Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima. No matter how much I wish it was mine J

This is a Natsu x Lucy story that popped into my head last week and I finally, finally decided to sit and type it before I forgot. It's kind of cliché, but kind of not, and I kind of like it, but really, I want you to like it, so it doesn't really matter if I kind of do. And I confused myself, so without further ado, here is Her Fairytale.

…

Natsu Dragneel wasn't stupid. But he'd only been gone on a mission for a day, how could this be? He knew, the minute he stepped off the train and got over his motion sickness, what the faint, cloying smell in his nostrils was, and he knew the direction it was coming from. Natsu didn't want to believe it, but there was no mistaking it. Panic gripped his heart as he looked around and grabbed the nearest person to him.

"What are you doing?" the woman asked, wincing at his grip, but her eyes widened at the symbol on his shoulder.

"What's happened?" Natsu asked her, eyes trailing in the direction in which the guild was located. "Something's wrong - what is it?"

"The city was attacked," the woman said, a tear coming to the corner of her eyes not at the tight grip of the mage, but at the memory. "The mages of Fairy Tail all came out to fight. There were so many people hurt or wounded…it was so scary. It lasted for hours! Hours and hours and hours! So many of them were hurt, and bleeding, and I even saw…I even saw them c-carrying someone who…so much blood on them! I'll never forget the l-looks on their faces!" Natsu released the woman as though he was burnt, and she continued, "It was as if all the life…had drained from their eyes…I-I'm sorry! I can't talk about it anymore!"

The woman started sobbing.

"What…?" Natsu breathed, then choked out a, "Thanks," to the woman before running of in a dead sprint toward the guild, not even bothering with his bag.

His breath came out in short, ragged gasps, rain starting to fall, but still the cloying scent of blood would not fade, and as he had dreaded it grew stronger as he approached the guild. Why? Why did something have to happen when he was gone for twenty-four hours? Just a day away, and someone attacks and hurts his precious friends? His nakama? His only family? If anything had happened to her, he might just kill himself! Lucy - he had just told her yesterday that he had something important to tell her when he got back! Finally, Natsu had worked up the courage to confess, and if anything….The angry young man saw red as he pushed his body to move faster, faster, because he just had to see how everyone was. The woman's words replayed in his mind, about the person she saw them carrying and about the expressions. It scared him to think that one of his friends could be laying there without him, bleeding, dying…dead?

No!

It couldn't be. He wouldn't accept it! No one could be dead. No one could die!

His chest heaved from his exertion, but still he ran just as fast as his legs could carry him. Damage from the battle that had been waged here was everywhere, from the crumbling of a bridge over the river to the chimney and that lay in his way that he had just leapt over in his mad dash. Eyes turned on him, all recognizing and all pitying. Natsu could hear his pulse in his ears, ba-thump, ba-thump…his heart was beating wildly out of control, panic encasing the large muscle in an iron shell. And how could a heartbeat hurt so much? It was as if, with every breath he heaved, every step he took, daggers were stabbing into his chest. His eyes prickled, but the tears did not come. Not yet, when there was still hope.

After minutes of running nonstop, the guild was in his sights. There was no noise coming from it, just the smells of antiseptics and other medicines, and the overwhelming scent of blood. There was so much of it, Natsu wanted to stop and barf. His stomach was roiling, lurching, but even panting, out of breath, he stumbled to the doors and through them open. He was gasping for breath, and slowly the eyes of those he could see turned to him.

"Natsu…" Mirajane's voice said softly, and his eyes found her with an arm in a sling and looking a little worse for wear. "W-welcome back…"

She was broken. Natsu could tell that from the first time he saw her, and he frantically glanced around - but there were Elfman and Lisanna, alive and well. Lisanna had a bandage on her cheek and a little wrapping around her leg, and Elfman had some wrapped around his entire head and both arms and his bare torso, but they were breathing. So what had Mirajane looking like she could burst into tears at any second?

"What happened?" he finally managed, in a soft but dangerous tone. "Why all the long faces? A little fight, you all should be used to it by now…"

It was plain to everyone that he lacked his usual gusto in his words.

"It was a group of six of the smaller dark guilds," Master said, sitting on the bar with his leg propped up and bandaged. "They attacked in the middle of the night. There were a lot of injuries."

