EVENING OF THE VERY DAY

Everyone gathered in the Main House's grand hall. All were there except for Mirajane.

She was already well, but Laxus insisted she stayed in bed. Not having enough energy to argue with him, she agreed to it. And also the newlyweds who were out on a honeymoon. Let's not forget about the one who went undercover to China.

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There was a banquet happening.

It was the time.

Lucas' fourth birthday.

He was running around with the other kids.

A bright grin on his small face.

There was a mountain of birthday gifts on the corner of the hall.

And by mountain, I mean a literal pile of wrapped, big boxes of presents fit for an heir.

Situated on every corner of the large room were long tables covered in red cloth. Different kinds of food were served.

A child's birthday party should be fun and all that, but security was still all over the place.

Laxus had positioned shooters on the grand hall's second floor balconies. It was like the president was arriving for a visit.

It was a celebration, but with a mixture of life and death situation.

And no, it isn't like they're overreacting.

It was necessary.

Who knows, the enemy could attack at any time.

Worse is that the enemy happened to be just lurking among them. Closer than they think.

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Lucy was sitting on one of the couches with Natsu beside her.

Both having a grown up talk with the Vastias.

It was the first time she felt at ease ever since knowing about the threat. With the security around her son, she considered that nothing could possibly go wrong.

At one corner, Wendy was making funny faces at Levy and Gajeel's baby; Elfman was being 'manly'; Cana was getting more booze for herself; the others were filling themselves with the food on the tables, etc.

True enough, nothing seemed to be suspicious. Everyone was being themselves.

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The moon continued to rise through the darkness, everything seemed so well.

No signs of intrusions.

Not yet.

After running around and having too much fun, Lucas started to feel tired.

He started to feel weak.

The boy sat on one of the chairs. He was looking at everyone in the room. All of them were in their own worlds. He was pretty observant for his young age.

As he stared in front, someone went behind him and gently covered his eyes.

"Guess who?"

The person said, trying to change the tone of her voice.

But let's just say Lucas isn't that dumb.

The heir gave out an amused laugh,

"Lisanna!" he guessed enthusiastically.

Ever since she gave him that bonnet, he started to grow fond of her.

"You are one smart little man, aren't you?" Lisanna giggled as she moved to his side.

"Guess what I have for you," she said, hiding something at her back so he wouldn't see.

As soon as he pouted, Lisanna gave in and revealed the surprise without having to do the guessing game. She couldn't bare his puppy eyes.

Lucas' face brightened up.

In her hands was a small box wrapped in mint green with a dark blue ribbon on top.

He immediately opened it.

After he did, his grin widened even more.

It was his favorite.

A mini-sized dark chocolate cake. It was mini enough that anyone would think it was a bigger sized cupcake.

He could tell it was made just for him. Considering how messy it looked, it wasn't hard to tell that Mira didn't make it.

"I made it just for you," Lisanna said with a sweet smile, "I hope you like it."

Even without telling him this, Lucas knew this already.

"I don't like it. I love it," he said, "Thank you."

Hearing this from the Heir, Lisanna felt happy. At least a single soul will know her as someone who baked cakes...and not someone who killed.

"No problem, sweetie."

Not about to let his delicious gift wait, Lucas started getting the cake out of its box and ate it.

He then got off the chair and started walking to his parents on the other side of the room.

Lisanna watched before turning away.

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As he made tiny steps across the tiled floor, he started to feel something going on inside his body.

Something different.

Something that he has never felt before.

And it felt...

Painful.

Lucas' footsteps stopped. He just stood in the middle of the room.

With his little figure, no one immediately noticed him.

No one seemed to notice as his fragile arms started trembling slowly. The cake he was holding dropped on the floor.

In his eyes he could see everyone around him going blurry.

And it was like they were moving slowly. The mixture of the different colors being worn by everyone around him seemed to hurt his eyes.

For the first time since he was born, Lucas has never felt the feeling of having difficulty to breathe.

