THIS IS IT. THIS IS THE END.

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Eucliffe Residence, Dining Hall - 8:00 PM

He wasn't there anymore; he had lost the feeling of time. After he had grabbed Sting by the neck and brought him down hard onto the table, he had felt a surge of energy that had never hit him before. It was overwhelmingly hot; he himself didn't feel the heat but he knew it was around him - his whole body seemed to be lit red. The body under him had tried to fight back, before he heard him yell in pain and begin to beg for mercy.

"Please! Natsu, stop... You don't understand! I have no money left, I need Lucy!"

But Lucy had no money. Did he not know? It didn't matter, that didn't make it okay to take her against her will and drug her. He hit him again, his eyesight had gotten better: he could count each of the eyelashes on Sting's eye if he wanted to. He saw the man's skin begin to tear as Natsu kept punching him, tears streaming down his eyes.

"Natsu... Stop... I beg you... Have her, she's in the medicine room. Don't..."

I'll get her soon, he thought, but I need to finish you off. He could feel warm liquid running down his face and back, although he couldn't remember how he'd gotten those wounds. Sting had clawed at his face until about a minute ago; now he just lays till, blinking hard at every punch Natsu gave him.

"Don't kill... Me."

Natsu laughed then, a cynical smile reaching his lips as he punched him again. How could he not want to kill him? Lucy was somewhere in this house probably lifeless. The thought made him angrier, the pyro grabbed Sting by his shirt and tossed him towards the opposite wall, where he had first kicked Natsu in the abdomen. The owner of the house lay crumpled on the floor, a streak of blood painting his white wall as he slid down completely. Lucy's boyfriend walked slowly towards him, not by choice but because for some reason his body was having a hard time moving now - it was as if that last throw somehow had drained him. He looked down at his bloody hands, his eyes opening in surprise as he noticed flames licking his fingers. Bringing his hands up, he noticed that he himself wasn't being burned. In fact, the flames seemed to be playing on his skin, looping around his fingers and swirling up a few centimeters over his hands.

Not giving it much thought, he looked back towards Sting and his crumpled body on the floor. Somehow his eyes were open, wide and filled with terror as he saw the same thing Natsu was seeing, "The... fuck?" The owner managed to say those words, before his eyes rolled back and he lay still. Natsu was about to move forward towards Sting's body, until he felt a massive body tackle him to the floor. Whoever it was that attacked him from the side, was smart enough to have a rug on him... Which they now were using to pat down a flaming Natsu. Although he had wanted to try to punch whoever it was who had tackled him, he seemed to notice right away that his energy was close to zero. Looking up confused, the pyro found himself meeting eye to eye with, "Laxus?"

"How the hell are you alive?! I saw you standing like a retard covered in flames and Sting's body lying on the floor. Elfman is on him now-" Natsu bellowed, "He needs to die!" He tried to get up but found his body still pinned to the floor by Laxus. "Let me go! He needs to die by my hands!" Laxus growled, "No he doesn't!" He tried his hardest to keep him under his grasp, only to have Natsu struggle under him and scream loudly that he was wrong. Flames again began to light around him, although Laxus was quick enough to pat them down. Gritting his teeth, the blonde man brought his arm up and punched Natsu in the face, making the college student stop mid-scream and stare at him in confusion. "No one deserves to die in the hands of others! It's not our duty to kill, whatever the excuse may be!" The salmon haired man yelled in frustration. "He took Lucy away from me," Natsu growled, "that's no excuse!"

"And do you think Lucy would be happy to know that you killed a man? A man who is just a lowlife that's in need of money? Shit, we could've payed him or even fucking sent him to jail for kidnapping... But do a fucking heist? Break down his house and kill him? That's not the way of Fairy Tail! We are here to do justice, to help... Not to fucking kill! And if that's your intention... Then you're in the wrong fucking place!" Laxus stood above him panting, beads of sweat rolling down his forehead from the heat that was still rolling off of Natsu. The said man looked up at his friend with a shocked looked, his skin that was once glowing red was now simmering down and going back to a creme color. His chest was rising and falling slower too, as the words that Laxus screamed to him sank in. Natsu had no family - in fact, Fairy Tail was the only kind of family he knew and loved more than anything. To be told that what he was doing was not looked upon well by his family, that he might even be, "in the wrong place?" he said hoarsely, his eyes still locked on Laxus'.