"Just injuries?" Natsu began to feel relief. "So-"

"There's…it's likely there's going to be a casualty," Master seemed to choke on his words, and Natsu nearly collapsed.

"W-what? Who?"

No one would look at him, even Gray or Happy. Wendy was sobbing. Lisanna alone came up to him, tears in the corners of her eyes, and said, "Come with me, Natsu," as she gently tugged him with her to the infirmary.

Natsu scanned the faces of his guild mates in vain, striving to pick out the face he desperately needed to see, but he couldn't. The room was almost a blur because the prickling was back. He shook it off as Lisanna pushed open the infirmary door. His eyes were drawn to the bed halfway down. He could see bloodstains all over the sheets, and smell the blood overriding all the other scents. Between where he stood and the face of the injured stood Erza, leaning over and talking softly.

"Erza," Lisanna said gently, and the Titania turned to see them. Her eyes widened. "I brought him in…I'm going to go now, okay?"

Her voice betrayed the tears that were starting to fall, and Erza nodded as Lisanna turned and bolted from the infirmary. Natsu watched her go, but then his eyes turned back toward Erza, and the tears he could see on her cheeks.

"Erza, what…?"

She just beckoned him nearer and said, just loud enough for him to hear, "Guess what? Natsu's back. He's…he's here to see you."

Natsu walked forward a few steps, and when Erza stepped aside it felt like his whole world came crashing down upon him. The bottom of his stomach seemed to fall out, his heart screamed, and the tears leapt unbidden from his eyes. In his moment of weakness, he grasped the foot rail of the bed nearest him for support and croaked out, "Lucy?"

"Come…closer, Nat…su," he heard her voice, her sweet, sweet voice, croak out weakly. "I can't…see you from…over there, you…silly idiot."

He did as she asked, shoving himself from the bed and rushing over to her side, collapsing on his knees beside her bed and laying his hand gently on top of hers, laying limply atop the cover at the end of a nearly mangled arm. Cuts ran up and down the pale flesh of her arm, burying the usual color of her, and scent of her, in that of blood. Her other arm was the same, her shoulders and neck and face…all covered in bleeding cuts and lacerations and bruises and scrapes and…she was smiling at him.

"Luce…!" he choked, squeezing her hand.

"I'm glad you're…back," she said, smiling still. "It's so good…to see you again. One…last time…"

"Don't…don't talk like that, Luce," he forced out. "This…this isn't so bad, right? You'll heal up just fine! You'll get better and we'll all go on jobs together with Erza and Gray and Happy, just like normal. Right?"

He tried to ignore the bloodstains on the sheets.

Her smile turned sad.

"Natsu…she…" Erza didn't speak, but he noticed her tear-filled eyes glued to the bloody sheet laying atop the bleeding - dying - celestial mage. He stood, pulling her hand up slightly with him, as he grasped the sheet and pulled it down to the blonde's knees.

What he saw made him tremble, wrapping his fingers even tighter around the weaker ones of the girl who had become his best friend in the last two years. He couldn't even distinguish one wound from the next, but he could tell there were several and they left great, gaping holes there. It was sickening, horrifying, and he just wanted to turn back time and make it all happen to him, because why should his precious Lucy, his love, have to suffer all of this?

"H…how?" he managed, looking down on Lucy's sad smile.

"It's…my fault," Erza's voice choked, and Natsu jumped because he'd already almost forgotten she was here. "I wasn't aware of my surroundings, and a metal mage tried to spear me from behind…but she got in the way. There…there was nothing I could do by the time I knew what was happening, because they'd already struck…"

"It's not…your fault!" Lucy's weak voice was defiant. "You would…have done the…exact same…if I were in your…place. And be…sides," she smiled again, her eyes closing briefly with the effort, "I couldn't…let all you've done…for me…go to waste, now could…I?"

She laughed a little, and by her winces Natsu knew it hurt her. But even as he watched her, another cut slowly started to appear across her cheek, and his eyes widened as he turned to Erza, who had also noticed and turned her head away, trying to force back the heaving sobs that racked her body.

"What the hell is that?" Natsu asked furiously, reaching up to touch the fresh cut.

"There's a curse, too," a new voice came, and he looked to see Mirajane actually in the infirmary, slowly walking forward. "She…she got that when she protected…Happy. Happy was protecting Lily and Charle, and he was hurt and she didn't want anything else to happen to him…and she was already hurt by the metal mage, too. So it just made her condition worse…"

"Isn't…isn't there a way to break the curse? There's always a way to break a curse!" Natsu was desperate.