But now he is.

Everything he was feeling...

It was too much for his body.

It was hurting him.

Internally.

What's worse was that he could feel his little heart burning.

He couldn't understand what was happening.

He couldn't take it.

That very moment, the only thing his brown orbs were searching for...was his mother.

Lucas struggled to focus his eyes in front,

And then he saw them; his parents...

A good distance away from him.

Slowly, he reached out.

His short arms shaking as he struggled to take one step closer.

It was difficult.

Breathing was difficult, what more if it's just moving?

He had to use what little energy he had left to take that single step.

He could feel his own energy draining.

Like life was slipping away from him.

With the last drop of strength he had, he called out.

Hoping this person could ease his pain.

"Mother..."

His voice...

nothing more than a whisper.

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"Mother..."

Lucy was having a conversation when she suddenly had that feeling. She immediately perked up.

That feeling you get when you know that something went wrong, she was having it.

Amidst all the noise everywhere, she could swear that she heard something. A voice that was calling out to her. She felt like a force was trying to get her to look at a certain direction.

There was only one thing that crossed her mind.

Lucas.

Her head immediately turned to face the center of the room.

And with no millisecond wasted, she saw him.

Her son.

Standing in the middle,

A drop of blood travelling its way down his pale lips.

As she laid eyes on her baby boy, her own orbs turned wider and wider.

No word could describe the feeling that she was having that instant.

Lucas was staring back at her.

She could only see him and no one else,

just as he could see only her in the hall.

And as if time allowed her to look at Lucas for only a short second, his small body dropped on the flat floor.

She saw it all too clearly.

It was like her eyes were making fun of her and made the scene play slowly. She saw how his body collide hardly with the cold floor.

She saw how his eyes slowly shut close.

No little brown orbs stared back at her anymore.

She saw it all.

Everything.

The pain in his eyes as he closed them...

She saw it.

The instant his little body lay on the floor,

She screamed.

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"LUCAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAS!!!"

With the silence of the night, a loud sharp scream echoed throughout the entire compound.

The moment Natsu heard her scream their son's name, he immediately stood up and followed where her gaze was fixed on.

But when he saw Lucas unconscious on the floor, no word got out of his mouth.

He wasn't able to make a move.

For the first time in his entire existence, he felt powerless.

With that scream, everything went quiet.

Everyone went silent.

All of them instantly turned to Lucy. And that was the time they realized, Lucas' body was in the middle of the room. With no one even knowing.

A noise of breaking crystal sounded from somewhere.

It was Levy. She dropped the glass she was holding when she saw the heir on the floor.

It was written on everyone's faces, shock and disbelief.

None of them could seem to move a muscle.

None of them were expecting this to happen.

They were all glued to the floor, not knowing what to do.

Lucy ran towards her baby with tears running down her face as she screamed, stumbling many times as she did,

"NOOO!!!"

She shouted as she knelt on the floor, picking up Lucas' body.

"NO! NO! NO! NO!"

She ran her hand on the boy's forehead, wiping the tiny beads of sweat.

"MOMMY'S HERE, MOMMY'S HERE!"

She continued.

Only her voice echoed in the room.

The others were staring in horror. Eyes wide and mouth agape.

Lucy's cries have never sounded so in pain, in sorrow, in agony up until now.

Her tears have never been so overflowing, up until now.

"Open your eyes, darling, open them!"

She begged as she wiped the blood off from his slightly opened mouth.

"No no...Please Lucas, no...PLEASE!"

Natsu was in a trance.

It all happened too quickly.

Lucy rocked back and forth as she held the child in her arms. Holding on to him like she was never going to let go.

The Don never expected this.

"MY BABY!!" she continued to scream, "MY BOY! MY LITTLE BABY BOY! My poor baby..."

As he watched his wife suffer in front of him, and his son...eyes closed in front of him, he didn't want to believe it was real.

"AAAAAAAHH!!!"

Where was his promise?

The promise he made that he would protect them.

