Chapter 18: It's now or never

Hello minna! ♥

OMG, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR GETTING ME OVER 1000 VIEWS!!! IT MEANS THE WORLD TO ME, HOLY HECK! ^^

Ahem...

Also, have you seen the desciption of the next arc of Fairy Tail! I'M SO EXITED!!! IT'S PROBABLY GONNA FOCUS SO MUCH ON LUCY, WHICH IS MY FAVORITE KIND OF ARCS, cause you know... Lucy is my favorite character! ^_^

Sorry for the late chapter...

Enjoy this chapter!

//тнeвιѕcυιтqυeen♥___________________________________________________________________________________

"You aren't coming near Lucy again!" Natsu yelled, his face contracted in anger. "Never!" His veins in the forehead was shown, and his fists were clenched. Behind him the others showed up, and took position; ready to fight.

"Yeah, don't hurt Lushe ever again!" Happy agreed, throwing a paw up in the air!

Zeref let out a light giggle. The floor tinkled against his feet as he, again, began circling around the group, a good distance away from them, so they couldn't reach him. He nodded to Elimar, who began circling around them too, in the opposite direction. The group was stuck; there was no way to escape.

"You have angered me," Zeref said with a light tone. "You have angered me too much. Right now, I have no heart, or time, for that matter, to spare a single one of you." Natsu heard Erza's grip around her sword tightened. She wore her usual Heart Kreuz Armor. The sword hang down her side, touching the ground with its tip.

"I won't let you touch more of my comrades!" Erza growled, gritting her teeth. Gray and Juvia backed her up, walking up besides her. Gajeel had put Levy down, letting her stand on her own. Though her leg had been healed by Wendy, Gajeel still guarded her as a shield.

"Oh, really, Titania," Zeref said, taunting. "Cause I could kill you all with just one gesture. Which I'm planning on." Sending Zeref a killer glare, Erza stormed forward drawing her sword.

"Erza, don't!" Natsu and Gray yelled at the same time. As Erza moved closer to Zeref, Zeref shot a stream of death magic in Erza's direction. Erza's eyes widened. The black magic was moving closer to her. It was like time was moving in slow motion.

Putting both hands in front of her mouth, Levy let out a gasp. Gajeel, besides of her, was close to put up an iron barrier in front of Erza, but it wasn't necessary.

Not willing to hold back anymore, Gray yelled: "Ice make: Shield!" An ice shield formed in front of Erza, and was destroyed just the second it was created, but it was enough to shield Erza.

Erza fell on her knees, realizing she just had been seconds from death. Two familiar arms helped her up, and as she looked back, both Gray and Natsu helped her.

"Gray," Erza muttered, shadowing her eyes with her hair. "Arigato. I would've died there."

Gray let out a chuckle. "I know, that's why I saved you."

Letting out a fake cough, Zeref stepped forward. "I hate to break it to you," he said, smirking evilly. "But I'm afraid you aren't able to block my stronger attacks, Ice mage." Gray gritted his teeth.

Before Gray even got the chance to say something, Natsu yelled: "Of course we can! We'll get our revenge... for Lucy!"

An evil chuckle was let out. "Of course you, of course," he said, sarcastically. Turning to Elimar, he cracked his knuckles. "Elimar, go take Lucy Heartfilia back. We need the rest of her magic to succeed!" Elimar just nodded in response, and began running for the door.

"Like hell!" Natsu yelled, storming for Elimar, but was pressed down against the ground by gravity. "What the...?"

Without the group had noticed it, Elimar had put on a brown glove, which apparently controlled gravity. Trying to pull himself from the ground, Natsu had to do give up. Even though he put all of his strength into that one movement, he was like glued to the ground.

Slamming the door as he exited it, Elimar looked back, with a look full of sorrow. Natsu's eyes widened as he saw that sight, but the door slammed and Elimar was long gone.

Natsu let out a small hmrph, still trying to get up, like his teammates behind of him.