The blonde let out an exasperated sigh, slowly getting off of the pyro and bringing himself up to stand over him, reaching out his hand to help Natsu get up. Looking at Laxus' hand, Natsu grabbed it wearily and felt himself be hoisted up into a standing position. Immediately the world around him spun, and he grabbed his head around the same time that Laxus grabbed his body to stop him from falling. "Whatever the hell you did," the blonde's brow furrowed and his head shook as if he was still thinking whether or not he had gone crazy and hallucinated the whole scene, "Apparently took a lot of energy from you." Natsu agreed before pointing towards where Elfman was currently crouched and looking at a crumpled body. With Laxus doing most of the walking, practically carrying Natsu at this point, the two quickly came towards Elfman and looked at what was left of the aftermath of Natsu's rage. Lying on the floor with a small puddle of blood around the back of his head, was a still-breathing Sting. His face was cut up, swelling beginning to start around both his eyes and bruises coloring his jaw. His usual blonde hair was now matted towards the back, tinted with his blood and a large bump beginning to grow from the opening of a cut.

"Although he's not a man for what he did to Lucy, he is man to be able to not die from Natsu's.. uh, wrath," the burly man scratched the back of his head, a frown appearing at the corner of his mouth as he looked down at Sting and back up towards a rather dazed Natsu. As the pyro looked down at the blonde, he let out a shaky breath; if it weren't the fact that he knew for sure it was Sting, he might've had trouble recognizing the bloody and cut up face. "Wh-", he shook his head, letting his free hand come up over his head and pull his hair. Noticing his painful realization of what he had done, Laxus coughed awkwardly and nudged Elfman with his shoe, "I'm going to take him-" "STING!"

All three men looked to where the sound of a sobbing girl came from. At the opening of the dining room stood a shaken girl, with eyes wide and filled with terror as she looked from the three men to the body of the floor. "N-No!" She rushed over, dropping on the marbled floor and sliding towards Sting, her frail hands shaking as she tried to touch him but felt like he'd break. "He's alive," Elfman whispered, looking painfully towards the small woman, "Just needs some intense medical help." Her brown eyes reached Elfman's and she immediately let out what sounded like a sigh of relief mixed with a sob. Moving her sight towards Natsu, she immediately raised her hands, "Please… don't do anymore. H-He's all I have! He just made a stupid mistake, and I- I tried to reason once Lucy told me, but he was hard-headed. Take whatever, just please-" She recounted her talk with Sting and how hard headed he was in not believing that Lucy had no money to her name. At one point, Elfman even patted Yukino on the shoulder, perhaps since she seemed to remind him of his own little sister.

The brown eyes that kept going from Laxus to Natsu made the salmon-haired man wince. They seemed just like, "Lucy." The girl blinked, a few tears falling down her cheeks as she sniffled, "Where is she?" Natsu asked again, now looking down at her with soft eyes, "I don't want anything in your possession. I just want my girlfriend." Yukino told them quickly where Lucy was and as all three men began to walk away, Natsu looked behind both his and Laxus' shoulder, where a sad picture of a broken dining room and a crumpled body lay, somehow looking to be saved by a white angel. Looking back down where new drops of blood were painting the white marbled floor, he heard the young woman speaking faintly to the guy, "You're so stupid… stupid, stupid, stupid… I- I love you, stupid, stupid… stupid."

