Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail or any of the characters and so on and so forth.

So. I started this FF after listening to the song Lucy by Skillet and after reading to see that I'm not using anyone's ideas, I decided to give it a go myself. It was going to be a one shot, but I think I may drag it on a little longer…

Chapter One: Hey Lucy

Hey Lucy, I remember your name.

"Luce! Hey, Lucy!"

The blonde girl sighed and lifted her head from where it lay on the bar in front of Mirajane and swore. If this was another mission, she was going to beat Natsu's head against the nearest solid object and demand to know where the hell he got all that energy from.

The past few months had been torture. Erza, Natsu, and Gray all seemed to have some kind of death wish when it came to picking their missions, and when Lucy chose one, they always gave her what she dubbed 'the look'. The look that seemed to mean 'hell no we're not doing something so trivial as defeating just one dragon, let's just find the entire nest!'

The blonde would always end up giving in and letting someone else pick the mission, and even though having rent paid for the next seven months was nice, she and her celestial spirits would both like a break.

In her desperation, Lucy even offered to skip out on a mission once and let someone else go in her place, but when she got home and fell asleep that night, she was suspiciously on board the train with the three of them (plus Happy) when she woke up the next morning.

She turned away from the energetic figure approaching her and looked at Mira with pleading eyes. The barmaid just smiled as she cleaned a mug carefully for Fried. "Hello, Natsu." She said, smiling over the blonde's shoulder.

Lucy groaned and glared at Mira before turning to Natsu. To everyone else in the guild, her exhaustion was painfully noticeable and they were beginning to worry at the bags her concealer failed to cover. However, Lucy's thick skulled teammates could be persuaded that it was the newest fashion trend and that they would disappear with some exercise.

Natsu gave Lucy a grin and a thumbs up with an enthusiastic, "Hey, Luce! You ready for another mission? This one is 1,000,000 in reward!"

The blonde scowled slightly and took the piece of paper thrust into her face to scan it quickly. Her eyes widened as Natsu took a seat next to her; bouncing his knee in impatience and shaking her own stool slightly with his movement.

"Natsu," she began slowly, "This might be too much for our team. We've been on missions back to back for a while now, and we—well I, am exhausted. Plus, they don't know hardly anything about this guy except that everyone that's gone after him hasn't come back."

"When has anything been too much for our team?!" Natsu bellowed, slightly offended.

"Aye!" Happy crowed from next to him, "Though you may be useless at times, Erza, Gray and Natsu usually handle things well."

Lucy's scowled deepened as she bared her teeth at the furry little blue cat munching on a fish, "Shut it, cat! I'm not useless! And Natsu, did you hear a word I said after that? They don't know anything about this guy! It's an S-class mission and I haven't had a very adequate time to recover my magical energy to summon as many spirits as I usually would be able to."

Natsu waved a hand dismissively at her, "Ah, don't worry Lucy; we can handle this together. Erza and Gray are coming too, though I insisted that I—I mean we, don't need the cushion. Besides, he's been messin' with a couple of weaker guilds for a while now and that just isn't right, don't you agree?"

The salamander could see her teetering on the brink of swaying to his side on the issue. If there was one thing that Lucy hated, it was ridiculously strong mages using their magic against others weaker than them. The boy loved that about her; her compassion extended to anyone—whether she knew them or not.

"They even found some of them beaten up and unconscious in their beds; they didn't even have the time or opportunity to fight back!" Happy continued; Natsu nodding solemnly next to him.

Lucy pursued her lips and narrowed her eyes into the distance next to Natsu and pondered as to what to do. It was true, she hated to see others in pain and if she could help out…

Lucy, you know you're too weak right now; your magical power is at less than half and if you go out and fight—

Loke's voice from his key on her waist was cut off as Natsu came into her line of vision; making her nearly jump out of her skin in shock at his face being so close. He gave her large, pleading, puppy eyes and got on his knees with his hands clasped in front of him.

"Pleaaassseee Luuuce? Then we'll take a break for…one week! I swear!"

The celestial spirit contemplated this and finally huffed in defeat as she stood, "Alright, fine. Two weeks and you've got a deal—ach!"

Natsu had launched himself off the ground and was currently squeezing the air out of her lungs with both of his large arms. Lucy blushed lightly and patted him on the back twice before his heat was lost to her and he sped off through the doors, leaving her standing in the middle of the guild and closing her eyes in exhaustion.

