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Chapter Text

He tried to think back to who it was that had talked him into this.

But it was all him. It had been his own fault. He had picked the job.

"Damn it."

"Still think this is a good idea?"

Natsu crouched at the edge of the dock, staring down into the green waters of the marina. The air was warm and humid, the sun bright and hot in the clear sky above. He could feel its heat on his bare back and shoulders and radiating from the old wood planks beneath his feet. Relief carried itself on the light breeze that fluttered through his hair and the scarf tied around his head, perfumed by the smell of the sea. His dark eyes followed the curling paths of the small minnows just below the surface of the water – anything to distract his eyes from the boat anchored just in front of him, rocking lightly in the harbor.

"No."

"Well, Natsu, I hate to say it," Lucy smirked, tying a blue shawl around her waist. Her pale skin glowed in the sunlight, gold falling along her shoulders and hips. "But I told you so."

"Really Natsu, what did you think was gonna happen?" Happy stared at the minnows, his eyes glinting with hunger. They were too small to be worth the trouble of trying to catch them, he decided.

"I don't know," Natsu sighed. "That maybe we would just fish from shore? Or something?"

"Oh right. Of course. We were gonna get our tackle and bait and just fish for a fifty-ton monster right here in the shallows." Natsu could practically hear her rolling her eyes. But he knew she had a point. The dragon slayer sighed, dropping his head between his knees.

"Is there really no other way?" His stomach churned at the very thought of swaying and rocking.

"The Leviathan's main food source can only be found in the open ocean. So, naturally, that's where we're going to find it – which means we'll have to leave land. And there's no way we're going to swim all the way out there."

A whimper crawled up Natsu's throat.

"This sucks." Collapsing his legs and falling back on his butt, Natsu hung his head in defeat.

The soft touch of Lucy's hand on his back tickled like starlight as she chuckled. "Nine times out of ten there will be a boat involved with jobs that take place in the water. You know that."

Happy smirked. "Yeah right. I bet he just wanted to fight the giant fish so bad he didn't even think about it."

Their only response was another groan. Her hand migrated from his back to his head, her fingers tangled in the messy strands of his pink hair. Her fingernails scratched his scalp lightly, gentle and reassuring.

"There's no shame in going home, you know," Lucy said. She gave Happy a wink. The cat returned her with a sly grin. "I'm sure Fairy Tail can send someone else to finish the job… Maybe we should let Gray take this one."

She felt her companion stiffen beneath her hand. In the space between heartbeats, Natsu stood to his full height, turning on Lucy. Taking her hand from his head, his other arm captured her waist, drawing her in closer. She grinned into his rueful glare, smug with herself. The cooling sounds of water lapping against the dock and the distant calling of sea birds occupied the silence between. Natsu smirked, seizing the momentary distraction, a instant less to ruminate on what lied ahead.

"That," Natsu said lowly. "Is not going to happen."

Her hand lingering by his face, Natsu's eyes drifted down to her fingers. The quiet sparkle of the jewel on her ring reflected a small rainbow across the bridge of his nose. She leaned in closer to him, watching his face as he planted a soft kiss to her knuckles. Not a single day had gone by that she hadn't worn the band proudly – ever since that special night that she had promised to be his forever, and he hers.

"Excuse me, are you from Fairy Tail?"

They looked up. A man walked towards them, his heavy muck boots thudding on the wooden boards of the dock. It was easy to tell he was a sailor - his face was wrinkled by the sea, his graying hair touched by the sun, and his skin worn by the wind. He held a wise spark in his eye and a determined gait in his step. Lucy stepped away from Natsu, smiling and holding out an inviting hand, her guild mark clear for him to see.

"Yep! That's us!" They shook hands. Reaching into the pocket of her shorts, Lucy procured a folded flyer. "Are you the one who filed this request with the guild? It said to meet the client at this boat."

The man's eyes scanned the paper. His hands were calloused, she noticed, and a wedge was missing from his left ear.

"Yes ma'am, that would be me." The fisherman placed a hand on his chest, bowing courteously. "I'm Captain Kobe. I've been commissioned by the mayor to ship you out to where the monster is known to be seen."

Lucy could almost hear Natsu's spirits drop.

"I'm Lucy, and this is Natsu." Lucy laid a hand on Natsu's shoulder. The dragon slayer flashed the sailor a sharp smile.

"I'm Happy. Nice to meet you, sir!" Happy grinned up at Kobe, bouncing lightly from foot to foot in excitement. "Are we gonna have a chance to do any fishing while we're out?"

Kobe laughed at the small animal, a forced sound that died quickly. His smile didn't quite reach his eyes this time.

"I'll see what we can do," the Captain said kindly. "There aren't as many fish as there used to be, not since that Leviathan came around and started eating them all. It's… been hard to do business here."

Lucy's own smile faltered.

The small fishing village of Gladrindale made a quiet living off of what they could grow from the land and what they could catch from the sea. It was a peaceful, beautiful town set along the southern coast of Fiore, and usually entertained a slew of traders from Caelum, the island country to the south. That had all changed four months ago, when the monster had shown up out of nowhere, a creature of teeth and destruction. The fish became scarce and the sea too dangerous to traverse. Looking past the strangeness of the Leviathan's appearance, the economy of Gladrindale took a steep nosedive. The reward for the job of getting rid of the creature was not very large – about 30,000J – but Lucy suspected that it was all that they had.

"Don't worry." Natsu slammed a fist into his open palm, his eyes sparking. "We'll take care of this over-sized fish and everything will go back to how it should be. You have our promise."

"Then, in advance, you have my thanks," Kobe bowed again, stiff and deep. "And the thanks of everyone in Gladrindale."

"It's no problem." Lucy looked to Natsu, sharing his grin. "It's what we do."

"Then by all means, we'll cast off as soon as you're ready."

Kobe stepped up to his boat and took a large step onto the railing. Dropping down onto the deck of the small boat with practiced ease, he turned to Lucy and offered her a helping hand. Taking the old captain's hand, Lucy allowed herself to be safely guided onto the ship. As soon as she was steady on her feet, Kobe put a friendly hand on her shoulder.

"Welcome aboard the Light Chaser, Miss Lucy!" Kobe chuckled. "Fastest ship in Southern Fiore!"

Lucy shared his laugh, allowing a moment for her balance to adjust. Natsu remained firmly planted on the dock behind her. He looked less than thrilled, brows holding his trepidation as he regarded the boat. Happy, taking the initiative, hopped aboard the ship. Quickly finding a spot on one of the two fishing chairs that were bolted to the deck, he curled up and bounced eagerly. Smiling gently up at her fiancé, Lucy reached out to him.

"Come on," she encouraged. "I'll be right here with you."

Natsu looked up into her warm brown eyes, taking comfort in her trust and esteem. She was so beautiful, the bright light of the sun tinting her hair a starry platinum. He smiled, taking her hand.

"Yeah, okay. Let's do this!"

His bravado, though admirable, was instantly thrown out the window two minutes later when the Light Chaser pulled out of the marina, riding on a warm wind toward the open seas. Clinging to the rails of the boat, Natsu trembled as he tried to keep his eyes open and pinned to the horizon, a stable focal point within the rolling waves. Lucy sat next to him, rubbing comforting circles into his back.

"Is he going to be okay?" Kobe peeked out of the small cabin that housed the wheel, his eyes bright with worry. "I can slow down. Or let me know if I need to stop so he can…feed the fishes, if you know what I mean."

Happy giggled, pocketing the expression for later.

"I think that might make it worse." Lucy said, trying to ignore the way Natsu heaved beneath her hand. "But this is how he always is. Don't worry about him."

"Luuuuccyyyyy…" Natsu's weak cry barely escaped his lips. "'m dyyyyiinnnng…"

"I knew a fella that got seasick once," Kobe started. "Said his brain didn't like being sloshed around so much. I may not be the smartest man on the water, but I'm pretty sure that's not how sea sickness works."

Lucy sighed, stopping her ministrations. Looping Natsu's arm over her shoulders and lifting the man up from the bench, she dragged him over to the other fishing chair. He flopped down into the seat like a rag doll, limp and dragging. Lucy scratched the back of her neck as she examined Natsu, disappointed that the "horizon technique" seemed to work less and less every time. Boats always seemed to bring out the worst of his selectively sensitive stomach.

But it would be unwise to let Natsu spend the entire trip using up all of his energy just to keep his stomach. There was really only one thing that seemed to work without fail, and that was simply falling asleep. Leaning his head back, Natsu closed his eyes and tucked an arm behind his head. Lucy took his hand and pinched the flesh between his thumb and fingers, an old technique Erza had taught her to relieve pain. After a while, Natsu began to snore softly as he succumbed to uneasy rest.

Kobe watched them from over his shoulder as he manned the wheel. Lucy sighed, wiping drool from Natsu's chin and returning to her spot on the bench. Happy glanced over at his friend from the other fishing chair, a small rod held tightly in his paws. Sitting back, Lucy laid her arms over the rail and let the sun warm her skin. A scar on her hip peeked over the hem of her shorts, Kobe noticed, jagged and keen like an exploding star. Lucy chuckled softly, smiling up at the captain.

"This reminds me a lot of our third date," she laughed, nostalgia glistening in her eyes.

Kobe smiled back at the young woman, tied off the wheel and sails, and took a seat on the bench across from Lucy. For a while, they all sat in a quiet that draped like a cool blanket along the boat. It seemed like just another normal day at sea. The hot sun beat down on Lucy shoulders, its heat dampened in the breeze. Happy hummed a small tune as he contently gave a tug on his fishing line every couple of minutes. Natsu, for better or worse, was no longer a pale shade of green. The rocking of the boat was similar to that of his hammock back home if he concentrated hard enough, soothing the roil in his gut.

"It's very nice here," Lucy said, her voice raised against the wind in their ears. "Maybe when this is all over, we'll come back here as actual tourists. How does that sound, Happy?"

"Aye, sir!"

"I'm glad you like it." Captain Kobe curled a length of rope around his hand, tugging the line to realign the sail. "We may not have all the flare of Akane Resort or the grandeur of Harjeon, but I've come to find that simple things can be beautiful as well."

"I wouldn't call Gladrindale simple, really." Lucy looked back where they had come, taking in the view of the small town nestled within the green hills. "There's something…enchanting, about it. Almost like it comes straight out of a story."

Kobe laughed, following her gaze. "That's one way of putting it, I suppose!"

"Trust me, I've been to Akane and Harjeon," Lucy stated. There was no love lost in her voice. "I would definitely choose here any day."

"Well, that's mighty kind of you, Miss Lucy." Kobe patted the rail of the Light Chaser. "If you ever do come back, don't be afraid to contact me. I'll take you for a pleasure cruise along the coast!"

Lucy laughed. Happy snorted in his chair, reeling in his rod. "Sounds wonderful, but I think we might have to forgo that for some other time." She pointed her chin at Natsu. He was moments away from sliding out of the fishing chair, too nauseous to care.

Happy's line came back empty, his bait untouched. Dismayed but not deterred, the small cat drew the rod back, ready to cast again.

"Careful with your hook there, little one," Kobe called. "Or you'll get more than just bait in the ocean."

Kobe pointed to his ear, the mangled flesh of the missing piece long since healed. Happy shivered, his blue ears folding flat on his head.

"Aye, sir!" Happy readjusted his grip on the rod, casting the line back into the sea.

"We don't get the opportunity to do a lot of deep sea fishing where we live," Lucy said, brushing wild hairs from her face. Shielding her mouth from Natsu, Lucy leaned toward the captain in mock secrecy. "Natsu usually ends up burning our catch anyway."

Kobe smiled, fondly watching the companions. They were like a small family, in some ways. Lucy reached out, taking a moment to tighten Natsu's scarf around his head. Her touch was gentle and soft, fingers light like kisses on his skin. Memories of when Kobe himself was young and in love resurfaced in his mind, of passionate nights and days full of adventure. Those days were long gone, but the old fisherman and his wife still acted like love struck teenagers every now and then.

"So, what made the mayor choose you for this job?" Lucy asked.

"I volunteered," he replied. "Besides, all the other fisherman are too scared to come out here anymore."

Lucy stared at the old boat Captain, the sun catching on the silver strands of his hair. He must have been very brave indeed if nobody else wanted to do this job. Kobe looked to the sky, his gray eyes colliding with the clouds.

"I've lived in Gladrindale all my life, born and raised. I met my wife here, and it's where our two kids were born. We might not have it all, but we have enough. My family is happy and healthy, my kids are educated, and I love what I do. You can't really ask for more than that." Kobe winked at Lucy.

This time, his smile was real, genuine in it's gratitude. He looked so much younger when he smiled, Lucy thought.

"So when that monster showed up and everything started going to hell, I vowed to myself and my family that I would do whatever I could to make things right, to give them back the life they deserved."

Lucy nodded. She knew what it was like to fight for the things she loved. Her family was not one of flesh and bone, but of shared scars and laughter, of tears and victory. And she had Natsu. Three years ago, she had almost lost everything. She would do anything to keep that from ever happening again.

"So how long have you two been together?" Kobe asked. An innocent question, but Lucy could feel heat rush into her cheeks.

"We've been dating for three years," Lucy replied. She held up her hand, allowing her ring to twinkle in the sun. "But we got engaged a little over six months ago!"

Kobe's eyes widened, impressed. "Congratulations to you two. I wish you both the best of luck and happiness in your future."

"Thank you!" Lucy turned her hand. The sparkle of the ring in the sun filled her vision, brilliant and auspicious. Thinking back, Lucy had almost fainted when Natsu had presented the ring to her. The diamond wasn't big enough to be gaudy, but was nothing to scoff at either. Natsu had said that he had chewed it out of coal. She still hadn't decided whether she believed him or not.

"I proposed to my wife when we were both eighteen years old." The old captain sighed, dipping himself in his memories. "She turned me down the first time, said we were too young. Had to figure who we were first before we could be together. And that's exactly what we did. We traveled the world and found ourselves along the way. Then we came home, and she finally agreed to marry me. Of all the wonders I've seen, she is still the most wondrous to me."

Something tugged at Lucy's heart - longing, an expectation for the years that lay ahead of her. "That's what I want. To grow old with Natsu and never lose the wonder."

"When you've been through so much with one person, experienced life's ups and downs together," Kobe started, sitting forward. "Time becomes a distant concept, a thing that happens to everybody else. There are some days that I believe my wife looked the way she does now thirty years ago. Then I remember that while we were growing up, we were also growing older. So don't you worry too much, okay Miss Lucy?"

Lucy nodded. Truer words, and all that.

"Natsu says I still look exactly as I did when we first met," Lucy laughed. "I was seventeen back then. How time flies, right?"

"Yes indeed, Miss Lucy." Kobe's face turned wistful, remembering pleasant things. "To be young and feeling love's first blossom. Cherish it while you can."

Lucy smiled. "No." The sea captain titled his head, waiting. "We may be young, but our love isn't. We were just... a little slow to admit it."

"At least it didn't take him as long to ask for your hand." Kobe pointed at her ring. "And with a very lovely diamond, I must say."

Lucy beamed, feeling fresh and new and radiant.

Natsu jerked in his chair, kicking out as a pained moan trickled from his lips. Happy jumped at the unexpected movement, his fishing pole almost flying from his grip. Natsu's eyes were open but unseeing, lost in the panic of his waking dreams. The beginnings of flame licked his knuckles, orange flares sparking from his palms. Lucy shot to her feet, rushing over to her fiancé. Grabbing his wrists before he could hurt someone or himself, Lucy spoke softly to him, trying to coax him from sleep as gently as she could. His half-lidded eyes rolled back in his head. His body shivered.

"Zer…" His words were strained, choked by fear and broken dreams. "Where's… no!"

"Natsu!" Lucy called. Though only half a name, it was enough to chill her to her core. "You need to wake up now. It's just a dream."

Natsu's flailing stopped. Lucy watched as his eyes cleared, his face tinting back to a sickly green. But he was awake, and managed to lift his head up and lock eyes with Lucy. He saw her worried face, felt her tight grip on his wrists - it wasn't hard to piece two and two together. Slumping back in his chair, Natsu curled his fingers around her wrist.

"Sorry, Luce." He sighed shakily. "That was… weird. Haven't had one of those dreams in a long time."

Lucy frowned, her fingers tickling his face as she brushed the hair off of his forehead. "Zeref's gone, Natsu. His demons all died with him."

He smiled weakly. "I know, I know. Hard to believe that was three years ago, huh?"

Lucy didn't share his smile. "I thought those dreams stopped a long time ago…"

Natsu groaned as the boat rocked. "They did."

"Do we need to go see Porlyusica when we get back?"

Natsu looked up into her eyes once more, seeing the concern in their brown depths. He reached an arm out to curl around her waist, bringing her closer to his side.

"I'm fine, Lucy." He pressed his forehead to her shoulder. "It was just one dream."

By the worry still hanging on her chin, his words did little to assure her - but presently, Natsu was too preoccupied with trying not to barf all over his fiance. Leaping out of the chair, Natsu surged for the rail of the ship. He barely made it in time to lose his stomach into the blue water. Lucy and Happy watched him for a moment before sharing a tepid look. They still remembered the war like it was yesterday - still remembered just how close they had been to losing everything. How close Natsu had been to losing his life and his humanity. They were not pleasant memories, heavy and suffocating like anchors tied to their hearts.

If Natsu was having dreams about a certain black wizard again, it wasn't a good omen.

Happy's ear perked, the sharp hiss of the reel on his pole buzzing loudly as the line pulled out against the catch. He shook himself out of his thoughts and hopped to his feet, gripping the fishing pole tightly and thrusting against the line with all his might. His tail puffed, excited and eager, his teeth bared in a determined grin. Lucy looked over at the Exceed, seeing him struggling against whatever was on the other end of his line. She welcomed the distraction from her worries.

"Looks like you caught a big one, Happy!"

"Aye…sir!" Happy grunted through gritted teeth as he gave a hefty pull on the pole.

Happy jerked from his chair, yelping as he hit the deck hard. His rod and reel shot like an arrow from his paws, disappearing into the deep blue water with a splash. Lucy looked out across the sea as Happy gathered himself, a hot stone of unease settling in her stomach. For a few long heartbeats, all was quiet save for the lapping of the water against the boat and Natsu's whimpered complaints. Lucy released a breath, caution loosening its hold on her ribs. The years had made her paranoid, it seemed.

A paranoia that proved to be well founded when a large brown fin, taller than the masts of the Light Chaser, broke the surface of the water. A wavering growl rumbled beneath the water, rippling the surface of the ocean. Happy screamed as he jumped into Lucy's arms. Her heart leapt into her throat as the monster lurked closer and closer. If its fin was this big, just how large was the rest of the creature?!

Captain Kobe was quick to react, dashing into the small cabin and untying the wheel. With a hard crank of his powerful hands, the boat jerked sharp to port. The fishing boat, though small, proved to be just as fast as Captain Kobe claimed. Lucy braced herself against a fishing chair as the boat veered treacherously, clutching Happy close. With seconds to spare, the beast surged past them, wings of water flaring around it. Natsu choked as the ocean rushed up to meet him, knocking him back onto the deck of the ship, limp as a wet rag. The boat rocked violently in the monster's wake, tilting like a seesaw in the waves. The towering pinna descended, disappearing into the troubled sea.

"Was that it?" Lucy shouted to the captain.

"Yes, Miss Lucy!" Kobe spun the wheel. The ship veered every direction, a zigzagging path of maneuvers clear only to him. "That was the Leviathan!"

Lucy cursed, dropping Happy into the fishing chair. The golden metal of her keyring was cool in her hand as she twirled them from her pouch. Not for the first time, Lucy desperately wished she had Aquarius' key again. But she had other spirits, and her fingers had already closed around the one she wanted. The deck of the Light Chaser was quiet, coiled and tense for what may come. Everything seemed quiet, though - like it was just another normal day at sea.

The ocean erupted, towering geysers of salt and spray flying through the air. The Leviathan finally reared its head and roared. Lucy traced the creature's eel-like body up and up and up. A smattering of white flecks dusted along its belly. Its teeth, dark and translucent, too big for the monsters jowls, dwarfing the glassy pale eyes on each side of its conic head. The Leviathan opened its maw and loosed a wavering, high-pitched roar that rattled the bones in Lucy's ears. It towered over the boat, blocking out the sun. A large shadow fell over the Light Chaser, the mages on board starring up at the beast in shock.

"So, you finally decided to show yourself," Natsu said with a smirk. Grabbing the rails, he hoisted himself to his feet. Drops of the ocean on his skin boiled and evaporated. "Not as big as I thought you'd be, but I can make do."

Natsu stood tall, his fists raised at his sides. He grinned up at the monster as his body naturally dropped low into a fighting stance, ready and willing. Lucy and Happy watched from the side, drawn by his strength. The white scarf around his head swayed in the sea breeze.

"Let's go, Happy!" Natsu shouted. Stepping forward, sparks flung from his fingernails as flames danced on his knuckles. "I've got a real fire burning in my-!"

A powerful pulse shocked Natsu's body, cutting off his words and leaving his muscles aching, his guts churning and a tight pain somewhere behind his heart. Natsu gasped against the pressure in his bones, dropping to his knees. He could feel his fingernails scrape harshly against his chest, flinching into his skin. Lucy appeared at his side, but her words were muffled by the blood singing through Natsu's ears. He growled, curling as another pulse exploded from his heart and crashed through his limbs. Something tore, shards of glass grinding against each other, cracking and fracturing and ripping him apart. Natsu tried to concentrate, grasping Lucy's hand in terror.

He knew this pain. Though he had only felt it once before a long time ago, Natsu would never forget what it felt like to have his soul torn to pieces by a curse he didn't even know he had.

"Captain Kobe, get us out of here!" Lucy shouted over Natsu's shoulder.

The boat careened steeply before evening out on a course back towards land. The Leviathan gave chase, just as Lucy had feared. Natsu trembled beneath her hands. What had happened? And why did he look so scared?

A thunderous roar filled the air, cracking across the sea. Lucy looked up, her gaze filled with the snapping teeth of the Leviathan. The beast breached the surface of the water, lunging towards the boat and crashing back down to the sea. A harrowing wave, taller than the Light Chaser and gaining more height and speed with every moment, surged toward the ship. Before a scream could rise in her throat, Lucy wrapped her arms around Natsu and Happy, hooking her legs around the secured post of the fishing chair.

The wave hit hard, threatening to jerk Lucy free from her hold and her companions from her arms. Saltwater filled her nose and stung her eyes. A small eternity passed, darkness and deafness her only friends. The water finally receded, dripping out of Lucy's hair and soul, burning as it went. Lucy gasped for air, her strained lungs sore and screaming. Happy and Natsu gagged on saltwater, horrible coughs racking their bodies. Miraculously, the Light Chaser did not capsize or overflow, but it had stopped moving, stagnant in the frantic currents of the ocean. Kobe had been ripped away from his steering wheel, coughing up water on the floor of his cabin.

The Leviathan breached the water once more, roaring loudly at the occupants of the boat. Natsu groaned again, wincing violently under Lucy.

Natsu peeked up at the beast through the fiery ache that thrummed through his veins. There was no mistaking it, he thought. This feeling, this pain, it was all a reaction he was having to the Leviathan. He didn't know how, and he didn't know why - but if this pain really was his etherious rearing its ugly head once more, then that could only mean one thing.

"Lucy…" Natsu spat out between gritted teeth. "That thing…it's not a normal monster."

Lucy and Happy peered down at Natsu, their eyes practically glowing with fear. "What do you mean?"

"That thing, the Leviathan," Natsu growled. "It's a demon from the Book of Zeref."

Chapter Text

Water arched through the air as the beast tossed its head. The Leviathan spread its maw wide and roared into the cloudless sky.

Natsu growled, jerking through the pressure spiking behind his forehead, squeezing his eyes shut as the fractured shards of curses and rage clawed through his chest. The Leviathan's small, beady eyes glinted dully as it twisted it's head. When it growled, low and jading, the sea rippled and danced. Lucy gazed up at the monster, squinting through the haze of the brightness of the sun. Natsu's words echoed over themselves in her head, a cacophony of possibilities she didn't want to believe.

"How…how do you know?" She murmured. Natsu sagged under her hold. "Are you absolutely sure?"

"I don't know how, I just know." Shivering, Natsu forced one eye open. "It's the same feeling from back then."

"But that's impossible!" Happy trembled. He clung to Lucy's arm, fur damp and whiskers wilted. "All the demons were destroyed when you defeated Zeref!"

Natsu grunted, staggering to his feet. The Leviathan watched him, ghostly eyes swinging with every sway of his uncertain legs.

"Apparently this guy didn't get the memo."

Captain Kobe pulled himself up along the door frame of the ship's cabin, the last of the sea leaving his lungs in a fit of coughs. He was dripping and shivering like a wet dog, but he appeared to be fine. Trembling, fear bright in his eyes, he looked up to the monolithic figure of the Leviathan. Kobe had seen the ocean's fury before, seen the wrath that nature could inflict with frothing fists and thunderous blows - but that was a controlled force, predictable and avoidable. This was chaos incarnate. This was disorder made corporeal. A thick, almost palpable feeling of doom permeated the atmosphere, freezing the poor man to the deck of his ship. Dread and hopelessness drowned him more than any wave ever could.

The Leviathan gathered itself, coiling like a snake. Even from aboard the deck of the Light Chaser, Kobe could still hear the harrowing pops as the creature's jaw opened wide, dislocating from its skull to hang ragged beneath its head. Translucent teeth gleamed in the sun, spears of bone and void opening wide like a gate to the abyss that would swallow the little boat whole.

Water churned like a bubbling cauldron as the Leviathan lunged, surging toward the boat in a blur of teeth and hunger. Closing his eyes, the old captain cowered behind his arms and waited for death.

"Open! Gate of the Lion! Leo!"

Blinding gold light cracked though the air. A hollow clang echoed behind the static of wind blowing through a grassy field. The sky turned amber, filtered through the stars that cocooned the ship with warmth and neon. A tremendous crash rattled the boat as the Leviathan's teeth clamped onto the bubble of magic, piercing and gnawing but not breaking. Waves billowed from the boat's hull as the force of the beast's mouth pushed it through the sea. The abyss snapped closed and withdrew with the rest of the Leviathan. The demon flashed its teeth, screeching in frustration. The magic surrounding the boat dropped, stars winking out and falling from the air.

Loki stood firm on the deck, tall and ready before Lucy and Natsu. Lowering his arms, the spirit glared at the monster over the brims of his dark glasses.

"Are you guys alright?" Loki asked. "I felt a strange power just now."

"We're okay," Lucy sputtered. She certainly didn't sound okay. "But we need to get out of here quickly!"

"No."

Natsu brushed Lucy's arm away, wincing as he gathered his feet beneath him and trembled into his own weight. Squinting through the pulsing veins of lava swimming in his eyes, Natsu glared at the Leviathan. Sparks of crimson danced in the fibers of his irises, manic with fear and anger. If he was still in pain, he was hiding it well.

"We've got to take this thing down and figure out what's going on," Natsu seethed. His lips twisted as he winced, growling through the stinging tear in his chest. "I want to know why one of Zeref's demons is still alive and kicking after all these years."

Happy's paws tightened around Lucy's arm, his worry telegraphing into her. "Natsu…"

Loki broke his stare-down with the Leviathan, surprise flashing in the dark space behind his eyes as he blinked at Natsu. "This thing is an etherious?"

The Leviathan circled the boat as they spoke. Agitated, wary, the beast snapped its jaws in the face of this new magic of stars and shields. In the wake of its pacing, the Light Chaser slowly began to spin. Natsu stumbled on the deck, his knee cracking into the hard wood as his head lost itself in the dizziness of polarities. Lucy took his hand, his palm burning into her knuckles.

"That would explain the dark magic I felt," Loki muttered, watching the Leviathan, he eyes dark and predatory. "But I thought all of Zeref's books were burned?"

Lucy wedged herself underneath Natsu's chest, hoisting the dragon slayer to his feet once more. Happy curled around his leg, a stabilizing weight counteracting against the turbulence of the bucking sea. The boat spun faster, water thrusting against the sides of The Light Chaser. The weathered wood of the hull groaned against a pressure it wasn't made to withstand.

"Doesn't matter what we thought, that thing is definitely not burned!" Lucy shouted at the spirit, frustration lacing her words. They were wasting time. "And we're going to die unless you do something!"

Loki moved swiftly, dashing across the deck and leaping from the rail of the boat. Within the brief space of weightless time, stars and light coalesced in his waiting hands. A condensed nova of gold and dust flashed into the shadows of the depths below. The sea imploded, cracking apart between Regulus and Polaris. The Leviathan jerked, flinching away from the boiling aftershock. Loki disappeared into the frothy waves, diving deep and away from the boat. Lucy and Happy watched the Leviathan snarl as it dove after the spirit, the roiling sea rushing in to fill in the space left behind. The battle continued below the water, told by the flashes of light and turbulent ripples that rose from underneath.

"He's going to need help." Lucy grasped another key, holding it skyward. "Open! Gate of the Sea Goat! Capricorn!"

With another burst of stars and light, the tall spirit stepped up to Lucy with a short bow. Before he could speak his usual formalities, Lucy thrust an arm out, hand pointed to the cascade of bubbles coming up from the depths of the sea.

"I need you to help Leo distract the Leviathan long enough so we can get out of here!" She spoke quickly and urgently. "But please, be careful!"

"They don't call me the Sea Goat for nothing, Lady Lucy," was all Capricorn said before he too, jumped into the rolling waves. Lucy would have summoned more spirits to help even the odds, but experience and necessity had taught her that it was better to have fewer spirits fighting with all their strength, rather than many spirits fighting with half their strength.

"Lucy, no!" Natsu plead, straining against her. "I told you, we need to beat that thing!"

Lucy ignored him, looking over her shoulder back at the Captain. "Kobe! Get us to land!"

The captain took a slight moment's hesitation, a torpid of fear and awe delaying his courage. Remembering himself and the vow he had made, Kobe shook himself out of his shock, set his resolve, and climbed to his feet. Grabbing the wheel once again, Kobe groaned as he strained to hold it in place, fighting against furious currents. When the Light Chaser was once again still on the water, Kobe cranked the wheel hard. Realigning with the wind, the boat glided across the waves, set on a straight course for the shore. As they left the Leviathan and Lucy's spirits in their wake, Natsu struggled weakly in their grip.

"What the hell are you doing?!" He spat angrily. "Turn around!"

He was not prepared when Lucy suddenly slammed her hands against his chest. His feet lost themselves, tripping as Natsu stumbled till the backs of his knees hit the bench on the ship and landed heavily on his butt. He moved to surge back up, his will demanding that he stand and fight despite the harrowing odds and screaming pain - but Lucy stepped up against him, pinning his knees and pushing his shoulders back.

"I'm not letting you anywhere near that thing!" She screamed, her voice cracking against the coiling desperation in her throat. He could hear it, like an icy chill on the wind, his anger quickly fading. Something wet touched his lip, tinging his tongue with a salt that didn't come from the sea. "I won't lose you again! Do you hear me, Natsu Dragneel?!"

"Aye, sir!" Happy yelped, still clinging to Natsu's leg, trying desperately in all his twelve-pound might to anchor his friend to the safety of the deck. The blue cat sniffled as he too began tearing up, eyes lost within dark memories. His small body shivered, trembling as he nuzzled his face into Natsu's calf.

Lucy glared down at him, her eyes pleading despite her effort to remain strong. Natsu didn't dare try to move, trapped within the hold of their terror and conviction.

"I will not..." Lucy's voice shook as her fingers dug lightly into his skin. "I can not let you risk your life for this. You mean too much to me."

Lucy raised her hand to Natsu's face, the diamond ring on her finger glinting in the sun. "We're bonded together, Natsu, by something stronger than friendship. Where ever you go, I go. What ever happens to you happens to the both of us. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

He did... and he was an idiot for not thinking on his own consequences. After all these years, nothing had truly changed. Natsu would follow her anywhere, chase her into the swallowing oblivion if he had to - and she would do the exact same for him. They weren't kids or teenagers anymore, though. He couldn't act as recklessly as he used to. He had to be better than that, for her sake.

Sighing, Natsu leaned into her, his hand cradling Lucy's jaw and catching her tears with his thumb. His eyes dropped to the scar on her hip, the starry blemish starkly contrasted with her pale, smooth skin. He didn't say anything, but he didn't have to - Lucy could see his thoughts plainly, as if they were printed on his face. When he finally looked up, his dark eyes gazing solidly back into hers, Natsu gave her a small smile.

"Okay," he said with a nod. "I'll stay right here."

A shaky breath escaped Lucy's lips. Dropping her head in relief, Lucy sagged herself onto the bench next to Natsu. Happy loosened his death grip on his leg, fuzzy face still pressed to his skin. Sitting up, Natsu groaned as his stomach roiled. It did seem, though, that the farther away they got from the Leviathan, the glass shards behind his heart ground less painfully, tore a little less of him away. His etherious, against his expectations, was receding. Perhaps it had only been residual magic he had been feeling, and not actually E.N.D. baring his teeth once more. At least, Natsu hoped so.

The Light Chaser had just entered lighter, shallower waters when Lucy winced. Panting, she looked out to the open ocean, a thin sheen of sweat on her brow. The stream of magic she had been feeding her spirits had taken its toll, stealing the bronze from her cheeks and leaving her pallid. Lucy huffed a sigh, her eyes glistening as she looked up at Natsu.

"Loki and Capricorn are back in the Celestial Plane." She peered out over the waves. "I hope they bought us enough time."

Natsu followed her gaze to the ocean, a line of worry creasing between his eyebrows. He could feel the grip around his heart relax, a small but growing relief as the curse subsided. The memory of pain hurt worse than the dull ache that sat like a hot stone in his chest, but Natsu doubted they were out of the woods just yet.

The boat slowed as the sluggish currents of the shallows and the coastal breeze shifted near the warmth of land. All was quiet, save for the water lapping against the boat and the distant roar of waves crashing on the beach. The sea leading out to the horizon was likewise calm, a brilliant façade for the horrors that lurked beneath. All eyes on deck plastered to the blue horizon, too afraid to blink and miss the threat that was surely waiting in the moments between heartbeats, poised to strike.

But after a tense while of anxious trepidation, the Leviathan had still not returned, and Natsu was beginning to think that just maybe-

"Gah!" Crumpling forward, Natsu cried as his body seized. A spear of pain jerked through him, rending him to pieces. "Damn it! It's coming!"

Even as he spoke the words, the Leviathan broke the surface of the ocean, twisting and writhing in a raging maelstrom a hundred yards off. With blinding speed, the demon coursed toward the tiny boat, skipping over the sea like a snake over sand. Hundreds of small, fresh cuts around its mouth and eyes oozed white with glowing liquid ethernano. It crashed over the waves, no sign or show that it was thinking about slowing down. The monster was going to ram them, and the small wooden boat didn't stand a chance. Shooting to his feet, Natsu darted for the cabin of the ship on unsteady feet.

"Happy, get Lucy!"

Lucy wasn't as fast as Happy, the blue exceed gripping her shoulders and snapping his wings open. The deck disappeared from beneath her feet, the boat growing smaller as Happy hoisted her up and carried her high into the air. A desperate shout tore from her mouth as Lucy watched her fiancé disappear inside the Captain's cabin. In the time that it took for her frantic heart to beat just once, the Leviathan had plowed onto the sandy shoal, bulldozing across the sand bar into the Light Chaser.

A flurry of water and wet brown skin and teeth obscured the small boat beneath its fury. The sharp crack of splintering wood and grinding metal echoed up to Lucy and Happy, a harsh cacophony of destruction.

The Leviathan ground to a quick stop, its momentum cut as it ran against the shallow floor. The beast beached itself just short of land with its demonic glory exposed for all to see, a slimy heap of hunger and flesh. Its gills puffed uselessly, trying to circulate air and failing. Although it had given up the advantage of deep water, its sheer size and power still presented a danger as the monster thrashed and tossed. The boat had been blown to smithereens, no trace or hint of the fate of the occupants left behind.

"Natsu!" Lucy wailed, tears brimming in her wide eyes.

Clapping her hands over her mouth, engagement ring burning coldly against her lip, Lucy pushed the worst away from her assumptions. He wasn't gone. He wasn't gone. He wasn't-

"Lucy, look!" Happy's eyes were locked onto a point on the water, a drop of splashing near the Leviathan's tempestuous tantrum. Lucy watched the familiar head of pink hair breach the surface, a potent relief stinging her eyes with more tears.

Natsu grimaced, panting as his face bobbed above the water. Sand shifted just beneath his toes, but the water was still too deep to properly stand. Small cuts on his forehead and jaw ached and bled sluggishly, splinters embedded beneath his skin. Kobe splashed to the surface next to him, spluttering and reaching. The missing wedge of flesh from his ear had reopened, the old scar running crimson down the side of his face. Natsu had gotten to him with nanoseconds to spare, sweeping the poor Captain off of his feet and throwing themselves overboard as the Leviathan roared past their heels. Kobe gasped, following Natsu as he swam for shallower depths. There the two men fell into the knee-deep water, shivering down from the rush of adrenalin.

Panting and trembling, Natsu coughed copper and salt from his lungs. A drop of red bloomed in the sea beneath his face, his tongue tasting like old coins. Lucy and Happy shouted his name, their voices distant and quiet behind the ringing in his head. His motion sickness was no more – a hefty consolation – but the dark energy within him was spiking through the broken glass, dousing his fire beneath hate and hunt. Natsu couldn't even tell the difference between curse and magic anymore. Even the strain, the fight to keep those claws and jowls at bay, cut him to his core.

It was hard to stop something from happening when he didn't even know how it was happening.

Gritting his teeth, he looked up and across the water. The Leviathan flopped and jerked, moving slowly but surely toward the mage and the Captain across the sandy bottom of the ocean, its weak fins heaving its massive body forward one inch at a time. It snarled at Natsu, beady eyes flashing manically as it dragged itself closer. The Leviathan tossed its head and screeched, white ethernano-blood flying from a thousand wounds.

The water splashed behind him. Natsu twisted his head to look, his neck craning painfully and stiff to see his fiancé plunge into the shallow sea. Lucy wobbled for a moment, gaining her footing beneath her, Happy's paws a steadying balance on her shoulder. She waded toward him, eyes bright and sanguine. Natsu choked, his heart ripping in his chest, reminding him that the Leviathan wasn't the only danger in the water.

"Stop!" Natsu rasped as he threw up a hand. "Don't come any closer!"

Thankfully, they listened, halting just several feet away. Grunting, he pushed himself to his feet, the sand sinking beneath his heels. Sweat and salt water dripped down his face, stinging in his eyes and the cuts on his face. Natsu cringed, another sliver of malice cutting through the frayed tapestry of his soul. If this kept up any longer, he was going to be torn apart from the inside out. The Leviathan was surging closer, its vigor heightened as the space between them grew smaller. Kobe had abandoned him, crawling backwards through the water until he bumped into Lucy's knees. The poor fisherman was scared out of his wits, his mind scattered before fear and flight. Lucy and Happy stood their ground, but wound like tight coils for the first opening to run.

They wouldn't run, though. Not without him, Natsu realized. And he was already too far gone.

There was no time to think. His contaminated magic thrummed through his limbs, mixing with the etherious coursing through his veins. He knew the risks. He knew his odds weren't good. But, as much as he hated to admit it, he was barely hanging on by his fingertips as it was. The curse was fragmented, a fraction of the storm he had drowned in three years ago - but it was enough.

Natsu hissed his frustration through his teeth, glaring back at the Leviathan. If he was going to fall, then he was going to take big ugly with him.

Untying the white scarf from around his head, Natsu gathered it into a ball and turned to Lucy. She snatched it out of the air as he tossed it to her, eyebrows arching through her confusion.

"Hold onto that for me."

His lips were smiling. His eyes weren't.

"I'll be right back. I swear."

He turned away, away from his love and his life, and waded toward the snapping maw of death and demons. The beast roared, waves of water and foam splashing loudly as it tossed its head. Lucy stared after him, she and Happy helpless to do anything but watch.

He summoned his raw magic. The wild etherious rose with it.

A muscle in his neck spasmed out of his control, painfully snapping through the tendons in his head. Growls slipped between his teeth, pain fading as fury rose to take its place. He started running, picking up speed quickly even in the knee-deep water. The Leviathan screeched and thrashed in anticipation, its large teeth shining. The first flames flared up from Natsu's fingertips, up his arms and across his shoulders. In the bright sun beating down on the waves, his flames blared darkly, black fire swallowing the light.

Terror struck Lucy like a lightning bolt.

"Natsu, don't!" Her legs started moving. "Na-!"

A firm grip clamped down on her arm, jerking her to a stop. Captain Kobe's large hand cuffed her in place and held fast, Happy captured in his other arm. The small cat clawed and kicked at his flesh, but he held tight.

"I can't let you go, Miss Lucy," he said, voice soft, haunted. "You won't make it."

"You don't understand!" Lucy yanked against him. "I have to stop him, or else he'll-!"

The Leviathan roared. Lucy turned. She choked as her heart shivered to a stop.

Natsu burned across the sea, shining like a dark star. The flesh of his arms charred beneath the same flames he commanded, burning his skin to charcoal black that sheathed his fists in pitch gauntlets. The unmistakable and powerful feeling of malice permeated the air, squeezing her lungs against her ribs. Lucy's stomach dropped, her last threads of hope cut with the sharp knife of loss. She had thought she would never see her best friend - the love of her life - like this again.

The ocean water boiled around him as Natsu sprinted headlong through the sea, surging toward the twisting Leviathan. The monster rose up to meet him, its mouth spread wide with an ear-splitting roar cracking like thunder. Natsu jumped, one fist balled and swelling with demonic flames as he soared toward the monster's head. His teeth flashed from his snarling mouth, resonating into his own beastly roar.

The fangs of the Leviathan enclosed Natsu from above and below, a cage of bone ready to snap shut around him. Natsu thrust his fist, blasting an inferno down the creature's throat. The Leviathan's body jerked, its insides illuminated like a festival lantern. Its brown, slimy skin split apart along its hide, spewing fire and black smoke. Lucy could feel the heat of the flames from where she stood, blistering her skin and boiling against her legs. She wanted to look away, but the carnage was too captivating.

The black flames burned everything they touched, rendering all to ashes. The firestorm broke the Leviathan apart within a column of flames reaching the sky. Even the sun dimmed against his fury. The water flashed, quickly filling the air with thick, salty steam. Lucy closed her eyes and hid, shielding her face behind her arm. For a few painstaking seconds, the only sounds she heard were the death cries of the Leviathan, the sizzling of flesh and water, and the roar of the demonic flames. A terrible symphony of pain and despair.

Then, everything went quiet as the grave.

Lowering her arm, Lucy cast her eyes around the steamy sea, trying to listen above the sound of her frantic heart and breathing. Stepping forward, out of Kobe's relaxed grip on her arm, Lucy numbly waded through the steaming waves, terrified for what she might find. But she had to know if Natsu was okay. She had to find him.

Lucy didn't know when she started running, her feet splashing loudly through the water. She was vaguely aware of Happy flying beside her, skimming over the surface, fur and feathers damp. Each step she took urged more tears that threatened to fall down her cheeks.

"Natsu!" Her call echoed hollowly in the steamy atmosphere and went unanswered. "Natsu!"

A splash, distant and scattered. Lucy and Happy stopped, spinning toward the sound, peering through the dissipating steam to the familiar outline taking shape as it rose from the surface. Lucy gasped, clutching his scarf tighter. She could hardly believe what she was seeing.

"Lucy."

Natsu stumbled out of the steam. There were no more flames, dark or light. His silhouette was whole, unharmed but shuttering under his own strength. His head hung to his chest, weighed with exhaustion as he moved slowly through the water. Lucy should have been glad, roseately seeing the halo of the sun through the steam. But something still felt… off. Her instincts knew something she didn't, warnings sparking through the nerves that tightened her muscles to flee, screaming through the doubts in her mind that Natsu shouldn't be this quiet. Lucy stood her ground, despite the quivering in her gut that told her she was a rabbit being cornered by a wolf.

Natsu lurched, stumbling like a puppet with cut strings. He shuddered, his muscles rippling beneath his skin, like insects were crawling through his flesh. When Natsu raised his head to look at Lucy and Happy, his irises were small black dots peering out at them from the vast shadows of his soot-covered face, dangerously manic and hysterically wild. He panted ragged breaths, dark smoke curling past his teeth. Blood oozed from the cuts on his forehead and jaw, glowing in the dimness, contaminated with ethernano.

Lucy couldn't find Natsu in the person before her, couldn't see him in those eyes that glared at her with an insatiable hunger. He was barely there, if at all. Natsu was a stranger she had met only once before, three years ago in darker, more desperate times.

"No…"

Natsu's fingers twitched, the char on his hands cracking apart. She could hear his teeth grinding in his skull, friction and struggle as he fought to regain control. He was losing.

"Lucy… Happy…" The words were almost inaudible, drenched in a growl.

Soft paws on Lucy's shoulders, trembling and damp. Happy hovered close behind her, ready to fly. They both knew that it wouldn't matter how far he flew. E.N.D. would find them. Natsu grunted as his body spasmed, his head cracking as it twisted. His eyes rose back up to the girl and cat, and for a brief second, Lucy saw terror in the pitch of his gaze.

"Run."

Chapter Text

With each agonizing puff of desperate, salty air that scraped against his throat, a pitiful whine eeked between the cracks in his teeth. Natsu didn't care, couldn't find the strength or the pride to heed to anything other than trying to stop the howling rage burning through his veins. The itching instinct that screamed from the back of his mind tore through his thoughts, casting the shackles of his inhibitions and morals aside like shreds of paper in the wind. Cracked char splintered through his fingers, shifting like tectonic plates as magma dripped down his knuckles. Black flame, small tongues of pitch, rose up from his skin and flickering out into dark smoke, shrouding his form in ethereal darkness.

His only tether was his fear - a lifeline of forlorn hope that he clung to with the fervency of a man with absolutely everything to lose. Natsu was lost in a sea of dark water and malice, tossed through the storm of fire and hate.

Lucy didn't know what to do. Happy lingered by her shoulder, trembling against her back - or maybe it was her that was trembling. The soft pads of his wet paws dug into the space between her shoulder blades, anchoring her through the sand shifting beneath her feet and the despair thrumming in her heart. She watched as Natsu's body seized violently, watched him cringe and bite down on his lip, watched more blood drip down his chin, shining dimly with ethernano.

Mavis help her... he was in so much pain.

"I told you… to run!"

A small roar threaded through Natsu's voice, choking on the strained words. Screaming through his teeth, Natsu twisted on himself. His hair singed against his fingers, gripped tight in his fists as he squeezed his eyes shut and curled under a weight Lucy couldn't see.

Sweat dripped down her temple. Heat radiated through the air and the water, beating from the exploding core of Natsu's being. Despite the stifling heat and her own hot blood rushing through her, goosebumps dotted her skin. Lucy couldn't breathe, her throat sore and tight with sorrow. She wanted to run, her soul begging her to escape this torrent of bristling danger before it consumed her. But she couldn't leave him, Lucy realized, not like this. Not when he needed her most.

Water sloshed around her thigh as she stepped forward. Happy's paws slipped down her back, his breath hitching a warning at the nape of her neck. She wasn't listening, wading through the steamy atmosphere, a ghost of who she was earlier that same day. The small cat hissed her name - she could hear his despondence, his urgent desperation a small stone of guilt in her stomach. But she couldn't live with herself if she didn't try.

Natsu tossed himself away from her, grunting through the pressure fraying the threads of his will. Lucy paused, and for a small moment, she almost turned back. With each step that drew her nearer, the scar on her hip stung a little more, as if remembering.

She stepped within his reach, his white scarf clutched like a talisman in her hands. She shook as she reached out to him, afraid he would break at the slightest touch. Her fingers parted his hair, small pinpricks of searing heat biting her skin. Natsu flinched at her touch, surging to his full height. The dark pinpoints of his eyes drilled into Lucy, shifting in and out of focus. A growl rumbled from low in his chest, his lips curled back over his teeth in a feral frown. His face twitched, demon and man struggling for control.

If Natsu wasn't already lost, he would be soon.

Lucy gasped as Natsu lurched toward her, teeth shining and red as he snarled. The ocean screeched and boiled as he swung his hand through the water, claws trailing neon paths of lava and sparks. Lucy jerked back, the sand shifting once more, leaving her balance to nothing. As she fell, Natsu's tainted fire arched past her eyes. The branding heat of his claws kissed her chin, a searing splinter in her jaw. She tumbled into the sea.

"Lucy!"

"I'm okay, Happy." Lucy touched her chin, fingers stinging against the nick of split, cauterized skin. "I'm okay."

Splashing and grunting. Lucy looked up as Natsu stumbled, leering above her. His blood dripped down his face, coalescing on his chin and falling into the sea before her - drops of red-tattered dreams dissipating into the blue of anonymity. But he just stared at her, eyes wide and luminous like shrouded lighthouses warning her of hidden perils. When she stood, and the ocean flowed over her skin, he did nothing. They were so close - his ardent breath washed over her face, bristling against her lips. She could see the faint trails of dry tears through the soot on his face, streaks of failing strength and fears realized.

"Natsu." He growled at the word. Lucy hated how she flinched. "It's okay. I'm right here. I'm not going anywhere."

Her fingers touched the line of his jaw.

Dark fire flashed in her peripherals, explosions of pitch. She heard Happy cry, her name blubbered from his mouth in a plea. The inferno never came, though. Lucy blinked the glare from her eyes, her breath leaving her in a shaky sigh. She could feel the heat of Natsu's hands by her head, claws curved like deadly hooks and etherious fire blazing brightly as they hovered next to her ears. The sour smell of singed hair reached her nose. Natsu shook, straining against himself. She could hear him choking on his own drudge, see the indominable defiance weighted into the steep angle of his brow.

He was still with her. Somehow, someway, he was in there somewhere, fighting with every fiber of his being. He needed her help.

His scarf unraveled in her fingers. She had gotten it wet, the drenched fabric heavier in her hands. Natsu would scold her for being so careless with Igneel's last gift. She would give anything to hear him say something.

The scarf sizzled across his shoulders, hissing against his fervid skin as she laid it around his neck. The other end she looped around herself, connected even now, as they should be. As they always had been.

"Come back to me, my love," Lucy said softly. Taking a deep breath, Lucy could taste his heat on her tongue; something forgotten, something familiar. "You promised you would."

New tears, nascent and promising, sparkled quietly in Natsu's eyes. As they fell, they washed away the ash and darkness and terror, and a little more of the man beneath the monster was revealed.

"I will never leave you." Those words choked in her throat, tightening against the weight of their truth. "I love you, Natsu."

Natsu howled. His flames flickered out, the char on his hands cracking and fracturing like stained glass before shedding from his knuckles. Each hot fragment shrieked and bubbled as they fell into the sea. All at once, his body and strength gave out, leaving him in a shattered gasp. Natsu sagged into Lucy, the full weight of his struggle crashing into her. She wasn't ready. They dropped into the shallow waves together, a tangle of clutching hands and colliding hearts. His breath washed over her chest as he swallowed air, his back heaving under her hands as he coughed. Shivering, Natsu lifted his gaze to Lucy, the scattered pieces of himself patching themselves back together little by little.

"I could have killed you."

His eyes were green, his blood was dark - all of him human and whole once again.

Lucy closed the gap between them, falling into the curves of his lips like a fitted puzzle piece. Relief, a thousand pounds of answered prayers and captured hopes, filled in the cracks of her battered resolve. Natsu pulled her closer, his arms cloaking her in the comforting warmth of old intimacy. Feathers fluttered closer. Happy wailed as he crashed into Natsu's shoulder, burying his face into his neck as tears wetted the fur on his cheeks. Natsu broke the kiss far too soon for Lucy, the lingering traces of his lips aching.

"If anything ever happened to you… because of me." Natsu's calloused, secure hands cradled Lucy's face. His thumb grazed the nick in her chin. "Please, Lucy. Don't ever do that again."

"You know I will," Lucy breathed, her fingers wrapping around his. "You're too important."

"Aye, sir." Happy whimpered.

But Natsu shook his head, dark drops of soot-stained sweat catching on the old scar on his neck.

"No, I'm serious. Promise me. Promise me you'll save yourself, Happy too."

Lucy's smile faltered. Happy peeked up at her from his shoulder, the slightest shake of his head.

"Only if you can promise me," she answered. "That this will never happen again."

Natsu gazed down at her, his words lost against her conviction. Lucy and Happy were the most important things in his life. He would demolish mountains, dry up seas to keep them safe, hunt down anyone or anything that caused them harm to the ends of the earth. But what was he supposed to do when it had been him who had done the damage? Happy's paws tightened around his neck. Lucy stared at him, the quiet beginnings of tears in her eyes. No words were sufficient enough to answer her. Natsu pushed her to his chest, planting a kiss to Lucy's hair. His other hand scratched behind Happy's ears. The small cat leaned into his touch, still shivering with fear.

The truth of the matter was that Natsu was scared, too. He couldn't do what Lucy had asked. He couldn't guarantee that this would never happen again. That same morning, he hadn't even known that any trace of the etherious still lingered within him, hidden from him through the blaze of his magic and humanity. He thought it was gone, truly – but now…

Natsu could feel it. A weak stain on his soul, a prowling beast behind a plane of cracked glass, waiting in his heart.

He released a shuddering sigh as his arms closed tighter over Lucy and Happy. For a long while, the three of them sat in the cooling waters of the sea. The steam dissipated, letting the sun shine through in streaks of dim, golden hope. A new kind of warmth touched Lucy's skin, healing and auspicious. No one spoke as their tears dried, thoughts filled with the events of the past hour, and a silent pondering as to what it all meant.

They found Captain Kobe on shore, the poor man shivering like a wet dog. He was apprehensive of them, at first - never before had he seen such an immense display of power - but after they had assured him that everything was "ship shape", the four of them walked along the beach back to town. Kobe thanked them to capacity, an impossible feat accomplished despite the odds and bumps. Apart from that, the way home was a silent journey. They were farther from Gladrindale than Lucy would have liked, a distance through rural meadows and forests. Lucy was glad to be away from the water, though.

The trek took up the better part of the day. When they finally returned to the small fishing village, the sun was an hour or so from setting. They apologized to Kobe for the destruction of the Light Chaser, knowing full well that it meant that the fisherman was semi-permanently out of work. Kobe was good-natured about it, though, insisting that it wasn't their fault and that he had even considered something like this happening when he had volunteered to help with the job. It was the nature of the beast, he had said, a casualty he would suffer to see his family and home safe. This did little to dissuade the guilt that sat like a sharp stone in Lucy's gut. They parted ways with the boatless captain, no doubt eager to return home to his worried wife.

Lucy looked to Natsu, Happy still hanging from his shoulder. Without speaking a word, they both nodded at her, agreeing with her unspoken decision.

They quickly cleaned and dressed before meeting with the Mayor of Gladrindale, stumbling into their rented room at the brink of dusk. Lucy was relieved to wash the sea from her shoulders as she stepped into the shower after Natsu. The dark streaks of ash and soot spiraling around the drain didn't sit well with her, and she quickly rinsed them away. Natsu sat silently on the bed as Lucy patched gauze onto the wounds on his face. When he taped a small bandage into her chin, Lucy laughed, and he finally smiled.

The Mayor, a tall fat man, was beside himself with gratitude, congratulating them on such a difficult accomplishment and even offering to double their reward money. Lucy smiled and thanked him in return for the generous offer, but insisted that the Mayor give the money to Kobe, so that he may buy materials to build a new boat. The man had been unspeakably brave after all, and he deserved to continue his life unhindered now that things would be returning to normal. Lucy was happy to give up the reward - she didn't have to pay rent anymore, after all. The Mayor grinned and accepted her terms. They left with a lighter load on their shoulders, a small comfort against their worries.

They decided not to stay in Gladrindale, and took the night train back to Magnolia. Natsu's usual reluctance towards transportation was over powered, the more compelling urge to return home and sleep in his own bed bettering his motivations. He sprawled out on the seat bench for the five-hour train ride, pressing his face into the cushion. Lucy and Happy sat in silence, watching him doze through sickness and exhaustion. Lucy could feel her own fatigue teasing at the edges of her consciousness... but she knew she couldn't sleep even if she tried. Her solicitude wouldn't let her.

"I'm taking him to see Porlyusica tomorrow." Lucy finally murmured.

Happy sighed and nodded. "I think that's a good idea."

There was a lull of silence before Lucy spoke again.

"What happened, Happy?" Her voice was low in secrecy, though the train was nearly empty and Natsu didn't seem to be listening. "I thought E.N.D.'s book was burned?"

Happy blinked and took a deep breath, pulling himself from his own thought to consider her words. He nodded, remembering.

"It was. We were all there. We saw Zeref go down, and the book crumbled to ashes. And then…" The exceed shuddered. "I don't know, Lucy. Maybe the book wasn't the only thing making him a demon?"

Lucy shook her head. "It doesn't seem likely. Mavis told us that the books Zeref created were the physical manifestation of the etherious' power. All the demons he made are pure ethernano, except for Natsu. It's their life force... so destroying the book destroys the demon." Lucy bit her lip. "And as far as I know there are only two ways to destroy Zeref's books; defeat the demon, or defeat Zeref."

A span of silence filled the train car, the dark landscape rolling by outside the window. Happy frowned. He looked up at Lucy, his eyes bright with dread.

"Lucy…" He was almost too afraid to say his mind out loud, as if that might somehow make his thoughts true. "You don't think that Zeref could still be… alive, somehow, do you?"

Lucy sighed, letting the silence fall once more, leaving Happy without an answer. She had tried not to think about that, but five hours on a train was a long time of nothing but idle seconds passing into eternity - she could do nothing but think.

If the black wizard was still alive after all these years, then he would have made himself known, right? The Leviathan had appeared four months ago, a devastating attack in the southern sea striking with the randomness of a lightning bolt. Zeref's demons don't just pop up, especially after their maker was presumed dead. So what had happened? Why now? And what did it mean for Natsu? These questions and countless more swirled in Lucy's head as she stared at the man on the bench across from her. Something itched at the back of her mind, a quiet warning for things yet to come.

The train pulled into Magnolia Station about a quarter to midnight. The streets were quiet, empty under the crescent glow of lampposts lit long before they arrived. As they made their way through the city and out to the rural path to their house, Natsu and Lucy walked hand in hand, his thumb gently stroking circles on top of her knuckles. The sight of their house in the quiet of the night was a vision of home and hearth, a capstone to everything Lucy held dear.

Lucy had officially moved in with Natsu and Happy about a year ago, combining his house with her furniture. They had expanded it slightly, adding another compartment to the back side of the house that would become their bedroom so they wouldn't have to sleep in the living room. They had built it together, a ramshackle structure of bent nails and poorly laid wood, but they were proud of something they had accomplished together in the name if their love. A small yellow wooden star with her name on it was added to the sign hanging in front of the house. Living together had started off rather rocky, admittedly, what with Lucy having a lot of stuff for a small house and Natsu having a loose understanding of the word 'tidy'.

Fortunately, both of them had similar methods of conflict resolution. Unfortunately, those methods involved throwing things and shouting, which devolved into wrestling on the floor.

Which then turned into make-up coition, and resulted in compromise. They made it work.

Lucy had given up a few things to make room, and Natsu began to pick up after himself more. The house became a home, and they grew up together. The final step of the plan was to grow old together.

As hungry as they were, nobody was willing to cook. They all went to bed with empty stomachs, the fatigue of the day hindering the strength in their bones. Natsu and Lucy shuffled through the kitchen to their bedroom while Happy fluttered up to his roost among the branches of the tree that grew through the house. The small blue cat was out before he could completely curl up in his nest.

As they entered their room, Lucy waved her hand. The small lacrima resting on the bed side table flickered to life, lighting up the small space with a homey glow. Sighing, Lucy eased onto the bed and stretched her arms over her head. Her bones were weary, the abnormally long and unexpected day seeping into her marrow. Exhausted – physically and emotionally – all Lucy wanted to do was curl up in bed and sleep for half a day. As tired as she was - her mind already starting to meander as she pulled the covers back from the bed - Natsu's absence did not go unnoticed.

He stood in the doorway, lingering like a small shadow. His eyes studied the floor boards, but his sight was locked inward, stuck in his own head where only he knew what was happening. Lucy crossed her legs and waited, letting him settle with her presence. His troubles were clear on his face, she knew he needed time to gather himself before he spoke. Several moments of silence came and went before he did.

"I wouldn't blame you if you preferred I sleep on the couch tonight," he mumbled, his dark eyes looking up to her.

She didn't know what she was expecting, but it wasn't that. "I guess that's up to you, but… I don't want to be alone right now. I don't want you to be alone either."

A tense weight left Natsu's shoulder, lifting from him as he blew a breath of solace. Lucy cocked her head as Natsu shed his coat, joining her on the bed, mimicking her posture. He trembled a little as he moved, still suffering the aftermath of his one-man war. How tired he looked right now, loose bandages on his jaw and shadows hanging beneath his eyes - it was foreign to Lucy. An allowing weakness that she rarely saw, but she only wished it weren't from such harrowing circumstances. Natsu scrubbed a hand through his hair, huffing a laugh through his nose.

"Nice to know I haven't scared you away."

"Do you really think you can scare me off so easily?" Lucy scoffed. "You know I'm not going anywhere. Not till after we get married."

Natsu smirked. It didn't stick.

"It's all I've been thinking about," Natsu spoke softly. "Today, I mean. Why it happened, what it means… none of the answers I could think of point to anything good."

Lucy reached out him, her fingers resting on his knee. Her skin was soft and cool against his.

"I think it would be best if we wait to think about those things till morning. Besides, you seem okay now." She felt him shift beneath her hand, the slightest tense of his muscles. "Right?"

Natsu sighed, that smallest hesitation ringing like an alarm bell in Lucy's head. She wanted to say something, but Natsu just beamed at her, clasping her hand in his.

"I'll be okay for now, I promise." With that, he yawned widely, his pointed teeth glinting in the dim light. "Besides, we took care of the Leviathan, and that feels pretty good to me."

She touched the bandage on his cheek, small specks of old seeping blood staining the white. "I hope that doesn't scar. You don't need a matching one." Her eyes drifted to the old scar clipping his jaw.

Natsu stuck his tongue in his cheek, mushing against her finger. Laughing at the irked sneer of her lips, Natsu flopped over and stretched, nuzzling his head against his pillow.

"I'll have Wendy make it like new when we stop by the guild tomorrow. Let's go to bed." He patted the spot on the mattress next to him invitingly. Lucy shook her head, but couldn't deny his contagious nonchalance.

They settled under the blankets. Lucy reached over and tapped the lacrima, and the small crystal dimmed into nothing. Darkness enveloped the room, the dim starlight shining through the window a subtle illumination in the pitch. Natsu and Lucy easily shifted into each other like a practiced habit. He looped his arm around her as she curled against his side, resting her ear to his chest. The steady beat of his heart lulled Lucy further into the oblivion of sleep. It wasn't long before their breathing was in sync and their hearts beat in tandem.

"Hey, Lucy?" Natsu's gruff voice cut through the silence. "Did I ever tell you that Igneel used to sing me to sleep?"

He felt Lucy nod against his chest. "On the nights that you couldn't sleep. What made you think of that?"

Natsu shrugged under her chin. "I don't know." Lucy sighed as he ghosted a kiss into her hair. Sleep was quick to come, like an old friend she could easily fall into. "Just popped into my head all of a sudden."

They slept in well past dawn the next morning. Lucy woke up in a fog, her head tight and packed full of budding illness. She sniffed as she sat up, wincing against the ache in her stuffed nose. She slipped out of bed, quietly padding across the floor as Natsu flopped over in bed, still sawing logs.

One shower and beauty routine later, Lucy was feeling much better, but the rundown laggard of lingering intensities left her stiff. The bed was empty, the sounds and smells of cooking drifting in from the kitchen. She wandered out of the bedroom, blinking at the bright sunlight streaming through the kitchen window.

Natsu stood at the stove, tossing a pan full of delicacies. Lucy's mouth watered at the peppery taste in the air, her neglected stomach reminding her it was still there. Happy had climbed down from his perch and was setting the table, pouring out three glasses of orange juice. By his wet nose and small sniffles, the cat had felt the need for some extra vitamins as well.

Lucy stepped up behind Natsu, wrapping her arms around his waist and laying her chin on his shoulder.

"Good morning."

Natsu hummed, cradling her hold while carefully manipulating the spatula in the pan. He craned his neck over his shoulder, pecking a kiss on her cheek and a mumbled "good morning" in her ear. Lucy disentangled herself to prepare their usual bowl of fruit.

It was a sunny day in Magnolia, the spring air just a touch above cool at the perfect temperature for light clothing. As they walked through the busy streets, bustling with the bodies of everyday life, Lucy told Natsu about going to see Porlyusica. She had expected retaliation - her fiancé and the old witch got along about as well as oil on water - but Natsu simply groaned and nodded.

They returned to Fairy Tail, a chorus of greetings and familiar belonging welcoming them home. It felt good to be back, a sanctuary over all the years that remained steadfast and true.

"Welcome back!" Mirajane called from behind the bar. She twirled, her braided hair falling down her shoulder. She smiled brightly, a smile that spread to the faint wrinkles at the edges of her pale blue eyes. "How was Gladrindale? Did the job go well?"

The look Natsu and Lucy shared was enough of an answer for Mira. Her smile faltered.

"What happened?"

"Actually Mira, we were hoping to speak to the master. Is he in?" Lucy leaned across the bar, her voice low. "It's kind of urgent."

Mira nodded. "Yes, he's here. He's in his office. Freed? Can you watch the bar for me?"

Freed raised his chin at the woman, his hands busy polishing a glass. Mira lead them through the hall, away from the bustle and noise of their guildmates in the throws of their daily revelry. The quiet of authority lurked in the corners of the corridor, hanging from the hinges of a large, ornate wooden door. Mirajane knocked on the door. A gruff, muffled voice resonated behind the wood.

"Master?" They entered the office, a spacious room lined with shelves of books and glass cases of arcane curios. A large map of Ishgar hung on the wall, dotted with towns and caricatured with every river, forest, and mountain. "Natsu, Lucy, and Happy are back."

Lucy looked across the desk cluttered with paperwork to the high-backed chair, turned away from them to look out the tall, arched windows onto the blue expanse of the lake. Mira closed the door and took her place by the Master's side.

"So, Natsu, I guess you managed not to destroy half a town this time, due to the lack of complaints I've received." The chair turned. Laxus smirked at the other dragon slayer, resting his chin on his fist. "I gotta say, I'm almost disappointed."

Chapter Text

Laxus had always prided himself for being a man who was prepared. He was not accustomed to being surprised, despite the peaks, valleys, and canyons life had thrown in his path. His caution wasn't a simple matter of paranoia, just a reinforced habit to always expect the unexpected. Once, long ago, he believed he could force the outcome of his actions to match his own, misguided ideals... and it had nearly cost him everything.

One man couldn't make a river halt its stream, nor could he make it flow faster—a river could only be diverted, by the strength of his own hands and the help of his friends. After the war, when the guild had elected to appoint him as their ninth master, he had sworn to serve with the same poise and wisdom as his grandfather, to always be prepared for the dangers that threatened the guild and its members.