Stretching his arms, Zeref grinned evilly. "Time for some execution!" _________________________________________________________________________________

Lucy's eyelids slid open, revealing a blurred reality, which turned clear after a minute or two. Stirring slightly, all gazes were turned to her. Delora was still sitting besides of the unconscious Haichi, and the exceeds was leaning against the wall.

"Lucy-san!" Wendy exclaimed, relieved to see her friend actually waking up again. Sitting on her knees only a few feet away, Wendy put her hand on Lucy's shoulder.

Lucy tried to sit up again, which made both Wendy, Delora and the exceeds flinch. "I-I'm fine, Wendy, Delora," she assured them, but her pained face told a different story. "I just... r-really can't take anymore of l-lying down!" Nodding, Wendy helped Lucy over to the wall across for the exceeds, who sent Lucy and sympathetic look. Lucy's health really was in a critical state. After all, her soul had been detached from her body.

Suddenly Delora gasped, which cause all attention to fall to her. Delora was touching Haichi's face lightly, as the cute face stirred.

"It's okay," Delora whispered, hugging Haichi's torso, while Haichi's head rested against Delora's shoulder. "It's okay, just wake up please!" Haichi let out a few groan. Her eyes were stirring, and were close to flutter open. All attention was still planted on the two girls. Suddenly some sound occurred, from Haichi's lips.

"Why the heck are you waking me up now?" Haichi muttered, clearly trying to lighten the mood, although her eyes were still closed, and her breath was more like small hiss. Out of happiness, Delora hugged Haichi's torso tightly, laughing against her hair, which caused both Lucy and Wendy to smile.

Just as everything was happy, steps sounded further ahead of the corridor. Wendy decided to cover Lucy's body with her own small body, as a shield. Lucy was both unable to stand and even sit herself.

Finally a figure showed up in the end of the corridor. It was familiar to all of them. Elimar made his way down the hallway, with a determined look in his eyes. He was going directly after Lucy.

"S-Stay back...!" Wendy exclaimed, still covering Lucy with her own small body. Elimar chose to ignore her, and moved faster down the aisle.

Standing up, Delora ran over in front of Lucy and Wendy. "Stop it, Elimar," she said, firmly, sending him a death glare. "You don't want this. I can see it in your eyes."

Elimar snorted. "Then you are mistaken," he said, stopping right infront of her. "I devoted my life to Zeref. You should too. After all, he saved your petty lives."

"Oh, really?" Delora said, lifting her one eyebrow. "Cause last time I checked, he nearly killed Haichi. My Haichi! Your friend or... have you also forgot about that?" her voice was cold and calm, while her eyes were narrowed. She gestured to Haichi, who still was in a sleep-like state.

Getting slightly choked by the sight, Elimar shook it off him. "I-I'm only here to help Master Zeref!"

Delora snorted, knowing it was a lie. "Well, then I guess it leaves me with no other choice..." she said, looking down. Suddenly Elimar was shut forward, revealing a clone of Delora behind him. Delora had simply created a clone through her mind, appearing behind of Elimar. Just a few seconds after he had been hit, the clone dissapeared again.

"What the...?" Elimar exclaimed, choking on his own spit. Falling two his knees, Elimar used his hands to lighten the fall.

"Leave Lucy alone," Delora demanded, looking down at him. "She doesn't deserve any of this. She's just a girl, with hopes an dreams. Or at least she was. Before you took her memories. And Elimar, I can see that you don't want this. You helped her. You made it possible for her to get her memories back." He looked speechless for a second. "So Elimar, please. Come to your senses. You don't have to do this. You can come with Haichi and I. You don't have to go back to your world. You don't have to stay here! You-"

"S-Shut up!" Elimar yelled, still on his knees. Lucy didn't believe her own eyes when she saw a tear stroll down of his cheek. More controlled, Elimar whispered: "Just shut up already."