"NO! NO! NO!"

With all the power he had, he wasn't able to fulfill it.

He wasn't able to keep them safe.

"NATSU!"

Then her voice pulled him back to reality.

As he looked at her, there was sadness, sorrow, fear...and anger in her eyes. All mixed into one.

"DO SOMETHING!" she shouted...and she sounded like she was begging him to take her out of her misery.

Believe me, he already wanted to kill somebody.

He wanted to point his gun at someone.

But without knowing what really happened, or who made it happen, he couldn't do anything.

Then a sudden voice got everyone's attention,

"The cake!" Invel shouted, "It's poisoned!"

They all turned to the chocolate cake on the floor. The one Lucas was eating.

The next thing he did made Natsu's eyes as narrow as they can be, and his brows as knitted as they could get.

"YOU!" Invel shouted loudly as he pointed a finger at the youngest Strauss, "You did this! TRAITOR!"

"WHAT?!" Lisanna shouted in disbelief. Her eyes were watery, not because of the blame. But because of what happened to Lucas.

Without a second wasted, Natsu trudged towards her with fast and heavy strides.

With every step he made as he neared her, the fear in Lisanna's eyes grew more and more.

She couldn't take a step back, she was trembling too much just by looking into his hollow, merciless eyes.

"W-WAIT!" she stretched out her arms, as if trying to tell him to stop. But it wasn't working, now he was as close as a meter from her.

"NATSU, I-"

Before she could finish, his backhand swung across her face.

The impact of the slap was hard enough that it forced her body down to the floor, her consciousness left her.

The strength he used, it wasn't meant for a woman.

But it didn't end there.

Natsu grabbed his gun and aimed it at her head.

When Elfman saw this, he immediately ran towards them.

"Wait!" he shouted.

"Elfman!" Evergreen's voice called out across the room.

"Don't do it!" he begged.

It was on instinct. Of course, he was her brother. He couldn't just watch her die.

"Please, Natsu...let her defend herself. Hear her out," Elfman continued, a sweat trickled down his forehead

He was shielding Lisanna's limp body on the floor. Not letting the gun on the Don's hand point at any part of her.

Natsu could still hear Lucy's sobs.

Even if he didn't look, he knew that the misery she was feeling was eating her away little by little. He could even hear Wendy Fernandez talking to her, soothing her.

But even if Mirajane begged and knelt in front of him that very moment, he still wouldn't give in.

There was nothing that could bring back the mercy into his heart.

Not when he's hearing the sound of agony Lucy was going through.

And definitely not after seeing his boy's body on the floor.

Natsu shifted the angle of his gun and pointed it somewhere else.

Pointed it at Elfman's forehead.

"Move."

A single word.

But strong enough to make Elfman tremble. Especially when a loaded gun was pointed at him at the same time.

"P-Please...She-She's still...my sister," he stammered. His eyes moist and his brows begging.

Everyone else in the room felt for him.

But they couldn't interfere.

"Natsu,"

A person walked closer to them. The only one who had the courage to stand up to him at times like this was his brother.

"If we don't hear her part of the story, we will never know who the traitor really is," Zeref whispered into his ears.

Natsu still pointed the gun at Elfman, his glare not leaving him.

"What if it wasn't her?" Zeref continued, "Us turning against each other is exactly what the enemy wants. Don't give the enemy what they want, Natsu."

He intentionally made his voice sound calm in order to ease the tension his brother held in.

It took a while until Natsu aggressively pulled the gun away, cursing as he did.

He harshly handed the gun to Zeref, or else he'd change his mind and shoot two Strausses in one night.

"Get her out of my sight before I kill her!" Natsu shouted.

Some of the men immediately went over to them, picking up Lisanna's body from the floor.

"Lock her up."

He finished, giving Zeref a stern look.

Then he heard Lucy's sobs again.

Natsu immediately turned towards her.

Just as he did, her body slowly went limp and she fell to the floor.

All that crying wore her out.

She fainted.

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