He never expected the danger to come from within the guild.

Lucy had done most of the talking, scant details and muttered words painting a piece-wise picture of the mission, the monster, and... the other monster. Laxus stared at Natsu as she spoke, his gaze solid and penetrating. The other man was silent, his eyes dropped to the floor, whether in shame or thought was unclear.

Mira stood by him, listening as she always had been for years. Her shock, though muted, was evident on her face. She and Laxus had already known about Natsu's... circumstances, but the news of the Leviathan and what it meant was more than troubling. Lucy drew their story to an uncertain close. The Guild Master released a heavy breath and scrubbed his hand down his face.

"I see. Just when I thought it was starting to get boring around here," he sighed. "Are you alright, Natsu?"

Natsu looked up at him, seeing the worry hanging from his jaw and the steep angle of his brow. "Yeah, I'm okay now."

"Thank goodness," Mira breathed. "I never would have thought that one of Zeref's demons could still be around after all this time."

"Or that it would have such an adverse effect on you." Steepling his fingers, Laxus leaned back in his chair. "The Leviathan's own etherious must have reawakened yours for some reason. But I guess the real question is, where the hell did that thing come from?"

Natsu rolled his eyes. "It's gone now. As long as another doesn't pop up, I should be fine."

"That's entirely it, though," Lucy spoke softly, leaning forward to catch his gaze. "What if there are more out there? If one demon was able to survive Zeref's death, then who's to say there aren't others?"

"Just one was bad enough," Happy mumbled, shrinking further into Lucy's lap.

"Then we take them down, obviously!" He spread his hands, feigning nonchalance. "There are plenty of wizards in this guild capable of defeating Zeref's demons besides me."

"Damn it Natsu, this is serious." Laxus abruptly stood from his chair, hands planted heavily on his desk. "What if the next demon that awakens is you?"

He stiffened, a ticking itch somewhere behind his heart where fire met darkness. Laxus glared down at him, his eyes holding the challenge he was too uncertain to face. Lucy, Mira, and Happy watched in silence, the tension in the air rising. He said nothing, his fist gripping his frustration as he stared back at Laxus. After a few slow moments, Laxus sighed, his shoulders deflating once more and turned to Mira.

"Tell Freed that I'm going to visit gramps soon, and that he's free to come along."

"You know he will." She smiled gently.

"As for you three," he snapped as he spun his coat across his back. "I'm going with you to see Porlyusica. I won't be too long, so try not to get into too much trouble in the meantime. I expect that you'll agree that we keep this whole demon thing under wraps for now, at least until we get a better idea of what's going on."

Natsu huffed as he stood, irritation chasing after him like a storm as he stomped out of Laxus's office. Happy jumped down from his seat, he and Lucy quick to follow after him. Sidling up to him, she nudged him gently. He turned to her, facing the amber depths of her gaze and the concern shining there like a candle in the dark just wanting to know if he was okay.

He returned her smile, his hand automatically finding hers as they stepped into the main guild hall. The quiet seclusion of the office shattered against the bustling atmosphere of the guild; hearty laughter and jovial discussion, good spirits to drink and to give along with all the other things that meant home and happiness.

At the bar, Lucy watched Mirajane pick up a bottle of liquor and expertly refill the tankards that scattered the bar top as she approached Freed with Laxus's message. Freed, in the middle of his own service duties, nodded at her words.

Since Laxus became guild leader, the Thunder Legion had all stepped up in various ways to assist him. But none more so than Freed, who went directly to Mirajane and all but begged for her guidance, to teach him how to serve Laxus just as she had served Makarov. Now, he worked the bar and ran administrative and financial services when she was busy. At first, it was strange seeing him where one would normally see Mira, but overtime it became common place.

Natsu's eyes were turned the other way, scanning the grand hall and the faces gathered within. He stood abruptly, nearly knocking Happy from his perch on his shoulder as he raised his hands and waved.

"Hey! Wendy!"

The young dragon slayer looked up, her cobalt eyes glimmering from across the room. Excitement lit up her face with a beaming smile. Next to her, Carla hopped down from her spot on the table to join her as she crossed the hall.

In the span of three short years, Wendy could hardly be considered a little girl, anymore. She was becoming a fine young woman, a vision of potential and beauty. Her face was sharp angles and striking features, casting aside her childish looks. Tall and slender, shallow curves with a deceiving softness, and still unfathomably kind. Like the winds that blow the sands from the desert to the sea, her magic was strong. She was a powerful Dragon Slayer, and a potent healer. As Wendy entered her late teens, she was already well on her way to becoming a capable and revered wizard.

"Lucy, Natsu! Welcome back!" Wendy embraced Lucy with a giggle. When she turned to Natsu with open arms, though, her glee flipped to shock and she recoiled from the bandages on his face. "Are you okay? What happened?"

He shrugged. "The boat exploded."

"Exploded?!"

"I don't know why you're so surprised. Seems pretty typical to me." Carla smirked. She turned to her blue counterpart. "Did you get a chance to practice your transformation, Happy?"

Happy rubbed his neck bashfully, snickering an apology through his teeth. "Things got a little hectic, you could say. I was more focused on staying alive!"

Natsu sneered at the exceed, huffing annoyance.

"Let me get those for you," Wendy said, her fingers ghosting across his face. "If it scars, it'll look like you have whiskers."

"That's what I said." Lucy nudged him with an elbow to his ribs, a playful smile and smug wink. Natsu puckered his lips in thought, mischief lurking in the angle of his brow and the gleam in his eye.

"Didn't you say you thought my scars were cool?" He leaned closer to her, his lips hovering by her ear though his voice was hardly a whisper. "Isn't that why you're always biting me on my-"

A quick finger sharply to his ribs shut his mouth like a springtrap. He crumpled on his bar stool and groaned.

"Anyway," Lucy said to Wendy, her voice tight with irritation. "Yes, we would love if you could take care of those."

It took less than ten seconds. Natsu discarded the bandages and scratched the healed skin.

"Feels like I've got a brand new face!" He laughed.

A sudden draft from outside and the loud clang of the front door opening echoed above the din of the hall. Laxus and Freed had just stepped out, no doubt heading for Kardia Cathedral. In his hands, Freed cradled a small bouquet of flowers, and Laxus carried a peaceful mourning on his shoulders.

"It's nice to see Laxus taking time to honor Makarov. Feels like he's still here," Carla mused.

"Maybe we should pay a visit to the Master, too." Lucy said, a small smile of old remorse on her lips as her memories turned to a younger past.

Wendy nodded. "It's been a while since I've gone as well. It'd be nice to pay my respects."

"We already are."

His gaze was turned up, taking in the wooden rafters of the guild and the sunlight pouring in through the skylights.

The oh-so familiar ambiance of Fairy Tail had come to mean something else to those members that had been part of the war. In the aftermath of the struggle, through the numbing grief and hard-packed anger that followed the conclusion of the invasion, the guild had been a sanctuary for its children—a place where they could all heal, and overcome their sadness and sores. Makarov's last words echoed into their hearts, an oath and a creed all in one for them to carry as they moved forward together.

Tranquil days and different understandings of peace and love reinforced what many of them had already known: there wasn't a single thing that couldn't be accomplished when they worked together. As new members joined over the years, none of them could really know just how special the legacy they carried on their shoulders was, but that was part of the eternal mystery that Makarov and Mavis had envisioned for the guild. No one ever forgot that.

Natsu nodded once in finality, smiling at his fiancé and the other dragon slayer.

"We don't have to go to church to see Gramps. He's right here."

"Spoken like a true bonehead."

Natsu growled, slamming his fist on the bar top as he shoved a finger toward his offender. "Shut up, Gray!"

Gray grinned, satisfied with himself as he leaned against the aged wood of the bar. "Save all that mushy crap for your wedding day, eh Natsu?"

Natsu tipped his chin up, a sneer on his lips. "You're about to get yourself uninvited."

Gray shrugged and crossed his arms. "I'm pretty sure the bride is the one who makes that choice, am I right, Lucy?"

"As long as you keep your beard trimmed and remember to wear clothes, I have no problem with it."

He stroked the dark hairs on his chin. "I'm not making any promises."

"You guys picked a date?!" Wendy gasped.

"No." Lucy leaned toward the younger woman, speaking softly in mock secrecy. "We can't settle on a date until someone decides who they want their best man to be!"

"I don't know why you're waiting on me to pick," Natsu huffed. "Don't see why I even need one to begin with!"

Lucy rolled her eyes. "We can't send out invitations to our friends in other guilds till we pick a date, and we can't pick a date till the wedding party has been decided. You had one job, Natsu, and you're slacking."

"I can be my own best man, dammit!"

"Quite being such a baby and ask me already." Gray spread his palms, inviting trouble and larks. "I'm dying for the opportunity to turn you down."

Natsu scowled. "I'll turn you down on your ass, freezer burn."

"Bring it on, sparky!"

Behind his back, Lucy fisted Natsu's jacket, an urgent warning digging from her fingernails into his spine. He immediately froze, message received loud and clear—but Gray had already dropped low into a fighting stance, his fists raised with pale clouds of frigid cold rolling from his knuckles.

"Don't listen to him, Natsu."

Juvia laughed, a light and twittery sound as she set the grocery bags in her arms down on the bar top. Somehow, no one had seen her walk by and yet there she was; a hidden waterfall, cascading and cool. Hands free, she let her hair down from its pony tail and sighed with relief. Leaning back, Juvia winked at Natsu from behind Gray's shoulder.

"Despite what he says, Gray really wants to be your best man. He told me himself. Isn't that right, darling?"

Gray puckered his lips in thought as Juvia glided to his side, her hand lighting on his arm. "That's not exactly how I worded it. You finish running errands for Mirajane?"

"Mhm." Juvia nodded. She held up a bundle of clothing to Gray, a light shirt folded neatly. "I also stopped by your place and grabbed the shirt you forgot to put on this morning."

Gray looked down to his bare chest. Yep, he was somehow half-naked—a mystery to be solved another day. Sighing, Gray took the shirt and shook it out before slipping it over his head. Now fully clothed, Gray wrapped an arm around Juvia's shoulders and gave her an affectionate squeeze.

"Thank you. I appreciate that."

Juvia beamed, her cheeks rosy and her smile content.

War—survived and endured—had left many reimagining their futures. Gray and Juvia were no exception.

For many years, Gray had lived for others, seeking revenge and victories and expectations for the sake of loved ones present and gone. If he could repay the debt of all who had touched his life with their lessons and love, then he would know the strength to protect and defend... but for a price far too high to pay. Juvia had been running for a long time; whether running from a past too painful or after a redemption that taunted her with unrequited love and cold, empty distance. If she kept running, kept striving and sacrificing and sprinting, maybe she could reach the happiness she sought, a happiness that hurt more than it healed.

They had both paid the cost for their peace during the invasion. They were rewarded with sorrow and rage and unfulfilled dreams. This price... it wasn't worth their lives.

Gray let go of the debt that had never existed. Juvia found the redemption she had already earned long ago. They started to live for themselves—and in the same turn, realized what they meant to each other. They had been going steady ever since.

"I'm not the only one who has to pick out a best man, Lucy." Natsu crossed his arms, shifting his narrowed gaze to the woman beside him. "So where's yours?"

"Shows what you know! I don't need a best man, Natsu." She grabbed the tasseled ends of his scarf and yanked, cinching the white cloth tight with her annoyance. Natsu coughed and stumbled, pulled down to Lucy's height to bear the full brunt of her irritation. "It's called a maid of honor, and if you had been paying attention, you would know that I already chose someone."

"You did? Who?" Wendy asked. Carla scoffed.

"Haven't you been present, child? It's Erza, obviously."

"No kidding," Gray muttered, shaking his head. He scanned the guild for the requip mage, but they all knew she was away on a job—something terrifying and spectacular like the woman herself. "She's more excited for your wedding than you are."

"She takes her duties as a maiden very seriously." Juvia nodded, something akin to envy hanging from the angle of her jaw when she smiled. "You chose well, Lucy."

"It seemed the obvious choice," Lucy bit her lip. "Although, I think if I didn't choose Erza, she would have been sad."

Her friends ruefully agreed, knowing Erza and her penchant for celebrations like they did.

"Why can't Erza just be my best man, too?" Natsu jerked back, pulling his scarf from Lucy's grasp.

"You don't want Erza in charge of your bachelor party, pal." Happy muttered.

"Why not?"

"You remember how she is when she drinks, right?"

Natsu thought for a beat. When his face dropped and his lips curled into an embarrassed cringe, Happy knew he had made his point.

"Uh-huh. That why I made her promise there would be no surprises." Lucy patted Natsu's back, gentle and reassuring. "Don't worry, I'm sure you'll eventually find someone to be your best man."

"I don't need one!"

"Oh come on." Mirajane stood behind the bar, unpacking the various groceries and provisions with an attentive ear turned to them. "I think it would be adorable if Gray was your best man! Nobody knows you better than him—except Lucy, of course."

Gray's lopsided grin rose once again as she spoke, a petulant triumph earned for such an endearing endorsement.

"Besides, who else are you gonna ask? Gildarts isn't here, Gajeel would rather chew his own foot off, and Elfman…" Gray didn't have to finish, seeing Natsu's frown deepen with every word he said. Stepping up to the dragon slayer, he threw a companionable arm over his shoulders. "And who knows? Maybe if you ask me really nicely, I might just-"

His words choked to a stop, ceased by a startled gasp laced with unexpected pain. Snatching his arm back, Gray crumpled around himself, sucking quick breaths through his teeth and cradling his hand like a wounded bird. Beside him, Natsu flinched and jerked, hissing through his teeth as a muscle spasmed violently through his neck and chest.

Like a blunted spear, dread panged in Lucy's stomach. Of course, how could she have forgotten: Gray wasn't just a Maker mage.

They both recovered quickly, their comrades concerned and surprised, but Gray's confusion lingered heavily in the uneasy space that followed. He said nothing as he looked down at his palm, a thin sheen of sweat on his brow and eyes bright with shock. Juvia rushed to him in an instant, a worried hand on his back as she softly called his name. He didn't answer her, his gaze shifting to Natsu as the confusion turned to doubt, and finally to suspicion. His hand was tensed into a claw, his fingers twitching. Natsu blinked and rolled his head, puzzled and oblivious.

Though the sleeves of his shirt covered his arms, a small triangle of dark flesh crept out from beneath the cuff on his wrist, something born of rage emblazoned on his flesh and growing. Realization hit Lucy like a kick to the gut. She knew what it was. They needed to get out of the guild. Her mind raced to think of something, an excuse or a reason or an alibi—Mirajane was faster.

"Lucy!" She barked. Everyone jumped, her voice ringing urgently through the din of the guild. She smiled plainly, her pale blue eyes locked on Lucy's face. "Weren't you telling me you needed to... pick out napkins? For the reception?"

Lucy blinked, recognizing that Mira was giving her and Natsu an out. "O-oh! Yes! We do! Right now! Let's go!"

Natsu frowned. "Napkins? Why the hell would we-"

Lucy gripped on the tails of his scarf once more and yanked him away. Gagging and fumbling, Natsu jerked at her pull, choking on her name. Lucy ignored him, rushing through her worry before Gray or anyone had a chance to recover or act.

"This is important," she blustered, snatching Happy off the ground with her other hand. The blue cat yelped as she hugged him close to her chest, dragging them both towards the door. "If the napkins don't compliment the table cloths then the wedding is ruined. Bye everyone! We'll see you later!"

"I'll tell Laxus to meet you!" Mira shouted after them.

They were gone swiftly, gusted away like a leaves in a storm. Their companions, still stunned and addled, watched after them till the door banged shut. Wendy looked to Carla. The white cat shook her head.

"Goodness, what was that all about?" Carla said, then turned to Mirajane. "What does Laxus have to do with napkins?"

Mira answered with an uncertain chuckle, an anxious gleam following her smile. Juvia, watching Gray closely, tilted her head at him.

"Gray? Are you alright?" She spoke quietly.

Gray stared at the front door, his eyes distant with racing thoughts. Juvia watched him, seeing the storming unease behind his gaze. There was fear there, too, something lurking and waiting. Juvia touched his arm. Gray flinched away from her, startled from his thoughts.

"What's going on?" Juiva asked, forcing some conviction into her words. He swallowed heavily and shook his head.

"I'm not sure what just happened," Gray breathed as he met Juvia's eyes. He could feel the tattoo on his arm fade away again, only a cool imprint left behind on his skin to remember it had ever been. "But I really hope I'm wrong."

Outside, Lucy had dragged Natsu and Happy a ways down the street and turned down another before she finally released them. He tripped over his feet, falling to the sidewalk in a strangled heap. As he and Happy gathered themselves, Lucy peeked around the corner back to the guild. It didn't seem like any of their friends had followed them. Heaving a sigh of relief, Lucy sagged as the tension in her shoulder's began to ease. Thank the gods for Mirajane's quick thinking.

"Is something wrong?" Natsu asked tightly, loosening his scarf. "Since when do you care so much about napkins?"

Unbelievable. Lucy glared at him. Surely he couldn't be that oblivious. Shaking her head, Lucy raised a hand to gently massage her temple as Happy fluttered to her shoulder.

"You saw it too, right?" He asked. Lucy nodded.

"I'm such and idiot. I can't believe I hadn't thought about it before now."

"What are you talking about?"

Happy and Lucy looked to Natsu. His face held no assumptions, an honest and worried perplexity the Lucy realized as something she had missed.

"Didn't you feel it, too?" She asked. "Back there, when he touched you? It looked like you had a reaction to him."

Natsu's eyes widened, his head slowly bobbing side to side. "I... don't remember."

Happy's paw tightened on her shirt, a small dither he pressed through her skin. But this would have to wait.

"When Gray touched you," Lucy stated, letting Happy fall from his perch. "His Devil Slayer magic responded, and not in a good way."

Natsu blinked. "Devil Slayer? But he hasn't used that spell in years. I thought it went away after the war."

"I think he did too, judging by the look on his face," Happy chirped.

"It can't be a good sign if Gray's power is coming back, especially after what happened with the Leviathan… but I could be wrong, right?"

Natsu couldn't answer, too unsure and unsettled to even try to assuage her worries. He barely remembered the last time that he and Gray had clashed as demon and devil slayer. His memories of the fight were faded and dark, but he knew that it had been bad; a fire that flared dark and ice so cold it burned, his fists pounding against a rage and sorrow that mirrored his own—and for the first time, a crimson hate that hungered and festered and corroded him from within.

They would have killed each other, if Erza hadn't stopped them.

They never talked about it. Natsu had silently resolved to never let it happen again, and assumed Gray had done the same.

Perhaps, Natsu thought, they had been naive to believe something so intrinsic and engrained within themselves would let go so easily. Behind his heart, the dark wisps of the etherious quivered, almost like it was laughing at him.

"Come on," Natsu said, leading the way out of town. "Let's head to Porlyusica's."

Chapter Text

"There's nothing wrong with you," Porlyusica grumbled, an irritated wrinkle creasing the space between her brow. "Physically or otherwise."

Lucy and Happy, for the most part, were relieved. But Natsu looked unsure.

Porlyusica had been harvesting herbs from her garden when they had arrived, mint and cloves and rosemary that Natsu could smell from the edge of the Lilac forest. Of course, the old witch hadn't been expecting guests, but she wasn't surprised to see them standing before her old tree-house either. Wicker-basket full of fresh bundles of sprouts hanging from her arm, Porlyusica walked right past Lucy and Natsu and into her home, content to ignore them until they went away.

Lucy rapped on the door, her own patience already tested and thin from a turbulent sea and a haunted friend. Natsu and Happy watched as she shouted through the door to Porlyusica, quickly explaining the reason for their visit. Minute eternities passed by as they waited, the sounds of the Lilac Forest distantly chiming above them. When Porlyusica finally opened her door, Lucy didn't miss the hefty broom she clutched in her shaking hand, or the thinly veiled shock hiding in the cataracts of her eyes.

Porlyusica shook her head and set the broom by the door, deciding she couldn't chase them off. She stepped aside, letting them file into her small home.

Laxus had shown up in the middle of Natsu's exam. The old witch had acknowledged him with only a small nod. The guild master tilted his head at her in turn. Impersonal, but not informal, the way they both showed respect. The deep connection they shared through Makarov was enough to warrant it. After the war and Makarov's death, Laxus had spent a lot of time out in the Lilac Forest, learning what he could from the old witch about the history of the guild and what it meant to be a master of Fairy Tail. Her guidance and support had proven to be invaluable.

"You didn't find anything strange?" Laxus asked.

Porlyusica shook her head as she hoisted herself to her feet, leaning heavily on a hawthorn cane. Wendy had made it for her a year ago, a gift and a necessity. The woman had been old before the war, and now it seemed like the years were catching up with her.

"It's hard to say when I'm not sure what I'm looking for. However, I sense no demonic traces, malignant entities, or other abnormalities. I've run through the routine tests and procedures. Everything comes back normal—well, normal for you, at least."

It was odd, she had to admit, that she hadn't been able to find any hint of etherious force or other potencies within Natsu given what had happened. Neither his blood nor his auras seemed contaminated, all reacting in accordance to her serums and tinctures. She had been able to sense the demonic power during the war, no instruments or potions needed.

Back then, Natsu's own etherious hadn't even fully manifested... and yet it was potent and harrowing, devastating like a forest fire that burned on the horizon that couldn't be stopped or outrun. It was hard to forget a feeling like that. Even after the combat was over, trace elements of the dark magic lingered in the young dragon slayer. It had taken him weeks to burn it all out and purify his magic once again.

But now… nothing.

"I'll say it again." Porlyusica cast a hard eye to the room. "I specialize in healing injuries caused by magic. I'm not a doctor. But, if I were one, I'd say that you have nothing to worry about."

Lucy drooped in her seat, an anxious tension leaving her muscles as Happy breathed a tired chuckle. Laxus, for all his stoicism and stolidity, seemed relieved. Natsu, Porlyusica noticed, did not share in their consolation. His eyes were distant, seeing through the floor between his knees and fogged with thoughts that didn't seem of the cheery sort. Not that the old healer could find it in herself to care. She had done her job. If Natsu wasn't satisfied with her conclusions, that wasn't her fault.

"Now, if that's all you wanted, please get out of my-"

"Can you do it again?"

Lucy frowned, questions hanging from her lips. Porlyusica's crimson eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"I can, but the result will be the same." The old mage stepped up to Natsu, leering over him. She really did not like having her time wasted. "Unless you know something I don't."

Natsu sighed, pressing his forehead to his knuckles. He could feel the eyes of his comrades on him, waiting and expecting. Something behind his heart tickled his chest: the etherious, reminding Natsu that it was still there. He had hoped Porlyusica would provide the insight he needed to explain away the dither that had chased him from the sea. That she hadn't been able to uncover what was so plainly wrong had been a surprise. He needed answers. Lucy was going to hate him for lying to her.

"It's still there," Natsu's whispered, a sour and acrid tinge to his words. "I can still feel it."

"What are you talking about?" Laxus snapped. Lucy and Happy said nothing. He wished they would.

Huffing, he slapped his hands against his knees in frustration. "The damn etherious! I can still feel it."

His words were followed by a thick suspense, so he seized the silence and continued. The rough pads of his fingers rubbed against his chest, feeling the warm pulse of his heart.

"I can feel it, like... like something's cracked inside. I think… something was keeping it contained. Like, as a barrier... quelling it. But something happened when we faced the Leviathan. The barrier is broken, or weakened, or the curse got stronger, and now…" He turned to Lucy, her eyes shining with a regret that made his stomach twist. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you."

She said nothing. Happy at least had the decency to let his shock and fear play on his face—though, maybe less of a decency, and more of a bane.

"Are you sure it's your etherious?" Porlyusica asked.

He nodded. "I'm sure. It's the same from three years ago... enough of it, at least."

"How long have you been like this?" Porlyusica pressed.

"Since yesterday." Natsu dropped his eyes. "When I... defeated the Leviathan."

He didn't need to remind her of what that entailed. Hard thoughts raced behind her eyes, her brows scrunching under the weight of possibilities and uncertainties. "And have you used your magic at all since then?"

"No."

"I guess that explains why Gray reacted the way he did." Happy mumbled. Laxus twitched, glaring down at the small blue cat.

"What? Gray knows?" He growled, looming over Happy.

"No, we didn't tell him anything!" Happy crumpled under Laxus' stare. "But I think he suspects. He touched Natsu and his devil slayer magic went crazy!"

Laxus stepped back and rubbed a hand to his temple, allowing Happy to retreat behind Lucy's ankles.

"Great, this is all I need." He sighed. A hand massaged his temple, ruffling the pre-mature gray hairs of his sideburns.

Porlyusica stared at Natsu, her gaze penetrating through his resolve. For all the might he exuded in the struggle of battle, he was as helpless as a school child under her stern eyes.

"If Gray was able to sense your curse and I wasn't, it can't mean anything good." She closed her eyes, collecting her thoughts. "Devil Slayers can feel demonic components even to the faintest of traces. His perception, though, is only at the sake of his own humanity and conscience."

"I know how slayers work," Natsu scowled. "Gray didn't want to take that risk. He stopped using that magic after the war."

"And you forced it to reawaken again," Porlyusica snapped. "You took that choice out of his hands."

He had no response for that, knowing she was right.

"Enough," Laxus crossed his thick arms over his chest, impatient and annoyed. "We need to know how to fix this."

Porlyusica rolled her eyes and hobbled to her workbench, ducking under strings of drying herbs. Snatching a beaker from a burner and piping, the healer held it up for all to see. A hazy green solution sloshed in the glass.

"My potions detect abstract magics within a person." She set the beaker down and picked up a rack of phials, glowing a sickly rainbow of tinctures. "And these are specifically concocted to diagnose malignant energies. All of my techniques rely on the separation of healthy and corrupt. If I could not find the etherious, then it is because your curse and your magic have fused."

Natsu blinked, a memory of earth and lava and a hopeful, toothy grin.

"Igneel said something like that, once." Porlyusica huffed and set her phials down with a clang, her cocked eyebrow an invitation to elaborate. "It was during the war. He told me I had to choose what I wanted to be or I would die. I chose to be human. I thought that had solved everything."

"Yeah, that logic always seemed a little shaky to me," Happy muttered from behind Lucy's legs.

Natsu twisted to sneer at the exceed. "I lived, didn't I?"

His eyes moved from Happy to Lucy's knees, trailing up her body to her face. She hadn't said anything in a while. Her hand dropped to her hip to trace light circles over the fabric of her shirt, her old scar hidden beneath. He couldn't read her face, a rare instance of blankness where she was usually an open book. She simply blinked at him, seeing him but also not, lost within her own mind.

"What Igneel did for you was only a stopgap: a last resort and quick solution that was not meant to last. I doubt something as simple as that is going to help you this time. You should refrain from using your magic at all for the time being," Porlyusica said. Her cane creaked as she shambled toward a door that lead farther into her house. "Now get out. I need to concentrate. Except for you, Laxus. We need to talk."

Natsu's mouth fell open to protest, silenced by a quick growl from Laxus. "Go home, you three. Come back to the guild tomorrow, after all of this is given a chance to make sense."

Standing, Natsu watched as the Master followed Porlyusica into the depths of her library. Many of his questions remained unanswered, and simply being told to not use his magic and go home left an unsatisfied ache twitching in his mind. His body moved, pursuit in his fibers and demands on his tongue-

A hand firmly grasped his elbow.

"Come on," Lucy said, her voice stern. "Let's go."

"Lucy, we can't-"

"Natsu," she bit, a dull ire in her voice. "We need to go."

A beat of hesitation, something missing and yearning hanging in the air between them. He wasn't the only one who needed answers right now. Lucy lead him out the door, Happy following close behind.

Laxus listened for the soft klunk of the door closing, and the silence of an empty living room drifted into the library. He shook his head, and the old woman turned to him. Not for the first time, he realized how frail Porlyusica had become. She trembled as she stood, as if the weight of her years and bones were almost too much to bear.

There would come a time when the guild could no longer rely on her services, for her sake more than anything. That time was fast approaching, and he wasn't ready for it. Laxus gazed back into her tired, milky eyes, a feeling of foreboding creeping into his chest.

"It's bad, isn't it?"

"Probably more than we realize—more than he realizes. We need to figure out why this is happening and how to prevent it quickly."

"The Leviathan appeared four months ago," Laxus thought out loud. "Something must have happened. Had you heard anything?"

"I stay away from people and their pointless gossip," Porlyusica snapped with a dismissive flick of her wrist. "If something broke somewhere in the world, it's your problem."

His lip curled. "Gee, thanks old hag."

"In the meantime, keep a close eye on Natsu." Porlyusica pulled a book down from a shelf, flipping open the cover and rifling through the pages. "Keep him out of battle and from using his magic. Tell me if anything changes."

"You mean like if E.N.D. awakens?" Laxus asked, an irritation twitching through his face. It had been a rhetorical question, but Porlyusica stiffened to a stop. When the old healer faced him once more, her eyes were darkened with fear.

"I'm afraid to say," she said lowly. "but it's possible that he already has."

The walk back to Magnolia was tense, quiet; uneasy and anxious like a snow drift waiting to avalanche.

Natsu, nervous and uncertain, trudged after Lucy as the forest gradually thinned and then ended abruptly to the grassy meadow stretching the way home to Magnolia. Glancing to her, the back of her head told him nothing of her mood. No, that wasn't true—she was upset, obviously, and who was he to blame her for that? He had given her false hope, a trickle of auspicious peace that held no merit and then ripped it all away like a burning tornado. He didn't know what he had been thinking, why he didn't think to tell his fiancé and best friend what was going on. She had every right to be angry.

Maybe he just wanted some hope, too.

Happy shrugged at his questioning gaze, unwilling to break the tension himself. Happy knew when to keep his mouth shut, and after three years of watching Natsu and Lucy fight and quarrel, he had learned to tell when silence was the best remedy. But Natsu was never good with silence, and if he didn't say something now, then there was a very good chance he was going to do something really stupid later. Sighing, he piled words on his tongue and hoped they would make a sense.

"I think Gajeel and Levy are coming back later today," he said. "We could meet with them later. I think I still owe Gajeel a rematch."

The slight wind gently tossed Lucy's hair around her shoulders. She didn't even look at him. Natsu licked his lips, determined to see this tactic through to the end. It might not have been smart, but he wasn't a quitter.

"I heard they'd taken a job out in the Wastes." Natsu muttered. "Mira said it's a dangerous place. I bet it was a cakewalk for them."

Her head turned, a small hint of her brown eyes for him and all of a sudden he was exposed, his cracks and winkles and imperfections laid bare at her feet. He pinched his lips, resisting the urge to squirm or snap.

Happy watched, his gaze shifting between them like he was watching a sport, waiting to see who would fumble first. He hated it when Natsu and Lucy fought, often in frivolous squabbles that didn't seem worth the time or effort for hashing and slashing and yelling. Not this time. Now, Natsu was walking on thin ice, and just like what always happened when fire met ice, it was bound to break. So, the cat kept his mouth shut. Lucy turned back to the trail, and now the silence was even louder.

"I think… I also heard that Erza was coming back tomorrow, too," Natsu muttered. "Would be nice to say hello to her."

They had reached the edge of Magnolia, a blushing meadow marking the border between the Lilac Forest where Porlyusica lived and the city they called home. They stopped here, Lucy contemplating the two paths before them; the one straight ahead and back to the guild, or the one that turned north towards their home.

"Happy," she finally spoke. "Can you head to the guild hall and make sure everything is alright with Gray and Wendy? I feel bad for leaving them like that."

Happy wasn't an idiot—Lucy wanted to be alone with Natsu. "Sure. What should I tell them about the napkins?"

"How about that we've settled on yellow. No—sunflower, that's a color people use in weddings." Lucy laughed. "Thanks, Happy. We'll see you at home."

Happy waved goodbye and took to the air, lighting in the warm air currents. They curved north, a shortcut back to their house.

Natsu walked by Lucy's side, their legs whispering against the tall grass of the meadow. A warm spring breeze rippled through the young stalks, sending the land into motion around them. A pleasant floral scent from newly-sprouted wild flowers piqued the air with a relaxing freshness, betraying the tension between them.

Natsu's mind felt numb, maybe a mechanism from his youth that wouldn't allow him to scream or cry. His eyes wandered to her face, expecting frustration and disappointment. And yet, she seemed almost serene, features soft and eyes lost in the green distance.

She looked beautiful in the full-sun of the early afternoon.

"I'm not mad at you," Lucy finally said, sighing deeply. "I promise."

He could almost always tell when Lucy was lying—she wasn't. Swallowing past the dryness in his throat, he reached and arm out to lightly touch the curve of her ribs. Lucy stepped into the touch, her arm curling around his back. Natsu was never good with words. He always preferred to let his actions speak for him. It wasn't a perfect solution. He knew he should have told her about what he was feeling.

It had been fear, Natsu admitted reluctantly. It was no secret to him that some people saw him as a monster, whether they were friends or foes. He could live with that, what others thought of him wasn't his business or concern.

But Lucy, if she ever...

Something tightened in his chest. But that was foolish. Lucy wasn't as fickle as that, and it had been unfair of Natsu to believe that she was after everything they had been through. She was Lucy, after all. His Lucy. She deserved better than that.

"I'm sorry," Natsu mumbled as he pressed his lips to her hair. Lucy hummed, her hand finding his.

"We should be hearing from Blue Pegasus soon about your suit." Lucy looked up at him. "You'll have to go in for a fitting at some point. Think you can handle that without me?"

Natsu smirked down at her. "It's just trying on clothes and waiting around for hours. Nothing I haven't practiced with you, so I think I'll be a natural."

Ah yes, Lucy remembered with a laugh. The first and only time she had ever taken Natsu shopping with her, and he still wouldn't let it go.

Their house sat silent and welcoming in the cusp of the foothills. Shady trees dappled the ground with dots of sunlight. The berry patch growing by their house was ripe for the picking, blackberries hanging plump on the brambles.

Lucy slowed to a stop on the rough path, staring at the open field around them.

"Hey Natsu," she said, eyes sparking. "When was the last time we sparred?"

"I'm not sure. Since before I proposed to you, I think."

Lucy had asked Natsu to teach her how to defend herself about five months into their relationship. One war had been fought and won, but that was no guarantee there wouldn't be another. Natsu had been delighted that she had asked. Despite Lucy's expectations, he proved himself to be one heck of a teacher. The techniques that Natsu taught her were ones of focus, balance, and control—techniques that he usually lacked in battle. When she had pointed this out to him, Natsu only smirked and said that since he had already mastered these things, he didn't have to follow them. That seemed a little backwards to Lucy, but his lessons were bearing fruit so she went along with it. Today, she was able to hold her own against Erza of all people... if only for a little while.

"Maybe we should, just for fun," Lucy said, shifting her body low, fists raised. "Whadda ya say?"

Natsu frowned, a sneaking suspicion in the back of his mind curling his lips into a frown. Since when did Lucy instigate a fight? But they had the rest of the day to whittle away. This would be a good distraction. Maybe, like him, she just needed to work out some nerves.

"Sounds great," Natsu said, loosening his scarf. Smirking, he pressed his knuckles together, a small symphony of cracks under his skin. "You think you can beat me this time?"

"You can't use your magic," Lucy quipped, returning his smirk right back to him. "I think I've got a pretty good chance."

Natsu might have been offended, but blossoming excitement rushed through his muscles. Lucy took off a moment before him, skipping around the side of the house to the small grassy field that waited there, shaded from the sun by the tree that grew through the house. Standing on either side of the open space, Natsu and Lucy squared off.

"So what are the rules?" Natsu stretched his arm across his chest as Lucy waited before him, pulling her calves.

"Dodge. No holding back, either." Lucy twisted her torso, shuddering as her body activated. A deep breath, then she settled into her fighting stance. "I'll know if you do."

"You sure?" Natsu asked. "You usually don't like it when I go all-"

His words halted, cut short as Lucy's fist shot like a bullet for his face. The blow sailed over his nose as he lurched back, his spine creaking under the angle of his weight. Catching himself on the ground, Natsu twisted, his knee surging for her gut. Just as quickly, Lucy pirouetted away from his attack, lithe and agile, following through with the same momentum for a kick to his chest.

Natsu flung his body into a hand stand, swinging his foot to knock her in the shoulder. Lucy dodged, losing her balance for a moment as her feet slipped on the grass. In that same opportunity of liminal time, he flipped and righted his body on his feet once more.

Lucy came at him again, and their match continued. An up-close and personal game of tag, Natsu and Lucy danced around each other, exchanging blows and dodges in turn. There was no blocking allowed, given the rules of the duel; a game that tested awareness and speed, a bought of acrobatics and skill. Where Natsu was bigger and stronger, Lucy was flexible and quick. Her own strength had grown over the years, the fruits of her struggles and labors that proved once and for all that she was a force to be reckoned with. Natsu watched as Lucy's body coiled, the definition of her muscles creasing the skin on her arms and legs.

He would be lying if he said he didn't think it was sexy.

Their brawl carried on. Somewhere within the frenzied exchange of fists and whirlwind evasive moves, a suspicious itch grew like a weed in Natsu's brain. Lucy wasn't smiling anymore, her face hardened with dark concentration, and maybe a hint of frustration. Her style had gotten sloppy, it seemed; sacrificing technique for power with every blow that gusted past him, short breaths of displacement trailing her fists. She was actually trying to fight him, he realized, with a strength meant for something bigger than a simple spar.

Lucy hadn't been lying earlier when she had said that she wasn't mad. The real truth was that she was pissed.

Just as Natsu was about to call a time-out, Lucy lunged into the air. Her leg curled like a snake, ready to strike with a heavy blow. Natsu ducked below her, watching her face for any sign of openings and gaps. Time slowed to a crawl, the sun haloing Lucy's figure like an avenging angel descending from the heavens. Natsu reached for her, a simple tap that he was certain she couldn't evade and put and end to this match before someone got hurt.

The world rushed back into place. Lucy twisted in the air, her other leg surging for his unguarded side. The kick hit hard against the bone of Natsu's shoulder, a marrow-deep pain exploding through his nerves. His feet lost the ground beneath him as the breath whooshed from his lungs.

Natsu growled as he hit the ground, grinding over the the grassy soil. Lucy grunted beside him, landing heavily on her side. For a lingering moment of tense anticipation, Natsu and Lucy huffed on the ground where they lay. Their skin glistened damply with sweat, torn blades of grass clinging to their bodies. Lucy had won, if only just barely.

"You got that move from Gray," Natsu panted as he lifted his head. "I think that's cheating."

Lucy groaned, sitting up with no trace of playfulness in her eyes. A beat of nervous silence passed, neither of them moved as they caught their breath.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Lucy spoke shortly, her words clipped. "I know that what happened yesterday was scary, but this isn't a game. Maybe we could have done something—anything! I don't know, maybe somehow we could have fixed everything before it was too late. I'd expect you more than anyone wouldn't want E.N.D. to come back, so why-" Lucy twisted to Natsu, her rant cutting short by the blade of his scowl. "What? Why are you looking at me like that?"

Natsu groaned as he sat up on his knees, rubbing his tender shoulder. "You don't get it. Dammit, I knew this was going to happen."

Lucy gaped at him, acid seeping into her words. "What exactly don't I get?"

"Even if I had told you, there was nothing you could have done."

"You don't know that!"

"Yes, I do."

"Then explain it to me."

Natsu scowled at her tone. He didn't want to talk to her like this, didn't want to fight her with his tongue when their fists hadn't said enough. So he took a deep breath.

"You, Porlyusica, Laxus, and everyone else all talk about me and E.N.D. like we're two different people." His gaze fell to his clenched hand, lips curling into a frown. "But we're not."

She said nothing. Quiet lingered between them like a fragile tether. The trees shivered through a lazy spring wind, ruffling the grass around them and kissing their damp skin. Natsu scoffed, his own frustrations rising. In the space behind his heart, the etherious stirred.

"It's not like I go somewhere else when E.N.D. is here," Natsu spoke quickly. "I'm still here, too, but I'm not the same me—I mean they are me, but I'm… dammit! Why is this so hard to explain!"

Restless and agitated, Natsu shot to his feet and started to pace. His face was hot, eyes stinging.

"Do you get what I'm trying to say?" His voice shook, his jaw aching and clenching his regret. "The only difference between me and that monster is the type of magic I use. E.N.D. wasn't the one that attacked you yesterday… I was…"

He couldn't continue, the soreness in his throat choking any other words he might have said. Natsu did not cry easily, yet this was the second day in a row that he found himself reduced to tears by his own fears. Lucy stood, the grass whispering beneath her. He could hear the soft falls of her feet coming closer. The wind died, and the forest and grass were quiet once more. Natsu's ears burned, heartbeat pounding.

"Then… how come you don't remember the times when… when you're not you?" Lucy asked tentatively. Her tone was gentle and even—she really was trying to understand, despite Natsu's lack of eloquence.

Natsu tipped his head toward the sky, hoping his tears would drain back into his eyes. The clouds overhead blurred.

"I can't control what my mind chooses to keep." Natsu took another deep breath, trying to steady himself. "I get flashes of things, though, like from a nightmare."

"We all have nightmares, Natsu." Lucy's gentle hand touched his shoulder. "You never told me what you saw."

"I see shadows, mostly." Natsu sighed. He turned to Lucy. The depth of her eyes swallowed his courage. "I see you, too—and Gray, and Happy, and so many others. I see the looks on your faces; the fear, the hatred, the disgust. I see your scars." Natsu's hand ghosted over Lucy's hip. "I see how you got them."

Lucy bit her lip, trying to push aside the memories that rose against her will. Even the thought of the war stirred her heart into a frantic beat, a tremble creeping into her hands.

"That's why I couldn't tell you," Natsu's voice was barely above a hush. "Not because I didn't think you couldn't help me—I was afraid you would hate me."

"Oh, Natsu..." Lucy's face tightened with sorrow, a compassion and tenderness cloaking her form.

Natsu couldn't say anything else. Lucy wrapped him in her arms. He relished in her touch, clinging to her like this was their last embrace. Her delicate fingers cradled the back of his head. Turning her face into his scarf, Lucy sighed as her lips brushed his neck.

"I could never hate you. Nothing will ever change that." Lucy whispered. "Don't you ever forget it."

Natsu heaved a sigh under her arms, something heavy and morose blowing from his teeth. Lucy looked up at Natsu's face, straightened a stray strand of hair and cupped his warm face in her palm.

"But we're in this together now," Lucy said. "No more keeping secrets, okay?"

Natsu closed his eyes and nodded. She was right, of course. They were always going to be together, he knew that. But he couldn't withhold truths from her simply because he was afraid. Life was too short to be scared. It was a miracle that Natsu had Lucy, he thought as he opened his eyes to her soft smile. What would he do without her?

"I love you," he said.

Lucy huffed a dry laugh. "I love you, too, but you're not getting off that easy. I should kick your ass for lying to me."

"You definitely kicked something." Natsu rolled his shoulder, his muscles throbbing a hot beat of agony through his arm. "What else can I do to make it up to you?"

Lucy sighed through her nose, thinking as her gaze bounced around them.

"We could pick some berries from the patch, go take a bath, and relax the rest of the evening." Lucy smiled. "How's that sound?"

"Sounds awesome."

Five minutes later, Natsu and Lucy walked through the front door of their home with maroon-stained fingers. Rooting around in the berry patch yielded more thorns than fruit, but between the two of them, they had managed to forage a modest harvest. Natsu licked his lips, his tongue already tinted violet from the few berries he couldn't help but eat. Together, they left the small field behind, the mountains in the far distance capped with storm clouds. The berries were fresh and tart, tasting like sweet spring promises.

Lucy paused in her meal, head tilted in thought.

"So if what you said is true," she thought out loud. "I guess that means that I'm also marrying E.N.D."

Lucy flinched as a small battering of berries hit her face.

Chapter Text

The next morning, Natsu awoke with a clearer conscious and a very sore arm. One look in the mirror confirmed what he already knew; a deep purple bruise, right on the bone of his shoulder. Within the muted mauves and lavenders, a patterned line of deeper injury that Natsu figured were the straps of Lucy's sandal. He could almost make out her toes, too... maybe. It wasn't pretty, but didn't feel as bad as it looked. He'd had much worse.

Slowly lifting his arm, Natsu winced as a dull pressure squeezed the damage in his shoulder to a pinch. With how stiff it was after a night of sleeping on it, his poor arm would go no higher than an inch shy of level. Natsu wasn't mad in the slightest—if anything, it was a testament to how strong Lucy was, that all of her hard work and training was paying off. He was proud.

"I thought bruises were manly," Lucy said, fastening an earring to her lobe. She stood behind him, meeting his gaze in the mirror. "So really, you should be thanking me."

Natsu hissed, slipping his arm into the sleeve of his coat. Any movement involving the shoulder, and his muscles would throb hotly. This was going to be a fun day.

"No, scars are manly," Natsu explained as he tossed his scarf around his neck with practiced ease. "Bruises are just bruises."

Lucy propped her elbow on his good shoulder, leaning on him as he tightened the belt around his waist.

"With that kind of thinking, it's no wonder all you guys are covered in scars." It did seem to be a recurring trait—one that was shared outside of the guild, as well. Sabertooth had their own share of scars. "Do boys think scars on girls are appealing?"

"It depends on the guy, really," Natsu replied. "Personally, I judge based on the story behind the scar."

"Seems like a pretty heavy double-standard if you ask me." Lucy puffed her cheek.

Natsu grinned, his finger poking into her face. Lucy spluttered, and he laughed as she chased him from the bathroom. Happy was waiting by the front door, rummaging through the contents of his knapsack. Through the walls, they could hear the wind moaning outside, creaking through the wood and the tree, rattling the window panes.

"Don't think about it too much. Your scars are a badge of endurance, a sign that you're still alive." Natsu rubbed Lucy's arm. She seemed to take comfort in his words, even as her hand drifted low to her hip. He knew how she felt about her old wounds, the marks they left behind. "Besides, you'll still be beautiful no matter how many scars you get."

"Except maybe if she got a big one on her face." Happy chirped, tying off his pack around his neck. "There's really no coming back from that."

"Wow, thanks Happy,"

They rummaged around the house for a span of moments, preparing for the day and all that may or may not happen. Lucy watched Natsu, her mind drifting to unbidden theories. She had lied awake in the night thinking about the day before and the discussions with both Porlyusica and Natsu. This re-emergence of his curse was... unsettling. It wasn't unusual for a body to host more than one type of magic, but what did it mean to have curse and magic?

She remembered Tartarus, how the creatures, the structure, the very air and the thing beneath her feet that might have been alive felt off, disjointed from another reality only slightly separate from her own that had bled through her fears. That place had rejected her very being, warred against her existence and refused the make-up of her soul. To have that sick, choppy discomfort pulse through her veins, beat from her core... it would drive her mad. She couldn't begin to imagine what Natsu was feeling.

But, then, there were the separate-yet-aligned aspects of Natsu that he himself could hardly distinguish. Lucy knew it was something that went much deeper than she was willing to go lying there in the dark. What Natsu had tried to explain made sense... but it left her with a million more questions. If Natsu and E.N.D. were the same, why was there a difference in the first place? Where was the fracture, and why had it happened?

"Lucy?" Natsu's voice shook her out of her thoughts. "What's wrong?"

"Do you have a tummy ache?" Happy asked.

Lucy but her lip.

"Can you… still feel it?" She asked. "Is it still there?"

Natsu sighed, nodding like he had expected her to ask. His fingers rubbed his chest, no need to clarify what 'it' was. "It hasn't gotten better... hasn't gotten worse, either. It's... almost like a tickle. I think I'm already starting to get used to it."

Lucy frowned. "You haven't used your magic. Who knows what might happen when you do?"

"Lucy," Natsu started. Something hard and determined based in his gaze, a surety Lucy could feel in the hollow beneath her throat. "We're gonna figure this out—but there's nothing we can do about it right now, so we move on with our lives. Porlyusica and Laxus are working on something, too. As soon as we figure out what's going on and how to fix it, then we'll deal with it."

Lucy sighed. "Okay. You're right. No use in fretting over it now."

"I think it might be best if we try to avoid running into Gray today, though," Happy said.

"I agree," Lucy nodded. "We can't dismiss him completely, but I don't think it's a good idea to tell him what happened. He'll have questions that we can't answer."

"No talking to freezerburn all day?" Natsu smirked as he opened the door. "Sounds like a good day to me."

They stepped out into the day, snatched by a vicious wind that raked the warmth form their bodies and snapped their hair and clothes. The sky was devoid of clouds, though a slight haze seemed to hang in the atmosphere. The sun glared down with heatless light, rings of rainbows reflecting around it. They immediately recognized the signs; a storm was coming, and it was going to be a big one. They hurried to town, Happy clinging to Lucy's shoulder as he tried not to be swept away. When they reached the guild, Natsu quickly shut the doors behind them, relieved to finally not have the wind howling in his ears. Lucy messed with her hair, trying to restore it back to decency without much success.

"Lucy! Natsu!"

The sound of running footsteps, a chirpy giggle that chimed with the tones of old friends returned home. Lucy beamed, throwing her arms wide just in time to catch Levy, her small friend embracing her like an old, favorite blanket. They spun together in a circle as they laughed. Gajeel and Panther Lily weren't far behind, and as the dragon slayer raised a hand in salutation, something merry and free glinted from the sharp edge of his smile. Natsu smirked at Gajeel, kindred stories aligning once again.

Levy and Gajeel had taken a long sabbatical together after the war, to take a break from the guild and their duties in order to focus on themselves and each other. They were away for a few months, and though no one was really sure where they went and what they did, they promised that they would be back. They kept that promise, and on that day that they did return, neither of them were the same as when they had left.

Gajeel's hair was shorter, cut to a faded buzz. While it had lost him that wild look that he always prided, he now looked older and leaner, and perhaps a touch fiercer. Members of the guild were surprised by the change, to say the least, but not as surprised as they were by the brass inlays on his cheeks and collarbones. Specks of gold along the steep angles of his face and neck that glinted bright and new. He had simply shrugged and said "brass don't rust" and left it at that.

Levy hadn't changed much, on first impression. Her ears were lined with piercings, a sizeable bar dangling from the end of her brow. Most believed Gajeel had pulled some kind of practical joke on her, a belief Levy quickly put to rest. It wasn't a choice of fashion, she explained—each stud and ring was pure steel and wrought iron. If Gajeel ever needed a power boost, she could give him her earrings to consume and conserve her own magic at the same time. It was clever, as with everything that Levy did.

But Levy hadn't come back the shy, meek girl that she was before. She was confident, poised, a sure strength riding on her shoulders. A resolve that she had been missing during the war had finally rooted itself within her. Gajeel had effectively died before her eyes, after all. She had been helpless, powerless to do anything but wail and beg and struggle fruitlessly in the face of his certain oblivion. She would carry those feelings with her for the rest of her life, and it wasn't hard to believe she would take the proper measures so that it never happened again.

"I'm so glad you're back," Lucy sang.

"Feels good to be back," Levy laughed. "The eastern region of Fiore is nothing but desert and dryness. Really makes a girl miss home."

"You catch those bandits in the Wastes?" Natsu snickered at Gajeel. The other dragon slayer shrugged.

"Kind of. Turned out those bandits were actually a bunch of vigilantes that were trying to save some endangered species of toad out there in the desert. They just had a backwards way of going about it," Gajeel said. "Levy and I set them straight."

"So does that mean you didn't get a reward?" Lucy asked Levy, a slight pout on her lips.

"Those guys weren't doing anything wrong, really," Levy scowled. "The person who issued the job just wanted them gone so he could go in and build some kind of 'desert spa resort' or whatever. Would have totally ruined the ecosystem."

"We actually trashed most of their construction equipment, in the end—and Gajeel ate the rest," Lily stated, sharing a wink with his companions. "Laxus might be getting a bill for that."

Natsu smiled widely. "That's the Fairy Tail way." He and Gajeel companionably bumped fists.

"What about you?" Levy asked Lucy. "Did you finish your job?"

Lucy tried not to flinch, quickly thinking of something to say. Natsu wisely kept silent. The fewer details, the better. "Yeah, we defeated the Leviathan. But we decided to give our reward money to somebody who needed it more than we did."

Levy smiled. "That's the Fairy Tail way, too. Either way, we're all broke in the end."

While the group shared a laugh, Lucy took the chance to glance around the guild hall. There was no sign of Gray or Juvia, but Wendy and Carla were there, seated at a table close to the bar. Her attention was given to Asuka and a pair of purple-haired, teal-eyed twins. Sonya and Byanka joined the guild about ten months ago. No one was sure where they came from – but it wasn't the first time that Fairy Tail had taken in young orphans from the streets.

They possessed Fortune magic, similar to Cana's. Though it wasn't fully developed, with one touch they could see a person's past and future. They had the potential to be very powerful mages, so Laxus made sure that all the members of the guild helped them cultivate their magic safely and securely. As they approached, the three little girls thanked Wendy and ran off giggling.

"What did you say to them?" Lucy asked.

"I was settling an argument for them. Asuka wanted to play princesses, Byanka wanted to be explorers, and Sonya wanted to play house." Wendy beamed as she watched the children run around the guild hall. "I said they should do all three. So now they're explorer-princesses with a kingdom to look after. I let them figure out the rest."

"It's almost like you're their big sister." Lucy smiled, bumping Wendy with her shoulder. It only seemed like yesterday when Lucy was helping Wendy in a sisterly kind of way, something Lucy had never had the chance to experience in the hollow, silent halls of her home. Now Wendy was all grown up, and doing her part to foster the next generation of Fairy Tail. Lucy couldn't be prouder.

"Where are Freed and Mirajane?" Lily asked, noticing that neither of the barkeeps were at their expected stations.

"They've been back in Laxus' office all morning," Carla replied, casting her gaze over her shoulder to the shut door. "I thought I heard something about Sabertooth."

"Not those guys again." Gajeel leaned back with a scowl, draping his arm along the bench behind Levy. "What did they do this time?"

"I haven't the faintest," Carla sighed with a shrug. "If we're lucky, then perhaps the master will tell us."

"With Sting, it could be anything," Natsu said with a mirthful smile.

The topic of conversation devolved into friendlier subjects from there. The wind outside howled and moaned, it's ghostly wails seeping through the wooden walls of the guild. Gusts of it would sneak inside and scatter throughout the hall whenever the door opened, chilling the air while sending the job requests on the board fluttering.

The guild was quiet, and many of the members present seemed like they were still trying to wake up, despite the late morning hour. But the mood of the guild took a significant turn as Kinana finally showed up slightly before noon and stepped up as bartender while Mirajane and Freed were busy. With food and drink now available to them, the members regained their lively spirits once more.

It wasn't long before Gray and Juvia arrived at the guild.

Like everyone else, they arrived in a gust of wind. Even from across the hall, Lucy could see the darkness under Gray's eyes. Apparently, he hadn't slept well last night either. It left a sour taste in Lucy's mouth to know that they had worried him so. But if Gray's devil slayer power had truly reactivated, then it was for the best that he be left in the dark—for now. Gray's eyes immediately locked onto hers, his face setting into a frown. Juvia joined him as he crossed the guild toward their table. She seemed anxious, but not concerned.

As Gray and Juvia sat down at the table, neither of them spoke a word of greeting. Lucy could feel Natsu tense beside her, meeting Gray's dark gaze with his own. The other occupants at the table seemed to sense the tension, and eventually all conversation died away under a dark cloud of unease. Lucy and Juvia looked to each other, and a silent understanding passed between them.

"Can I buy you a drink?" Gray asked.

"I'm not thirsty, thanks." Natsu deadpanned.

"Yes, we are." Lucy interjected. Natsu turned his gaze to her, uncertain. If this conversation was to be had, best not to do it in polite company. "I'd appreciate it, thank you."

She and Gray stood, Natsu and Juvia following suit after a moment's hesitation. Happy, though reluctant, hopped to his feet and followed. Lucy could feel their friends at the table staring after them as they walked away. "It's a little early for drinking, isn't it?" she hear Wendy say.

And it was, but Lucy wasn't going to let convention stop her from trying to settle Gray's beast of suspicion.

They approached the bar, Gray leaning against the polished wood while Lucy took a seat. Natsu and Juvia hovered next to their partners, silent and waiting. Kinana, ever the dutiful servant, approached them with a smile. Gray ordered a round of drinks, and like he had promised, paid for them all. While Kinana prepared the drinks, Gray turned to them with exhaustion hanging from his jaw.

"Okay, I'll just say it," Gray spoke evenly. "We need to talk."

Lucy gulped. What was the best way to go about this? In truth, Gray had every right to know about E.N.D.'s return. He was there three years ago when he first awakened, after all, paid the toll of battering it back into slumber with his blood and his spirit—just as she had. Perhaps even more so. If it weren't for Gray's track record of hastily jumping to drastic conclusions and painful solutions, Lucy would have felt better about telling him. She knew he was volatile when it came to Zeref and his books, though, with plenty of good reason. They weren't certain of anything yet, either, and Lucy didn't want Gray to start making assumptions.

"It's about yesterday." Gray ducked his chin. "I just have a couple questions for you."

Natsu responded before Lucy could think of anything to say.

"For the last time," he scowled. "I'm not asking you to be my best man."

Gray gaped at Natsu, his bluntness catching him off-guard. Juvia gasped, covering the surprise shaping her lips with her hand. Though he tried his best to hide it, Natsu's words had hit a soft spot in Gray. But he shook them off, gritting his teeth in frustration.

"What? No! This isn't about that!" Gray sputtered. "Listen, I could barely sleep last night, so I'm just gonna come out and say it—my devil slayer magic reawakened, and I think it has something to do with you. Do you have any idea why?"

"No," Natsu bit. But in that moment, Gray's magic wasn't the only thing acting strange. He could feel his etherious pressing against his heart, a frantic feeling that put him on edge. Maybe devil recognized devil slayer, and Natsu didn't like it. He tried to ignore it. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Don't play dumb with me." Gray stepped forward, pressing past Lucy for Natsu's space as the dragon slayer titled his chin back for confrontation.

Happy and Lucy watched, desperately hoping they would somehow avoid an incident today. Juvia didn't say a word, ready to intervene in her own way if she needed to. Another gust of wind from the door opening washed over them, and Gray backed off, displaying an uncommon level of maturity. Kinana reappeared and set their drinks down on the bar, charming them all with a smile before departing once again. Shaking his head, Gray grabbed his glass—a shot of aquavit, of all things—and downed the alcohol in one gulp. Slamming it back to the bar with a sigh, Gray looked to Juvia.

"We talked about it last night," she said. "And we couldn't think of any other explanation. All we want is answers."

"Can't give you answers that we don't have," Natsu stated blandly, taking his own drink and tossing it all back just as Gray had.

"I don't know why that could have happened," Lucy said gently. It was half true, at least. But maybe she could get some answers of her own. "But do you really think it had anything to do with Natsu?"

"Look, I'm not trying to start anything," Gray said sincerely, his hands opening and inviting. "I've just had a bad feeling ever since yesterday. I just wanted to clear the air, maybe figure out what was going on before–"

"Before what?"

Gray nearly jumped out of what little remained of his wardrobe. He turned to the new voice, a hint of irritation but also delight clenched in his teeth. Erza stood relaxed and posed by the bar, an amused smile on her face, her arms crossed lightly over her hips. Natsu startled at the sight of her, somehow missing her arrival. How long had she been standing there?

"Hey, Erza" Gray said, lingering intensity on his tongue, shaking in his voice. "When did you get back?"

"Just now." Erza chuckled. "Really now, when are you two going to stop being scared of me? We're all S-class wizards now, which means we're equals."

"Who says we're scared?" Natsu quipped.

"Welcome back," Lucy piped up, welcoming the interruption. "How did your job go?"

Erza turned to the younger woman, a smirk on her lips. "Piece of cake, if I do say so myself."

Like Laxus, Erza had befallen victim to premature greyness, though her silver stood out much more in her scarlet locks. Her temples dripped with the pale strands, framing her face and bestowing upon her a wizened appearance and matronly countenance. But otherwise Erza was still good ol' Erza—kicking ass left and right with enough time to spare for her friends. She leaned onto the bar, the small plates of her new bronze scale armor clinking together as she did. The heart kreuz of black steel on her chest glinted in the light.

"We were having a private conversation," Gray mumbled. "It's rather important."

"Is that so?" Erza puckered her lips in thought as she looked the two men up and down. Both of them tensed under her assuming gaze. "Did you finally ask him to be your best man? If so, tell him to shave that marmot off his face for the ceremony."

Both dragon slayer and ice wizard gawked at Erza, each of them feeling two different kinds of offense.

"That's not what we were talking about!" Gray exploded first. "And if you've got something to say about my facial hair then say it to my face."

"I will never ask this pervert to be my best man, and that's final!" Natsu suddenly rounded on Gray, shoving an angry finger in his face. "And no one likes your stupid beard."

"I like it," Juvia raised her hand in protest.

"You're just jealous because I can actually grow one." Gray spat.

Lucy sighed, letting the bickering continue over her head. Taking a sip of her own drink, Lucy welcomed the cold burn of the alcohol on her tongue. It was going to be a long day.

"Enough, you two," Erza snapped. Her hands shot up to grab the boys' heads, smashing them together like coconuts. Natsu and Gray reeled, dazed and staggering. Lucy saw Juvia gulp her own drink from the corner of her eye.

"And that's why they're still scared of her," Happy mumbled. She didn't disagree.

The conversation didn't get the chance to get back on track. The door to the Master's office opened, and as Laxus, Mirajane, and Freed stepped out, the guild hushed their conversations to watch. Their expressions were grim, something hard and foreboding shadowing their brows.

As Laxus stomped his way to the small wooden stage, he looked over the guild and all the eyes that stared up at him with questions and expectations. Mira wandered to the bar as Freed and the Master stood silently, waiting for all to quiet down and provide him with their undivided attention. It didn't take long—Laxus had a demanding presence and everyone knew he didn't like having his time wasted.

"I've got some bad news," Laxus spoke, his voice reverberating into the silent hall. In his tone, a hidden fury laced his words with needles. "Last night, just after sunset, Sabertooth was attacked."

The guild hall erupted into quiet murmurs and hurried whispers that piled atop each other to a dull roar. Lucy turned to Natsu, catching him looking back at her. They could see it in each other's eyes, the same silent worry and desperate hope that it wasn't another remnant of Zeref's books returned from its ashes. His fingers found hers, a touch of solace Lucy could feel in his heated pads. Freed demanded silence, and the hall faded to quiet again.

"There weren't any casualties," Laxus reported as he crossed his arms. "But they did sustain some heavy damage and many of their members were severely injured. Their own city is taking good care of them. Now, I'm sure you're all wondering how this could have happened. Given some… recent events, I can't help but feel like I should have seen this coming."

Natsu's grip tightened on Lucy's hand, a spike of fear driving though his chest like dark ice, thoughts racing through his head. The etherious, and the lost Books that hadn't burned when they were supposed to. His own fractured glass rattling and quivering against the thunderous possibilities of another demon surviving Zeref's plight.

"There's been a dark guild on the rise for some time now. I'm sure some of you have probably heard the rumors." Laxus huffed a sigh through his nose. "That guild is Ruby Manticore. It's the only known co-op wizard and mercenary guild in Fiore. They've been low profile from the start—but for some reason, they've come out of the shadows. This guild is not very big, so the fact that they had the gall to attack one of the strongest guilds in Fiore should speak for their own abilities."

More mumbles rose from the members of the guild, questions asked under breaths of uncertainty and doubt whether anybody knew anything about this unexpected threat. Indeed, some members had heard strange tales of the dark guild that was starting to gain a presence in the underground. Natsu and Lucy were relieved but wise not to show it—not another demon, or something else from a past best left forgotten. The feeling of apprehension towards this strange—and apparently powerful new enemy hung thick in the air. Laxus watched everyone with calculated eyes.

"With that said, since Sabertooth is our ally, we simply can't sit back with our thumbs up our butts and let Ruby Manticore do whatever they please." Laxus' tone darkened. "If their actions go unpunished, they might get it in their heads to attack another guild—and I don't want to take that chance of it being us. Therefore, on behalf of Sabertooth and all our other allied guilds, we are going to lay low the bastards that would dare think that they could harm our friends and not have hell to pay for it!"

Fairy Tail roared, the raised voice of every member sounding their agreement and need for justice. When war was waged on one guild, it was waged on them all.

"They might have seen the might and strength of the Tigers at Sabertooth, but their's is nothing compared to the reckoning that is coming for them." Laxus cast his eyes around the room, his confidence and compassion contaminating and intoxicating. "I will only send our most skilled wizards to take Ruby Manticore by surprise, and destroy them in one fell swoop. That'll put those dark guild wannabe's in their place. You know who you are, and you'll be representing the wrath of Fairy Tail and all our friends who have been affected by their actions. I know you won't let us down. If anybody wants to volunteer to join them, come talk to me. That is all!"

He did not need to specify who he meant—the one within the guild who had proven siege perilous in their own rights. Lucy and Natsu shared knowing gazes with Gray, Juvia, and Erza. Gajeel and Wendy also stood from their seats, nodding to Laxus. Gray watched Natsu, his own uncertainty burning in his gut like a hot coal. Natsu met his eyes, pine green clashing with abyss blue.

"I'm not done with you yet." He spoke softly in the loudness so only Natsu and Lucy could hear him. "I'll get to the bottom of this."

Lucy couldn't tell if it was a threat or a promise. Either way, his words touched left a knot below her stomach. Natsu stiffened beside her, but before he could retort in any way, Laxus' booming voice rang out once more.

"Natsu, Lucy," He called, immediately picking them out from the crowd. "My office. Now."

If Gray hadn't been suspicious before, he certainly was now. Natsu and Gray glared at each other, a distrust and judgment hanging in the space between them. Taking his hand, Lucy guided Natsu away, toward the Master's office and away from whatever bed of dark intentions was growing between the two men. Happy hopped off of the bar to follow, casting a weary glance over his shoulder. She could feel their friend's eyes on their backs. Biting her lip, Lucy wondered just how long they could keep this up, and what would happen when their secret finally did come to light.

The possibility made her skin run cold.

Chapter Text

"What the hell do you mean I'm not going?!"

"Stop shouting, idiot," Laxus grumbled, sticking a pinkie in his ear. "You're giving me a headache."

"You can't be serious!" Natsu slammed his hands against Laxus' desk. Pens and stationary rattled on the polished-wood surface. "After all the dark guilds I've destroyed, you seriously expect me to sit this one out?"

"We were there too, you know." Happy mumbled. The small cat looked up at Lucy, but her attention was somewhere else, outside the walls of the guild.

Gray's confrontation with them had been efficiently cut short, but his arcane oath had followed her. His intensity had betrayed his worry, Lucy could see that. Gray cared deeply for Natsu, a fondness that transcended the bonds of friendship and tip-toed into the realm of brotherhood—though, admittedly, he had a funny way of showing it. This didn't help her feel better, knowing that Gray had been dragged into their problem with or without good intentions.

He had fought so hard three years ago, simultaneous battlefields raging in his home and in his soul. As much as his ice was a tool that had molded itself in his practiced fist, he learned that there were limits to his power over the cold. To fall past his boundaries, to fall into the depthless vacuum of frozen darkness was only the first step into a much deeper, hungrier world of potential. Gray had reached farther than ever before during the war, unlocking hidden doors with the key of his father's last gift.

