Disclaimer: I do not own Fairytail

It was the same, always the same, all the time. Day after day passed, nothing new ever came, and worse, there was no one she liked to talk to. She frowned down at her hands and sighed softly, glancing up, gazing around the massive city she'd entered.

She really shouldn't be here, she didn't need to come to such a big city for what she needed, and yet still, she found herself here, longing for human interaction of some kind, any kind.

Lucy frowned and crossed her arms, staring, hoping for something different, something that would change her fate, something that would make this immortal life worth living.

The desperation to have someone to talk to, anyone. At this point she wasn't very picky. But she'd also learned that it hurt more to make friends. In the end, they would grow older, and she would have to leave, to stop suspicion of why she still looked as young as she had thirty years ago.

Lucy was walking into town, looking around at all the shops she could enter. This point, this time, this was when she adored her magic. The spirits, they never grew older, they were the only friends she would be able to hold onto for the rest of her life. The only friends who knew, the only friends that would always be there.

She smiled softly to herself, thinking about it.

Behind her, Lucy became aware of the loud chatter and squeals behind her. She frowned and moved into the crowd of women to see what the commotion was. In the center of the group, was a man, and the instant she saw him, she knew she loved him. He was beautiful, dark hair, and his sparkling eyes just made her swoon.

Lucy felt her heartrate steadily increasing, and she reached her hands up, clutching her shirt tightly. She bit her lip, staring at him, he turned to her and she could clearly see him wink at her. Then, she was sold. This was the man of her dreams, the man she would love forever.

And little did she know, this was the start of a butterfly effect, the tiniest curiosity, turned into the happiest, and saddest journey of her very long life.

Soon, a pink-haired man had entered the vicinity and the spell she'd been put under broke. Lucy's first reaction was rage. How dare that stupid, good-for-nothing man put her, and all these other vulnerable women under a spell! Lucy wanted to stop him there and then, however, that would bring attention to herself.

And the last thing Lucy needed was attention.

She quickly left the crowd and clenched her fists, walking away from the awful scene. As she was walking, Lucy came across the boy that had snapped her out of the spell, pouting and mumbling something about how that wasn't the real Igneel.

Lucy didn't really know what he was talking about, however, after he had saved her from a possibly horrible situation, Lucy thought he at least deserved a thank you. "Excuse me! Um, sir," Lucy said loudly, cautiously walking up to him.

The pink-haired man looked up and stared at her, a blue cat peering up at her behind him. "Yeah?" He finally asked.

"Uh, thank you. For what you did back there."

The man didn't seem to understand what she was thanking him for and just frowned. "She's crazy, Natsu, we should go." The blue cat said from behind him. The man seemed to agree and stood up,

"Wait!" they paused. "So your name's Natsu, huh. I'm Lucy." She said

"Hey, Lucy." Natsu greeted. "I guess your welcome, but I don't understand why you're thanking me." He rubbed the back of his head in confusion.

"For what you did. That guy back there, he was using a love charm to enchant all the women close to him, including me. But thanks to your interruption, I was able to pull free of the spell." Lucy explained.

"Oh," Natsu said. "Well, your welcome, but we have to go now. It was nice meeting you Lucy!"

Lucy opened her mouth to tell them she wanted to repay them somehow, maybe with lunch. But then she closed her mouth. She couldn't do that, not when he would only leave like the others. She had promised herself no more friends, she had to stick with that.

"Hey Lucy, you wanna come with us? We're gonna go get something to eat! Our train doesn't leave for a little while, so we have some time in town."

"Sure!" Lucy said, smiling.

Crap.

She hurried over to them and said, "So what're you doing in Hargeon anyway?"

"We're looking for a guy named Igneel. He used to go by the Salamander, so when we heard that he was here, we rushed over to see if we could find him. But that's not the guy we were looking for. It usually isn't, but we still have to try, right little buddy."

"Aye sir!"

"Uh, Natsu, if you don't mind me asking. Why exactly does your friend over there talk?"

"Because I'm a cat."

Lucy frowned, but she couldn't argue with that, he did seem to be a cat who talked. And while she'd never met a talking cat before, she could tell this duo was rather special. It had been a long time since she'd been able to walk and talk like this with someone else. It was a moment she'd never forget.

All day, she'd spent all day with him. He was bouncy and energetic and Lucy just found him so easy to talk to, even though he could be kind of an idiot sometimes.

