Hello, everybody!! I know, I know, I've been gone a long time, and I'm so sorry!!

Mira: Heck yeah, you've been gone a long time! You abandoned me for weeks!

Meena: Hey! I had writer's block, okay? And I actually had a lot of work to do. You can't help what life throws at you sometimes. 

Mira: Whatever...

Meena: You're so mean, Mira! Be happy you got a chapter!

            Their bellies full from all the meat, and their bodies well rested, everyone fell asleep rather quickly, Lucy included. The familiar corridor stretched again before her, and though she knew she would relive her mother's death, she was slightly excited. Her suspicions about the dream were confirmed when she opened the door to Layla's room to find her alive, and talking to the vortex in the air again.

            "I'll never let you—" Layla was saying.

            "Ma—" she heard herself say, and yet again Layla whirled around, cutting her off.

            She had a panicked look in her eyes that didn't suit her usually calm features, and hurried to clamp a hand over Lucy's mouth.

             "Who's there?" the gravelly voice boomed again.

            "No one," Layla hurried to say, holding Lucy behind her.

            Little her grabbed a fistful of her mother's skirt, and leaned to the side until she could just barely see the vortex. A giant eye greeted her view: what would be the white part of the eye was completely black and glistening, and so thin it was barely visible was a blue slit that seemed to be his pupil. Something nagged at her in the back of her mind, but she couldn't grasp it quite yet, probably because of how the cruelty present in the eye chilled her to the bone.

            "You cannot stop me, Layla," the entity growled out again, its voice sounding like stones grinding against each other.

            "Maybe not, but someone will," Layla said firmly. "Killing all the dragons is not the solution! It won't bring your family back!"

            "WHAT DO YOU KNOW?" it roared, and Lucy felt her mother flinch. "DRAGONS TOOK EVERYTHING FROM ME! THEY DESERVE NOTHING BUT PAIN! THEM AND THEIR UNHOLY OFFSPRING!"

             "Look at you! You've become as bad as the ones you hate! You're not even human anymore!" Layla bit back, and that was the first time Lucy had ever heard her mother sound so vicious.

           "It's a means to an end," it said curtly.

            Layla scoffed.

          "And what are you going to do to stop me? You don't even possess your family's prized weapon."

            Étoile Fleuve flashed in Lucy's head, and she knew that there was no other weapon the entity could be talking about. She wanted desperately to get Layla's attention, to tell her she had it, but she couldn't move. This was, after all, a memory.

            "I'll go find it," her mother said confidently. "And I will stop you, no matter what it takes."

            At this, the creature—because Lucy had deduced that it was obviously not human, or it least wasn't anymore—seemed to panic, indicated by its pupil dilating until it was almost non-existent.

            "You wouldn't," it said unsurely.

            "I would. No matter what we were in the past, Acnologia, my duty as a Heartfilia is to protect the people, human or otherwise," Layla said, straightening her back.

            Lucy's mind blanked. Acnologia? Did she say Acnologia? As in the same dragon that was terrorizing Natsu and the others? Her mother knew him? The image of her close encounter with him flashed in her mind, and she realized that that was why she recognized his eye.

            "I see. I guess we now stand on opposite sides, Layla," Acnologia said, his voice suddenly cold.

            "I guess we do," Layla said, her voice hard, though Lucy could detect the smallest trace of sadness.

            "Then I have no choice. If you will stand in my way..." Acnologia started, a malicious gleam appearing in his eye.

            Layla stiffened noticeably, and she spoke with a tremor of panic in her voice as she now reached behind her back and, oddly enough, flicked Lucy's forehead, a golden glimmer leaving her finger.

            "What do you—" She was cut off as Acnologia's eye disappeared, and a giant talon shot out of the vortex, plunging straight into Layla's chest, ripping through her back before Lucy's very eyes.

           The vortex immediately closed, and Lucy screamed as Layla's lifeless body hit the floor with a dull thud, realizing vaguely in the back of her mind that it had been her scream in the fake version of her memory.

            "Mama!" she yelled as she dropped to her knees. "Mama! Mama!" She shook her shoulders roughly, trying in vain to wake her up.