But to cross the threshold of what a man could wield with just the strength of his heart wasn't enough. Gray had to become... something else.

Lucy didn't want to put him through that again.

"You were able to use your magic back then," Freed said with a frown. He and Mira stood by Laxus, framing him in almost the same way as the grotesque that framed the doors of Kardia Cathedral. "Putting you in a situation where you would be forced to with your... circumstances, is out of the question."

Natsu growled. "You don't think I can control myself, don't you?"

"Natsu, please," Mira spoke softly, her eyes desperate. "I know how you feel, but we just can't take the risk of someone getting hurt."

"If you seriously think I would let that happen-"

"It's already happened before. Or did you forget?" Laxus bit, tone lashing. Natsu recoiled, his eyes flashing with shame. "You almost killed Lucy. If even she isn't safe from E.N.D., then no one is."

Lucy had heard enough. Her own anger flared, spurring her to her feet. "He saved my life, Laxus—and the life of a civilian. Don't act like that doesn't mean anything."

"The Leviathan was causing the problems, not Natsu," Happy crawled up Lucy's back to her shoulder, shooting a dark look at the Guild Master. "It's not fair to blame him for what happened!"

A warm touch of gratitude on Lucy's hand, Natsu's own way of showing thanks. But Laxus shook his head.

"Look, I understand that you want to help." Laxus rubbed his temple. "We all do. What happened to Sabertooth has everyone on edge, not just our guild. But something isn't right with this whole mess—Ruby Manticore has been a bottom-feeding guild for years, but suddenly they have the power and the members to hold up to Sting and Rogue? That's just strange. I don't know if it has anything to do with books or demons or what, and there's a good chance it doesn't. But for now, I want you to stay away from any situations that are less than transparent. For the time being."

"I'm tired of sitting on my ass." Natsu sneered. "At some point, I'm going to have to use my magic, and we're going to have to deal with what does or doesn't happen. Would you rather I do that here in Magnolia, or in a dark guild's hall?"

Laxus stared up at Natsu, leering at him as the other dragon slayer narrowed his eyes. He did have a point; Natsu without his magic was a terrible inconvenience, and they couldn't keep putting off the problem. While the dragon slayer wasn't vital to this mission, he was an asset.

But with his current predicament, it came down to weighing the risks of two very unfavorable outcomes—Ruby Manticore seeking vengeance if the mission failed, or E.N.D. being released on the world once more. One seemed more likely than the other, thus the final decision.

"We will address your issue soon. I promise," Laxus sighed. There was darkness beneath his eyes, too, an exhaustion so deep seated within the wrinkles of the master's face. "Porlyusica is working on something right now. But we can't wait till she's finished, and she strictly ordered that you stay out of battle. The team heads out tomorrow. As much of a pain I know this is for you, you will not be going with them. That's final."

Natsu was silent, trembling with doubt on his bared teeth. Lucy reached up a hand, quiet and succoring—but Natsu spun away from her touch and kicked his chair. The seat slid across the floor and slammed into the wall, shattering apart at the joints. With that, he stormed out of the office, leaving everyone with an uneasy feeling of guilt. Laxus sighed once more as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Just when I think things couldn't get any more complicated."

"You mustn't blame yourself," Freed gripped his shoulder, squeezing strength and reassurance into his friend. "You knew this wasn't going to be easy, but you made the right call. We can't possibly imagine what he's going through."

"I know, I know." Laxus looked up over his knuckles at Lucy and Happy. "But you probably can, right? You we're there, three years ago. You're probably as upset about this as he is."

Lucy huffed through her nose. "It bothers him more than he lets on. I think he would have loved this opportunity to prove that he's not the demon we all seem to think he is. He probably doesn't like the idea of me going on a mission without him, either."

"I'm worried about Natsu," Laxus said after a moment of silence. "But he won't listen to me. Do you think you could talk to him?"

Lucy gazed at the Master for a beat, judgment drifting in her eyes. "I understand where your decision is coming from, but I don't fully agree with it. You fear E.N.D. more than you trust Natsu, and you shouldn't. You know he would never hurt anybody. But… yes, I will talk to him."

"Thank you." He deflated, as if the relief that weighed into his words had popped a hole in his stoic façade. "If it helps, tell him that Elfman and Alzac have volunteered to help with the job. Maybe that'll set him at ease."

"Aye, we'll tell him," Happy said as he and Lucy turned to go.

They exited Laxus' suite. Natsu was gone. He had probably left the guild already—she knew he wanted to be alone when he was upset or frustrated. In the moments where his thoughts roared through his mind, he preferred quiet and isolation. He needed to blow off steam, then he would come back. He always came back.

The team for the mission, plus Elfman and Alzac, had gathered together in a hushed corner of the hall. A few other members clustered around them, those who knew anything about Ruby Manticore coming forward with information regarding their whereabouts, size, and other bits of information that had been picked up. Most of it was based on rumors, but it was all they had for now.

Levy had dug through the library in the basement, pouring over her book finds with Wendy's and Juvia's assistance. Gray, Gajeel, and Erza had a map spread out on the table, strategizing, trying to triangulate a location. They all moved in tandem with each other, each action focused and maintained, every word heard and calculated.

Lucy frowned, unable to ignore the missing piece—Natsu had every right to be here with them. It was unfair. Everything seemed to be happening all at once. The stress over the past couple of days was starting to take its toll.

"He's gonna be okay, Lucy," Happy said from her side. Lucy looked down at the little blue cat, meeting his smile. "He's Natsu, after all."

Lucy sighed, trying to remember her own resolve, and her faith in him. Nodding at Happy, they made their way over to join the planning party. She needed to take her own advice, and believe in Natsu. Even when he couldn't believe in himself.

Natsu was not the type of person to hold grudges. He challenged people to rematches, sure, though that was mostly all in good fun. He was a passionate man, but he lived by the saying of "forgive and forget". There had been one or two notable exceptions to that over the years, and in the present Natsu could count the number of real enemies he had on one hand. He was not an angry person, usually saw the silver-linings in life, understood that things didn't always go his way, and accepted the things he couldn't change.

But not this time.

Natsu kicked a stone roughly as he stomped through the streets of Magnolia. Hands shoved deep into his pockets, his feet carried him forward to no destination that he was aware of while his mind worked a jumbled mess of the things he knew and the things he wanted to forget.

The howling wind had driven the people of Magnolia from the sidewalks, leaving the dragon slayer to walk the barren road with nothing but his own worries for company. The wind whipped his hair into his face, stinging his ears with cold and needles. His jaw worked a steady rhythm back and forth, grinding through frustration and anger. He knew it would probably ache later, but he really didn't care.

"-we just can't take the risk of someone getting hurt."

He'd wanted to snap at Mirajane for that, to yell at her for the mere implication that he could ever hurt anybody. But she would know, wouldn't she? Mira wasn't a stranger to the volatile urges of darker forces, the painted glasses that made all bad decisions seem like the right ones.

What kinship he and Mira shared stopped there, though. They were not the same. Her darkness came from somewhere else, whether taken or given or unwillingly stolen. But him... he was his own darkness, something that stained him from within since a past life he couldn't remember.

Natsu wasn't sure which one was worse.

"What if the next demon that awakens is you?"

"That's not going to happen." The words slipped between clenched teeth, tasting like metal and hurt.

They didn't think he could use his magic, that he couldn't stay in control. For all he knew, this was nothing but conjecture and conspiracy. Natsu had no idea what broke the glass in the first place, whether it was the Leviathan, his flame, or something else entirely. Why did it even matter? Did Laxus really expect him to just sit idly by as his fiancé walked into danger? Lucy was strong and steadfast, and he knew she would have great back up—his friends were durable, more than capable of keeping her safe. That didn't chase away the cold doubt and uncertainty clutching at his chest.

If anything ever happened to her… Natsu huffed a sigh through his nose, warm air washing over his lips and cheeks, only to be snatched away by the wind.

He had brought himself back, with Lucy's help. He could do it again. He could protect her and everyone else.

The stone skittered several feet ahead of him, jumping unevenly across the cobblestones. A particular bounce must have hit the stone's sweet spot, and it split in two on the road. Rolling his eyes, Natsu abandoned the broken rock and kept trudging through town. He was almost at the edge of Magnolia, on the western slope that faded into the mountains. The estuary for River Grevillea was around here somewhere, feeding from Jasmine Lake out of the Protea Mountains nearby.

Natsu rubbed a hot hand down his face, trying to relax his jaw. With an absurd amount of reluctance, Natsu could admit that he understood Laxus' uncertainties. Though they had been separated for the majority of the war, Natsu knew that Laxus had faced his own share of Zeref's demons. Those encounters had left their scars. Both dragon slayers knew how dangerous the etherious could be—he could feel his own knocking on the glass, even now. But all the same, when push came to shove, were they just going to toss him in a corner? Sweep him under the rug and pretend nothing was wrong? Experience had taught him that the only way anybody could know anything for sure was by doing.

Natsu stopped in his tracks. His scarf fluttered around him in the wind, snapping and twisting like a snake.

He could do it, he thought. Looking up to the sky, he squinted against the sun and its rainbow collars. Natsu could give his magic a test right now, and finally answer the question as to what would happen. Then he could prove to Laxus that he was more than capable of carrying out this mission—or prove Laxus right, which wasn't ideal, but at least Natsu would know that his worries were sound. These were his matters, he had to take them in his own hands if he wanted to know anything for certain.

But, then again... he didn't know, maybe it was a bad idea. Out on the sea, Natsu had been alone, far away from any town or village that would get caught up in his shockwave. He was home now, a city, an innocent community, and his guild all in one place and so easy to burn to the ground. Should he take that chance for his own sake, what room for error did that leave him? Natsu looked up to the leaning sandstone buildings around him. On one side of the street, a row of shops ranging from boutique to antique to haberdashery to patisserie, and on the other side, and open park with a glittering jade pond.

If there was the slightest possibility this would all be destroyed because of his actions, then it was clear what he should do.

Yeah... yeah, he definitely wasn't going to-

"Screw this," Natsu cursed, forcing himself to stop thinking as he took off at a jog. He needed to be alone when he did this, regardless of the outcome, and Natsu knew the perfect little isolated spot. Following the estuary upstream, Natsu sprinted into the woods.

It took about ten minutes to run up to the large lake to the west of Magnolia, Jasmine Lake. The blue waters glowed an ethereal turquoise in the glare of the sun, small waves crashing on the muddy banks in the rushing wind. One side of the lake carved into the Lilac Forest, the trees growing tall and sturdy to the edge of the water. The other side was nearly bare of fauna, though, crystalized in small shores of fine sand. On a beautiful day, it was a popular picnic spot for the people of Magnolia. Now it was empty in the threat of the coming storm.

Natsu stepped onto the vacant beach, the light sting of blustering sand against his ankles. From here, he could see the thunderheads rolling in over the mountains. The storm would probably be upon them by nightfall. Plenty of time.

The air of the lake and mountains was cool on his tongue, in his nose, in his lungs, the faint beginnings of petrichor carried on the breeze. His anticipation spiked, a thrumming in his veins the black magic copied as it pulsed with his heart. It knew what he intended to do, it seemed, preparing—or maybe that was just in his head. Natsu shook himself, wriggling the jitters from his arms and spine. Either way, he wasn't turning back now.

The fire burning in his gut rose to his summon, flaring brighter at the source in his stomach. Familiar strength fell over Natsu like a cloak, draping down his shoulders and back. A shuddering sigh fell from his teeth, the warmth building in his hands. He could feel the pressure in the air change around him, rising temperatures disrupting the turbulent wind for a moment. It was like stepping into the sauna of a bathhouse; an encompassing heat that curled through his hair and seeped through the pores of his skin. To anyone else, it bordered on the edge of uncomfortable. But for Natsu, it was the start of bliss.

Raising a hand, Natsu spread his fingers and held his breath. Sparks leapt across his palm, like tiny lightning bugs captured in his grasp. A kick, a turnover, and finally a fire sprang to life, flames dancing in the breeze and licking over his fingers and knuckles. Natsu stared at the small fire for a beat, briefly captivated. Even in the glare of the sun, the handful of flames blared brightly, white and orange and yellow and all the unnamed colors found in the heart of an exploding star... and there, at the zenith of the combustion, a touch of green. His palm smoldered a bright cherry red, like iron in a forge.

No black.

Here, Natsu paused, consciously noting the inner channels of his being, the way his gut circulated the furnace of his magic like a spiraling centrifuge. That same sauna-hot feeling radiating from the marrow of his bones, from the core below his ribs. There, in the space behind his heart, a fractured window and beyond it a darkness that pressed into the glass, something desperate and starving for warmth and power—but still contained, a firewall separating the gap between what was familiar and what was devastating.

He felt fine.

Natsu smiled, a single laugh bordering on manic huffing from his teeth. The relief he felt betrayed his worry.

"Alright," Natsu whispered, tongue wetting his lips. "Time to see what I can do."

His body coiled, a practiced habit he didn't even need to think about. The small flame in his palm flared and roared, growing into a bonfire as Natsu doused his magic onto the blaze. It felt good to clench his fist around the flames, to take hold of their embers and pulsing hearts that he could almost feel like ghosts struggling in his grasp. Pressure mounted under his knuckles, kicking and jumping as if he were trying to hold onto a comet.

His body surged, following the momentum of potential energy from his feet and into his fist, and the release of it all exploded from him in a burst of light. Over the surface of the lake, the fireball cut a wake of steam and mist. The roaring flames carried a hundred feet over the water, dissipating in a brilliant flurry.

Spinning on one heel, Natsu squared off with a small, unfortunate tree that had decided to grow on the beach.

Delicate green deciduous leaves, smooth bark and budding yellow spring flowers—all helpless under his burning blow. The wood of the trunk charred, crumbling beneath Natsu's knuckles. A twinge of pain, a sharp complaint from his bruised shoulder, but nothing more. Now sporting a sizeable divot in its trunk, the tree cracked and splintered, toppling to the ground with a loud crash and puff of smoke. Small tongues of fire licked at the wood, flickering turbulently in the wind.

Oh, it felt so good to hit something, to beat a tangible thing with his frustration and worries and feeling the ache soaking out of him.

Facing the lake once more, Natsu squared his feet and inhaled deeply, expanding his lungs angst the strain of his ribs. He could feel the ignition in his chest, feel the build-up of so many sparks catching each other like a chain of explosions. Beneath the intensity, the window shuddered—the etherious trembled.

A pillar of fire beamed from his throat, climbing high into the sky, sharp and bright like his teeth. The flames soared, flaring bright against the wind, darkening the land around him. For a moment, the wind over the lake was quelled, driven away by heat and rising air pressure. His ribs strained against the vacuum in his lungs, pushing the last of the inferno from his chest. Natsu gasped, residual heat warming his throat. Bracing against his knees, he huffed desperate air for a moment. As his body settled once more with the taste of nitrogen on his tongue, the wind picked up again, howling around him.

Falling into his magic, Natsu relaxed, allowing his flames to spread. The fire jumped, traveling up his arms and across his shoulders. Natsu shivered, closing his eyes. Euphoria hit his core as the warmth engulfed him like his favorite blanket. For a small eternity, he bathed in the flames, relishing the power. It was only in moments like these when Natsu could truly feel Igneel's presence, a comforting ache in his bones that hurt as it healed.

Reluctantly, Natsu released the magic. It did not flicker out all at once, didn't snuff out in the wind. He stood tall, heart racing and blood pumping as remnants of wildfire lingered for a while, dancing as fading flames on his hands. He could feel himself coming down from the high of elevated control, and once again he turned inward.

Seconds passed, stretching into minutes. Even as the fire continued to withdraw and diminish back within the burning pool of his soul, leaving behind a fuzzy buzz as it did... nothing changed. He could feel the etherious abate too, quelled and dwindling with little more than a dull ache of vacant space.

"Oh yeah," Natsu chuckled, watching the last of the flames go out in his palm. "Take that, Laxus."

The darkness surged. The glass broke.

Lucy cradled her mug of tea, sitting alone at on the sofa in the living room of her home. The herbal scent of mint and chamomile drifted up to her nose and the warmth of the cup was soothing… but she had barely taken more than a sip of it, a deep-seated worry sitting heavy in her chest.

When she and Happy had finally come home, they were met with a letter from Master Bob of Blue Pegasus saying that they would love to make Natsu's suit for the wedding, and that he could come in for a fitting whenever he was ready. The paper was scented with tulips, and sealed with a kiss. The groom in question, however, had not been home. The storm had arrived, the intimidating gray clouds darkening the day till it almost seemed as if night had come early.

That had been almost two hours ago, and now it was raining violently, a roar of staccatos from their tiled roof drowning out her thoughts. Lucy and Happy had opted to wait and see if he would get home on his own. But as the thunder rattled the windows on the house, Lucy regretted not taking the chance to find him sooner.

The mission planning had ended on a less-than-satisfactory note. Since all they had to go off of was rumors and some vague official records Levy had found in the Library, they had been able to triangulate a position for what they hoped was the Ruby Manticore headquarters, and not just one of the outposts that were said to be all over Fiore. The trip out to the spot—located somewhere within the Juniper Hills in the south west region of the kindgom—would take about a day, and from there it was difficult to say exactly what they were going to do next.

Five hours of research and planning, and the best they could do was wing it. Didn't really inspire a lot of confidence, but Erza was hopeful.

Gray had approached Lucy, like she knew he would. Showing a bit more care with her than he had with Natsu, it was conveyed to Lucy that Gray was simply concerned, and that he really wasn't trying to accuse Natsu or Lucy of anything. Lucy, though she understood where he was coming from, had all but begged Gray to wait, promising that she would provide an explanation when she could. He was unsatisfied with that answer, and she couldn't blame him for that—but he trusted Lucy, so he and Juvia parted ways with her, heading home along with everyone else as the first raindrops began to fall.

It wasn't fair to Gray, she thought to herself for the umpteenth time. Wasn't fair to Natsu, either. Lucy would never admit it, but the selfish part of her would spit and say what about her? How were they supposed to get married like this?

Those thoughts made Lucy cringe, honestly. She knew that if she ever went down the bridezilla path, her friends would wish for E.N.D.'s return, just to have something that they could handle.

"I'm sure he'll be okay," Happy called down from his nest in the tree, stirring Lucy from her thoughts. "He probably fell asleep somewhere."

Lucy smiled at the cat. "I'd be very impressed and a little concerned if he was able to sleep through this… but I just can't shake the feeling that something must have happened."

"Aye, me too," Happy sighed. He turned to look out the window. "I won't be able to fly in this storm… otherwise I'd be out there looking for him."

Lucy nodded, took a deep breath, and stood from her seat with her mug left untouched.

"Alright, I guess I'll just have to go out there and find him." Lucy was already zipping up one of her boots as she spoke.

"Do you even know where to start?"

"Not really, but I'll start at the guild. It'll pretty much be guess and check from there." She shrugged. "He couldn't have gone far, otherwise he'd tell us, right?"

Happy frowned, but didn't say anything. He didn't have to. Lucy twirled her rain jacket around her, zipped up the coat to her chin, and headed for the front door, giving a salute to Happy.

"Alright, wish me luck!" Lucy put her hood up. "If I'm not back in an hour, remember I want pink roses at my funeral."

The door burst open before her hand, the handle and hinges jumping on the frame, gusts of wind and rain bursting into the house. Lucy flinched back, the photograph flash of lightning imprinting on the back of her eyes, illuminating the silhouette of person in the doorway. As she peered through the rain and darkness, her shock quickly turned to relief.

"Where the hell have you been?" Lucy stepped back. Natsu trudged into the house, dripping wet and leaving a growing trail of cold water. Closing the door behind him, the cacophony of the storm cut to a dull roar. He hadn't answered. "Well?"

Then she noticed the holes in his clothes, the edges singed with black char and diluted soot coating his skin beneath. Lucy tried not to let her thoughts rush so quickly to what she knew was true: he had used his magic.

Natsu had only taken a few stumbling steps into their home before he keeled forward, catching himself on his knees. His breathing—ragged, quick, desperate, like he had run for his life—rivaled the tumultuous rain on their roof. He was trembling, she noticed. Happy fluttered down to her side, following her cautious approach.

"Natsu," Lucy spoke slowly and quietly. "What happened?"

He didn't respond, shivering where he stood as water dripped from his soaked form onto the floor. Lucy stepped into his space, ducking her face into his line of sight. Her heart flinched, worry and fear already planting seeds in her stomach.

No sooner had she seen his eyes—wide, frantic, but definitely his—did he sweep her into his arms, lifting her off her feet and gushing the air from her lungs. He held her tightly for a long beat, like he was trying to drink in the touch of her against him. His chest expanded against hers, loosed in a shaky moan that toed the line between pleasure and pain moments later. Lucy peered over her shoulder to Happy. The blue exceed just shrugged.

"Hey, are you okay?" She asked again, tone soft. She managed to force her hands up between them, planted firmly on his chest. He set her down as she pushed him back to look at him. "Why are you shaking?"

He stared at her, unblinking. Something that Lucy couldn't quite pin down lurked there in his gaze; felicity, but maybe also fear. She was going to ask again when he leaned in quickly and kissed her. Though his lips were wet and cold, his breath was warm. Tenderly, Natsu's hand found the back of her head, deepening the kiss as he slanted his lips to hers. Lucy, though confused, followed the gesture, following him as he pulled back and kissed her again. Beneath his ruined wardrobe, she could feel how tense and knotted his muscles were. For a few moments, Natsu and Lucy stayed in their own world, a small puddle growing on the floor. Lucy broke away from him, gazing up into his face and hoping her concern wasn't so evident on her face. Natsu chased her lips, lingering in that calm world of theirs a beat longer, then opened his eyes.

His body heaved under her hands, and all at once his face dropped into despair—the remorseful arch of his eyebrows, the panicked frown on his lips. He clutched at his hand, and for the first time that his thumb was angled oddly, inflamed and bruising. Lucy's heart sank.

Natsu finally spoke. "I have to tell you something."

Chapter Text

The storm was loud, violent, and terrifying—a monster with no teeth or claws, only a sweeping dread that any moment would render a home to ruin. Magnolia was restless, its people anxious in their beds and its streets and canals overflowing with relentless rain that turned into hail sometime around midnight. Howling wind shouted through the torrential downpour from the sky. Lightning and thunder gave sight and voice to the storm, a chill seeping through walls, windows, and under doors with curling fingers. Trees twist and bend, creaking against their own straining foundations—for some, it proved to be too much. The world had turned angry, taking shape and coming to life from the rage of the storm.

Luckily, the tree that grew through Natsu's and Lucy's house was very old, had weathered harder, angrier storms and catastrophes longer than a single dark night. It would take a lot more to bring it down. That didn't stop Happy from abandoning his nest among the branches under the roof in the dead of night, crawling in bed with Natsu and Lucy in search of warmth and comfort. He was curled up by Natsu's hip, small paws kneading into his thigh to leech some heat from the dragon slayer. He didn't mind—it wasn't as if Natsu was cold. He couldn't sleep, anyway.

It wasn't the storm that was keeping him awake, though.

Natsu stared out of the window of their home, watching the strobe of lightning flicker in the near and far distance, listening to the rolling thunder crash across the sky like a rogue wave. As a child, Igneel had once told him that thunder and lightning were nothing to be afraid of—which Natsu wasn't, obviously—but simply dragons dancing in the clouds, their joy and glee so clangorous that it echoed down from the heavens.

"Is that where dragons go when they die?"

"Be still, my son. Now is the time for sleep. Let me sing you into your dreams, and when you wake, I will be here."

Lucy stirred in her slumber, flinching as a concussion of thunder cracked into their home. A small moan, drenched in sleep and swallowed by exhaustion, followed Lucy as she curled toward Natsu and flopped back to her pillow. In the near dark, Natsu stared at her; blonde hair splayed over her pillow and face, her hand resting by her chin, the diamond of her ring a small, single star in the black. Natsu reached to tuck her hair out of her face—

A twinge of pain in his hand, something tight that pulled through his thumb down to his elbow. The bed of his thumbnail was bruised a deep mauve, similar to his shoulder—or, it would have been. That bruise had vanished. Natsu faltered, letting his hand drop back to the bed, and turned back to the window.

It still scared him, what had happened out by the lake.

Like a desperate fist, hellfire and armageddon punched through the glass, through his heart, surging across the gaps into the well of his soul. The dying flames in his palm flared, warm dragon colors burning into cold, dark, arcane black.

Natsu grunted as his neck spasmed painfully, volts of electricity and panic jerking through his chest, ripping into his fingers and legs. Natsu gagged on the shock that choked his throat, falling to his knees. His hands hit the wet sand of Jasmine Lake with a boiling hiss. As his ribs tightened into a vice around his lungs, Natsu growled through the wrecking, furious pressure that stormed through the channels of his heart.

Filling up the empty space his fire had left behind, etherious curse seeped into and between the cracks of his being, tearing and ripping, howling and roaring. Heat, burning and penetrating, not like the sauna-hot comfort from before, and Natsu could feel the building eruption. He couldn't breathe, could barely think—only tremble as the curse flooded him, seizing his muscles, seizing his core with deep claws and rows of serrated rage. Black magic ensnared his mind like barbed wire, his spirit shredding, chewed to pieces between gnashing teeth of hate and pitch.

His skin crackled under the black flames, the curse consuming him like tinder from his fists to his shoulders and into his hair, singeing his neck and screaming into his ears. Natsu wanted to scream, to run into the waters of Jasmine Lake and let the depths take him. Everything was too tight, tight with pain and fear and he was helpless, stunned against the curse as his life dimmed like a candle in a hurricane.

Maybe by some stroke of fate, or perhaps sheer dumb luck, Natsu had remembered the tree.

The wood still burned, flickers of small orange and blue flames licking at the dented trunk—the wind, though, hadn't cared about Natsu's destruction, snuffing the dwindling fire out little by little. At the time, he had no idea if it was going to work... but he had to do something—anything.

Thorny red veins of hate and ire pricked the edge of his vision, and still Natsu had scrambled toward the tree. Falling against the prone trunk, burning embers seared into his clothes and skin, smearing soot on his hands and arms. Natsu sank his teeth into the coals, splinters bursting on his lips and tongue as he consumed the dying flames. It was a messy ordeal, burning down his throat and up his nose—but the small bits of heat were enough to jumpstart the fire in Natsu's belly.

Within the well of his core, a spark—something that caught and spread, growing from the depths of his potential. Familiar heat pooled in the depths of Natsu's stomach, a flame roaring and snapping that answered to his desperate beckoning. When magic and curse collided, where the splinters of glass and resolve sliced into his bedrock, he knew he had made a mistake. Pain bloomed in his veins, in his bones, in all the spaces within himself that were suddenly too crowded and cramped to hold the rising powers fighting for dominance in his flesh. Natsu howled, a war raging within his body—light against dark, and his heart was the battlefield.

Searing coals choked in his throat, pricks of hot needles swarmed into his blood, clustered into the crooks where muscle met bone. Cracking flames danced sporadically over his body, flashes of pitch black and bright copper, eating at his clothes and hair. The stench of his own burning skin stung Natsu's nose, smoke burned his eyes. It was too much—too much power altogether for his body to contain.

Fire and smoke, magic and curse, dragon and demon all tearing him apart from the inside out.

He didn't know when the last of his strength left him, when he fell in a gasping, twitching heap on the sand. Only that, as a vague notice through the blank storm of his thoughts, the rolling thunderclouds had begun to block out the sun. He could feel the buildup of energy at his core-

-there was nothing he could do but wait for the inevitable implosion.

His tears didn't come this time, chased away by the agony, anguish, and hate.

Something gave away-

-a bright light-

-to scream as-

-cut out.

Darkness took him.

He remembered the nothing that followed, endless and consuming.

.

.

.

Past the stars and the sun, through the dreams of my soul...

There's a place in the clouds, where the wild dragons go...

.

.

.

Cool raindrops hit his face, touches of chill that fractalled through the in-between haze of oblivion and revival.

Everything rushed back into place, smacking his chest and stomach, jolting into the base of his spine and the bottom of his skull.

Natsu's body surged without him, jerking against his stupor to sit up as his shocked lungs greedily swallowed air. A ragged cough shook his breast, wet in his throat and tasting like old coins. His limbs were sore and stiff, his blood whined in his ears. For a couple beats, Natsu blearily swayed where he sat, trying to remember how to breath. His mind was slow to return to him, his thoughts swirling like paper in the wind. Eventually, his heart left his ears, and the ache in his chest quelled to an itch.

Then, he looked around.

The land was scorched, burned away to crumbling ash, the felled tree nothing more than a husk of black wood. Even the sand of the beach had been charred black, melted into a plane of sickly green glass. The destruction spanned around him, a crater of death with Natsu at the center. It was like a bomb had gone off. Panicked, Natsu's hands patted at his skin, searching and expecting to touch massive burns and sizzling flesh—but he was unharmed, whole and healthy. His hair, where it should have been shriveled and grey, was restored. Even the bruise on his shoulder was gone... perhaps it had never been. Only the black soot on his hands and the singed holes in his clothes remained to tell the tale of what had happened.

Rain, a slight drizzle but building, splattered briskly on the back of his neck. Natsu could hear the rumble of the downpour growing louder, like a prowling monster creeping closer. Lightning cracked over the lake. Thunder bellowed from the heavens.

Natsu had run, fear kicking from his heels as he scrambled to his feet. His legs had forgotten themselves, wildly crashing through the dense brush of the darkening forest. He remembered slamming against a tree on unsteady feet, jamming his hand oddly against the rough bark. Pain shot up his arm, but it was enough to jumpstart his awareness and carry him home.

Now, as he laid awake in bed puzzling it over, Natsu realized what a miracle it was that he was still alive.

Magical overload was a serious matter—the body could not hold more magic than it was meant to, not without years of hard work and training. Many wizards died before their time from taking in too much power. Somehow, he had not only managed to come away from the whole ordeal unscathed, but his make up and orders had been reset. The cracked barrier had been restored, a fractured separation behind his heart between the familiar warmth of a dragon's love and the roaring, pulling void.

Natsu couldn't explain why it had happened. He wasn't going to count on it happening again.

But he knew one thing: he couldn't use his magic. He really was useless.

Lucy turned in her sleep. Natsu watched her as she rested uneasily. She twitched and fidgeted, small whimpers and half-mumbles that mingled with the pounding rain.

She had listened intently as he spoke, as he tried and often failed to explain what had happened. His own shame choked in his throat, stealing his words and his dignity away. He couldn't—wouldn't—look her in the eye, so he fixed his gaze to his hands. In his disastrous flight from the lake, he had dislocated his thumb, now swollen and tinted an alarming shade of yellow and red. Lucy helped him reset it, both of them cringing as it popped back into place with a muffled crunch.

He apologized to Lucy, and words tumbled from him before he could stop himself. Mostly, he said he was sorry, sorry for being reckless, sorry for throwing away the consequences, sorry for what would have—should have been his own rapid and tragic demise. If only he had known, if only he had just stopped to think... he had already experienced the nature of the etherious twice before. Only a fool would have expected anything different.

Lucy had hugged him, her thin arms trembling around his shoulders. She thanked him, that he hadn't kept this from her. To his greatest surprise, she didn't blame him for anything; for wanting to know what would happen and how to handle it, for trying to find a way. His hands cradled her shivering body as she pulled away, her eyes glistening with tears.

She'd smiled at him. Now they knew, she had said, and though he had managed to pull through by the skin of his teeth, it was probably best if he didn't do it again anytime soon. Natsu could only agree, trying to return her smile. Only then did Lucy start to silently weep, shaken by his tale... that she had almost lost him.

Natsu comforted her as they sat on the sofa in their living room. Happy had been silent, taking in his words and secluded into his own thoughts. As Lucy cried into him, Natsu looked over her shoulder to his small friend, teary sorrow brimming in the blue cat's eyes. Happy did not seek consolation with Natsu and Lucy, simply sat alone, his gaze distant and lost, thunder rumbling through the roof.

Lucy cried herself to sleep in his arms. He carried her to bed. Happy stayed behind. Natsu returned a short while later to check on him, but his little friend had already taken solitude in his nest. Sometime in the night, he had crawled across the blankets and curled against Natsu, little paws gently grasping at his leg. As they all lay together in bed, the storm raged on, as unrelenting as the curse lurking within his heart and the thoughts in his head.

Natsu rolled toward Lucy, reaching once more. His chest pressed to her back like a fitted puzzle piece, Natsu pressed his mouth into her hair, one arm curving over her hip. Lucy shifted at the touch, her hand instinctively finding his. Natsu took a deep breath and relished the scent of his fiancé: a gentle creek in the forest, a blazing hearth in the winter, and all the other things that meant hope and home.

Lucy was so special. She had no idea. After all these years, she was still smiling, still fighting, and still up for any adventure that he might drag her into. In her own amazing way, Lucy always pulled through. She was the unstoppable force behind Natsu's everlasting drive.

He didn't know what his life would have become without her.

Exhaustion finally pulled Natsu into sleep a couple hours before dawn. As the storm broke, as the light of the morning sun trickled through the thick clouds that lingered in the sky, a quiet serene settled over Magnolia. With the prolonged darkness, life was put on hold for a little while. Waking up was a slow, reluctant process.

When Natsu had finally managed to pull himself from the clutches of sleep, he was alone in bed. The world outside was grey and bland, like the storm had washed away the color of everything. Sitting up, Natsu stretched, feeling the pull of his muscles from the soles of his feet to the soreness in his fingers. Tossing the blankets aside, he stood and groggily padded to the kitchen, where Lucy was already seated at the kitchen table next to the window, hair tied up in a loose bun and wearing her largest, comfiest sweater. She stared out into the grey world, sucking on her finger like she always did when she was thinking.

"Mornin'," Natsu mumbled. "Where's Happy?"

Lucy looked up at him, pulled her sleeves over her hands and tucked them into her armpits.

"Outside picking berries. He's laid claim to all the rest since we already had our share, so he says." Lucy stared at Natsu as he slouched into the other chair, hands rubbing at his eyes. "Did you sleep last night?"

Natsu sighed, trying to shake the night off of his head. Crossing his arms on the table, he rested his chin on his elbows, speaking around a yawn. "Not really. I'm surprised you did, what with all that racket going on outside."

"I hadn't been sleeping well lately." Lucy bit her lip. "I guess it finally caught up with me."

Natsu blinked at her, seeing the signs of her fatigue now that he was looking for them; the darkness under her eyes, the messy curl of her hair. Natsu reached a hand across the table towards her, his own form of a silent apology. Lucy didn't hesitate, loosely tangling her fingers in his. Her hands were icy in his palm.

Something about her chill rankled at Natsu: he was supposed to keep her warm. Yet here they were, her being cold and him being too afraid to provide her with heat for what it might unleash.

They sat in silence for a while, the greyness fading outside as the morning grew stronger. Natsu almost fell asleep right there at the table, eyelids too heavy to keep open. Inhaling sharply, Natsu blinked himself awake once more. Wiping at his cheeks with his thumb, Natsu moaned and looked up at Lucy. She huffed a small laugh, something playful and mischievous hanging from her smile.

"You look cute when you sleep."

Natsu snickered. "Creeper." Stretching his arms over his head, ignoring the ache in his hand, he stood and turned to his pantry of food. "Coffee?"

"Coffee." Lucy agreed.

Happy had wandered into the kitchen shortly after Natsu had poured their beverages. Milk for him, sugar and cream for Lucy. When the blue exceed jumped onto the table, he procured another cup strictly for milk.

"Hey Happy," Natsu greeted, carrying the drinks back to the table. Happy's paws and lips were stained purple, his little pink tongue insistently and fruitlessly licking at his fur. "You enjoy those berries?"

"I mean, it's not a fresh fish," Happy said, smacking his chops. "But were they tasty. Good idea, Lucy."

Lucy winked at Happy over her coffee mug, sipping her drink. Natsu raised his mug to his lips, the bitter taste washing the night away.

"So, about this mission…"

Natsu stiffened, sputtering. Hot coffee dashed across his nose.

"We're meeting at the train station in a little while. We'll be heading to Gazania. If what the rumors say are true, then the Ruby Manticore main headquarters will be hidden somewhere within the Juniper Hills."

"Juniper Hills, huh?" Natsu looked into the dark liquid of his mug. "That's a pretty dangerous place, even without a dark guild supposedly hiding there."

"Which makes sense. If you're a dark guild causing a lot of trouble, you hide in a place where nobody wants to go. We have to check it out."

Natsu said nothing. Lucy could see the small spark of frustration in his squint, in his hands as he tightened his grip on his mug.

"But you know I'll be okay," She continued, speaking softly. "Gray, Erza, and everyone else won't let anything happen to me. Elfman and Alzac will be joining us, too."

"Don't forget that I'll be there!" Happy said.

Natsu stared into his coffee, through the table. "I know. It's… just that I… nevermind."

"What?" Lucy asked, touching his hand. "What is it?"

"I should be going with you."

"Natsu, I-"

"Yeah yeah, I know. You don't have to say it." The dragon slayer looked up at her, his eyes tired, but calm. "It just sucks to be left out of an awesome mission like this. But clearly me going along is not a good idea. As much as I would like to think that I can be just as bad ass without my magic, this isn't the time to test that." Natsu smiled, a tiny bit of strength to share. "So make sure you beat up my share of bad guys for me, okay?"

Lucy's own smile bloomed across her face. Natsu had truly grown, a wiser and braver man than ever he was.

"Those bastards won't see me coming. For the record, though, I know you can be just as bad ass without your magic."

Natsu chuckled, leaning back in his chair and looking out the window. The clouds were starting to dissipate, letting the sun through in small rays.

"It's gonna be so boring while you guys are gone." He quirked his lips in thought. "What am I gonna do? It's not like I can go on jobs."

"Oh, that reminds me-" Lucy stood, disappearing into the living room for a quick beat, then returning with a pink envelope. "Blue Pegasus sent us a message. Master Bob will do your suit fitting, but you need to go to their guild. You could do that while we're away."

Natsu stared at the pink envelope, his face less than thrilled.

"What? Master Bob isn't that bad."

"It's not Master Bob that I'm worried about."

"Giving Ichiya and his lackeys any excuse to touch you all over is never a pleasant thought," Happy mumbled to Lucy.

Natsu groaned, his head thumping his despair into the table.

Gray and Juvia were the first to arrive at the train station, the terminal nearly empty in the early hours. Like most of the citizens of Magnolia, they hadn't gotten much sleep last night… but it wasn't the storm that had kept them awake, either. Gray of course didn't mind the chill and thought the white-noise static of rain and thunder was actually rather soothing. But storms had the opposite effect on Juvia. Gray wasn't really sure what it was—something about the rain, or thunder, or perhaps the humidity made the woman more energetic than usual. Being alone together in their dark bedroom left few ideas for how to spend that energy. Gray didn't mind—Juvia made sure that he wore his turtleneck shirt, though. For the sake of his decency, she had said.

Although the sky was overcast, the chance of a second shower seemed slim. They waited sleepily in the hall of the station, Juvia dozing lightly on Gray's chest, small hums of content as she wavered between asleep and awake. Gray stared up at the ceiling, his weary mind slowly drifting from one thought to the other. Scratching his hairy chin, his thoughts turned back to Natsu for the umpteenth time. Although his devil slayer magic hadn't acted up on its own since a couple of days ago, the shock of it had followed Gray. His thumb numbly stroked Juvia's arm, remembering yesterday.

He could admit that he hadn't handled his worries as gracefully as he would have liked. Thank the gods for Lucy, her patience and kindness a boon for Gray's own belligerence. She had told him that she would explain things as soon as she knew what to explain about. Her words had left him unsatisfied, but the plea in her voice was enough for him to leave it alone. Even so, the fact that Natsu wasn't going to be on this mission was a big red flag—you simply don't go on a demolition job and choose not to bring your wrecking ball.

"Hey."

Juvia stirred awake as Gajeel and Panther Lily shambled to their bench. To say that Gajeel looked tired would be an understatement. The guy was probably going off of nothing but fumes and scrap metal.

"You okay?" Gray asked, standing. "You look like shit."

"Yeah, well, someone was driving me and Levy up the wall all night because of some stupid thunder," Gajeel muttered, a sidelong glare thrown to Lily. The black exceed simply crossed his arms and huffed in irritation. "I decided to let her sleep in this morning. No need for her to see us off."

"That's kind of you," Juvia said. "And you can sleep on the train out."

Gajeel winced, skin paling with sweat and anticipation. "As nice as that would be, there's no way that's gonna happen."

Erza arrived on time, clearly well rested. Gray didn't know how she pulled that off, but he wasn't surprised. Elfman strolled into the station not soon after, a large, over-stuffed pack on his shoulders. Evergreen had packed it for him, he explained, and he hadn't been paying attention. Wendy and Carla came later, and finally came Alzac with his family to see them all off.

"Who else are we waiting for?" The sharp-shooter asked.

"Lucy and Happy, I believe." Carla looked around. "I'm almost surprised they aren't here yet."

"Should we send someone over to their house to check on them?" Lily asked.

Erza shook her head. "Let's give them a few more minutes. We can't leave without them, anyways."

Gray let a span of silence pass before he spoke, dropping his voice low. "Hey Erza, do you know why Natsu's not coming on this mission?"

Erza rolled her eyes in thought. "Honestly, I have no idea. I guess I just thought it had something to do with the wedding."

Of course she did, Gray thought bleakly. It was all Erza thought about. She was the only person as hyped for Natsu and Lucy's wedding apart from the bride and groom themselves.

"I heard that Natsu isn't allowed to use his magic for some reason. Master's orders," Bisca spoke up. Gray and Erza turned to her, a mild, unwelcome surprise tight in his stomach. "I overheard Mira and Freed talking about it. But it was a private conversation and I hate to eavesdrop, so that's all I got."

"I see," Erza mumbled, as troubled as Gray felt. "I wonder what happened."

Gray said nothing. He was trying not to jump to conclusions, to assume the worst with so little information. But if the shoe fits...

"Hey guys, sorry we're late!"

Lucy and Happy trotted through the station, waving at their waiting friends. To Gray's shock, Natsu followed closely behind them.

"I thought you weren't coming on this mission," Elfman said. "Did you change your mind?"

Natsu shook his head. "Nah, I'm still bailing. I'm just here to see Lucy and Happy off. I gotta go in to Blue Pegasus tomorrow for a suit fitting."

"Well then, since we're all here, we might as well head out," Erza said. She waved everybody toward the platform gates. "It's a long ride, so we won't reach our destination till nightfall."

So they packed up and moved from the hall to the ticket booth and finally to the platform. The everyday crowd had begun to filter in, buzzings of life filing the station. As the first train pulled in, steam and smoke hissed onto the platform. A line of night riders shambled off the train, hair and clothes messy from a sleepless night in the moving car. One by one, they boarded the train. Wendy and Gajeel, with no certain amount of effort to conceal their misgivings, grumbled through the doors and sagged in their seats.

Gray looked over his shoulder to Natsu and Lucy as they lingered behind, following him like ghosts through the clouds and steam. Something hung in the air around them, something more than just a bad night's sleep. His right arm twitched, a twinge like biting agitation that ached in his marrow and tightened his fingers into claws.

"It's okay."

Tearing his eyes from Natsu and Lucy, Gray watched Juvia take his hand, raised to her lips and gently kiss his knuckles, her small fingers massaging loose circles into his palm.

"What's okay?"

"To be worried about your friends." Her blue eyes danced past him. Lucy spoke quietly to Natsu, him nodding to her words as Happy hugged his arm. Gray had never seen the dragon slayer look so morose, never seen Lucy hold such trepidation in her brows as she gently cupped his face. "I know it's been bothering you. You can't force them to let you help."

"I know," Gray sighed, squeezing her hand as they boarded the train. "It's what I don't know that scares me."

"That's okay, too. When they're ready, they'll tell you." Juvia looked out the window. They watched Lucy and Natsu embraced, a tight hug that seemed so desperate and so... final. "You'll need to be ready, too."

"Do you speak from experience?" Gray asked her, a slight tease in his words.

Juvia shrugged. "I've had years of practice."

In that moment, a shrill whistle echoed through the station: the final boarding call. When Lucy and Happy had yet to board the train, Gray stood and wandered to the door, hanging out of the cabin between the cars.

"Hey Lucy, Happy," he called. "The trains about to leave. We should get going."

Lucy nodded, wiping small tears from her lashes. Standing on her tip-toes, Lucy leaned into Natsu, a kiss on his brow that didn't seem to last as long as it was supposed to. He rubbed her arm warmly, straightened the straps of her pack on her shoulders, and gently ushered her to the train. As she and Happy ducked past Gray, the faintest hint of a frown lingered on her lips, a shadow of regret hanging from her chin. Gray turned to follow Lucy, bowing his head into the cabin—when Natsu called out to him.

His friend watched Lucy through the windows, following her as she moved through the train, sitting with Wendy and Erza and a small, cloaking misery.

"Take care of her, will you?" Natsu blinked at Gray, his eyes pleading, voice thick with unnamed emotions. "Bring her back to me?"

Gray's arm twitched again. This time, however, he didn't let it linger. In this span of heart beats, whatever was going on with Natsu wasn't important. In this moment, Natsu was just a man asking a friend—a brother—to keep the woman he loved safe from harm. It was times like these that Gray had to remind himself that however much he and Natsu may have clashed, he still trusted Gray with unfaltering faith... and Gray believed the same in him.

Nothing was going to change that.

"Like you even have to ask," Gray said. He ducked into the cabin and closed the door.

Natsu, Bisca, and Asuka stood on the platform waving goodbye as the train rolled out of the station. When the locomotive was but a line on the landscape, Bisca smiled at him.

"You headed to the guild? We'll walk with you, if you'd like."

"Thanks, but I think I'm just gonna wander over there on my own." Natsu tried to smile. It didn't feel like he succeeded.

"Alright. If you get bored while Lucy's gone, don't be afraid to hang out with us! I'm sure Asuka and the twins would love to keep you company."

"Yeah!" Asuka wiggled by her mother's side, excited and beaming. "Sonya and Byanka have been wanting to meet you for a long time."

He shared the little girl's grin, this time with more success. "I'll definitely consider it. See you guys later."

His smile dropped the moment Bisca and her daughter were gone. His stomach felt empty, not in a sense of hunger, but that same emptiness before an avalanche broke down a mountain—a hard stillness where everything seemed to hold it's breath. Natsu wanted to believe that everything would be fine, to believe in the strength of Lucy and his friends. It was like being asked to believe in the tooth fairy again.

With a hot stone of concern sitting heavy in his chest, Natsu left the train station alone.

The trees of Juniper Hills grew tall and thick, a canopy of leaves blocking out the sunlight and darkening the interior woods. The earth below was barren, large twisting roots and dried needles a treacherous and painful ground covering. Only the sparse scatterings of pale green Juniper bushes brought any semblance of color to the bleak world, but offered little in the way of nutrition. The creatures that inhabited this forest were hardened, carnivorous, ruthless, driven to predation with the lack of vegetation. It was a survival of the fittest kind of world, unsafe for any wary traveler or unprepared explorer. Countless unfortunate souls had entered the forest and lost more than just their way.

There was a path, only obvious to those who knew it was there. At the end of the path was a single structure, a small compound as hard and treacherous as the forest around it. Thick stone walls, reinforced windows, spiked merlons and battlements spoke volumes for the structure's defense. It was here that Ruby Manticore resided; within the darkness and danger, within and without.

Two figures stood on the roof of the hall; one was massive, a hulking brute of a man, while the other was small and femininely petite. They watched the forest around them with an aer of boredom. The call of some predatory bird echoed through the trees.

"They're coming for us."

The one who hadn't spoken looked to the one who did.

"How can you be so sure?" They paused before continuing. "Is it because we attacked the wrong guild?"

The other cocked their head. "They weren't the wrong guild—merely a stepping stone to our true goal. If everything we have been told about them is true, then they will be coming for us, very soon."

A sigh. "If you say so, Master Konza."

"You should know better than to doubt me, Master Marlow… to doubt him." A growl, low, reverberating through something that might not have been entirely human. "Get out of my sight. They are coming, and we need to be ready."

Chapter Text

The air stank of conflict and secrets. Even up in the trees, Gray could feel the hardness of the forest, a stale weight that clung to his skin. The gray bark of the tree flaked under his hands and feet, splintering into his palms as he crouched among the foliage. Even the trees had adapted to the harshness, razor sharp needles longer than human fingers. More than once already, they had drawn Gray's blood, slicing thinly like glass as he climbed higher into the canopy.

Why did these trees have to be so damn big?

Huffing, Gray dragged himself up, fighting against gravity and the bark biting into his bare chest as he heaved onto the wide branch. A bronze hand dipped into the corner of his vision, palm open and inviting. He took it, allowing Erza to pull him the rest of the way. Her hand on his shoulder steadied his feet beneath him, an allowing moment for him to catch his breath.

"I hate this place," he mumbled, brushing flecks of wood from the hairs on his chin.

Gajeel snickered from his own space within the needles, unbothered thanks in no small part to his iron skin. The three exceeds took shelter beneath him, curled low under his chest. Next to the dragon slayer, Alzac laid on his belly, peering through the sights of his borrowed rifle.

"I'm not very fond of it either," Erza scowled, armored fingers grazing a hairline cut on her cheek. "The sooner we get this over with, the sooner we can go home. Alzac?"

He focused his eye to the scope, pressing the stock into the gap of his shoulder. The dense tree tops of Juniper Hills left little light to filter through to the forest floor, and so the woods lingered in a perpetual twilight that neither served nor hindered its denizens. Even so, Alzac had a sharp eye, and through the branches and twigs and needles, he saw the large, hunched figure of a man lurking within the tangled roots.

"Elfman's in position."

"And Lucy and Wendy?"

The gun shifted, sights adjusted. It was easy to pick out Lucy's blonde hair through the trees, even when she and the young dragon slayer crouched within the shadowed washout beneath a dying tree.

"Yes, ma'am."

"Everything is ready to go," Gray whispered to Erza. Juvia was nowhere in sight, but he knew she was out there, waiting for the silence to break. "This isn't going to be easy. You know that, right?"

"Nobody said it would be," she said, following his eyes to the dark structure below them. "Let's get ready."

Finding the Ruby Manticore guild had been surprisingly easy. They had set out the day after arriving in Gazania with the heart of Juniper Hills as their destination and no real idea for what exactly they were looking for—winging it, like that always seemed to do. The woods were crawling with large beasts, dangerous animals, hungry predators both above ground and below—each step they took, every breath huffed into the stagnant air was a disturbance for some creature to pinpoint it's prey. This was not a time when experience would see them through. Rumors could only get them so far.

As it turned out, that problem solved itself. They stumbled onto the guild, in a very literal sense, almost completely by accident; the high redstone walls surrounding what must have been the main headquarters hardly blended with the colorless landscape. It all stood out like a drop of red paint upon a canvas of gray. Even more confusing, why a dark guild would go through the trouble of placing their hall in a blood thirsty wood only to leave it so blatantly out in the open.

Then they actually saw the building, peering down at it from the unstable foliage of a nearby tree, and they realized why it hadn't been hidden very well; it didn't need to be.

The hall had been built like a fortress. Perhaps, in a past life, it has served a different purpose; maybe as a prison, or a bunker. The painted symbol of Ruby Manticore—a hexagonal cut jewel, encompassed by a scorpion's tail—confirmed they had found what they were looking for. Thick walls, reinforced doors, and barricaded windows—it was a wonder whether this building was meant to keep dangerous creatures out, or violent wizards and mercenaries in.

There was one vulnerability that the architect had not taken into account. The roof hadn't been fortified, leaving the whole structure with a significant lack of protection from above. That might not have been a problem, under normal circumstances. But with the towering trees and dark canopy, it had been all too simple to climb to a high vantage point and scope out the layout of what lay behind the walls and devise a plan.

The Ruby Manticore guild was split in two, connected by a narrow passageway. The structure closest to the bolted gates was larger than anything else—where the main hall was, if the builder had any common sense. The roofing was simple shingles and tarp in a rustic façade, papier-mache in their hands. No one could say what the other, smaller outbuilding was for, but if they had to guess, it might have just been storage.

It would be checked out anyway—no room for slip ups.

The hall was only large enough to house a couple hundred people. There was no real way of determining what their numbers were, though. They hadn't seen anyone coming and going, no signs of life or people that told them anything of the kind that may have called the keep home. The place could be entirely abandoned for all they knew.

Gray huffed through his nose. Something in his stomach twisted against his nerve, dull and uncertain. The soft touch of Happy's paws alighted on his shoulders, hesitant but determined.

"Stay on your guard, and watch each other's backs." Erza said as Carla dug her paws between the plates of her armor. Alzac looked up at her, gun prepped and ammo set out beside him. "I don't want any accidents."

"Speak for yourself," Gajeel tossed a smirk to Pantherlily over his shoulder.

Gray would have tried to find his own humor, if only the dither in his chest would allow it. Even after so many years, the intense anticipation of an upcoming brawl never really went away. Erza said nothing, her dark gaze trained on the hall below, distant anger hiding within the set of her jaw. A slight breeze, carrying neither chill nor warmth, played at her red and silver hair.

It was now or never.

Gray leapt from the branches. For a moment of weightless suspense, he hung in the air. Then his stomach dropped, and he plummeted through the needles.

Happy grasped the fabric of his jacket, the drag from his wings guiding Gray's descent. Erza and Gajeel fell with him. For a brief moment, they existed on the same level as the eagles and hawks that roosted in the canopy, wicked talons and serrated beaks, swooping down on unsuspecting prey. Alzac, alert and focused, heaved a releasing sigh and started to count the heartbeats between his breaths.

They didn't fall for long. The earth rushed up to them in a matter of moments, the forest blurring into xanadu at the edge of his sight. Gray and Gajeel moved in tandem—iron and ice hardening and splicing through the air, crags of cold and light that whistled out to the world like a warning siren for bombs about to drop. The exceeds tucked their wings, and gravity took them all.

Everything slowed to a crawl, a minute eternity in a single beat as the wind roared in Gray's ears and excitement pounded through his veins. His right hand twitched, a shard of darker glee begging for use. He ignored it.

Dust and rubble exploded past his face, chunks of ice smashing through the tile and plaster. The squeal of metal drilling against stone shrieked through the forest, through the thinner layers of the infrastructure. A muffled stirring came from within—shouts of panic, the clamoring of so many bodies and weapons all together. The beehive had been kicked.

The roof crumbled, collapsing and sinking under its own weight through the ceiling of the hall. Small silhouettes, like mice in a larder, darted away from the falling debris within. Gray braced—Happy's wings snapped open. Landing on the fragmenting pile of rubble jarred through his ankles, shock cushioned in his knees and muscles straining to keep his bones from dropping out of his skin. After the pull of momentum had left, after the ground had stopped pushing back against him, he stood tall and ready.

Through the brume and ash that settled on his clothes and hair, he could feel it—hundreds of eyes watching them, and a spiked anger that bared its teeth.

It was dim in the large hall, darkness roosting in the rafters high above, chased away only by the few sparse lacrima that clung to the columns. Twilight curtains of light draped over them from the hole above. The insignia of Fairy Tail gleamed off of Erza's armor. Whispers echoed back at them—some of them frightened, others angry, all of them hissing a warning in Gray's ear that the dam was about to burst.

A flash of light—a long sword shimmered into in Erza's waiting hand. Raising the blade aloft, she called out loud and clear.

"You know who we are and why we are here. If any of you wish to surrender, do it now!"

Stunned silence followed, thickening the air with distrust. Gray's eyes adjusted—faces emerged from the shadows, gaunt cheeks and sunken eyes, as if he had fallen into a catacomb of grinning skulls. From the hard set of their brows, from the tension in their jaws, a furious constitution growled an anthem of no surrender.

Good, Gray thought. No need for mercy.

Hands twitched at weapons, itching to be drawn as sparking magic crackled through the air like lightning preparing to strike. The aer of the hall coiled, ready for the ball to drop, for someone to throw the first punch or cast the first spell. Gray was tired of waiting.

Lifting his arms high above his head, Gray dropped down and slammed his fists to the ground. A thick sheet of ice snaked over the floor, carpeting through the entirety of the hall, the columns, even the walls. Like a train of dominos cascading into each other, the guild was thrown into tumbling chaos. And like a cannon booming across a battlefield, the suspense shattered.

Gajeel lunged, iron spikes on the soles of his boots biting into the ice, a metal beam crashing into the disarray of mercenaries and wizards. Erza side-stepped, dodging a chained blade that barely grazed the heart cruez on her chest. The guild hall exploded into battle.

Gray charged into the fray, splitting off from Erza and Gajeel. A hooded mercenary barreled for him, swinging a pair of swords at his neck. He ducked below the man's wild swipes, sliding low as his fist drove forward, up and under the merc's ribs. The man crumpled over his arm. Gray could feel the moment his battle instinct kicked in, veiling his eyes and cowling down his shoulders and chest. Another heated second, a wizard dropped before him, nursing a broken knee.

Spinning and ducking, then following through with his own attacks, Gray brawled his way through Manticore members. The sounds of skirmish echoed off the icy walls, a horrid cacophony of discord.

But it was almost too easy. Gray hardly had to work, felling his enemies with scarcely more than one or two well aimed strikes. Ruby Manticore certainly had numbers on their side for this fight, but it was an advantage they were quickly losing. Dark mages and mercenaries pressed forward. Gray growled, too crowded for his liking. One brave mage even managed to grab his wrist. She let go quickly, Happy's fangs sunken into her knuckles. A back-handed haymaker from Gray swiftly knocked her out.

Loud crashes echoed through the hall from outside. The battle paused, apprehension spiking for approaching danger. In a sudden burst of light and flying rock, the east and west walls of the guild crumbled away. Elfman stood against the debris, Lucy and Wendy mirroring his path. Steel boots of her Scorpio form gleaming, Lucy's kick cracked against the back of a mercenary's skull. With the majority of the Manticores concentrated to the front of the hall, their back side was left wide open—a mistake they realized far too late.

There was hardly a second for them to react to the new threats. Unwittingly, the Manticores split themselves from each other, crowding opposite sides of the hall—leaving the middle wide open. Erza dashed through the thinned crowd, where the doors to passageway waited. Juvia was waiting for her on the other side, maybe dealing with her own enemies in the other part of the guild. Erza grasped the door handles, yanking them open and off their hinges. Her brown eye locked with Gray's own one final time.

"I'll leave the rest to you!" Erza declared. Carla left her side, soaring to Wendy's aid. For a brief moment that hung in the air for a small eternity, an understanding passed between them. She tipped her chin at him, and Gray felt like he was a little kid again, following her to the riverbank.

Gray nodded, moving to fill in the space that she had left behind. Those that attempted to follow her were quickly blocked. Lucy and Wendy spread out, the Celestial mage's body swallowed in a brief flash of light. Donning her Taurus dress, the boon of her amplified strength more than enough of an advantage as she brawled through the throngs of weapons and magic. Wendy's howls rose up meet the ruckus of the fight, a hurricane within the walls. Beastly roars shook Gray's ear drums, Elfman's heavy claws slashing through the dimness. It seemed that for every one they took down, two more would take their place. But even so, Gray began to feel suspicious.

These Manticores fought like amateurs. The left themselves open, or were predictable, or even gave up and ran away. Luckily, Alzac was roosted in the perfect spot to gun down any strays. Gray could just barely pick up the concussive sound of the sharp shooter's rifle in action. What magic was tossed his way was weak and fragile. There might have been many of them, but Gray couldn't imagine a guild like Sabertooth having problems with a force like this. Either this wasn't the real Ruby Manticore they had heard about, or Sting was seriously losing his touch.

Something wasn't right.

It didn't take long for the battle to end. One thing Gray had to hand these guys, they fought to the last man. In due time, the only ones left standing were those that bore the Fairy Tail emblem. He had shed his jacket at some point in the fray, though he didn't remember where or when. Slightly out of breath, but relatively unharmed, Gray looked out across the hall to all the moaning and unconscious bodies scattered about. This victory had been won a little too easily. Gray's gut twisted, a worried itch scratching at his brain.

"You doing okay, Gray?" Wendy asked, trotting up to him. Carla hovered close behind, eyes vigilant.

"Yeah," Gray frowned, the itch becoming a buzz. Raising his voice, "you guys good?"

Happy and Lucy looked over, nodding the affirmative. Across the hall, Elfman and Gajeel stomped around. The dragon slayer looked less than pleased, grumbling and grunting as he wandered through the scattered fallen, feet splashing in small puddles of melted ice.

"This was seriously less awesome than I thought it would be," Gajeel sneered. His boot kicked a small bit of rubble, pecking a delirious mercenary in the face. "What the hell kind of weakling guild like this could possibly go up against the Twin Dragons and almost win?"

"I have to admit that I'm a little disappointed as well." Lily looked around. "But Erza's not back yet. Perhaps she may need assistance?"

Elfman scoffed. "If I know Erza, then she should be able to take out these wimps with her pinkie finger."

"And she's got Juvia with her as back up," Wendy chimed in.

"Between the two of them, I almost feel sorry for these guys." Lucy peered down at an unconscious enemy, within a single stride of her. It was a young boy, probably no older than 18. She frowned, her heart breaking the slightest to see someone so young wasting their life away in a place like this.

Gray sighed. Maybe he was overthinking everything. Maybe they just caught these guys on a bad day, still recovering from the backlash of their battle with Sabertooth. Neither of those thoughts eased the buzzing dither that hissed a desperate warning in his ear.

"Hey, take a look at this," Elfman said. He faced the wall, gaze staring hard at the concrete block. As Gray and the others sidled up to Elfman, that buzz cranked up to a roar.

There was writing on the wall, written in black, dripping ink. He didn't recognize the letters, some language he'd never come across before. And yet, the sharp angles and aggressive swoops translated a sense of dread. Gray's eyes scanned the blocks of the wall. There were more words, scribbled and leaking, staining the walls with their mystery.

"Well I'm officially creeped out," Gajeel mumbled, his arms crossed and guarded.

That was when they heard the scream. A woman's scream, echoing back onto itself through the hall. Pain and fear coiled around the columns, dripping down to them like cold rain.

Gray's heart leapt into his throat as his legs immediately propelled him forward. Barely registering the footsteps of the others following him, Gray sprinted across the hall and plunged into the darkness of the passage, not caring that he could barely see three feet in front of him. He wasn't sure who had screamed. It didn't matter. Adrenalin surged through him, quickening the marrow in his bones.

This wasn't the first time he had plunged into darkness for the sake of those that he loved.

A small ball of light twinkled beside Gray's shoulder, drifting along as he ran. The little star didn't provide much light on it's own, but the swirling cosmos of tiny suns that filled the passageway were more than enough to brighten the path ahead of them. Gray peered through the nebulae over his shoulder, a thankful nod in Lucy's direction.

She called it her "Star Bright" spell, developed a couple of years ago should she ever need a source of light and Natsu wasn't around. The scattering if stars danced around her shoulders, flung from her fingers and hair. If one knew what to look for, they could find the familiar constellation of Leo. Flickering like distant explosions, it wasn't long before they started to wink out.

They ran through the hall with the galaxy at their heels. By the light of the stars, a pair of double doors faded into Gray's vision, closed and locked. It must have been a trap, Gray realized, and Erza had walked right into it on purpose... knowing that Juvia was counting on her. Gray balled his hand, a hardened ball of ice encompassing his angry fist. A roar ripped from his mouth, a heavy blow bludgeoned the door with all of his might. Metal frames cracking and hinges ripping, the doors flew inward. Gray whirled up again, ready to face whatever lay beyond with vengeance on his mind.

A curtain of black mist tumbled through the open doors, washing over Gray and the rest of the Fairy Tail mages, flooding into the hallway. Before Gray could stop himself, he was coughing and gagging on the toxic air, the taste of rust on his tongue. His heart spiked with fear as small pricks of pain in his chest quickly escalated to a throbbing pressure against his heart. Strength abandoned him, sapped from his body like water in a desert.

Falling to his knees, Gray struggled to breathe, his throat closing tighter and tighter with every breath of engulfing miasma. Wheezing in desperation, Gray tossed his head frantically, eyes searching for anyone who could help. Gajeel was closest to him, in a similar condition. If Gajeel's iron lungs couldn't protect him, then this was some very serious black magic they were dealing with. Lucy was just past him, quivering on her hands and knees. But her gaze was locked up ahead of them, terror and confusion painting her face. Gray forced himself to look up, afraid of what he might see.

Scribbled, messy letters covered the walls, more foreign characters that Gray couldn't hope to interpret. They dripped with black veins down the rough stones, splattered like a bird against a clear window. Lucy's stars were gone, leaving only the twilight of Juniper Hills to leak in through the dirty windows. Two strangers loomed in the dimness of the square, empty room. One was a hulking man, a leather holster that carried an enormous halberd across his bare back, and leather pantaloons with a chainmail skirt that matched his buckled boots. His long hair was black as night, as were his eyes. The emblem of the Ruby Manticore guild was printed largely across his muscular torso. Fresh blood dripped from his knuckles, a small spattering across his face.

Just past him, Erza and Juvia lay prone, their skin a tye-dye patchwork of purple bruises and fresh gashes. Juvia didn't look like she was breathing. Blood dripped from Erza's ear, staining the silver hair on her head. Gray's lungs refused to draw breath, shock and terror the key to the cage that were his ribs. He had never seen either of them like this, not since the war three years ago. He wanted to look away, but he couldn't.

"You'll have to forgive him. We were becoming bored."

A girl stood in the center of the chamber. She was young, perhaps only slightly older than Wendy. Her pale blonde hair unkempt, clothes disheveled. Her deep blue eyes were ringed with red veins and darkness, mania darting behind her gaze. Her Manticore emblem warped with her face, just above her right eyebrow. In her hands was an old, leather-bound book, opened to the center page. Black mist flowed out of the pages of the book, a fountain of pitch and curses. Gray felt a pang of déjà vu at the sight of the tome. The girl smiled crookedly, her teeth yellow and cracked. When she spoke, there was a slight hiss to her voice.

"We knew you were coming." Snapping the book shut, the young woman tucked it under arm and stepped up to the weakened mages, wading through the toxin unaffected. "But we seem to be missing a certain someone."

Gray didn't know how much longer he could hold out, his paralyzed lungs screaming. A blackness soaked the edge of his vision as he watched the strange girl approach Lucy. Lucy quickly reached out to Happy, pulling the small cat closer to her, protecting him as he whimpered in pain. She wasn't faring much better.

The girl looked down her nose at the Fairy Tail mages. The red and blue of her eyes contrasted each other, glowing with malice. Lucy tried her best to defiantly glare right back. The man stepped away from Erza and Juvia, flinging their blood from his fingers.

"I guess we'll just have to wait for him, then," she said in a bored tone.

Gray wanted to punch her in the face. Hard.

Lips twisting into a cruel smile, the girl tilted her head as she laughed, high-pitched and giggly. "I'm sure the dark one will be joining us soon."

Gray slumped to the floor, eyes rolling back in his head. He reached for Juvia, desperate and pleading. But his hand went limp, mind finally letting go. The last thing he heard before he was overcome with darkness was the girl's manic laughter and her hissed words.