Medicinal Room, 8:55 PM

The medication was working - slowly, yes, but Lucy could already be able to open her eyes and move her head with much more ease than before. Her fingers and toes that were once numb seemed to now be warm, and as she tried to move them, a sigh of relief came as she felt them flex and stretch. At some point, she heard things breaking and muffled cries, some of which sounded faintly like Natsu's. She opened her mouth and tried to scream, but only found her voice to be cracked and her throat burn. The crashing of objects stopped, and soon enough an eerie silence came in. She frantically looked around, trying hard to prop up her body with her elbow to no avail. She cried silently, tears blurring her vision as the black unlocked door in front of her seemed to taunt her. He will come for me, she thought to herself, sniffling and blinking rapidly to try to let the last tears fall, I know he will.

She didn't remember much of what happened the hours after falling onto the broken shards of glass. Now seeing herself in an unknown room, with some sort of medication hooked up to her arm, made her feel even more vulnerable; not even to mention the fact that she was more like in a vegetable state. It seemed like the silence was eternal, every minute passing painstakingly slow. She could now shake her foot, and her hands could move enough to even be able to snap her finger. That's it! she thought, as her eyes darted down to her arm, where it seemed as if an invisible clamp was holding her arm down only allowing her hands to be free. Bringing her thumb and middle finger together, she snapped; the sounds seemed to echo around the room.

After counting to thirty, she snapped again, trying her hardest to lift her hand higher than the bed. She was playing on faith alone - she knew her boyfriend had good hearing. Maybe, just maybe he was searching through the estate, looking for her but not being able to find her. Once again, she counted to thirty and had beads of sweat form on her forehead as she bit her lips and raised her arm a little higher, snapping her finger. The invisible clamp was now growing weak on her arm, as she felt her arm raise even higher. Again she snapped - hoping that the echo that was being heard in her room was somehow leaking out the door and into the dark hall, where her boyfriend frantically searched for her.

Hallway, 9:04 PM

At first he thought it was a drip from a faucet nearby - perhaps a bathroom with a leak or even a pipe that might've cracked. Yet he heard it again, as he walked through the random hallway Yukino had sent them through. He wasn't laying on Laxus that much, whether it was from the last bit of adrenaline he had left or his own strength returning, he didn't know. Neither Laxus, Elfman, or himself could figure much where Lucy was - Yukino's directions where hard to hear since she was crying over a very knocked out Sting and Natsu's smell wasn't working, which Laxus blamed to be probably from exhaustion.

Again, he heard the faint… snap? He stopped mid-step, Laxus looking down towards him with a raised eyebrow and saying a faint 'hey' to stop Elfman from walking away. "There's a weird sound…" he heard the snap again, bringing his hand up and the two men cocking their heads to hear the noise. Laxus nodded, "Yea, it's consecutive. I heard it maybe...?" The salmon-haired man nodded, "Thirty seconds ago." Natsu again stayed still, closing his eyes, fifteen… twenty… twenty-five… *snap*.

He opened his eyes and found the strength to walk on his own, turning right and finding a dimly lit small hallway with two doors on either side. His breathing was hard, he heard the two men finish walking towards him and flanked him on both sides. No one spoke. Twenty-seven, twenty-eight, twenty-nine, *snap*.

Medicinal Room, 9:05 PM

He turned to the door on his left, grabbed the doorknob and opened. She couldn't contain herself as the door opened showing a cut-up and bruised Natsu, and she let out a long overdue sob. There wasn't any words to say, since she still found her vocal cords far from working, but she moaned and sobbed again as she saw him run (or wobble quickly) towards her and fall onto her, his hands moving to hug her body and her upward arm falling to his back. He smelled like burnt coal, yet she didn't even bother to care as she felt his weight leave her body and his face come to her vision. "Lucy," he said weakly, his black eyes looked tired and bloodshot - like he hadn't slept for months. "Lucy, I love you so much," he bent down and kissed her lips, which she imagined must've been chapped. She kept crying, her breath coming out unleveled as she tried to regain her composure but couldn't. There was so much she had to say: how scared she was, how broken, how she missed him and her friends, how she never lost faith, how she loved him so, so much.