She followed the trail of the salamander soon after speaking to Erza about the details of when they were going to meet up on the morning. Refusing to groan out loud about the ungodly hour the warrior woman wanted to set out to catch the train, Lucy soon was on the path to her home in search of the few hours of sleep before the mission.

XxX

Ah, yes. Sleep, wondrous slee—what the hell just moved under my covers?

Lucy let out a loud shriek and grabbed her whip, slapping it against her own mattress as she stood next to her bed in warning. "NATSU!"

"Ouch Luce, you got my hand that time." He mumbled, rubbing the offending appendage and so obviously not moving off of her bed.

A twitch formed on the girl's forehead as she readied for another attack, "Natsu." she ground through her teeth, "Get. Out."

He looked at her from the vantage point of her bed and was startled at the image his eyes beheld. The moonlight streaming through her window was the only light in the room and it made her entire body glow ethereally. Her loose blonde hair shined around her fierce expression and she held her weapon firmly in her hand as she glared at him with her usually warm chocolate brown eyes.

Natsu blushed and looked away, hoping that she hadn't noticed him ogling her and that the darkness was enough to hide the pink on his cheeks.

He had long cared for Lucy as more than a friend, but wasn't sure how to tell her that without completely crushing the easy friendship they already shared. There was a reason he was giving her a break after this next mission; it would be her birthday on the last day of their stay in the other city and he wanted to show her a place there that was precious to him to tell her how he felt and give her his present.

He'd actually had it for a while now and was sure that she would like the sterling silver ring he had gotten her. When he got it and showed it to Mira for approval, the woman had automatically jumped to the conclusion that he was going to propose to her.

However, that was not the reason he had gotten it. The ring was beautiful and looked like vines snaking around the wearer's finger, but it was magical as well. It was not just a single ring. The ring was for couples, and Natsu had the twin of hers.

It connects the two people together even when they're apart. As he explained to Mira, if Lucy was ever in danger, his ring would turn hot, if she was sad or scared it would turn cold, if she was happy, his ring would expand and the vines would sprout tiny flowers and so on. The salesperson had said that he didn't want to give away any more than that, but the ring had many more reactions and Natsu would have to figure those out on his own.

Mirajane had squealed in delight and got a dreamy expression on her face and began mumbling something about Fried not being that romantic and Natsu had used that time to shuffle away unnoticed and hide them in his house until they set out the next morning.

Another crack came from her whip as she regained his attention. "Natsu! C'mon I'm tired, get off."

"But Lucccyyyy. Please? It's all cold and lonely at my house because Happy is with Carla tonight and my neighbor is blasting music so loud it's rattling my windows and it's snowing outside and our mission is tomorrow, so we're going to the same place and—"

"Alright, fine. Just…" She sighed and hung up her whip on the corner of her bed, "move over."

Natsu blinked up at her in shock but quickly scooted over towards her window. He had expected her to yell at him at force him to at least get out of her bed, but she had just given in and was currently sliding under the sheets next to him.

His heart began to hammer against his chest as he stared down at her getting comfortable and heat emanated from everywhere on his body. Lucy turned a questioning look to him from where she lay.

"Are you going to sleep in all those clothes and…sitting up?" She asked, gesturing to his vest and scarf and his current seated position.

He stared at her, down to his chest and then back up to her with a puzzled expression on his face.

Well, I actually wasn't counting on having a sleepover, I expected you to throw me out! He thought frantically. Does she really not see what that question implies?

Apparently realizing how her words could be taken, she squealed and blushed; covering her mouth in embarrassment and turning on her side to face away from him.

No, don't turn away from me, he wanted to tell her, but stopped himself before the words could escape his mouth. Using her averted gaze to his advantage, he shrugged out of his vest, unraveled Igneel's scarf from his neck, and lay down next to her; his shoulder brushing lightly against her back in the small bed.

After a few tense moments, Lucy sighed and most of the rigidness left her body until she shivered; pulling the covers closer around her and away from him. Natsu turned his head towards her as she shifted around to face him with the same pleading eyes he had used on her earlier.

His heart was already painfully slamming against his ribs, but the look on her face made the dragon slayer feel like he would have a heart attack if she kept this up.