"I can't wait."

"How does that feel, honey?"

Natsu lifted his arms and bent his elbows, taking note of how the fabric stretched and how high the cuffs pulled up. "I think the sleeves could be a little longer, and it's kind of tight around my biceps."

"It's supposed to be a little snug on your arms, darling." Master Bob smiled. "When you have rotund muscles such as yours, you don't hide them away in loose sleeves."

Natsu snickered, turning to look in the mirror. Other than the tape, pins, and undone seams, his suit was coming along nicely. The torso hugged him in just the right places. The cut of fabric under his arms followed the curve of his ribs and dropped along his abdominals, allowing him to twist around and bend over without the jacket riding up.

Master Bob might have been a strange man, but he sure did know how to tailor a suit. The pants had been easy, even if Natsu was suspicious whether Master Bob really need to get that close to certain parts of him for measurements. The jacket had been more complicated then Natsu would have imagined, but the Blue Pegasus Master was good at what he did, and easily made adjustments when needed and provided suggestions when necessary.

"I'm just worried that I might rip them."

"Darling, you're getting married, not arm wrestling," Master Bob chided. "Trust me, when I'm done with you, Lucy will be thanking me."

"You should listen to Master Bob, young man," Ichiya chimed in, his usual glamor sparking in passion. "He's designed all the suits that the men of Blue Pegasus wear. He knows what he's talking about!"

Natsu shrugged, taking the man by his word.

When he had arrived at the Blue Pegasus guild earlier that morning, he hadn't been expecting Master Bob to be waiting for him at the front doors. Wasting no time, the flamboyant man whisked Natsu away to a room in the back of the guild, separated from the main club, where the walls were a light shade of pink and tall mirrors were mounted before round pedestals, bright lights shining down.

At first it was a little overwhelming for Natsu, but eventually his eyes adjusted. He still wasn't sure why Ichiya was there, though. The man hadn't done anything except tell Natsu how good he looked.

"So tell me, Natsu." Bob spoke up, motioning for Natsu to turn around and stand straight. "Why didn't you go with your fiancé to take care of those scoundrels that attacked Sabertooth?"

Natsu bit his lip, lifting his arms as Bob wrapped a tap measure around his chest.

"It's kind of personal. Sorry."

"It's a terrible thing, what happened to our friends." Ichiya lightly pressed a hand to his forehead. "I can barely stand the thought."

Natsu tried not to scowl. Lucy and his friends were there, right now, running into jaws of danger while Natsu was here playing dress up. It wasn't fair, he thought for the hundredth time.

"It's just a shame they didn't randomly attack us," Natsu thought out loud. "They wouldn't have gotten away."

Master Bob and Ichiya looked to each other, a knowing between them.

"Didn't you hear? Sting believes that it wasn't just a random attack. That dark guild targeted them." Master Bob stuck pins into the fabric of Natsu's shoulders as he spoke. "In fact, Sting had reason to believe they were targeting one of their members."

Natsu tried not jerk under the man's sharp tacks. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Master Bob stepped away, looping his measuring tape around his neck like a practiced habit. He crossed his arms as he regarded Natsu, a frown on his painted lips. Natsu had never seen Master Bob frown before.

"I talked with Sting over lacrima the day after it happened. He thinks that they were looking for someone. But he had no idea who and for what reason. But he heard one of them say something that was very strange. It had something to do with a 'dark one'." Master Bob shook his heard, hoop earrings swishing. "Sting is afraid they might have been looking for Rogue for some reason. He hasn't let the poor man out of his sight, for protection. But you and I both know that Rogue is only as dark as his shadows. I doubt they were looking for him."

Natsu swallowed. Coincidence was not something he was familiar with, happenstance a stranger.

"It's entirely possible they may have been looking for Acnologia," Ichiya spit, tossing his hair. "Someone needs to tell those ruffians that the Dark Dragon has been gone for years, and that he's never coming back. Don't you agree, Natsu?"

Natsu only stared at the two men, his mind working in overdrive. Realization hit him like a train, his mouth falling open. His hands balled into fists, nails digging into his palms. The etherious behind his heart thrummed. Lucy was in danger, it seemed to tease. And he was hundreds of miles away.

"Master Bob, Ichiya." Natsu spoke quickly as he began stripping off the unfinished suit. "I have a favor to ask you."

Chapter Text

Lucy awoke to a vice around her lungs. The black mist was gone, but the effects lingered. Her breaths came in wheezing bursts, chest heaving shallowly. Though she tried to move her limbs, they were too heavy, like bags of wet sand. Vision was slow to return, blobby shapes fading into focus, color filling in from dark to light. The darkness of the world around her left little variance between one thing and the other.

As Lucy lay on the hard floor, the unfocused room shifted and churned. Her neck twitched as her chin titled, cheek scraping against the rough stone. Out of the corner of her vision, Gray's bare back glistened with a sick sweat, his form trembling and pale. It didn't seem like he was awake yet. Happy was still curled next to her, the small cat huffing pained mews in his fitful sleep. Lucy tried to turn her head to see the others, but with the limited range of her battered body, everyone else was hidden from her.

"Are you sure he will come, Master Konza?" A deep voice, like from the depths of a mountain, crept into Lucy's ears. "Just exactly how long are you planning to keep them here?"

"As long as I have to."

Lucy peered up through her lashes, the blurred silhouettes of the girl and her giant companion huddled together. The girl stood before the wall of nonsense scribbles, hands lightly tracing the dripping characters. They hadn't noticed Lucy.

"If he wants to see his friends alive, he'll have no choice but to face us."

The man grunted, his gaze distantly staring through Juvia, still lifeless on the floor in front of him. "We've never taken hostages before. I fear we may be in over our heads. What if he brings the wrath of the entire guild down on us?"

"If the entire Fairy Tail guild is what it takes to see my lord's wishes fulfilled, then so be it." The girl—Konza—sneered at her companion. She pressed her chin into her shoulder, voice spilling over with contempt as she glared at him. "When did you become such a coward, Master Marlow?"

Lucy felt her finger twitch, a sense of feeling returning to her nerves. Gritting her teeth, Lucy willed her arm to move. Slowly, in jerking spasms, her hand slid down her body to her hip. The cool leather of her key pouch shocked her fingertips. They hadn't disarmed her, nor had they bound her hands. Either these dark masters were very confident in their abilities, or they didn't know what they were doing. Lucy didn't have time to mull it over.

Fingering over each one of her keys at a painstakingly slow pace, Lucy muffled the small notes of metal striking metal with her palm. For the first time, Lucy was forced to choose what she hoped would be the right key from feel alone. Rubbing her thumb over the head of each key, the engravings in the enamel painted a picture of the symbols in her head—one she hoped wasn't wrong. When she was sure she had found the one she was looking for, Lucy gripped it tightly. Her body might have been weak, but her magic was still going strong. She just had to wait for the right moment to strike.

"This one's awake already."

A tight hand gripped her ankle. Lucy yelped as her body scrapped across the floor, the rough stone painful on her skin. Then she was upside down, dangling by her foot as the man with the halberd held her aloft. Konza stepped up to her, arms crossed and her jaw worrying.

"It's only been a few minutes. Does the curse really wear off that quickly?" Konza spoke softly, words to herself. "I suppose it is only have half a spell."

Lucy choked, the pressure on her chest weighing into her throat. Gravity was working against her, constricting her lung capacity even more. Her heart rate spiked, panic coursing like electricity through her veins.

"Put… me down!" Her words came out to barely a whisper, forced to breath out what little air she had. Lucy's vision blurred, the threat of passing out again growing quickly.

Marlow looked to Konza, who flicked her wrist at him. With a surprising amount of ease and care, the man placed Lucy back on the floor. Rolling over onto her back, Lucy lay prone, trying to relax her shocked lungs. Her throat ground against the air, scratching like sandpaper. Her ribs creaked and complained with each small breath she took. A small taste of copper on the back of her tongue sparked a fear in the back of Lucy's mind; whatever was in that black mist might have done some serious damage.

Rolling over after regaining what little breath she could, Lucy heaved herself up on her hands and knees. One hand instinctively went to her holster once more, stopping as Konza's snide laughter cut through the room. The Manticore girl smiled in amusement, like Lucy had done something embarrassing.

"Go ahead and try." Her yellow teeth and pale hair stood out in the darkness. "Marlow will crush you before you could utter one word. Then he'll destroy all your friends—including the one you have hiding in the trees outside."

Lucy huffed, fingers abandoning her pouch. The Manticore was right. She still hadn't mastered the art of summoning spirits through intent alone. Any spirits that were capable of opening the gates themselves could only do so when she was in immediate danger. Unfortunately, this situation did not meet that requirement.

But she could stall for time, time for her friends to regain themselves just as she had. Looking over them all, Lucy's heart clenched at the sight of Juvia and Erza. Juvia, who was naturally pale to begin with, looked white as a sheet. Erza's face twitched, stained with streaks of her own blood.

"Don't worry," Marlow grunted, eyes reading her face like a book. "They'll live."

"For now," Konza hissed, casting another glare over her shoulder.

Lucy sat back on her heels. These two had information she needed. She had to play her cards right.

"Who are you? What the hell do you want?"

"Oh, Fairy's got fight." Konza chuckled. "We are the masters of Ruby Manticore. I am Konza Sycorax, the mage Master, and this is Marlow Conrad, the mercenary master. You'll find out what we want soon enough, fairy."

Lucy was not amused. This playful, immature demeanor bubbled hot contempt in her gut. She tried not to roll her eyes.

Harsh coughs rattled her chest. She felt a pinch of sudden looseness, something detached and wet hacked up into her throat. She really hoped it wasn't blood as she quickly swallowed. Her eyes drifted down Konza's form. A large leather tome peeked out of her long black coat, faded leathers fraying along the bookend edge. Her fingers could remember what that leather felt like, a softness that ached in her palms even now, three years later.

"That." Lucy pointed. "Where did you get that?"

Konza's smile fell. "That's none of your business."

"That doesn't belong to you." Lucy coughed, trying to coax more conviction back into her voice. "I know what that is. It shouldn't even exist."

Konza's smug exterior deteriorated, cracking apart to shock and surprise. Lucy couldn't help but grin, satisfied. Marlow frowned as he watched them, a worried glint in his eye. Whether the concern was for his companion or Lucy's sake... she couldn't say for sure.

"I was there when he was defeated. So how about you drop the stupid attitude and tell me where you found Zeref's book?" Lucy snarled.

"Don't you dare speak his name!" Konza shrieked.

The girl howled, her hand lashing out, clawing and striking Lucy across the face. The harsh sting cut into her cheek, and she yelped before she could help herself. Straightening her jaw, Lucy looked up. Marlow had yanked Konza away, his large hands restraining her arms. With a grunt, Konza wrenched out of his grasp and spun away from Lucy.

"Punishment for your arrogance would be a waste of time," the girl huffed. "But I grow tired of waiting. I'm not going to let four months of careful planning go to waste over-"

A sudden burst of coughs cut through her words, tight gasps that shook with something more than just sickness. Wendy staggered, struggling to regain herself as she propped herself up on her elbows. The young dragon slayer blinked her hazy eyes, drawing wheezing breaths. That cruel smile returned to Konza's face. Lucy shivered.

"Perhaps we should send a message." Konza licked her lips, her teeth hungry for blood. "Isn't that what you do when you take a hostage? Demand for ransom, and send proof of life?"

Marlow lumbered to the young dragon slayer, grabbing a large fistful of Wendy's hair. He yank her harshly off the ground, hoisting her up into the air.

Her scalp—terribly, awfully—popped.

She screamed, kicking her legs weakly, hands desperately gripping at the man's arm, trying and failing to relieve the pain in her head. Drawing his halberd, Marlow thrust the sharp tip forward, deadly spear point floating before Wendy's right eye.

She went absolutely still, tears glistening quietly in the dim light. Lucy's teeth ground against their sockets, her own anger rising in her chest like the fire of a guardian as she watched Wendy cry through her strength. But what could she do? If she tried to summon a spirit, he would kill Wendy.

Biting her lip, Lucy looked to her friends, all still lifeless on the floor.

"No, no, not an eye, you oaf," Konza sneered, her red-rimmed eyes narrowing. "Pick an ear. She doesn't need two of those."

Marlow frowned, but adjusted his weapon to the side of Wendy's head. The sharp edge of the axehead pressed behind the top of her ear, a small, pathetic whimper eeking through her teeth. When blood trickled from the blade and rolled down the side of Wendy's jaw to the tip of her chin, Lucy was helpless to do anything but howl through her anguish.

He pulled back suddenly, grunting in confusion, eyes dropping to the floor. Rapid white swirls spiraled over his boots, coiled up his legs, cinched his waist. Fractals of ice bit into his torso, frozen and stiff and constraining. Marlow huffed and swung his arms wildly. Wendy fell to the ground in a small heap of herself, trembling and weak.

Lucy huffed a harsh relief that scraped across her damaged throat. Tracing the trail of ice across the floor, cold and frost flowed from Gray's splayed fingers. His labored breathing echoed alongside hers in the small room, but he righted himself into a crouch with ease. He had been awake and listening the entire time.

"Both of you make me sick," Gray growled. The ice crept over Marlow's body, cloaking down his arms, creaking and cracking and swirling up to the man's collarbones, until only his head remained untouched. "If you ever touch any of my friends again, I will kill you."

Konza trembled, fists balled around her rage, blue eyes wide with frustration and disgust. Marlow struggled and strained against his cold prison. The ice groaned under his strength, but held. In a flourish, Konza retrieved the book from her coat and held it before her, finger poised along the edge of the cover.

The back cover and half the pages were charred black, Lucy noticed, like it had been tossed in a fire and fished back out. It was a familiar sight to her, flashes behind her eyes of ashes, E.N.D.'s book flaring and stinging her eyes.

But why hadn't the book been destroyed like all the rest?

"How dare you threaten me, welp," Konza seethed, glaring at Gray through the thin wisps of her pale hair. "I'll make you apologize with your life. No one can survive a double dose of Hollow!"

Snapping the book open, Konza twisted the pages, scribbled paper open to Gray. The words were almost completely faded, edges yellow and torn from the years. A single spot of black appeared along the cut, dark as the void and blooming in the center of the book. Spreading across the paper in thin trails of sick veins, a stream of thick, vaporous pitch poured from the book, focused and surging like a bullet for the Gray's head.

Lucy called to him, reaching desperately. But it didn't matter—she was still too weak to move, and so was Gray. The darkness in his wide eyes reflected through his fear, helpless as the curse threatened to overwhelm him.

A loud crash rattled the room. The ceiling above shattered to pieces, something huge and heavy falling through the cascading light and rubble, slamming the ground with an impact that rocked the earth. Konza stumbled, the book flying from her hands. Now prone, the black mist dissipated, evaporating just shy of Gray's face.

Lucy fell back on her butt, evading flying debris and wreckage, snatching up Happy as she did. The little exceed mumbled something and coughed as he stirred in Lucy's hands. Blood pounded sluggishly through her head, a sudden draining that sent her senses swimming. After a moment of remembering how to function, Lucy looked up through the dust and light, wondering what the hell had just happened.

Incredibly, a large anchor gleamed in the middle of the room, wedged into the cracked floor, a massive chain trailing up through the hole in the ceiling and into the sky. Even more incredible, someone was on the anchor, clinging for dear life.

Natsu leapt through the air, fists swinging blindly. Konza had no time to react. With a heavy wham, his knuckles smacked into her cheek. The force of the punch threw her off her feet, sliding across the floor until she stopped in a small pile, laying motionless and stunned.

"Konza!" Marlow cried, voice soaked with shock and concern.

Natsu stood straight and blinked, eyes adjusting to the darkness. His gaze alighted on the small woman, crumpled like an old rag.

"Wait-shit!" Natsu jerked, grimacing in surprise and regret. "A little girl?"

"It's okay, bonehead," Gray grunted, struggling to stand up. His legs wobbled as he drew them beneath him. "She's an enemy."

Natsu spun to Gray's voice. Lucy saw terror flare into his darting eyes; his friends laid unmoving, Juvia and Erza hardly looked alive. He rushed to her, dropping to his knees by her side. His warm hand touched her shoulder, eyes taking in all of her and their friends as regret and anger played on his face. Lucy stared at Natsu, relieved and terrified, confused but somehow not surprised.

Slowly, the moans and coughs of their awakening states filled the hollow silence in the room. Wendy cradled Carla in trembling arms as the white exceed whimpered. Rolling onto his stomach, Gajeel fell into a coughing fit. Elfman groaned, slowly rocking his head back and forth. Their raspy breaths filled the corners of that small space, sounds of ache and injury.

"What the hell happened to you guys?" Natsu looked to Lucy. Her cheek bloomed with red, fingers and nails outlined and angry on her face. "Are you okay?"

"It was a trap," Gray rasped. He knelt on the floor, Juvia settled in his arms. She was breathing, thankfully, but a large gash on the side of her head bleed sluggishly. Gray gulped, fingers lightly wiping the wound. "We walked right into it. They've got one of Zeref's books, Natsu."

He stiffened. Searching the room, his eyes locked onto the splayed leather book on the floor. So another one had survived Zeref's demise? Then the certainty that there had to be more was realized. Lost in his thoughts as he was, Natsu didn't notice the deepening look of suspicion on Gray's face.

"How are you here, Natsu?" Lucy asked. She was happy to see him, truly she was. But his presence was so sudden and unexpected. Had something happened?

"Blue Pegasus brought me here on Christina." Natsu jerked a thumb over his shoulder, to the anchor. The heavy chain oscillated, swaying as if in an ocean current. "I knew you were in Juniper Hills, but Hibiki was the one who landed me here. For someone whose calculations are based on probability, he was pretty spot on. They'll be here shortly."

"You voluntarily chose to ride in that death trap?" Gajeel huffed as he rested on his knees, Lily curled in his lap. "You've got some serious guts, Salamander."

Natsu cringed, his face paling. "Actually, I think I lost them somewhere over Fiore as we were going Mach 5." He smiled down at Lucy, but it didn't quite reach his eyes. "Remind me never to do that again."

Lucy wasn't fooled. She knew he was aware of the risks he had taken by coming here, the very real danger that he had brought with him... but he had come anyway, somehow knowing she was in danger.

A small tink broke through the quiet. Where Marlow stood, still trapped and frozen, the slightest hairline crack splintered through the ice, quickly spider-webbing through the magic. His teeth creaked in deep concentration, sweat breaking out on his brow.

"Natsu!" Gray shouted, his arms closing tighter around Juvia.

The dragon slayer shot to his feet, rushing the man. His fist raised, missing flames from his knuckles painting an uncanny picture. But he wasn't fast enough.

The ice shattered, exploding into so many glistening pieces of broken shards. Swinging his massive arms, Marlow raised his halberd. The deadly blade came down upon Natsu, a roar tearing from his teeth. He dodged—barely—and the blade whistled past his chin, cracking into the stone floor. Natsu surged, his flameless fist centered and hard for Marlow's exposed stomach. Lucy heard the air rushed from Marlow, saw him crumple around the blow.

But unlike Konza, this Manticore Master knew how to take a hit. He recovered in mere moments, towering over Natsu, sneering down at him. He was tougher than he looked.

He was also faster than he looked—a lot faster. Before Natsu could even think about evading, Marlow's meaty fist back-handed him across the face. Lucy gasped, watching as Natsu was flung across the room like a ragdoll. He smacked against the floor, rolling through the blow until his back slammed into the wall. Dazed and aching, Natsu had no time to look up as Marlow beared down on him, halberd raised for a devastating blow.

That blow never came. Elfman and Wendy crossed the mercenary, his unguarded side clear and open. The Manticore looked up in surprise, eyes flaring with hate but too slow to parry. Their attacks landed solidly. Marlow grunted and staggered away, arm raised to block. He fell heavily on one knee, the other hand nursing his side. His fingers ghosted over a broken rib.

"We can't stay and fight," Wendy said to Natsu. Her voice crackled as if she'd smoked a pack a day since she was four. "Erza and Juvia are in critical condition. We've already taken out the rest of the guild, so we should retreat while we can."

"As if I would make it that easy."

That voice hissed through the dimness, cold and shivering as if from the back of a cave. Konza staggered to her feet, her cheek swollen and bruised. Her eyes glared through the messy tangle of her hair, ethereal and bright. She chuckled, a manic, lopsided grin stretching her lips. On the floor before her, another leather bound book that was more char than paper, opened to its center. Natsu felt his heart stutter, a dark beast pressing behind his chest.

A pulse of something angry and clawing expelled from the book, a ghostly aura that stank of rot and grave dirt. It passed through the room, sucking the vivacity from the aer and continuing on through the passageway. Something shifted, whispering from the guild hall they had left behind. A soft sigh followed, as if the building had breathed its last breath.

A sharp pain, searing bolts that shot through Natsu's core. His knees faltered beneath him, a strangled grunt leaking from his throat. The touch of a curse felt familiar, an unwelcome empathy come once again far too soon.

For tense moments of eternity, no one move. No one breathed. Lucy squeezed Happy to her chest, the small cat wheezing wet breaths as they waited for the sky to fall. But there was no cataclysm, no repercussion of pain or newly manifested demon. Gray blinked at her, wondering the same thing that she was; what had the book done?

A far off noise bubbled to life, echoes of shouts and cries sounding through the dark hallway. Lucy looked over her shoulder, a sense of dread growing in the pit of her stomach. Gray cursed, heaving Juvia into his lap.

"We need to get out of here," Elfman shouted. He rushed to Erza's still form, gently scooping her up into his arms. "Before this entire damn guild comes crashing down on us!"

A deep rumble echoed down the passage. Squirming in the darkness, the clamoring bodies of Ruby Manticore sprinted down the hall, grunting and hissing like wild animals. Lucy watched, terror growing like a weed in her gut, as the small army quickly descended upon them.

These were not the same uncertain people that they were before. No longer were they timid and hesitant, poised to flee in the face of battle. Now, the Manticore Guild members were ferocious, more beastly somehow as they advanced without fear.

They clawed against one another in their rampage, harming each other and themselves in their fervor to reach the helpless fairies. Their eyes—dear gods, their eyes—bleeding, streaking their cheeks in crimson.

Lucy sprang to unsteady feet. Gray hoisted Juvia to his chest, rushing to Gajeel and Elfman. Lucy wanted to run as far as she possibly could, and she would have—had her foot not kicked the book Konza had dropped, skittering the tome on its pages. She stared at the book for a brief moment, hesitant and unsure. When she stooped to pick it up, a small shock eclipsed the space between her touch and the old hide. The leather was soft on her fingers—just as she remembered—the handwriting on the cover unpleasantly familiar.

Holding the book was like carrying an infected creature, a thing that hissed and spit against her palm. Perhaps the book remembered her, too.

Natsu fell in step beside her, a hand pressed to her back, guiding and spurring. But there was nowhere for them to go. So she stepped before Wendy as Natsu did her, tried to tense her quivering body, and waited for the inevitable clash.

"Fear not, dear friends!"

A ladder dropped into the room, swaying down from the hole in the ceiling next to the anchor. Among the rungs and ropes, Ichiya and the heart throbs of Blue Pegasus descended into the madness.

"We will hold off these foes!" Ren proclaimed. "Take the wounded up to the ship, we can treat them in the medical hold. Alzac has already been collected, so get going!"

Konza glared at the newcomers, hands tightening around the book in her hands. Anguished frustration hissed between her teeth. Spitting curses, she rushed to Marlow and pushed him to his feet.

"Happy, get her out of here now!" Natsu pressed his knuckles to his palm, small pops breaking from his hands as he settled a glare on Konza. "I've got questions that need answers."

"No, I'm not going to leave you—not like this!" Lucy grasped his arm, her fingers digging harder than she meant to. Her voice betrayed her bold words—creaking and scratchy, her breathing clogged. Natsu glanced to her. She imagined that she looked at bad as she felt.

"I'll be fine, Lucy. I promise." Natsu's body tensed, muscles tight with the need to protect.

"Don't make promises you can't keep, Natsu." Lucy hated how her words cracked, frustration catching in her throat.

Natsu stared at her—his girl, his best friend, and grinned.

"I will always come back to you, I swear. Now go."

Gray tenderly passed Juvia's limp form to Gajeel, anger flashing on his teeth. "Take care of her. I can't run away while the man that did this is still breathing."

He nodded, taking the rain woman. Swinging her over his shoulder, Gajeel and Lily climbed up the rope ladder after Elfman as he carried Erza. Raging manticores swarmed into the small room like a tsunami of chaos and war. The rope ladder pulled away, slithering back to the Christina as it hovered above the canopy of trees. Happy clutched Lucy's shoulders, following after Wendy and Carla toward salvation.

She stared after him, aching and reaching till the darkness swallowed him beneath her.

Natsu heard Gray's footfalls carry him to his side. Spite painted his face with a ferocious scowl, frigid rage focused solely on Marlow. The mercenary narrowed his eyes back at them, halberd shifting to bar their path to Konza. The young women sneered, grinding her yellow teeth as she clutched the book at her chest.

"I can't use my magic, Gray," Natsu said, his eyes trained on the Manticore masters. His fists itched, twitching for battle. "But don't think for an instant that I'm asking for your help."

Gray coughed, a sound that rattled roughly in his chest and carried a small laugh behind it. "So what you're saying is that I'm going to be doing all the heavy lifting, as usual."

Natsu wanted to laugh, to find some humor in the face of so much despair. He could feel his flames tingling beneath his skin, racing through his veins with the beat of his heart. It was going to be hard to resist their burn. He would just have to manage—the risk was too great.

"Marlow, we're leaving," Konza hissed, tucking the book into her coat.

He glanced at her over his shoulder, nodding. Sweeping his weapon in a mighty spiral, the halberd connected with the wall behind them, crumbling through old bricks and inky words. The dank air of the small room whooshed out into the forest. Konza bolted through the opening, nimble and quick. Natsu dashed after her, Gray following close behind as his fists creaked with frost.

A glint of metal twinkled in the corner of Natsu's eye. Dropping into a crouch, the wicked edge of the halberd swept above Natsu's head. Gray jumped back, spinning away from the blow.

Marlow howled, a sound so hollow and monstrous, following the halberd's momentum into a deadly arch. In a single moment, Natsu and Gray moved in tandem, dodging through the miniscule opening only they could see. They rose together, fists moving as one for Marlow's fragile jaw. He didn't stand a chance, eyes blinding white as his teeth crashed against each other and into his skull.

As Marlow fell through the fading colors of unconsciousness, he peered one last time out into the woods. Konza had opened a gap in the curtain battlement that surrounded the guild, some seamless secret door only they could find. Then, without looking back, she sprinted into the trees.

Natsu and Gray hit the ground running, ducking through the crumbling wall and out into the early evening forest. Behind them, the cursed manticores that grappled with Ichiya and his men broke away, ignoring them all together, chasing the chasers. They weren't fast enough to keep up with Natsu and Gray's pursuit as they followed Konza through the open portcullis—but even so, they weren't about to slow down.

She fled further and further into the woods, ducking and bounding through the tangled roots of Juniper Hills, and the distance between her and her pursuers grew. The idea of overtaking her became out of the question. Natsu cursed as he ran, wishing not for the first time that he could use his flame, throw a fireball at her, something—anything to break her retreat.

Gray must have been thinking the same thing. An airy shout tore from his lips as he pressed his hands together. His magic flashed, an icy missile flying from his fingers, soaring through the trees leaving frost in its wake. The spell shot past Konza and burst against the trunk of a tree, combusting fractals that rapidly spread down the tree to the roots and ground. She lost her footing, collapsing to the cold earth, sliding limply over the frozen ground.

The ruckus of the pursuing Manticores drifted through the trees far behind them, a touch louder with every moment that passed. They didn't have much time, Natsu thought as he and Gray approached Konza, watching her struggle to find purchase and balance. Gray's heavy, ragged breaths shook beside him—he probably didn't have much time, either.

"I know you've been looking for me." Natsu said. Konza stiffened, throwing her gaze over her shoulder. Her eyes glistened with acute terror. "Why? What the hell do you want?"

Konza's wild eyes brimmed brightly, furious tears welling within the bloodshot glare she leveled at Natsu. She seemed so small before them, cowering as Natsu and Gray towered over her like wolves who had cornered the rabbit.

"Answer me!" Natsu pressed toward her, his anger sparking—the sting of smoke in his nose, a small wisp drifting through his knuckles. "Why do you have those damn books?"

He saw it in her eyes; the moment her fight or flight kicked into overdrive, flaring wide in her pupils and flashing from her teeth. Her palms pressed together, sharp edges of magic cutting around her arms. The atmosphere shimmered.

A large cutter, crystal and gleaming arched through the forest, its long wicked blade whistling a tune of death.

There was no time to evade. Natsu squeezed his eyes shut and raised his arms, waiting for the pain.

Something squelched, a sickening wet burst like a watermelon smacking the ground.

Natsu opened his eyes as Gray dropped to his knees before him, falling between him and the scythe. The weapon's blade dripped crimson onto the cold earth.

He heard him choking, agony and blood streaming thinly from his lips into his beard.

"Gray!" Natsu dropped beside his friend as he collapsed, catching his dead weight. Gray's head flopped against his shoulder, a strangled groan bubbling through his teeth.

Konza, being ignored, flung herself to her feet and shot off into forest, living to fight another day.

At first, there was hardly any blood—then his flesh parted like a zipper, ruby essence drenching Gray's stomach from his shoulder across to his hip. A growing puddle, cardinal and stinking, pooled beneath him. Blind with strain, Gray tried to breathe, his damaged lungs laboring against his ribs. The scythe shattered into a million pieces, like it had never been.

"Dammit, why the fuck did you do that?!" Natsu removed his long jacket, panic and dread shaking in his hands as he balled it in his palm.

The wound had barely missed the man's heart, the pale shine of wet bone and bowels peaking through torn flesh before Natsu pressed the fabric to his belly. Gray would have yelled had he been able to, moaning around a mouthful of numb shock instead. Blood trickled into the canals of the scar on Gray's hip—a scar that Natsu shared.

"Gotta make sure Lucy has a groom for her wedding, right?" His voice trembled and hitched. Natsu could feel him shivering, could feel the waves of hot and cold pain rack his body. His eyes didn't truly see him, fogged and glassy. And yet, Gray somehow found the strength to smirk at Natsu. "She would kill me if anything happened to you."

There were no words, nothing Natsu could ever say that would be adequate enough to translate his anger or his gratitude. This whole scene was not unfamiliar to him; one of them mortally wounded, the other frustrated and desperate. Over and over again, time after time, without any thought to their own vitality or heed to any consequences. It was going to destroy them one day.

Not this day, Natsu would make sure of that.

"Can't have a wedding without a best man, either."

Gray paused, his breaths quickened as oblivion crowned his head. "Are you—are you finally asking me to be your best man?"

Natsu rolled his eyes despite himself. "Yeah, I guess I am. How about it?"

Gray huffed, a pained laugh splashing through the blood on his tongue.

"Hell no."

Then his eyes closed, and he stopped shivering. Natsu knew Gray's real answer.

He settle him to the forest floor, pressing his hands into the ruined jacket on Gray's stomach. There was too much blood, too much life seeping out between his fingers. Natsu hissed, frustration tensing through his back and shoulders. His hands came away red.

"If we live through this, you have to get married, too," he spat, lifting the cloth to inspect the wound. The cut bled like a popped water balloon. "Then I get to be your best man. No questions asked. That's only fair, right?"

Gray didn't respond. Natsu growled.

"You're not the only one who's gonna get killed if you die, you know that?" He was rambling, Natsu was aware of that. Maybe if he kept talking, then everything would be okay. "So you gotta pull through, and save me from Juvia, alright?"

Something snapped between the trunks of the trees. The cursed manticores crashing through the forest, creeping closer and bringing insanity with them. Natsu swore under his breath; there was no time to come up with a plan. If he tried to move Gray, he would only slip away faster.

One thing he knew for certain was to stop his bleeding. He wasn't a healer, though, nor did he have any kind of aid. There was... only one thing he could do: cauterize the wound.

Natsu swallowed thick worry, removing the jacket. More blood, unending and dark, planed across Gray's skin.

He was alone, and time had run out—he didn't have a choice.

His flames were ready, burning into his fingers. A small nova sparked beneath his fingernails, a bright star in the twilight of Juniper Hills. It only took a few seconds for Natsu to seal the wound shut, the stench of scorched flesh wafting into his face.

Gray was far from being okay, but at least he wouldn't bleed to death. He laid the jacket over Gray, hoping the garment could still offer a bit of protection and warmth despite being soaked in blood. Natsu dragged Gray's body across the wet ground, carefully but quickly stuffing him within the tangled roots, out of sight and perhaps a touch safer.

He could see them through the tree trunks; the broken, jerking bodies of manticores berserking after him like hounds on the hunt.

"Come and get me, ya ugly bastards!" He yelled, two quick bolts of flame thrown into their ranks to catch their attention. Then he ran.

His neck spasmed, a throbbing pulse in his muscles that nearly took his feet from under him. He refused to fall, focusing on each flighting step that carried him farther away from Gray and the Ruby Manticore guild.

His heart pounded in his ears, an anxious beat that boiled from the well in his core as he led the mob of cursed pursuers deeper into the woods. Sparks jumped across his skin and in his hair. The energy of dancing magic was bracing, a stimulating punch that Natsu usually savored. Not this time.

An arrow whizzed past his head, sinking to the feathers in the bark of a tree. He spun, firmly planting himself to face the oncoming clash. As his fists flared—bright clear fire, burning pure and clean—a thunderous cry of foreboding sorrow called from his memory.

The void behind his heart shuddered—waiting. The cracked glass wasn't going to hold forever.

Chapter Text

Lucy was on the Christina for less than ten minutes. Erza and Juvia were whisked away by the crew, disappearing into the small intensive care ward with Wendy trotting after them for what aid she could provide. She practically threw the cursed book at Carla, a clipped warning not to open it before she and Happy rushed to the bay doors. They didn't stop to talk to Alzac, confused and baffled, nor did she stick around for the retrieval of Ichiya, his men, and whatever prisoner they had taken. Gajeel and Pantherlily had followed her, only a sharp understanding spurring them to action by her side.

She flung herself from the ship, not a care if she should plummet from the safety of the deck and dash herself tragically against the trees. Happy snatched her away from gravity's pull and they, along with Gajeel and Pantherlily, descended into Juniper Hills once again.

The room was bare, silent and dark as a tomb. There was a new hole in the wall, muddled with trampled footsteps that bled out into the forest. Only a few scattered manticores remained still and forgotten in the corners of the room. They didn't look like they would be getting up again.

They didn't stay long, leaving the vacant guild behind to follow the trenched path of angry footfalls out into the yard and through a narrow door in the rampart. The trail continued out into the trees, leading deeper into the umbra of the hungry forest. Lucy and Happy didn't stop—didn't check whether Gajeel and Pantherlily were still with them. Even as her breaking lungs begged for her to slow down, she ran with her desperation and fear.

She would run to the ends of the earth, till her feet bled and her bones splintered, to find him.

"Hang on, blondie!" Gajeel's crackling voice called behind her. "I'm getting Gray's scent, and…blood, lots of it. He's been hurt, badly."

They found him half-buried into the tangled web of tree roots, where the ground was damp and even Lucy could smell the sharp metallic sting of copper. Blood caked his lips and beard. A dirty, familiar jacket clung wetly to his chest.

He wasn't moving, hardly breathing, and he was so, so pale.

"The cut's been burned closed." He stated, peeking under the stained coat. A short burst of coughs interrupted him. "Probably saved his life, but we need to get him out of here."

And just like that, Lucy's fears were confirmed. But her most crucial question was still unanswered—where was Natsu?

"Salamander's that way," Gajeel shoved a finger into the woods. "We'll see to Gray, you go collect your loser boyfriend."

So she and Happy took off once again, clambering through the trees and juniper bushes with what little energy they could muster. Happy huffed as he glided beside her, his breaths wheezing and fractured like a broken bellows.

The first to hit her was the smell—not just of smoke, but also the fatty, bitter stench of burnt meat.

The chill of the forest vanished, as if she had passed through a curtain of heat that prickled her skin and clung at her hair and clothes. Earth crunched beneath her feet, brittle ground cover scorched into obsidian chaff that stained soot on her shoes. Lucy finally stopped, forced to a halt as a shower of sparks flurried from the popping bark of the trees burning around her.

Through the brume and the embers, there at the epicenter of destruction, was Natsu.

He sagged in the coals of pine needles and dirt, the planes of his back bruised and smeared. She could hear him breathing, a winded and rumbling sound, beastly huffs of frustration and exhaustion. A cutting spasm jerked up his spine, catching under his skin.

The soft touch of Happy's paw on her shoulder, his trembling voice whispering into her ear as his bright eyes flickered around them. "Lucy, look... look what he did."

Beneath the soot and ash, through the tears that fell from her despair—bodies, dried gray husks of things that used to be people. Too many to count, wiped of hair and clothes and individuality, only sharing the same silent scream within the hollow planes of what was once their faces, dead teeth dully glinting in the blaze.

Lucy might have fainted, if not for Happy grounding her to the forest floor. A pitched whine rose in her ears, the rush of blood stuttering in her veins. There was nothing she could do to stop the small sob that broke from her throat.

A growl, low and serrated, ruptured into the crackle of burning wood. Natsu staggered to his feet. When he turned to Lucy and Happy, his teeth bared and charred claws curled, and those eyes—black as pitch, swallowing and tearing—glared back at her from the face of her beloved, Lucy crumbled, her knees sinking into the bed of fresh ash and lost hope.

Along Natsu's stomach, a smear of crimson darkness cut from his hip to his ribs. A bloody hunk of metal, something that might have once been a blade, melted on the ground behind him, warped and tarnished. The wound opened and burned, glowing like raw lava from within as ethernano dripped sluggishly to the sizzling dirt. Lucy could feel the primordial heat on her face, smoldering like a brand.

Natsu leered over her, his face streaked with coal and feverous sweat, lips and brows twitching. Eyes drifting in and out of focus, he swayed where he stood, knees trembling under his own weight. He seemed like he could unravel at any second, collapse into a pile of snarling rage.

He lunged for her. She wasn't ready—Happy was.

The small cat yanked her away, slicing claws grazing her shoulder. Touches of pain, searing and deep, bit into her skin. Natsu staggered through the space she had just been, stumbling as Happy pushed her to stand once more.

"What should we do?" He asked. Still he whispered, a great fear quelling his voice. "We have to help him!"

Lucy didn't answer. She watched Natsu brace himself against the withering trunk of a tree. Black flames jumped across his skin, blisters and crust boiling under the ash that coated his arms. He didn't seem to care about the damage, didn't pay any heed to the tear in his gut or the corpses that littered the forest floor like landmines, walling them in together.

She couldn't face this, she realized—not again, her scarred hip screamed. She wasn't strong enough in any sense of the word to fight this war and win, weakened as he was. Lucy couldn't—wouldn't look into his face and bash herself against his hate, his fury, his imploding agony.

Her feet twisted beneath her, the beginnings of desperate flight digging from her heels-

"Wait."

She almost didn't here it, that soft word beckoning at her back. Lucy turned, the smallest spark of something that might have been hope spurring her to stop and listen.

Natsu shoved away from the tree, shuffling steps brushing closer across the ground. He favored his injury as he walked, limping against anguish and fatigue.

"Lucy..."

For the first time, her name felt... so wrong being spoken on his tongue. And yet, Lucy did nothing as he approached, as his ruined hand cupped her cheek. The touch didn't burn, didn't brand her skin or sear her soul. His eyes stared solidly back into hers. Something lurked in the oblivion behind his gaze—something familiar and tainted that she didn't want to admit could have been fondness... even love.

"Burn."

Fingers curled around her neck, digging into her throat. Happy wailed, his paws clawing against the grip. The acrid stench of burnt fur tinged her nose, Happy's pained yelp a distant echo beneath the pulse of her heart rising in her ears. Lucy watched him as she choked, watched the stale felicity bloom into gleeful madness that stretched a cruel smile on his lips.

"Burn with me."

A thick wham, the ring of metal striking bone. Natsu stiffened, releasing Lucy. She staggered as his eyes rolled into his head, gasping around her soreness as he fell prone to the ground.

Gajeel stood in his place, his gleaming fist still raised. Pantherlily flighted to Happy, tender touches to the deep burn on his haunch. For a beat of uncertainty, they stood over Natsu, loitering in the flames and ash.

"The hell is going on, Lucy." Gajeel's tone quivered. It wasn't a question.

Lucy said nothing. The char on his arms flaked away, revealing angry, raw skin underneath—burned down to the muscle and bone. His blood lost its fiery glow, yet the wound he'd sustained ran far deeper than she suspected.

He had destroyed his own body.

"Did he... do all of this?" Gajeel muttered to himself, his eyes darting from one dusty mound to the other.

"We must return to the Christina," Pantherlily said, like it was the only thing left for him to say. "Everyone is waiting for us."

She knelt beside Natsu, her fingers brushing through the dirty strands of his hair away from his face. He was so still, so peaceful. He could have been sleeping. Then, she saw it.

Within the rose pink of Natsu's messy hair, just above his ear... a single lock of black, dark as pitch.

They returned to the ship. Gray, clinging to life by the skin of his teeth, joined Erza and Juvia in the intensive care ward. Wendy rushed to his side, still trying to help despite the weariness crowning her head. But Natsu... Lucy insisted that he be kept separate, and restrained.

That was when the questions started. She had no choice but to answer them.

It had become unavoidable. There was no way to reasonably explain what Gajeel had seen, or the state of Natsu's injuries. She couldn't brush off the bruises shaped like fingers that marred her neck as an accident.

Lucy told them all everything, starting from the job request with the Leviathan. Very few were privy to the knowledge of Natsu's origins. That list was rapidly growing longer.

Her companions stared at her as her words faded to silence.

"Everybody always called him a monster," Alzac muttered. "But I never would have thought-"

"He's not a monster," Lucy bit. "He'd never hurt any of us. He's just... going through something right now. But we're going to fix it."

"He's a murderer," Gajeel grunted, contempt and acid dripping from his teeth.

Her own anger rose. "He was protecting Gray. You said so yourself, Natsu saved his life. He didn't have a choice!"

"If you're so certain," Wendy said, her words quivering. "Then why is he in shackles?"

She didn't have an answer for her, except the relenting silence that hung as thick as an iron curtain between them. Happy sat beside Natsu's pillow, gloom and grief drooping from his ears and whiskers. The small cat stared distantly at Natsu's face, paws worrying on the bandage that wrapped his leg.

"I'm not an idiot," Lucy said sourly. "When he wakes up, if he's still... this is what's best for now."

Wendy scowled. "That's not good enough."

The young dragon slayer left the room without another word. So did Gajeel and Pantherlily, stomping their hurt straight out the door. Alzac departed as well, with the aer of a man who would rather be anywhere but there.

"Don't be too angry with them," Elfman said, huffing as he rose to his feet. "You've just… given us a lot to think about."

Carla shuffled to Lucy's knees, the withered, dirty book she had entrusted to her clutched in her paws. She said nothing as Lucy took the tome from her, then abruptly turned away and followed after Wendy.

And just like that, they were alone. Lucy didn't expect that it would turn out like this; to have their friends turn their backs on her, on Natsu, in their time of need.

It wasn't fair.

The cold weight of the book sat like a stone on her lap. How had it come to this? This damn book shouldn't exist, this painful remnant of sins committed far too long ago. Her fingernails sunk into the leather of the cover, hot ire tainting her core the same moment tears pricked her eyes. The painted word on the cover had been scripted into the leather so skillfully it was almost beautiful.

HOLLOW

"Lucy?" Happy squeaked as she stood.

"I'll be right back."

Happy watched her as she too, left the room. He sighed, curling along Natsu's arm. The man was wrapped in so many bandages, drenched in ointment that stank of sterile drugs and disinfectant.

"We really need you right now, buddy," He mumbled. Natsu didn't respond.

In the hull of the ship, the boiler flared and clanked, chugging power and magic from the giant combusting lacrima in the large iron stove. It was hot and stuffy below deck, a simple by-product of energy convergence. Tongues of blue plasma licked at the generator from the air flow reliefs beneath, pure magic flickering with each burst of power.

Lucy was getting tired of being hot.

The book fell from her fingers, clanging heavily to the floor, scorched back cover crackling. A quick shove with her foot and the book slid across the floor, thumping against the hot metal, resting in front of the vent.

It only took a moment for the magic to catch ahold of the book and take to flames. She watched as the pages puffed and the leather cover cracked apart, blackness spreading over the book, blending into the ink. A relief eased onto her shoulders as she stepped into the cooler air of the hallway. With the book destroyed, it's hold on her and the others would dissipate over time.

She didn't return to her vigil over Natsu just yet, though. There was one more thing she had to do.

It was dim in the intensive care ward, only a single lacrima shining softly in the corner. Erza was stabilized. She rested deeply; her hand in a splint, scarlet and silver hair tied off to the side. It was a sad sight, seeing such a powerful woman in a state like this... but she was alive, and that was all that really mattered in the end.

The bed beside hers, where Gray should have been, was empty. He lay with Juvia, his hand carding through her hair, damp with sickly heat.

"You know, there once was a time where she would have woken up from a coma and crawled into bed with you."

"Would that have really been so terrible?" A ghost of a smile touched his lips. "I don't think so, not anymore. I was kind of a jerk, wasn't I?"

Lucy settled herself gently on Juvia's bed. "How are you feeling?"

Gray stretched, testing his limits only to cringe and fold. "Like shit, but it's better than being dead, I guess. The cut was clean, so Wendy was able to heal me in no time. Somehow, I didn't bleed to death. I heard I have Natsu to thank for that."

It was a comfort, if only a little, to have the confirmation that Natsu had risked throwing his life and his humanity away for the sake of a friend. For a while, they sat in silence, both of them lost in their own thoughts and worries.

"He's back, isn't he?" Gray asked. "E.N.D.?"

"No... I don't think so. Not truly," Lucy said after a long, contemplative beat. "But things are bad, Gray. Really bad."

"I was afraid of that." His left arm flexed as he spoke. "Tell me everything."

It was easier to talk with Gray than it had been with everyone else. Maybe it was because she knew that he would understand, that he had already been through this with her once before. But, then again, neither of them thought they would be back here.

He was quiet for a while, her words about monsters and near-deaths sinking through the dimness of the intensive care ward. Sighing through his nose, he looked to Lucy, a small, betrayed hurt shining in his eyes.

"Why didn't you just tell me?"

"I... don't know." The ache in her chest ticked against her heart. "I guess I just didn't want you to feel like you had to fix this. I know how you are; you put your whole heart into everything you do. It's your greatest strength and your most dangerous weakness, Gray."

"You shouldn't have been dealing with this on your own," He straightened on the bed, a stern disappointment hanging from his jaw. "Natsu is my friend, too, and so are you. I'd have done anything to help."

"That, right there—that's what I'm talking about. You're willing to do anything, even if it means breaking yourself. I won't let you do that again."

Gray huffed, knowing she was right but not allowing her to dismiss his dismay so easily. "This is E.N.D. we're talking about. No one is coming out the other side unscathed."

"That's not what I mean, and you know it." Lucy gripped the blanket, frustration curling thorny vines around her ribs. "You risked so much during the war. I had to watch you throw yourself into the same dark temptations that almost took Natsu. We had to forsake our morals and ethics to get through what we did, but you... you almost lost your soul."

He frowned, but something hard and true fell over him, a conviction she knew she would never sway him from.

"I'd do it again."

"Not if I can help it. You don't deserve that, neither does Juvia."

He looked down at the sleeping rain woman, thumb gently brushing her bruised cheek. Relenting a sigh, Gray nodded.

"Alright, I hear ya. Just promise me that you won't keep me in the dark. I want to help you, Lucy, I really do."

As if a great weight had been lifted from her, Lucy sagged, tense agitation letting go. She could always count on Gray, she knew that. He was reckless, sure, but right now, she just felt better knowing that she wasn't facing this alone.

The door to the room opened, Ichiya standing in the framed light from the hall. He bowed, low and courteous.

"Beg your pardon, Miss Lucy," he said. "But if you wouldn't mind, there's something you really should see. You too, young Gray, if you're feeling up to it."

Ichiya led them through a heavy steel door, a part of the Christina Lucy had never been to. On the other side was a long narrow passage, barred cells lining the walls. She remember then, the frantic announcement blaring through the intercom before she'd jumped ship—they had taken someone prisoner.

"As soon as we deliver all of you back to Magnolia, we are going to turn him over to the magic council." Ichiya looked over his shoulder. His usual glamorous sparkle was gone, a serious shade veiling the steep angle of his brow. "But I thought you might like to have a word with him, first."

Marlow looked up from where he sat on the hard floor, his hands bound behind his back and bruises marring his form. His halberd hung on the wall outside the cell, the blade crusted with dark, dry smears. His jaw was swollen, painted a deep, painful tone of purple.

"I have nothing to say to the man that tortured Juvia," Gray hissed. "I hope he rots in jail."

Marlow sneered, his broken teeth jagged behind his lips. "I only did that because Konza made me."

Gray spat, a gooey black blob spattering the floor at Marlow's feet. "You expect me to believe that? I thought you were a guild master, too."

"She ordered me to do it, on pain of death," Marlow sighed, rolling his strained and aching shoulders. "I don't expect you to believe me, but I didn't enjoy it... Konza wasn't always like that. She used to be kind."

Gray scowled, no room for sympathy or compassion for someone so willing to disregard a life, orders or not. Lucy, however, couldn't help but pity the man, staring into his dark eyes and the heavy sorrow settled in their depths.

"Then we found that damn library, and everything changed," Marlow said.

Her gut coiled, sharp inference tightening in her stomach.

"What are you talking about?" Gray asked before she could. "What library?"

"We stumbled into it by accident. Barely made it out with our lives." Marlow shook his head. "She found those books, and it's like she became a different person. I had no idea who they belonged to until it was too late."

This wasn't a confession. He was being vague on purpose, only giving them enough information to keep them interested, but the implications of his words were immense. A library? There was an entire library filled with Zeref's books out there somewhere?

"How long ago was this?" Lucy blurted. A part of her knew that she already had the answer.

Marlow rolled his eyes, "I lost track. All I know is that Konza has been waiting for the right time to set everything in motion. She... unleashed something, about four months ago."

Four months ago, when the Leviathan had first appeared.

"She's after Natsu, isn't she?" Gray asked, his thoughts making their own connections. "Why?"

"I don't know," Marlow drooped, sagging against the wall of his cell. "You'll have to ask her yourself."

Lucy and Gray shared a look, a harrowing dread passing between them. Through the bars of the cell, Marlow watched them, scanning the way Gray's bandages wrapped his body.

"She got away, didn't she?" He laughed, a dark sound that prickled at Lucy's skin. "I thought so. Konza's always been good at that. She's a survivor."

"We'll find her again, don't you worry," Gray bit.

"If I know Konza, she's not going to just give up and go away. Chances are, she'll find you." Marlow adjusted his jaw, wincing as it clicked sharply. "That friend of yours—Natsu, was it? He should run for the hills while he can."

"We aren't scared of her," Lucy said, trying and failing to coax sureness into her words.

"You should be." Marlow shifted, grunting as he gathered his feet beneath him. When he stood, it was like watching a mountain move. "He hasn't got much time left."

A warning, or a threat—either way, it settled like a heavy stone in the pit of Lucy's gut. Did this man know about E.N.D. somehow? A nagging suspicion nipped at her brain; something wasn't adding up.

"If you want to help him, you'll need to find the library." Marlow lumbered to the bars, pressing his forehead to the gaps. "And for that, you're going to need me. I'm the only one who knows what she's planning and where she's going."

"Since you're in such a sharing mood, why don't you just tell us?" Lucy was growing tired of this, these Masters and their games.

"I'm not an idiot. You might throw me in jail, but I know you'll be back for me the moment you realize that I'm right." Marlow tipped his chin, looking down his nose. He smiled a broken smile, twisting his bruised chin. "And I'll be waiting."

"Dream on. Let's go Lucy." Gray scowled, spinning away from the cell.

As he stomped away, Lucy lingered, watching the man behind the bars as he dropped to the floor once more. There was a darkness in Marlow, of that there was no doubt, but she wasn't buying this cruel façade. It might have just been her better nature, seeing him caged and bound as he was, but she got the sense that in this whole mess of demons and books and curses, Marlow was simply another victim.

There was nothing she could do, though, nothing more she could say. So she turned and followed Gray, Ichiya falling in step behind her as she left the hold behind.

Marlow's deep voice rumbled down the hall after them one last time. His words crept down Lucy's spine like a cold, lifeless breeze.

"You can't save him."

The valley was vibrant and green—a shallow dip between two small mountains that bloomed with flowers and chimed with birds. Somewhere, a woman hummed a slow, peaceful tune, an old song that sparked a note of familiarity somewhere in the deep recesses of his brain.

He ran through the clover grass of the meadow, young and vibrant and care-free. A man, tall and lean and draped in white, ran beside him, laughing his felicity to the sky. The man whirled and scooped him up, his large hands cradling and warm. They spun together, glee and galvanized joy beaming through his smile. They fell into the sward, strong arms hugging him close, safe and secure and he knew that everything would be okay.

He looked up at the man, his own eyes, his own face sharpened by age and years looking back at him. Love burned in those eyes, strength and admiration so rich and steadfast.

Someone called his name. Across the meadow, a blanket was laid out over the grass. A woman waved to them, beckoning, beautiful and foreignly familiar. Her flowing black hair swayed in the warm breeze that kissed at her round face and bright smile. On the blanket beside her, a small figure sat. A dark-haired boy, absolutely still against the waving valley. He couldn't quite make out his face—

—the valley burned, thunderous roars cracking the sky. Thrumming wingbeats pulsed in his eardrums, each another concussion that tore the air and razed the land. Fear clutched his stuttering heart, stealing his strength to run even as the floor burned his feet. His home was ablaze, crackling and snapping timber bursting with sparks. Smoke filled his lungs, choking with his panicked sobs.

He called for help, for someone—anyone—to save him. Nobody came.

A loud crack and the groan of wood. He looked up just as the world came crashing down on him.

Agony, barbed and sharp, tore through the eternity that came next. All he knew, all he was, reduced to pain and grinding darkness.

Something shifted suddenly, and a cool, cyanic wave washed over him. The burning pressure ebbed away, numbing the frayed pieces of him. His mind felt loose, drifting around him, a veil of scattered thoughts and sepia memories. A strange taste clung to his tongue—apples, maybe, and acrid herbs. Floating in that pale-blue abyss between asleep and awake, not dreaming and not seeing, echoes from an unfathomable distance called; the small murmurs of a babbling stream and wind sowing through tall grass .

Everything settled, a deep ache lingering in the spaces left to remain.

Natsu opened his eyes.

A dusty wooden ceiling arched above him, decorated with cobwebs and shadows. Beneath him, a creaky bed found all the gaps in his spine. The smell of herbs and cauldrons and birds chirping distantly through a window he couldn't see—it was Porlyusica's house. Late afternoon light slanted across the ceiling, cutting silhouettes across the rough wood, golden rays of warmth falling down the walls.

His arms felt stiff and wet. A dull pain thrummed in his core.

"Hey."

It took more effort than he would have liked just to turn his head. Lucy and Happy sat beside him, framed by a setting sun. Happy jumped onto the bed, soft paws pressing into his shoulder. His body felt dumb and clumsy when he tried and failed to sit up, numb soreness blocking out any command to move.

And within, deep within—also numb, also sore, but... still and quiet, like a graveyard.

"Hey," he croaked around his voice, weak in his throat. "What's going on?"

Lucy leaned over him, fingers teasing at his hair. "We're at Porlyusica's. How do you feel?"

His tongue felt like a dead fish in his mouth, and that taste—apples, but not, why apples?—still lingered. He wanted to get up, yet barely managed to lift his head.

"I can't… I can't move."

"Yeah," Happy rubbed his chest, a comfort missing from his touch. "You're going to be weak for a few days. Does anything hurt?"

Natsu strained his eyes down, trying to look past his nose. "My arms. My... everything."

Lucy's fingers wrapped gently around his wrist, the touch muffled through something scratchy and damp. She raised his hand for him to see, slowly, carefully, like she was afraid his bones would snap in a firmer grasp. Perhaps they would have; a sting crackled down his arm, something crunched in the sinew of his flesh. Thick layers of gauze and bandages wrapped his arm, flecks of brown blood, yellow puss, and gray medicine staining the edges.

"You hurt yourself pretty bad," she said, her fingers ghosting over his knuckles. "Wendy healed you as best as she could, but... it was a lot."

She spoke more, words about his injuries and treatments, but he wasn't listening-

-ash and soot biting into his fists, dark flames raging from the kindling of his marrow. Rough agony and brittle strain tearing through his strength, blackened destruction coating his pain—he didn't care. Everything had to burn-

"I remember," he said, cutting off Lucy's words. She blinked at him, uncertain. "I remember what happened."

He could feel their stares on his face, though he was too focused on the other kind of wrong feeling buried in his bosom that he couldn't quite place. A hollow spot ached in his soul, where something important was missing—like a limb he could feel even though it was no longer there.

Only now did he hear the rattle in Lucy's breath, the small wheeze that puffed with each exhale. Both of them looked like they had been through the ringer, smeared dirt and grime masking a sickly pallor. Happy's leg was bandaged. There were bruises on Lucy's neck. Strange, he should have noticed that sooner.

"Are you okay?" Asking the question felt and sounded forced, automatic—something he was supposed to ask, and the answer didn't matter... it should have mattered, though.

"I... yeah, we're okay."

Again, he wasn't listening. Again, he could feel their gazes, cautious, concerned—he didn't care. Natsu could feel his heart flutter, a mechanical response, an echo of panic.

"Something is wrong," he muttered, trying once again to sit up, to get the bed off of his spine and the ceiling out of his eyes, to see what had been misplaced.

His body listened this time. Lucy helped tuck a pillow behind his back, and when she laid her hand on his shoulder, a touch that should have carried warmth and solace, Natsu realized what had been amiss.

"Lucy... what happened to me? Why don't I feel... " Anything—there was nothing in his heart. Not guilt, not sorrow, not the dread he knew should have gripped him. He was empty of everything, like a desert devoid of rain. "Back in the woods, all those people... but I don't feel-"

"Calm down, Natsu."

Porlyusica, hunched over her cane, wobbled to his bedside. She leaned over him, the garnets of her eyes peering into the depths of him like she was looking for his soul. Judging by the look on her face, she didn't find it.

"Listen to me carefully," she started, "Do you remember Aria, from Phantom Lord?"

The man with the blindfold, always weeping and mourning. Natsu nodded.

"I've given you a potion that acts much the same as one of his spells, though not quite as devastating," Porlyusica explained. "All your magic has been drained from your body—as well as your curse. You're going to be very weak for a while, but I'm hoping that your magic will replenish itself faster than the curse does. That also means that you're in the void between your two selves… a sort of middle ground of E.N.D. and Natsu, do you understand?"

He should be terrified. He wasn't.

"Okay," was all he said.

Porlyusica tilted her head at him, perturbed, then looked to Lucy. "He should regain more of his fervor as he gets stronger. I'm sorry, I didn't think the change would be so drastic."

Lucy only nodded, not sure what to think as she and Happy stared at him. Around the gauze mittens on his fists, her hand gripped his. His fingers twitched, a reaction of passion he couldn't fulfill—and didn't want to.

"How are the others?" he asked.

"They're fine. They all went home, except for Erza and Juvia. Porlyusica is keeping them overnight." Lucy bit her lip. "Natsu, they know everything. They know about you and E.N.D."

Natsu took a deep breath, a twinge of pulling pain in his gut. How should he feel? Anxious? Ashamed? Neither of those peaked from the abyss inside of him.

"I guess it was only a matter of time, huh?" he said. "Do they hate me?"

"No, of course not," Happy piped up. But then he considered his words. "They were a little scared, to be honest. But they'll come around!"

It was so strange, being present in the world but completely detached; hollow and empty, an ornate frame without a painting. It was insanity without delirium, rational madness as cold as winter's grasp at midnight. Like hearing the distant thunder without seeing the lightning strike, or only watching a sunrise by the muted shades cast on the wall.

Natsu wanted to see the storm, the sunrise—feel. He couldn't, it was like didn't know how.

"Can we go home?" He said the words without thinking, perhaps another ripple of agitation from the still waters of his soul. Natsu looked up to Porlyusica, ignoring the shock on Lucy's and Happy's faces. The old woman thought for a moment, and he wasn't sure it if was bewilderment or terror he saw in her milky gaze.

"If you can carry yourself there on your own legs, then be my guest," the healer said, a dismissive flick of her wrist as she turned away. "I would have kicked you out as it is. I'm tired."

Her flippant annoyance went right over his head as Natsu swung his legs over the edge of the bed and struggled to his feet. His knees gave away only once, a tight ache coiling through the stitches in his gut. He felt Lucy's hands beneath his shoulders, pulling him up and steadying his trembling back. He brushed her off and asked her where his scarf and jacket were. Lucy stared at him for a beat, that same searching look in her eyes. He saw the moment her hope shattered on her face. She ducked past him to retrieve his affects from the nightstand beside the bed.

She helped him put his jacket on, draping it over his shoulders, her touch careful and fleeting. The garment, though clean now, stank of blood. He swayed where he stood, eyelids heavy as he silently trudged for the door. When he stepped outside without another word, not even a 'thanks' for Porlyusica, Lucy and Happy lingered for a small moment.

She could feel the small cat tremble against her ankle, uncertain and confused, same as her. The hard thunk of Porlyusica's cane by her hip jerked her out of her torpor.

"Keep an eye on him," Porlyusica said. "It may not seem like it, but the weight of his actions will eventually come back to haunt him. He's going to need the both of you to get through it. This isn't permanent, I promise."

Lucy only nodded as she scooped up Happy and followed after her fiancé, mumbling a thank you and that she would keep in touch. It didn't take long to catch up with Natsu, his quaking steps only carrying him so fast. He didn't so much as acknowledge her as she stepped beside him.

Sharp grief clutched at her heart. Natsu hadn't even hugged her. Happy patted her arm softly, his shared dismay a small solace as she stifled her cries.

Natsu glanced at Lucy out of the corner of his eye. A single tear glistened in the light of the setting sun as it slid along her nose. A small stirring behind his stomach, a tiny sense of sympathy through the apathy, enticed him to reach out and take her hand. She looked up at him. A ghost of a smile pulled at Natsu's lips. She smiled back at him, her golden hair shimmering in the light, her eyes cast to a deep amber glow.

He should kiss her, he realized. That was what she wanted, and was supposed to be something he also wanted. He just... didn't.

But she seemed content with the touch, so they all stumbled home together in silence.

Chapter Text

Eight days had passed since they had returned from Juniper Hills. Eight days for Lucy and Happy to recover, regaining the air that had been stolen from them. Eight days of tending to Natsu, nursing his wounds and helping him build his strength.

It was eight days of living in a nightmare.

He was barely coherent for the first couple of days, his body wracked with chills and fatigue as it worked to heal his grievous injuries. He was quick to mend, like he always was, and when the danger of infection and regression had passed, Lucy expected she would start to see more of the man he was through the impassive fog in his eyes. She had thought that his fire would start to burn away the cold, and he'd come alive again.

He didn't.

His callous, blank-slated indifference remained like an unwelcome guest.

Mostly Natsu slept, bed ridden with fitful rest. More than once, his half-hissed words and twitching jerks had awoken her in the night. In those dark hours, she would gather her blankets and move to the couch. Happy would flutter down from his nest and join her, seeking comforts both physical and invisible. Morning would come, and they would lie awake in the living room until Natsu called for them.

When he wasn't resting, when he had collected enough of his sinew to leave bed, Lucy and Happy would have thought they were living with a stranger.

He didn't cook, didn't laugh, didn't leave messes, and didn't touch either of them. He was like a doll, one that could talk and see... but empty on the inside. She wouldn't let him leave the house, wouldn't let him go to the guild—though, he didn't really seem to want to in the first place. The thought of their friends and guildmates seeing him like this... she couldn't handle that, too. One disaster at a time.

At some point, Natsu had figured out that his behavior was deterring Lucy and Happy away. So, he started faking it—empty smiles, meaningless words of things he thought they wanted to hear.

She had thought that he did it for hers and Happy's sake, to make them feel better. Maybe it had started that way. It quickly became clear that Natsu didn't care about that... he did, however, seem to care about getting them to do what he wanted them to do, to steer and trip them into serving his needs.

Hearing him tell her he loved her and knowing it was a lie... it was doing something to Lucy.

What open love their house had held for them quickly turned to closed contention. Natsu, a man who had been the contradictory definition of brutal honesty and charm, had become someone Lucy had always feared; the kind of man she was sure to have been joined with had she stayed at the mansion and let her father have his way. Conniving, heartless, dismissive... she was a caretaker and a maid, nothing more.

Lucy sometimes got the impression that he could feel things—things like amusement and annoyance. But they were selfish feelings, only fleeting happenstances when something did or didn't go his way. He played with Lucy's and Happy's emotions like tools or toys, tugging on their senses of sympathy and love. Whether he meant to or not was a different matter.

This hollow, manipulative person that slept beside Lucy every night… it was almost too much to take.

He had never growled or snapped at her or Happy, nor had he said or done anything to make them think that he would hurt them. But Lucy and the little exceed had never felt more unsafe in their own home.

She needed to get out, so after the eighth day, she ducked away while Natsu napped, leaving him in Happy's care. She walked into the guild on a sunny afternoon, closed the door, and kicked the wood and iron framing, her boot thumping hard against the edging. An angry scream tore from her mouth, ringing of frustration and desperation.

The immediate response was the pain in her toes. Lucy swallowed a whimper as she turned and hobbled over to the bar, refusing to acknowledge the attention of her guild mates, their concerned stares and pitiful glances. They were gracious enough not to say anything.

She seated herself at the wooden countertop, nearly empty save for the few sleeping patrons drooling on the bar stand. She hadn't spotted any of their friends.

They hadn't spoken since the Christina; none of them had come to see her and she was too busy dealing with... well, dealing with everything. After Gajeel's and Wendy's feaful outburst, it was little wonder why.

Maybe... she just didn't have a lot of friends anymore.

Lucy dropped her head into her hands as she leaned against the bar top. A shaky sigh, all the pent up agitation and regret—yes, regret, there was no denying it—trembling through her shoulders.

"Everything alright?"

Looking up through her fingers, Freed loitered behind the wooden countertop just down from her, his hands busying themselves with polishing a glass. She hadn't seen him somehow, too caught up in her worries and dithers.

"I'm afraid not," she replied. Her arms dropped heavily to the bar top as she tried to relax. "But thank you for asking."

Freed waited, his hands paused in their actions, expecting her to continue. When she didn't, he set down the glass and crossed his arms.

"Would you like to talk about it?"

His attentiveness caught her off-guard. "I would hate to keep you from doing your job."

Freed quirked his lips, considering her words as he took his place across from Lucy and reached under the counter. Procuring a fresh glass, he set it before her and began prepping a drink.

"You and I have never gotten the chance to talk properly, without Natsu and Laxus." Freed bowed his head. "I apologize for that. I had every intention to check up on you with everything going on."

