MONSTERS & VILLAINS
Description: "The difference between you and me is that while you fight for the people, I fight for myself. They say there are superheroes and villains; I say everyone's a monster, but I'm something much, much worse." In a world where corruption and betrayals are blurring the lines between good and evil, Lucy must decide how to face the villains that were once her friends. Superhero AU / NALU
PROLOGUE
My mouth is dry as I open the video link.
"Good evening, everyone! My name is Evergreen, and I'm back with the daily news. Fortunately, all seven kids abducted by weaponizer supervillain Titania have been recovered and safely returned to their families. The city of Magnolia owes it all to the best of the best… you guessed it! Frostbite, the pride and joy of our city, has rescued the victims yet again! Ranked number one for the seventh consecutive season by the international critic Sorcerer Magazine, our star ice-manipulating superhero still maintains his position in the top five-"
Grumbling as the Superlacrima screen collapses and crackles into empty static, I shove it into my coat pocket and jam on the first pair of shoes that comes within sight, forgetting to lock the door behind me. I inhale deeply, ignoring the cold city smoke snapping at my lungs. The city skyline is a seductive string of neon lights winking in and out of thick darkness.
"Nice weather," a voice comments right in my ear, and I nearly jump ten feet into the air. Eyes wide, I look at the culprit.
"What'd you do that for?"
Gray smiles sheepishly. It reminds me of how much I miss him, when the world didn't transform him to Frostbite, when the expectations and shallow praise didn't lift him so far up that the real him began to stay trapped under an icy layer. When he was just plain old Gray.
He pulls me in closer, his frigid gloves branding three years' worth of pain into my skin.
"Lucy, I need to ask you a favor."
"How does it feel to work with the most powerful superheroes?"
I'm average compared to my friends.
"How do you keep up with the rest of them?"
Not nearly as strong.
"How did you even come to know them?"
As I push through the mass of reporters gently, I fight to keep a tight-lipped smile plastered on my face.
Always the weakest.
"So have your friends found Salamander yet?"
My façade crumbles to dust.
"-back with the daily news. Be on the lookout, Magnolia citizens. Rumors are floating around… rumors about the most wanted supervillain of all time! Yes, Salamander is on the prowl again, and there have been three alleged sightings already in the past week! Thankfully, our one and only Frostbite will continue his investigation from last year. With the help of other celebrity superheroes, notably the famous Thunder Legion team, perhaps this year will be our lucky-"
I desperately hope there is still time.
I do the one thing I know best and follow the trail of cigarette smoke.
When I arrive at the diner, the waitresses are still in a state of shock. Sighing to myself, I force my hands to pick up the shattered remains of the plates near their feet.
"Come on, bud, let's get you back up," I offer tiredly, sticking a hand out to a little toddler crying on the carpet. The adults seem to have glazed over as statues in fear, while the children are in an unraveled state of distress.
Pursing my lips, I tap on a waitress's shoulder. "Miss?"
"T-T-Titania…" she stutters out, and I give her a slow nod.
"I know, I know. She came in here again, didn't she?"
Still in shock, the waitress doesn't respond. I write my number on the back of a receipt and stuff it in her hand in case of another villain attack.
The wind slaps me immediately as I push through the double-doors, drawing my eyes to the girl I no longer recognize.
"Lucy."
"Erza."
The night under her eyes reflects the howling downpour, a stark contrast to her bleached hair now drained of crimson.
"How much?" I ask, the two words speaking ten questions.
I know she hears the underlying whispers: How much damage? How many people? How much has changed?
"How much?" I repeat. "How much money?"
Her lip quivers, and for a moment, I don't recognize her as the Titania everyone fears.
"Only a thousand for now," she says, watching as I unfold my wallet.
I hand her eight hundred, and she gives me only a wary glance before melting into the water and disappearing into the city fog.
I wonder if the smoke can thicken any further.
I am in my pajamas when the series of harsh knocks wake me up, and I am shocked to find Natsu at my doorstep.
"How-"
"I can't take it anymore, Lucy, I can't do this." His eyes are wild and glistening, and it scares me to see how much things have changed.
But I'm the calm one. I'm the one everyone relies on when they're having a bad day. Even when all my friends are celebrities and I'm just an average superhero, I have to stay calm for them.
Scurrying to the cupboard, I pull out a spoon and mug.
"Lucy, you don't have to do this…" he trails off by the door.
"Oh, I know I don't have to. But you have to explain." I nearly force him down into a chair, depositing a stack of cocoa packets in front of him.
Silent, Natsu stirs his hot chocolate thoughtfully.
