Hey guys! A lot of love and care went into the planning of this sequel to Project Zero, so please fav, follow, and review!
Art by my waifu; Bloobychuu on tumblr (don't know her FF name T-T)
Beta reader/Story plot confidant; xxIAmTheSkyxx (or nothingbutwordsstuff on tumblr)
and be sure to follow me on tumblr at sirdragneel to ask me questions ask for drabble requests!
Once, a long long time ago, a very loved man named Natsu Dragneel tragically died of heart failure. His elder brother, Zeref, worked tirelessly for decades to find out how to resurrect his lost loved one.
A hundred and fifty years into this process, Zeref tampered with forces that should never have been tampered with. He was successfully able to set up a process that would bring his brother back in fifty years' time. At the same time, however, he cursed his own brother with the fate of humanity while in turn entwining his fate with an alien substance known as Etherious—the very thing out to end the humans' lives.
Natsu managed to wipe out the main source and destroy all of the Etherious, except for inside himself, while returning his race to Earth, where it belonged.
Or so he thought.
This is the story of Natsu Dragneel, the luckiest unlucky man alive, and his quest to not die...again.
"Your life of treachery ends today, vile being!" Lucy yelled dramatically, using her light-gun to latch onto the man's leg and fling him behind her expertly, striking a pose as he hit the ground with a loud thump.
This had been the third act of crime this week, this time, the guy had been stealing from their mayor, Hisui E. Fiore, but he hadn't gotten far before Magnolia's resident chief-of-police, Lucy Dragneel, had managed to catch up to him.
Yes, she went by Lucy Dragneel now. It had been two years since she had found Natsu in the forest lake, and after about a year and a half of dating, the two got engaged and eventually married. It had also been a shock to them that there were other colonies of humans that had been surviving on Earth—quite a few, in truth—and the only downside to that was that a lot of them happened to be thieves.
The ex-space colony of Fairy Tail had wanted to appoint Natsu over their city's guard at first, but they'd also wanted him to lead the building of the city as well as keep up with maintenance—and Lucy, hating to see him so loaded down with work, volunteered to do it.
And while defeating bad guys was fun and all, it had been much more fun with Natsu by her side (so that he could see how cool she looked). The most time Lucy had gotten to spend with her own husband had been their honeymoon, and they'd spent it mostly cooped up at home watching all the Star Wars movies. Other than that, practically everyone needed him for something.
Well, that was what she got for falling in love with a superhuman.
Sighing, the blonde handcuffed the criminal and began dragging him off when a whistle of appreciation suddenly sounded behind her, and she whipped around to see Natsu Dragneel himself standing there, holding a clipboard and smiling brightly at her—the smile he reserved for her and her alone that made her heart melt.
His outfit had changed since their escapades in space, as he preferred a more old-fashioned look. He wore a simple white button-up shirt with the first few buttons undone that revealed the scar on his neck, with the sleeves rolled up past his elbows and a strap on his left arm. He had a black vest on over it, the tails reaching about mid-thigh. His pants were thick and black, which were halfway covered by his knee-high leather boots. The last piece of his outfit was a scaly white scarf, which was tied around his waist like a sash.
They had found it in his old home, and it was apparently a gift from his father. Since finding it, Natsu hadn't been without it.
The bright blue 0 still adorned his left cheek, but it was also accompanied by a thick scar on his right cheek. He'd gotten both of these scars while fighting the Etherious.
Lucy let out an audible gasp upon seeing him and had to refrain herself from tackling him in a hug on the spot. She settled instead for grinning madly as he walked up to her, admiring his windblown hair and how well his new shirt fit him. He was certainly handsome before, but his new outfit accented his figure much more nicely.
"Another one of these rats, huh?" he asked, nudging the guy with his foot. "In any case, you make quick work of them," he noted, turning back to Lucy with a smile.
Lucy felt herself blush at the compliment. She twirled a strand of her long hair, which was pulled into a ponytail. "Heh, well of course!" she answered. "But you could do it much faster than I could, I'm sure."
Natsu shrugged, turning to look at the rest of the city and sighed. "Well, I'm also apparently the fastest at building super crazy high-tech apartments because everyone here is a lazy ass who can't make their own toast," he grumbled. It was obvious he didn't appreciate everyone simply taking advantage of his ability to make super toasters. He wasn't opposed to advancing technology, but he felt it should be used sensibly.
