AN: I really, really need to stop procrastinating (Her World of Magic is begging for an update…) but hey, when the Plot Bunny strikes, who am I to resist? This is a songfic of "The End" by Mayday Parade. I wrote it pretty soon after chapter 252 was released, so it'll probably not make much sense when Mashima releases the real ending. I guess it has NaLu, but that;s not really the focal point. It also contains an OC, but not as a Mary Sue or anything. And, yes, I love making the main characters (especially Lucy) miserable. Because I'm evil.

Disclaimer: I do not own Mayday Parade nor do I own this song. In the same way, I don't own Fairy Tail or any of its characters.

It was that day again. That day when, all in black, they would reunite. The anniversary of Acnologia's defeat.

How many years had it been? Eleven? Twelve?

We tried to fight

For what we thought that we believed in

Maybe it was all for nothing

(I bet it was all for nothing)

When Makarov died, the guild had gone through shock. The thought that Makarov, their master and parent, had met his demise… it was at that moment that it dawned upon them that they were in a battle in which victory was not guaranteed.

They did win, of course. But had their victory really been so great?

Lucy sighed at her own melancholy thoughts as she wound her hair into a sombre bun. Of course it had been a great victory. They had defeated a dragon and saved the world, how could that not be spectacular?

Nevertheless… guild had been left with wounds that would never heal.

So we drive

'cause we like to be alone

There's nowhere for us to go

There's nowhere for us to go…

They had drifted apart after that. The guild wasn't Fairy Tail anymore- it was a group of depressed, haunted people who shared memories that were all too painful.

In their loneliness, some had healed.

Bisca and Alzack returned to the West, to straighten themselves out. According to what Lucy had heard, the two snipers had finally confessed to each other- though there was a sharp edge, an agonising thought of why not earlier?

Gajeel had left to find Metallicana, promising that he would return someday. Levy was still waiting; she had a whole notebook full of tally marks, counting the days until he reunited with her, knowing all too well that she was loving a shadow. Maybe that was what had caused her to become such a successful poet and writer. Of course, she still thought he would come back. Because, without that hope, Levy would crumble.

A few others had left; Gray, though now living alone in the snowy mountains, would come back every few months or so. Apparently, he was hoping to learn the great intricacies of ice magic, to become as powerful as Ur.

Yet the majority remained in Magnolia, knowing full well that they could leave at any time. Well, most of them, anyway.

Lucy couldn't.

How could you think that any of this was easy?

With all the friends I've lost along the way

They had lost Juvia. She could have easily turned her body to water and survived- but she didn't. The water mage had just stood in front of Gray, the rain falling heavily as she took the full brunt of the dragon's roar.

Maybe that was why Gray lived alone now.

Mirajane died, too. Strong, loyal Mirajane had been on the front line, alongside the other S-Class mages.

How Lisanna had screamed, how Elfman had roared when she crumpled to the ground… it was haunting.

And Cana… she'd been fighting quite well in fact. Then she saw her father get injured and ran to help him- the dragon sliced its claw through her. Afterwards, Gildarts had immersed himself in work, returning to his lifestyle of continuous work.

So many others had fallen, so much blood had been shed.

Lucy knew that she should have been grateful for her survival. But, somehow, she still felt like a part of her had died as well.

When this is over

We're all getting older now

And we all play a part in it

Innocence is falling

Can you hear them calling now?

But I'll be by your side until the end

Back then, before the battle, Lucy had been prepared for death. She was hardly Fairy Tail's strongest mage, and knew that her end was likely. But, just before that battle, there was an acceptance, a coming of age.

Beforehand, she had thought of her primary concerns as being her breast size, her rent and shoes. Yet upon her came a maturity, and she realised that life was for greater things. She had decided that, if she got out of the battle alive, she would tell him of her feelings.

In fact, it had been a miracle that she had even survived. She made it to nearly the end of the battle (though she didn't know it at the time) and the dragon hadn't yet killed her. Yet she was sick, sick of all the blood, sick of the destruction, sick of watching the people she loved drop like flies.

When she saw him picking himself up off the floor, hand clutching one useless arm whilst his hair was caked with blood… when she saw the dragon's foot rise, ready to stomp on him…

She had lost it, and screamed.

"NAAATSUUU!"

As if annoyed by her screech, Acnologia didn't kill the dragonslayer- instead, he swiped Lucy away. She flew like a leaf in the wind before colliding with a boulder.

Lucy let out a shriek of pain; she crashed into it with a sickening crunch, then collapsed to the ground. Blood mingled with sweat and ran down her face, forcing her to squint with one eye. Every breath felt like burning hot knives slicing through her throat. She couldn't feel her legs.

She thought that she could hear Natsu calling her name, but her world was becoming topsy-turvy. Her vision blurred, then refocused with startling clarity before separating into a simple blur of lights. The sounds became loud, deafening- and then they warped into a soft lullaby, unnervingly sweet. She was dizzy, so, so dizzy. Lucy desperately attempted to claw her way to Natsu, desperate to have somebody by her side. But then the darkness took over, and she simply couldn't move. Realising that resistance was futile, Lucy closed her eyes and allowed her body to go limp.

At the time, she thought that she was dying. And she had just wished that she could die by his side, not in the dirt.

We tried to fight, I guess sometimes you find it's pointless

As long as you can live with yourself

(Tell me how you live with yourself...)

