"I don't want to fight you. I won't fight you." Someone spoke determinedly, almost reminding oneself to stay sane.

"Oh.. but you'll have to."

- before -

"I hate my body.." dragon slayer winced as the gang sat in a train, on their way to their job. The boy held onto his tummy while his body remained curled up in a ball.

"Wendy, can't you use Troia on him?" Gray turned his head from the window to look at the tiny mage who sat beside him.

She kept her small hands on her thighs as she nodded.

"I guess I could, I didn't use it in a long time." She moved forward as her hands began glowing, she placed them gently on pinkette's cheeks and let it work.

It took seconds before Natsu jumped up and began celebrating. His feet left the ground from his overjoyed jumps and yells.

"I think i liked him better when he was sick." Raven haired boy commented quietly, everyone let out a laugh except for two mages.

"What's that supposed to mean, Ice Popsicle?!" Dragon slayer got a hold of his collar as he came to Gary's face. He slapped his hand away.

"You really think I would rather listen to you screaming than you wincing? Listening to you groaning can even be funny at times, but you screaming is nothing but annoying." And with those words Natsu sat back to his seat and grumbled.

Blonde who sat in front of Ice mage continued looking out of the window. Her thoughts became so vivid, it was hard to pay attention to anything else.

"I always loved you, Lucy. From papa."

"Goodbye.. big sister.."

"What's important, memories?! Keys?! A feeling of guilt?! No! It's the power to save your friends!"

"Break my key and save the others!"

"Natsu isn't coming, it's all on you!"

"Do it! Lucy!!"

Lucy was distracted by her thoughts as she felt someone getting a hold of her hand. She looked at Natsu like the fire in her eyes has been dowsed with ice water. He wasn't used to it, it unnerved him.

"What's wrong?" He asked, putting the rest of the world aside. Blonde shrugged and shook her head before looking back out of the window.

She knew her boyfriend and he wasn't going to give up just like that. It wouldn't be like him.

"C'mon Luce, you've been quiet the whole ride,"

"Please, don't make me talk about it here.." she begged before turning her attention on the nature outside the train.

~

There was misery in the streets of the city of Hargeon. It's been soaked into the sidewalk cracks and into the graffitied walls. It was in the stores that were once loaded with designer goods and now house everything for a jewel.

It is in the back alleys where the few restaurants who persist in trading have their garbage searched several times a day, and not just by the cats. It is etched in every gaunt and dejected face that has given up on life getting any better than survival on mean streets; and those faces become more ubiquitous with each passing day.

"What.. happened here..?" Blonde whispered to no one in particular. She looked at the people who seemed half dead and approached a little girl.

"Hey.. are you okay?" She asked kindly with a smile but it soon dropped when she saw little girl's watery eyes.

"Please ma'am, do you have some spare food..? My brother is really sick and- "

The girl stopped talking as she saw a medium sandwich wrapped up in a foil in front of her.

"You don't have to say anything else, just take this and look after your brother.." Lucy smiled before little girl with blondish hair hugged her with all her might.

"T-Thank.. Thank you!" She cried out as she sniffled. Blonde returned the hug and smiled before turning to her friends and giving them a concerned look.

They all nodded as they got together.

"We'll split. Happy, Carla and Wendy go west. Lucy and Natsu go east, and Gray and me will go south." They all agreed and parted ways in search for the cause of this town being so dead.

- with Gray and Erza -

"Do you have any idea what are we even looking for?" Ice mage asked as he and Erza walked along the streets. Scarlet woman sighed in attempt to think.

"Maybe a band of thieves or something similar." She spoke while holding her chin.

"Makes sense."

"If you see anything suspicious, tell me."

"Will do."

- with Wendy, Carla and Happy -

"These buildings look normal, but people everywhere just seem.. like some kind of plants.." white exceed mumbled to herself before turning to look at the others.

"What's the matter Happy?" She asked. He looked as if he was becoming one of the people here.

"I was just wondering why was Lucy so sad on the way here.." he admitted.

Both Wendy and Carla shared a glance of sympathy before giving one to the blue exceed.

- with Natsu and Lucy -

Lucy was walking unusually slowly, almost robotically, as if her brain was struggling to tell each foot to take the next step.

Natsu slowed down his pace, making sure not to lose Lucy out of his sight. He slowly scratched the back of his head as the whole situation seemed awkward to him while the blonde just blankly stared at the ground.

Many minutes passed by until the boy finally got the courage to ask what was bothering his lover.

"Hey, Luce..?"

Her head turned to him, she moved her eyes more slowly, like they were heavy. Natsu wanted her to act freely like she usually did but she wouldn't. It was like she just crawled inside some invisible shell and no matter how hard he tried she was unreachable.