"You don't need to apologize. There's been so much happening." Lucy tried to smile at Freed, but she was too tired to even fake one. And yet, a ghost of a smirk shaded his face. "Besides, I know you have other duties."

Freed spread his hands, the bottle in his palm sloshing with amber liquid.

"What duties?" He looked up and down the quiet bar top. "You're the only one awake up here, and I was getting bored."

Lucy stared at him, not quite sure what to make of Freed's unusually relaxed attitude. He didn't miss a beat between speaking and mixing liquors and juices into the glass.

"Mirajane told me that being the Master's assistant means being his eyes and ears. But, whatsmore, also providing a safe space for my guildmates to aer their grievances and woes. So, by all means, I'm here to help." Setting his last bottle down, he garnished the glass with a orange twist and slid it towards Lucy. "On the house."

The drink was excellently layered with pink, yellow, and amber liquors. When Lucy brought it to her lips, the sweet smells of almonds and fruits tickled her nose. She took a sip, pleasantly surprised by the sweetly tropical yet nutty sensation on her tongue.

"This is delicious." Lucy looked up at him. Freed had been carefully watching her, though trying to hide it. "What is this?"

"It's a drink I've created myself." He began putting bottles away. "Haven't come up with a name for it yet. I'm glad you like it."

Lucy stirred her drink, mixing the layers together. Freed was silent, patient and available as he waited for her to gather her thoughts.

"It's Natsu," she finally said. "He's been... I'm worried about him."

That was putting it lightly.

Freed looked over his shoulder. "Has he not gotten any better?"

She figured Laxus would have told Freed about Natsu's current situation after she had come to report. She didn't mind, it saved a lot of explaining that she would rather not do in a crowded hall.

"He's getting stronger everyday," she continued. "But he's still not himself. Before I left, he was sleeping on the couch."

"And that's... strange?" Freed guessed.

"He never sleeps on the couch. He prefers to sleep in his hammock."

"It's possible there might be a delay in his psychological recovery," Freed suggested after a contemplative moment. "We've never dealt with this before. Has he done anything else?"

Lucy swallowed, the cold burn of alcohol sitting at the back of her throat as she clutched her drink. "Not really. He sleeps a lot, hardly eats anything. But he's... it's been hard. Otherwise, he's doing great."

These were things she was supposed to say, she thought, things a caring partner says and does for their sick companion. She couldn't say what she wanted to, couldn't speak the bitter thoughts that dwelled in her mind.

She couldn't tell anyone that sometimes, she could still feel E.N.D.'s claws around her neck. Sometimes, she saw that cruel, insane smile in the shadows of their home. Sometimes, she thought about what her life would be if she hadn't met Natsu... and wished for it.

Speaking those things aloud would make them real, give them power—so she didn't, despite her heart's screaming for cathartic release.

"Isn't that good?"

"Yeah... yeah it is good." Lucy bowed her head. "Everything is good. It's fine."

Freed must have realized that he'd made a mistake somewhere, watching her shut down and withdraw. Leaning against the liquor shelves, he crossed his arms and sighed.

"But you're reaching your limit, I see now." Freed stared at her for a small while, finally seeing all the invisible wounds she carried; the faded smudges of tear-smeared makeup beneath her eyes, chipped nail polish, and a quaking grief riding on her shoulders. "How bad is it, Lucy?"

She looked up at him, and the shining hurt in her eyes nearly took him off his feet. She needed a stronger drink. He would give it to her if he could.

"It's okay to be resentful," he said, his voice low and gentle. "It's okay to be angry at the world when it turns it's back on you, to be angry with Natsu and everybody else. You are human, and we are creatures of great compassion, but also deep contempt. Neither are anything to be ashamed of."

Lucy took a deep breath through the tight misery in her chest and nodded, the sting of new tears in her tired eyes. Freed's warm hand lighted on her arm, and oh, how good it felt to be touched with the intention of comfort, the sweet sympathy and kindness that had been missing from her life for over a week.

"Try to take heart, Lucy," Freed said in the small distance between them. "You are doing everything that you can. If you need anything... anything, Lucy, please tell me."

"Thank you, Freed," Lucy hummed, wiping her tears. "This drink is really, really good."

Freed only nodded, stepping away for her to regain her space. He picked up a glass and a rag and resumed polishing, a careful ear always tuned to her. Lucy sipped her small cocktail in silence, the effect of alcohol already beginning to quell her stormy mind. She felt... better. Freed was no Mirajane, but perhaps that was a good thing.

But she had been here too long. It was time to return-

"Lucy?"

Spinning around on her bar stool, Levy stood before her, stiff and withdrawn. Seeing her again after the small eternity that had passed since Juniper Hills... seeing a familiar face that wasn't empty or false.

"Levy," she breathed, standing from her stool. "It's... it's so good to see you."

Levy chewed her lip. "It is true? About Natsu?"

And just like that, her eternity got longer.

"Gajeel told me what happened. Lucy, is it true?"

Her first instinct was to lie. No, it wasn't true, Lucy wanted to say. Natsu was fine, or he would be. But she couldn't lie to her friend, no matter how dismaying the truth was.

"Yes." Lucy muttered. "It's all true."

Levy frowned, her lithe frame beginning to tremble. The air whooshed out of Lucy's lungs as Levy's small but strong arms wrapped around her and squeezed.

"I... was so worried." Levy's hushed voice whispered in her ear. "I'm so sorry I didn't check up on you sooner. Gajeel, he... he wouldn't let me."

"It's okay," Lucy murmured. Levy just shook her head, clutching her tighter.

"No, it's isn't." Her numerous earrings clinked against Lucy's as she tilted her head into her hair. "I had to scream at him before he told me everything. I swear, that man just makes me so-"

"Levy, it's alright." Lucy gripped her shoulders, holding her square before her. "Natsu would never hurt me."

"That's not it," Levy's small hand cupped her face, a fierce determination set hard on her brow. "He's been here long enough to know better than to abandon our friends. I'm so sorry that you've had to go through this alone."

Levy's tears brimmed on her eye lashes. "I will help you in anyway that I can, we are going to fix this."

Her words struck a chord within Lucy, a reassurance and validation that she didn't know she needed. Gratitude welled in her heart, a true smile teasing at her lips.

"Thank you." Lucy scrubbed her cheek, her spirits moved by alcohol drunk too quickly or something else. "It means a lot to hear you say that."

"Of course," Levy fingers brushed her hair, the piercing in her brow sparkled in the light. "I'd do anything for you and Natsu. For any of my friends. You're going to get married, too. I can't have anything interfering with that."

"Actually..." Lucy took a deep breath, bracing as one of her dark thoughts became real. "I've been thinking about calling off the wedding."

"Say what now?"

More unexpected words from unexpected people, Erza and Gray loitering at the polite boundary of her and Levy. Both of them patched with white bandages and looking as if she had slapped them where they stood.

"I... well-" she started, but Erza shook her head, a waved hand cutting off her words.

"That's not important right now."

And so Erza, just like Levy, embraced Lucy. Her hold, though, so much more secure and encompassing. The scent of iron and strawberries, the feel of her scarlet and silver hair against her temple, all the things that meant strength and resilience. Her Maid of Honor, alive and well.

"Oh, Erza," Lucy pressed her cheek to her shoulder. "You're okay."

"Gray told me everything." Erza nodded to the man. "Were I not on mandatory bed rest, I would have come to you sooner."

"We all would have," Gray said, an apology weighing into his frown. "Juvia still hasn't recovered. I couldn't..."

"I understand." Lucy touched his arm. "You had to make sure she was okay. Though... I'm not sure that Gajeel and Wendy are as concerned as you think."

"We spoke with Wendy," Erza shared a knowing look with Gray. "Tending to me and Juvia, she had to listen. She regrets what she said. Just give her time."

"Gajeel will get over himself," Levy sighed, rolling her eyes. "He just doesn't handle fear very well."

A soreness bloomed in Lucy's throat, but different now than the morose doubt she'd been carrying. The warmth of community, the bedrock of mercy and collective compassion that settled against the burden on her shoulders, and everything shifted to more... bearable. She wasn't alone—she wasn't alone.

"Are you okay, though?" Erza asked, a guiding hand on Lucy's back away from attentive ears. Gray and Levy followed. "What's going on?"

"Yeah, what's this talk about calling off the wedding?" Gray crossed his arms, cocking his hip in such a way she had only seen between him and Lyon. A memento of Ur, perhaps.

Lucy sighed, her heart thumping painfully from all the long nights she had stayed awake with her unwelcome considerations. Everything had just become so... uncertain.

"I only said that I was thinking about it," she clarified. "I'm not going to leave him. I just don't think it's a good idea to have one any time soon. We'll just... have to wait till this all blows over, then we'll talk about getting married."

"Those are dangerous thoughts," Gray muttered. "Sounds a lot like 'taking a break', and we know how that worked out for Lyon and Meldy."

"It won't be like that. That's not how we are," Lucy bit. She knew she was just frustrated, and taking it out on Gray wasn't fair or solicited. She couldn't stop herself. "I wouldn't do that to him. This isn't easy for me—but it's hard to wait for a day that may never come."

Erza touched her shoulder, her face a mask of stoicism hiding bleak understanding. Her cheek was in the final healing stages from a nasty bruise, her neck wrapped in fresh white dressing. Against the pale gray locks in her hair, Erza's brown eyes almost seemed black, sparks of lost hope and abandoned desires. She knew, Lucy realized, better than anyone what it felt like to grow tired of waiting for the happiest day of her life.

"As your friend, I will support you with whatever you think is best." Erza spoke slowly and steadily. "But, as Natsu's friend, I think you should really reconsider. You are what he treasures most in this world. If he ever got the idea that he was starting to lose you, I don't think he could recover."

"I agree," Levy said. "At least see how Natsu feels about this."

Lucy scrubbed her face, frustrated but relenting that Erza had a point. This wasn't something she could decide on her own volitions—not yet.

"I'll... I'll think about it," she shrugged. Nobody was satisfied with her words, but right now, it was all she could give.

"This is just great," Gray grumbled, scratching miffly at his beard. "Natsu finally asks me to be his best man, and now he might not even get married."

His hand clenched against his jaw, all of Gray suddenly stiff and tight.

"Gray? What's wrong?" Erza whispered, a delicate and careful step to his side.

Grunting, Gray crumpled over himself, clutching his arms against his chest. His fingers spasmed and twitched, shockwaves of torment and ire riding up his wrist. He shivered under Lucy's concerned touch, trembles that buzzed of struggles against an adversary none of them could see. Gray growled through clenched teeth as the tattoo of the devil slayer blazoned across the planes of his arm, dark omens and hissing promises of destruction inked on his skin.

Huffing, flushed from exertion, Gray regained himself, the surprise in his eyes matching Lucy's own.

"That's the second time it's done that." Gray looked up at Lucy. "I don't know what's going on, but I think you need to check on Natsu. Right now."

"We'll come with you," Erza said, her stalwart spirit flaring. But Lucy shook her head.

"You're still on bed rest. I'll be okay, I promise." Her words, though sure, did not carry the conviction to hold true.

Lucy spun on her heels. As they watched her leave, Erza and Levy turned to Gray, their faces asking countless questions. Gray could only shake his head and shrug. His father's magic lingered in the sinews of his arm, sparking a warning through him of hidden monsters and awakened nightmares. The door to the guild slammed shut, a heavy clang echoing through the hall. Gray swallowed past the stone of worry in his throat, and hoped everything was alright.

She ran, desperate flight digging from the balls of her feet into the cobblestone streets of Magnolia, then the loose dirt of the path home. Her heart pumped against her, a frantic beat pounding through fear and a small, lingering ache from cursed mist in a dark forest.

She barely stopped as she broke through the trees, only noting with relief that their home was still standing—not engulfed in flames, one worry assuaged. Rushing up the narrow walk to the front door, Lucy paused for only a moment to catch her breath. Through the wood housing, over the rush of her blood in her ears; words, frantic shouting and panicked cries. Happy and Natsu, their voices gruff and strained.

She flung the door open, bursting into her home, into the manic rage she was certain had taken hold.

But, instead, there was just Natsu and Happy, struggling against each other through the narrow doorway into the kitchen. Lucy rushed through the living room, confused and uneasy. This didn't sound like another one of their usual squabbles, didn't seem like a harmless row between friends. The Natsu she had left sleeping on the couch that same morning wouldn't make such a fuss.

Happy clung to the man's arm, his paws clawing desperately at Natsu's white knuckles. In his hand, he clenched a simple knife, an empty slot in the wood block on the counter not two feet away.

The serrated edge of the blade dripped crimson, splattering on the wooden planks at his feet. Happy's fur, puffed and static, was streaked with blood—but the claret came from Natsu, a weeping slash across his other arm and so alarmingly, dangerously close to the thin part of his wrist.

Her fiancé's eyes glistened with hurt, a red sorrow painting his face. He'd been crying. Natsu was back... but wrong.

When he roughly grabbed the scruff of Happy's neck and ripped him away, tossing him across the kitchen—

As she watched him raise the knife to his neck, and bright blood pearled under the blade at his throat—

Lucy wanted to scream.

She probably did. Natsu jumped, his head snapping to her. She was already rushing, a split second of terror flashing across his face before they collided. Jamming her elbow into his arm, Natsu grunted as the knife flew from his stunned fingers. It clattered across the floor, scattering red.

Lucy wrapped her arms around him, locking her grip, trapping his bleeding arm against his side as Happy pounced onto his other. Natsu, weak and enervated still, thrashed under their hold, unable to shake them off.

"Let me go," he said, his voice cracking, breaking against his misery and her distress. His legs moved, a single, labored step of cold determination. "Let me go."

Lucy swept her foot under his ankle. Natsu dropped to one knee, a loud wham shaking the house as he tumbled with their weight.

"Stop!"

Fresh tears bloomed in Natsu's eyes, his breathing quickened. "Please—please, Lucy. Just let me go. Let me do this."

She didn't have the capacity to truly comprehend what was happening, didn't want to understand what her own eyes had seen or the way his words reverberated through all the aching places in her soul. Natsu pitched forward, unbalanced from his core. All three of them hit the ground, struggling on the kitchen floor. Dark red smeared against his shirt and Lucy's thigh, the heavy smell of copper hanging at the back of her throat.

Natsu stretched his arm out under Happy, reaching for the fallen knife that lay only just out of his grasp. Happy twisted his wrist, wrenching his fingers away as a small crunch tightened pain through his arm. A groan bubbled from Natsu's teeth, burgeoning to a wail as Happy flicked his tail and the knife skittered across the floor once more, hitting the wall—well from his reach.

"No—Happy, please," Natsu begged. His cries hurt with desperation, his voice strained around the suffocating sorrow in his throat. "Please let me go."

"Natsu-" Lucy, in a desperate bid to reach him, tried to turn him on his back. He wouldn't let her, jerking against her hold. There was nothing she could do but hang on. "Calm down!"

He twisted away, his knees digging into the floor, inching them all slowly after the fallen blade. His pleas turned to sobs when Lucy wrapped her legs around his and locked her ankles. He threw himself helplessly, immobilized and restrained and lost. Natsu huffed, drops of red falling from his neck like dying rose petals.

"I can't do it anymore, Lucy-" he moaned, panting. "I can't keep pretending that I'm not a monster."

Her mind, blank and rushing, startled at his confession. "You're not a monster, Natsu-"

He twisted once more, finally meeting her gaze. His frantic breath washed over her face, red eyes drilling against her resolve and crushing the words on her tongue. Burning grief and depthless shame, a devastating abhorrence that smacked Lucy like a punch to the gut. He wasn't with her, she realized. He was trapped in his own head, somewhere dark and painful and far more deadly than any knife.

"I killed those people, the Manticores," Natsu croaked. New tears of anger and loathing ran down his cheeks, dribbling from his chin. "I killed them. Not E.N.D., me."

His head drooped, weighed down by regret and ache. His panting broke, a shattered gasp blowing hot agony from his teeth. Lucy could the see the madness of his guilt curling behind his eyes like smoke, the swallowing torment that blinded him. When he spoke again, his voice hissed with finality.

"I am a killer," he whispered. "I am..."

His words petered out to emptiness, and she knew there was nothing she could say to fill it. Natsu, exhausted and drained, let his head drop to the floor and bawled like a child. His sadness wracked his body, each broken breath shaking under Lucy's arms, each cry another bleeding piece ripped off of her battered heart.

"He… he just broke, Lucy." Happy gulped. The small cat's eyes sparkled, his pupils blown wide and fur standing on end. "Everything was normal one minute, and the next thing I knew, Natsu was trying to…"

Lucy knew then, everything clicking into place. His psyche was not a gradual restoration, like Porlyusica had expected—more like a switch being flipped in him, turning on the lights and illuminating the skeletons and crimes he'd left in the dark. From the nothing of his fractured soul, a storm of guilt—roaring and crushing. In a tangential way, Lucy could understand why Natsu would be reckless-

-but she never would have imagined he would resort to this.

Natsu sniffed, gulping air as he came down from his heightened remorse. Lucy, hesitant, loosened her grip. He didn't break from her, didn't make a move for the knife. He just sagged beside her, worn and corroded. Her fingers tangled gently into his hair, pressing her face to his neck. The harried beat of his heart pulsed against her cheek.

"They would have killed you." Her voice was low, trying to hide her trembling. "You know that, don't you?"

"Don't." Natsu spat, shifting away from her. "Please, Lucy. Please don't try to make this better. Don't try to justify what I did."

"It's the truth." Heat flushed her face, her own vehemence roiling. "I've fought a war alongside you. I know that's not who you are."

"You saved Gray's life, too," Happy chipped in, crawling closer down Natsu's arm. "Don't forget that."

"We're not at war. They didn't have to die." Natsu shook his head. Beneath his chin, blood and tears flecked the floor. "I don't know who I am, anymore."

Happy whimpered. She didn't know what to say, all her hopes blown apart against this wall of ache he hid behind. He was still bleeding, she remembered, and chose to focus on that instead.

Lucy released him out of her stranglehold, a firm hand under his elbow helping him up. He was heavy and slow, a bag of wet sand and trembling anguish. Leaning against the cabinets, Natsu hung his head and continued to silently weep through his misery. His blood was smeared on his shirt and Lucy's leg, patched through Happy's fur—and yet, when she gently turned his arm, when she titled his chin back, the wounds only oozed and trickled. She would dress the cuts—who knew when that knife was properly cleaned last—but he was in no danger.

She sent Happy to retrieve the first aid kit while she wet a rag in the sink. The cut on his neck was entirely superficial, but his arm...

It was a small slash, though the entrance point was deep, bubbling blood spitting at her with each twitch of his muscles. He'd stabbed himself initially, she guessed, maybe intending to carve through his own flesh. If Happy hadn't yanked his hand away, he would have succeeded—the damage would have been fatal. Seeing the knife wounds, seeing the tears in his flesh and will to live... everything became real.

Natsu had tried to kill himself. They had stopped him in time, but he had tried.

"What were you thinking?" Lucy whispered. Happy came back with the kit. She opened it, picking out a roll of gauze and a capsule of ointment. "Why would you do this to us..."

The questions fell fragmented and unfinished from her tongue. Natsu said nothing, didn't meet her gaze or give any indication that he had heard her. As she wiped the sticky, lingering blood off of his skin, he took a deep breath.

"I was thinking... that you and Happy would be better off without me."

Happy mewled next to her, a small and pathetic sound that echoed from her heart. Natsu sighed, letting his head fall back and thump against the wooden drawers. His cheeks were wet, eyes brimmed with more silent agony, and for all the shattered moments of heartbreak and hopelessness she had cut her soul against in her life, Lucy had stopped breathing.

"Don't-" her voice caught in her throat. She swallowed thickly. "Don't ever say such nonsense again."

He shivered, wincing as she dripped ointment across his neck and into the gaping space of his arm. His blood fizzed, angry chemicals cleaning away opportunistic toxins. She pressed the gauze over his wrist, red blooming into the white as she wrapped the bandage over and over and over again. She was too calm right now, she noted, detached from her boiling agitation, standing beside her own body rather than in it. In a way, she was grateful for it: Natsu didn't need her rage or her misery, couldn't handle the trial of her breaking devotion.

But then the bandage was tied, his blood gummed in the creases of her palms, and her placid was fading like mercury slipping through her fingers.

"You should go take a bath," she blurted. Her hand curled a touch too tight on his knuckles. "It'll help you feel better."

Natsu looked up at her through his lashes. He had run out of tears to shed, and she wasn't fooling him with her own threatening to fall. He nodded like it was the only thing he could do, moving away from under her touch.

"Okay," was all he said as he stood, stumbling through the kitchen.

When they heard the bath water running, and the soft thunk of the bathroom door closing cut out to roaring silence, Lucy and Happy crumbled. Happy leapt into her arms, bawling into her chest. She wanted to comfort him, to reassure the small cat that everything would be okay—she couldn't, not when her own shock fell like a final curtain and stepping back into herself became a drowning burn in her core. Cradling Happy in her arms, she wondered what she was going to do.

Steam hung thick in the bathroom, foggy light scattered from the small lacrima around the tub. Dim comfort lingered in the corners of the room, cobwebs of heat and soft ripples. The scents of lemongrass and vetiver, remnants of Lucy's last bubble bath from who knew how long ago, spiked the air with tinges of petrichor and musk.

Natsu sat in the steaming waters, his bandaged arm resting dry on the edge of the tub. His chest expanded, careful breaths measured and counted.

In...

...out.

In...

...out-

-out of the roaring stampede breaking through the forest and into the inferno of his own curse. Their eyes—bleeding, crying, empty—begging for the mercy he wouldn't give them. The flash of a blade, the ripping hole in his gut. Singed skin flaking from smoldering bones. They would burn, they would all burn-

Natsu squeezed his eyes shut. He couldn't stop it, couldn't stop seeing those faces; strangers, people he never knew, all of them disintegrating against his swallowing rage. They screamed in his ears, broken voices crying out for releasing oblivion.

In...

...out.

It must have been almost thirty minutes of this—trying to calm down, trying to bring himself back just a little, only to be dragged kicking and clawing back to the red room of his mind's shrieking echo chamber.

He just wanted it all to stop.

"Hey."

Natsu jerked, water splashing out of the bath. Lucy peeked into the bathroom, her eyes puffy and bruised. Her hair curled in the steam as she frowned an apology.

For all the aching lashes on his startled heart, he truly was glad to see her. "Hey."

Lucy stepped into the bathroom, closing the door. Leaning against the weathered wood, they lingered for a moment, staring at each other through the kinetic space of potential that neither of them were really ready to realize.

His eyes drifted down to her hip—her leg was still streaked with his blood, maroon smears on her pale skin. It made him sick, hot regret churning in his stomach.

"You mind if I join you?"

Natsu blinked up at her. "Yeah, but the water's hot. Just to warn you."

Lucy only shrugged, slowly slipping out of her clothes. Her hands were shaking, he saw. She climbed into the tub across from him, only wincing once as the the water rose to the brim of the tub. As she tied her hair back, and the first beads of sweat crowned her brow, Natsu's hand searched beneath the water, through the tangle of their legs until he found Lucy's foot. Wrapping his fingers gently around her ankle, he was relieved when she didn't pull away.

Quiet settled over them both, a momentary sigh of letting them be—each lost in their own thoughts, drifting away on steam, fatigue, and consequence.

"How's Happy?" Natsu asked, not really wanting to break the drum of tension between them, but wanting to know. She took a deep breath through her nose, blinking herself back.

"I washed him up in the sink," Lucy replied, her voice echoing quietly. "He's wrapped in a towel on the couch, sleeping."

He nodded, though the blossoming sting in his throat wouldn't let him speak. He didn't mean to upset his little friend so much. He'd never man-handled Happy like that before, grabbing him in the way that he had. Happy got caught up in his massive mistake, another victim drowning in his storm. At least he hadn't been left to lick Natsu's blood out of his fur, even if he hated baths.

"Thank you," he croaked. "I'm..."

He couldn't finish, and she didn't force him—just let him breathe, let him feel, let him think. She let him see her, sitting across from him, her skin flushed and a glinting worry in her eyes. She was as lost as he was, searching for him still.

"Are you feeling any better?" She whispered.

They both knew the answer, but it was the only question she could ask to finally bring him out of his own shadow.

"No," he answered. His fingers tangled into the dark hairs on his temple, wondering how he could ever "feel better" after this. It seemed like he never would again. "Don't need to worry about me, though. I wouldn't do that to you and Happy. I was being stupid."

He couldn't look at her—not directly, though her reflection seemed more bearable somehow, wavering shadows under her chin that mimicked an approximation of her.

"Well," Lucy huffed, something that might have been a laugh. "That's a relief."

There was no malice behind her words, just a tired consolation, and he didn't know if that was better. She should scream at him—he wanted her to.

"I'm so sorry, Lucy." His voice quivered. "I never meant to hurt you."

"If that were true, you wouldn't have done it in the first place."

She was right, of course. He wasn't thinking of her, or Happy; only his own failing resolve, the torment he needed to end.

"You have every right to be angry with me," he said. He remembered her scream, piled on top of all the others in his ear but the only one that cut the marrow in his bones. She'd looked... so scared, terror bright in her eyes, reflecting the dull glint of the knife at his throat-

Lucy scoffed, shaking him from his thoughts.

"You're damn right I do. You've been a pain in my ass this whole week."

She said it so casually, a flippant annoyance in her words that caught him completely by surprise. Natsu blinked at her, saw the irked wrinkle between her brows, the pouted frown on her lips—all betrayed by the hoping question searching behind her gaze. She'd taken a gamble. It paid off.

The smile that cracked his face ached just a little, as if he hadn't used those muscles properly in far too long, and then he was giggling. Giggling. And he wasn't entirely sure why. Lucy bit her lip, trying to suppress her mirth even as her shoulders shook, small ripples dancing across the water. Each fit of unexpected but very welcome laughter loosened something in his chest, the vice grip of shame easing up on his heart.

"Yeah, yeah I was, wasn't I?" Natsu wiped his eye, a new kind of tear wetting his knuckles. "Did... did I really tell you that-?"

"That I looked better with makeup on?" Lucy's smile couldn't hide anymore. "Yeah, you did. Thanks for that."

They laughed again, tired and ragged and worn, but it didn't matter. Only Lucy could make him laugh like this, when he didn't even think he could. For a moment, a small moment he wished he could hold onto forever, everything was okay. They were okay.

"I shouldn't have said that," Natsu breathed around his fading gaiety, trying to stay in the dwindling comfort of normalcy for a little while longer. "You'll always be beautiful. And thank you, for taking care of me."

Lucy nodded, sighed, and sunk further into the water. Her cheeks were flushed, heat and cathartic delirium drooping heavy on her eyelids. She settled with his presence. Perhaps, if he stayed quiet, she would fall asleep right then and there. She was exhausted—they both were, in intersecting ways.

They could laugh off some of the darkness, but not all of it.

"I really am sorry, Lucy." Her gaze cleared, focusing her strained endurance on his face and the revived grief he knew she saw. His hand clutched her ankle a little tighter, afraid to let her go. "I don't... I'm not sure how to make this better."

She was silent, watching him, but far away in her own thoughts. Water babbled around her as she sat up in the tub, gently tugging her foot from his grasp. A distant wail echoed in his heart, certain that she going to get out and leave. Instead, she shifted closer through the steam, a siren of all his hopes and desires and everything he didn't know he wanted. The warm glow of the lacrima kissed her face with gold, and despite the shadows underneath her eyes and the pale thinness in her cheeks, she truly was the most amazing thing he had ever seen.

Lucy cupped his cheek, hot water running down his neck. Something stung, an aching split in his skin, but he didn't care. Lucy was smiling, a waking hope and potent relief he'd seen only when he had been away for too long, and finally came back. It was his favorite of her smiles, the one that sang welcome home.

"You can start by kissing me."

Natsu caught her waist, pulling her into his lap, rising to meet her as water splashed over the edge of the tub. Her lips tasted like tears and hope, soft like stars in the mountains and the first light of dawn. His bandaged arm dipped into the water, not a care or consideration as he wrapped his arms around her ribs and squeezed her flush against him. Her small hands carded into his hair, fingernails scratching softly along his head.

He kissed her fiercely, with everything he had—all his regret, all his remorse, the things he didn't know how to say that would fill in the cracked places of her heart with his love. Maybe, just a tiny bit, Natsu allowed himself to give in to his grief. It wasn't so drowning here, in the sanctuary of her, easier and smaller. He could deal with that, with her help.

He had acted without thinking, and part of Lucy would never truly recover from those consequences. He'd give her his reassurance everyday for the rest of his life if he had to, his promise, his vow that he would not leave her behind.

But right now, he just wanted to be with her, to have and to hold. Falling into her embrace was easy as breathing, the security of her arms around his neck, the fervor of her breath on his cheek. She was the beginning and the end of him, the eternity and oblivion of his life.

It was her that pulled away after an eternity that wasn't nearly long enough, hovering above his lips. He opened his eyes to her, his gaze filled with the dark-gold suns of her stare. Natsu could see the thoughts working behind her eyes, the motes of concept and possibility drifting together, culminating and shaping until... an idea.

He saw the moment a decision solidified in her mind-

"Let's get married."

-oh.

Natsu blinked at her. "I thought we already were."

She chuckled, a sound that fluttered in his ears. "I mean right now."

Natsu sat up, Lucy sliding from his lap, her hands moving to his chest. "Are you saying you want to elope?"

She shook her head. "Not at all. We've got everything planned, right? We have a cake, we have flowers. I have a bridesmaid; you have a best man. I have a dress; you have a suit-"

"It's only half a suit, really."

"We could do it," Lucy breathed, her eyes shining. "We don't have to wait."

"But some of the guild members still aren't back, like Gildarts."

"I'm sure if Cana reached out to him, he would get here. We could give the others a couple days notice, too." Her fingers dug lightly into his shoulders, excited and encouraging. "What do you think?"

He thought it sounded insane—insane and perfect. Maybe she was onto something. Maybe, with the storm of disasters they had weathered since that burning day on the sea, maybe it was a good idea. Just one day to forget about the shadows roiling around them, and all of the other shit that was going on—just a day to be blissfully happy with each other. They owed it to themselves.

"Okay. Yeah, let's do it." He took her hand, her engagement ring sparkling. "Let's get married."

"Natsu?"

Both of them turned to the door left ajar, Happy fumbling into the bathroom rubbing sleep from his eyes. Behind him, he dragged a frumpy towel, his fur nearly-dry.

"Happy," Natsu reached over the edge of the tub, wet fingers rubbing between his ears. The small cat leaned into his touch. His big eyes peered miserably up at him and Lucy, sparkling quietly with tears.

"Are you okay?" Happy asked, small paws clutching at his knuckles.

Natsu smiled, pushing Lucy to his chest, laying his cheek on her shoulder. "Yeah, little buddy, I'm okay."

Happy's lip trembled. A small uplifting rush, and his downy wings flapping through the steam.

"Natsu!"

Lucy squealed as he jumped into the bath with them.

Chapter Text

They next few days turned into a blur. Natsu and Lucy, busier than bees, dove into the daunting task of preparing everything. The morning after they had made their decision had them running to the doors of the guild just before the brink of dawn. They managed to catch Laxus, key still twisting the lock on the doors. He and Freed had stared at them, still too bleary eyed in the early morning to be surprised that Natsu and Lucy had almost beat them there.

That tiredness quickly disappeared when they heard the news.

The announcement was made to all of Fairy Tail later that same day. The walls and rafters shook with uproarious excitement. Natsu and Lucy were swarmed by a crowd of their friends, eager and willing to offer them their services. There was much to be done. Tasks were given to their guildmates, and the work began.

Jet and Warren were in charge of spreading the word, finally delivering the invitations that had been waiting on Lucy's writing desk at home. Between all of their destinations, they were to report back to the guild and give an estimation for how many of their friends from different guilds were expected to come. The answer by the end of the second day had been clear enough – all of them.

Levy and Juvia made sure that the guild was ready for the big day. Neither Natsu nor Lucy followed a faith of any kind, so they wanted to have the ceremony within the guild hall instead of Kardia Cathedral. It only seemed fitting that the place that had been their home would also be the place where they were bonded together. The pit was cleared of all tables and chairs. At the center, a large two-tiered pedestal was placed, intricated and sturdy thanks to Laki's Wood-Make magic. She also had a hand in the making of the curved benches placed around it, lined up with each other in two rows that radiated from the stand. Four aisles cut through the seats, compass points among the labyrinth of wood. Levy and her band of cleaners mopped, scrubbed, and polished the inside of that hall until it sparkled.

Mira and Lisanna, with the help of Droy, picked the flowers. All assortments of bouquets were grown in the blink of an eye with every imaginable color and shape. The colorful flora dripped over the benches, hung in strings from the rafters and windows, sprouting from the ledge over the bar - anywhere they would grow. Even the sign outside blossomed, vibrant poppies capturing the rainbow within the guild. It was overkill. Lucy couldn't have been happier. By the time they were done, the guild smelled so sweet, the dragon slayers were sneezing.

Erza was in charge of food. Juvia wanted to assist her, but she had been promptly turned away at the door to the kitchens. Erza worked out of a kitchen in the restaurant district of Magnolia to complete the large order – an order growing larger everyday as the guest list got longer. Erza refused to tell Lucy what she was cooking, but she promised that it would be a feast to remember. The secrecy made the bride nervous. She trusted Erza, though, and left the woman to her work.

Wendy and Gajeel approached Lucy and Natsu on the first day. Natsu had greeted them like they would were it any other day, but the two dragon slayers seemed apprehensive of the couple, ashamed and embarrassed. Gajeel nudged the smaller girl, encouraging Wendy to speak.

"I... We just wanted to say," the girl sighed. "That we're sorry, Lucy. For the way we acted. We were scared. During war, we almost lost everything. I didn't want to believe that Natsu," she turned to the man. "That you could somehow be anything like that. But I see you now, and I realize how ignorant that is. You're my friend, Natsu. You're... you're like my brother. So, I just want you to know… I'm here for you. No matter what."

Lucy grinned, brimming with pride. Wendy had truly grown up. Natsu smiled, gratitude bobbing in his throat. Lucy took his hand. She knew what this must have meant for him - to be accepted as he was, truly and wholly, with love without fear. Wendy looked to Gajeel, raising an eyebrow expectantly, a soft elbow to the rib.

"Same goes for me, too." Gajeel smirked. "Except for all that brother crap. You and me are rivals till the bitter end."

Natsu hugged Wendy, the small teenager barely coming up to his chin. He pressed his cheek to her hair, sighing heavily.

"I wouldn't have it any other way," he said, strong hands cradling her. Wendy smiled into Natsu's chest. Looking to Gajeel, Natsu raised a hand. Snickering, Gajeel squeezed his hand - then yelped as Natsu pulled him into the dragon slayer hug. He groaned. Wendy and Natsu laughed.

"This is so adorable," Lucy and Happy chittered.

When the three mages disentangled, Wendy asked about what they could do to help. Lucy sent the girl off to assist Erza, knowing she could use as much as she could get. Gajeel was assigned as part of Gray's team. Wendy dutifully turned to report to her post, leaving the couple with a smile and a wave. But the smile Natsu gave her in return… didn't quite reach his eyes. Even Gajeel, as oblivious as he could be, could tell that something was a little off with the Salamander. But neither of them said anything. There was too much to do.

Gray, Elfman, and now Gajeel oversaw the nonessential, but still important details. They needed a liquor license, for instance. All of the drinks served in the guild hall up until now had never been stronger than 12% – explaining why Cana drank so much. But they were going to pull out all the stops for the wedding and the guaranteed party afterwards. While Gray went with Freed to take care of that, Elfman and Gajeel arranged the queue of music. They would let Gajeel play the calling songs and the aisle marches as long as he swore not to sing.

The city of Magnolia could feel the excitement of their guild in the air. Their high spirits put everybody in a helpful mood. When friends began to show up from out of town, they were welcomed like family. As every room of every inn was rented out, innkeepers let friends of the bride and groom stay with a discount. Some of the citizens would ferry food from Erza's kitchen to the guild hall, stored away and kept preserved with magic until the big day. Others stopped by to offer their assistance as well, gladly accepted. Instantly, the preparations that might have taken the guild members alone all week to finish now only took a few days. The wayward Fairies returned, Gildarts and Mest finally coming home in time to help.

It was going to be a grand ceremony.

Natsu and Lucy stayed by each others' sides, only separating when Natsu had to meet with Master Bob to finish tailoring his suit. All big decisions were brought to them, and they trusted Levy, Erza, and Gray to handle the minor details. They were constantly running to and from the guild, going where they were needed. Happy scrambled to keep up, never far from Natsu's shoulder. If one team was short-handed, they stepped in to help. There was hardly a second for them to sit down as they ran errands and heeded every call. If their guild was willing to do so much to make their wedding day perfect, it only seemed fair that they do just as much.

Natsu, jaunty and blithe throughout it all, continued to grow stronger as the days passed... and yet, their friends could still tell that he wasn't all there. Everybody was thinking it, but nobody said it: that he was changing his mind. It couldn't have been farther from the truth, but it was better they believed a small rumor, rather than know that Natsu had cried himself to sleep in Lucy's arms at night. In all of the commotion, nobody had asked about the bandage on Natsu's arm.

Finally, everything was set. As the sun set on the fourth day, Lucy and Natsu stood alone in the guild hall. Taking in the marvel that Fairy Tail had become, Lucy squeezed Natsu's hand.

"This is really happening," she whispered. "We…we're finally going to do it."

Natsu turned to his fiancé, the shadows on his face deep within the light of the dozens of small paper lanterns that hung from the rafters.

"Come on," he said, stepping toward the door. "The sooner we fall asleep, the sooner we can wake up."

Lucy nodded, her fingers heavy with fatigue. But when he took her hand, she resisted his pull. Natsu looked to her, waiting as she took in the room around them. Tears sparkled quietly in her eyes.

"Hey," Natsu looped his arm behind her. "What's wrong?"

Lucy took a shuddering breath, wiping the gloom from her cheek. "It's nothing. I just… I wish that my parents could be here. I wish they could have gotten the chance to meet you."

Natsu sighed and smiled, pulling her into his arms. "Yeah. Me too. You think they would have liked me?"

Lucy huffed a laugh. "My mother would have loved you. Though, my dad would have been skeptical at first. You're not exactly the entrepreneurial heir he'd always wanted... but I know he would have come around eventually." Resting her face into his shoulder, she asked, "would Igneel have liked me?"

Natsu thought for a beat, distant memories in his eyes.

"I think you would have been scared of him," Natsu said. "But then, I think that you two would find that you actually have a lot in common."

Lucy considered that. She and a dragon had a lot in common, huh? Sighing against his chest, Lucy wrapped her arms around his waist.

"Sometimes it's hard, looking in the mirror and seeing my mother's face," Lucy yawned, a beat of weariness Natsu could feel through her bones. Shaking herself, Lucy looked up at him through her lashes. "But I suppose that's better than never knowing what she looked like… to not know who your family is."

Her words sparked an image in Natsu's head. The memories that lied dormant in his heart, the vision of the picnic in the valley, a life he only lived for a short while. The faces of his mother and father were clear in his mind's eye, familiar strangers he never knew. A strange mix of peace and longing stirred within him.

"I don't remember much about my mom and dad," Natsu spoke softly. Lucy tilted her head, listening. "My real ones. But I do know that my mother was beautiful and kind. She smelled like… like rain, and apples." It felt odd to be praising a woman he had never met. "She looked like Zeref. But when I think about her, I feel happy."

Lucy was silent, trying to imagine this woman who had once loved Natsu as much as she did. She looked up at the dragon slayer.

"What about you? Who do you take after?"

Natsu gazed into Lucy's eyes, dropping his head till his lips hovered just above hers. For a little while, Natsu let the passion hang in the air. When he kissed her in the dim light of the lanterns, he could taste the stars on her tongue. The guild was empty of all except for Laxus and Mira, chatting idly at the bar. Mira nudged Laxus, silently pointing at the couple as her face lit up with glee. Laxus watched, smiling softly. Natsu sighed, letting Lucy's love fill his empty spaces. Their lips fit so perfectly together, two pieces of a puzzle, a lock and a key. When Natsu drew away, the exhaustion that he had been warding off from the past few days finally settled on him. By the way Lucy's eyelids drooped, he could tell she felt the same. Natsu took her hand and led her away, beginning the walk home.

"I look like my father," Natsu said. He realized that he had never actually said that out loud before.

The day could not have been more perfect.

The gathering began at noon. Members of other guilds far and wide arrived at Fairy Tail, dressed to the nines in pearls and diamonds. The atmosphere was electric, old friends reuniting in joyous revelry. The guild bustled even more than usual as people of note from Saber Tooth, Lamia Scale, Blue Pegasus, and one or two members from other guild allies gathered together for the first time since the war. Fairy Tail played a gracious host, welcoming and open. The guild hall filled with the voices of its guests, bright and animated as bodies clamored to find spots on the benches. Though the actual ceremony wouldn't start till about mid-afternoon, there was no way any of them were going to take the risk of being late and not getting a good seat.

Gajeel sat on the stage, playing simple stand-by tunes on his steel guitar, a light-hearted background noise that set the mood. From where Levy could see by the entrance, he was quietly mouthing lyrics to himself. She, Wendy, and Juvia greeted their guests as they walked through the door. So many faces, familiar and friendly, had already passed through.

"Good to see you're looking well, Juvia."

Juvia smiled at the voice, eyes quickly finding her old admirer. "It's good to see you too, Lyon. I'm glad you two could make it."

Lyon and Chelia stepped through the doors, both donning exquisite formal wear.

"It's been too long," Chelia giggled as she and Wendy embraced.

To this day, Lamia Scale remained Fairy Tail's closest ally. Wendy would often make trips to Margarite, to spend time Chelia and help the god slayer regain her magic. Lyon and Gray had started a tradition of taking pilgrimage to their master's grave every winter, to honor her memory and respect their time-worn bond. As far as they all were concerned, they were each honorary members of the other guild.

"Is Gray around?" Lyon looked over the crowd. "I heard we was chosen to be best man."

"He's busy helping Natsu," Juvia replied. "The wedding party has been here since early this morning getting ready."

"Who is the maid of honor?" Chelia asked, eyes alight with anticipation.

"It's supposed to be a surprise." Wendy whispered, leaning closer in secrecy. "But I think I have a pretty good guess."

It didn't take long for the large hall to fill with people, just enough of them to leave a comfortable amount of space. The flowers kept the air fresh and the weather was just perfect enough to leave all the windows open, letting a cool spring breeze balance out the warmth. Finally, at a quarter till three, the doors of Fairy Tail closed.

Up on the stage, Gajeel's quick fingers finished off a riff on his steel guitar. Everyone was seated, their chatter filling in the silent spaces. The curved benches within the pit were the first seats to go. Members of Fairy Tail graciously gave their guests priority over the best seats in the house. They were filled in as needed from there, everyone gathering into the main hall till it was packed. Friends peered out over the banisters of the higher levels, looking down at the venue. There were no chairs, but the viewpoint was just as good. Unlike any other day where the mages would have squabbled among themselves to get a front row spot, today they all worked together, letting shorter members stand in front of taller ones. Looking out at the crowd that had gathered, Gajeel smirked. With one final strum, the time for waiting was over.

He found Levy's face within the pit, her head titling in a firm nod and eyes glowing with anticipation. Levy's excitement yielded to confusion for a brief moment as she watched Gajeel removed the steel guitar from his lap, reaching into a different case. The instrument he pulled out could only be described as a hybrid between a harp and an acoustic guitar, with two necks and fifteen strings strung like ribs across the polished wood. Levy gaped at the absurd contraption, wondering just exactly where he had acquired the thing and – more importantly – how Gajeel was supposed to play it with only two hands.

Very well, was the answer to that.

Talking ceased as the tone changed, all eyes drifting to the stage. If anybody else was as dumbfounded by the instrument as Levy, they hid it much better than she did. Fluttering notes filled the air. Gajeel closed his eyes, letting the music move him through a slow ballad. His hands worked the instrument masterfully, plucking the strings with a precision and grace that only came from years of practice. His strumming hand would move up from the guitar to kiss the strings of the harp while his other hit the chords on the neck. The resulting sound was a full, rich tune that carried throughout the entire guild. Gajeel had become a one-man orchestra. The captive audience fell into the music with him. The melody changed. A man appeared at the end of the south aisle.

Laxus marched through the sea of faces, his head held high with the regality of his rank. He wore the white coat of the ten-wizard saints, the blue and silver medallion embroidery flashed as he stepped up to the top tier of the pedestal. Resting his hands in front of him, he was an intimidating sight, his wild hair smoothed and greased. Beneath his coat, he wore a dark suit, sharp and professional. Laxus smirked, winking at the proud faces of the Thunder Legion beaming down at him. The melody changed again.

From the east and west aisles came the best man and maid of honor – Gray and Erza. Wendy's small voice chirped, "I knew it."

They were the very pictures of elegance and class. Gray, his beard trimmed and hair neatly brushed, sported a white jacket suit, black trimmings and edgings accentuating his physique. He appeared taller and skinnier, a gentleman and bachelor. Underneath, he wore a black dress shirt and white bowtie. Erza's flowing gown swept around her, shaded a light lavender. It was sleeveless, her arms dripping with flowing cuffs, floating along her elbows in light wisps. Along the bodice of the dress and scattered on the cuffs were small crystals, almost invisible until the twinkled. Layers of light silk danced around her as she walked. Her red and silver hair pulled way from her face into an elegant cascading braid. Simple diamonds sparkled on her ears and at her throat. The two of them stepped onto the lower platform of the pedestal, nodding confidently to each other and to Laxus.

The melody changed one final time, a familiar fugue that danced lightly from the strings. Everybody rose to their feet. From the rafters, Carla and Pantherlily flew down, their paws full of white and yellow petals. They gently released the flowers, falling upon the ceremony like gentle snow. The air hung thick with anticipation, waiting.

Natsu stepped into the guild hall. Eyebrows were raised, a few mouths fell open. Somewhere in the audience, Master Bob was congratulating himself.

The suit was finely tailored, the fabric reflecting darkly with a glossy sheen. As he moved, the light highlighted the angles of the jacket, illuminating the subtlest blending of dark red within the cloth. The small hints of color defined his body in a way that no black suit could. It was as if a volcano has given him it's majesty. Though he wore no neck accessory and left the top buttons of his crimson silk shirt undone, Natsu was no less refined. His scarf swayed against his thighs, tied around his waist under the jacket. The black hairs on his head had been concealed, a colored-spray that Lucy had to bargain him into. Though most of the guests were reluctant to admit it, but Natsu cleaned up good.

Happy walked beside him, donning a small blue suit in his human form. He looked like a child next to Natsu, the top of his head barely reaching the dragon slayer's thigh. His blue hair had been combed down, though the ears on top of his head stubbornly stuck straight up. In his hands he carried a folded piece of white cloth.

Natsu stepped up to the top tier along with Laxus. Happy took his place with Gray and Erza. Natsu turned to Gray and smiled, offering his hand. Gray beamed, grabbing Natsu's arm and pulling him in for a quick hug. Gray could feel Natsu trembling beneath his touch.

"You got this, buddy," he mumbled to Natsu. Natsu sighed against his shoulder, nodding.

Standing beside Laxus, the two dragon slayers shared a nod. Gajeel's music slowed, an elegant and graceful lullaby. Natsu, and everyone else, took a deep breath.

Lucy came around the corner, standing at the end of the north aisle. Time stood still for Natsu. Gray whispered in his ear, reminding him to breathe.

Everything about Lucy and her presence as she began her slow march down the aisle was just…captivating. Like Erza's dress, Lucy's gown rolled around her in satin waves, light and extravagant. Her arms ghosted behind lace cuffs, streaming down to her wrists. Crystals studded her bodice, a dusting of light that shimmered with every move and sparkled like a cloud, as if the stars themselves had descended from the sky to grace her with their beauty. Accents of light blue hugged Lucy in all the right places. Her golden hair was rolled into a neat bun atop her head, a small veil following her like a spirit. Her face, though, was a work of art - a natural blush on her cheeks and the light of the guild tinting her brown eyes a warm amber. In her hands, she held a modest bouquet of white and blue flowers.

Stepping up to the pedestal, Lucy joined Natsu and Laxus on the top tier. Her dress trailed over the edge. Erza, being the dutiful maid of honor, carefully collected the folds of the dress and swept them aside.

Lucy looked up at Natsu, meeting his staring eyes. Her heart thumped in delight, the light of something in his features that she hadn't seen in what felt like a long time – joy. His happiness stole her breath away.

Gajeel carried the moment, rifting through the last few bars of the calling song. With a flourish over the harp, a euphoric chorus rang through the air, resonating until it faded away. Gajeel opened his eyes, grinning at his handy work.

The circle was complete.

Laxus cleared his throat.

"Well, for some of us, I think this day has been a long time coming." He spoke clearly and loudly so that everyone could hear. "But never seemed to come soon enough. Yet, here we are, with welcomed friends and family, to celebrate the joining of these two souls." Laxus smiled at the bride and groom. "Natsu and Lucy, I have watched you two grow up together within the walls of this guild, and I have seen how much stronger and better you make each other. If ever there were a truer testament of love, then your story would be the winning title. After all, it's not every couple that can say that they've lived through time-travel, at least three world-ending catalysts, and a war together."

Natsu and Lucy shared a grin, Laxus' words sparking memories.

"Natsu," Laxus continued. "Although you might be an annoying pain in my ass sometimes, I can't deny that you've come a long way since you came here all those years ago. Both of us have changed a lot since then – we're both men now, with responsibilities and duties to uphold. I'm… I'm glad that I'm here to see the man you've become."

Laxus clapped him on the shoulder, a gentle squeeze of companionship. Then he turned to the bride.

"Now, Lucy, you didn't join us till later in your life – you didn't have a childhood here, or find yourself within these walls. But as soon as you stepped through our doors, you knew you were home. I bet you had no idea that all these crazy things were lying in store for you, but you seized each moment and made them yours. Looking at you now, I don't think you would have wanted it any other way. I'm glad that you chose Fairy Tail to be your home."

Lucy squeezed her bouquet, smiling at Laxus. The master laid his hands on their shoulders, speaking lowly with words only meant for them. "If gramps could only see you both now."

Standing tall, Laxus puffed out his chest, declaring, "and now, it is an honor to officiate this marriage before the witness of all who have gathered here. May we have the rings?"

Happy stepped forward, his eyes bright as he lifted the cloth in his hands up to Laxus. Taking the parcel, he unfolded it to reveal two rings. They were mirrors of each other, one crafted from white gold and laden with burnished gold edgings, and the other being the opposite of that. Turning to Lucy, Laxus presented them to hear, gleaming and new. Handing off her bouquet to Erza, Lucy delicately took the ring of burnished gold in her fingers. Confidently, she turned to Natsu, nodding at him as he gave her his hand to hold.

"Natsu Dragneel," she started, voice steady and clear. "With this ring, I swear to always be the home for your heart. I will keep you close to my heart, and it is there that you will forever be. No matter the consequences, I will never betray you. Instead, I will build you up to greater heights, and support you through all of your endeavors. I will be the light that you seek when all is lost in darkness." Lucy took a shuddering breath, happiness shivering through her hands. "I will laugh with you and cry with you, till the ends of our days. And though all the powers in the world can try to make me, I promise I will never leave you. I take you as you are, Natsu, and who you will become. This I vow to you."

The ring was cool against his skin, heavier than it looked. Natsu twisted his hand, taking Lucy's as she slid the ring onto his finger. Tears brimmed in her eyes, threatening to fall. Natsu's heart jumped. For a moment, there was only her and her radiance, a beacon for the things he cherished and loved. A slight nudge from Gray, and he remembered where he was. Taking the white gold ring, Natsu gently raised her hand.

"Lucy Heartfilia, with this ring, I swear to always be the rock for your soul. I will make you strong, and carry you through when you can't be. I will ever harm you, or let harm be done to you. Instead, I will protect you and fight for you till my dying breath. I will be the warmth that you seek when you feel cold and alone. I will struggle with you and triumph with you, till the ends of our days." Natsu looked up at Lucy, her eyes shining like golden hope. "No matter how far life may take me away, I promise I will always return to you. I will share in your dreams as my own, and strive to see them fulfilled. This I vow to you."

He slid her ring onto her finger, a promise fulfilled. Natsu and Lucy starred, minds rushing and blank as their fingers intertwined. Their rings chimed softly against each other. Gray, Erza, and Happy gazed up at them, swept away in the weightless bliss of their love. The audience held their breath, smiles waiting.

"By the power vested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife," Laxus declared, throwing up his arms. "You may now kiss!"

Cupping his cheek, Lucy and Natsu kissed for the first time as a married pair. Their friends leapt from their seats, an explosion of cheers and cries that could be heard from outside. Natsu and Lucy were deaf to it, far away in their own world. Their troubles were forgotten, a sense of completion filling in the knotted tangles of their stresses with comfort. Lucy sighed as their kiss broke, pressing her forehead against her husband's, her best friend, and gazed into his eyes.

"We did it," she said softly. "There's no turning back now."

Natsu chuckled. "Yep. Looks like you're stuck with me."

Turning to the cheering crowd of their friends, Natsu and Lucy raised their joined hands together, presenting their rings for all to see. Gajeel, back on the steel guitar, struck up a fast paced tune. Hands clapped along to the beat as the newlyweds stepped down from their podium. Joining arms with Gray and Erza, they all took off down the west aisle and disappeared into the back of the guild, laughing as they went. As their friends and family watched them leave, Laxus spoke up once more.

"The reception will be held in the courtyard outside," he announced, scooping Happy into his arms. "There should be plenty of food and drink for everyone. Thank you all so much for coming!"

Chapter Text

Gray watched Natsu and Lucy embrace each other, a strange mix of emotions swirling in his chest. They laughed, relief ringing through their nerves. The ceremony had gone off without a hitch, a perfect memory for them cherish. Gray could feel their happiness, a high so contagious that he couldn't contain his own glee. And yet, when he saw Natsu cradle Lucy in his arms, holding his new wife close to him, longing pulled in his gut. He wanted that, Gray realized, what Natsu and Lucy had. It seemed so perfect, standing there now and seeing them newly married. They were glowing, radiant with love and hope. His eye stung with a budding tear. He wasn't sure if it was from joy or envy.

"You did it," Erza said, her voice pitched with joy. "I almost can't believe it."

"Neither can I. I feel like I'm dreaming." Lucy beamed. Natsu sighed for all of them, tension draining from his shoulders. Lucy's lips pinched as she turned to Gray and Erza. She chuckled, relaxed in the company of her friends. "I can't thank you both enough for your help in making this happen."

Gray stepped forward, stealing Lucy from Natsu's arms. "It's the least we could do." Gray lowered his head to Lucy's ear. "And you look beautiful, by the way."

"You both do," Natsu stated, his hand squeezing Erza's shoulder. "Most beautiful women in the guild."

Erza huffed a laugh that faded into a small sob. Her hand covered her mouth, hiding the frown beneath as she tried and failed to quell her own emotions. Natsu offered his embrace to her. Erza fell into it, allowing herself to be comforted as tears bloomed in her eyes. Sighing, Erza gazed into the distance, lost in fond memories.

"It feels like only yesterday that I was teaching you how to use grown-up words." Erza turned her painted face, pressing her forehead to his. "Where did that little boy go, Natsu?"

"He grew up, and still doesn't know how to use grown-up words."

"I remember how you and I would bicker like dogs when I first came here, Gray. And Lucy," Erza's eyes shined through hope and adoration, reaching out to the bride. "You've become so strong... I'm so proud of you."

Leaving Natsu, Erza threw her arms around Lucy. She closed her eyes into Erza's shoulder, squeezing her tight as white met lavender. Gray stepped beside Natsu, looping his arm around his friend's neck. Natsu returned the gesture, the two men relaxing under each other's weight as they silently let their friends ride through their emotions. Gray waited for the devil slayer's call, but it never came. He could feel his friend's warmth against his side, radiating like a candle on a snowy windowsill. His mind shifting away, Gray took in Natsu's new life. The dragon slayer seemed older somehow – wrinkles barely creasing the years around his eyes and mouth. An air of maturity that hadn't been there before crowned his head. After all this time, it seemed that Natsu had not only grown older, but he had grown up, too. Had Gray done the same?

"That's enough gawking, you two."

Lucy and Erza laughed, pulling the two men into their hug and completing the circle of friends. For a while, they all stood together in comfortable silence, taking in the company of each other and their shared memories. Gray sighed, closing his eyes as he hugged Natsu and Lucy closer to him. A sad mirth hung in his throat, thankful that he was alive to see their wedding day, to see everyone so happy. He would have missed it all if Natsu had been a second too late three years ago.

Erza broke the circle first. "All right. Show's not over yet. I say we all go freshen up and relax a bit before we go out there. Sound good?"

"You really want to keep that feast you made out there waiting?" Gray asked, hunger rising through him. Natsu's stomach growled in agreement. It had been a long day with an early start. They had barely eaten anything, and Gray wasn't sure sure how much longer he could wait.

"I agree with Erza." Lucy wiped her cheek, fingers trembling. "My nerves are still kind of fried."

"I'm ready for food." Natsu put a hand to his stomach. He smirked, eyes flashing to Lucy. "And for what comes after."

"Save it for the bedroom, you two," Gray scoffed.

Lucy leaned into him, forgetting herself for a moment in Natsu's passion. Erza blushed, coughing through the implications.

"We're not in a hurry - but I worked really hard on all the food that's sitting out there, and I won't forgive myself if it was all gone because we were standing around chatting the evening away. So let's touch up our makeup and make ourselves look presentable! We've got a reception to attend!"

Applause greeted them as they emerged from the hall into the court yard, the fresh air of nature cool on their skin in the late afternoon. Gray and Erza quickly stepped away from the couple, letting them bask in the attention of their guests. Natsu kissed Lucy, feeding the merriment in the atmosphere. The tables that had been taken out of the guild hall were now lined up here, filled with the laughter and presence of their friends who had waited for them. Natsu and Lucy found their seats with Juvia and Wendy. Happy, a small cat once again, fluttered to Natsu, settling on his shoulder as he pulled out Lucy's chair for her before taking his own. It felt good to be sitting down.

A pungent smell tickled his nose. Natsu snapped back up to his feet, eyes searching and mouth watering. His face opened in awe, gawking at the buffet laid out for dinner.

Erza really outdid herself this time.

The banquet that was waiting for the guests was beyond extravagant, roasted meats and steaming hors d'oeuvres shining with candied glaze before the plethora of selective dishes that most would only ever dream of. The veritable feast spread out before the hungry crowd was as fresh as the day it was cooked, magically preserved and beckoning. Everything was lined up, the food and drinks and the open bar, manned interchangeably by Freed and Mirajane. At the end of the selection, a capstone of tradition, sat the three layered wedding cake.

It was a beautiful masterpiece, patterned with dragon scales and cloaked with silver stars. Crowing the top was a buttercream fish, a dally that Happy had fought tooth and claw for. Lucy tugged on Natsu's sleeve, shaking him out of his cormorant.

"You're drooling, Natsu," she said, Happy giggling from his side.

"Hurry it up!" Gajeel shouted from the sea of waiting stomachs, pounding his fist on a table. The brass and steel facets on his face gleamed in the afternoon sun. "We can't eat until you do, and I'm starving!"

Natsu didn't need any more prompting than that.

They dined until the sun sat on the horizon. Bellies full of food and drink, Natsu and Lucy finally got to greet their guests. Friends that they hadn't seen in a while showered them with celebration. Kagura and Milliana were quick to swoon over Erza's dress. Lyon and Chelia found Gray and Juvia, sharing a drink and a toast. Even Bacchus had come, howling his felicity to the sunset and drinking the light away with Cana. Natsu and Lucy pocketed their friends wishes, laughing as some boasted that they had seen this day coming from a mile away. The men of Blue Pegasus were graceful to their hosts, cheering for a long and happy life together. Not once did they croon after Lucy.

As they swerved through the tables, chatting with each and every one of their guests, the weight of the bandage on Natsu's arm hung like an unused noose. Here he was, among his friends and family on what was the happiest day of his life… and he had almost missed it.

"You okay?"

Natsu looked to Lucy, blinking away the gloom in his eyes. "Yeah," he said with a swipe of his hand. "Yeah, I'm great."

"You never struck me as the type of guy to cry at your own wedding, Natsu."

Natsu smirked, spinning to the voice. "Oh yeah? Because you definitely do, Sting."

The Sabertooth Master stood from his chair and stepped forward, his pointed teeth gleaming within his broad smile. Natsu and Sting embraced, laughing together for the first time in ages. With a content sigh, Sting held Natsu out at arms-length, eyes scanning his companion.

"Look at you," Sting mused, throwing a laugh to his guild mates. "You're gonna be a weak old man before you know it."

"It looks like you've gotten fat, Sting," Natsu smirked. "Has being master made you lazy?"

Sting jerked. "I can still take your ass down any day!"

"We're not here to fight, Sting," Rogue grumbled, yanking Sting back. "Behave."

As much as the Twin Dragon Slayers had done their own growing over the past three years, some things would never truly change. Experience haloed their broad faces, casting away the time of the slim young men they used to be. They stood poised, refined through the fires of hardship and struggle to come out gilded in power. Sting had cultivated a reputation for being an excellent master, one that was both caring and strict. His Tiger's were strong and fierce, each stripe earned and deserved.

"Can't you guys just do simple hello's instead of insulting each other?" Yukino chided, her smile betraying her gaiety. She embraced Lucy, their stars colliding. "Thank you so much for inviting us!"

A fading bruise marred Yukino's cheek. The edge of a bandage peeked out from underneath Rogue's collar. Sting sported old injuries, too, still healing from Ruby Manticore's attack more than a week ago. They hadn't gotten lucky like Fairy Tail had – Sabertooth had fought off the full force of the dark guild, fortified with the effects of Zeref's stolen books. Knowing now what that entailed, it was no wonder they were still titled as one of the strongest guilds in Fiore.

As the night continued on, the festivities settled, morphing from the jolly celebration it had started as to a mystic gathering in the afterglow of the sunset. Lanterns were lit to provide both light and heat in the cooling atmosphere. Freed's special drink was the drink of the night, all by Lucy's recommendation. Even Bacchus and Cana, usually adverse towards the stereotypical "girly drinks", came back for seconds. The buffet table had been nearly picked clean by the time music started ringing through the yard. Lucy excused herself from Natsu's side, seeking out Erza. He took the opportunity to quench his palate, peeling himself from the crowd and slamming his hands down on the bar stand.

"Two champagnes," he blurted, "and make sure it's the really bubbly stuff."

Freed nodded, fetching the bottle. Pale arms leaned against the bar next to Natsu.

"So? Was it everything you dreamed it would be?"

Lisanna smiled, the same unchanged grin from his childhood. She twirled a glass of wine in her hand, the pellucid liquid tinted the same pink as her dress.

"Was what everything I dreamed it would be?" Natsu tilted his head at her, bracing himself against the counter. She was one of the few Natsu had allowed to assist him before the ceremony earlier. She'd painted over the black hairs on his head with no questions asked.

"You're wedding, of course!" She laughed, lightly slapping his arm. "Don't tell me you never once thought about it before."

Pop!

Natsu turned his head, watching Freed catch the cork as foam spewed from the neck of the champagne bottle.

He had once, thought about getting married, a long time ago. Aside from his childhood, it had been somewhere in the years between Lisanna's disappearance and meeting Lucy. A strange time, full of days spent with no one else besides Happy and his own thoughts. Back then, Natsu thought he knew exactly what it meant to be married; a drowning codependency, the shackles of reliance like a chain-link collar around his neck. It wasn't something that he liked the sound of. It actually terrified him. But he was lonely, too. When the solitude weighed too heavy on his chest, he'd entertained the idea of meeting someone who was worth that shackle.

"Nope," he lied. "Not even once."

"Well, I do hope you remember this day for the rest of your life." She sipped her wine. Natsu bumped her with his shoulder.

"I certainly will." Freed set the two glasses of champagne in front of Natsu, golden bubbles popping like fireworks. "Thank you for always being there, Lisanna."

She looked up to Natsu, her wide smile matching his. Lisanna tipped her glass to him.

"Anything for you and Lucy," she pledged.

Natsu and Lisanna toasted each other, the clink of their glasses resonating through time.

Lucy scanned the sea of faces, searching for the lavender stars of her maid of honor, wanting to thank her for going so above and beyond. She found the woman standing by the hedge that surrounded the courtyard, alone and peaceful. A soft smiled graced Erza's lips, her cheeks rosy. Through the thick leaves of the hedge, the outline of a hooded man lingered like a phantom. Lucy turned away, leaving her friend to have her time. They only got to see each other about once a year as it was.

"You're as beautiful a bride as I imagined you would be." The voice curled into Lucy's ear, smooth as honey. "It's just a shame you aren't my bride."

Lucy rolled her eyes. She turned, nearly crashing against the wool and polyester wall of Loki's tuxedo. His sunglasses were gone from his usual outfit, handsome eyes holding distant starlight.

"I'm pretty sure that's a violation of our contract." Loki retrieved her hand, planting a light kiss on her knuckles. "But really, I'm glad you could make an appearance."

"I wouldn't miss it for the world." Loki bowed. "I came to give you congratulations on behalf of all your spirits. We couldn't be more excited to add Natsu to the family. Where is he, by the way?"

"Making sure you won't steal my wife away."

Lucy and Loki looked up as Natsu approached, balancing the glasses of pale gold champagne. The dragon slayer grinned widely, satisfied with the look on Loki's face. He handed Lucy a glass, his arm naturally curling behind her back.

"I get to call you that, now," he purred, pressing a kiss to her temple.

Lucy and Natsu shared a laugh, toasting each other's graces. Loki watched them sip to their happiness, capturing their energy in the moment. The Lion Spirit shook his head, huffing a laugh as his hand disappeared into his pocket.

"I've also come on official celestial business," Loki said, pulling a small velvet box out of his suit jacket. With little fanfare, Loki presented the gift to the groom.

"Wedding's already over, Loki," Natsu said. "It's too late to propose."

Loki snatched the champagne glass from Natsu's hand, depositing the small box in it's place. It was heavier than it looked, an other-worldly weight against Natsu's palm.

"Natsu Dragneel, it is my honor to give to you the blessing of the spirits."

Natsu blinked, retrieving his other hand from Lucy's back. Opening the small box, a beaded bracelet lay on the cushion inside. The crystal beads blazed, capturing the light of dying suns within the diamond facets. Upon each bead were the engraved symbols of Lucy's spirits, both gold and silver class. A thin gold chain laced them together. It looked delicate, tender to the slightest touch.

"Thanks." Natsu bit his lip. It was beautiful, but in his possession it was sure to be lost or destroyed. "But I'm not really the jewelry-wearing type. Am I supposed to give this to Lucy?"

Loki shook his head, sipping Natsu's champagne. "I really think you should reconsider. This isn't a simple piece of jewelry - each one of these beads has the summoning power of one of Lucy's keys. All you would have to do is break the crystal, and that spirit will come to your aid. It's extremely valuable, a gift from the Celestial King only given to the wedded partners of Celestial mages. So make sure you don't lose it."