She still couldn't believe he'd thought Igneel who was apparently a dragon would be casually strolling along in a human town. This was the kind of idiocy she had been talking about.

Lucy sighed and watched him board the train. She had to be leaving this town soon anyway, she couldn't possibly stay here. She liked the guy she had met today, wished she could be his friend. But she knew she couldn't, not when she had a job to do.

In town that day, she'd bought some materials and was now heading back into the wood where she had come out. The sunshine of the town behind her was instantly blocked out by the thick forestation. Lucy couldn't even remember the last time she'd seen a single ray of sunshine. Because when the trees gave out to a clearing of nothing but dirt, the sky was gray and cloudy. This was where she spent most her days.

"You're back." His voice was cool and calm. Lucy bit her lip and walked over to the man sitting in the middle of the dead forest. "Did you get what I need."

"Yes, I did."

Her only human contact. Except he was anything but a friend. She hated him for what he was doing, didn't understand how one person could be so cruel as to want to wipe humanity off the face of the Earth. "Good, now give them here."

She did and watched as he smirked and got up. "With the project almost complete, this is the beginning of the end, Lucy."

"You're sick." She whispered.

"You want to die, don't you?"

"Yes! But not at the cost of everyone else's lives!"

"You are still young, my dear, only a hundred or so years. And you will not learn of true desperation. For I believe it should be complete within this lifetime. No more waiting, does it not bring you joy."

"I wish you would find another way." Lucy whispered, scowling at him.

"Oh, if there was another way, I would've found it by now. I would've found it."

"I doubt it. You're an idiot, and a jerk! You think you're the only one that's suffered. Well guess what, you're not." Lucy snarled.

He stood there, "Do you not know my name? I'm no idiot, and I'm well aware I am not the only one to have suffered. You despise my very existence in this world, yet you believe you know me so completely. And despite your age that is childishness if I ever heard it."

"You're a monster."

"Maybe, yet you still help me. What does that say about you."

Lucy looked down at her hands, ashamed. "Now, I am going to build my machine and you are going to wait. I will go as quickly as possible, but we have no need to rush. We both have all the time in the world to complete this."

"I guess we do." Lucy muttered.

"Once it's done, I can…" he trailed off more, so softly Lucy couldn't hear. She sighed and rested her head on the palm of her hand. She knew what was most likely coming, just a hunch based on the signs she had seen before.

Then, as if on cue the screaming started. She could see black fog swirl around his feet. She knew that this wave thing killed, though she wasn't sure what caused it.

Lucy knew it was probably painful, he always clutched his head and crouched down as if that could stop it. And she was sure he knew how to stop it, she just didn't know why he didn't make himself stop.

Soon, the violent fit passed and he dropped on the ground, panting, shaking a little.

Lucy came over and gently put a hand on his shoulder. "Are you okay?" though she knew the answer must be 'no', he nodded.

"Yes, fine…" he muttered, gulping. "It will be done soon, he will be awakened soon."

Lucy wanted to ask who, but she knew he'd never answer her. He'd always been vague like that. "Zeref, we don't have to do this. We can find other ways to get what we want without hurting anybody."

"No, we can't! We don't have time!"

"You just said we had all the time in the world!" Lucy cried.

"I did?" Zeref clenched his fists, "Well I lied. We don't have much time, this project must be completed soon!"

Lucy didn't want to hurt anyone, almost wished Zeref ill, but she couldn't bring herself to hope for that. She was just as bad as him then.

He shook off her hand and stood up, "I will go now, do whatever it is you do all day."

Lucy almost yelled at him, but she held her tongue and sat back, sighing. She didn't even remember how this came to be, how she came to be cursed with immortality. All she knew was that as long as she could remember she never got ill, her injuries always healed within seconds, and she couldn't die, no matter what she tried.

She suspected Zeref knew, but he refused to tell her. He just wanted someone to be with him, selfish prick. And at the same time she understood, understood why he needed her. He didn't have spirits, he didn't seem to have anyone.

And it made her heart hurt for him, no one deserved to be alone.

Lucy just wished she could think of some other way, some other way for everyone to get what they wanted. But according to Zeref, there was no way. The thing he had to create to destroy them, would go onto kill the world after. And she believed him. Because while she hated to admit, he was actually the smartest person she had ever met.