"You've been acting weird all day and.. tell me what's going on so I can fix it.." he suggested but the happiness he felt was washed of almost immediately when she shook her head.

"This is something you can't fix.. I gotta sort it out by myself."

"I understand, but- LOOK OUT!" Natsu shouted before tackling Lucy to the ground, managing to dodge the attack.

"You okay?" Blonde nodded at his question.

"Who the hell are you?!" Fire mage yelled out to the person standing on top of the roof, aiming at the two of them.

The only noticeable thing about her were her glasses. She didn't speak, just landed in front of them.

She took her glasses off and they shined red, the only thing Natsu and Lucy could see before everything turned foggy.

"What is this..?" Blonde spoke silently as she held her head in pain, Fire mage doing the same.

"Now, now.. don't panic, it'll only make it worse." She said in mocking voice.

"Sorry to say this, but it's time for you two to say your goodbyes."

"Huh?"

"This spell will blur your minds, and you'll start fighting to death in few moments." She smirked, almost letting herself feel amused.

Lucy's fingers were jumping rhythmically, as if in spasm. And then her legs began moving as if she was a marionette. Her bowels suddenly churned.

Oh God, she prayed, don't let that happen, not now...

She glanced at Fire mage before her eyes widened. She quickly dodged as his fist flied through the air.

"Natsu, stop!" Blonde yelled out while holding her hand up, her vision blurry. She could only hear growls coming from the boy who she treasured in her heart.

"I see you're a strong minded person." The woman commented while holding her chin.

"Shut up!"

"You lost a lot of people in your pathetic life, didn't you? My, my.. Who would have thought,  a weak looking girl like you to have almost unbreakable mind.." she tilted her head aside.

Lucy kept her eyes on the floor, paying as little attention to the woman as she could while dodging the punches coming her way.

"I don't want to fight you. I won't fight you." Lucy spoke determinedly, almost reminding herself to stay sane.

"Oh.. but you'll have to." The woman said again.

"I won't let that happen!"

Her hand moved to her pocket and pulled out a key, blonde moved her hands delicately to her chest.

"Star Dress: Sagittarius form!" She said and turned into her green form. She got a hold of her bow and shot arrows into the sky.

After she did what she wanted she returned the key to its place and pulled out another one.

"Star Dress: Capricorn form.." She said with last bits of her strength. As she transformed, thanks to Capricorn's power the spell put on her was broken.

"Sorry, Natsu.." Lucy called out for Virgo, she dig a deep hole to trap the boy inside. The earth spirit covered the top to prevent the Dragon slayer from coming out. Since there wasn't much air, blonde had to make this fight quick.

Lucy changed into her Aquarius form and stood into a defensive position. The woman took off her hood and moved her hands and snapped her fingers. Blondes eyebrows narrowed when the woman disappeared.

Teleportation..? Or invisibility?

Blonde looked around her frantically, waiting for anything to happen. Then she felt a strong kick in her legs which knocked her on the ground.

Lucy grit her teeth and closed her fists. Making the earth swirl up into waves.

"Aqua Metria!" She yelled out as the ground sucked it's target in, blonde then turned it back to normal but with only woman's head poking out of the ground, the rest of her being dig under the rock hard ground.

Celestial mage quickly pulled Natsu out of the hole to look at him. His pupils still shined red as he took deep breaths.

"Come on, honey.. pul yourself out of this.." she gently shook his shoulders before he pushed her away.

"Don't get closer! Don't want.. to hurt you..!" He told with his back facing her. She slowly got back up and went around him, she placed a kiss on his lips as his face held surprise.

"Lucy!" The gang yelled as they came running into the area.

"Sorry we couldn't make it earlier, we had to fight of these guys." Gray said while pointing at the bunch of dudes lying around.

"It's okay guys, we took care about this one.." Lucy pointed to the one almost buried alive.

"We? That was all you, I was stuck in a hole, remember?" Natsu commented before kissing Lucy's cheek and wrapping his hands around her waist.

"I'm proud of you." He added.

~

"Are you feeling better?" The boy asked as the two of them walked into their house hand in hand. Blonde sat down on the bed and glanced at the Fire mage with a soft smile.

"Yeah.. I guess I just needed to kick someone's ass." She smirked as Natsu bursted into laughter. After he calmed down he walked over to Lucy and bowed in front of her, shocking the blond wizard.

"Well.. you can use me as your punching bag next time," he looked up and winked at the girl before they both laid down to sleep.

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this isn't angst but i just wanted to show how powerful and useful Lucy is, or at least how she is to me

she's been through so much and she's still thinking about others more than herself, i'm so proud of her

honestly she's the last fairy tail character who should receive hate

hope you liked this!