Lucy and Natsu gaped at Loki. The Lion Spirit waited, watching their amazement grow on their faces.

"How have I never heard of these before?" Lucy blinked, the ring of stars reflecting in her eyes. "Did my father have one?"

"These bracelets are a closely guarded secret of the Celestial Spirits," Loki explained. His smile faltered, thoughts drifting to darker times distantly passed. "A long time ago, unsavory people would bond with Celestial mages only so they could obtain one. The end result for the wizard and the spirits contracted with them was always… unfortunate. Thus, we only give them to those who prove themselves worthy." Loki dropped his eyes in thought. "I wasn't around when your parents got married, Lucy, but I do believe Capricorn told me once that Jude did receive one such bracelet, and simply never used it. When your mother's keys were taken or handed down to you, the beads lost their summoning power. He must not have thought that he needed our help."

Lucy and Natsu stared at the bracelet. The beads twinkled against the warm afterglow.

"Naturally, Natsu," Loki continued. "It's important that you keep its power a secret, even from your closest friends… at least, that's what I would say if we were part of any other guild. But I trust Fairy Tail, and so should you."

Natsu's fingers grazed the crystals, feeling clumsy and dumb against their fragility. Closing the lid, he tucked it safely away in his suit pocket. The box thumped against his thigh like a stone, constantly reminding him it was there.

"Now that business is taken care of-" Loki bowed to Lucy, his hand help open and inviting. "May I have the honor of a dance?"

Lucy blinked at the hand, then at Natsu. "Oh yeah," she mused. "We haven't had our first dance yet."

Loki snapped back up, genuinely alarmed and sloshing champagne. "I had no idea! What are you waiting for?"

The music swelled as if beckoned. Gajeel sat in a corner of the yard, looking out over the space that had been cleared for a dance floor. A keyboard sat in front of him, his fingers delicately stroking the keys. A small ditty flitted up from the dancing ivory. Putting his mouth to the microphone floating above the keyboard, Gajeel's rough voice resonated through the twilight.

"Since we can't have any cake until after the dancing, I figured we'd go ahead and kick the night off with a slow tune for the newly-weds," Gajeel easily found Lucy's white dress in the crowd. "So get over here, lovebirds!"

Rapturous applause. Loki eagerly took Lucy's half empty glass, her hand finding Natsu's like a magnet. They glided to the dancefloor, footsteps galvanized and building. Lifting her hand, Lucy spun with a laugh. She fell into Natsu's hold, sighing as he led her through a slow box step. The setting sun imbued them with its radiant glow, a shining hope flung from their shoulders as they moved. Losing themselves, Natsu and Lucy gazed deeply into each other's eyes as they entered into their own world for a little while. The jewels of Lucy's dress sparkled quietly, shrouding her figure within an ethereal cloud of white and blue. The wedding guests watched the couple, swept away in the love forged into the gold rings on their fingers. Natsu twirled Lucy, her dress rising up and flowing around her like a river.

"Don't they look cute together?"

Gray looked to Juvia, a wistful look in her eyes and a small smile on her lips as she watched their friends dance. Gray lost his words at her beauty, her smile drawing out his own. Juvia glowed with her own light, a full moon hanging above a calm ocean. She sighed, her dark blue evening gown rising with her chest. Gray's hand grazed her arm, fingers slipping under the single strap on her shoulder. The round silver plates sewn into the satin reflected dim ripples across her neck and cheek. Juvia looked over at his touch, her azure eyes eyes twinkling into his. His hand wandered up, tucking a blue curl behind her ear.

"Yeah," Gray breathed. "They sure do."

Gray and Juvia watched Natsu and Lucy dance for a little while longer. Gajeel gracefully led them through a slow ballad, each note of the keyboard inciting a step on their new journey. Gray stood from his chair and buttoned his suit jacket, deciding they had hogged the dance floor for long enough. He held out his hand to Juvia, palm holding his heart.

"We can look cute, too. Whadda ya say?"

Her face lit up like an exploding star, a remnant of her old fantasy bursting. Juvia's teeth flashed as she laughed and took his hand. Allowing herself to be pulled to her feet, Gray and Juvia stepped onto the dancefloor. Natsu saw them coming, smirking as he winked at Gray in an unspoken challenge. With an elegant twirl, Gray and Juvia swept across the stage like mist. The dancefloor opened up, beckoning others to their feet. It wasn't long before Elfman and Evergreen were also swaying side to side, along with Bisca and Alzac. Gray looked through the rolling crowd, surprised to see Lyon dancing with Kagura. They spoke quietly as they moved, friendly conversations in hushed tones. Gray watched in fascination as Lyon leaned close to Kagura, whispering something into her ear. The swordswoman smiled shyly, her cheeks rosy.

At the edge of the dancefloor, Laxus groaned, flustered when both Mirajane and Freed asked to dance with him. He walked away, and so the two bartenders settled for dancing with each other. Yukino found herself in a similar situation, but eventually settled with Rogue for her first dance.

"Look at them all," Wendy smiled, watching the melody move her friends. "It's nice to see everyone dancing together, isn't it Carla?"

The white exceed glanced up. "If you're into that sort of thing, I suppose."

Happy stared after her, clenching determination in his paws. He trembled, though, tail curled in anxiety. Her rejection had never hurt before. But Happy really wanted her to say yes this time.

"Go over there and ask her, already." Pantherlily licked his plate clean, the whites of his cheeks stained with food. "She's in a good mood."

"What difference does that make?"

Lily just grinned at Happy – a sly smirk holding secrets and promises. "Just do it, okay? You'll be fine."

Happy wanted to press further - but the song wouldn't last forever. Steeling his nerves, Happy marched down the table. Wendy watched his approach, clapping a hand over her mouth in glee. Happy opened his mouth to speak - but stopped, eyes sparking with an idea. Hopping down from the table, the blue exceed disappeared in a poof of cyan smoke.

"Carla?"

She turned. Happy tugged at his bow-tie, the fingers of his human-form clumsy and slow. The little boy shyly grinned up at Carla, visibly shaking as he tried to smooth down his wild blue hair. A moment of bumbling, straightening the lapels of his suit, until he put a smile on his face and graciously offered her his hand.

"M-May I have this dance?"

Carla stared at Happy, her silence loud against the music, lingering a little too long. Happy's smile faded.

"It's okay if you don't want to," he said quickly, snatching his hand back. "I just figured I would-"

"Stop blathering, Happy." Carla stood, jumping down from the table. Another puff of rosy smoke. She looked as beautiful as a little girl could in her light pink gown. "I'll dance with you. The song might end soon, anyway."

It wasn't really a yes, but Happy was delighted. As the two quickly made their way to the bustling dance floor, Wendy watched, catching a quick peek of the thankful smile on Carla's lips.

"Could I have a dance as well, Wendy?"

Turning in her chair, Wendy gulped against the hot rush of blood in her cheeks as Romeo stood before her. The young man, like Wendy, was growing to be a fine wizard, handsome and powerful. He and Wendy had grown closer over the years, and even gone on jobs together. And yet, Wendy's voice stuck in her throat. Romeo was patient, his eyes twinkling as she fumbled over the words fighting on her tongue. Before she could answer, though, Chelia appeared beside her. Taking Wendy's hand, she pulled her to her feet, teeth flashing bright and eyes brimming with sunlight.

"Nice try, Romeo," Chelia said, draping her arm over Wendy's shoulders. "But Wendy already promised that she would dance with me!"

She had made no such promise, but Wendy let herself be swept away by Chelia's whirlwind, flighting after the other girl into the melody. Looking over her shoulder, Wendy shouted a promise to Romeo, saving the next song.

Natsu and Lucy retreated into each other, blending in with their friends as a familiarly foreign sense of peace fell over them. Through all the preparations, planning, and ceremony, the troubles of life had almost been forgotten. The lantern light kept the night and their worries at bay, a bubble of warmth and hope and comfort for them to rest and grow. They danced out the rest of the song within each other's arms, Lucy's head on Natsu's chest. His heart synchronized with her own, a steady beat of forever and always. As the last notes of the song finally drew to a close, Lucy lifted her head and kissed her husband.

"I don't want this night to end," she whispered. "I want to stay like this forever."

Natsu hummed, holding her a little tighter. "Me too."

The cake was finally cut, a delicacy gone within moments as hungry mouths clamored to devour every last decadent crumb. Dancing continued through the playlist that Elfman and Gajeel had set up, a medley of genres for all to enjoy. Unburdened from his duties as the entertainer, Levy and Gajeel finally got to dance. She made him confess where he had gotten the harp-guitar from the ceremony - to her surprise, he had made it himself. Cana and Gildarts, both just tipsy enough to agree to a father-daughter dance, rocked out of tempo in a corner of the dancefloor. Lucy's heartstrings pulled in envy as she watched them dance, but she was truly happy for Cana. Every little girl deserved at least one dance with her father.

Stars were shining brightly in the sky by the time Lucy and Natsu began saying goodbye. Though they wouldn't be honeymooning just yet, they did want to spend time alone together before the night grew too old. Everybody kept their lewd comments to themselves, hidden behind knowing smiles.

The couple exited the guild under a shower of confetti, chased by the cheers of their friends. Stepping out into the night air, Lucy could feel the heat of the days happenings curling off of her skin. Natsu laughed, brushing bits of paper and birdseed from her hair and shoulders. She captured his hand, pressing his palm to her lips. The smooth gold ring on his finger ghosted across her cheek, burning into her soul like a nova. Natsu watched her, his thumb stroking her face. They stepped into the night together, returning home as different people than they were when they had left that same morning.

The walkway to the front door was lit with small candles, a pleasant surprise waiting for them. Inside, more candles rested on shelves and other flat surfaces, deepening the shadows in the room in the soft glow of the tiny flames. Rose petals scattered the floor, permeating the air with their subtle aromas. A gift to congratulate them for making it so far.

"We really do have some spectacular friends," Lucy whispered.

Natsu took a deep breath through his nose, picking up the faded scents of his guildmates beneath the rose petals. "You got that right."

A bottle of fine wine was waiting for them on the coffee table in their living room. Hours of the night wandered by, finding Natsu and Lucy with their shoes off and feet kicked up, clinking their wine glasses together in a toast. Curls of Lucy's hair draped down her back, freed from the bun and cascading over her shoulder like ropes of gold. They talked the wine and the night away, chatting like they were teenagers once again with nothing to worry about except what job to take next. It was the first quiet, peaceful night they had together in a long time. As the candles melted away and the wine was drank, Lucy stared hazily at the man that she could now proudly call her husband. Her eyelids drooped, heavy with exhaustion and alcohol. She was speaking before she could stop herself, enticed by a lull in the conversation.

"So... I've been afraid to ask this entire time, but… uh…" Lucy sat up, wine sloshing precariously in her glass. "How's your magic?"

Natsu sighed, the mirth fading from his face like water splashed onto a colored canvas. The paint on his head was fading, black hairs staining his scalp. He had taken off his suit jacket, the sleeves of his red dress shirt rolled up to his elbows. Natsu looked down to the bandage still wrapped around his arm. The wound has healed, for the most part - but Natsu couldn't stand to look at it.

"I'm not really sure," he started, trying to organize his thoughts into words that fit together through the murk of intoxication. "Something changed after Juniper Hills. I... I can't feel the etherious anymore."

"What do you mean?"

Natsu wasn't sure how to answer her. His core tightened, an ache splintering through his chest. The glass was gone, shattered into so many motes of red dust and lost in the unbridled hurricanes of rage and despair. Fire still burned through the storm, now fueling itself from a different source - something darker and far more potent, bleeding like the wound on his arm. He looked to Lucy, her brown eyes blazing against the candles around them.

"It's in my fire, now," he said. "My flame is tainted. I don't know what that means... and I'm afraid to find out."

Lucy bit her lip, thinking. "Porlyusica did say that the two were trying to merge together. Do you think…?"

Natsu sat forward, placing his wine glass on the coffee table and turning to Lucy. The sharp complaint of the glass on wood rang through the room.

"I really don't want to think about this right now, Lucy," he said, desperation lurking in his voice. "Can we please just enjoy our wedding night?"

Lucy jerked, wincing as guilt pricked its needle against her temple. "Of course we can, Natsu. I'm sorry."

She leaned forward and kissed him, an apology in the taste of the wine on her tongue. Natsu captured the back of her head, tilting his chin into hers and deepening the kiss. Lucy hummed softly into his mouth, wrapping her arms over his shoulders. She could feel Natsu's hand gently creep up her side, leaving small trails of cold heat in their wake. He stopped at the hem of her dress, hooking his thumb into the breast-line of the gown.

"You look so beautiful in this dress," Natsu's breathed between her lips. Lucy's hands were doing their own searching - lithe fingers slipping deftly between the buttons of his shirt, each one coming undone with hardly a flick of her nails. He chuckled as he pulled Lucy closer, bringing his mouth to her neck. His hand slipped under the fabric of her bridal gown, his passion sparking against the soft skin of her breast. Lucy sighed. "It almost seems like a crime to take it off."

Natsu snapped awake.

He blinked up at the ceiling, tired mind sorting through the veils of confusion. Darkness still lingered, the dead of night interrupted by the light of a waxing moon. He was naked underneath the covers, Lucy lying next to him in a similar state of undress. By the small amount of light granted by the stars, Natsu could see her back rise and fall as she breathed. Smiling softly at his sleeping wife, Natsu curled an arm under his head and sighed. Whatever had woken him up didn't seem to be of any consequence.

Or so he thought, until a shadow flashed by the window.

It was almost too fast for Natsu to see, his heightened sense only catching the slightest shift in the various shades of pitch. Natsu bolted upright in bed and stared out the window, mind switching into high alert. For a few tense moments, nothing happened, the night silent and waiting. But Natsu knew someone was out there. He could feel it.

"Ntsu…?" Lucy wearily lifted her head, cracking an eye open. "Wht's wrong?"

"It's nothing, Lucy," Natsu whispered, reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Just going to the bathroom. Go back to sleep."

Lucy hummed and let her head flop back to the pillow. Natsu silently crept out of bed, gathering his underwear and pants, wrestling himself into them as quietly as he could. Their home was silent, a thick quiet only broken by the occasional groan and snap as the house settled against the tree inside. On the balls of his feet, Natsu padded to the front door. The hinges creaked as he swung it open and stepped out into the night.

The candles that had lit up the walkway were out by now, burned down to their quicks. The moon's dim silver light shined from behind the house, casting Natsu into shadow and cold. Pressing his back to the rough siding, Natsu crept toward the silver edge of cascading moonlight, his heart racing. There was still one Ruby Manticore on the loose, out for his blood for some unknown reason. Natsu was powerless, but not defenseless. He wasn't entirely sure what he would do if-

A dark silhouette stepped around the corner of the house. Natsu lunged without thinking, colliding hard against cloth and flesh, tumbling to the ground. The struggle didn't last long, a few beats of slipping hands and growling breaths. Coming out on top, Natsu sneered down at the intruder beneath him, fist raised and ready to strike - but it wasn't Konza's face that stared back at him under the moonlight. Familiar eyes gazed up into his, dark irises that Natsu hadn't seen outside of his nightmares in three years. Shock and horror exploded from his anger like firecrackers lit beneath his skin.

Natsu flung himself away, crawling backwards through the grass on his heels and elbows. His stained flames thundered through his body on reflex, heart racing with adrenaline and lightning. The fibers of his nerves burned against the curse, a sensation pushed to the back of Natsu's attention by the implausible sight before him.

"It can't be you..." Natsu's voice barely came out a whisper. "It just can't be!"

The intruder sat up, brushing the night from his clothes. All other words died on Natsu's tongue. He was having some terrible nightmare, logic said, desperate to wake him up. The man looked to him with those dark eyes that had haunted him for his entire life - dark eyes, similar to Natsu's own.

Zeref smiled at Natsu, holding tragedy and betrayal in the points of his teeth.

"It's good to see you, too, brother."

Chapter Text

Natsu had never been afraid of the dark. He was a Fire Dragon Slayer – darkness was only something that happened when he allowed it. The shadows held no secrets from him, no dangers or surprises to catch him unaware. Even as a child, a fear of the dark had never been an issue. Igneel's love had been a pyre against evil, a bonfire of safety and strength that Natsu had huddled close to on those cold nights. Then, he had learned to become his own pyre, build his own bonfires. But Natsu had always been cautious of the unseen horrors and sharp terrors lurking in the pitch beyond his light, within and without.

His fire was gone, though, veiled behind an iron curtain of rage. Only the moon chased away the shadows, hanging overhead like a spotlight. His heart thundered in his chest, mind rushing blankly.

Zeref stared at him, silent and watching like a gargoyle. "Breathe, brother."

Natsu scrambled to his feet. Cool grass clung to his elbow and palms, tickling his toes. He was afraid to blink, any brief moment of amplified darkness a hissing threat in his ears. Zeref looked just as he had on the day that Natsu had run into him on Tenrou Island for the first time - back when he had no idea who he was or just how much he would change Natsu's life. Natsu licked his lips, tasting sweat and fear.

"You're not real," he mumbled. "This is a dream."

Zeref's lips parted, a shallow huff blowing from his teeth. "You may be right. But what are dreams if not your own soul's voice trying to be heard?"

His words were jilted, disjointed like pieces of different puzzles that didn't fit. Natsu frowned, his gut lurching a warning through him. The Black Wizard looked to the sky. By the pale light of the full moon, Natsu could clearly see the image of his brother before him, solid and firm - but he was empty, an old vase on a dusty table, holding withered flowers. Gone was his aura, his grief and sorrow that had kindled his magic absent. Natsu would never forget that feeling, the clear memory of anguish and remorse as their fists and souls collided three years ago a brand on his mind. Back then, Zeref's disdain for himself and the world around him had leaked from him, a great flood of power and destruction that drowned even the innocent in its fury. But now… there was nothing, not even a glimmer of magic or life. It was like he wasn't even there.

But that's impossible, Natsu thought. Almost as impossible as the notion that he would be standing before him now.

"Nothing's impossible-" Zeref said suddenly, tearing his eyes from the stars. "-if it's all in your head."

A chilled breeze picked up, ruffling the grass and dancing through Natsu's hair. His skin prickled with goosebumps.

"Wha… what are you-"

The wind. Natsu's eyes widened, his words dying on his lips. The breeze swept across the land, gusting through the trees and setting everything in the nightscape around Natsu into motion – everything except for Zeref. His clothes didn't flutter, his hair didn't shift. It was like Zeref was removed from the world around him, a specter of all the things Natsu feared. Anger flared in Natsu's chest, growing tired of the mystery and deception. He stomped across the field, heels digging his frustration and ire into the earth. His hand shot up and grabbed a handful of Zeref's robes. He could feel the cotton and silk against his fingers, just as real as the ground beneath his feet.

"What the hell is going on?" Natsu shouted. "If this is all in my head, then why can I touch you? You better start talking!"

Zeref simply smirked. "You touch what you expect to touch, Natsu. But as for me..."

His hand rose, reaching for Natsu's heart. He froze, moments passing through eternity as Zeref laid his hand on his chest. His brother's fingers sunk into his sternum like swords sheathing between his ribs. Natsu jerked back, releasing Zeref. He put a hand to his heart, expecting blood and pain… but all he felt was the coolness of his unmarred skin. Natsu's knees faltered, staggering him back against uncertainty and doubt. He was beginning to realize this wasn't a dream.

"You're confused." Zeref's voice broke through the buzz rising in Natsu's ears.

Natsu's mind felt light, detached from his body. "Confused" was an understatement. The tainted flames in his gut sparked.

"No... you're dead. This can't be happening."

Zeref's image stepped toward Natsu, his hand reaching once more. But he stopped, retreating to the edges of nightmares and beyond.

"Death is for the complete," he said, eyes staring through his fingers. "Not all of Zeref perished on that day. But he was fragmented long before you fought."

Natsu looked up. Something wasn't right.

"What's wrong with you?"

His lips twitched, Natsu's words unheard. "His lost fragments became our power. Our light was supposed to extinguish when his did. But you... you're more than a fragment."

Zeref's eyes met Natsu's own, black and green blending to a mixture of betrayal and strife. His brother's gaze rang hollowly, a deep cave of fractured thoughts.

"You are whole, unbroken," Zeref mumbled. "You're special, Natsu. I'm just a splinter in your heel, festering and calloused."

"So... you're not really him?" Natsu asked. "Then, what, am I going insane?"

"Perhaps," Zeref shrugged. "What is insanity but-"

"Stop. Stop talking." Natsu pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to give his poor mind a chance to make sense of this mess. "You're giving me a headache."

"I've been by your side long before you met Zeref," the Black Wizard said. "I was there all the times you skimmed the darkness, waiting on the other side to pull you under. I've held your hand through triumph and sorrow."

"For a splinter, you sure have a lot to say."

"I was there, screaming and rising, when you accidentally fell over the edge," Zeref said, pointing a finger to Natsu's head. The patch of darkness on his scalp tingled, pulling. "But something else put you back together again, and I was trapped once more."

Natsu blinked at Zeref. Riddles had never been his strong-suit. Then his mind flashed back to that day by the lake. When he had shattered and burned, collapsing under the weight of his own curse like a dilapidated house, waking up in a crater of his mistakes. He remembered being reset, his magic and time wound backwards. It finally dawned on Natsu.

"You're... the thing behind the glass?"

Zeref said nothing, his silence more than an answer. This was more than a piece of Zeref's magic, more than a nightmare from memories that he would rather forget. Zeref's image flickered before Natsu, a glitch in reality placing a wreath of dark flames and red thorns on his head. Onyx claws twitched on his fingers, eyes bleeding pitch. For a brief instance, Natsu saw his own etherious unfiltered and raw. The moon vanished from the sky, winking out behind raging smoke. Natsu's own grin glared maliciously back at him, sharp and hungry. The world snapped back into place, Zeref settled into his form. Natsu was beginning to prefer insanity as a better option.

"Then, you came to me willingly," Zeref said, breaking the strain. "So here I am."

Natsu wanted to scream. He wanted Lucy and Happy, to flee to their embraces and hide away from his monsters. This darkness was too heavy, too thick to chase away.

"But why now?" His voice scraped in his throat, whispering loudly in the stillness of the night.

"You took my hand and set me free. But I'm still contained," Zeref said, connecting his fingers in a loose cage. "You're still keeping me at bay. Though, I suppose you've noticed the stain I left."

A hand strayed up to the black patch on his scalp - but he had a feeling that it wasn't his hair that he was referring to.

"You told Lucy that your magic felt different." Zeref, suddenly tired, wilted. "Fire can burn through the storm, through time and hate and tyranny. But when the flames burn themselves, like a snake consuming its own tail, the ramifications can be severe. Eventually, they will be extinguished."

"What are you saying?" Natsu's bones were too heavy, threatening to drop through his skin.

"Ashes to ashes," Zeref said, his words lilted in song. "You're embers are fading, Natsu. It's only matter of time."

His words, though disjointed, sent his message loud and clear.

Natsu was dying.

"I'm sorry," Zeref whispered. His words seemed so genuine, so sincere, Natsu almost took comfort in their guilt.

His eyes wandered to his home, to the dark window where his new wife still slept in their bedroom, alone. Happy was away, spending the night with Pantherlily. His little buddy that had stuck with him through all the battles and struggles and turmoil. His mind's eye wavered, an image of gloom and grief; Lucy and Happy in darkness, their cheeks wet with tears of sorrow for him, wasting the years away and drowning in their heartbreak. Their pain twisted like a noose around his neck, burning his throat and stinging his eyes.

He couldn't do that to them. Not again.

"No. There's got to be a way to fix this." Natsu approached Zeref, looking down into his brothers tired, slivered eyes. He was older and taller than his older brother, now. He would freak out about that later. "You got me in this mess, now you're going to get me out of it. Think, Zeref! There has to be something."

For a while Zeref said nothing, staring back at him through drooping eyelids. His gaze looked through him, deteriorating like leaves in the fall.

"I don't have answers for you, Natsu," he finally said. Natsu's teeth bit his frustration. Hopelessness, a small snowflake before a blizzard, alighted on his heart.

"But, perhaps, maybe the real Zeref did at some point."

Natsu's eyes widened. The snowflake melted. "Okay! Is there a way to find out if he did? You like to write shit down in books, so maybe something like that?"

"It's possible," Zeref said softly. "If there was, it would be with the rest of his research, in-"

The ground erupted beneath Natsu, dirt and mud flying through the air. He hit the ground hard, tumbling through the grass, scraping his chest and face. Natsu shook his head, a new kind of headache blossoming behind his forehead. The air hissed, crackling in his ears like static. Vision clearing, Natsu scrambled into a crouch. He looked up to his new foe… and up, and up, and up, his mouth dropping open.

Dirt crumbled off of the frame of the monstrous centipede as it writhed in the ground, its crystal clear body reflecting the light of the moon. Thousands of tiny parts clinked together, chiming in a million dissonant notes. The beast twisted, massive pincers spreading wide releasing a screech into the night. The giant bug reared back and dove at the dragon slayer. Natsu rolled away, bumping through the narrow gap of tremors as it crashed into the earth. Springing to his feet once again, Natsu knelt and glared at the glass centipede. It yanked its head from the ground, chittering at him. Needle sharp teeth reverberated within its jowls, glistening like a spectral scythe cutting through a dark woods. There was no doubt about it – this was that Ruby Manticore girl's magic.

Another ear-splitting shriek erupted from the maw of the centipede, its many legs squirming. Natsu growled, slamming his fist into the grass.

"Hey ugly, keep it down, would ya?" Natsu stood. The night's tension thrummed through his veins, pent up anger ready to be unleashed. "My wife is trying to sleep!"

He summoned his magic without thinking. Flames danced across his fist, flaring under his skin. Hot pain lanced through the tendons of his hand. Natsu groaned, cutting off the flow of magic. Blisters boiled and popped along his fingers, harsh and oozing. His hand curled, tight and clawing against shock and heat. Natsu stared at the wound - he had never been burned before. But his surprise would have to wait. The centipede rose up once more and hissed, coiling its body in a harrowing symphony of dread. Uncountable legs clicked, dragging the rest of its body out of the ground. It was... a lot bigger than he thought it would be. The centipede arched into the sky, its translucent body gleaming like a ghost in the moonlight.

In one of the few times in Natsu's life, he didn't know what to do.

"Natsu! Mooooooove!"

A cowbell clanged in the shadows behind him. Natsu ducked to the ground, a gust of wind from Taurus' hooves passing over his head. With a mighty swing of his great axe, the bull cried out and brought the sharp edge of the blade down on the centipede's head. A sound like screeching metal pierced the air, scraping sharp nails in his ears. Taurus cleaved the insect in half in a clean cut. The centipede went still and silent, a statue frozen in memorial. Its crystal body burst into a shower of shards, glistening like snow. Natsu lifted his arms, shielding his face as the pieces rained down on him, thumping against his head and nicking his shoulders.

"You got a strange way of kicking off your marriage, Natsu." Taurus offered a hand, helping him to his feet. "It's unherd of. By the way, welcome to the family."

He dropped his arms, panting away the adrenalin in his stomach, eyes turning back to the house. Lucy leaned against the side, sleep clinging to her hair. She had managed to throw on her sweater before coming to his aid, stitches barely reaching below the curve under her hip.

Lucy dropped the hand that clutched Taurus' key and stared at Natsu. She shook her head, starlight falling from her cheeks.

"We just can't catch a break, can we?" She huffed at him, a hint of frustrated laughter behind her voice.

Natsu didn't respond. His gaze swept back over the field of ruined topsoil and glass shards. Zeref was nowhere to be seen.

Lucy sat down at the table with her mug of tea, pushing up the sleeves of her sweater. Natsu looked up at his wife, his own mug untouched. It wasn't easy to explain what had happened out in the dark, but he had done the best he could. His brother's name made her flinch, a whisper of fear ghosting across her lips. But she listened, absorbing his words and Natsu's poor retelling of the odd conversation with Zeref.

"Can you see him now?" She asked tentatively.

Sighing through his nose, Natsu looked around, not sure if he would be shocked to see Zeref standing in the kitchen somewhere. But it was just the two of them, alone yet together. He shook his head. Lucy hummed and nodded. Natsu reached across the table, his fingers gracing her knuckles, touching her wedding ring.

"You okay?"

She looked up at him, her eyes tired but her smile genuine. "Yeah, I'm okay, I guess I'm just… surprised that I'm not surprised."

Natsu sighed, guilt choking in his throat. Through all the adventures they had been on together, Natsu hadn't regretted a single day of revelry or misery. It had made them stronger, brought them closer. But even he could admit this was a lot. When had their days of questing become so laborious? When was this going to end?

He tried not to think about Zeref's message, to ignore the clock ticking down his time left.

"If I'm understanding correctly," Lucy said. "Then it sounds like Zeref used pieces of his life to create the etherious. It makes sense, that way the demons would die when he did. And you..."

She didn't need to finish. She was trying not to think about the clock, either.

"You rewrote the book," he said, smirking with pride. "You gave me my life back."

"Because you have your own soul." Lucy looked at him, the pieces falling into place. "The other etherious are just hollow imitations of life. I wouldn't be able to do the same thing with any other book."

"You still did it."

Lucy's eyes cast away from him, disappointed. "Apparently I missed something."

Natsu wanted to reassure her, to tell her she had accomplished the impossible and beaten the odds. But she had already retreated into herself, lost in memories and words marking her skin. Her writing hand twitched, drifting down to rub her hip.

"You did your best, Lucy," he tried. "You couldn't have known. Please, don't blame yourself."

Her hand came back to her mug. Lucy sighed, puffing her cheek.

"I'm not," she said. "That wouldn't do either of us any good. I'm not giving up on you."

Gods, he loved her so much.

"Something he said is bothering me, though." She tapped her finger on her mug. "That 'something else' put you back together again? Any idea what that means?"

Natsu groaned, taking a sip of his tea. Herbs and honey washed over his tongue, drowning out the lingering taste of dirt and despair.

"If he knew, he wasn't telling." It bothered Natsu, too. The distant words of Igneel's lullaby echoed. "Talking to him was like talking to a tree."

"At least we know your magic won't be too much of a problem anymore." Lucy tried to sound cheerful. They both knew it was a shallow hope.

Natsu looked down to his hands, his fingers wrapped in hasty bandages and drenched in salve. "I guess that's true."

"In all the rush to get married, I had completely forgotten about Konza," Lucy admitted. "Marlow was right; she didn't just give up and go away."

"She's a Maker-Type mage," Natsu thought out loud. "She had to be nearby in order to conjure that spell so close."

"Unless she found a way to cast spells over long distances." Lucy quirked her lips, cupid's bow bending. "We have no idea what the true extent of her powers are, or how many books she might have in her possession."

Natsu scowled. "Where did she even get those books, anyway? How many of those damn things are left?"

Lucy blinked at Natsu, his words registering a forgotten truth in her mind. She had never told him about Marlow, what he had told her and Gray from behind the bars of Christina. Between dealing with Natsu's apathy and the wedding, she just hadn't been able to find the right time to bring it up.

Whoops?

"It's possible," Lucy said timidly, "that she got them from Zeref's library."

She saw him freeze, stiffening like grass in a frost. His palms landed heavily on the table. He leaned toward her.

"What did you say?"

The desperation in his eyes betrayed the calm in his voice.

She told him. Starting with Konza's deranged ramblings of lords and curses to Marlow's cryptic warning of nightmares and lost monsters. Natsu listened intently, clinging to her words like raindrops in a desert. When she was finished, he stood from the table, racing thoughts moving his body.

"That's it," he mumbled to himself. "That must be the research Zeref was talking about."

Natsu spun back to Lucy, his eyes wild. Lucy could see it; the forlorn grasping of a man sliding into his grave, clawing for a way out.

"There might be a way to fix all this in that Library. It's not just for demons, it's all his research and experiments. If we were ever going to find a solution to all this crap, then that's probably the only place where we would find it!"

Lucy stood as well, her mug of tea still left untouched. She approached him openly, but unsure.

"How do you know you can trust Zeref?" Lucy's teeth hurt against that name. "Or whatever it is that you see? How do you know this isn't some kind of trick?"

Natsu faltered. She had a point. Could they dare to think an answer might be in sight? Or were they chasing lies taunting them like fool's gold? Natsu wasn't sure. But he couldn't think of any reason for this specter to lie to him. In the end, if he died, so did the etherious.

"I don't know, Lucy." He sighed, a thousand pounds of weight in a single breath. "But this is all we've got."

Natsu suddenly looked so tired to Lucy. His shoulders sagged, shadows swam under his eyes, and a weariness hung from his jaw. Lucy stepped up to her husband, wrapping her arms around him and falling into his woe. Despite all his strength, all the enemies he had defeated over the years, this might just be Natsu's greatest battle. There is no greater enemy than yourself, after all. Lucy couldn't blame him for trying to find hope. She felt Nastu's breath against her neck, his large hands burning across her back. She could take it all for a little while, shoulder the burdens so he could know peace.

"You're right." Lucy mumbled into his hair. "We should at least check it out. So, did Zeref tell you where the Library is?"

"No." Natsu pulled back, a frown on his lips. "He was just about to tell me before creepy-crawly showed up."

"That's okay," Lucy said, her words slurring into a yawn. "In the morning we'll go to the guild. I know just the person who might have an idea on where to start."

"I have no idea where to even start!" Levy gaped at Lucy. "You're gonna have to give me more to go off of than that, Lucy. And shouldn't you guys be on your honeymoon?"

Lucy stood in the guild hall, still in the process of being cleaned up after the ceremony yesterday. Mirajane swept flower petals off the floor while Gajeel and Elfman brought in the furniture from outside. Lucy looked around, to the garlands still hanging from the rafters and the tiered alter. It was hard to believe the wedding had only been yesterday.

Natsu sat at the bar, talking to Happy in hushed tones. The blue exceed wasn't pleased with what he was hearing. But he hugged Natsu's arm when he was finished talking, Natsu rubbing him fondly between the ears. That seemed like a good sign to Lucy.

"The honeymoon can wait," Lucy said. "This is our first real lead to helping Natsu, and I want to take full advantage of it. Are you sure you can't think of anything?"

"Lucy, I can't even begin to know where to look until I have some idea of… you know, where to look!" Levy rubbed her temple, fingers twiddling the piercing in her eyebrow. "Sorry Lu, but even I'm not that good."

Lucy tried not to let her dejection weigh into her frown.

"It's okay. I guess I got excited."

"Is the honeymoon over already?"

Gray appeared by her shoulder, Juvia familiarly by his side. Lucy's eyes strayed down to his collar, a puckered blemish peeking over the shirt on his neck. Lucy tore her eyes from the hickey, saving her smirks for later.

"There's been a… development." Lucy tilted her head. "Do you remember the library we heard about?"

Gray's face dropped into disgust. He knew where this was going. "Don't tell me…"

"We need to find it," Natsu said. He stepped beside Lucy, Happy riding on his shoulder. Gray said nothing about the bandages on his knuckles. "There may be something there that can help me."

"And how do you know that?" Gray asked. Silence, answers sealed behind Natsu and Lucy's hesitant lips. He scowled and waved off the question. "Okay, fine. I'll ask later, to spare you the trouble of having to lie to me."

"We wouldn't." Natsu grasped Gray's arm. He flinched at the touch - slick shadows dripping through smoke, a burn that raged and cried. His knuckles bared their teeth. Natsu let go. Gray shivered. "But it's hard to explain."

Gray blinked at the other man. Juvia leaned into his sight, her eyes questioning and worried.

"Okay…" He crossed his arms, pondering. "Well, if you want a fast but not so easy solution for your problem, we already know about two people who know where that library is. And of those two people, we know the exact location of one."

Natsu and Happy muddled in query. Lucy blanched, catching Gray's implications. Lips curling sourly, Lucy chuckled ruefully as she shook her head.

"I guess he was right." She stated flatly. "We do need him."

"But something tells me he isn't going to just tell us where it is that easily," Gray countered.

"Who are you guys talking about?" Levy beat Natsu to the question. "Who is 'he'?"

Lucy looked up, her and Gray mirroring disdain on their faces.

"The mercenary Ruby Manticore Master." Gray spat. "The one who tortured Juvia and Erza."

Juvia's face darkened at the memory. Natsu gritted his teeth, the miring image of her and Erza nearly beaten to death coiling through his memory.

"You know exactly what's going to happen right?" Gray spoke lowly. "We're going to demand he give us the location of the library, then one of two things could happen; at worst, he refuses to tell us unless we do something for him - probably break him out of jail - and at best, he doesn't really know the location of the library and we end up wasting our time. It's a lose-lose situation if you ask me."

Lucy hummed. Gray was mostly right. They weren't completely hopeless, though. They needed a trump card, someone else like Erza or Gajeel, who had ways of getting information. But Marlow was a mercenary after all - keeping his mouth shut was in his job description.

"We have to be smart about this," Lucy murmured. "He probably won't talk to you, Gray-"

"I'm fine with that."

"-but he might talk to me. I think Marlow has a soft spot. We just have to find it."

"I'll find his soft spot for ya," Natsu growled, clenching his fists.

Lucy shook her head. "You're not going, Natsu. We need you here, looking through the library with Levy in case this does end up being a bust."

"Really? You're going to make Natsu do research on the day after his wedding?" Gray grinned. "That's cold, Lucy."

"Hey," Natsu sneered. "I've gotten pretty good at doing research, ice pack. But there's no way I'm going to let you do this without me."

"You and Gray both being there will only intimidate him."

"Intimidation can be a good thing," Gray said.

"Not when he's safe behind bars," Lucy countered. "No, Gray and I will both go because he's familiar with us and it'll make him feel more at ease, especially since he probably already knows we're coming. But we do need to bring someone that he doesn't know, someone that he has no power over. Someone like..."

Lucy looked around. Gajeel would work, except that he would pose the same intimidation problem as before. Mirajane could get answers, her dark touch and moony face a boon against most men. But Lucy didn't want to drag more people into her problems than were necessary, even if Mira was more than willing to help. She hadn't seen Erza all morning. No, they needed someone who had been there, and knew what was going on. Someone like...

"Me."

The heat evaporated from Gray's eyes as he looked to Juvia, silent up until now. Her sullen eyes narrowed, wincing like the injuries that Marlow had given her still hurt. Lucy saw fire there, too, revived and roaring. She was done licking her wounds. Gray touched her shoulder, a fragile light of assurance.

"Are you sure?" He spoke lowly.

"Yes," she said without hesitation. "I'm done sitting by while things happen. I want to help. Let me be the one to get us this crucial piece of information. I won't disappoint you."

"It's not that we don't think you can, Juvia." Lucy said, brows holding her concern. "But this isn't going to be easy."

Juvia sighed, blowing hurt and ache. "It's not like I've never been tortured before... but I do have to admit that this time has stuck with me something fierce. I know I'll be okay, though, with time. And if you're there-" her eyes found Gray, shimmering and calm. "-then that'll make everything better. I know I'll be safe."

Gray met her gaze, seeing an aspect that Lucy couldn't, a hidden depth holding strength and conviction. Juvia was so much more now, her waves powerful and eroding.

"You've got this, Juvia." Natsu bumped her, toothy smile gleaming.

"Thank you. Besides..." Her face darkened, like a receding tide before the tsunami. "There are some things that I would like to say to him, as well."

Chapter Text

Natsu had been lying earlier; he was just as bad at doing research now as he always was.

He wasn’t sure how long it’d been since he and Levy headed straight for the dim library downstairs, leaving behind the bustle and light of the guild hall. The number of books that the guild managed to squirrel away still shocked Natsu, the walls of shelves and leather spines hardly diminished after all the years he’d been a member. How many times had the guild been destroyed? And yet the library remained untouched? It was either a miracle or some kind of magic.

Probably magic.

When he had walked into the library and sat down at the reading table, Natsu was ready; mind steeled for words he didn’t understand and body ready for hours of doing nothing but sitting in a hard wooden chair - but when Levy placed his first stack of reading material in front of him, that motivation went straight out the window. Natsu was anything but a quitter, though, so he sucked it up and opened the first book. His progress was slow, and Natsu was reminded once again how much he hated doing research.

Taking a deep breath, Natsu sat back in his chair and moved the pair of wind reader glasses that Levy had lent him from his face to the top of his head. As the flow of words around his head died down, the dragon slayer looked around the small library once again. Somebody really needed to sort through all of these books. Three times now, Natsu had picked up a recipe book thinking that it was a historical tome. Within all of the clutter and chaos of the library, Natsu garnered a new found respect for Levy, who sat across from him with a pile of finished books that greatly dwarfed his own. To think that Levy willingly looked through all of these books every time a situation occurred was… astounding.

“You find something?” Levy asked without looking up.

Natsu sighed. “Not really, but did you know that Fiore used to be a bunch of separated fiefdoms before they were united into a kingdom?”

Levy peeked up at him, characters and words pausing for a moment, haloing her with knowledge. “Natsu, do you know what that means?”

“Nope,” Natsu shrugged. “But I like the word ‘fiefdom’. Kinda sounds like a tasty mushroom.”

Levy chuckled, a pleasant sound in the empty lull of the library, but she diligently kept her head bent into her book. Happy fluttered past Natsu’s head, scanning the spines as he went. The information they needed wasn’t going to present itself, so despite his traitorous urge to get up and leave, he went back to reading. He almost wished that Zeref’s spectre would reappear and finish giving him all the answers… almost. But the dark mage’s image was nowhere to be seen among the shelves, so Natsu picked up his book and moved his glasses back to his face, the flow of words starting up once again. 

It took him about twenty minutes to finish the last 300-pages of the book. Tears pooled in his eyes, reminding him to blink. As gratifying as it was to complete a book, close it, move it to his “done” pile, and know that he would never have to look at it again, the volume had offered no useful information. Nothing that sparked his memory or connected anything to what they already knew. It was frustrating, to put in so much effort for something and come up dry. He couldn’t just beat the answers out of the book, like he was used to. That wasn’t to say that maybe ripping one in half wouldn’t help him feel better, though.

He picked up the next book, another almanac of weather with a miscellany of other information, and opened the front cover. The wind reader glasses buzzed behind his ears, the words lifting from the page and whirling around his head in a maelstrom of indexes and contents, passing in front of his eyes one by one. When he had put the glasses on for the first time, he wasn’t prepared for the words that attacked his face. On reflex he’d yanked the glasses off and threw them across the room. They didn’t break, luckily, but Levy sure wasn’t pleased. She explained how they worked, and it turned out to be nothing like Natsu imagined: by presenting only one word at a time, eliminating a page full of other words to distract the eye, the wearer’s reading speed could be tripled. Furthermore, Levy had said, since the brain doesn’t actually read every single word, the glasses skipped over smaller words like “a”, “the”, “and”, and “of”, to increase reading speed further.

Natsu was admittedly a little disappointed—he had been hoping that the words would magically implant themselves into his brain without him actually having to read anything.

The book wasn’t entirely to blame, though. Natsu’s mind wandered as he read, his eyes glazing over the words before him without absorbing them. Several times now, he’d had to backtrack and reread sections. He couldn’t help it. Natsu didn’t know how much time had passed since he and Levy had come down here - it felt like forever - but if he had to guess, his friends were probably at the High Magic Prison by now. Lucy, Gray, and Juvia had left for the prison not long ago, a plan hastily thrown together, determined but wary to find answers. He was growing tired of being left behind, of being the one to have to rely on others to solve his problems. But he trusted Lucy to do what she needed to do, and to trust Gray and Juvia to keep her safe.

She was doing everything she could to find a solution. It was only fair that he did the same… even if that meant filling his reading quota for the rest of his life.  

Another hour passed. Natsu’s concentration strained against each word he forced his eyes to read - but, against all odds, he managed to finish another book. Slapping the text on top of his “done” pile, Natsu sat back in his chair, sighing his relief and mirth. It was strange; even though he hadn’t done anything physically tiring all day, he felt exhausted. Brain-strain was no joke. He reached for the next book in his reading list, swallowing a groan in his throat. Before he could open the cover, Happy slapped a small stack of books down in front of him.

“When you’re done, you should read those, too,” he said, fluttering behind Natsu’s shoulders.

Natsu glanced at the title of the first book in Happy’s curriculum and frowned. “And how exactly is A Complete Guide to Fiore’s Freshwater Fish Species supposed to help us?”

“I never said they would help you , did I?” Happy snickered behind his paws. Natsu lunged for the cat. Happy spun away, flitting out of his reach. He laughed, petulant chortles taunting Natsu as he retreated into the depth of the book shelves.

Levy chuckled from across the table. Closing her book, she moved her own glasses to her head and rubbed her eyes. Her fingers were dry and cracked, so many pages wicking the moisture from her skin.

“It probably wouldn’t hurt to take a little break,” Levy suggested. “We have been at it for a while.”

“You don’t have to tell me twice.” Natsu stood from his chair, stretching his arms over his head, feeling small pops in his back and neck. It felt good to stand, shaking the atrophy from his muscles. Natsu almost suggested that he and Levy take a walk outside. But he knew that if he left the library for any reason, then he would not be coming back.

“Natsu,” Levy spoke up. Her voice was small and light, like a dandelion seed on the wind. “Can I ask you something?”

Natsu let his body settle, flashing her an inviting smile. He and Levy had never spent much time alone. Of course, in situations like these, Natsu was usually out in the field, brawling and fighting for the sake of survival. She was always… well, here, in the library, working behind the scenes. Each role important in their own right—but separated, unaffiliated like a peasant and his king. Natsu considered Levy a close, reliable friend. But sometimes, he found her hard to read, like the books she surrounded herself with. This was a good time to remedy that.

“Sure, I’m an open book.” Natsu paused, looking around himself. “So to speak.”

Levy huffed a small laugh. She was stiff, though, closed-off and uncertain. She wiped her face. Her fingers fiddled with the piercing in her eyebrow, tugging and twirling it in a nervous habit.

“I was just wondering—and you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to,” she started, then hesitated for a moment. Taking a deep breath, she lifted her chin and looked Natsu in the eye. “Did something happen between you and Lucy before the wedding?”

Natsu’s stomach dropped, pitless and abysmal. He wanted to glance down to his arm, where the sleeve of his coat hid the bandaged knife wound, a nervous instinct sparking in the back of his mind. His eyes remained firmly on her, thankfully一but his face must have responded in kind . She paled, her dark eyes kindling regret. She waved her hands through the air, trying to fan off the unease between them.

“No, I shouldn’t have asked,” she said hastily. “It’s none of my business in the first place.”

“It’s okay, Levy,” Natsu said. His voice came out softer than he intended it to be. From across the library, Happy had perked his ears to their conversation. “But… why would you think something like that?”

  Levy bit her lip, her gaze falling to the side, remembering. 

“It’s just… before you two made the announcement, Lucy came to the guild and said something about calling the whole thing off. But she was only thinking about it, so I guess it doesn’t matter anymore since she clearly changed her… mind?”

Something churned in his chest, abrasive and acidic. Levy called his name, expression writhe with concern. His ears were deaf to her voice. Had Lucy truly been considering that? Had things really gotten that bad? Natsu didn’t remember much from his apathetic state—flashes of gray days and stagnant time—but he knew that he hadn’t harmed Lucy or Happy in any way. Even so, after all that they had been through, Natsu had come to believe that nothing could come between them, not even death itself. But now he had to wonder; did Lucy only marry him because she felt bad for him?

Was… was Lucy falling out of love with him?

“Natsu…?” Levy’s voice quivered, small and alarmed and afraid.

He sat down in his chair, the seat of the wood protesting against his weight. Swallowing past the lump of thorns in his throat, Natsu hardened his face into a mask of indifference and, hopefully, forgiveness for Levy’s sake.

“It’s okay, Levy. I’m glad you told me.” He left it at that. His heart wouldn’t let him say anymore words that weren’t unkind. Levy didn’t deserve that.

Levy nodded numbly. “Yeah, sure. Totally.”

He would have reassured her, tried to tell her that everything was fine and she had nothing to worry about—but Natsu’s mind had already retreated within the recesses of itself. Propping his book up on its end to create a barrier between him and Levy, his eyes stared vacantly down at the wedding ring on his finger. Perhaps he couldn’t really blame Lucy. Natsu was very aware of the fact that he didn’t lead a typical life; shit was always happening around him or to him, and Lucy had never asked for any of it. But not all of it had been bad, right? There had been plenty of good times, ages of light and peace and laughter to round out their days. They were older now, though. Things weren’t the same as they had been three years ago, much less when they had met. Maybe Lucy was growing tired of it. Maybe she was growing tired of Natsu, too.

Natsu sneered at his wedding ring, watching his hand clench into a fist. He hadn’t asked for any of this, either. It wasn’t his fault that danger always seemed to make its way to him. It wasn’t his fault that he was like this.

His scalp tingled, the black hairs that stained his head igniting at the follicles. 

A pair of soft paws and fuzzy arms wrapped around his leg, gentle and caring. Natsu jumped, shaken from his whirlpool of bitterness and resentment. The warm touch was soothing, ebbing the tension from his bones. Sighing, Natsu huffed out a small laugh and reached an arm down to pet Happy, scratching the soft fur of his ears. It was wrong to get angry, Natsu knew that. What happened, happened, he told himself. All he could do was look to the future. Lucy had trusted him with her heart, for better or for worse. As much as Natsu didn’t want to admit it, he hadn’t exactly made it easy for her to love him. But he was a fool to even think that she might have given up on them. It was up to him to be worthy of Lucy’s love, something he would strive for the rest of his life.

“You two look like you could use a distraction.”

Natsu and Levy looked up. Erza and Gajeel crowded the stairwell, standing at the entrance to the library. They carried plates of food and tankards of light ale. Only now, with the smell of freshly cooked meat and potatoes wafting through the air, did Natsu realize how hungry he was. It was difficult to keep track of time in the basement with no windows or clocks.

“You guys have been down here for a few hours,” Gajeel said, setting his plate and cup in front of Levy while Erza gave hers to Natsu. “You come up with a plan B yet?”

Levy sighed, disheartened. “Plan B would be a lot easier to come up with if we had a better plan A. I’m not gonna complain, but it would be nice if we had a concrete idea of what exactly it is we’re looking for - I feel like I’m on a wild goose chase.”

“All we know about Zeref’s library is that the dark guilds know about it and that it’s booby trapped,” Erza stated, seating herself beside Natsu. “But let us all collaborate on this later when Lucy and the others return.”

“Yeah, okay,” Levy relented, clearing her desk of books and pulling her plate close.

“I still can’t believe they left for the prison without me .” Gajeel crossed his arms, the iron and brass facets on his face gleaming. “I could have beaten the answers out of that asshole and gotten the job done.”

“I would be lying if I said that I didn’t feel the same,” Erza said. She crossed her arms, her armor clanking quietly. “But I trust Lucy’s decision, and I have no doubt that our friends will succeed.”

Natsu sipped from his tankard of beer, relishing the taste of something other than book glue and dust on his tongue. His eyes drifted over Erza’s face, hovering on a small red bruise on Erza’s neck that had definitely not been there the day before. It looked like a-

Oh.

“You got in pretty late this morning, Erza,” Natsu poked at her. “What were you doing all night?”

“The real question is who was she doing, am I right?” Gajeel snickered between his teeth, playfully elbowing Erza in the ribs.

Erza’s face turned about as red as her hair. “Nothing! And no one! Can’t a girl just enjoy sleeping in every once in a while?”

Running a hand through her hair, Erza quickly covered up the hickey, changing the topic to less invasive subjects. Natsu bit the pity from the tip of his tongue. Erza didn’t want it nor need it. Natsu thought she deserved more, was all. Even after all these years, she still couldn’t risk publicly acknowledging her connection to a wanted man. He had been pardoned, yes, but there were entities outside of the Royal family that would do anything to see Jellal in chains… or worse. To keep each other safe, they had agreed to only see each other once or twice in a year for a single night. For all other days, he was just another criminal on the run from the law, and she was another member of Fairy Tail—they pretended like the other didn’t exist. It was rough for both of them, but they made it work. It was better than nothing, Natsu supposed.

It didn’t take him long to finish his meal, his mouth working faster than his stomach. Natsu sat back in his chair with a satisfied sigh, nursing his beer and relishing the comfort of a full belly and the presence of his friends. A conversation was struck up about those who had gone to the prison, and what they could possibly be up to at that very moment, but his mind was elsewhere. Zeref’s words wouldn’t get out of his head, cracked and jumbled as they were. Releasing one hand from around his mug, Natsu stared at his palm and wondered what exactly he was going to do about his magic. If he was going to be of any use in the future, he knew that he had to learn how to control it. The problem with that was figuring out where to start. Seeing Erza had given him an idea.

“I believe we’ve kept you from your research long enough,” Erza said as she stood from her chair. “Laxus asked that Gajeel and I be part of an escort party for some of the wedding guests. With Ruby Manticore still on the loose, it isn’t safe for mages to travel without protection anymore. We’ll be back by this afternoon.”

“First we’re wedding hosts, and now we’re babysitters,” Gajeel huffed, scratching a hand through his short black hair. “My repertoire of talents just keeps getting longer.”

“Be careful, both of you.” Levy gazed up at the iron dragon slayer, her eyes steely and serious. “I don’t want a repeat of what happened in Juniper Hills.”

“I promise we will exercise every precaution.”

As the two bade them farewell and began to make their way up the stairs, Natsu called out to Erza one last time.

“I need a favor from you,” he said. Erza cocked an eyebrow. “Do you think you could send a message to him for me?”

“Send a message to who?” Erza read the answer on Natsu’s face, her puzzlement vanishing. “Oh… I believe so, yes. Why? What are you up to?”

Natsu sighed through his nose as his eyes dropped to his palm. “Let’s just call it plan C.”

Though the Grand Magic Council building had been destroyed long ago, reduced to rubble beneath Tartaros’ hungry fist, the prison that was housed beneath it remained a stronghold for the cruel and wicked. Although she had never been inside the prison, Lucy had heard plenty of ghastly tales about the inmates that were housed there; Shang Kah, the warlord who destroyed entire villages before he was finally caught. Iros, who stole the strength and lifeforce from young men. Not to mention, there was Harvanna, the last known witch from the cult of the Golden Eye, an organization that preceded the first dark guilds and Fiore itself. Some said that the only reason Harvanna was kept locked up was because the powers that be simply hadn’t found a way to kill her.

This, among many other whispered rumors, was why the institution had come to be known as Helheim. Fitting to its name, the entrance was nothing more than a gated hole in the side of the hill where the Grand Magic Council building used to stand, descending down into cold darkness. If she listened carefully, Lucy could almost hear a moan drifting up through the bars.

“I heard that they don’t feed the inmates in Helheim,” Gray said in a hushed whisper as they approached the gates. “Because the cells are specially designed to keep them in stasis.”

“Really?” Lucy turned to Gray. She couldn’t tell if he was joking. “That’s so cruel.”

“Prisons aren’t supposed to be kind, Lucy,” Juvia spoke idly. Gray and Lucy tilted their heads to her, any attempt at easing the tension on their shoulders pushed aside by dim worry. 

She had been quiet during the trip, staring out the window as she sat next to Gray and holding his hand without speaking a word. Her eyes, dark and distant, held uncertainty. Lucy hoped that she didn’t regret coming. This wasn’t going to be easy. For Juvia, this was about more than getting answers. But she had been determined, and Lucy knew first hand how scary and strong she could be. So she didn’t say anything, letting Juvia build her courage.

The small party was greeted at the gates to the prison by an equally small consort of guards. Eyes hidden behind visored-helmets, they carried what appeared to be double-ended staffs, if they could be called that; one end was fixed with a giant red lacrima, the other expanded out, hollow like a bell. Two of the guards - one tall and portly and the other a more lean build - snapped to attention as the Fairy Tail mages approached. They rushed out of the small abode that had been built off to the side of the gate. Lucy spied a board game, probably Guilds & Golems , lying on the desk inside. The third guard, sitting in a chair just outside, was fast asleep—his arms crossed over his chest, his mouth loosely open as he snored.

“Halt!”

The stocky guard rushed them, his voice nasally and frantic. He hefted the strange weapon in his hand with the bell pointed towards the mages. “Or I won’t hesitate!”

Lucy gaped at the guard, instinctively raising her hands in surrender. Gray and Juvia just stared at him, uninterested and unimpressed. The guard shifted the strange weapon between all three of them, his hands shakier than Plue on a cold day.

“Woah, okay, hold up.” The other guard, tall and confident, clapped a hand on his companion’s shoulder. “Love the energy, really, keep that up. But we must always follow protocol, yes? And part of the protocol is…?”

The first guard hesitated. He was either thinking really hard or not at all.

“We… defend the gate?”

The second guard sighed, patted his friend’s shoulder and shook his head. “We welcome visitors, yes? Especially beautiful ones such as these.”

The guard flashed Lucy and Juvia a smile, ignoring Gray all together. Lucy repressed the urge to gag and coyly giggled in return, laying a hand on her cheek and hoping her wedding ring was obvious enough.

“You’ll get the hang of it, Hamlet, but for now, why don’t you go and check on Guildenstern?”

Hamlet nodded, holstering his strange staff as he turned away. His friend shrugged.

“Sorry about him, it’s been a bit dull around here.” The guard turned his head, watching Hamlet kick Guildenstern on the shin. The sleeping guard jumped awake, fumbling for his staff with clumsy hands. The weapon fell to the ground, the bell ringing dissonantly. A small tide of nausea washed over Lucy, receding just as the sound did.

“Officer Rosencrantz, at your service.” The guard slammed a fist against his breastplate in salute. “What business do you have here?”

“We helped capture a prisoner a couple weeks ago that’s being held here,” Gray spoke, lacing authority into his tone. “There are some questions we need to ask him.”

Officer Rosencrantz frowned at Gray, bored. “Right, then. I’ll need to see your permits.”

Gray rolled his eyes, yanking his shirt collar down. The Fairy Tail insignia on his chest blazoned like a dark scar on his skin. Lucy and Juvia likewise presented their marks. Officer Rosencrantz was silent for a moment, waiting.

“Those are nice and all,” he said. “But I’m talking about your Civilian Interview Permits.”

Gray stared. “Our what?”

“Interview Permits?” He said it slowly, enunciating each syllable. “Your guild master would have had to issue them to you through the Office of Guild Investigative Affairs.”

“Lots of paperwork,” Guildenstern piped up from behind Rosencrantz.

“Long wait list,” Hamlet stated.

They stood stunned before the guards. None of them had ever heard of “Interview Permits”. It hadn’t occurred to any of them until now that they couldn’t just waltz into the High Magic Prison and talk to whoever they wanted. Gray looked to Lucy. He was at a loss for what to do, and honestly, so was she. Lucy bit her lip, thinking through possible loopholes or evasive strategies and coming up empty. They didn’t have time for paperwork and wait lists—Natsu didn’t have time. 

There was… one thing that might work. But she didn’t like it. These men were simple, basic wants and desires that she could exploit. Lucy had hated doing it back then, and she still hated it now. There was no denying results, though, so she relented, scraped and bitter against falling back on the lewd tactics from her youth, no longer acceptable now that she was married. But, if they could find something— anything —to help Natsu, then she would seduce whoever it took.

Juvia beat her to the punch. 

She stepped forward, Gray and Lucy watching as she pouted her lips. She sidled up to Officer Rosencrantz with an extra sway in her hips, too close for formality. Her eyes swam with light and innocence, a sparkling ocean of calm and beauty.

“The thing is, Officer,” she started, her voice low, subtly sultry. “Our guild master doesn’t know we’re here. So we don’t have any… what were they called again?”

Rosencrantz sputtered, words lost in her proximity. His Adam's apple bobbed as he gulped uncertainty.

“I-Interview Permits?”

“Yes! Those! You’re so smart.” Juvia giggled—an actual giggle, high and twittery. “All we want to do is have a little talk with a prisoner, that’s all. He’s a nobody, hardly worth your time. Surely that isn’t asking too much. Isn’t there… anything you can do to help us?”

Oh, she was good .

But Juvia didn’t do this. Not once in all the years Lucy had known her did the Rain Woman ever use her feminine wiles to take advantage of weaker minds. Not on purpose, at least. Gray said nothing, watching her bat her lashes at this veritable stranger, eyes shining with something reserved solely for him in their most private moments. What had changed?

The trio of guards stared at her, stunned and silent beneath her abysmal gaze. They were starting to think, which was never a good thing. Juvia’s charm, although impressive, wasn’t enough. Stepping up beside her, Lucy clasped her hands below her chin, pushing her elbows against her sides. Gray slapped a hand over his eyes, his cheeks flushing pink.

“We would be ever so grateful. ” The husky tone that naturally crept into Lucy’s voice felt like an old habit that she hadn’t used in a long time. Just to be sure, she gave the officers a promising wink. A nice cherry on top.

It was good that Natsu wasn’t here. His green-eyed tendencies would have been trouble.

“Hamlet! Guildenstern!” Rosencrantz squeaked. “Open the gates for these lovely ladies!”

Hamlet and Guildenstern blubbered as they stumbled over each other. One officer disappeared into the guard house while the other cranked a large lever. A loud clang cracked through the air, the mashing of gears and chains squealing and straining. The gates to Helheim slowly swung open. Hamlet reappeared from the guardhouse, three medallions fastened to leather cords dangling from his knuckles. Rosencrantz snatched the medallions from him, plastering a toothy smile to his face as he bent into a flourished bow. As the gates stopped, the crack of mechanisms locking into place echoed down into the darkness. The hole in the earth rang hollowly, swallowing the light above in its pitch.

Officer Rosencrantz waited, another few small moments of mystique and quiescence passing by into eternity. Lucy dropped her hands, shaking her head as her eardrums thrummed deep within her skull. A sound she couldn’t hear tickled her brain, like a sonic warning to stay away. Gray squinted, Juvia worked her jaw; they could feel it, too. There was strong magic down there.

“Right this way, if you will,” Rosencrantz said, spinning on his heel and descending into the depths without a care in the world.

“Juvia,” Lucy said, resting her hand on her shoulder. “Thank you for that, really.”

A ghost of a smirk hid in her lips. “I don’t know what you’re thanking me for.”

She stepped away, following the soldier through the gates. Lucy stared after her, confused until Gray chuckled beside her.

“Juvia’s always been ruthless,” he said, his smile knowing and remembering. “In more ways than one. We’re lucky she’s here.”

Gray followed. Lucy was close behind, letting them have their secrets.

The first thing to hit Lucy was the cold that drenched her hair and shoulder after that first step into the dark, away from the light of day. Officer Rosencrantz led them through the gloomy corridor, dimly lit by intermittent lacrima. The moan Lucy had thought might be a trick of her ears escalated into a whine, wavering against the jagged surface of the carved tunnel. The coolness of the dark raised goosebumps on her skin. Something pricked her temples, an instinctive urge to flee, to leave the deep earth before it swallowed her.

“Sure hope I don’t end up here someday,” Gray mumbled. The tension in his voice betrayed his discomfort. Juvia was quiet, eyes locked straight ahead.

It wasn’t long before the tunnel ended, giving to a stairway as they continued to descend. For a moment, Lucy almost believed that they really were walking straight into hell. Their footsteps echoed quietly down the stairs, an endless void ahead of them with no end in sight. The thrumming in Lucy's ears increased, a vibrato of concealed power calling, waiting to be found.

The stairs ended, opening to a long corridor of reinforced doors. Wards inscribed within the frames sealed them shut, and with each door they passed, those wards became more intricate and complex. Powerful wards to contain powerful prisoners? It made sense, Lucy thought, but there was only so much even the most potent wards could do against raw magic.

“Who is the prisoner that you are wishing to interview?” Officer Rosencrantz asked.

“We’re looking for Marlow the Mercenary,” Gray answered, eying the doors warily.

Officer Rosencrantz stilled, the medallions in his hand clinking. “Marlow the Mercenary? You said this prisoner was a nobody.”

“Is there a problem?” Juvia asked coldly, all flirting and showcasing completely forgotten.

“I would say so, my dear,” Officer Rosencrantz sniffed. “He’s being held in one of the more secure areas of the institution. There’s a very special clearance that needs to be given to anyone wishing to-”

“Officer, I’m really sorry, but we simply don’t have time to go through the proper channels,” Lucy stated, turning toward the guard. They were so close. “I know you’re only trying to do your job, but you must believe me when I tell you that our business here is a matter of life and death. Marlow has information that we need, and we need it now .”

“Be that as it may, Miss, I have a duty to uphold a standard of regulation for all who go in and out of this prison.” Rosencrantz placed a hand on his staff, an obvious threat. “I’ve already compromised that by letting you all come this far. I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you all to leave now.”

Gray stepped forward, a storm looming on his brow and his posture lowered. “Look man, we’re not going anywhere until-”

His words halted, cut off as Lucy raised her hand and stepped between them. This soldier wasn’t their enemy. He didn’t know what to think about Lucy and her companions, or their elaborate escapade. He had probably never encountered anybody that would go to such lengths as to break into a prison. But Officer Rosencrantz hadn’t been through what they had, didn’t realize the stakes they were in. She had to make him understand.

“You have a job to do, Officer, I get that.” Her voice came out softer than she intended it to be, mind too distracted as she looked down to the ring on her finger. In the dim light of the dungeon’s lacrima, the white gold still managed to shine brightly, a star within the depths of the earth. She wondered what Natsu was doing at this very moment - researching, probably, and hating every second of it. Searching for an answer nonetheless, before time ran out. Lucy watched her hand clench into a fist, gripping a future she deserved. It scared her, the thought that she and Natsu might not get to watch each other grow old. Her throat tightened, a choker of thorns aching something fierce. “But I made a vow to the man that I love that I would keep him safe, that I would do whatever it took to see him through to the end of his days.”

Looking up, Lucy swallowed past the desperation and despair. “He’s being taken from me, and I won’t sit by and let that happen. There is nothing I will not do for him. Do you know what that’s like?”

Her words hung heavily in the air. Officer Rosencrantz’s silence answered her with nothing. Juvia and Gray watched silently, and for a few tense moments, nobody moved an inch.

“No, I don’t,” Officer Rosencrantz finally said. Lucy felt her stomach drop as he took a step towards her. “I don’t have somebody who is special to me like that. I guard this prison—I don’t have time for love.”

Lucy’s hand reflexively snapped up to her key pouch. But Officer Rosencrantz moved past her, past Gray and Juvia, and silently continued down the corridor of warded doors.

"Officer?" She called after him.

"I may not know what it's like," he said, voice fading down the hall, "but that doesn't mean I don't understand. Come along, now."

Lucy turned to Gray, who only shrugged. 

It wasn’t long before the end of the hallway emerged from the darkness ahead of them. The doors that closed off the rest of the prison were the biggest, most heavily warded thus far. And even then, Lucy could still sense an ancient, dark, malevolent aura leaking through the cracks. All the stories she had heard about notorious inmates were starting to become more believable. Officer Rosencrantz, however, stopped at a different entrance to a cell block like all the rest they had already passed. Turning to the mages, the soldier handed each of them one of the medallions.

“These will protect you from the effects of the stasis magic and allow you to pass through the wards,” he said. “Don’t approach any of the cells, and don’t look the inmates in the eye. You got that?”