…And according to Natsu, super toasters were not sensible.
Lucy couldn't help but smile at the memory—of the first display of his powers when he repaired a broken toaster for Gray. "But people need their strudel of toasters!" she said playfully, quoting Natsu from two years ago.
Her husband scowled at the mention of his blunder from back then. "Excuse me, but last I checked, I had pretty bad amnesia when I said that."
The two suddenly froze at a loud noise coming from the edge of town. Lucy immediately began to move towards the source after casting a brief glance at Natsu, instructing him to take care of the captured man for her and ignoring his cries of protest as she took off down the dirt road.
When Lucy arrived, she was greeted with Gray trying to hold down some portly man who seemed to be…glowing.
That was definitely the strangest thing she had ever seen…or perhaps not, since she was married to a man who had died over two hundred years ago, had glowing eyes and face tattoo, and could control anything mechanical or metal at will. That was definitely weird.
Gray was thrown off the glowing man and sent sailing through the building across the street as all the lights in the town started flickering.
"Give it up!" the small pudgy man cackled. "You pathetic humans can't defeat I, the great Duke Everlue!" He began laughing maniacally as if he had just murdered someone.
Lucy had to stop herself from gouging her eyes out from just looking at him, as much as she wanted to…there was work to be done. "Stop right there!" she said firmly, jabbing a warning finger and placing a hand on her hip. "I'm with the MPD, and any resistance from you means that I will have to resort to violence!"
The self-proclaimed "Duke" looked at her carelessly, as if she was nothing more than a fly buzzing around his head. "No ugly human girl can stand in my way," he said simply. With those words, he started glowing again, and the entire stretch of apartment buildings they were standing under creaked precariously before it started to tip over.
The air around Lucy seemed to tingle as she realized what was happening, and her eyes widened as the shadow of the toppling building over them grew. "That's—!"
"A lame trick?" a voice from behind her said as the building suddenly froze in place—clear evidence of two forces of gravity clashing. "I was about to say the same thing."
Lucy watched in awe as Natsu sauntered up to the scene, like he was going on a Sunday stroll. His eyes were glowing brightly like they always did when he either got worked up or worked with machines, but she could see them flicker slightly, likely because he was using more power than usual to keep this giant building from crushing everyone beneath it.
"Natsu…are you okay?" Lucy asked warily, and Natsu gave a weak smile, as he glanced back at her.
"Just a bit of a headache," he said simply as he returned to staring down at the smaller and unsightly man. "Never handled anything of this scale before; that's all."
The other man gave Natsu a scrutinizing look as if trying to figure out what species he was.
"Well…I didn't know they had one in this town," the man said. "You may have a little bit of Etherious in your veins, but," he added boisterously, "I have been growing immune to it for over ten years!" All the lights started flickering and blowing out as power surged through them.
Natsu's eyes widened in shock. "Etherious?" he repeated incredulously. "You…are you trying to tell me that I almost died in blasted space—" He growled in anger as he stormed towards the sorry excuse of a duke. "—For nothing?!" he shouted, and a light pole suddenly flew from across the street and whizzed right between the two.
Lucy saw the color drain from the man's face as he seemed to realize the difference in power. The air started to heat up and the wind picked up as Natsu's anger grew, prompting dark clouds to brew overhead. Lucy was almost afraid he would kill the man, but he simply beat him over the head hard enough to make him pass out…and the wind didn't subside, signifying that Natsu was still really mad.
"I'll take care of this blasted building; you just get this sickening human to Levy," he growled at Lucy. "I'm not standing for any lingering remnants of that mess." Lucy nodded a bit as she went to handcuff the man and drag him away.
"It's okay, Natsu; I'll help you figure this out. You aren't alone, all right? And I won't let your efforts go to waste," Lucy added softly, kissing his cheek as she passed.
She could feel Natsu's anger…but more than that, she could sense his fear. He never let on about what worried him around others, but whenever they were alone, he would confide in her. She knew he felt a heavy responsibility for these people, not to mention that he felt indebted to his late brother for giving him a second chance. He had been tasked with eliminating the Etherious, and having it still floating around even after all his efforts was a fairly bad sign.
The most Lucy could do for him now was to just be there—to help in whatever way she could.
"No doubt about it; that's a decent amount of Etherious in his bloodstream," Levy informed, taking her glasses off as she turned to Lucy. "What exactly happened out there?"