"Natsu?" She whispered, her teeth chattering together painfully, "I d-don't want you to think that I'm just using y-you as my own p-p-personal heater or anything, but I'm fuh-fuh-fuhreezing over here. Would you m-mind if I…I mean, c-can I, um…"

Natsu swallowed but nodded and grinned at her flushed face to hide his own nervousness about the position.

Lucy smiled shyly up at him and scooted closer to his—she noticed now—bare chest and pressed her back to the heated skin. The blonde girl sighed and smiled in content as she snuggled closer to Natsu and his heat when she noticed that his arms were still stiff at his sides.

Suppressing her laugh, Lucy reached back and grabbed one, draping it over her waist and lifting her head so he could slide the other under it. After a slight pause, she laid her head on the warm skin of his muscular arm; her practically frozen ear shocking him slightly.

"There," She mumbled tiredly. She could already feel he fringes of sleep closing in on her now that she was warm and comfortable, "goodnight Natsu."

It wasn't until her breathing became even with her slumber that Natsu finally relaxed and forced his heart to beat normally. He bent his head so that it could rest as near to her neck as possible and breathed in her intoxicating scent as his arm tightened around her.

Natsu closed his eyes and smiled into her hair.

He had never been so happy.

XxX

Oh, she was going to kill them. She was going to summon Aquarius and make her shove the both of them into the deepest, darkest part of the ocean.

Lucy was currently occupying the train seat opposite a very smug looking Gray and a knowing Erza while trying to keep Natsu from puking in her lap and hold herself back from killing the two in front of her.

Earlier that morning, both she and Natsu had overslept and Erza and Gray had insisted on going to look for them. The sleeping girl had a rude awakening from the best sleep she had had in a long time by the shocked yells and cries from the two wide eyed teammates in Lucy's house.

Lucy had immediately gone to sit up, but the boneheaded salamander next to her was still in a dreamlike state and continued to hold onto her waist. To her great embarrassment, he rubbed his face against her back, making her blush, Gray to laugh hysterically, and Erza to proclaim that he was ruining her virtue and slam him across the room.

Natsu had grumbled the entire way to the train, but never made eye contact with Lucy which unnerved and irritated her. Even when they were alone for a few seconds before they boarded the train, he rushed the person in front of them to get away from her and not have to speak. As soon as they got to their booth, he tried to sit next to Erza, but Gray beat him to it and smirked, watching as Natsu gloomily sat as far away from Lucy as possible and stared out the window until Erza knocked him out.

Now, she had half a mind to shove his head out of her lap for being such a jerk. There she was, letting him sleep in her bed so he wouldn't have to go home in the snow and be lonely and this is the thanks she gets? Him ignoring her and the other two judging her and snickering behind her back?

Needless to say, after trying to plead with them to leave her alone, she gave up and sat resigned to her fate as they needled her while Natsu got to lay unconscious through the whole thing. Lucy began to get extremely irritated when they kept laughing and was seriously contemplating the idea of throwing herself off the train when it came to a stop and she leapt to her feet to get off.

Apparently seeing that they had angered her, Erza offered to carry her bag as Gray stopped snickering and hefted Natsu onto his back so she wouldn't have to. Lucy studiously ignored the two, still ticked that they would blow such a little thing into some giant happening.

Finally after meeting with the client, Natsu came around and led the way to where this Herule man was last seen near a small guild. Lucy struggled to keep up with the inhuman pace he set and was panting by the time they arrived at the now dark building, having had to use some magical energy to keep up.

All of the lights had been extinguished in the guild and Natsu and Gray had already gone ahead, where the dragon slayer was waving around his flame hands and crying out the man's name. Erza was outside scouting around and Lucy walked over to help her.

"There seems to be more than one pair of footsteps leading to the Guild here, which is odd. There was only one man on the mission, right?"

Lucy nodded and was about to ask how she could help when a crashing was heard from the woods next to them. Both Erza and Lucy's heads snapped in the direction of the sound and could only make out a blur as it smashed into the red headed mage. Lucy let out a shocked cry and pulled out her whip; hoping that Gray and Natsu could come and help so she wouldn't have to use her exhausted magic supply which was somewhere near thirty percent at the moment.

"Gray! Nats—ugh!" Lucy grunted as she was struck to the ground by a hooded figure. Glancing around, she realized the one on top of her was not the one that had tackled Erza; the fierce warrior mage was currently engaging the blonde man in combat as Lucy dodged a punch aimed at her head.

There was no reply from the boys. The sound of a building being torn apart told Lucy that they were fighting and unable to help her.