Wordlessly, they nodded and slipped the necklaces over their heads. Officer Rosencrantz approached the door and unholstered his strange staff. He tapped the red lacrima against the metal, wards glowing at the touch. The reverberating clang that echoed down the hall was shockingly loud, but to the mages’ trained ears, they knew a seal had been lifted. The door swung open even as the wards stayed in place, shimmering in the doorway like spectral afterimages. Without hesitating, Officer Rosencrantz stepped through and into the cellblock.

Stepping through the wards and into the cell block was like passing through a curtain of mist. A brief flash of chill washed over Lucy’s skin and followed her through into the dark corridor. A tingling sensation covered her, a second skin protecting her from the malevolent magic in the air. It was unsettling, like a ghost was hovering over her.

“Ugh, I hate wards,” Gray grumbled, brushing off his clothes. “Too clingy.”

“This way, please.”

Officer Rosencrantz didn’t wait for them to adjust. They hurried after him before his back could disappear down the cellblock.

The cellblock was dark, but loud. A dull roar wavered in the atmosphere, not deafening, but too prominent to be white noise. It was like they were in Helheim’s chest, listening to it breathe. As Officer Rosencrantz walked past the cells, the inmates sneered and jibbed at the guard crudely. They called out to Lucy and her friends, too; crass calls so imaginative, even stoic Laxus would have blushed. Lucy tried her best to ignore them, arms crossed and head down. The dimness hid the figures inside the cells. She was glad they were in there and she was not. 

A small eternity passed. The chill in the air settled into Lucy’s flesh, uncomfortable in its weight. Gray and Juvia didn’t seem to mind, their breaths huffing before them in small clouds. The thought that these inmates had to live with this kind of atmosphere day in and day out sent a shiver down Lucy’s spine. She hoped she would never find herself on the other side of these bars. Lost in her thoughts, Lucy almost bumped into Officer Rosencrantz. The man turned to them. Lucy’s heart jumped as the man hefted his staff, the bell reverberating with magic.

“You are not to approach the bars,” Officer Rosencrantz said quickly and quietly. “You three have ten minutes to get what you came for. No more, or I will be expected to uphold my duty.”

Lucy bit her tongue. Ten minutes was not a long time. They would have to work fast, but Marlow had proved to be patient and cunning. Officer Rosencrantz stepped aside, pointing to the cell just ahead.

A part of Lucy wanted to turn back, to leave this dark place and return to the guild—return to Natsu. There had to be another way to find the library, another way to save him. Levy would find something in her research that would help them. There just… had to be a better way than this.

But she knew, had known since they had left the guild that same morning, that this was their best bet. This was their only bet, if she was being honest. So, steeling her nerves, Lucy stepped forward and approached the cell. The warm presence of Gray and Juvia as they followed close behind was comforting, giving her strength. She stopped before the cell, carrying that strength as conviction in her shoulders. 

The cell was dark just like all the others—but the hunched figure sitting against the far wall was unmistakable, and so was the scorpion tail tattoo on his bare torso.

Marlow sat up, pinpoints of light reflecting from the watery depth of his shadowed face. From within the darkness, Lucy could feel the Ruby Manticore mercenary grinning at them.

“It was only a matter of time,” he spoke slowly as he stood. His words slurred into each other, almost lilted in a chant. Marlow stepped up to the bars of his cage, out of the shadows and into the light. Lucy’s stomach turned as Marlow’s hard, rugged face loomed above her, smiling wickedly at her and her friends.

“I knew you would come for me.”

Chapter Text

Marlow looked… weathered, haggard and scraped against confinement and isolation. Prison was not a good look on him.

His long black hair had been shaved. Prominent shadows roosted in the hollows under his eyes and within his cheeks. When he spoke, his words slurred together, lilted almost in chant. Even his movements were sluggish and clumsy, barely enough strength of mind to control his limbs. As Gray watched, the mercenary staggered where he stood, but quickly recovered, bracing himself with a large hand on the cell bars. The very sight of the man made his own gut coil tightly, hot with anger.

"We didn't 'come' for you," Gray snapped.

"Keep telling yourself that, pretty boy," Marlow leered. He still had his bite, one thing Helheim hadn't taken from him. Marlow's glassy eyes returned Gray's glare back to him.

"We just came to ask some questions," Lucy said. Marlow's head swung to her, robotic and slow. "It would be in your best interest to cooperate with us."

Lucy's words were brave, but Gray could see her hands trembling.

"Is that so?" Marlow drawled, stepping back into the shadows. "From where I'm standing, I don't have to do a damn thing."

Gray's hand fisted around his anger, fingernails biting into his palm. "You can stay here and rot then. We have no problem with that."

Marlow crossed his arms, the muscles of his hands twitching beneath his skin. Exhaustion hung from Marlow's chin, a deep seated fatigue that pulled at him even as he spoke.

"He's getting worse, isn't he?"

For a few moments that seemed to stretch into forever, no one said anything, waiting and expecting. The cell block had grown strangely quiet, the other prisoners settled back into their own cells and succumbed to their own magic-induced torpor. Only the dull roar of the air moving through the atmosphere remained, wavering to the beat of Gray's heart.

Lucy broke the lull. "Yes, he is." Gray watched her step closer to Marlow, approaching the bars despite Officer Rosencrantz's warning. "We need to find Zeref's library. You told us back on the Christina that the only way to do that was to find your companion. Is that true?"

"I would say so, since she's the only one who really knows how to get there," Marlow said. "That is, assuming she still has the map."

Gray and Lucy shared a look, the spark in her eyes matching his own. So there was a map, now?

"But even without a map, you'd have to have a general idea of where it is, right?" Lucy prodded.

"You don't understand, this place isn't just somewhere you go." The mercenary rubbed a hand over his buzzed hair. "Getting there is difficult enough, but once you get close, everything changes."

Gray stepped forward, too, peering up at Marlow through the twilight. "And what the hell does that mean?"

But Marlow simply shook his head, lumbering farther back into the cell. His shoulder hit the wall hard as he slouched, letting himself drop down with a groan and a heavy thud. The man rested his head back against the wall and grinned.

"I'm not gonna make it that easy, tough guy. You know how this has got to go."

Oh, Gray could show Marlow just exactly how easy it would be to make him talk—when a soft hand laid itself upon his shoulder, warm and gentle. Juvia looked up at him, her eyes calm and deep like dark water at the bottom of a well. She was nervous, he realized, and doing her best to hide it. After all these years, Gray had learned how to see through her cold mask of apathy and numbness. Juvia was a code he had finally deciphered, finding someone who cared truly and deeply for her friends and those she loved behind the mania and the fervency. Gray wanted to keep her far, far away from Marlow and his poison. She had wanted to come along, though, and he had to trust her.

Juvia stepped past him towards the cell, stopping just before the bars and peering into the darkness where Marlow lurked. Officer Rosencrantz's grip on his weapon tightened, but he remained in place and remained silent.

"Do you remember me?" Juvia mumbled, her soft voice ringing clear in the hushed din of Helheim.

Marlow looked up at her from his spot on the ground, blinking through the haze of his stupor. He had a good poker face, but Gray could still see the exact moment a single spark of recognition flickered in his eyes.

"I never forget the faces of my enemies," he grumbled. His gaze dropped quickly.

"And I never forget the faces of people who hurt my friends."

Juvia stepped closer, raising her hands to delicately grasp the bars.

"There was a time when I would have never forgiven such acts." In the dimness of the cell block, Juvia's voice echoed eerily off of the stone walls. "I would have hunted you to the ends of the earth. There would be nowhere you could hide or flee to that I couldn't find you until I'd had my retribution."

Juvia's hands tightened on the bars. The metal groaned in her grip, straining under the pressure of her ire.

"Juvia should take your life for what you did to my friends… and to me."

The atmosphere hardened in a single moment, an atlas weight crushing down on Gray's shoulders. He watched as every muscle in Juvia's body tightened, coiling like a lion ready to leap. The dry air of the cell block thickened, wet with a dense mist that pricked his skin with cold needles of panic. Marlow shrank further into himself, his eyes holding defiance and terror. The moving air of Helheim swirled through the moisture, vapor trails hugging Juvia's body like snakes falling from her neck. Officer Rosencrantz gasped in alarm, blubbering a warning as he repositioned his weapon with a snap, pointing the bell at Juvia's back. A low drone resonated from the horn, a distant siren-call heralding of danger. Gray's stomach flipped at the sound, his blood thrummed in his veins. Lucy's hand raised to her key pouch—but Gray knew at that moment that there was nothing that he or anybody could do if Juvia became reckless.

"But," she said, releasing the bars. "That time has passed, and I am no longer that person."

The mist dispersed into nothing within seconds. Officer Rozencrantz lowered his weapon, fingers trembling against the bronze metal. As the drone died into silence, Gray released a breath, droplets of water kissing his cheeks and brow.

"I have people who are dear to me, now. And they have taught me to believe in second chances." Juvia tilted her head at Marlow, considering the man cowering behind the bars. "Even when they are less than deserved."

Marlow uncurled, and for the first time, his resolve was cracked, shaken apart in the threat of her storm. Juvia was fully capable of taking his life, that much was clear—and there wasn't a damn thing he could do to stop her. She had given him a taste of what she had endured at his own hands. That he had taken her by surprise before was a complete fluke.

"Your friend, the girl," Juvia continued, voice tinged in sadness. "She's not well, is she?"

Marlow's eyes snapped to her, his gaze clearer now than since they had come into this forsaken place. The mercenary leered up at Juvia, his mouth opened and closed loosely, unsure of what to say.

"I heard you talking to each other, only for a moment before I passed out from the pain. Nobody talks to their friends that way unless something is very wrong."

"I… She's…"

"We know better than anyone what those books can do to someone. We can help her. But first we need to find her, and we can't do that without you."

Marlow's brow hardened, leveling a malicious glare at Juvia. "You don't want to help her. You want to help your friend. You couldn't care less about what happens to Konza!"

Juvia frowned at the mercenary. "Yes, we do want to help our friend. He's very important to us, and we don't want to lose him. But Konza is in just as much danger, perhaps more. And we can help her, want to help her. That's just who we are."

"So you can throw her in a cage like this?" Marlow growled, sitting up as he tossed his hand around his cell. "Konza wouldn't survive in a place like this. She wouldn't-"

"But she would have you, wouldn't she?" Juvia blinked. "You can keep her safe. Out there, she's all alone, with nothing but those books to rely on. Heed my words, Zeref's books will do her nothing but harm. If we find her, we can find Zeref's library and destroy it… and free her."

"How do you know?" Marlow grumbled, his voice tight. "How can this place be any better than where she is now?"

"Because…" Juvia unbuttoned her coat, lifting the hem of her shirt to reveal the angry, massive scar along her pale stomach. "I know."

The sight of the wound was too much for Gray. Closing his eyes, he turned away. A vice of unease locked his lungs against his ribs. The memories of that day during the war flooded his mind, flashes of a crime he could never outrun—the chained collar around his neck, the hatred slopping like tar through his veins... a pain so cold it burned… the splash of blood that wasn't his own. Then, her love bringing him back even as she faded away. Tears stung Gray's eyes, squeezing them shut. It was something he and Juvia refused to talk about… or, more like they couldn't talk about it. Gray would give anything to never see Juvia like that again.

Behind the reaches of Gray's gaze, Marlow watched him closely, surprised and harrowed. For Gray's stone-cold persona to crumble so easily… it spoke volumes of strife and grief. Juvia smoothed her shirt and buttoned her coat, eyes lost in dark memories. Even Lucy had looked away. After all, it was directly after that fight that Gray and Natsu had clashed in the deadliest battle of their lives.

"You care about her, that's easy to see." Juvia spoke up, smiling at him. Gray turned back to her, wiping the tears from his cheeks. "And I believe that before all this started, she cared about you, too."

Marlow gulped. "We… we kept each other safe. When we founded Ruby Manticore, we had no ambitions. Just a home for wayward souls, away from society's stifling laws. A place for friends to feel safe. We may have been a dark guild, but we were still family."

"Not much different from a regulation guild." Lucy nodded.

"We didn't mean to find the library. We stumbled upon it by chance. She picked up that first book and something… changed. She became obsessed with Zeref, and learning everything she could from him. At all costs. Even if it meant sacrificing our guild mates… our friends."

"It'll cost her much more than that if we don't act quickly." Juvia knelt down before his cell, eye level with Marlow, equals in stature. "You can have her back, the way she was before. If you care more about her survival than about getting out of this place, which I think you do, then you need to tell us everything you know about the library and where it is."

Marlow was quiet. Gray could see the struggle behind his eyes, and he couldn't blame him. Had he been in a similar position—weighing his own life behind bars against Juvia's life as Zeref's slave—it was not an easy decision to make. But he knew without a doubt what he would choose. Marlow opened his mouth, words ready on his tongue. When they didn't come, he shut it once more.

"Your ten minutes is up," Officer Rosencrantz stated. "You have to leave. Now."

Nobody moved. Juvia held Marlow's gaze for a small eternity, waiting, relying. Finally, she stood up and turned away, walking back down the cell block the way they had come. Reluctantly, Gray and Lucy followed her, quiet as they resigned from their interview. Officer Rosencrantz sheathed his weapon, taking up the rear of their small group. Gray's hands clenched as he walked away from Marlow for the second time, disappointed. Despite all their efforts and Juvia's amazing performance, they hadn't gotten what they came for. They were still at square one. Gray peered sidelong at Lucy. Her chin hung low, weighed down with frustration and dismay, lips pinched to keep her despair contained. Gray wanted to reassure her that they would find another way, but it would have been an empty promise. A silent tear trailed down Lucy's cheek, tracing the misery in her frown.

"Wait."

The voice trailed after them through the dark tunnel. Everyone stopped in their tracks. Gray didn't want to turn around, didn't want to give himself false-hope. Juvia took the chance for all of them. With a quick about face, she rushed past Gray and Lucy, past Officer Rosencrantz, and back down the cell block. Gray's feet instinctively followed her, Lucy falling into step beside him. Rosencrantz protested, his demands falling on deaf ears. Returning to Marlow's cell, the mercenary was standing at the cell bars. They stood before him, expecting and hungry for his secrets and stories. Marlow's eyes darted between all of them, wanting for trust, but firm with conviction. After a beat, he took a deep breath through his nose and nodded.

"I'll tell you. I'll tell you everything I know."

Stepping out into the sunlight, the three Fairy Tail mages stopped at the entrance of Helheim. Officer Rosencrantz stepped before them, authority returning to his posture.

"I'll be needing your medallions back, please."

One by one, they all removed their amulets and returned them to the soldier. Holding them loosely in his gloved fingers, Rosencrantz stared down at them for a plaintive moment. A few seconds passed in silence before he lifted his visored gaze up to Lucy.

"I hope you got what you came for. I really do. I wish the best of luck to you all."

With that, he turned away and returned to his post. Gray took a deep breath, reveling in the feeling of fresh air in his lungs and warmth on his skin. Life was good outside of Helheim, a fact he took for granted far too many times. Juvia was silent beside him, her gaze dropped to the ground, contemplating what had just occurred. Gray looped an arm around her waist.

"You did phenomenal back there."

Juvia looked up at him, her deep blue eyes troubled, and tried her best to smile.

"He and I are very similar," she said. "We'll both do anything for the people we care about. Had life gone a different direction for me… had I never met you, it could've been me in that cell."

Lucy took a shuddering breath. "I know what you mean. Sometimes, I have to remind myself that it was pure luck that I found my way to Fairy Tail. If Natsu hadn't rescued me, I… I don't know what I'd be doing today."

Gray nodded. He didn't exactly have a squeaky clean past either. Had Gildarts not found him when he had, there was no telling where he would have ended up. The past was full of unfulfilled possibilities, lost paths of darkness that they had narrowly avoided by the grace of circumstance. Gray pulled Juvia against him, comforted by her strength.

"You referred to yourself in the third-person," he mumbled. "You haven't done that in years."

Juvia started. "I did? I'm sorry."

"No, no don't be sorry. It was good to see that there's still a little bit of the old Juvia still in there."

Juvia blushed, rosy pink blooming on her pale cheeks. Gray smiled at her. She was cute when she blushed.

"And I don't think we could have gotten the job done without her," Lucy said. Her eyes sparked with determination, a new strength sprouted from solutions and endings. "We have somewhere to start. A location and a means. That's a lot more than what I hoped for to be honest."

"There's still one problem, though," Gray pondered as they started walking—away from Helheim and the ghostly moans of its forgotten denizens. "I've never even heard of this place. How are we supposed to find it?"

"Maybe Levy and Natsu found something. They've been researching all day." Lucy looked down to her wedding ring. "And even if they haven't, we won't stop looking."

Natsu stood abruptly from his seat, slamming his book down on the table.

"Calibran."

Levy startled, jumping back in her seat. "What?"

Natsu didn't look up, his eyes fixed on the words of the page in front of him. His fingers brushed over the printed ink, ghosting along the name of a kingdom from eons passed. But he knew this word, recognized it with a distant intimacy that pulled longing from his heart. His mind flashed to the memory of the lush green valley and his family, associating a place and a time from traces of a life long ago. It was so sudden and unexpected, Natsu thought he was having an episode.

"It's not an episode, brother."

He didn't need to look to know that Zeref was there, standing just beside him like another shadow. His brother's spectre was uncomfortably close, his chin hanging over Natsu's shoulder.

"It's familiar to you, like an afterimage from the sun that just won't go away," Zeref spoke slowly. "You weren't there for very long, but the heart remembers where it belongs."

"Natsu? What is it? What'd you find?"

Glancing over to Levy, Natsu swallowed past the dryness in his throat. Happy watched from his own seat at the table, his ears perked.

"Calibran. I think that's where Zeref's Library is." A quick look over his shoulder, and Zeref was gone.

Levy rose from her seat, rounding the table to stand by his side and read over the passage. Her lips pinched as she scanned the book, thoughts flooding her eyes. Shaking her head, Levy turned to Natsu.

"Are you sure about this? According to this book, Calibran hasn't existed for over 400 years, well before Fiore was established."

"I know it seems crazy, but…" Natsu frowned, his words failing him. "I can't quite explain it. It's a gut feeling. But I'm positive about this."

"Natsu, we're gonna need more than a 'gut feeling' here," Levy said gently. "Talk to me, tell me what you're thinking."

Natsu looked to Happy. His little friend nodded, an encouragement that gave him the spur he needed. Picking up the book, his fingers splayed across the page, Natsu took a deep breath.

"I think I was born there," he said. "Zeref and I are from Calibran."

Chapter Text

Lucy stepped off of the train and onto the station platform, breathing in the flowery sweet air of Magnolia as her shoulders ached with relief. Gray and Juvia followed close behind, their hands loosely intertwined. The three mages stretched themselves, shaking the train and the day from their bones. It was almost late afternoon, the golden light of the sun low in the sky shining through the large windows of the train station. Squinting her eyes against the light, Lucy peered through the crowd. Natsu wasn’t there. She didn’t expect him to be. But she also didn’t count on spying Laxus standing in the middle of the platform, his arms crossed irately over his chest. 

“Would one of you care to explain to me-” Laxus started as he glared down at them. “-why a guard from Helheim contacted me to report that members of my guild had entered without authorization?”

Lucy bit her lip. They had left without telling Laxus where they were going and why. She had been so caught up in the momentum of brainstorming a solution that it had completely slipped her mind.

“We needed to speak to Marlow,” Gray spoke up, meeting Laxus’ gaze. “He had information that we needed to help Natsu. We couldn’t wait.”

“And none of you thought to consider the danger of going on your own?” Laxus snapped. “There is a process in place for a reason. You should be grateful that they didn’t throw you all in a cell!”

The three mages averted their eyes from their Master. Admitting against their pride,  Laxus spoke the truth. They had managed to talk their way out of trouble this time, by the skin of their teeth and the luck of circumstance. Laxus sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. He was their master, yes, and he had every right to be cross with them—but it wasn’t very long ago when he was the same way; stubborn, reckless, and careless of any consequences. As master of Fairy Tail, he had to look at the bigger picture, to consider things he wouldn’t normally have taken time to ponder. Makarov had always pontificated about the worries that came with leading a guild. It truly was like being the head of a large family, and if anything ever happened to his family…

But they were here, unscathed and safe. Laxus chose to focus on that.

“Did you at least find what you were looking for?” He asked, the ire fading from his voice.

His answer was three triumphant grins, proud and assured. Laxus smirked. Of course.

“Come on, you lot,” He said as he turned away. “You can tell me what you learned when we get back to the guild.”

Lucy watched his back skulk away from them, a shadow of a man if shadows could gray prematurely. Laxus was being hard on them only because he cared— and they were lucky to have him as a leader. Together, they left the train station and turned toward Magnolia, anxious to meet up with their comrades and share what they had learned.

“Were you just waiting on the platform for when we returned? How long had you been standing there?”

“Don’t push your luck, Gray.”

Natsu breathed a sigh as he pulled Lucy into a tight hug. He could feel her turn her face into his scarf, planting a small kiss to his neck. The comfort of his wife’s embrace was like a soothing tonic, so he relaxed into her, relishing her touch for just a moment. 

“I wasn’t gone for that long, Natsu,” Lucy mumbled into his ear. “Is everything okay?”

Natsu hummed. “It is now.”

She had returned, just as she had vowed that she would. Laxus brought them to the guild just as he and Levy had left the basement, books in their arms. Seeing her standing at the doors to the guild, safe and sound and framed by the auspicious glow of the western sun, Natsu dropped his books, striding across the guild. She spread her arms to him and he swept her up in a tight embrace, her hands steady and strong as they cradled his back. He peeked up at Gray across her hair. He and Juvia seemed solemn, quietly observing yet detached from everyone else like a faded picture.

“How did it go?” He asked, releasing Lucy. “Did Marlow talk?”

“He did, thanks to Juvia.” Gray nudged the woman fondly. “We owe it to her. How about you?”

Levy lingered behind Natsu’s shoulder. She had picked up his dropped books, the gold filigree of their embossed leather titles gleaming between her fingers

“Yeah, we got something too,” Levy said. “Natsu was the one who found it.”

In the space between words, Lucy gaped at him. Natsu’s teeth flashed in his smug grin.

“See, I told you I was getting good at doing research.” Natsu didn’t miss the way Levy smirked. But she stayed quiet, and he appreciated that.

“Let’s take this to my office.” Laxus swept his arms, herding them to the back of the guild. “No need to discuss everything out in the open. Happy, go find Gajeel, Erza, and Wendy. They’re a part of this, too.”

It didn’t take long for everyone to come together. Erza and Gajeel had just gotten back from escorting the wedding guests home, while Wendy had been watching the younger girls of the guild, namely Asuka and the twins, Sonya and Byanka. They gathered in the small office, packed together like they had been inside of Porlyusica’s sweat hut. Though there was no steam in the air, Lucy could feel the thickness of everyone’s apprehension. Laxus steepled his hands on his desk.

“So, who wants to start?”

Lucy straightened in her seat, taking a deep breath. She captured the room with her presence, determination set into the curves of her shoulders.

“I think it’s best we all know the full story,” she said, Gray and Juvia nodding their agreement. “This all goes so much deeper than we thought it did.”

Laxus held an inviting palm to her. “Go on, Lucy.”

Marlow led Konza through the trees, the thick canopy of the mountain forest dimming the sun above even as its heat sank onto his shoulders. Sweat trickled down his spine, a cooling trail on his back as he swung his halberd through the brush, whacking away the dense foliage. Konza lingered behind him, wiping her brow, pale hair tied back. Her blue eyes seemed to illuminate dimly, contrasted by the greenery that surrounded them. Her face was flushed with heat and exertion, and the way her knees trembled didn’t escape his attention. Marlow asked if she was okay to keep going.

Konza blinked at him, then smiled. Excitement and joy flashed from her teeth. Of course, she was fine, she said. This was too important to quit now.

So they pressed on, blazing deeper and deeper into the mountains. Eventually, day crossed into afternoon, and faded into the evening. For their tenacity, they were rewarded with nothing but hills of steep struggles and pits of thorny bushes. It shouldn’t have been this hard, really, to find a stable, hidden location for a safehouse. Perhaps these mountains hadn’t been the right choice—too dangerous, too wild. But Konza insisted that they keep going. Just five more minutes, she kept saying, five more minutes of searching, and they would find what they were looking for. Marlow didn’t really understand that, but he knew he couldn’t talk her into calling it quits, and he wouldn’t leave her alone in the forest at night. The sun was setting low on the horizon when the mountain leveled into a clearing, a large plateau overlooking a shallow valley of wildflowers and shining blue lakes.

They knew they had found a good spot. Despite the difficulties, despite the setbacks, they could make this work.

The campfire blazed into the dark night, warmth and security burning from the coals. Marlow and Konza dined around its light, resting their weary bodies from the long day. Konza sighed and sat back, staring up at the starry sky overhead. For once, the night sky was clear to see, unhindered by the lights of a city or the branches of Juniper Hills. It was quiet, too. Crickets chirped through the trees, an ambiance of solitude and community all in one. It was peaceful, Marlow had to admit, a serene escape he had only rarely encountered through his years.

Konza spoke, talking idly, almost to herself. Were they doing the right thing?

Marlow looked at her, sighing through his nose. They had good intentions, he answered, and that had to count for something. He’d said it countless times before.

True, Konza agreed, but with the guild growing as big as it was, wasn’t it about time to apply with the council and make it official?

They’d tried that, Marlow reminded her.

But, this time, they would be able to show them that a combined guild could work. Konza leaned forward, serious. Maybe then they would see-

They would see that they had started a guild without permission from the council, and a dark guild had been lurking around Fiore beneath their noses. They would be thrown in jail without trial.

Konza frowned, sitting up straight and sparking with something Marlow knew was only the beginning of her intensely passionate—and perhaps unrealistic—wildfire of ambition.

They needed to keep their heads down, he snapped before she could say anything. Maintain a low profile, don’t make any noise, and the council would leave them alone. Or did she want to throw away everything she had worked so hard to create?

Marlow watched her deflate, knowing he was right. It was a hard truth, as many often were. Good intentions could only get them so far. Though Ruby Manticore only took the honorable jobs and gave aid to those in need when laws would otherwise prohibit them, they were still a dark guild. There were plenty of official mercenary guilds in Fiore, not to mention a plethora of wizard guilds. Honestly, it would have been much easier for them to simply join an establishment of their own specialties and be content with that.

But they didn’t want to be content.

At this point, it didn’t matter what the council thought about them, Marlow said. Konza stared at the fire, listening. A guild was so much more than a fancy piece of paper declaring their status, he continued, and for what they had accomplished, they didn’t need it. 

The council could go fuck themselves, too.

Konza laughed. Her merriment rang through the night like a bell. Even the crickets softened their symphony to hear.

Spoken like a true mercenary, Konza sighed. That’s why he was master, after all.

Marlow shared her grin, tossing another log on the fire. Sparks flurried into the air, a shower raining up, streaming with the smoke and flames. She’s a master as well, Marlow reminded her. Konza hummed, resting her chin in her hands as her eyes drooped. The near quiet of the night settled over them once more, and Marlow could feel his fatigue tugging at the edge of his mind. Sleep was soon to come, a welcome respite from a day of hard work.

Like a switch being flipped, deafening silence cut through the darkness as all the chirping crickets ceased their songs all at once.

The fire went out.

He didn’t know what happened next. Someone… something struck through their camp, and the next thing Marlow remembered, he and Konza were running. The amplified darkness of the forest hindered their escape. What were they even trying to escape from? He couldn’t recall, but the gaping wound on his shoulder was enough of a reason to flee. Konza pulled him along, dragging him through his pained torpor, and they stumbled down the treacherous hillside, further into the valley. Eventually, they made it… somewhere else.

Crumbling walls. Ancient magic. A city of bones and flowers, beautiful in a tragic sort of way.

But for the life of him, Marlow couldn’t remember how they got there—or how they left.

Abandoned as it was, the city was not dead. Old wards, potent like an aged wine, triggered everywhere they turned. His wounds multiplied. Even Konza, despite his efforts to protect her, was hanging on by the edge of her fingertips to her waning endurance. Her leg was drenched in blood, slashed to ribbons by a hungry ward’s teeth. Every step she took left behind a vermillion footprint on the mottled stones.

Truthfully, the wards were the least of their worries; fangs flashing in the light of the stars, darkness that moved and pursued. Horrors lurking in the crevices of lost dreams and waiting despair—monsters of blood and terror that Marlow wished he could forget completely. But Konza kept going, her desperation, or perhaps her hope pushing her yet another step forward. Just five more minutes. If they could hang on, they could get out. Marlow followed her, as he always had... as he always thought he would.

He could barely remember the chamber. A place of emptiness and unease, quiet and seemingly safe against the rage of nightmares prowling the desolate streets. They stumbled into it with the last of their strength, but even Marlow could tell they were not welcome there. Huddled together in the dark, Marlow and Konza clung to what precious little time they had left as their blood filled in the grooves of the tiled floor, a red spider-web tangled with fear and regret.

It wasn’t supposed to happen this way.

Marlow rolled his head to her, fighting through the nausea and shock to see the small tears sparkling quietly in her eyes like distant stars. She whimpered an apology, choking on her own anguish. She was the reason they were in this mess. Marlow tried to shake his head, but even trying sent trails of hot electricity through his bones. 

Now was not the time for blame. The words spluttered from his lips, tasting like copper and ache. And even so, she had no reason to take it. Konza bit her lip and rolled to her side, her scream muffled through the bile in her throat as she tenderly lifted the hem of her shift. By the dim light of the stars shining through the cracks in the domed ceiling, Marlow watched her skin come apart like a zipper, and blood flowed across her torn belly like a tiered waterfall of crimson and dissolution. On instinct, Marlow pressed over her, his hand reaching to fill the gaps of the abysses cutting through her—his fingers wouldn’t obey, curled like dead insects and hanging from the bloody strands of what remained of his palm.

Konza gasped, her eyes swimming on the verge of unconsciousness as she tried to sit up. A flick of her wrist, and a crystal ball shimmered into the air of the chamber. Refracted light cast broken rays around the room, small pinpoints of shattered moons scattered across the floor and walls. Only now did Marlow see the fine ash that hung in the stillness of the chamber like snow frozen in time, taste the sharp soot of fires long extinguished on his tongue. Small sounds like a needle puncturing a cloth in rapid succession and Konza shifted, her cuts knitted closed and oozing red as she rested on her knees. Falling over herself to examine Marlow, tiny gleaming stars twinkled from the mess of blood and flesh on her stomach. Darkness roosted in the hollows beneath her eyes, the vibrant, youthful blue stolen away.

They could still make it, Marlow said. She hushed him, her small hands pressing to a leaking wound beneath his collarbone. Marlow hissed, pressure and sparks igniting his nerves.

Hold still, Konza mumbled. Sweat gleamed on her forehead. Her hands came away coated in red, and a small star of translucent glass stitches twinkled on his skin.

Marlow coughed, his throat wet but his tongue dry as her hands moved to another injury. She should save her strength.

It wouldn’t matter, Konza spat. They were going to die.

Five more minutes, Marlow said. They just needed five more-

No.

Konza sagged before Marlow, her fingers tracing faint scarlet trails on the ash-covered floor. 

They were out of time.

Her fingers hooked onto a thin edge, something buried and forgotten. Ash fell away as she picked it up, clouding the space between them. In her hands, an old tome crinkled under her touch. Drawing a single, shaky breath, Konza blew the ash from the cover, puffs of silver and cold gusting from worn brown leather and black-charred hide.

LAZARUS

The cover creaked as Konza opened the book, the faded embossed letters of the title trickling ancient dust and secrets.

Marlow blinked.

In that split second of oblivion, he felt his bones shift beneath his skin—a single pulse of burning vitality that settled into his marrow and ignited his energy. But it was wrong, somehow, a forced awakening—jolting like a puppet on tangled strings.

Marlow’s eyes opened. His lungs, suddenly tired and empty, kicked back against him. Swallowing air, Marlow’s body surged. Coughs racked his frame, each fit another painful beat into the deep-seated ache of his muscles. He didn’t remember lying down. He didn’t remember being wrapped in the bandages that covered his body. He most definitely didn’t remember how he ended up in a bed inside a small cottage.

He’s awake, a small voice said.

Konza sat on another bed beside his. Like him, she was swathed in bandages. As she watched him closely, Marlow twisted on the sheets with a groan.

What happened?

He didn’t remember?

Remember what?

Konza looked down, the same book resting on the bed before her. Dark maroon specs of now-dried blood sprayed across the leather like a rusted rash. Her fingers traced the faded filigree of the cover that may have once been silver. Now, it was a decomposed black.

This book, she said lowly. It had saved their lives.

 A knock on the door. With a small creak, it swung open and a bantam woman carrying a tray of steaming bowls entered the room. Small children—two boys—clung to the folds of her skirts. The three of them stopped and stared at Marlow. The savory smell of braised meat and vegetables reached his nose. His stomach roared in desire.

They were a family of orchardists, growing persimmons and living a day's travel away from the nearest town. They lived off of what they could grow from the land and hunt from the forest, a simple life so disrupted when two wounded wanders stumbled out of the mountains and nearly bled to death beneath their trees. He had no memory of any of this, but according to them, Marlow had given them all a mighty good scare when he’d lumbered from the woods with Konza passed out in his arms, more blood and bones than person at that point. Marlow would always be grateful to the woman and her husband for taking them in and nursing them back to health, but Konza… 

A piece of her was left behind that night. She filled the empty space with the words of that book.

They returned to Juniper Hills after a week of recovery. Greeted with little fanfare and the concern of their members, Konza retreated to solitude with herself, claiming exhaustion and pain. Marlow didn’t see her for three full days. Only when she was leaving again did Marlow manage to finally get the full story of what had happened on that night.

In the darkness of that chamber, that book had unleashed something. Whatever it was, it had used Marlow as a vessel to help them escape. That was why they were still alive. He was brought back from the brink of death, she said, and if one book could do that, what else was in that place? She had to find out.

They argued, quarreling like they never had before. There was nothing he could say—neither berating logic or pitiful begging—that could make her stay. This was the first time Marlow’s fears kept him from following her.

Konza returned a week later, miraculously intact with little more than scraped knees and battered knuckles. She brought back another book and a traveler’s portion of persimmons. Marlow wept when she walked through the front door and he embraced her tightly, the shattering of his greatest fears leaving a vulnerable joy that shivered his heart. Konza was delighted with her success, a manic glee flashing from her teeth as she showed him her new book. Marlow should have seen it then; the red madness lurking behind her eyes, a bud of something sinister planted and rooting… but his worry was occupied by the book, a much thicker volume than the first and half-burned to fragile char.

HOLLOW

Marlow thought it would end there… until those terrible words started appearing on the walls, scribbled hastily and dripping like open wounds. He would wash them from the stones and wood, stain his fingers black with the pitch of their ink… but they always came back. He didn’t know what they said, all the missives illegible and obscure. Marlow didn’t need to understand them to know they were poison. As the words spread like dark ivy within Ruby Manticore, members started to disappear. It wasn’t uncommon for people to come and go like a revolving door—but they wouldn’t leave their possessions, wouldn’t leave without saying anything. Marlow ignored the blatant truth howling at him from the traces left behind… even when Konza started talking to the darkness, hushed words in a hurried ramble into the shadows when she thought Marlow couldn't hear. If he didn’t listen, he could fool himself into believing he didn’t know what she was doing. But he did know, and Konza had to test her books on someone. Marlow hated the relief he took in knowing that “someone” was not him.

Soon, the aer of the guild no longer held the security for half-baked saints and repentant sinners it had been intended to, turning sour and tinged with fear. Marlow deterred any new members from joining, but those who had already found themselves within the stained walls of Ruby Manticore were too scared to leave. Like a toxin in a river, the guild turned away from itself and against each other. Marlow could feel it within his own mind, too; broken trust and polluted spirits of paranoia and malice that stole his honesty and mercy. Kindness had lost its place within the guild, and in that vacancy something cold and sinister filled in.

Ruby Manticore had always been a dark guild, and now, they were finally acting like it.

When Konza returned to that place a third time, the guild remained static in her absence, right up until the day she brought back another one of those forsaken books.

This book had no cover, no title that Marlow could discern or see beneath the grayed-out crinkle of singed pages and half-melted paper glue. It was nearly unrecognizable as a book, and yet Konza clung to those papers like a talisman, a wicked grin splitting over her yellowing teeth.

In the waking hours of those gray days, Marlow watched his guild deteriorate from the inside out. Konza barely slept and hardly ate, a vicious sneer working a permanent fixture into her face as she poured herself into those books and regurgitated their curses into the halls of his home. It felt as if he was trapped in a nightmare, as if he had never left that treacherous city, and he was still rotting on the floor of that starlit chambers of horrors.

It wasn’t long before Konza left for a third time. This time Marlow was ready, and he walked with her through those doors in the same way he had months before, before all this had ever started. She said nothing to him falling in step beside her, though the grateful smile she gave him was enough to pull the strings of Marlow’s heart with hope… and guilt. 

Regardless of the outcome of this journey, Marlow would not allow another book to enter their guild. If that meant that Konza should also not come back… then so be it.

They returned to the orchard. In the span of a few short months, the two boys had grown much. They and their parents greeted Konza and Marlow, stiff words and forced smiles harboring uncertainty. As Marlow entered their home, the small woman who had nursed him back to health touched his arm. She said nothing when he looked at her, but she didn’t have to. The dread shining in her eyes couldn’t have been more clear than if she had delivered a blow to his face. He didn’t miss the way the boys flinched when Konza reached out to touch their shoulders, squeezing them affectionately until the threat she glared into their father was received. Marlow swallowed the sick anger that bubbled into his throat, and laid his hand on the woman’s. If she could feel him shaking, she made no indication.

They rested for a single night. In the same beds that had nurtured their recovery, Marlow lay awake and alert and listening to Konza’s uneven breaths and hissed half-words of cruel promise. In the morning, they departed with tense goodbye’s and lingering, cautious gazes. As Marlow and Konza stepped into the shaded woods, the smallest cry of frustrated anguish followed after him into the trees.

That was when Konza, determined and convinced in her path, unfolded her map. The paper was small, and beneath the heavily traced lines of hand-drawn mountains and rivers, printed words muddled the page with jagged terrain.

Where had she gotten that? Marlow asked.

It was provided to her, she said without looking up. And unless he wanted to die, he would follow her every step.

Provided by who?

She didn’t answer. Konza hurried forward, her eyes glued to her map. Marlow did his best to keep up with her, even at her breakneck speed and with the crowded growth of the forest that Konza ducked and weaved around without ever lifting her gaze to see where she was going. 

When the forest started to whisper to Marlow, and the trees bent clawed branches toward his back that beckoned him to stray, he stayed on Konza’s heels. When the shadows of creatures unseen and unknown skulked at the edge of his vision, Marlow pinned his gaze on Konza and followed her until the trees shifted to stone walls and the grass merged to cobble. It seemed like they had only been walking for a short while, but the sun was somehow set low into the evening and the dead city was quiet and dark. Only when they were clear of the woods and its haunted gatekeepers did Konza look back to see if Marlow was still there. He wanted to take comfort in the acknowledgement… but he knew she would have left him behind without hesitation.

Much like the first time Marlow had come to the lost village, he remembered very little. Variegated Green Ivy, towering columns, and flying buttresses—grand buildings that sparked more awe than was allowed from Marlow’s fear. Konza navigated the streets with the familiarity and ease of a citizen who had lived there her whole life. That she was so comfortable sidestepping wards and avoiding the dangerous paths of prowling monstrosities, Marlow was both impressed and disturbed. They arrived… somewhere. Brief flashes imprinted on his mind: rows upon rows of crumbling bookcases laden with destroyed and discarded tomes whose creases were caked with ash and forgotten knowledge. A blackened hearth, stained with the jet of fires long burned out. A domed ceiling presenting a cracked mosaic of soaring dragons and blazing phoenix dancing around a faded sun god.

Falling to his knees, Marlow gasped for the air that rushed through his lungs, his mind racing to catch up with him. His fingers sank into the carpet of soot and dust on the floor.

They were back in the chamber.

Not actually a chamber, though, Marlow realized when he had regained enough of himself to see. More like a nook, a large alcove hidden away behind a veil of shadows outside the precipice from anyone who didn’t already know where it was.

This place can be demanding at first. Marlow looked up to Konza as she spoke. She stood before a wall of shelves and frayed-leather spines, her eyes flickering over the small library of dark lore by the light of the evening sun refracted through her glass ball. Don’t worry, she continued. He’ll get used to it… but they needed to hurry.

Marlow stood. The bookcases in this alcove were half bare, each shelf littered with the blackened flakes of manuscript paper withered to chaff. More books scattered over the floor, laying open on their pages in the debris and refuse. He watched Konza take a book from a shelf—more char than paper—quickly flip through the pages, then toss it over her shoulder with a disappointed hum. The book landed at Marlow’s feet, the cover splintering to spilth. As Marlow’s fingers curled slowly around the staff of his halberd, his heart pounded a frantic tattoo in his ears and throat. For all the years he had ever worked the bloodcraft of making money at the expense of ethics, none of the meditation techniques or numbness exercises could calm him enough for the life he was about to take.

Konza paused in her perusal of the books, her head cocked as if to listen. Her hand moved evenly along the book spines, fingertip tracing each one—until it stopped, hovering before a tall, thin tome almost hidden between books. Konza tilted the book off of the shelf and turned the cover into the light of her orb.

LEVIATHAN

The weight of Marlow’s halberd felt unbearable as it came free of its holster. His hands were shaking, rebelling against him and the thoughts that festered like plague boils on his brain. Konza busied herself with the book, flipping through the pages and glancing over the faded print. She didn’t hear Marlow step up behind her, didn’t hear the creak of the leather grip in his palms as he raised the mighty weapon up, up and back behind his head. By the light of her glass orb, the hair-line sharp edge of the ax-blade gleamed with something thirsty and fierce. All Marlow had to do was let go, let his muscle memory move through him and the weapon… and Konza. He could feel the surge in his chest, emanating through his flanks and shoulders and into his back, and as the halberd moved into a deadly arc-

This is it.

Konza turned around. She smiled, first down at the book, then up at Marlow—and the halberd that hung frozen in the air, a second from splitting her skull. Before it disappeared, Marlow saw it; the softness of that smile, an old remnant of a young woman who had befriended a disgruntled old merc one day and asked him if he could keep her safe while she worked to build her dream.

Could he actually do it? She asked, more wonder in her words than fear.

Marlow’s arms screamed, the weight of the halberd held long before him. She was still beneath the ax-blade. If he slipped, she would die, and it wouldn’t be a slow and painless end. Konza shuffled forward, the edge of the blade heating against the crown of her skull.

Finish it, she whispered.

Marlow shook his head. He couldn’t… he wouldn’t.

Do it now! She screamed, her glass orb flaring. Small spiderweb cracks splintered through the sphere, a fractured note ringing through the air.

Marlow roared, the halberd surging once more. It sailed over Konza’s head, leaving his grip, tipping end over end. Dust burst between the bookshelves as the spearhead sunk into the wall behind her, perfectly wedged between a gap in the tomes. Huffing, Marlow sagged before Konza. She simply stared at him, her blue eyes boring a disappointed hole into the already pitted remains of his resolve. The shaft of the halberd vibrated against itself, a low hum that faded into a silence that hung like a frosted veil between them. 

He hated this, he admitted to her, an ache in his voice. He hated what was becoming, and what had already befell. Konza said nothing, the book hanging limply from her hand. What were they doing? He asked, shrugging sadly. Why were they here?

Tucking the book under her arm, Konza took Marlow’s hand. Her own hands were so small, dwarfed next to his knobby mitts. Turning it over, she examined his palm; calluses, scars, burns, and splinters patchworking the bumps and dips like a coded story of his life and struggles. She traced the lines embedded in his skin from years of folding and flexing. The touch was gentle, consoling in a way Marlow had forgotten about behind terror and hurt.

He just… didn’t understand, Marlow sighed.

Konza paused, her breathing even and deep. She held up the book to Marlow. It was nearly whole, save for a flared singe that traced pitch along the edge of the pages. Placing the book in his hand, Konza curled his fingers around it and squeezed his knuckles.

Can he feel it? She asked.

Marlow looked down at the book, realizing that he had never actually touched one of these before now. The cured leather of the cover was soft from years of exposure and wear, almost like silk or finely woven cotton. The ridges of the spine secured themselves into the crevices of his hand with a sense of belonging and comfort . But there was… something, the slightest touch at the back of his mind. It was chilled, distant and echoing like from the bottom of a contaminated well.

Open it, she said.

Marlow glanced up at her, expecting that manic grin and eyes bright with insanity. But she just smiled at him, softly and encouragingly. Though her eyes did not shine, he could see a glint of delicacy, as if she was showing him her favorite flower, or another small bird fallen from its nest. She nodded, and Marlow opened the book.

At first, there was nothing but words; handwritten, faded, and looping over themselves in an intricate network of knowledge and madness. It was hypnotizing, how he could trace a single path of ink as it flowed through the letters across the page. 

Then, the words moved.

Twitching, unraveling, tangling, winding and spiraling from within the deeper parts of the book that dropped like an abyss from the paper, thunderheads exploding and frozen lightning arcing like a divine spear as he descends and descends and descends and something colossal shifted in awakening, bubbling from the pitch of a place where dreams were eaten and stars were smothered and only darkness and teeth held any status or right for life, where he’s so cold and so small and so so very helpless against the raging maelstrom of destruction and terror that bares its fangs at him and dares him to try, though he already knows that he was doomed from the start.

And behind all that… around all of that… something sinister and consuming. Something massively despotic and incomprehensibly powerful. Something furious. 

The book fell from his hands, and the chamber jerked back into place. As it struck the floor, Marlow blinked through the afterimages fading behind his eyes like negatives from the sun. His face and hair were damp, the sharp smells of brine and rot lingered in his nose. His body shivered, and Marlow knew it was not from the cold.

Did he understand now? Konza asked, watching him as she knelt down to pick up the tome. It was never just about the books.

Marlow said nothing, his tongue dry, numb and sandy against his teeth. His throat felt scaly.

They served a higher power, now. Konza stroked the cover of the book, her fingers lightly tracing the words pressed into the leather. They had been called to a greater purpose—an important mission only they could complete. Only they were worthy.

He stared at her, watching the hunger grow in her eyes. Worthy of what?

Death, she had said. His death, a releasing mercy and a glorious honor to earn. To live and die by his will, to deliver wrath to his enemies, and to fall on his blade— that was why they were there.

Outside the walls of the chamber, something rumbled and rolled. Konza looked up as dust drifted from above, a realizing fear touching her face for the first time. Tucking the book into her shift, Konza shuffled toward the shadows waiting beyond the chamber… and left. Her glass orb fell and shattered, releasing the light for darkness to take roost.

For a few agonizing beats, Marlow lingered, lost and numb and unsure. He could still feel the hardness of teeth surrounding him like a cage, the unbearable pressure of a hundred-thousand leagues on his shoulders. Somewhere in the echoing stillness, a bubbling disturbance crept closer. They had overstayed their welcome.

So Marlow wrenched his halberd from the wall. Once more, he followed Konza—into the veiled breach beyond the chamber, into whatever misery and strife she had promised. Even he could tell that the cruel machinations that Konza had bleed into were already grinding in his bones for pitch and chaos. At least in her darkness, he might have a chance of a quick death, a dim hope of clemency despite the overtones of dread and rage. The Furious Something trailed his thoughts, reminding him that the alternative was much, much worse.

Marlow left the dead city under his own power, oaths unfulfilled and madness snapping at his heels.

Lucy sighed as she drew her story to a close. Silence proliferated after her words as the others let the tale sink in. Her heart seemed to beat heavier in that cloaking quiet, her blood thicker with a foreboding chill.

“Right,” Laxus said, breaking the lull. He sighed through his nose, standing to face the window and the blue lake beyond. “Where do we begin…”

“We begin with the library.” Levy’s hands carded through the books in her lap. “Technically, Calibran doesn’t exist. Not anymore, at least. It was an ancient village that was wiped out 400 years ago, erased from history. Natsu found it here.” Levy held up a book, titled Fiore’s Ancient Folk Tales and Legends . “Then, I managed to find a passage that talked about its annihilation. It was believed to have been a mecca for scholars and scientists since the dawn of recorded time. There are theories about what was studied in Calibran, from physical laws to philosophical quandaries. It was… truly an incredible place.”

“If it was so historically significant, how come we’ve never heard of it before?” Carla asked.

“That’s the big question. Everything that is known about Calibran comes from old tablets and artifacts found scattered across Fiore that archeologists started finding around fifty years ago. Others have tried to find it and failed. It’s basically a myth.”

“It’s because Zeref didn’t want anybody to find it.” Natsu mumbled. “So he hid it with magic and wards.”

Levy peered at Natsu, a confused wrinkle deepening between her brows. “I don’t remember reading that in the books.”

“It’s just a guess,” Natsu replied, after a moment of tight silence.

“So the only way of finding it is with Konza’s map, then,” Erza said. “It seems our first course of action would be to find her; if not ultimately to detain her, then to at least obtain her map. Though I imagine finding her will be no small task.”

“I agree,” Juvia said. “She’s a danger to herself and others. We might still be able to save the better parts of her.”

“Do we even want to save her?” Gajeel muttered, his words a spoken thought to himself. Juvia leveled an intense glare at him, lip curling with heat.

“She’s a victim, Gajeel. Just like we were. Or have you forgotten what it’s like to be one of the bad guys?”

Gajeel reeled, forgotten guilt tight in her words. They were harsh, though undeniably true. Those memories of his time with Phantom Lord and the things he had done… they were like a blight on Gajeel’s mind. Levy laid a hand on his arm, a consolation with her touch. That had been a long time ago, and Gajeel wasn’t that person anymore. He met Juvia’s gaze and nodded.

“You’re right. I’m sorry.”

“Could it be that she’s at the library right now?” Laxus asked.

“It’s possible, but Marlow was doubtful,” Lucy said, shaking her head. “It would be too dangerous for her to stay for very long.”

“That’s why she always stopped at the orchard,” Gray mumbled. “It’s a waypoint.”

Pantherlily sighed through his nose. “Can we assume we know where this orchard is, then?”

Lucy stood, wandering to the large map of Ishgar hanging on the wall. The tapestry was riddled with rivers and mountains and a smattering of towns and cities connected by roads and byways and rails. Her finger wandered over the map, hovering on a border between valleys and words.

“The orchard is here, just outside the Chicory Mountains,” she said, turning to the room. “About a day’s travel from here. If she hasn’t found anywhere else to go, that’s where she’ll be.”

“So that’s it, then.” Gajeel crossed his arms, steel and bronze facets glimmering. “We find this orchard, we find her, and we beat the map out of her.”

“We’re getting ahead of ourselves.” Laxus said, leaving the window to pass a hard gaze across the room. “Natsu—how’s your magic?”

Natsu fidgeted in his chair, eyes trained on the wall behind Gajeel and Levy. His lips were pinched in a concealed sneer, and Lucy wondered…

“I’m not sure,” was all he said.

Laxus stared at Natsu, expecting more. “Figure it out, and quickly. You sitting out this time is not an option. Do we have any idea what we’re up against, Lucy?”

“We know that the first book she took was Lazarus.” Lucy counted on her fingers. “The book that brings fallen comrades back in a berserker state. We also know that she had Hollow and Leviathan. But we burned Hollow and destroyed the Leviathan. Assuming she hasn't been back to the library since, the best case scenario is that she only has Lazarus and…”

“And whatever that fourth book is supposed to be.” Erza finished. “The one without a cover.”

“Maybe it’s a dead book?” Happy suggested.

“I wouldn’t count on that.” Carla shook her head. 

“She doesn’t seem like the type to hang on from sentiment.” Panther Lily agreed.

“Cover or no, those pages still come from one of Zeref’s books,” Laxus said. “We can’t underestimate that threat.”

“There’s another problem on top of that, ” Gray spoke, his lips pinching against sour possibilities. “Even if we get the map and find Calibran, this place is heavily guarded with some very powerful magic, not to mention Zeref’s old monsters are roaming the streets freely.”

“I don’t think it’s the monsters we should be worried about…” Wendy whispered.

She had been silent up until now, detached in her own corner of thought. Wendy sighed, shaking her head. Lucy could see the resignation on her face as she sat back down, condemning herself to unsavory ideas and unbidden conclusions.

“This ‘higher power’ Konza spoke of,” Wendy began, her dark eyes set with a hard resolution as she looked up. “Are we to assume she’s talking about Zeref?”

Lucy shrugged. “It’s impossible to say. Marlow never confirmed anything. But… yeah, I think that’s a safe guess.”

“So everything we went through three years ago… everything we lost,” Wendy’s fists gripped tight on her knees. “Was it all for nothing?”

“We fought and bled on a battlefield for our very lives. We faced insurmountable odds to stand for what we hold dear. We won.” Erza lifted her chin as she spoke . “I refuse to believe that it was all for nothing, and so should you, Wendy.”

Wendy was not content with that answer. She nodded, though, sighing as Carla rubbed comfort into her arm.

“We don’t have time for this,” Natsu growled. A scowl creased his face with frustration, teeth bared in hardly-concealed anger. Wendy blinked at his words, hurt flashing in her eyes.

Lucy reached for his hand, her voice careful and laced with a warning. “Natsu-”

He jerked his hand from her fingers, standing abruptly.

“What is the point of this?” Natsu stood-off with all of the gazes following him. “We know where we need to go, so why are we wasting time talking? Let’s just go .”

“We can’t just blindly run off halfway across the country, Natsu,” Laxus said cautiously. “We need to prepare.”

“This is pointless and you know it,” Natsu bit, absently scratching the black patch on his head. “We should have been out of town by now.”

“In due time, Natsu,” Erza said, a placating intention to her words. “It’s for the best if we-”

Natsu whirled on her, fists clenched and hissing with a feral frown. “ I will decide what is best for what’s left of my life. Not you.”

The quiet that chased his words like hounds after a rabbit dropped over everyone, heavy as a wet blanket. Lucy could do nothing but watch as a dreadful realization worked through her friends in a span of stuttering heartbeats. She had been hoping to give this news more delicately.

Happy clutched at the knot of his knapsack beneath his chin—an attempt to hide his shocked trembling. “What… what do you mean-?”

“Will you shut the hell up?!” Natsu barked, though his words were not meant for Happy, or anyone else in the room. The wall behind Gajeel and Levy stood unassuming and blank, and yet Natsu glared at it as though it had been responsible for Igneel’s death.

Now the silence was different, a kind that was sharp and uncertain and arcane. Lucy’s suspicions were confirmed.

“What’s going on, Natsu?” Gray stood from his chair, wary and ready with frustration clenched in his fists. He shot a look at Lucy; something annoyed and worried at the same time. “Who are you talking to?”

A muscle twitched in Natsu’s neck. His breath sputtered. Natsu blinked, and he looked around with the hesitant clarity of a man who was suddenly very aware of his surroundings.

“I… I was just…” His words were soft, unable to answer the questions in the eyes that bored judgment and concern into him.

“Are you okay?” Juvia asked, but Natsu only stared at her.

Lucy appeared at his side, her hands firmly on his shoulders. She straightened her husband before her, looking over his face. For just a moment, she saw it; in the transitional morph from rage to compassion, an apathetic blankness Lucy had the misfortune of recognizing. Her mind told her what came next: anguished tears, desperate screaming, and a bloody knife.

“Lucy,” Laxus bit. Not a question, but a sharp complaint and demand for an explanation. She looked to him, but no words came. How could she hope to explain when she didn’t know herself?

“He’s worse than I feared.”

The voice rose from the front of the room, from the open door and the cloaked man standing at the threshold. He stepped into the room, the heavy thud of his boots echoing of a troubled past and a long journey that yet laid ahead.

“I got your message, Natsu,” Jellal said, removing his hood. A grim understanding hung from his jaw, something altruistic and pitiful that said he knew exactly what was going on. “I’m here to help. I hope I’m not too late.”

Chapter Text

"Can you see him now?"

Natsu sighed, annoyed and exasperated, but scanned the small living room of his home. Jellal sat before him, an analyzing sharpness to his gaze that he found unsettling and familiar. Perhaps a bit of the madman from the Tower of Heaven still lingered in Jellal, a hint of Hyde within the Jekyll that whispered the dark secrets of the damned. Lucy and Happy sat beside him on the sofa, silent and watching and listening.

He opened his mouth to speak—but stopped, Zeref's dark eyes boring into his own from where he stood within the shadows of the gnarled tree trunk.

He watched, a harsh whine rising in his ears, as Zeref put a finger to his lips and shook his head. Natsu gulped, averting his gaze to the wooden whorls of the low table at his knees.

"No," he said, a dry croak in his words. "He's not here."

Jellal blinked, something knowing and missing.

Natsu flicked his eyes to Zeref's ghost, his brother's image darkened in the umbra of late evening candles. He was smiling, and Natsu hated it.

"It's okay," Jellal said, reaching into the depths of his cloak. "I know how… persuasive he can be."

From his bodice, he procured a small plump pot: an incense bowl, carrying a smell like myrrh and cinders. Jellal set the bowl on the table, removing the lid to reveal a twisting pattern of sandy perfumes on a bed of white ash.

"You don't know anything," Natsu scowled. "You were never really possessed by Zeref."

"Natsu," Lucy quipped, irritation clenched in her jaw. "He's trying to help."

Sparks flew from Jellal's fingernails. "It's fine. He is right, after all. I have no real experience with the Black Wizard."

The incense smoldered, pale smoke curling into the air. A sharp smell of harvest moons and mountain waterfalls touched Natsu's nose. Memories, old and unbidden, lurked like faded images in his mind. There was a… comfort, he supposed, in that vague nostalgia.

"But you are not the first person I've spoken with about his influence." Jellal cupped his hands in the haze. A cloud pooled in his palms, brimming like water over his knuckles. "Between what I've learned through the years and Urtear's warnings, I believe I can provide some insight. Close your eyes, breathe deeply."

Jellal pushed the fumes towards Natsu. He did as he was told, inhaling through his nose and filling his lungs from the bottom up. The sharp sting of the smoke in his nostrils resurfaced different memories, more recent ones of summer days warmed by the love of a dragon.

"Open your eyes."

The lacrima in their home seemed to shine a little cleaner, the shadows not as deep as before. Zeref was nowhere to be seen, and Natsu could feel an ease settle onto his shoulders, chasing away the temperamental scratch on his mind that he hadn't realized was there.

"Feel better?" Jellal asked, placing the lid on the incense bowl. Smoke curled up through the holes in the ornate top, oscillating and dispersing through every current of breath and breeze.

"Yeah," Natsu mumbled. "Is he gone?"

"I doubt it, not truly. But he should be less imposing now. Only for a little while, so we can talk."

The man hadn't changed much in the three years since the war ended, the faint wrinkles around his eyes the only sign that he was getting older. Crime Sorciere had grown under his guidance, expanded into a larger network of spies and allies, all devoted to extinguishing evil. While he was no longer a wanted man, his guild retained their operations from the shadows, garnering a reputation of trust among the inner circles of the official guilds. It was still true that none of what they did was technically legal, but no one could argue that they weren't necessary. So their secret was kept, an unspoken pact between partners and friends.

Crime Sorciere had become something much larger than Jellal could have hoped for, but he never forgot where he came from.

"So tell me," Jellal began, steepling his fingers below his chin. "I trust you know that this apparition you see is not actually Zeref, right?"

Natsu nodded. "It's my etherious. The curse he gave me."

Lucy shifted in her seat. "It was my theory that Zeref used a piece of his magic when he made the books, and that this was the core of his demons."

"Neither of you are wrong, but there's more to it." He raised his hand, finger drawing a ghostly picture through the smoke: a simple figure of a man, holes in the chest, stomach, and head. "Every living being is made of the same structure: body, soul, and magic. Our magic is kindled by our souls, our souls are in turn protected by our bodies, and our bodies serve as a conduit for magic should we choose to use it. All connected, all in balance. When one is destroyed, the rest falls to ruin."

Jellal dashed his hand through the smoke, scattering the picture of the man. Natsu watched the flurries of brume particles for a moment. He remembered this lesson. Igneel had taught him about the essentials of life long ago.

"Your structure is unbalanced," Jellal continued. "Between the different aspects of you, there is a fracture."

A fracture, or perhaps a crack in the glass, Natsu thought. It had been there since the beginning, since before his brother's specter began to haunt his waking moments.

"The Leviathan," Lucy said, her thoughts making their own connections. "It caused all of this?"

"The Leviathan quickened the process, but the cause goes back much further—400 years ago, when this all began."

"Calibran." Natsu's mind flashed to the memory of the valley―the two small mountains that bloomed with flowers as they watched over his family. His heart pulled with detached sadness, remembering the dying warmth of his father's love, his mother's humming a distant echo. "His library, where Zeref made his demons… and me."

"The other demons of Zeref's Books are beings of ethernano, not flesh and blood like us." Jellal's eyes shifted, and Natsu thought he saw a spark of hunger in the man's deep gaze. It was gone the next instant. "You are an exception to this. But while your body may be of a mortal construct, your soul is not."

Natsu felt Lucy's hand flinch against his arm. "What do you mean? His soul…?"

She took the questions out of Natsu's head. He was glad for it—he didn't have the courage to ask them himself.

Jellal sat forward. Gone was his didactic aer as he sighed a heavy breath. A small pity hung from the line of his jaw, a settled concern weighing on his brow.

"This… may be hard for you to hear," he started, his words hesitant and low. "I've been thinking about this for a long time. Before you came to the guild, before Igneel took you in… you died. No wizard, past or present, has ever been able to bring the dead back to life. Not truly. Not even Zeref."

His words hung like a broken chime in the silence that followed. Lucy said nothing, her touch on his arm trembled. Happy whined, a sorrowful sound that splintered a piece of Natsu's resolve. He was not ready for this conversation, not ready for the implications entailed in the notion that he was alive when he wasn't supposed to be. If a ship is replaced plank by plank, is it still the same ship?

"No," Lucy hissed. Natsu could feel her rage building, a tremble that started as a whisper and grew to a roar. "You're wrong. He has his own soul, or he would have-"

"Pieces," Jellal said, not as a quip or a snide, just a word that Natsu knew held true. "Pieces of a soul, small and weak, but enough to hold a semblance of life. But not enough to sustain one."

Lucy faltered. Jellal's gaze flicked to Natsu—he almost flinched, a prick of cold unease, something that growled at the other man's dark, unspoken thoughts.

"Zeref preserved your body, then he filled in the missing pieces of you with his own essence, a new spark that would ignite your life, and you began anew. A fresh start, an untapped source of ethernano, all this would lead to an as-before undiscovered way of harnessing magic."

"Curses," Natsu muttered. "You're talking about curse power."

Jellal nodded. "Hundreds of years ago, the One Magic developed and grew into the many different kinds of magic we see today. Curses are another way to the same end. Your first magic—before Igneel taught you the Dragon Slayer arts—was your curse. This thing you see, this phantom of Zeref, it is your axis reaching out to you. It's the pith of your nature."

"Stop," Lucy snapped. "How can you say something like that?"

Jellal frowned at her, an apology hidden in the outline of his lips. "You can choose not to believe me, but that won't make your issues go away."

Natsu swallowed past the hot bile in his throat. Through the smoke and the cloaking scent of burning wildflowers, a dark flame roared, remembering a life and a demise that he couldn't.

"You expect me to believe that… that E.N.D. is who he's supposed to be?" Lucy pressed forward, jabbing a finger at Jellal's face. Anger and frustration flushed her cheeks, vermillion blooming around her neck. "How dare you!"

"Natsu is Natsu!" Happy yelled with her.

"Enough."

He felt her stiffen at his side. There was a quaking between the two of them, a shaken composure catalysting from unbidden thoughts and sharp truths. Maybe it had actually been him who was trembling the whole time, an uncomfortable quiver that rolled through him from the ache in his heart to his fingertips.

"I don't really get what this is all about, but I know he's right. I… I think I knew it all along." Her eyes shone with denial as he looked to her. How strange, he thought, that between the two of them, she was the one denying his ill-granted fate more vehemently than him.

Tired resignation sagged down on his shoulders, and yet he did his best to smile, to reassure and comfort his wife and friend. They were just outsiders at the precipice of the storm, rocks being bashed against the waves of his turmoil.

But they would be alright in the end, whether he was there with them or not.

"It's okay though," he continued, hoping his words sounded stronger than his conviction. "Nothing has changed."

"Natsu, I want you to listen to me." Jellal's voice weighed firm as he spoke. His gaze bore into Natsu, a dark but steady assurance that caught him off-guard. "The only person who can decide who you are meant to be is you. Not Zeref, not Igneel… you."

These were words that Jellal had probably told himself a million times. For Natsu, they rang as true as a bell without a clapper.

He had already decided who he was three years ago… and it wasn't enough.

But Lucy took his hand, sighed a deep breath through the dwindling smoke in their home, and pressed onward.

"So what do we do." Not a question, but almost a demand, a determination to a resolution.

Jellal grinned. "We put you back in balance, by uniting you with the One Magic."

"That sounds really hard," Happy muttered. "How are we gonna do that?"

"By taking Zeref's original formula and tweaking it a bit." Jellal stood, his cloak falling around his form. "I expect we'll find it in the ruins of Calibran."

"And then what will happen?" Lucy asked.

"A cup that is full cannot hold more than it is meant to. Over time, the pieces of your curse will fade away or be absorbed. In theory."

"'In theory'?"

"Nothing like this has ever been done before. I can only speculate."

"I'm not a damn science experiment," Natsu bit. Perhaps the effects of the incense were already wearing off.

"You're right, you're not." Jellal reached for the bowl, twisting a knob on the lid that closed the venting holes and cut out the lingering smoke. "You are a living being, just like everything else. And like all living things, we become ill and need treatment. That's all this is, Natsu. You asked for my help because you knew my past and you trusted me. Trust me again now, and accept it."

Jellal pocketed the pot and made to leave. Natsu thought he would walk out the door without another word. Lucy stood from the couch, foreboding uncertainty falling silently from her teeth as her mouth opened for words that wouldn't come. Jellal opened the door, but halted in the frame of darkening twilight. The echoing dirge of crickets drifted in from the woods, accompanied by a cool spring breeze.

"When we find this place," he said evenly, a hidden worry beneath his words. "We may stumble into much more than we expect, and I don't mean the monsters. You need to be prepared. We have a lot of work to do."

The blooming night swallowed him as he stepped past the threshold. He left behind a fading fragrance and a heavy dissonance. Lucy sighed, all eyes lingering on the door for a beat.

"You think he's gonna go find Erza?" Natsu asked, more out of genuine curiosity than a need to turn the silence into comfort.

"Obviously." Happy snickered. "Wish him luck getting into Fairy Hills!"

The banter did not carry after that. Lucy's hands tangled nervously before her. Natsu stood, Happy hopped up to follow him to her side. The warmth of his hand pressed into the cool fabric of her t-shirt, rubbing comforting circles on her back. Lucy huffed through her nose and chewed on her fingernail.

"I wish you had told me you were going to contact Jellal," she said around her knuckle. "But I'm glad you did… I think."

Natsu shrugged. "I only just thought of it today. Figured he'd know something about how to help me relearn magic. Didn't know he would get here so damn fast."

"He was at the wedding." Lucy remembered the shadow in the hedges beside Erza, her blushing smile. "Probably wasn't that far away to begin with."