Lucy sighed and sat down on an empty stool. "I can't say for sure…but if this stuff is being passed around like cocaine in back alleys, then it would explain the huge amounts of crime we've had recently," she muttered sadly. "Whatever is happening, I know Natsu is upset about it…he nearly got himself killed two years ago trying to stop that stuff—not just for us, but for his brother, too…all that hard work, and it's gone to waste…"
Levy looked at Lucy somberly and took hold of her hand. "And you're gonna do anything to help him, huh?" she asked softly.
Lucy looked up with sad eyes. "Well, after everything that's happened…I'm the one person he truly counts on!" the blonde said, her words tinged with desperation.
The shorter woman sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "You shouldn't even be doing the work you're doing now…" She raised her gaze to Lucy pointedly. "Did you even tell Natsu about your…condition yet?"
Lucy chewed her bottom lip, holding herself nervously "N-no…and I haven't had much chance to, anyway. He's always so busy—and when he's not, he's worn out, and…" She trailed off.
Levy placed her hands on her hips. "If he knew, you know he wouldn't want you doing anything dangerous, either!" she scolded her sternly.
"I know!" Lucy cried, throwing her hands up in surrender. "But I promise; I'll tell him soon!" she tacked on quickly, raising her hands as if Levy would hit her for this fact.
…Which was probably truer than Lucy would ever care to admit.
Levy sighed heavily and opened her mouth to speak again, but immediately shut it as the door opened and Natsu entered the room. Lucy could still see the sweat trailing down his neck from fixing the building (and probably running the whole way here afterward). His expression was grave, his eyes shadowed by his bangs.
Most would've thought the expression intimidating, but it was hard for Lucy to look at him and be frightened after he'd cried on her shoulder (or lap) so many times before. Truthfully, her heart reached out to him when she saw him like this, knowing he was probably just worried more than anything.
"Here, Natsu," Levy said gently, bringing up the test results for him. Natsu walked over to get a better look, his arms folded and his frown deepening.
"Shit…I knew I could feel it, but I was hoping I was wrong," he muttered. Despite his calm disposition, Lucy could see his turmoil—as evidenced by the now-glitching screen. But she drew her brows together as she saw his breath hitch and the hand clasped on his bicep clench tightly, and Lucy was starkly reminded of when his heart would go out of control from trauma.
Lucy stood, looking at him worriedly. "Natsu? Are you—?" she began, but Natsu flinched away from her as she spoke.
"Fine," he grunted. "I'm just…really mad." His words didn't sound too convincing to Lucy, however, as his eyes darted away from her like they always did when he was hiding something indicated. "Right now, we need to focus on the problem at hand." His commanding tone effectively signaled the change in subject. "I doubt this pig had the brains enough to figure out how to effectively use the Etherious, meaning that someone else does and is handing it out like fucking candy."
Lucy nodded firmly in affirmation. "And he'd said that he'd been growing immune to it for ten years," she began, standing by her husband. "Which mean that there are more humans out there who didn't leave Earth—"
"—So they don't know the consequences of tampering with this crap," Natsu finished with a growl before turning from the screen to look at Levy, who stiffened on the spot. "Levy, can you search him for any clues of where he might've gotten it? I need to talk to Hisui about the situation, so we can maybe lead a team out to shut this down before it gets out of hand." He then turned on his heel to leave without waiting for a response to his order, Lucy following closely after him.
"Natsu…what was that back there?" she asked softly, putting a hand on his shoulder and making him pause.
His lips pressed into a thin line as if he was pondering whether he should say anything or not. It was a few minutes before he settled with the reply, "It's nothing" and resumed walking.
The shorter blonde stood in his path and obstructed his escape, forcing him to halt once again. "Natsu, what have I told you about hiding things?" she asked. "Do you realize how much you worry me?" Her words grew quieter with each word, and she bit her lip as she felt tears threaten to surface. "We—I can't afford to lose you…not now…"
Natsu stared at her with wide eyes as if searching her face for some kind of answer he probably wouldn't get—not now, anyway—so instead, he opted for pulling her flush against him and kissing her lips chastely, leaving Lucy light-headed as he pulled back, giving her his usual smile.
"I promise you, Luce; I'm not going anywhere for a long time," he said reassuringly.
Lucy wanted to believe him…but why did she have such a bad feeling in her gut about this whole thing?
Natsu detached from her and strode away, and Lucy lingered, staring after his retreating back.
Please…keep him safe…