Quickly, Lucy rolled to her feet and snapped her whip at the cloaked figure, who let out a hearty chuckle as he let it wrap around his arm. The blonde girl's eyes widened and she pulled on it in an attempt to bring it back to her side, but the man used her own whip against her as he yanked it towards him to fling her into the trees behind him.

He's separating me from the rest of them. She thought frantically, climbing shakily to her feet. Crap. I knew I've been using too much magic power lately.

The man chuckled again as he charged her once more. Lucy quickly went to dodge out of the way, but the man grabbed her foot and used his leverage to whirl her around and toss her even further into the wooded area. She let out a cry of pain as her arm collided with the base of a tree and it snapped in half before her own eyes.

Biting her lip to keep the tears at bay, she propped her body up against the tree and unhooked her keys from her belt, shuffling them until she found Loke's. Raising her shaking arm, she cried, "Open! Gate of the Lion! Leo!"

Immediately, he appeared at her side and turned to ask her if she was alright when a voice caused him to turn around.

"Ah, a celestial mage eh?" The man laughed again as he removed his hood. Lucy gasped in horror. This was the man from the pictures. This was an S-class mage. This was Herule.

"Well, well, well, this won't be much fun for me I see, especially since you're at such a low magic level, so I'll just have to make it fun!" He cried, smiling maniacally.

Loke turned to Lucy with a crazed look in his eye. "Lucy, you have to send me back—"

He suddenly bent over in pain and Lucy rushed to his side, placing an arm on his back in worry. "Loke? Loke what is it? What's wrong?"

He did not reply and instead jerked to an upright position, his face scrunched up in pain.

"I believe he is talking about my puppeteer abilities, my dear. You see, you give me enough time and I can control anything. A spirit, a human, a rock. Anything. So don't you see? You just gave me my very own celestial spirit and my hold is so strong now that you have no chance of closing his gate!"

Lucy stared in horror at Loke's pained face as he complied with his puppet master's pulling at his strings. "Lucy, I'm so sorry—"

"Ah ah ah, no talking," Herule chided. "Now, attack!"

Loke charged Lucy head on and knocked her and her bloody and broken arm against the cluster of trees nearby, making her feel like a ping pong ball as she ricocheted against them. Wobbly, she regained her footing and reached for Aries' key to snap Loke out of this and cut the wires holding him to the mage, but remembered that that would only hurt her.

Frustrated, she pulled out her whip and frowned deeply. She had to try, even if that meant accidentally hitting her own spirit.

"What was that?! That blow should have done much more damage!" Herule exclaimed, but took in Lucy's hunched figure and seemed out the pieces together. "Oh, it's because you're so weak! Oh well, one more attack from ol' Leo here and he should disappear out of magical exhaustion from you, and then my fun begins!"

Loke charged Lucy once again and she made to dodge out of the way and fling her whip at the same time, but he was faster. Her own celestial spirit threw her to the ground and pinned her down; all the while striking her body anywhere he could reach and causing blood to pool out of her mouth and nose. Lucy cried out in pain and begged Loke to stop, but his face remained emotionless as she struck her again and again.

Finally, Herule seemed to grow bored and pulled Loke off of her and into a fighting position once more, waiting for her to stand on her feet one more time.

"Now, Leo, Regulus!"

The bright beam of light struck Lucy and every other tree behind her, torching them and clearing a path straight away from the guild. As she lay in the torched remains of a tree, she felt Loke return and hoped that he knew that she didn't blame him for anything.

Her arm was a mess, she was exhausted, and she wasn't sure if she would make it through this one. Lucy stared at the clouds above her and thought of her teammates. Especially Natsu, and the way his arms felt around her. She would miss that; even if he was being a total ass to her at the moment and ignoring her.

One more time, she thought.

Herule grabbed her by the front of her shirt and tossed her to a tree where she propped herself up once again.

Taking a deep breath, she hollered with all her might, "NATSU!"

"Enough!" Herule yelled, loading an arrow in the bow he carried under his cloak and popping the cork on a bottle he got out of his pouch on his leg. "Now, there is another thing about puppeteers I did not tell you, my blond haired beauty."

Lucy watched in disgusted fascination as he dipped the tip of his arrow into the liquid and smiled at her, "We also like to dabble in poison, and this is a mixture that I've just been dying to try on someone and I think I'd like to use you as my lab rat. Isn't that fun?!"