"If there was, don't you think we would have tried it?" Mira had tears leaking out. "If only the curse could have been neutralized, Polyusica would be here on time. As it is, it will only be a quarter of an hour or so before she gets here, but I'm afraid…" she choked, but finished, "…I'm afraid that's not quick enough."

"No!" Natsu growled, clenching his fists and squeezing his eyes closed as though it would stop the tears. "No, there's got to be a way to stop the curse!"

Erza, almost at the door with Mira by this time, said brokenly over her shoulder, "We may be Fairy Tail, Natsu, but this isn't a fairytale," and the two left.

"It's…it's all…right," the weak voice came, and he turned back to face her. "I'm just glad…I got to see you again!" the smile broke his heart.

"Luce…!" he choked yet again.

"I do regret…something, though…" she laughed a little.

"What is it, Luce?" Natsu tried to sound like his normal self.

"You said…you had something…to tell me," she smiled at him, and the blood from the new cut trickled onto her earlobe. "I'm sorry that I…won't get to hear it. But…Natsu, I…I never felt this way…for anyone other than…you."

He reached down and held her hand in his, tightly. Her weak fingers squeezed back.

"Lucy, I…"

"I loved you, Natsu," she breathed, and her eyes fluttered closed.

"No!" Natsu breathed out, frantic. "No! Luce, don't…don't go! Lucy!" Tears coursed freely down his cheeks. "No! I-I love you too, Lucy…!"

In his desperation, Erza's words came back to mind. This isn't a fairytale. And suddenly, all the mushy, princess stories that Lisanna had loved to hear when they were small came rushing back into his head, and he remembered two with curses. And in his need to try something, anything, he remembered the one way that both curses had been broken and quickly, still desperate, he leaned down and pushed his lips against hers.

Wake up, Lucy! his mind screamed, following his heart for once. Wake up, Luce! Please wake up!

He sat back on the edge of her bed, crying as if nothing else mattered in the world but the girl, laying in front of him with such serenity on her features that he knew she wouldn't be in pain anymore if she didn't wake up, but he couldn't bear the thought. Never hearing her sweet laugh, her voice, or seeing those gorgeous chocolate eyes light up when he did something that made her happy. Even when tears filled her eyes, she was beautiful, and he couldn't even begin to imagine a life without her. So he watched her, his heart falling with each second that passed. And he was just about to get up and leave, to walk away from her, when the cut from earlier, the one he'd watched appear, slowly faded.

"What…?" he whispered, staring. And then one on her arm started to shrink and fade, and Natsu nearly fell from the edge of her bed in surprise. All over her body, the curse wounds were beginning to heal. And his heart lifted in hope as he shouted, "Erza! Mira!" and the two came rushing back in.

"What's…happening?" Erza cried as she drew near, the panic and fear and grief in her eyes slowly changing to disbelief. Mirajane was speechless, staring, as Lisanna came running in with Gray in tow, and Elfman carrying the Master following.

"The curse…!" Lisanna gasped.

And then Lucy coughed, and coughed, and was breathing roughly and raggedly but she was still breathing again, and Natsu's eyes filled with tears that his shock had abandoned, and squeezed her hand tightly and said, "Luce! Lucy, can you hear me?"

"Nat…su," the word rushed from her lips, and she blinked, her eyes opening. "Natsu…"

The smile that went across her features was no longer filled with pain, and even the horrible gaping wounds on her stomach were healing, healing as though they'd never been there before, leaving only blood to show that they had.

"Erza…" Natsu slowly said as Lucy decided she had to sit up, and now and he rushed to help her. "Erza, who said Fairy Tail couldn't have a fairytale of its own?"

And she laughed, and Lisanna and Mirajane were crying, clinging to each other, and Master Makarov was trying his hardest not to let it show but the tears were streaming down his cheeks anyway, and Elfman bellowed, "It's manly to cry!" and Natsu started laughing too, and Lucy threw her arms around his neck and repeated, "I love you!" three or four times, laughing and crying as he held her in his arms.

Fairy Tail was an endless mystery, a never-ending adventure, and Lucy would be around to experience it for years and years to come. And her story would become the guild's very own fairytale. Because really, what else could it be described as?