~Save the Future~

The air was filled with smoke.
Fire raged and burned all around.
Dragons, so many Dragons, ruled the sky overheard as they roared and killed. Killed so many.

Except for two.

Lucy was running. Running so fast that her tears didn't have enough time to slide down her cheeks before they were lost in her hurry. She would have fallen long ago if it wasn't for the warm, strong hand in her own shaking one. Her vision was starting to blur. Her lungs were aching. The oxygen was too tainted by the smoke.

Lucy huffed as she pressed on, her eyes focusing on the ends of her partner's scarf flying out behind him.
She stumbled and almost lost her footing, but Natsu righted her with a sharp tug, and ran on.

Lucy knew where he was headed.
To their salvation and safe haven.
The Eclipse Gate.
It was their only way to reverse it.
To fix it.
To save the world.

Lucy was having trouble seeing and telling what was real and what was not by the time they finally reached the Gate. Just as a dash of hope began to bloom in her chest; a roar so loud and deafening filled her ears. Lucy along with Natsu spun around.
Her heart stuttered.

A giant, brown Dragon had spotted them, the last survivors, and was preparing to dive bomb from the sky to get to them. Automatically Lucy reached down to her side...and fresh pain washed over her when her fingers brushed against empty air.

Lucy had already lost her keys.

Never the less she still stood tall and faced the Dragon head on. With Natsu by her side and with his hand in hers, she was sure that they could-

The breath was knocked out of her as a great force pushed her from the back. Making her fly forward and through the slowly closing Eclipse Gate. Lucy gasped and coughed as she quickly scrambled up and whipped around. Only to meet her partner's sad grin, his arm outstretched, and palm up.

Natsu...why?

She wanted to scream and cry and rage at him! But, Lucy already knew why he had pushed her.
To protect her. To save her.
All the things that she wanted to do for him. With a grunt, Lucy shakily stood on unsteady feet. She took a step forward and almost collapsed with exhaustion.
Had he known?
Lucy wondered faintly.
Had he known all along?
Lucy's eyes filled with hot tears.
Had he known all along that he wasn't going to come with me?

Lucy gritted her teeth and clenched her scratched hands into fists. She was a Fairy Tail Mage for Mavis' sake!
She would not leave her family behind! No matter how small or broken it was. The groaning of the Gate's double doors brought on a new amount of determination. Lucy had just a second, just a moment to act, before the Gate closed.

Locking her on this side, the safe side.

And him on the other, dead side.

She wouldn't allow it!

She thrusted her arm out, her fingers splayed out, reaching for the person she wanted to be at her side. Natsu never once looked behind him. Never once looked to see the monster coming for him. His dark eyes, filled with sadness and hope, stayed on her.
Turn around!
Lucy screamed in her mind, her throat raw, and filled with smoke.
Turn around and run!

Lucy couldn't breath as she saw the giant brown Dragon zoom toward her partner. Powerful wings eating up the distance between it and her own Dragon.

Lucy's heart pounded in her ears.

Ba-dam

The Dragon's wings made the wind whip through her and Natsu's hair.

Ba-dam

The Dragon roared.

Ba-dam

The Dragon lips pulled back into a bloody smile.

Ba-dam

"Natsu! Turn around!" Lucy croaked.

Ba-dam

Her own words were lost against the Dragon's growls and her own rapid heartbeat.

Ba-dam

The Dragon opened it's maw, razor sharp teeth bared, all to eager to rip and tear into flesh.

Time slowed

Lucy looked from the monstrous Dragon, to Natsu.

His bloody lips parted and he breathed out, his words quiet, and yet the loudest thing Lucy had ever heard.

"Save the future," caked with blood, sweat, wounds, a single tear slid down his cheek, yet Natsu still smiled.
"Lucy!"

The gate snapped closed as the Dragon snapped his jaws shut. Blood, hot, and sticky flew into Lucy's horrified face. The gate banged closed and with the loud sound came another one. This time a snap!

Lucy screamed as unimaginable pain ate away at her body. Crimson liquid poured out of her shoulder and splashed onto the ground at her trembling feet. A choked cry of anguish and pain ripped through her as she fell into her own pool of blood.

The Gate had taken her arm.

She wished it had taken more.

If it meant keeping him.

She would have given more.

Save the future, Lucy!

But I can't do it...
I can't do it alone...
Not without you with me!

"Natsu!"

~The End~

This One-Shot is for
0BananaCop0
minecraftiachick
Cresent_Nightmare
&
CarryOn221
Tell me what you all think!