"First of all, where have you been these last three years?" I feel my fingernails digging half-moons into my palm as I hold back the burning tears, but Natsu doesn't notice. "How did you even find this place? How did you even get here?"
He finally speaks up, but it's not an answer to any of my questions. "This is a nice place, but why'd you move from your old apartment?"
To pull myself together after you left, you idiot.
I grit my teeth. "Why are you here, Natsu? Answer the damn question. You can't just leave for three years and suddenly appear out of nowhere? Aren't you busy, you know, being Salamander?"
Slowly. Very, very slowly, he lowers his mug. The silence between us is fragile, brittle. His lips move, but no words are spoken.
"I'm killing cities, Lucy." His energy seems to drain with every word.
"I'm aware of that."
His head swivels around to face me, and I get a whiff of the smoky scent that clings to his shirt. His eyes are the untamed inferno.
"I'm harming innocent people. Women, children, elderly… I'm killing them."
Suddenly, I find it hard to swallow. "That's true."
He blinks once, twice. Jerkily, he stands up, ignoring the chair clattering to the ground. Hands covering his face, he paces the kitchen, shoulders heaving. Natsu never cries.
His voice is muffled. "It's heavy, Luce. The weight is so heavy."
I can do nothing but try to comfort him as he stands with his forehead pressed against the door. "I know, and I'm sorry."
He tears his hands away from his face and turns to me, and I feel nothing but fear. Fear for the villain I knew as a young boy, fear for the reason his ember eyes are raging and burning, fear for the weight that may end up crushing him.
His chest rises and falls in sharp shudders as he looks at me pleadingly.
"Release me," he begs, and what he doesn't realize is those two words unravel me completely when nothing else in life ever did. What would have made the boy I knew before Salamander, the boy with a heart too big for his body, ask me to kill him?
Before I know it, I am wiping my eyes furiously, shaking and shaking and shaking.
"Shoot, don't cry," he mutters, pulling my head into his chest. "Please don't cry for me, Luce." The warmth that radiates from him feels like home. Natsu feels like home.
"Hey Lucy, I'm home!"
"Let's go home, hm?"
"Natsu, don't just crawl through the window!"
"We're finally home, Luce."
The memories - too many, too fleeting, too nostalgic. They knock the wind out of me, leaving me gasping for air and yearning for the old days.
"Release me," he repeats gently, wrapping his arms around me. The nostalgia rising up my chest threatens to spill more tears.
His voice is an echo. "Release me."
Even after, the only sound I can hear is the crackling of a campfire ringing in my ears.
I hide myself from the public for the next few months, dodging interviews and questions from friends. After a year of isolation, I accept an invitation for an interview on national Superlacrima television.
"-name is Evergreen, and today, we have a special guest! Yes, it is our newly ranked superhero, Stardusk, otherwise known to her friends as Lucy. As of now, she is tied with Frostbite, our other star superhero, according to Sorcerer Magazine. Now tell me, Miss Heartfilia, how did you go from zero to hero last year and defeat the worst supervillain of all time?"
Ten years from Natsu's death, I am still bringing flowers to the grave.
He liked calla lilies more than any other type of flower. His nose always scrunched when he laughed. He despised raspberries, but was a sucker for my fruit smoothies.
I'm still learning to say goodbye to my first love.
Gray holds me comfortingly, taking my hand as we both bow our heads at the stone.
The cool steel of my promise ring offers me peace and progress, one step at a time. I remind myself how lucky I am to have Gray, how lucky I am that Erza is recovering from her cancer treatment, how lucky I am that I have so many people who would stand behind me.
Gray offers me his arm. Together, we watch the smoke in the distance.
We never notice the source of the smoke - a onyx-eyed villain-turned-monster in hiding.
a/n:
ohoho, things are getting interesting! if you're confused, think of this - Natsu asks Lucy to release/kill him and save the world in doing so. HOWEVER it turns out he's so powerful to the point that when she tries to kill him it transforms him (not physically, of course) into something worse. similar to END, but not really?
this story may seem familiar to you! why, you ask? i published this a few months ago (the rough draft) and forgot to add quite a few important details. forgive me for being repetitive.
reminder: this is a NALU-CENTRIC STORY. more specifically, a nalu-centric superhero au story!
this is a tentative one-shot, which means it has the potential to become a multi-chapter story. i don't know whether i should leave the ending at this or continue it (if it becomes multi-chapter it'll become a LONG multi-chapter, where this first chapter is some kind of a dramatic prologue).
please let me know via PM or reviewing! i'll be updating my other story VERY soon! sorry for the huge delay! -love, isi