This is my first fanfiction, and I really, really look forward to hearing your constructive criticisms, and any other feedback you can offer :)

Fairy Tail is not mine :(

Erza Scarlett slid back, her back resting on the nearest building. She bit her lip, glancing in the air, willing for the tears not to overflow as she clutched the freely bleeding gash on her side.

"Damn." She whispered.

"Erza?" Came a soft voice. Erza's neck snapped towards the source, her eyes registering a tall, blue haired mage, with a swirling tattoo around one eye.

"Did you manage to find her?" She asked quietly. Jellal shook his head.

"No."

"What about…it?" She couldn't bring herself to say its name. Jellal bowed his head.

"I'm sorry Erza. It escaped through the mountains. Ultear and I were not fast enough, nor powerful enough to stop it." Erza paled, the repercussions sinking in. Jellal extended a wary hand to her, his eyes sad.

"Erza, we have to get you to Wendy. Your wound is quite serious." Erza looked at him, her eyes brimming with unshed tears.

"I can't just leave her, Jellal." She pushed herself off the wall, with the intent of taking a step. However, the pain proved to be too much, and she doubled over. Jellal caught her, holding her firmly with his arms.

"Exactly." Jellal said gently, ripping a large piece of his cloak off, and tying it around Erza's wound to slow the bleeding. " However, you'll die if you don't get this wound looked at. Then, you'll definitely be no help to her. Ultear and Meredy will continue to search for her." Erza stared at him, her tears spilling over as sobs wracked her body. Jellal carefully lifted her up bridal style, holding her close to his chest.

"Lucy." She whispered, her eyes sliding shut. "I'm so sorry."

When Jellal appeared at the Fairy Tail doors begging for help, the entire guild flew into action. Wendy was fetched, and Mirajane raced over with a bowl of warm water and a clean cloth. Jellal held Erza's head as Gray carefully tipped some infection fighting medicine down her throat. Wendy appeared, and began to work her healing magic on the wound after Mira successfully cleaned it. The rest of the guild stood a couple feet away, their faces etched with worry, watching Wendy slave over the evidently serious wound that seemed to refuse to stop bleeding.

"It's very deep." Wendy panted. "I'm only going to be able to stop the bleeding."

"Do whatever you can to save her." Mira told the young dragon slayer firmly, putting a supportive hand on her back, before turning back to the shocked guild members. "Can someone bring some bandages? Hurry!" Romeo dashed to the back, returning with an armful of thick white cloth. Mira thanked him, and cut Erza's shirt, so she and Wendy could have better access to the wound. She cringed at what she saw. The wound was so deep, that her ribs and internal organs were visible. Gray retched, turning away from the sight. Jellal's eyes hardened, his grip on Erza tightening, as if he were afraid that she would slip away from him at any moment. However, it was obvious that Erza was slipping. Her breathing was becoming shallower, and her eyes were starting to cloud over and lose their focus.

"Lucy…" She murmured weakly, turning her head in Jellal's lap. Mira's face whitened, as she slowly looked up at Jellal. He nodded, his head dropping with sorrow. Mira's eyes filled with tears. She put the bandages on her lap and grabbed Erza's hands.

"You stay with me Erza, you hear that?" She demanded. "You are NOT to give up!" However, her words seemed not to reach the injured, grieving Titania.

"Hurry Wendy!" Mira pleaded. Wendy bit her lip, as her exceed, Carla, pulled her silky blue hair away from her face.

"I'm almost done." She managed, her voice cracking with exhaustion. Finally, after what seemed like eternity, she fell back, her face drenched in sweat. Carla immediately rushed forward with a cool cloth, dabbing it off her face. Mira wrapped Erza's wound expertly with bandages, securing it reliably. She fell back, the front of her dress covered in the re-quip mage's blood. She reached out, squeezing Wendy's hand.

"You are amazing." She told her. Wendy smiled weakly at her, her eyelids already drooping.

"I'll take her home." Levy said, wrapping her arms around Wendy's small frame.

"I'll carry her." Gajeel grunted, gently pushing Levy aside and picking the small girl up in his muscled arms. Macao held the guild doors open for them, as the two hurriedly departed to care for the exhausted sky mage. Mira turned back to Jellal.

"Can you carry Erza to the infirmary?" Jellal nodded wordlessly, picking Erza up with such care, it was as if the Titania was made of the most fragile glass. Despite the circumstances, the gesture made Mira smile. Suddenly, the stress of the situation caught up to her, and she began to teeter over.

"Sis!" She heard her brother bellow. Mira shut her eyes, waiting for herself to make impact with the ground. But, steady arms caught her. Slowly, she opened her eyes, smiling ruefully when she saw Laxus' concerned face.

"Are you alright?" He asked. Mira nodded, allowing him to right her.

"We need to talk to the Master about this." She said shakily. "Something terrible has happened to Lucy." Her comment elicited gasps among the guild members. Gray clenched his fist.

"WHAT? What happened to her?" He demanded. Mira shook her head.

"I don't know." She whispered. "But I fully intend to find out."

"LUCY!" Erza shot up into a sitting position, before slumping over in pain.

