Fairy Tail: Sacrifices (A NaLu Fanfiction)

Chapter 10: Destruction

Pounding his feet against the floor, Natsu raged on with fierce determination written on his face. Erza and Grey were right behind him, the same expression written on their faces. When they came to the top floor, they found two different staircases that extended upwards.

"Natsu! You go right and Grey and I will take the left! Go!" Erza yelled, panicking, and Natsu instantly took off up the stairs.

"Lucy!" He shouted, hoping he could hear her. "Don't you dare kill yourself, you hear me?!" He roared, and jumped the stairs two steps at a time.

The next step he took, an earthquake rumbled and quaked, shaking the ground. The building started to shake, and out the small window of the castle Natsu saw a bright light coming from the top of the castle.

Panicking, Natsu ran up the stairs even faster, clenching his teeth tightly. Natsu felt above him an explosion, and the building started to blow up all down the corridors. Natsu stopped, and blocked the debris flying everywhere by crossing his arms.

"Lucy!" He cried out, fear in his voice. Before he could move, he felt the building he was in starting to collapse, and he started to fall in mid air. He grabbed for the window, and pulled himself outside of the tower the staircase was in. He was falling down to the bottom part of the castle, and he looked down at the fast approaching ground.

Suddenly, a flash of blur fur flew past his eyes, and Natsu stopped in mid-air. He turned to look behind him. "Happy!"

"Erza and Grey are with the other members of Fairy Tail down on the ground!" Happy replied, flying towards the ground.

"Happy! We have to go back!"

"I have to put you down, Natsu! My magic's about to run out!" Happy replied.

The castle exploded, and the machine at the top was blowing up into millions of peices. The castle started to crumble, and smoke billowed out from the castle ruins. Natsu looked at the ruined castle, and froze, unbelieving what he saw. Lucy dead? That can't be true! It started to rain, and Happy sailed closer to the ground.

Once Natsu landed, they saw Erza and Grey just now appearing to the side of him, coming out of the woods. The guild was infront of them, all cheering and happy. Natsu stayed silent for a moment, then turned back to the ruined castle and bent his head, shadows covering his eyes. He fell to the ground, shaking with grief and punching the ground repeatedly. Grey kneeled on his knees and clutched his head tightly, and Erza turned away and clenched her fists, hiding her face from everyone and the ruins.

"What's wrong, you three?" Mira asked, stepping forward. The guild quieted down, wondering what was going on.

Makarov widened his eyes slightly. "Where's Lucy?"

Natsu flinched, his hair covering his eyes, and he punched the ground again.

Erza turned back around, and tears were building in her eyes. "Lucy sacrificed her life to destroy the machine."

Everyone froze, and Mira put a hand over her mouth. "Oh no..."

Levvy pushed forward through the crowd. "Your lying! Why-Why didn't you stop her?!"

"We tried." Grey croaked, his face covered by shadows.

Natsu threw his head into the air, roaring his grief so loudly it over-powered the heavy rain pattering on the trees and the earth around them. Tears gently fell down Natsu's face as he yelled, and the thunder drowned out his sorrow.

The guild was stunned, and Elfman was comforting Mira and Lisanna. Other guild members were frowning sadly, letting other members cry. Other watch sadly as Natsu cried more and more than he usually did.

"Erza.." Makarov replied, his face defeated.

She turned to him, desperatly trying to control her tears.

"Why did she have to sacrifice her life to stop this 'Machine' object?"

"The machine was made of Darkness, and it was fueled by a large amount of Dark magic that had been collected over the years." Erza looked at the ruins. "She probably used all of her magic and her fellow spirits to purify all of the Dark Magic. But if she did that, she probably didn't have any magic left in her body to survive."

Natsu's eyes were covered again, and he was leaning over, tears appearing out of the shadows of his hair.

Juvia was crying silently with the rain, and Wendy was hugging Carla. Tears were falling down Wendy's face, and Carla was hugging her chest, trying not to cry. Cana was patting Wendy's head, while Gajeel was scowling at the ground.

After a moment, Makarov turned, his eyes twitching with grief. "The only thing we can do is go back home." He started to walk away, and the guild eventually followed. Erza walked away, and Grey stood up.

Natsu stayed behind, still kneeling on the ground.

"Let's go, Natsu." Grey replied, pulling him. "Lucy... wouldn't want us to be moping around like this."

His face still hidden, Natsu followed, his emotions shut down.

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Two Weeks Later

Natsu was sitting at a table in the guild alone, no one around. Everyone had gone to a festival, hoping it could all cheer them up about Lucy's death.

Lucy's death.

Still hearing that term made Natsu's heart ache, and he clenched his fist tightly. "Lucy..." He murmured. Her face flashed through his mind, and he slammed his fist against the table.

Silence ensued, and Natsu sat there, not moving. Barely breathing. He was clenching his teeth, and he slowly relaxed his hand, sighing with grief. He stood from his chair, and looked down at the floor impassively. Looking over at the stool Lucy would always sit in, Natsu clenched his teeth again.

"Natsu." A voice whispered.

Slowly, Natsu turned, and widened his eyes when he saw who it was.

Lucy.

"Lucy?" He replied, frozen.

She was leaning up against the wall, one leg bent because her ankle was sprained; she had cuts and bruises all over her body, and her clothes were torn. Her left arm clutched her stomach, and she had one eye shut in pain. "Sorry it took me so long to get back... I was unconcious for awhile before I woke, and-"

Natsu suddenly appeared right in front of her, grabbing hold of her shoulders and pulled Lucy in for a tight hug.

Completely surprised by his action, Lucy froze.

"You're alive, right?" He croaked, whispering into her ear.

Tears started to build in Lucy's eyes. "Yeah...I missed you and the others...Sorry it took me so long to get back." She hugged his back, and forced herself to hold in her tears.

Suddenly, Natsu drew his head back, looking her in the eyes.  "Don't ever leave me or everyone like that again!"

Lucy froze, catching sight of the tears sparkling on the edge of Natsu's eyes.  N-Natsu's crying?!  She thought, astonished.  "I won't, I promise..."  She tentatively wrapped her arms around Natsu's neck, trying to reasure him.

"I missed you, Lucy."

Lucy smiled to herself, tears forming in her eyes too.  "I miss you too, Natsu."  She hugged him tighter.  "A lot."