"Elimar..." Delora said with a sympathetic look in her eyes. Slowly, she kneeled down besides of him, pulling him into an embrace. Out of a sudden, loud sobs enacted from Elimar, who clenched Delora's clothes tightly. Lucy felt sorry for Elimar. He had never asked for this. He just felt like he owed Zeref something.

A few minutes passed, and Elimar's sobs had quieted down, his head still resting on Delora's shoulder. Padding his head lightly, Delora pulled slightly away, to see if he was somewhere stable.

"Elimar, please..." she whispered. Elimar had a troubled look in his eyes, as he considered what Delora was saying. His eyes were pacing back and forth, from Delora to Haichi. Haichi's eyes were now open, though she had an exhausted look in her eyes.

"Please..." Lucy whispered too, with a desperate and tired look in her eyes. 

Clenching his teeth, Elimar nodded wildly, tears splatting out everywhere. "Okay," he mumbled against Delora's chest, still holding unto her. Lucy let out a sigh, but as she did that she felt weirdly exhausted, and had to lean up against Wendy.

"I just hope..." Lucy said, her voice shaking. "Natsu and the others... destroys the machine." Wendy had at the moment put her arm around Lucy's shoulder, supporting her weight.

"I'm sure Natsu-san and the others are okay," Wendy assured Lucy, squeezing her shoulder lightly. "Besides while we wait, we can try figuring out the riddle to your mem-" she stopped mid-sentence when she realized something obvious. "Elimar! You put the riddle on the memories! Can you unlock them?"

Sending them a sympathetic look, Elimar sighed. "No, I can't..."

"Wait, why not?" Carla asked, causing all the attention to be turned to rather quiet exceeds.

"I... I just put on a random riddle I found in a book... Zeref..." he inhaled loudly. "He... burned my library down, when he one day thought I was planning to betray him. Which I on that moment didn't plan on, I just... couldn't stand stealing such valuable thing as a persons memories. I had to do something..." He sent Lucy an apologizing look, which she quickly returned with a sad smile.

As Wendy was about to protest, Lucy weakly moved her hand up, telling her to stay quiet.

"Lucy..." Wendy said, a little shocked.

"No, it's okay, Wendy," Lucy assured her, smiling as much as she could, which only turned into a pathetic excuse for a smirk. "We'll... figure it out eventually. We shouldn't blame... Ah-" she felt a pain in the side of her torso, which she immediately put her hand on. But she continued. "W-We shouldn't blame Elimar for what he has done in the past. He did help us out a bit. I have... forgiven him. My spirits has my memories at the moment, so they are safe..."

Lucy gazed over at Elimar. The confident man who had taken her memories those weeks ago, had turned into a broken and scared individual. He was clutching Delora's closed, sending Lucy a thankful look.

A small comfortable silence fell over the group. Some of them smiled at Lucy, happy to see a little piece of the old Lucy.

Letting go of Elimar, Delora went over to Haichi, helping her sit. Some groans was let out, but Lucy had closed her eyes, leaning her head against Wendy's head.

"T-Thank you," Elimar suddenly said. His eyes were planted on Lucy, who looked shocked over his sudden words. "Thank you for... forgiving me. I never really wanted this. I just wanted to-" suddenly her was cut of, mid-sentence, by a far to familiar magic power for Lucy's taste.

Without the group knowing it, Zeref had snuck through the corridor, and shot with his death magic. Slightly spitting, Elimar fell to the ground coughing up blood, leaving the group dumbfounded. Wendy had already put her hand over her mouth, while Lucy's eyes just shook in chock.

He has no spirits to catch his soul... Lucy thought, trying to figure out a way to help him. What can I do, what can I- But it was too late. Elimar's chest stopped moving, and the slow breaths had faded away. He was dead.

"Good to see you again, Lucy Heartfilia," Zeref said, walking down the hallway. "Don't you think it's time you come with me?" ___________________________________________________________________________________

Oh no! Zeref has come to claim Lucy back! What will the rest of the group do? And what has happened to Natsu and the other?

Figure that out in the next chapter: I'll keep my promise!