Chapter Eight: Transparent

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HE WAS DREAMING. HE knew it unconsciously.

He had been swept into a world of black and white. His whole life then flashed before his eyes before playing like a movie in slow-motion.

Igneel was there.

Fairy Tail was there.

Lucy was there.

He felt peaceful. Ironically, he should have been angry. Furious at the fact that he was dead and that he couldn't see his precious people again.

But he had them with him as memories, so that should be fine, right?

...No, he thought later, frozen in shock after reaching out towards Lucy and only grasping thin air.

It isn't the same.

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IT WAS MIDNIGHT BY the time she woke up.

She should have been aghast that she was waking up at such an hour, but a different flow of thoughts passed into her mind.

Natsu was dead.

He was dead.

Dead.

Dead.

Dead.

He was gone.

He had died protecting her.

Well, screw it! He wasn't dead. He wasn't!

…And denial had become her best friend.

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HE WAS AWAKE BY the time he found her gazing deep into space.

It was like she was in a trance. She didn't move and nor did she make a sound. She just sat there in her chair, staring at the blankets covering his form, looking like she was a lost child.

It hurt him deeply to see her like that.

And her eyes... The same pair of eyes which had always fascinated him...

...right now they had no colour at all.

He tried to speak, but he couldn't open his mouth nor could he move any part of his body. He couldn't even make a sound. He was completely helpless in his hospital bed.

Suddenly, he felt sleepy. The urge to close his eyes was so overwhelming that he almost gave in. But he couldn't. He shouldn't. Lucy was suffering right now. He had vowed to himself that he would often make her smile, to make her happy for the rest of her days.

But... In the end, he slept, and somehow he felt, before the darkness overcame him, that he would never wake up again.

tbc

A/N: ...What is with me and people dying in this fic?

Additional Note: I am still inactive due to some reasons... I'm glad I found the time to update this, though, because I won't be back for some time.