She tried to open her mouth, "I.. too…" it was broken, but Natsu understood and kissed her again, his love being poured into every single kiss he gave her in her head, neck, cheek, chin, eyes, collar bone. He looked at the cuts on her arm, and the small needle that no longer had anything in the tube. Gently, he pulled the thing out, a small dot of blood rising from the puncture and trickling down her arm. He kissed her cuts, and felt her hand grab the back of his head and feel his hair. He looked up at her, "Can't… w-wa…" Not letting her finish, he stood up and brought his arms down to scoop her up from the bed. Her arm found it's way around his neck, and she inwardly thanked the heavens that she was able to move some of her limbs. Before he walked out of the door, he looked back down at her, "I promise you. I will never, ever, leave your side, Lucy." A single tear fell down Lucy's cheek as she extended her neck and let her lips meet his, And I'll never leave yours.

Two Weeks Later

Enchantments, 6:30 AM

"So wait a minute, besides being allowed two weeks off of school, now you guys are getting an extra week off?! How in the hell is THAT fair? I was the one who helped out the most.. Wendy stitched my dang thumb three times!" The alcoholic pouted, showing off her stitched thumb, which would definitely be leaving a scar. "Uh, Cana," Wendy intercepted, "I actually did it four times…" The drunken woman raised up her beer mug, "FOUR TIMES!" she yelled, kissing her healing thumb. "Battle scars!" She hiccuped and sat back down on the wooden chair, as her friends around her laughed. The whole Enchantments working crew was ready for the 7AM workshift, on a crisp Saturday morning. Lucy and Natsu sat in the middle of the table, across from Juvia and Gray and next to Levy and Gajeel. Erza sat at the front, rolling her eyes at a drunken Cana while Jellal had his back resting on a wooden pillar right behind Erza, idly playing with her hair. "I must admit," Gray chided, "all of us start school Monday while you guys go do some pointless-" A gasp was heard, "Wedding shopping is not pointless!" Juvia interjected, elbowing Gray in the gut, "Someday you and Juvia will be on the same boat." Gray's cheeks turned red as he looked to the side and muttered something about embarrassing moments.

The blonde's cheeks turned a light pink as she looked down at the beautiful ring that hugged her ring finger comfortably. "It's not just for the marriage guys," She laughed, enjoying the sound of her voice since she had recently had her vocal cords come back - all thanks to some tea that Wendy had brewed for her daily. "Yea guys," Levy said, a small pout showing on her face, "Remember Lucy and Natsu are still visiting Porlyusica, because of the mental… well.. because of what happened." Everyone stayed quiet for a few seconds, until Erza slammed her hand on the table, "Well, I'm just glad to have my best friend back," her smile was warm and Lucy silently thanked her for saving her from the awkward moment, "And I'm also just as happy that my two best friends are getting married."

"Yea, Natsu, thanks A LOT for that," Gajeel grunted, and the other men joined in as their girlfriends stared at them with much more expectation than usual. Natsu laughed out loud, scratching the back of his head as he shrugged, "Let's just say…" he looked at Lucy then, her brown eyes staring brightly back at him, "You truly don't know what you have, until it's almost gone."

Some Miles Away

The image flickered in the crystal ball, and then disappeared. The room was filled with shelves, where jars held odd mixtures inside; some had live creatures in them, others held what looked like organs. An old woman laid back on her chair and cackled, "Marriage?! How sweet, indeed." She stood up and walked hastily towards an old stand that held an even older book. "I wonder, I wonder, what shall I do? Shall I kill them all at once, or lay low and wait for their own doom? Perhaps I shall! I shall wait it out, and play my cards well enough!" Her copper skin glowed as the moonlight lit down onto her small cottage. "A shame I had to leave Sting, but he knows too much… poor child," she laughed again as she flipped through pages and skimmed the lines of her book. "And Cana! How she has grown… my dearest, dearest, great grandchild."

& that my friends, is the end of I Love College.
Yes, there is a cliffhanger. Yes, I could write more. But... I'm okay with leaving it like this.

Remember: Their adventures never really end ;)

Thanks for all the support and love. & check out my other fics!

-Nina