The support from you guys for this story has been phenomenal. I honestly don't know how to express my gratitude to you all for the wonderful support and encouragement I've received for this.

But I can give you another installment.

This expanded from a trilogy to a quartet. I felt the need to explore Lucy's point of view. And this is the result. It's more than twice the length of the previous installments.

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.

Hugging the side of the building, Lucy crept amongst the rubble. Her other self's journal clutched in one arm, she peered through the darkness for Mother Glare's monstrous children. She couldn't afford to be stopped here – the words she carried with her too important to lose to dragon fire and crumbling buildings. A chance, was what she held in her arm. A possibility for a future free of dragons.

"No."

The single word rang through the air, freezing the girl in her tracks. She knew that voice. It was forever imprinted in her mind and soul. Gulping, she pressed herself further into the building's shadow hoping it would hide her despite knowing that shadows were the domain of the voice's owner. Even if shadows weren't Rogue's purview, her rapidly beating heart would have given her away.

What in the world was he doing on the ground? Last she saw – and it was but a fleeting glimpse at that – he had been riding upon Mother Glare's back.

A roar shook the sky and the blonde chanced a glance upward. There she saw two dragons locked in combat, one sheathed in flames and the other in adamantine scales. Two figures were locked in combat with the dragons as their stage – and even from this distance Lucy could tell that they were Natsu and the Future Rogue as flames and shadows danced in the night sky.

"You're lying!" the voice around the corner shouted. "Liars!"

It had to be the other Rogue. The Rogue of her time.

Morbid curiosity tugged her feet forward as her head screamed to run in the opposite direction. This was the past version of the monster who'd taken Future Lucy's life. She needed to see, needed to know about this person. What would drive someone to these extremes? Lucy needed to understand. Somehow, she felt like catching a glimpse of the man would give her the answers she sought.

Laughter reverberated in the air, the sheer force of it shuddering through Lucy's frame. "Give up, Rogue. Your soul is stained and seeped in the shadows. You will rule – and everyone else shall perish."

The Celestial Mage halted at the building's edge, carefully peering around it. What she saw nearly caused her to retreat once more. A dragon stood, not far from where she did. It hovered over a man kneeling on the ground with his hands over his ears to block out the creature's pervasive words.

Another voice, disembodied, wound its way to Lucy's ear. "I am your desires made manifest, Rogue," it taunted.

Where was it coming from?

"You want power. Power to crush those who stand in your way. The future is nigh, the time of your rule approaching fast. Welcome it!"

To her horror, she realized that it was coming from the Dragon Slayer's own shadow. It twisted and flowed across the ground, reveling in its corporeal half's clear anguish.

"No," the man whispered, thought the words carried easily across the space to Lucy. It felt as if the entire world had quieted in this spot, holding its breath to better observe the outcome. "I won't claim happiness at the cost of my friends'. Their deaths won't make me happy!" The volume of Rogue's voice increased as his convictions solidified. "It's not what I want!"

"But it is," the monsters sang their barbed dirge to the Dragon Slayer. "It's already happened Rogue. Just accept it already and end this pathetic farce."

As the man shook from the force of his denials, Lucy's heart went out to him. This person was as much a victim in all this as she was, she realized. Rogue was suffering just as much as everyone else. Maybe more than most, as it was him who was ultimately responsible for his friends' pain. A fact that distressed him and tore him apart from the inside.

Future Rogue had somehow managed to victimize himself.

Lucy stepped forward, despite the dangerous monster in the vicinity; intent on reaching the person before her. She desperately needed him to know that she believed in him – there was a way past this! He wasn't the same as the man who wheeled through the sky dragon-back. He needed to know that there were people who supported him – he wasn't alone in this!

Abruptly, Rogue ceased his trembling and dropped his hands to his sides to hang there limply. Lucy paused in her advance, waiting to see what the man would do next. When he wobbled to his feet, Lucy could make out a determination in him that hadn't been there a moment ago. So she further waited for him to make his move. She was there as backup if he needed her.

The dragon eyed the Dragon Slayer curiously. "Are you going to come quietly, then?" it asked, its deep, gravelly voice grating on Lucy's soul. "Have you accepted your fate?"

His chin held high, Rogue met the dragon's baleful stare. "Fuck. You."

Lucy's soul soared in triumph and pride as the dragon roared in rage at the mage.

Trepidation flared in her chest, however, as the distinctive ring of a sword drawn echoed in the open space. The naked blade glinted in the poor lighting as Rogue turned his back on the dragon.

But Lucy wasn't the only entity bothered by the Sabertooth Mage's actions. "What are you doing?" the shadow asked, wavering in alarm. "Think about it," it cajoled, "All that you've ever dreamed of. It's already yours!"