            Warm liquid seeped into her dress, and Lucy looked down to see a pool of crimson blood slowly spreading. Lucy screamed and flinched away from it. Her eyes darted back to her mother and she braced herself, rushing back towards her through the sticky liquid.

            "Mama, wake up!" she pleaded, tears streaming down her face.

            She grabbed her still hand in her own shaking one, and put it to her cheek, cringing at the wet feel of it against her skin.

            "See, Mama, it's me! Look!" She kissed her hand, the blood getting into her mouth and leaving a tangy iron taste on her tongue. "See? You'll get all better!"

            Layla had always said to her as a child that her kisses were magical and they would always, always heal her.

            "Mama?" Lucy asked uncertainly now, as the gaping hole in her mother's chest was not disappearing.

            "MAMA! MAMA!" she screamed over and over until her throat was raw.

            A harsh stinging in her cheek caused her eyes to snap open. Gray, pink, yellow, black, green, red, and blue swirled in her vision, and she shut her eyes immediately to adjust to the abrupt change in scenery.

            "Lucy!" a masculine voice yelled. "Wake up! It's me! It's just a dream!"

            Natsu? Lucy opened her eyes again to see harsh rock walls. Hovering above her head was a crying Happy, and above her, his hands and knees planted on either side of her was Natsu, breathing heavily and looking very worried. Around and behind him were the ryus and exceeds. Levy, Wendy, and Frosch were sobbing as the others just looked shell-shocked. Happy hugged her as he sobbed into her chest, and she looked back to Natsu blearily.

            "Hey," he said in a trembling voice. "You're back. You're here."

            He tried to smile at her, but failed miserably, and it took a moment for Lucy to realize that it had all been just in her memory. She had gotten so caught up in what was happening, she had thought it was reality.

            "He killed her..." she whispered.

            "What?" he said uncomprehendingly.

            "He... killed her..."

            It was taking a moment for that to settle into her brain, but as soon as it did, rage bubbled up inside her like a volcano erupting, and she pushed Natsu off of her.

            "Lucy!" Natsu called after her as she stalked over to the mouth of the cave, hand already flying to Étoile Fleuve. "Hey! Hey!"

            He caught her arm and spun her around to face him, but stopped short when he saw her eyes filled with hate and angry tears.

            "What...? What's going on?" he asked.

            "Natsu, let me go," Lucy said, trying hard to restrain herself from yelling at him.

            "Luce, tell me," he said softly.

            The use of his nickname for her softened her anger a bit, and she gritted her teeth together as she took a calming breath.

            "Natsu, I know who killed my mother."

            "What?" he asked, bewildered.

           "I know who my mother's murderer is!" she said impatiently now.

            "Lu-chan," Levy said tentatively, coming to her side now. "Who was it?"

            Lucy responded in a voice so laced with hatred, she almost didn't recognize herself, "Acnologia." 

Mira: IT WAS SO SHORT! THERE'S NO NALU??? TˆT

Meena: I now it was short, okay? It's just that I haven't fully decided what's gonna happen after this, and it's hard to write the next part, so I'm giving myself time, but also giving you guys something to sustain yourself. 

Mira: TˆT You gave me no romance!!

Meena: I gave you Luce?

Mira: Not enough!

Meena: Whatever... So what did you guys think of this turn of events? Did you see this whole thing coming from the beginning? What are your predictions for the future? Do they stand a chance against an almighty dragon that took down Layla? Do--

Mira: Stop asking questions!

Meena: Hai! I guess I should go to sleep now, anway, haha, so please just do the end, please. 

Mira: Fine... You'd better give me something good next time! 

Meena: I will do my utmost best. 

Mira: Meena-chan doesn't own the characters, Hiro Mashima does, but she owns the storyline, and so please don't go copying her story or trying to take credit for it. So, please vote, comment, and share because it helps support authors who only do this out of the goodness of their hearts! Seriously, can you believe they don't get paid? 

Meena: Mira! I enjoy doing this, really! Plus, I have a sort of job... so I think I'm good. Can you just continue please?

Mira: Sorry, right. Anyway, thanks for tuning in today, and we hope to see you next time. (Also hope to see you in the comments!) And we'll see you guys next time with some more Nalu! So, ja ne!