsu could burn down a building. The guild, the people, her friends, her family, they had all worked on washing away all the misery she had felt after her mother's death. The small, powerful beam of light that Aquarius brought Lucy had expanded, it had expanded until the Celestial Wizard could see the entire world in color again instead of the usual black and white.

And for the first time in a while, Lucy could smile without it feeling forced.

But now Aquarius was gone and a large chunk of Lucy's color-filled world had turned back into the monochrome pattern she had been forced to grow used to. Her world had been turned into a jigsaw puzzle, and she had managed to fit all of the colorful and pretty pieces where they belonged, the edges snapping together and molding into one single picture.

The only problem was, right in the middle of her perfect picture was an empty gap that stood out like a sore thumb. She only needed a single puzzle piece to fill up the empty space and it would be complete again. A puzzle piece that went by the name of Aquarius.

But, from the looks of it, she wouldn't be finding that piece anytime soon.

Lucy sat there, in the middle of all the wreckage and rubble that used to be Tartaros, still in her Aquarius Star Dress, still clutching the broken key to her chest as if it was her life-line. Her sobs echoed through the place, filled with nothing else but utter agony and anyone who heard it would suffer with her; her pain reaching anyone who just bothered to listen. She was sobbing without tears, having already used up the last of them a while ago. Her throat hurt, and Lucy felt as if she was choking. Her lungs seemed to collapse in on themselves and she was wheezing, coughing and spitting as she tried her best to regain control of her breathing and not suffocate. Dying now by simply suffocating would be a slap to the face because Aquarius' sacrifice would have meant nothing.

She was gone, she was gone, she was gone, she was gone.

She was gone,and there was absolutely nothing she could do about it.

Lucy's grip on her key tightened, her entire body trembling and it wasn't from the cold nor was it from her injuries inflicted on her by various Tartaros members. She was trembling due to the sheer and utter pain she felt right now as the memories came flooding in over her like a huge tidal wave. From the first time she had gotten Aquarius' key, to the times in her bathtub or fishbowl, to when she had left the Heartfilia estate, back when she had met Natsu, her first mission, and so on until now. Each time she had been summoned, Aquarius would have some sort of rude or downright hateful comment waiting at the tip of her tongue until she could spit it out with as much venom as she could muster. And yet, each time Lucy found herself not minding as much as she probably should; because in the end, Aquarius still would've helped her in her own, unique way.

And now she was gone and the Spirit couldn't possibly wash her away with her attacks anymore.

Behind her, the sound of rubble being kicked away could be heard, followed by a soft curse. She didn't pay it any mind, just hugged the key closer and dry-sobbed quietly. The rest of her Spirits could feel her pain too, and she could faintly sense Loke struggling with himself as to if he should show up to comfort her or not. From the looks of it, he had opted with not, and she was, in a weird way, grateful for it. She didn't want to burden them with her problems even more than she already did.

The sounds and footsteps from before just grew closer, followed by a sharp intake of breath, and then-

"Lucy?"

She froze, the familiar voice ringing in her ears and she clutched Aquarius' key even tighter, knowing that he'd either flip out or keep asking questions if he saw her in this state.

But, her complete lack of willpower was proven as he called her name again, this time a lot softer, and she found herself calling back.

At the sound of his name brokenly leaving her lips, Natsu hurried to where she was sitting until he was standing right in front of her shaking and shivering form. He was silent for a moment, watching with uncertain eyes as she clutched the key and sobbed and he was painfully reminded of the time Éclair had sacrificed herself for their sake and had left Lucy in a state similar to this one; only this was much, much worse.

"...Lucy?" He called again, tone mimicking how he felt and he watched as she slowly and shakily pushed herself up. His hands twitched, wanting nothing more than to reach forward and help her stand since even he could see that she wasn't going to get anywhere with how much she was trembling at the moment. He could faintly see the blue waves painted on the gold key she was clutching, and if he looked just a little bit closer, he could see the same pattern outlined in black on her collarbone. Aquarius' sign.

Was that why Lucy was acting like this? Did something happen?

Somehow, somehow she managed to get herself up on shaky and trembling feet, for some reason refusing to look at him and Natsu opened his mouth, fully prepared to throw her another question when her body shook and a broken cry left her.

And then she threw herself at him, shaky limbs snaking around him with absolutely no intention of letting go and Natsu was stunned into silence by her sudden actions. Sure, she usually was the one to initiate hugs at sad times like these but somehow, this felt different.

"She's gone," she sobbed, and the fire breather was surprised to feel tears dripping down from her cheeks and leaking on to his shoulder. His arms found their way around her waist, grip tightening just a little as he wondered just what in the hell he had missed in the time all of them were trapped and she had been left alone. With each of her sobs, he could feel himself getting angrier as his fire started to burn; but he forced it back down because right now, Lucy didn't need him to go on a rampage. Right now, she just needed to be held and comforted.

And Natsu figured that, as she pushed herself closer to him, face nuzzling in his neck as she cried, he could go and tear down whoever made her cry later.

Don't ask because I honestly don't know.