He aimed the arrow straight at her. She weakly moved her whip towards him, but it was easily dodged as darkness crept into her vision from fatigue.

She heard the whistle of the arrow through the air and closed her eyes.

As it made impact right over her heart, Lucy let out the tears she had been holding in. If this poison didn't kill her, the shot would and Natsu didn't save her like he'd promised.

Natsu never came to help me. She thought. She wasn't angry; just shocked.

"Now, don't cry." He consoled, stroking her cheek, "At least you'll die knowing you were a help to someone—oh god damnit." He cursed under his breath as his head swiveled in the direction of the guild and then back to her. "Well, looks as if you won't be." He said, walking away from her once again and cocking an arrow.

"Won't be…what?" She panted. Was it just her, or was her heart slowing down?

"A help to me." Was his muffled reply through her haze of pain as he launched another arrow, and then two more after that.

Lucy looked down at her bloodied shirt filled with arrows protruding from her torso as she sank down to her knees, looking up to see the sky one last time. She frowned when she realized she couldn't because of all the leaves blocking her view and instead closed her eyes to feel the sun's rays dancing on her face through the trees.

Herule had long since disappeared and she could not help but to be disappointed that she couldn't handle him. With her full power maybe, but not like this.

"Lucy?"

"Luucyyyy!"

She opened her bleary eyes as she heard her friends calling out for her. Lucy opened her mouth to yell for them, but all that came out was a quiet whimper.

"I know she called my name! Where is she?"

Natsu, of course. She thought.

"It came from over—LUCY!"

His scream reached her ears and she let her chin rest on her chest in hopes of not having to see his disappointed expression. She knew he would be disappointed in her and have no false hope like he did with Lisanna's death that she was still alive.

Because she knew that she was going to die here.

Natsu slid to his knees in front of her and reached his hands out, but wasn't sure where to put them, she was just so riddled with arrows and broken bones.

"ERZA where are you? GRAY!" He hollered over his shoulder and when she saw that they were approaching, she reached out and touched him on his shoulder.

"It's okay…" She mumbled. "Don't…be sad…"

Natsu turned to her with tears streaming down his cheeks and cupped her face gently, boring his eyes into hers with fierce determination. "We're gonna get you out of here, Luce. I promise, you're going to be okay." His voice cracked on the last word and Lucy smiled sadly.

She could feel her spirits crying out for her, but none of them could pass through with her being so close to death.

"Lucy!" Erza cried, falling to her knees next to Natsu who turned to her with a pleading expression.

"Isn't there anything we can do? Anything?!" He screamed frantically.

"I…I don't know!" Erza cried, "Lay her down!"

Natsu and Gray readily obeyed and both tried to ignore the pained whimpers of their Celestial Spirit mage as they moved her.

"You're going to be okay. You're going to be alright Luce, just hang in there." Natsu kept chanting as he pet her hair.

"Maybe if Wendy were here…" Erza mumbled, but shook her head, crying out in frustration, "But that's too far away!"

"Happy! Go get Wendy!" Gray shouted at the small animal, only making him cry harder.

"GRAY! Yelling at him isn't going to make things better! It's too far and you know that!" Erza yelled, pointing at Gray menacingly.

"Guys…" Lucy mumbled, "Don't fight…"

"HEY SHUT UP!" Natsu yelled, tears beginning anew at the sound of her voice.

All was quiet and Lucy took this opportunity to say goodbye; her time was almost up, she could feel it.

"Lucy please, just hang in there; Happy's gone to get a medic from town that can hopefully help." Erza said gently.

Lucy smiled at her fierce warrior friend and turned her gaze to envelop them all. "Live your lives to the fullest please; that's what I want you to do. If you don't, I'll come back and haunt you all." She said, chuckling slightly, which made her cough and gurgle on her own blood.

"Stop it Lucy!" Natsu's choked cry begged. "Save your breath!"

"Natsu…" She forced out.

Uh oh, I can feel the darkness… she thought, making her heart work harder to keep her alive for just a second longer.

"Natsu, I –I love…I…"

Lucy sucked in a breath, "I love you, Natsu Dragneel!"

Her last breath spent, Natsu crushed his lips against hers and kissed her with a feeling of heart wrenching sadness. He pulled away and watched as she smiled slightly and the last bit of light went out from her eyes.

Lucy Heartfilia was dead.

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