Before, she had thought she was pretty good with magic, understood it. When it came to ancient spells and texts she almost considered herself a prodigy.

But one day, while she was searching through the books in the library, she found one. But as she reached for it, someone else snatched it off the shelf and walked away.

She had obviously chased him down and demand why he did that.

"It's not your property." He had said coldly and left. That was how she met Zeref. And the second time she met him, was when she was deciphering one book, because she had nothing else better to do. He'd come up to her and said he needed to look at the book.

"Good luck with that." Lucy had rolled her eyes, thinking he wouldn't even know where to start and need her help. But he ignored the other book she had been using to translate and just started reading.

The third time she met him was when she found out who he was and what he was capable of. Everyone in the library died, except for her.

Because she was immortal.

She came up to him, in his feeble position, sobbing and whispering how sorry he was. "Hey," she mumbled poking him. He jumped and screamed at her to stay away from him. That she would die. "I'm not going to die." she had said softly. "Come on, it's okay." She reached for him again and gently touched his shoulder.

During these times when he would lose it, this is when he would remind her of how human he was. And after that day they had traveled together. She found out he was searching for a way to die, and she decided she'd help him as long as he helped her die too.

That was about twenty years ago, though it didn't feel like long. When she was immortal, time passed a whole lot quicker than it would've if she wasn't.

Lucy supposed this wasn't the worst outcome that could've come from her being immortal. Zeref might've been the evilest wizard on Earthland (she'd heard so many rumors) he wasn't exactly like what people said he was. He was a bit of a surprise.

But he was still Zeref. There was a reason he had such a reputation. She knew his plans wouldn't end well, but she had no idea just how far downhill things would go.

That included the fact that she hadn't been prepared to stand on a battlefield four years later, with dead bodies scattered carelessly across, and Zeref in the middle of it all, laughing maniacally.

Lucy glared at him, "Are you happy now!" she screamed. "Is this what you wanted!"

It seemed as if he hadn't heard her, his laughs continuing, he turned around, tears streaming down his face. "Here we are, Lucy. The end…" he whispered. "I've waited so long for this."

"Don't do this, Zeref! It's not too late to turn back!"

"Oh yes it is! It was too late 400 years ago! Now it's finally come… I'm finally done. After all this time." He dropped to his knees and cried.

"Zeref, don't be selfish. Don't do this."

"Shut up!" Zeref screamed, whirling on her. She couldn't remember the last time he'd screamed in utter rage like that, but it didn't bode well. "You think you're so perfect, don't you." He hissed, malice lacing his tone. "Well, you're not! You're not better than the rest of us, no better than me! Don't tell me not to be selfish! All I ever did was for him! And now I'm finally doing something for me! And it's too late to stop me. If you hated this idea so much you never would've helped me! So what do you have to say to that!"

Lucy stayed silent.

"That's what I thought." Zeref mumbled and then turned back around, his shoulders shaking.

Lucy watched as his creation tore the world down, made it burn to ashes. And she thought she recognized the demon. He looked like the pink-haired boy… Natsu, Natsu was his name. The creation looked like him, just like him.

The force of his massive blows rattled her to his bones. "Kill me!" Zeref screamed, "Kill me Natsu, please!"

So it was him.

Lucy couldn't even move, but she'd blinked and the beast was right in front of Zeref. She actually wanted to help, she wanted to save Zeref, but she couldn't. Because he didn't look like he regretted this, not at all. In fact, he looked happy and it made her have to turn away.

Lucy could feel the creature's eyes on her. She knew this was the end. The beast was going to kill her, that's how Zeref programmed it. She thought back to the day she'd met Natsu in Hargeon, how it was such a chance encounter.

If she had gone with him that day, would things be different now.

If she had invited him to lunch to repay him, would everything be different now.

If she had never met him, would things be different?

If she had asked to go back to wherever he lived, would things be different.

If she had just asked him more questions.

If she had never gone with Zeref.

What if…

What if any of these things would've stopped her from being ripped apart.

What if she hadn't thrown her life away like this. What if she had never met Zeref.

If only she had been stronger, if only she had been wiser, if only she had been kinder, would things be different?

Probably not, but she could always dream.

A/N I hope you guys enjoyed this story, I really enjoyed writing it. NaluNom, I hope you enjoyed too and did your idea justice. Thank you everyone so much for reading, reviews appreciated.