Rogue remained impassive.

"You're not foolish enough to throw that all away, are you?!" it screeched. "You know what will happen if you…"

"Yes. I do. I'm counting on it," Rogue replied.

Now Lucy was thoroughly lost as to what was going on in the subtext here. But her ominous premonition grew worse with every second. Something bad was about to happen, she knew.

Before she could call out to him, to prevent him from doing whatever it was that had his shadow in such a panic, he spoke again.

Quietly, the man apologized to the air. "Frosch, I'm sorry. Sting, take care of Frosch, Lector, the guild, and yourself. Yukino, I'm sorry for not saying anything when you were expulsed."

As he fell silent, Lucy had the horrible feeling that she was listening to a… a…

A last will and testament.

"Lucy Heartfilia."

She nearly jumped out of her skin at the sound of her name from his lips. Heart hammering loudly in her ears, she stared wide-eyed at the brunette.

"I wish I could've apologized for what Minerva did. I'm sorry."

Lucy wanted to shout at him that it wasn't his fault, that he wasn't to blame for any of this. She wanted to scream and yell that whatever he was about to do, he couldn't! But no sound passed her lips, the pressure in her chest blocking the necessary air from escaping her lungs to produce the words.

The man's shadow was far more vocal as the Dragon Slayer raised the blade up. Ignoring the entity, he slammed the katana into the thing's heart.

A moment later, and Rogue crumpled to the ground with a pained cry. His katana remained standing, imbedded in the rubble over the Dragon Slayer like a grave marker.

In shock, Lucy just stood there for a moment. Until she spotted a dark substance staining his chest and bandages.

Cold realization crashed down upon her like Aquarius' tidal waves. Blood. Blood over his heart. In the same location he stabbed the shadow.

Suddenly the blockage in her chest managed to force its way past her vocal cords to erupt into a wail of despair.

She barely took note of the golden light that had begun to emanate from the dragon as she stumbled over the rough terrain to reach the Dragon Slayer. Falling to her knees beside him, she reached out and grabbed his cloak. Pressing the dark fabric against the wound, she tried to stem his life's flow.

He didn't seem to notice.

Then his eyes opened, and he peered up at her with pain-clouded, crimson eyes.

"No… no… no you can't do this… please no," she mumbled the words she couldn't say earlier through the tears dripping into her mouth and onto the dying man. I believe in you. Phlegm clogged her throat, almost choking out the words but this time she refused to be silenced. "Don't go." Please don't leave me. "You didn't have to… we would've found a way!" She didn't know where or when, but the journal had been discarded. There had been another path. "Idiot, idiot, idiot, idiot," she berated him. "This makes no one happy!"

All those people he wanted to save would be miserable. None more so than her and his Exceed. She couldn't let another person die in front of her. Especially not him. Not after he'd more than proven himself worthy of friendship and caring.

He was gazing at her like she was answer to every question he'd ever asked. With a tremble, he raised his hand to her face and she gasped out another sob at the physical contact. Gentle, firm strokes of his rough fingers brushed away the tears on one cheek.

Then his hand slipped from her cheek and thudded onto the ground next to him. As his eyes closed, another wave of anguish rose out her like a rising tide. "WENDY!" she screamed at the sky, her head tilted back. "WENDY! PLEASE, HELP US! SAVE HIM! WENDY!" There was nothing she wanted more than for this man to live. She desperately needed him to live.

"I'm sorry," Rogue mumbled, tearing through her mournful cries. "For Minerva."

Not for what he'd just done.

Lucy wailed even harder as she felt him begin to leave her behind.

"WENDY!" she howled to the moon. Where was the girl? She needed her help. "WENDY! WENDY! WENDY!"

Head hanging, she sobbed inarticulately. Lucy wasn't even certain what was coming out of her mouth anymore. It was a mixture comprised of her jumbled thoughts. She tried to tell him that he meant something. Pleading with his unresponsive form, she leaned even harder on the still bleeding wound. Dark crimson liquid seeped through the fabric of the cloak and coated her hands.

Only the ragged, inconsistent rise and fall of his chest indicated that Rogue was not yet dead, just unconscious.

Lucy was startled when a hand was placed upon her shoulder. Too big for Wendy, but Lucy turned hopefully towards its owner. It wasn't the Sky Dragon Slayer, or even the Sky God Slayer.

Ultear gazed at the disconsolate blonde girl as her eyes lit up in hope and then darkened again in recognition.

The Celestial Mage sobbed even harder. "Ultear," she said, tremors wracking her body, "I don't know what to do!"