"Oh," Happy blinked, clinging to Natsu's knee. "Right, that was yesterday."

That's obvious, but it's absurd at the same time. They got married. A day ago. It's an aspect of their lives that they're still coming to terms with, such a simple truth on top of the much harder, more devastating reals that have piled on their shoulders that neither of them want to acknowledge. Standing there now, in the liminal time between Jellal's arrival and whatever comes next, Natsu can feel it, and he's sure Lucy can, too.

They leave for Phlox in the morning, a sleepy town near the Chicory Mountains, then it's the shortest road straight to the Orchard. What they find there will ignite the conclusion of all that has been building for 400 years—for better or for worse.

Natsu's stomach growled, an angry and prolonged sound that reverberated in the tense quiet. Frowning, he rubbed his belly. Aside from the gracious lunch Erza had brought to him, it had been several hours since he had eaten. For Lucy, it was even longer. She laughed at the sheepish look of shame on his face, a laugh Natsu thought he hadn't heard in a while.

"Come on," she said, taking his hand. "Let's see what we can find for dinner."

No sooner had they opened the door to their pantry when there was a knocking on the door, hurried raps that bounced through the house. Natsu peered over Lucy's head, sharing her confusion.

"Did he forget something?" Happy asked.

She left Natsu and Happy to their rummaging, padding to the front door. The night was growing quickly, leaking through the cracks of the door frame.

"If you need a place to stay, we can-" Lucy started, but it wasn't Jellal waiting for her on the other side. "Bisca?"

She smiled guiltily at Lucy, aware that the time and circumstances for her visiting didn't quite match. Around her knees, three children clung to her hands and legs. Asuka and the twins, Sonya and Byanka stared up at her with big, anticipating eyes.

"I'm so sorry to come by unannounced," Bisca huffed. Her cheeks were flushed, as if she had rushed across town to make it to their house. "But the twins insisted that they see Natsu. I couldn't talk them into waiting till tomorrow."

"Tomorrow is too late!" Byanka whined.

Lucy crouched down to the children, a tender smile and gentle voice. "Too late for what? Can you tell me what you want to say?"

"Please, miss." Sonya mumbled, a much more subdued and polite child from her sister. Her big, teal eyes glistened with an acute terror. "He's going to die."

The chill that ran down Lucy's spine like a shock of frozen water caught her off-guard. Her smile winked out, staring up at Bisca. The sharpshooter frowned.

"That's… also why I came."

Lucy stood, stepping aside for them to enter. "It's alright, I appreciate you coming all this way."

But Bisca lingered in the door for a moment, holding back the children that tugged at her arms. Her eyes darted around the living room—no doubt she could smell the settled incense in the air, see the dissipating smoke. When Bisca looked at Lucy, she was surprised to see a hint of fear in the depths of her eyes, in the tight line of her lips.

"Is it… safe?"

She couldn't answer, not at first. Alzac told her. Of course he did. That wasn't why sharp bubbles of livid ire roiled through her veins. Lucy wanted to snap—to slam the door in Bisca's face.

"Hey, Bisca!"

Lucy turned, feeling the jagged clarity of her choler move with her. Natsu stepped out of the kitchen, a rump of smoked-beast clenched in his teeth and his hand elbow-deep in a bag of candied nuts. Various other snacks and assorted foods were squished under his arms. He couldn't decide, Lucy knew, so he'd just grabbed everything. Happy rode on his shoulder, licking at a stiff flank of salted fish.

"What brings you by?" Natsu asked around a mouthful of half-masticated meat. Bisca's mouth dropped open, stuttered words searching and failing. His eyes dropped low, to the three pairs of eyes that stared at him as if he were an animal in a zoo. "Oh no, was there a playdate I forgot about?"

The twins and Asuka broke free of Bisca's grasp, stumbling through the door to rush to Natsu's knees. Natsu yelped and braced as Happy wisely abandoned his perch. As they tumbled to the floor and food scattered through the air and onto the furniture, as Natsu and the children laughed and wrestled, Lucy turned back to Bisca.

"Yes, I think it's pretty safe."

There was acid in her words, she didn't try to hide it. Bisca nodded, something akin to guilt tightening across her lips.

"Isn't it a little late for a game?" Natsu hoisted Asuka into the air, dangling her like a small kitten under her arms. The little girl laughed and kicked her legs. "When's your bedtime?"

"We have to tell you something!" Byanka wailed, small fists thumping lightly on his leg. "It's really important!"

Natsu set Asuka on the floor, crouching to their waiting and waning patience. The young girl hurried to her mother, taking Bisca's hand and watching owlishly as the twins stepped close to him. Lucy closed their front door, standing beside Bisca and her daughter as something arcane and novel unfolded in the space between them. Happy settled on her shoulder, a shared look of unknowing passing between them.

"All right, I'm all ears." Natsu said.

Byanka grasped Natsu's fingers, her hands dwarfed next to his own. Turning his hand up, Byanka stared down at the creased lines of Natsu's palm—Sonya hesitated, though, holding back with her trepidation and anxious worries. Byanka snapped her head toward her sister, a scathing scowl on her face.

"Come on, Sonya," Byanka said. "We have to do this!"

"I don't want to! I'm scared." Sonya sniffed, the quiet beginnings of tears glistening in her eyes. "I'm sorry."

"Hey, it's alright," Natsu crooned, a gentle smile and soft hand on the younger twin's shoulder. "It's okay to be scared. Even I feel afraid sometimes."

Sonya whimpered, and Natsu cupped her face. His thumb wiped a wayward tear from her cheek, a touch so tender and mild that she leaned into it, finding her comfort and collection in the solace of his strength.

"You know what I do when I feel scared?" He whispered to her, a precious secret hiding in his words. "I try to be like fire."

Sonya blinked up at Natsu, uncertain. "Be like fire?"

"That's right," he nodded. "It's light and warm and even the smallest flame can burn brightly in the dark. Try to be like that. You can't scare fire."

Lucy watched him, something pure and painful settled in her heart like a stinging nettle. Natsu had always been good with children, a virtue she cherished most among all others. But now, with the weight of all that had happened and what was to come lurking beyond the walls of her home, it felt like she was peeking behind the curtains of fate and seeing what could be. A could be of bedtime stories and scraped elbows and piggyback rides and a doddering potential that Lucy and Natsu would call their own.

A future that had once been so promised to her, and now… only a chance. It was a possibility that hurt as much as it hoped.

Sonya nodded, the small girl gulping a breath as her body settled once more. Natsu smiled widely at her.

"That's it, take a deep breath."

Gently, Sonya took Natsu's hand from her cheek and splayed it before her. Her fingers reached out to take Byanka's, and for a moment, the sister's simply stared at the trenched surface of his palms. Lucy had never seen the Fortune magic of the twins in action before, only watched as Cana taught them the dangers of knowing secrets best left forgotten in the past and seeing the uncertain outcomes of trials yet to pass.

All at once, something moved through the twins, their eyes turning smooth like jade glass. Their faces dropped into numb blankness as they looked up at Natsu, looked through him. He blinked back at them, sensing whatever it was that had taken hold of the young girls but unsure of how to break the anticipating tension.

Sonya and Byank gasped, their small bodies going rigged, hands gripping tightly to Natsu's. He grunted, instinctively yanking against their grasp. They held firm. Lucy turned to Bisca, questions and worries leaping to her tongue. Bisca quickly put a finger to her lip, shaking her head.

"We can't interfere," she whispered, pushing Asuka against her hip.

So Lucy and Happy watched as the light of the lacrima in their home flickered, shadows reaching like hands from the grave. Natsu's gaze darted around him, a realizing concern touching his brow.

When Sonya and Byanka spoke, their voices rang in tandem and echoed like a whisper from a well.

"Forgotten son, displaced and harrowed
A journey of a thousand leagues and years.
Forbidden demon, blighted and shunned
A feast of ashes, fate, and fear.

Forced by fire, souls break and bleed
Crying from the cracks in their core.
A dead city lost, where curses breed.
Find shattered salvation, or let loose war."

Something invaded their home, a presence Lucy could feel like a hot breath on the back of her neck. Little paws clutched at her hair, and she knew Happy could feel it too by the twitch of his whiskers and the wild swiveling of his ears. Her mind was touched, an ethereal caress that held no malice or animosity or kindness—only a sense of time, ancient and transcending beyond the aspects of life and beginnings.

The twins squeezed Natsu's hands and each other's tighter, small fingers turning white. But he… seemed lost within himself, Lucy realized, eyes unfocused and drifting. He shook his head, like he was trying to shake a cobweb from his face. Something wasn't right.

"Both lost who wander broken paths.
Regret forged through pain and blight.
Amidst the shadows of the past,
Embrace the dark, forsake the light.

Within the fires of the shade
Burns the key to break the ties,
A sacrifice, a promise made.
His final breath, love's mournful cry."

His neck twitched, a sharp breath and a groan caught behind his teeth.

"When the last embers of battle burn low,
And the echoes of rage start to fade,
As Oblivion delivers the final blow
Forgotten son and demon, together unmade."

Bisca's cold hand touched her arm. The house had begun to shake around them, rattling the pictures and curios on the wall and vibrating the window panes. Natsu faltered, crumpling over his knees. His shoulders shivered, tremors that traveled down his arms and through his hands, where the twins' grips dug into his skin.

"Shatter and sacrifice. Fire burning fire. Shatter and sacrifice. Fire burning fire."

Quick strides carried her across the room, the other woman a moment behind. Those words, chanting and dissonant, filled the corners of the house. Happy fluttered to Asuka, guarding the young girl whose eyes flickered with fear and worry.

Lucy knelt by Natsu, bracing him against her shoulder. She watched Bisca crouch behind Sonya and Byanka, her lips tight and arms shaking as she covered their eyes with her hands. The droning, repeating words faltered. Tears fell from beneath Bisca's fingers, streaking the twin's cheeks as their chanting slowly faded into silence. The house settled around them, and it was quiet once again.

They released Natsu. He fell back against Lucy, his eyes swimming in delirium. Small red blemishes pitted his hands, indents the size of children's fingers. Bisca cradled the twins to her breast, comforting hushes and soothing touches like any good mother. Sonya openly wept, her hands trembling and fingertips purpling. Byanka was silent, hiding her hands in her armpits.

"We're sorry," she mumbled miserably, her teal eyes—just teal, just a kid—shining with hurt.

Natsu sat up, regaining himself. "It's okay. I'm… I'm fine. Are you two okay?"

He reached out to the little girls, but they flinched away from him. He tried not to let his dejection show on his face.

"They need water," Bisca said.

Happy fetched water, attending to the girls with an attentive ear turned toward Lucy and Natsu. The twins sat on their sofa, eyes dropped and holding their gloom. Asuka, for all her good-hearted attempts to make them feel better, couldn't seem to get little more than vacant stares returned to her.

Natsu, Lucy, and Bisca stood in a corner of the living room.

"What was that?" Lucy hissed. Bisca flinched, like she thought Lucy might pounce on her. "I know what fortune magic looks like, and that wasn't it."

"I'm not sure," Bisca said. Her eyes flicked over to the twins, watching them glumly sip from their cups. They were smart girls, they knew they were talking about them.

"You're not sure?" Lucy gawked. "This hasn't happened before?"

"Lucy." A small warning from her husband. She was coming on too strong. She already knew that. Answers were more important.

"It has. They did the same thing to Asuka when they first met. But it wasn't so… intense."

"Do you know what it is?" Natsu asked.

Bisca shook her head. "At first, we thought they only did a variant of fortune magic, like Cana's. Most times they just look at a person's palms and tell them what will happen to them tomorrow. When something like this happens, it's like they can't control themselves—they have to do it. If they don't, they get sick."

Lucy didn't like that, a sour ache in her stomach. Magic that hurt the people who wielded it was never meant for anything good.

"Cana and Laxus have a theory. They think it's a form of lost magic from centuries ago."

Lost magic, like the Slayer arts and the Arcs of Reality. Bisca dropped her voice low, almost a whisper.

"They think it's Oracle."

A word that rang into the deep recesses of Lucy's memory, into the history lessons of private tutors she thought she had long forgotten. Oracles, who could receive visions from the gods themselves. The practice had been outlawed during the second Great Guild War. A witch hunt that lasted several decades had wiped them all out.

"That's not possible."

"It's just a theory." Bisca said. She was starting to hate the word 'theory'. "We still don't know a lot about Sonya and Byanka; where they came from, who they learned their magic from, or even what else they might be capable of."

"That's gotta be really scary for them." Natsu frowned, looking down at his hands and the fading welts on his palms. "They shouldn't have to go through that being so young."

None of them could disagree with that.

"I have to get them home." Bisca moved to pass Lucy. "It's getting late."

The children, sensing the moment to leave, jumped up from the couch and crowded around her. Bisca lifted little Sonya into her arms, the small girl's eyes still puffy and red.

"I'm sorry, again, for barging in on you—but also for… everything else."

"No need to be sorry." Natsu smiled at Sonya, her big, sad eyes watching him absently. "I hope you feel better."

This time, when his knuckles gently grazed her cheek, she didn't flinch away.

Bisca and the children left with little fanfare. Just as Jellal had.

What a strange day it has been.

"You have any idea what Bisca was talking about?" Natsu asked. "'Cause I don't."

"Me neither, but it didn't sound good," Happy said, and they both looked to Lucy.

She stared back at them. A beat of silence stretched into a moment, then a long while. Shaking her head, she took his hands, thumbs smoothing over the small bruises.

"It's hard to explain, but…" A moment of lulling consideration, gathering her thoughts. "If that really was Oracle magic just now, then that wasn't just a prediction… it was prophecy."

Prophecy. She said it like he was supposed to know what that meant. He didn't.

Natsu didn't really even remember what the twins had said. Only that their words had been spoken by someone—something else, and they made his head hurt. Hurt in a way that bit into the dark flame in his core, pulling and tugging as if trying to shuck the curse from his soul. Perhaps he would have let it, if only he wasn't certain that a good chunk of himself would be torn away, too.

Everyone met in the station at the peak of dawn—Gajeel, Levy, and Pantherlily however, didn't show. They were following a lead, Juvia reported, another path that Levy felt sure would yield some helpful answers. She'd be in contact with Erza if her hunch proved to be correct. They had already left for Crocus, apparently, and when Lucy asked what they were hoping to find, Juvia only shrugged. Levy had failed to mention that particular detail, just that because they had found the answers they were seeking didn't mean she was going to stop researching a solution.

"She said she was working on 'plan D'... I don't know what that means?"

Natsu did. Levy was amazing.

The early train out of Magnolia was nearly bare of passengers. He was grateful for it: less people to witness his pitiful moans and pathetic trembling. He had promised himself that he wouldn't beg Wendy for her Troia spell—she needed to keep up her strength. But as soon as the train lurched on the tracks, so did his gut and the small breakfast he'd had nearly came right back up again. As it was, Wendy was in no fit state to cast spells herself, and so he settled with his suffering for the next four hours.

Lucy didn't let him take it easy, though. She'd snapped that celestial bracelet from Leo's wedding gift onto his wrist and drilled him on which symbols connected with which spirits. Some of them were intuitive: a clock face for Horologium, a cross for Crux, there was even a bead for Plue. But when it came to the zodiacs… it was all gobbledygook to him.

As foolish as it was, he would rather try to use his own magic. He knew it was possible, when the centipede had jump-started his battlemind and those wayward flames had bit into his knuckles. There was no fallout that followed, no kickback or breaking or ripping—only the burns that lanced through his fists. The conditions had changed, but the consequences remained the same.

He brought it up with Jellal, seated next to Erza across from him. He thought for a few moments, something in his distant eyes intrigued and calculating… and that hunger, same as before.

"All magic comes from a source," he said. "Curses are no different. Typically, our magic is fueled by our souls, expanded through origins, and strengthened through experience."

"But it is possible for magic to come from a different source," Erza added. "Such as objects, like Lucy's keys."

The train turned, and it was as if his stomach wanted to keep going straight. Natsu groaned.

"I don't think a key or whatever is going to help me," he mumbled through his teeth.

"But she has a point," Jellal smiled at her, a grateful mirth in the curve of his lips. Erza might have blushed… just a tiny bit. "You need to figure out what your new source is, how to harness it. What did Igneel teach you about magic control?"

That was such a long time ago… and yet, Natsu could hear the words as if Igneel had whispered them in his ear. He remembered his own hands, small and young, scorched and blistered.

"The flame burns you because it does not know you, and you do not know it. Listen. Feel. Know what it is to hold the dancing spark of life that is fire."

"He told me-" Natsu paused a moment as the train car rattled, bile rising in his throat. "-told me that I had to know it. Understand it."

"Then that is what you should do," Jellal stated. He said it so carelessly, as if it were the easiest thing in the world. Lucy stiffened, her brows knotted with anxious concern.

"Is understanding the thing that wants to destroy us really the best idea?" she said. Natsu glanced at her face, saw the trepidation and lurking dread. "It's too risky. My spirits will keep you safe."

"Yes, it is very risky," Erza relented. "But it's important to keep all options open. Sooner or later, he's going to run out of beads on that bracelet."

"If it comes down to that, then I'll protect Natsu." Lucy gave Erza and Jellal hard looks, and they dropped the subject. Happy piped up from her lap, adding his own declaration to look out for him.

Erza had a point, though, whether Lucy liked it or not. Either way, there wasn't going to be any understanding of anything while he was on that damned train.

"Can I sleep now?"

Phlox was the definition of a secluded, small town, that kind that seems to sit on the landscape like a misplaced scattering of giant dollhouses. Did people actually live here? Natsu wasn't sure, glancing around at the empty windows and silent doors. They wandered down what appeared to be main street—the only street, really—hoping to find someone that could point them in the direction of the orchard.

But there was no one. Not even when Erza called out, her voice echoing hollowly down the road.

"Place is empty," Gray said, he and Juvia peering through the window of an establishment that might have been a cafe. "Tables are still set with food though. I'd say it's been a few days."

Jellal and Erza looked to each other, a grim suspicion shared between them. Natsu could feel it too, like spider legs fleeting down his back.

Something was wrong.

"You folks looking for something?"

An old lady, withered and hunched and wheelchair bound, appeared from the shadowed entrance of a nondescript building. Her skin was like crumpled paper someone had tried to smooth back out, every inch of her tinted gray in some way or another from her hair to the beds of her fingernails to the whites of her eyes. Natsu thought for a second that she was a corpse, rolling around in its chair with the wind, until she opened her nearly-toothless mouth and spoke again.

"Ain't much around these parts." Her voice was delicate, soft. "Are you lost?"

They all stared at her for a beat, until Lucy took the unsure step and plastered a smile on her lips.

"We're looking for the persimmon orchard."

The old woman blinked at Lucy, a thick silence falling between her words. Her face twitched, things she probably wanted to say if only she could remember what they were supposed to be. She wasn't all there, Natsu thought, and part of him pitied her. She needed help, but yet she was alone. The woman turned in her wheelchair and pointed a bony finger down main street, out of town.

"Just keep walking, should take 'bout a day to reach the orchard." Her shaky hands gripped the wheels of her chair, rolling her back. "It ain't persimmon season yet, though."

"Thanks… uh, what happened to everybody?"

The old lady only stared at Lucy as she wheeled herself back through the door, back into the darkness.

"It ain't persimmon season yet."

Her eyes flicked to Natsu the moment before she was out of sight. A cold shiver trickled down his spine, an unease that followed him out of town and all the way to the orchard. The sun was low in the sky by the time they had stepped into the rows of trees, long shadows stretching between the thin trunks. There were no fruits on the trees. The old lady had been right.

A quaint house, hand built and masterfully crafted, sat in the middle of the orchard. Across a large yard, a tall barn sat dark and silent. Light beamed through the windows of the house, smoke curling out of the chimney. Erza took the lead as they approached, stepping up on the small porch. Her armored fingers knocked three times on the door.

A waiting lull stretched into a while with no answer, no sound nor sign of movement or life from within the house. Erza knocked again.

"Hello? My name is Erza Scarlet, I'm with the Fairy Tail guild," she said loudly. Natsu wandered up onto the porch beside her, meandering to the window. "I would like to ask your family some questions about a dangerous mage we believe comes here every now and then."

Still no answer.

A sharp scent stung Natsu's nose; metallic, rotten, almost sickly sweet like burnt candy. He looked through the window, saw a simple bedroom with two small beds and a plethora of children's toys. Through the open bedroom door, half of a fine dining table was set with food that had yet to be touched.

Dark stains, glistening and crimson, splattered the walls and furniture, smeared in large trails across the floor. His gut twisted, a hard kick that jolted through his whole body. That was… a lot of blood.

"Erza," Wendy warned. She could smell it, too.

A sword flashed into her palm as she stepped back from the door. Wood crumbled and splintered beneath her heel, the door jumping on its hinges as it burst open. She rushed inside, Jellal and everyone else quick to follow after her-

"Holy shit," Gray swore, his lip curling.

The stench of blood hit Natsu like a punch to the face. They had barged into the living room, amidst broken chairs and torn cushions and yet more blood sprayed and drying from floor to ceiling. There, in the middle of the den, piled on a woven rug soaked through with red, four bodies—a man, a woman, and two boys who couldn't have been older than nine or ten, all slashed to near ribbons. Wet sounds whispered through the air, gurgling and gasping, damaged lungs straining for air.

They were still alive—if only just barely.

Lucy gasped beside him, a choked sob caught behind her teeth. His heart pounded through his head, a heavy beat of disbelief and unfamiliar, unbridled rage.

"Oh good, you made it."

A growl crawled up Natsu's throat, his gaze swinging toward the dining room. Konza sat at the head of the table, nibbling politely from a small plate. Flecks of vermillion dotted her face and hands. Leaning on the wall behind her, a glass scythe, the blade dark and dripping.

Konza wiped her mouth with a napkin. Then she smiled, her yellow teeth flashing with excitement, and Natsu knew for sure that he was going to kill this girl.

"I was beginning to worry."

Chapter Text

It had been the old lady, Gray realized. Somehow, someway, she had warned Konza that they were coming.

There had been a mark, he remembered, beneath the frayed cuff of the woman's cardigan. Something dark that dripped and smeared up her arm, staining traces of figures that might have been letters. Gray saw it, maybe Lucy did too, the smallest moment of looking without understanding before the woman had disappeared. She must have spilled ink, Gray had thought. He'd seen the aftermath of Lucy's own accidents more than a few times and recognized the taint.

Then he ran into that horrible, bleeding house. Pain splattered against the walls and ceiling, death hovering like a vulture on the mantle; things his eyes would never forget for as long as he lived.

And Konza, pale and infused, sitting in the middle of it all, wearing the same stains as the old woman. In the couple of weeks since the last time Gray saw her—a scythe in the woods, ripping across his bones—she had been busy. The planes of her body were scribbled with scattered words, tattooed across her skin like poisonous veins. Arms, legs, chest—all the visible parts of her. Some were etched so deep, small beads of contaminated blood pearled on top of the cursed ink.

"I hear congratulations are in order," Konza said, standing from the table. A glass of red wine rested lazily in her palm, a few shades off from the blood that tinted her fingers. "A toast for the newlyweds."

She raised the glass to her dry lips. Gray felt it before it happened, a rushing pull through his fibers, as heavy as the fist Natsu slammed against the wooden tabletop. Cracks and splinters, a low groan—the table collapsed a split-second later sending food scattering every which way. Something snarled in Gray's mind, an aching hunger in his belly. It felt the same as it had three years ago: the insatiable itch for demon blood. His father's magic fell around him like a hefty blanket he couldn't shake.

Juvia touched his hand. He didn't need to look to know the mark was there.

There was nothing he could do, everything was flying into motion. They weren't going to take their chances this time, weren't going to give her the opportunity to talk or run or whip out any books she may have hidden on her bodice. Attack now, ask questions later.

The wine glass fell from her fingers, shattering against the floor as Konza whirled away from Natsu's clawing reach. The scythe leaning against the wall flinched, a soft note reverberating through the crystal. Gray surged after Konza in the same moment the scythe flung itself across the room, deadly blade gleaming for his throat.

Gray ducked, felt the whoosh of the scythe pass over his head, the small tug of snipped hair on the back of his scalp. Konza's open palm caught the scythe's pole, her fingers curled tight and sure.

"Ah," she hissed, falling into a fighting stance, scythe twirling behind her. "Let's not be too hasty, now."

The air shimmered. More crystal weapons, blades of all kinds ringing into existence throughout the house. Gray barely had time to craft his own weapon, a jagged hunk of ice that might have been a zweihander exploding from his fingers, before a messer could skewer into his flank.

His fine-tuned control over the ice was wavering, a howling devil pushing everything off-track. His eyes flicked to Natsu. It had suddenly become a lot warmer in the house.

Wendy stepped toward the family piled on the rug, whispering auras dancing around her fingers—were they still breathing? He wasn't sure, hefting his ice-sword in a spiraling arch, knocking the messer back. The glass blade cracked, but didn't shatter, swinging through Gray's momentum for his heart. A hefty, overhead blow finally cracked through the tempered glass, shards falling to the floor like snow.

And yet, even as the shards fell, the snake-blade of a kris flashed at the edge of his vision in the same moment the long half of his sword fell to the ground, cut clean. Gripping the useless hilt and pommel, ice bloomed around his knuckles; a thick, flat disk fractalled and creaking, shaping a buckler around his arm. Gray raised the shield-

-a puff of shaved frost on his nose, the point of the kris heating against his cheek and pressing into a growing sheath of ice.

He had a brief moment to look up, the crystal kris frozen into place. A glass blade menagerie whirled through the house like a murderous chandelier, prismatic rainbows racing across the blood spattered walls in the late evening sun. The others dodged and evaded what blades they could, deflecting the ones they couldn't. Lucy, donned in her Cancer dress, danced through the moil of glinting edges. Erza and Jellal fended off a not-so-small flock of nine-inch nails. She was trying to summon from her armory, the sheen of her plate mail flickering, calling for more blades of her own. But it was too much—everything was happening so fast.

Juvia, the embodiment of storms, swallowed the blade cuts, unharmed. What good was a knife in the rain?

Gray watched her magic surge to Wendy, waves and tides curving to a foaming shield as the young dragon slayer waved her hands in an arc–

The ice buckler cracked into his arm, pinched skin and nerves. Gray swore, wrenching his arms from the clasps as the kris blade exploded like a glass grenade. Pricks of pain drilled into his cheek and shoulder, crystalline magic shrapnel boring down to his bones.

"Gray!" Juvia's voice sounded far away, muffled under the rush of blood through his head.

"I'm okay," he said, though he wasn't sure if his lips actually moved.

There were new holes in his mouth, bloody punctures leaking against his teeth, trickling hot in his beard.

Gray spat, shining blood and shards spattering the floor. He could feel it trickling into his beard, dripping from his chin. The pain, though, was distant, faraway like thunderclouds on the horizon. His only saving grace, if he could call it that, was that he hadn't gone numb from shock, that he had maintained enough of his self to stumble away from the bident that tried to skewer him where he stood.

For every shattered blade, two more took its place. Somehow, in the midst of her frantic dodging and cutting at the edge of Natsu's prowling hunt, Konza was still casting spells. The tight, small space of the house filled with hungry blades, biting through the faults in Gray's guard and drawing blood from a thousand tiny cuts. He barely felt them, his mind split between focusing on not getting stabbed and the caged fury that wanted to pounce on Natsu and Konza.

The scythe in her hands hummed—the words on her skin wavered, distorted like shadows under water.

For a single moment, the world pulsed. Gray felt it in his eardrums and gut, in the fractalling dark freeze that wasn't as deeply buried as he thought it was. His left arm prickled. Konza gasped, something blooming from agony or ecstasy as Natsu stumbled.

"It's not working," Gray heard Wendy mumble to herself, her brow slick with sweat as wisps of her magic flighted from her palms and rolled over the family. Nothing happened. Happy and Carla hovered behind her shoulders, watching and ready, looking everywhere but the dragon slayer. "Why isn't it working?"

She didn't see the slight twitch of the youngest boy's fingers, didn't see the father's eyes snap open, bleeding pitch and madness down his face. Erza did.

"Wendy!" She flourished her swords, breaking through the translucent iron maiden that contained her. Glistening shards perforated her armor, rivulets of blood creasing between the metal plates—she either didn't care or didn't notice. "Get back!"

Jellal yanked her away as the mother surged, bloody fingers clawing down Wendy's arm. Juvia's watershield roiled and collapsed, drenching the floor and carpet, scattering diluted ichor.

Gray would only remember what came next in flashes: the pale red shine of angry teeth, crimson hands yanking glass blades from the air, the soft squelch of wet flesh-

-their eyes…

The oldest of the boys rushed Gray, a fractured howl ripping from his broken throat. He wasn't prepared for the force that hit his gut, knocking him off his feet and smacking him back against the window. Blood dripped from the hilt of the dagger in his fist, gripped and primed for Gray's heart. Only his reflexes saved him, catching the boy's fist, biting the growl that bubbled up from his chest as the knife slid between the bones of his hand.

Gray could have pushed him away, resisted somehow, done anything to fight back—he didn't, because underneath the blood that curtained his face, this was still just a kid. Just a child, crying and screaming… and he looked so, so scared.

Red spittle stranded from the boy's teeth as he yelled. The window cracked under Gray's spine, a surge of pressure against his ribs and something was going to have to give. Splinters and shards bit into his back as the cool, late evening air buffeted around him, the near-dark sky pinwheeling in his vision. He crashed through the railing on the porch, hit the gravel of the walk, and skidded to a dusty halt at the edge of the orchard.

Coughing and groaning, Gray had a small moment to think, to try to understand what the hell had just happened.

Konza had used that book, Lazarus… without the book itself. How was not the question, that was obvious by the words that tainted her skin—but he was very interested in the why. Gray tried to heave himself up, dirt and duff caking in his wounds. Over the ragged whoosh of his own breathing, sounds of muffled struggle drifted from the house… and…

A rattling, hollow and harsh, from the barn as the doors rocked on their hinges, against a heavy iron padlock and chains. Gray watched dust billow from the old wood, another horrible crash that shook the thin foundations—yelling, carnal cries of outrage and the pounding of so many furious fists from within that dropped the pit from Gray's stomach.

"Shit," he spat, his knees shaking beneath him. "Guys!"

He was halfway back to the house when the barn doors crumbled, the stink of old blood and a howling army of crimson spilling from the darkness within.

Well, now he knew what had happened to the people of Phlox.

It was Juniper Hills all over again, except this time they chased Gray from the outside in, and Blue Pegasus wouldn't be coming to help. He made it to the house mere moments before they did, despite their torn tendons and slashed muscles he could hear straining against their bones. Inside the house was no better, slicing blades and rage—and it was hot. Too hot.

Natsu loomed over Konza, fresh wounds of his own oozing something that wasn't blood.

"We've got company!" Gray spun and slammed the broken door. It was like trying to use paper to stop a hurricane, and now the house was far, far too small.

Gray had never been caught in a flood. But he imagined it would have been something like this; smothering, heavy, and even though he wasn't submerged, he couldn't breath-

Their eyes-

Their eyes-

-desperate and broken, begging for help and release behind oblivion and shadow.

It took something from Gray, the battle from his veins, the fight in his fists. Call it shock, call it being soft, but Gray knew what it really was: fear. He couldn't fight these people, he couldn't be responsible for their tragedies, he was only human, he wouldn't-

But a devil would.

The cold bite in his arm surged, avalanching pitch and for too many seconds Gray was blind. Dull pressure exploded into his head, plunging everything down into frozen obscurity. Shattered ice, the gleam of silver fangs-

His eyes snapped open, lungs greedily gulping air. The pain vanished. Everything was clear.

Damp hands clung to him, holding fast around his arms and shoulders. He couldn't see it, but the cool thin edge of what he knew was a blade pressed into his throat. Moist breath puffed against his neck, another weapon pricking pain at his flank. Through the forest of red bodies, his friends jerked against their own captors, patterned with dark handprints, flinching under glass armaments. He saw their distraught, even Jellal, a man usually so composed, looked shaken.

Gray wasn't fully aware of how calm he was, how an eerie, placid countenance had barricaded everything else behind almost-serene veneers. His attention was pulled elsewhere, through the house. Natsu had pinned Konza against the wall, his hands around her neck. People pulled at him, each touch a crackle of flesh and a sizzle of burnt meat, an invisible shielding inferno.

"What's wrong?" Natsu said, something furious and venerable hiding in his voice. "No centipedes this time?"

He didn't seem to care about the razor at his throat, his grasp tightening around Konza's. The harder his hands squeezed, the more each blade pressed into them. Happy and Carla shrunk into a corner, a pitchfork hot at their skulls. Juvia whimpered, the curved blade of a dao under her ribs and a bowie at her back.

"Natsu," Gray spat. His words dripped with voids and pitch. "Let her go."

The sounds fell heavy from his lips, leaving his tongue parched. His teeth ached, black ice in the sockets of his jaw. Natsu released Konza, the tendons of his hands white across his twitching knuckles. He was pulled off of her instantly, bodies and blades moved to fill in the space, driving him back into the corner of the dining room. He glared at Gray, anger and surprise and questions. Gray had questions, too. They would have to wait.

Konza did not splutter or gasp, didn't cough or retch—she only huffed, swallowed thickly, and laughed.

"You," she rasped, raising a finger towards Gray. "I knew you were going to be a problem."

The shock of cool cuffs closing around his wrists, Gray wasn't prepared when the hot hands released him and glass chains yanked him to his knees. Hot pain sliced into his side, grazing his neck. They were superficial wounds, but Juvia still called his name, threatening to rend herself on the dao as she tried to get to him.

"Be still," he hissed to her, the points of so many blades pressing into his back.

Juvia froze, warring motives behind her eyes. Konza crossed the room toward him, past Erza who could barely breathe with all the dead weight of people pressing her to the floor, knives shoved between the plates in her armor, and Lucy, bent low and awkward, under the butcher knife at her nape, over a needle-thin pick at her belly. Her arms trussed painfully across her back, celestial keys out of reach.

"You're an interesting one, though." Konza said, squatting before Gray. Her bloody fingers traced over the mark on his arm, distorted now and falling up to his shoulder like a black river. "Speaking with the devil's tongue. A slayer, methinks? Ah, but perhaps in another life, you'd have a book of your own."

"Go to hell," he growled. His words had lost their darkness.

"You first!" Konza laughed, a sound drenched in madness.

"Now that we've gotten all that out of the way," Konza said as she stood, gently rubbing the blooming bruises on her neck. "We can finally get down to the meat and potatoes."

The citizens of Phlox, or what remained of them, parted before her like a red sea. She slithered to Wendy. Crystal barbed-wire coiled high, tight around her chest and throat, every breath a pained hitch, no chance for a roar or scream or cry for help. Konza just stared at Wendy for a tight moment, her eyes glassy until she raised the scythe, pressing the pole under Wendy's chin.

"Still have two ears, I see." She spoke to herself, pressing Wendy's face to the side.

Konza stared at her ear, conflicting thoughts battling in her eyes. Whatever decision she was trying to come to, Gray was glad she didn't get the chance.

"Konza Sycorax." Jellal's voice broke through the house like thunder, strong and steadfast despite the prison of blades and blood around him. "It's not too late to repent for your sins."

"Repent?" Her gaze snapped to him, Wendy completely forgotten, seething ire spurring her across the room. "And what if I refuse? Will you enslave me, too? I've heard of you as well, Jellel Fernandez—the man too weak to free himself from life in servitude to the memory of a phantom."

She spoke quickly, her tongue lashing. Jellal flinched, angry regret paling his face. Erza's lip curled, her fist twitching against the nine-inch nails wedged between her fingers. Gray fought to ignore the hollow ache low in his gut that pulled him after the true prize. Natsu was not the priority right now.

Konza snaked between the two of them, sharp smile and hissing words. "Too weak to tell the woman you love the truth?"

She teased Jellal's cloak, dark stains tainting the fabric. He didn't waiver, didn't meet Erza's silent question. Natsu was restless where he stood pinned down under the heat of a dozen blades. In his eyes, a carefully concealed unease for the gleaming edges. How strange, Gray thought. Since when was Natsu scared of knives?

"Then you know I'm familiar with the same sickness as you," Jellal twisted his neck to follow Konza as she circled him. "Zeref was-"

Konza's hand, clawed and starting to dry brown, buried into the lapels of Jellal's cloak, yanking him down to her face. A small dagger fractalled into her grip, the tip pushed hard against his sternum.

"Zeref was a fool, same as you."

A tight wave of agitation rolled through the house. Bristling ire passed from Konza to her crimson puppets like some kind of twisted trickle-down effect. Gray shrunk from the blades twitching into his back, glass cuffs ringing on their chains. Konza was toying with them, had them all right where she wanted. She couldn't talk forever, Gray knew, and he didn't want to find out what would happen once she had said what she wanted to. Sweat sealed the gaps between the cuffs and his wrists, the crystal grown warm in the sauna the house has become.

"We talked to Marlow," Lucy said, her voice cutting. "He told us what happened to you."

Slowly, Konza turned her head toward Lucy, shocked anger hanging from her jaw. He didn't know how Lucy knew, only a quick glance shared between them and it was clear that she felt the same urgency as him, understood his need for more time to prepare a technique he had never done before and didn't actually know how to do. Something—boreal stains on his skin, frosted blood in his heart—just told him he could do it.

"Marlow told us about Calibran," Lucy continued, staring Konza down as she left Jellal and stalked toward her. Natsu growled her name—Lucy didn't dare break eye contact. "He told us we'd find you here."

Konza spat a laugh. "Of course he did. I was counting on it, obviously."

"Obviously," Lucy agreed, flinching against the pick. "But you should know that he also told us about your plan."

At this, Konza stopped. Her anger folded to careful confusion. Those bright blue eyes of hers narrowed, her grip tightening around the dagger.

"You're lying," she decided. "Marlow never received His desires."

The reverence in the way she said 'his' did not escape Gray's attention… though, he didn't think she was talking about Zeref anymore.

"No," Juvia said. If she had picked up that Lucy was trying to stall for time for him, he had missed it. "You wanted to create a combined guild, mages and mercenaries working together. Marlow was helping you build that dream into a reality."

"You must not have heard the entire story," Konza said. She spread her arms, the scribbled words on her skin warping and shifting. "I woke up from that pointless dream. I opened my eyes and found purpose."

"That's not true," Juvia whispered. "This road only leads to misery and death. That's not who you are."

Konza rolled her eyes, dropping her hands to her sides. Gray missed what she said next, he was barely paying attention—don't pretend like you know me, or some such nonsense—the vibrating molecules in the air, in the glass around his wrists, in the blood of so many bodies sang in his ears. A screaming symphony of boiling potential and stress horizons. They were close to a breaking point inside that small house in the middle of the orchard. He just needed a little more.

"Marlow told us you made a map," Lucy said. Sweat dripped from her chin, pooled in the shallow dip between her collarbones. "That's why we came here, why we needed to find you. We just want the map."

"Oh?" Konza's eyes widened, mock innocence shaping her lips as her hand sunk into the breast line of her shift. "You mean this map?"

Crumpled paper, blackened at the edges—actually several pages sloppily sewn together along the longside with old catgut. They unfolded like an accordion from Konza's hand. It was not what Gray expected; topographical markings slashed in sloppy red, but the faded ink in swirling loops that may have been words hissed in his eyes and Gray knew what they really were; the bookless pages Marlow had spoken of.

And, on top of that tattered writing; more ink, newer ink in a different hand's style.

Gray saw Lucy falter, recognizing her own desperate penmanship in the same moment he remembered, too—crimson print and burning words, E.N.D.'s book sinking its teeth into her flesh, rending against the pen in her hand. Still she wrote, her hip split and dark with simmering blood. He couldn't help her, not when he had his own inferno shaped like a friend to fight.

"That's-"

"Those are mine."

A dangerous light sparked in Natsu's eyes. Against his throat, the edge of the glass blade bubbled and drooped, glowing hot magma orange. A tinge of smoke stung in Gray's nose. The temperature in the house rose quickly, sweltering like a clay oven. That hunger, deep and empty, drilled into Gray's gut.

"Indeed," Konza said, tucking the pages back into her dress. "Marlow didn't tell you about that little detail, did he?"

"Give those to me," Lucy said, a vicious contour in her voice. "Those don't belong to you."

"Ah, but weren't you just listening? They don't belong to you, either." Konza turned away from Lucy, her eyes alighting on Natsu, child-like awe easing the planes of her face. "They're yours. I'll give them back to you, but only if you do one thing for me."

Natsu jerked against the hands holding him, fury spitting from his lips, the heady scent of burnt meat and carcinogens, but they held firm. "Oh yeah, and what's that?"

Konza stepped toward him, her swagger and confidence vanished. She approached carefully, trepidation under her feet. She seemed like an unsure little girl before an authoritative teacher, or a regal king… or an opulent god.

"Kill everyone in this house," she whispered. "Even me. Burn it all to the ground, bury us in the cinders and ash, just as you had been. Light the pyre."

Natsu sneered, slowly leaning toward Konza. The glass blade at his neck liquified, dripping to the floor, scorching the wood. Gray sucked a deep breath of hot air, magic buzzing in his core the same instant black flames flickered across Natsu's knuckles and the darkness in his hair leaked across the side of his head.

"With pleasure," Natsu growled, sparks leaping across his teeth.

He didn't get the chance to make good on his deal. Hard freeze fractured through Gray's sinew, degrees of kelvin permeating through the screaming heat of the house. The fire in the hearth hissed out to nothing, the lacrima cracked and shadows curtained the room. All that kinetic energy, all those buzzing molecules, stopped.

Absolute zero.

It was simple thermodynamics: when hot air is rapidly cooled, it condenses. When heated glass is quickly chilled, it shatters. When warm, exposed blood is instantly frozen, it bursts.

A cloud of dense mist erupted through the house, filling every nook and cranny. Gray lost sight of Natsu and Konza, of everyone. Blood vessels popped in the wounds of his face and shoulder, in his hand and the whites of his eyes, in the gaping open slashes of the people of Phlox. The cuffs around his wrists fell away, joining the cacophony of so many glass armaments crumbling to pieces, of so many bodies hitting the floor. Gray shoved himself to his feet, scrubbing his eyes, reaching through the mist.

Juvia's skin was solid and cold beneath his touch. He'd frozen her though, a risk he'd had to take. But her captors were down, collapsed and still like all the rest—eviscerated by their own blood.

"Everyone," Gray said, calling through the sudden, eerie quiet of the house. "Get outside. Now."

Silence—and then, pounding footsteps, dragging feet as his friends helped each other escape. A square of dim light opened behind him, mist billowing through the front door. Gray waited until he was sure they all made it out. Wandering through the settling air, boots thumping hollowly on the wooden floor, he huffed a sigh through his nose.

Konza laid twitching on the floor. Her weeping tattoos had been her bane, now crystalized under black and red ice, a personal prison of ink and ichor. Her eyes rolled up to Gray, sclera bruised and vermillion. Her lips twitched, anger and pain flickering across her face.

"You should've just given us the map," Gray said.

He knelt and grabbed her arms, cracking the frozen glaze into her skin. Konza groaned, steam rolling from her mouth, a sound that might've been a scream if she'd had the lung capacity. Without a second thought, he shoved his hand down her shift, fishing out the pages from within. The fragile paper crackled in his hands, stiff parchment he could grind to dust in his palms if he wanted to—part of him did, wrestling under his spine. Carefully, Gray tucked them into his back pocket.

"Gray."

Standing in the corner of the dining room, Natsu watched him like a gargoyle. The mist didn't touch him, didn't dare go near him. Dropping Konza, Gray stood, the same need to hunt crawling back into his chest. Nastu's blood was red again, warm. The pitch in his hair, more stain than before, remained.

"We need to check on our friends," he said evenly. "You need to check on your wife."

Natsu's eyes drifted to the floor. Beneath the currents of mist, obscured forms peaked like dark icebergs, twisted and broken. His throat bobbed, either rage or terror shining in his eyes as he leveled a glare at Gray.

"You have a lot to answer for," he muttered.

Gray nodded. "I think we both do. Now go."

Natsu lingered for a long moment, brittle quiet threatening the stalemate stuck between them. Natsu clenched his fist, his lip twitching, a spasm tearing up his neck and Gray thought he would attack—he didn't. Nastu closed his eyes, shook his head. His gaze was clearer when he opened them again, a little more green crawling back from the shadows. He stepped carefully around Gray, two beasts prowling along the proximity of safe. He stopped once by Juvia's side, her face a frozen mask of surprise, lips parted in the shape of his name. Natsu raised a hand, reaching for her.

"Don't. Leave her be," Gray said. "She needs to thaw on her own. Doing it quickly could hurt her more."

Natsu stopped, his hand flinching away. The dragon slayer cast one more look over his shoulder, disbelief hanging from the steep angle of his brow. Then, he turned away and silently walked out the door.

Gray stared after him for a beat, the distant sounds of his friends' frantic words drifting in from outside. They weren't going to make it out unscathed, he'd known that—but they would be okay. Their wounds would heal in time. It would probably take a lot longer for them to forgive him.

He did what he had to do—there were no other options. Of that, he was certain.

Small sounds, choked and gasping, hissed at his feet. Konza stared up at him, her cracked lips parted, yellow teeth bared as hissing laughter bubbled from her throat. Gray knelt, his hand cinching tightly on her arm. White frost fractalled from his knuckles, cutting through her flesh. Konza's misplaced mirth choked off under a strangled gasp, the new pain of severe frostbite coiling around her forearm.

"Come on," Gray muttered, yanking her up. "Let's go."

"Wendy—Wendy, listen to me—you need to breathe."

Lucy felt blindly, her hands shaking, gliding from the young girl's shoulders to cup her face. Wendy moaned through her teeth, cold fingers wrapping around Lucy's wrists.

"I can't—Lucy I can't see—"

"I know, I know." Lucy chanced a moment to wipe at her face, wipe away the burning crimson in her eyes. "It's okay, we'll be okay, just take a deep breath–"

The crunch of gravel. Erza's barely repressed scream. Happy wailing next to her ankle. Wet splatters, liquid hitting dirt. All of it was too much, too many unknowns whirling around her and she couldn't see a thing through the stinging red thorns in her eyes dripping pain down her cheeks, through the–

–through the blood.

"Lucy–" Jellal's voice beside her, rumbling and steady. "I need to rinse her eyes."

A hand, his hand, covered hers, tilting Wendy's head back. Lucy knelt, small stones biting into her knees as streams of frigid water ran through her numbed fingers. Wendy stiffened, breaths quickened and laced with a whine.

"Try to keep your eyes open."

"Oh my god–" Wendy gasped, jerking out of Lucy's touch. "Stop—stop, please."

"I know it hurts," Jellal muttered, the faintest tremble in his words. "Focus on your breathing, center yourself. Lucy, your turn."

A touch on her jaw, chilled fingers gripping her head firmly, tilting her face to the sky. He didn't warn her. The shock of cold washed across her face. Tight pressure ached into her eyes, into her skull and Lucy wanted to scream.

"Keep your eyes open."

Small hands, icy and shaking, clutched her shoulders—Wendy, grounding her through the torrents of conflicting numbness and agony.

Jellal let go, but the freeze remained, another blind she couldn't remove. But—Wendy's face, her cheeks stained with diluted trails of vermillion and shards of glass embedded in her shirt, faded into focus. Behind her, Erza lay in a crumpled heap of frozen metal and crystallized blood, the deep shadows of the orchard caging them all in.

"I'm okay," Lucy mumbled, shivers muddling her words. "I'm—I'm fine. Erza—go help Erza."

Wendy turned, shock and uncertainty holding her fast for a beat. Then she crawled across the loose gravel, hovering above the fallen knight. Next to Lucy, Happy twisted in Jellal's arms, hissing and spitting under the water pouring from Jellal's small canteen. Carla clutched at the man's cloak miserably, trembling, a band of blood across her face.

In the fading warmth of the growing night, Lucy shivered, her heart hammering in her ears and all the stiff cuts biting into her and there wasn't enough air in the world–

Happy leapt for her, stumbling against her side. Gathering him in her arms, Lucy wiped his face with the skirt of Cancer's dress. Her eyes stung, terrified tears budding against raw tissue. Lucy closed her eyes and hoped, prayed, begged that she would open them and see that this had all been a horrible dream.

Pounding footsteps on the wooden porch, dropping to the gravel walk and crunching closer. Someone called her name. Warmth on her shoulder, branding on her icy skin. Lucy jerked away, falling on her side.

"Lucy, it's me."

She opened her eyes, blinked, felt the heat of her tears blaze new trails down her face. Natsu crouched by her, his hands held carefully for her to see and a wanting in his gaze. His eyes didn't bleed like hers. His cuts weren't solidified like hers. He wasn't shivering.

But his inferno was gone, his bloodlust vanished. The ring on his finger glinted quietly, the bands of gold heat-warped. Her own wedding ring constricted around her finger, frozen to her skin, glacial needles biting to her marrow.

"Just… just give me a moment." Lucy muttered, sitting up and landing heavy on her butt.

All the building agitation and adrenalin pulsed in her muscles, a throbbing ache in her shoulders and thighs. Everything hurt. All the whiplashed places between her bones, all the tired cracks from being pulled too fast and too far. She just wanted to be warm, wanted to fall into Natsu's embrace—

"With pleasure."

She couldn't.

"Did you know?"

Lucy lifted her head. Erza sat up on her elbows from where she lay in the dirt, glaring at Lucy. Wendy had peeled off parts of her plate mail, frozen to the woman just like Lucy' ring, piled gracelessly next to Erza's hip. Her arms, legs, neck—all the places where metal touched skin inflamed and shimmering, white lines crossing through red in a gross approximation of the creases in her armor.

"Lucy," Erza snapped, a strained groan through her teeth as she sat up, raw skin scraping across the gravel. "Did you know?"

"Know what, Erza?" Lucy bit back, almost screaming at the woman. She couldn't, wouldn't be a punching bag for everyone's frustrations. This was not her fault.

"That he was going to do that," Erza hissed. "All those people—"

"She didn't know."

Gray emerged from the silent house. Konza hung limp from his grasp, her eyes clouded and crimson, her tattoos puckered and inflamed from her skin. He dragged her across the porch, through the gravel walk and roughly tossed her to Jellal. Lucy stared at Gray, trails of cold mist following in his wake. One arm was streaked with thin trails of frozen blood, frosted pits in his shoulder, his neck, his face. His other arm, though, blended with the night, smears of pitch staining up his shoulder, patching along his jaw and chest.

She hadn't seen those marks in three years. Under the panic and torpor of her pain, a part of her mourned for Gray. She had desperately hoped he wouldn't have to fall into this abyss again—perhaps that was a fool's dream.

"Gray–" Erza seethed, staggering to her feet, her fists clenched. "You–"

"Did what I had to do, and you know it."

"We could have–" Erza faltered a moment, gritting her teeth. "We would have found another way."

Gray didn't look at her, his dark eyes watching Jellal procure magic-dampening cuffs from his cloak and clamp them around Konza's wrist.

"If I had waited, we'd all be lying here burning on our bones instead." Gray turned away from Konza, pinned face down in the dirt under Jellal's knee, and leered down his nose toward Natsu. "Do not forget that I wasn't the only monster in that house."

His words ignited a feverous rage in Lucy's gut. "We came here to save Natsu, Gray—not you."

Gray shifted his gaze to her, cold indifference losing all traces of the man she'd once recognized as her friend. Gray reached behind his back. Stepping toward Lucy, he thrust a bundle of papers in her face. She startled, jagged ink printing arcane words too familiar to be coincidence. Natsu eyed the pages, wary trepidation setting his jaw.

"And now, thanks to me, we're one step closer to doing so," Gray said, his words steady, waiting.

Lucy took the pages, felt the unwelcome familiarity of their bite in her fingers. These pages shouldn't be here, shouldn't have found their way back to her like a black dog she couldn't outrun. Gray, though, held onto them even as she tugged against his grip. Dark considerations flickered behind his eyes, conspiring thoughts in the narrow glance he shot at her husband.

"Gray," Lucy muttered. "Let go."

He hesitated, hopefully understanding that it wasn't just the papers she was talking about. His fingers released Natsu's pages. Gray shoved his hands into his pockets as he turned and shuffled back toward the house.

"It'll take Juvia a while to regain herself," he said. "I don't want her to be alone when she does."

They all watched him, disbelief and aggravation and consternation a heady mix of tension in the near-darkness. Natsu rose to his feet, his fist clenched.

"You're right," he said after the other man. Gray's feet crunched to a halt. "You weren't the only monster in that house—but you are the only one right now."

Gray looked over his shoulder. The planes of his face were hidden in shadows, but Lucy still saw the tick in his jaw. He didn't respond, hunching his shoulders and walking back through the busted front door. Behind the house, over the tapered tree tops biting like teeth into the night, the first stars twinkled in the sky.

"He was able to use dominion on you, Natsu," Jellal said, looking up at him from where he hunched over Konza. "Has he ever done that before?"

Natsu stared at the house, but his eyes and ears were far away from the orchard. Lucy shifted Happy in her arms, setting him on the dirt and heaving herself to her feet.

"No, he hasn't," she answered. "What does it mean?"

Jellal sighed. "I'm not sure. Only very powerful slayers are able to command the beings they hunt. If he keeps drinking from that well, who knows what he'll be capable of. Finding that library is more urgent than ever, now."

The cursed papers hurt against her fingers. Happy gingerly wiped pale-red tears from the white fur of Carla's face. Erza fell to her knees, relenting to Wendy's trembling pleas of 'just let me help you'. Jellal wrapped his hands around the cuffs on Konza's wrists, sealing them in place. Even with her face pressed to the dirt, even with all her tearing and breaking, Konza rolled one eye to Lucy, lapis blue drowning in a sea of crimson—and smiled.

They camped at the edge of the orchard, away from the hollow windows of the dead house and the rotting stink of the bleeding barn. Jellal trussed Konza's arms around the skinny trunk of a persimmon tree, her chest and chin pressed against the silver bark. The band of black around her arm—horribly familiar fingers shaped in the pitch and rot—had shriveled, almost mummified somehow, skin flaking and red at the edge of deep freeze and desperate flesh trying to stay alive. Her hand was pale-blue now, cut off from precious blood behind frozen solid meat, dead nerves twitching in the cuffs. There was no saving the limb.

Konza spat at Wendy when she offered to help, laughing in her face. So they left her in the dark with her pain and madness, at the furthest comfortable reach of their small campfire.

Gray and Juvia emerged from the house eventually. Juvia moved like a broken toy, knees stiff and locked as Gray gently led her to the fireside. She said nothing as she eased herself down next to the flames, her face a mask of passive numbness. But she shuffled away when Gray sat beside her, cold space between them that the campfire couldn't thaw. The devil had let go of its chokehold on Gray, dark stains gone from his skin and a heavy shame hanging from the line of his jaw. It was a look that Lucy knew well, unfortunately; the frayed endurance of a man who pushed too far, and was suffering the consequences—for some reason, though, she couldn't find room in herself to pity him.

Erza must have seen his distress too, since she said nothing, only watched as he hung his head between his knees, her hands idly picking at the flakes of skin peeling off from her mostly-healed freeze burns. It was clear that he didn't need or want their moral lecture. He knew what he'd done. And, even though she hated to admit it, but now that Lucy had a clearer head and time to think about what had happened, she knew that he was right. There hadn't been another way, not without at least one of them ending up mutilated or worse.

So when Gray broke the tired quiet and asked if they should do anything for the family of orchardists and the people of Phlox, she saw it for what it was; a small, desperate attempt at redemption. But she suspected that he already knew what they all did. There were too many, and there wasn't enough time or energy left for any meaningful act of remembrance or respect. It felt terrible to just leave them, though, cold and broken and lost at the edge of society.

Lucy stared through the bookless pages, Happy curled by her hip. The paper glowed against the crackle of the fire, dark scribbles ripping across the aged parchment—Zeref's writing and her own clashing like swords. The last time she'd held these words, they had been bound together in a hardback cover, a single scorched hole drilled through the center. Now they folded like the pleats of her favorite skirt, more char than actual paper.

It was just as harrowing as it was the first time, holding Natsu's life in her hands.

Speaking of which—Lucy folded the pages and tucked them away. Natsu had wandered off into the orchard on his own a while ago, kicking leaves as he went. She stood, Happy's warmth following after her thigh, and stepped into the trees. She found him deep between the rows, standing at the edge of a murky retention pond. The waning moon hung in the sky, half-full and yet bright enough to see the flicker of shadows as he clenched and unclenched his fist, an unconscious habit that told her he was deep in thought.

"Hey," she said softly. "What are you doing all the way out here?"

Natsu turned to her, his hand curving behind her back as she stepped to his side. Warmth and security pressed into her spine, an easy relief blooming through her bones.

"Everyone kept staring at my head," Natsu said, his other hand ghosting over the black hairs. "Figured I'd give them all some space."

It was more than that, though, Lucy could tell by the way his words croaked in his throat. She wasn't ready to delve into his worries, though, not yet. Neither was he. Wrapping her arm around his shoulders, Lucy settled against his chest. Natsu hummed a sigh and let his hand drift down her back til it rested on the crook of her hip. Nightbugs sang to the stars as they stood in silence, watching the soft ripples of the moon on the pond. It was a beautiful night—such a shame then, that it was preceded by so much tragedy.

"How is everyone?" Natsu finally asked.

Lucy hummed. "Doing the best they can."

She felt Natsu nod above her head, and another lull of near-silence filled the world. Far off above the trees, the call of a nocturnal bird cried out to the sky.

"We shouldn't be so hard on Gray."

Lucy lifted her head from his chest, surprised. She looked up to Natsu's face, but his eyes stared a long distance off, solemn ruminations working in his gaze.

"I know… but he shouldn't have done what he did." It was hard to reconcile the reward of living when the cost had been so much death.

"How is what Gray did in that house any different from what I did in Juniper Hills?" Natsu asked, meeting her eyes with his own and smacking Lucy with the harsh, honest vulnerability shining there.

They hadn't talked about Juniper Hills, not at all. She had tried, reluctantly at first, a couple of times after his apathetic recovery and after… after their decision to get married. It was too much, though—it hurt him too much.

"It's not really the same, Natsu–"

"Isn't it?" His words didn't cut, just thoughts spoken aloud. "It's not okay for him because he's a devil slayer, but it's okay for me because I'm–"

He swallowed. Took a deep, trembling breath.

"I get it, what he did was wrong. But I know why he did it. He's got a demon whispering in his ear, too, telling him that all the wrong decisions are the right ones—and it's not fair that he's the one being punished but I'm the exception."

Lucy saw it then, the quiet exhaustion shadowing the space beneath his eyes, something that spoke of more than just lingering horrors and echoing rage. Something physical, some deep draining ache that lingered like the stain on his head.

"You're right," she said quietly, her hand cupping his cheek, rubbing gently over the slight stubble dusting his jaw. "We're treating him exactly like how I was afraid everyone would treat you."

"We can't let him get lost like I did," he said. "We can't—I can't—we need him. We need him in case…"

Panic danced in his eyes, flickering between hers until he petered out and hung his head. Foreboding worry parted Lucy's lips.

"In case of what?" she asked.

Natsu took his hand from her hip and held it between them, the lines of his palm stark and dark in the moonlight. Sparks danced through his fingers, a wisp of pale smoke. A small hush, then fire erupted from his palm, a tiny bonfire in the night. It was only for a moment, barely three seconds before Natsu hissed and shook them away.

Lucy flinched, the blue-green glare of those black flames bleached in her vision.

"Natsu–"

"You remember what Jellal said on the train?" Natsu rubbed his palm. "How I needed to understand to learn control."

"And–" she swallowed. "Do you… understand it?"

"No," he said after a long beat. "It's more like it's understanding me."

She didn't know what to say. Natsu frowned, huffed a sigh through his nose, and turned away from Lucy, skirting the edge of the pond. She watched him for a moment, the corded muscles in his neck and arms, the curve of his back, the wrinkles of so many smiles around his mouth—all the things his curse hadn't and couldn't change.

Lucy touched his hand, holding his wrist delicately and guiding it to her face. His palm was smudged, lingering soot in the whorls of his skin. Tenderly, Lucy planted her lips there, his fingers curling along her jaw. She leaned into his touch, and for a moment they simply stared at each other, her heart haloed in his eyes.

"I'm not giving up on you," she whispered.

Natsu let out a small breath, something wild and desperate in his gaze as his head tilted to meet her lips with his. All her waiting hopes went into that kiss, growing like daisies under the places where he touched her. One of his hands cupped her face, the other glided down her neck and across her chest. Lucy moaned when his fingers rubbed through the fabric of her clothes. Natsu broke from her lips, nuzzling her chin to the side and latching onto the tender skin of her neck.

Her heart beat a frantic tattoo in her chest, fingers curling into his hair. His name beckoning on her lips, she melted under his warmth. Natsu paused for a moment, cradling her weight and easing her down to the soft, cool scrub of the orchard. The proximity of his heat above her, his breath on her face, his hand placed firmly in the valley between her breasts—all forgotten under the deep desire she saw reflected in his eyes.

"I won't give up either," he said, his words heavy with longing.

"You promise?" Lucy covered his hand with hers, the feel of their hearts beating in tandem pulsing under her fingers.

Natsu lingered for a breath, then kissed her once more, a soft and fond touch that quickly bloomed. His fingers traveled low, lighting across her belly to the buttons of her shorts. She barely felt his tugging, barely felt when they came undone, lost as she was in the eternity of his embrace. Instinct alone told her to raise her hips as Natsu slipped her shorts and delicates down off her legs.

His lips left hers. She opened her eyes, watching the silver-silhouette of his head and shoulders trail down, mapping a constellation of kisses along the way. Natsu settled between her legs, his hands wrapped around her thighs and his mouth hovering above her core. His breath washed over her, igniting and smoldering in all the best ways–

His hands clenched suddenly, his shoulders stiffened and his breath hitched.

"Natsu?" Lucy strained to look, leaning up on her elbows. "What's wrong?"

But he wasn't looking at her. His eyes were trained over her head, boring into the deep shadows of the orchard. A spark, something spiteful that darkened his gaze and twisted a small sneer into his lips. Lucy craned her head over her shoulder. There was nothing there.

"Nothing's wrong," Natsu hissed, his hands pulling her closer.

"Are you sure?" she mumbled, her voice shaking. "We don't have to–"

His tongue pressed into her, drilling through her frayed reason and stealing any words she would have said.

He didn't dream when sleep took them both. It was a mercy and a threat. So when Natsu opened his eyes in the early light of dawn, Lucy wrapped in his arms, it seemed that only seconds had passed rather than hours. Lucy woke a moment after, yanked from sleep for the same reason as him.

Frantic shouts, distant through the persimmon trees.

They rushed back to their camp, breaking through the twilight. The campfire smoldered, white ash and ghostly smoke. Erza knelt beside Jellal, the man lost in delirium, his hair caked in blood. Juvia held Carla in her arms, the white exceed howling and despondent despite the rain woman's attempts to calm her. Happy loitered by them, unsure. Wendy… was nowhere to be found.

"What happened?" Lucy asked, stepping into the center of the camp.

"She's gone!" Carla wailed, bright tears streaking her furry cheeks. "She took Wendy!"

"What?" Lucy gaped at her, panic and disbelief hanging from her jaw. "How? I thought Erza and Jellal were watching her!"

"We were," Erza said flatly. "Konza knocked out Jellal during one of his shifts."

"What do you mean? She was cuffed to a tree!"

Erza didn't answer, her eyes turning toward the perimeter of the camp. Gray stood among the trees, still as a statue. Lucy marched to him, Natsu a half-step behind. His mind felt light, the branches rushing around him. He and Lucy stopped by Gray's side. He didn't say anything, didn't acknowledge their arrival. He stared at the tree where Konza had last been, the sizable rock splattered with crimson and cast aside, and the small, dead, pale-blue hand lying on the ground.

Natsu almost gagged—wet cracked bone splintered from black necrotized flesh, arches of small holes perforating the wrist that looked a little too much like bite marks—

"She did it without making a sound," Gray muttered, his voice haunted, his eyes shining with horror. "What kind of person…"

Natsu grabbed Lucy's shoulder, turning her away from the sight and guiding her back to the middle of camp. Her quick, ragged breaths shook under his hands, a glaze of shock clouding her eyes.

"Breathe," he whispered to her, unable to suppress the stupor in his words.

"Lucy," Jellal called, staggering to his feet. "Do you still have the map?"

Lucy's hands flew to her waist, checking the pockets of her shorts. After a beat of searching she held up the bound pages, wrinkled and damp, but whole.

"What are we going to do?" Juvia asked.

"We must go after them!" Carla wrestled from her grasp. "Quickly now, before she has the chance to do something unimaginable to Wendy–"

"We have no idea where they could have gone," Erza said, racing thoughts behind her eyes.

"So we should just abandon her?" Carla wailed, her white fur standing on end.

"No, of course not!" Erza shot to her feet. "I'm only stating–"

"She is out there with a mad woman, Erza!"

"Enough," Jellal snapped, a small crack in his composure. "This is getting us nowhere."

"If none of you—her so-called friends—are going to do anything, I will."

A flash, and small downy wings unfurled from Carla's back. Happy jumped to her, grabbing her paw.

"Carla, wait!"

"Unhand me this instant, tomcat!"

Their struggle was cut through by a small, musical sound. Erza reached under the plates of her armor, procuring a hand sized lacrima communication device—one of Warren's.

"It's Levy," she muttered to everyone's confusion, and raised the device to her ear. "I'm sorry, this isn't a good time to talk… I see, hold on a moment." Erza tapped the slab, holding it out before her. "Repeat what you just said."

"I looked up Konza Sycorax in the archives here in Crocus." Levy's voice, tinny and eager, crackled through the campsite. "It turns out she wasn't always in the dark guild circuit. She used to be a member of an official guild."

"Which guild?" Lucy cut in, stepping closer to Erza.

"Mermaid Heel, she left them about six years ago. Konza was one of their S-Class wizards, right up there with Kagura. They might have even been rivals."

Natsu felt movement behind his shoulder—Gray, tearing himself away from the grisly scene and lumbering back to them.

"Could she be going back there? To Begonia?" Juvia touched Lucy's arm. "She has nowhere else to go; her guild and safehouses have all been rooted out, she's got no one."

"She could be making for the library," Gray said, his fists clenched at his side.

"She can't—wouldn't, not with the state she's in and not without these." Lucy held up the pages. "She's crazy, not suicidal. Even if they're not there, maybe Kagura can help us. It might be our best hope."

"Fine, then that is what we shall do," Carla huffed.

"Wait, what's going on?"

"I'll explain everything to you later, Levy. Meet us in Begonia." Erza tapped the lacrima, ending the call and tucking it away. "Let's go."

"Wait."

Natsu's grip on her shoulders flinched, all eyes suddenly on them. "Lucy–"

"Begonia is two days far from here. I can't—we need to get to Calibran, we have the map, we're so close."

"Calibran can wait."

"No, it can't… you can't."

He swallowed, her crying resilience a punch in his gut and then he was acutely aware of the coiling ache in his fibers, in his organs, in all the straining sores that reminded him that something was changing inside—something wrong, invading and taking root.

"Then we have no choice," Jellal said, conviction heavy in his voice. "We need to split up."