"Erza! Please, your wound! You still need to be careful!" A small dragon slayer around the age of thirteen protested. Erza allowed herself to be eased back down onto the hospital cot.

"Carla, could you please go get a basin of ice cold water?" Erza watched blearily as the small white exceed nodded, before flying out of the infirmary.

"Wendy?" She rasped.

"Shh. I'm here." Wendy hushed her, offering her a cup of water. Erza drank thirstily. When her dry throat had been sated, she looked at the small girl.

"How long have I been out?"

"Four days."

"Lucy?" Wendy looked away.

"Jellal told us everything that happened in Milder. Master sent Gajeel and Pantherlily to look for her, but there is still no sign of her. Carla and I will join them once you have stabilized."

"Natsu?"

"Still on that mission with Happy and Lisanna. He'll most likely hear of it soon though. The news is spreading around Fiore like wildfire." Erza felt her eyes fill with hot tears again.

"I swear, I didn't think it was a real one, let alone him. I wouldn't have gone, or put Lucy in harm's way-"

"We all know that." Wendy said soothingly. "No one blames you for what happened. There is still hope that we may find her alive." She lifted the blanket to change Erza's bandages. She winced at the sight. "It really was rather lucky you only scraped against the scales. If he had gotten you with his claws…"

"I would have been cut in half." Erza replied, her voice scratchy. "I'm fine. Just…go find Lucy." Wendy nodded in assent.

"I'm going after your fever has gone down, and your bandages have been changed. Don't push yourself, okay? Between Gajeel and I, we will definitely be able to find her!"

Needless to say, they failed.

By the time Wendy and Carla caught up to Gajeel, he had already lost Lucy's trail. They spent two weeks in the wilderness, tirelessly searching. During that time period, Natsu, Lisanna and Happy returned. When he inquired about Lucy, he was merely told she had gone on a solo mission. However, everyone could tell he was suspicious.

And he had good reason to be.

The guild was quiet, tense and on edge. Gray refused to fight him, Elfman was subdued, Mira was distracted, and Cana had even stopped drinking. The reason they did not diverge the details of the crisis at hand, was because they knew he would lose it, and go speeding into danger to go save her. As Master Makarov had put it, this mission required silence and stealth, none of which were Natsu's strong points.

So they waited.

And waited.

At last, Wendy and Gajeel returned, looking exhausted and defeated. All eyes immediately turned to them, wide and beseeching. Gajeel shook his head, looking uncharacteristically miserable and worn. Wendy was crying. Mira gasped, and burst into tears. Levy stared at Wendy and Gajeel, her small body shaking. Wakaba and Macao shook their heads, and looked away. Gray dragged his hand across his face and slumped against the bar, looking shocked.

They had to face the reality. Lucy wasn't coming back. The thought itself felt poisonous in their mind, as they were confronted with the fact that they had to give up looking for a precious teammate. They would just have to somehow become unaccustomed to her presence, warmth and other endearing qualities. One look at everyone's faces told the same story. The guild would never be the same without her.

"How are we going to tell Natsu?" Max muttered. Makarov huffed.

"We're going to tell him the truth of course. Wendy, Gajeel, was there absolutely no trace of her?"

"None." Wendy sniffled. "We even asked around the nearby town, but no one had any useful information."

"Damn it!" Gajeel exclaimed, slamming his fist into the doorframe before turning and stalking out of the guild. Pantherlily hesitated, before quickly flying after him. Wendy watched him walk away, her eyes filled with sadness.

"By the time I got there, he hadn't slept in four days." She whispered. "He searched endlessly, following every trail…refusing to accept the fact…" Carla put a comforting paw on Wendy's shoulder.

"We tried our best." The white exceed told everyone, her voice cracking at the end. "But, quite simply, her trail vanished. We have to accept that there is nothing more we can do."

"What can't we do?" The rosy haired dragon slayer strolled causally though the door, stopping when he saw the distraught faces of his guild members.

"What happened?" He demanded.

"Natsu…" Levy began.

"Lucy's missing." Mira finished quietly. It took Natsu a few seconds to process this.

"WHAT?" He roared. He looked furiously at everyone. "How long? How?"

"Just over two weeks." Wendy said in a small voice.

"What. Happened." He spit out, his clenched fists flaring with the force of his anger.

"Acnologia." Everyone looked back, and saw Erza standing at the top of the stairs, leaning heavily on a pair of crutches. She refused to look Natsu in the eye. "I'm sorry Natsu. I got careless. Lucy saved me. Acnologia took her."

"Where."

"Natsu, Gajeel and I have already searched for her. Her trail's gone cold."

"Where." He repeated, his voice impassive, emotionless.

"In Milder." Erza replied, her voice breaking. Natsu turned away from the guild, snatching Happy by the tail on his way out.

They didn't see him again for a year.

End of first chapter…haha…how did I do?

I'm going to try and keep updating weekly, or maybe more if I'm ahead of myself. I also may post the titles of other fanfictions I'm currently reading and really enjoy. If you guys have ANY suggestions of good fanfictions I should check out, please, please PM me or mention it in your review :).

Anyways, the first fanfiction I recommend is 'Possession' by HawkofNarvarre. It's really amazing, and if you're a Nalu fan, it should be a staple in your favourites.

Thank you for reading!