Lips narrowing to a thin line, Ultear gave Lucy a tight nod. "That's okay. I'm here to help. I have a plan."

Moving to the side to give the Time Arc Mage room to work, Lucy asked, "What will you do?"

Her hands held up to the man she had planned to kill herself only a few minutes ago, she readied her spell and gathered up the requisite fortitude to cast it. A variation on the Last Ages spell, there was no returning from this. "I'm going to give him my time."

"No!" Lucy cried, releasing her hold on Rogue despite being aware of the dangers of doing so. She launched herself at the older woman and tackled her to the ground. "No! You can't!"

"Get off of me!" Ultear snarled at the hysterical blonde. "Don't you want to save him? Don't you want to save your friend?!"

"Not at the cost of another!" she sobbed, clutching Ultear with all the strength she still possessed. "I can't sacrifice one friend to save another! I can't!" Her tears soaked into the Time Arc Mage's battle suit as the woman stilled at Lucy's confession. "Meredy will cry! Jellal will have no one to keep him out of trouble for Erza! Gray would be so upset if you were gone! You're his sister! You're Jellal's best friend! You're Meredy's mother! You can't abandon them!" She hiccupped. "It's exactly what Rogue was trying to do. You can't… Think of how he would feel if someone sacrificed themselves for him after he did this. How would you feel if I were to give up my life to save yours? Friends don't sacrifice friends, or themselves for their friends! Erza and Natsu and Gray have taught me that you live for your friends, you don't die for them! So don't you dare even try!"

"But I don't deserve it," Ultear whispered. "I was going to kill him myself, Lucy. I haven't changed at all from seven years ago! I'm still a monster." Sobs of her own overtook her. "Let me do this! Let me make it up to him, and to everyone else I've wronged in my life! I have to do this!"

"No you don't!" Lucy lifted her head and grabbed Ultear's shoulders, shaking them slightly. "Do you hear me?! Live! That's how you can make it up to everyone! It's what Jellal is doing! It's what Meredy is doing! Live, and save many, many more lives than you took! It may never erase what you've done, but you can make a difference! But you can't do anything if you're dead!" She released her and moved back to Rogue, pressing ineffectually against the wound once again. "Find another way."

Ultear stayed silent for several moments, letting what the blonde girl said sink in. "There is another way," she suddenly stated. "But it's going to be horrible. It might even hasten his… his… his demise." There was no better way to put it. "But it might work."

Hope broke through Lucy's sorrow, a sun cresting over a hill to break the stillness of night with the brilliant rays of dawn. A sunrise in her soul, Lucy nodded. "What is it?"

"I will open his Second Origin."

Lucy stared at her. "How is that going to help?"

A tight smile appeared on Ultear's face. "Dragon Slayers can heal themselves with their own magic when they eat their element. Unfortunately, I don't have the ability to force-feed Rogue shadows. So instead, I'll give him access to more of his magic. It's a long shot. The pain might well kill him faster. Best we can honestly hope for is that it buys us enough time for Wendy to arrive. But do we really have any other choice?"

Shaking her head, Lucy agreed with the plan. "Then let's get started. Tell me what you need from me."

"Just hold him down."

Lucy released the wound and knelt over him. Pressing her knees into his thighs and her palms to his shoulders, she nodded for Ultear to begin. "Please hurry. I think his heartbeat is getting weaker."

Hands glowing, Ultear placed them over Rogue's stomach, and under Lucy's.

It wasn't long before Rogue started to thrash against Lucy's grip, and sweat began to pour down Ultear's face from the strain of the magic. "He's fighting it!" she hissed. "He's trying to keep his magic from healing him!"

Lucy leaned her head against the Dragon Slayer's chest, her ear pressed against the flesh next to his wound and faintly beating heart. "Please, Rogue," she whispered. "Please let us save you. We need you here with us."

The man stilled.

And then, so too did his heart.

"Ultear! Hurry!"

"I'm trying!" The natural barrier around the Second Origin broke. "I got it!"

Lucy pressed her ear even more firmly against Rogue's chest. "Come on," she pleaded. "Come on. Beat. Please."

The rush of magic from the Second Origin's release was just enough to shock the organ into beating again. "I have a pulse!" Lucy declared.

Ultear leaned back and sighed. Swiping her bangs that had plastered themselves to her skull, she all but collapsed. "He's not out of the woods yet, Lucy. We need to reapply pressure to his wound."

"LUCY!" a high-pitched voice called as Lucy climbed off the Sabertooth Mage. "LUCY!"

Lucy's head jerked up at the sky.

"WENDY!"

End of part three. I will try to finish up the final installment this weekend. Please review.