She survived, miraculously.

It turned out that the horrifying crunch she had heard upon impact with the boulder had been the sound of her spine snapping. From then on, paralysed from the waist down, Lucy was in a wheelchair.

Erza had come out unscathed- physically. Mentally, she blamed herself for it all. The Titania was racked with guilt about the people who died, people who she thought she could have saved. Lucy kept telling her time and time again that she couldn't have helped being unconscious. That didn't kill the guilt.

As for Wendy… she saw terrible things. Things that no girl her age should have ever had to witness. At first, she had been paranoid and twitchy, scared of everything and everyone that threatened her. Even now, as a beautiful young woman, she had nightmares of that battle.

So it's time that we take the open road

There's nowhere for us to go

There's nowhere for us to go

The guild trickled away. Nothing to do with the council- in fact, they had been heralded as heroes by the magic world. They hadn't even officially disbanded, just faded away. Half of them gave up their roles as mages, mentally scarred by their experience.

And so, confined to her wheelchair, Lucy had searched for a new goal. She still worked on her novel, but could not be a mage. The girl was desperate for someone, anyone to upkeep her morals as a Stellar Spirit mage.

She remembered meeting her apprentice- she had been travelling by the river, four years after battling Acnologia, looking out at the sunset, when she saw a girl walking on the wall.

"You might fall in, you know."

And then the girl had turned around. She looked ordinary enough- brown, wavy hair and eyes, aged roughly ten or eleven. But she was wearing grubby, worn out clothes. Her bare feet looked pained and covered in blisters, whilst her skin was flecked with bruises.

The girl had jumped down, reaching into her basket and coming out with a poppy.

"Here, miss- care for a flower?"

Lucy shook her head. "No- but can you wheel me home?"

Back at Lucy's house, the girl was ordered to clean herself up (to which she meekly obeyed). After a meal, she sat in front of Lucy, who was studying her intently.

"Where are your parents?"

"Ran away."

The blonde's eyes widened. "Pardon?"

"Dad died… Mum got angry a lot…"

A hand on her shoulder allowed her to become silent.

"What's your name?"

"…I don't like it."

"Okay then. Your name's now Luna."

"Huh?"

And with this Lucy placed her hands in her lap and smiled. "I'm Lucy, former mage of Fairy Tail. And…I'd like you to become my apprentice."

How can you think that any of this was easy?

With all the friends I've lost along the way?

Makarov. Mirajane. Juvia. Cana. Macao. Wakaba. Droy. Max. Laki. Bixlow. Evergreen. Several others.

So many lost, so, so many.

When this is over, we're all getting older now

And we all play a part in it

She and Luna finally parted two years ago, when the latter was seventeen and had learnt all she needed about Stellar Spirit magic. Luna had promised to keep on the spirit of Fairy Tail- she claimed that her goal was to create a guild- Pixie Heart, she was planning to call it. Pixie as a type of fairy, Heart as a reference to Lucy's surname.

The blonde hadn't cried for years, but she did then. She hugged Luna tight, then wept again as she said farewell to her spirits.

Alone once again, it dawned upon Lucy that her generation of mages were gone, being replaced by new people like Luna. They were the future, she was the past.

She realised just how long it had been since that battle.

Innocence is falling, can you hear them calling now?

But I'll be by your side until the end.

The four years before meeting Luna? Three of those had been spent waiting for him to wake up.

From what she had been told about the battle after she slipped out of consciousness, Natsu had flown into a rage. This in turn had activated his abilities, the strongest degree of dragonslayer magic known. And he managed to defeat Acnologia, if only just.

But using such power had sent him into a coma. And so, for three years afterwards, Lucy would visit every day. Such irony, that they had both made it through alive, yet she could not confess. So messed up, the fact that he, the stronger one, was comatose.

She also visited a few weeks after he woke up, bringing him up to date.

But she'd stopped coming after a while, simply because she couldn't bear to cause him such pain. She had to tell him about the people who died, the toll the guild had taken. And it was awful for both of them.

She and Natsu still met from time to time, though, as with the rest of the guild, their relationship had disintegrated. They didn't know how to react around each other anymore.

To all my friends, let's make this count

We're not alone, not alone

She rolled her way through the streets of Magnolia. A few people snuck glances at her, but she persisted, determined to reach her destination in time.

And she did- the graveyard of Kardia Cathedral, and home of her former nakama.

How can you think that any of this was easy

With all the friends I've lost along the way?

When this is over, we're all getting older now.

And we all play a part in it.

They were all there- Natsu, Happy, Erza, even Gray had made it. Lucy waved and wheeled herself towards them; Natsu ran over and began to push her along, giving her aching arms a rest.

And so, the reunited Team Natsu toured the graves, remembering each person individually. Then they all went to Lucy's where talked and joked around; just like the old days.

It was then Lucy thought that maybe, just maybe, it was okay to be joyous. Perhaps it was possible to find happiness even now.

Maybe she would tell him.

Maybe she would catch up on what Luna was up to.

Maybe she would teach somebody else.

Maybe she could just smile.

Innocence is falling, can you hear the calling now?

But I'll be by your side until the end.

AN: Well… there's my first songfic. I wrote this super quickly because I was desperate to have this done before the next chapter comes out. Anyway, I myself am not fond of this… review anyway? I need to know how to improve.

~Meg