Well…my sulking episode didn't last that long.

Hoo boy. This chapter. This. Freaking. Chapter. This is gonna be a wild ride, guys. I hope you have plot bomb helmets. You're gonna need them…maybe have several on backup.

Also WARNING: There will be slight male-on-female physical abuse (NOT WHAT YOU THINK) in this chapter in the second section. It will mostly be implied (I'm fighting to keep this T-rating), but if such material offends you in any way, just skip to the next section of the chapter.

Well, that's that. I hope you enjoy this chapter however you can.

Ch. 6: One For The Price Of Two

Lucy

The first thing I noticed when I came to was the cold.

…Well, cold was putting it mildly. It felt like I'd been sleeping in some sort of meat locker. The fact that my clothes weren't really cut out for warm weather didn't help much, either, and the air itself was so biting that I could barely feel that my own body was leaning on something cold and hard…rock? ice?

Second, it was pitch-dark. I couldn't see anything around me; even my hand held up to my face wasn't visible in the blackness. So I had no idea where was, and that frightened me.

First and foremost conscious thought in my head, though, was wondering how I'd gotten here…wherever here was. The last thing I remembered was standing in a forest clearing with Gray and Happy, and –

My heart leapt, and terror kicked me into overdrive once I recalled. "H-hey, is anyone here?!" I called into the darkness desperately. "Hello?! Where is this place?! Hey! C'mon, somebody get me out of here!"

"Geez, you're noisy," a new voice grumbled in the dark, echoing around what I assumed to be a large chamber. It reverberated so profusely that I couldn't pinpoint the speaker's location. "Why did I even bother with you…?"

Nevertheless, it didn't stop me from flinching at the sound of his voice. "Natsu?!" I cried. "That's you, right?! Please, tell me where I am!"

"Okay, not paying attention is one thing, but this is just being completely stupid," he said again, sounding completely peeved. "How many times do I have to say it? I'm not your friend, princess. Do I have to bring your mind up to speed every freakin' time?"

I stiffened at his words, but I didn't let up. "Well, I don't care!" I shouted in defiance. "I know that he's still in there somewhere! I know that he's fighting you!" I then stared into the dark intently. "Natsu, I know you can hear me! It's me; it's Lucy! Please, you've got to fight! You have to beat this monster no matter what and come back to us!"

He simply laughed loud and long in response, like he found my sentiment ridiculous. The sound of it bounced off the walls repeatedly. "Well, if you want to think that, then go ahead!" he proclaimed, the laughter still in his voice. "I won't stop you. I'll let you enjoy your moment under your little proverbial sun."

The room then suddenly filled with light, so spontaneous that I was momentarily blinded by the brightness. Once my eyes adjusted to the light, I looked around to see that I was in a vast cavern, with blue ice crystals adorning the walls and ceiling. The stalagmites and columns that were scattered were covered in a thin layer of ice as well, giving them a frosted look.

I stood up unsteadily. At least the ground wasn't too icy. I could stay balanced with little trouble, but I still had to be careful about where I distributed my weight – a mistake could have me fall back down again. I braced myself against the wall, ignoring the cold, as I surveyed my prison.

"Wh-where is this…?" I muttered aloud to myself, craning my neck in an attempt to see every corner of the place. "What's with all this ice?"

"A keen observation, Miss Celestial Wizard. I should award you a medal."

I flinched and whirled in the direction of the voice – I found him leaning against a particularly large column of ice rock about twenty feet to my right with his arms crossed. He was gazing at me in a way that made me shiver involuntarily. It wasn't a lecherous stare; it was…something else. Still, seeing that in my best friend's eyes angered me. It went against everything that was right with the world we lived in.

"You know, it wasn't an easy job getting you here," he went on, standing up straight. "Never mind the cold; just what do you eat, lady? Really, I had to carry you with both arms."

I bristled at the comment. "Are you calling me heavy?!" I snapped without thinking.

"Tch, what; do you want me to lie?" he asked lazily. "C'mon, with a body like that, it'd almost be a crime not to be, but I will say that it would've been totally fine if you did break that law."

I was at a complete loss for words. I couldn't believe I was actually hearing this come out of Natsu's mouth, even if it wasn't him talking. I had half a mind to yell at him for being disgusting, but I had to get my priorities straight here. I couldn't afford to mess around in this situation.

"You – you're so twisted!" I finally spat, my fists clenched. "Just what do you want with me?! Why'd you bring me here?! And – and where is here?!"

"Natsu" threw his hands up in the air in celebration. "Finally, you're asking the right questions!" he congratulated as he lowered his hands to clap. "I was wondering when you'd finally realize that you've been kidnapped. Honestly, I was surprised at how long it was taking you."

"Oh, shut up!" I yelled indignantly, slashing the air with my hand. "Just answer my questions!"

"Whatever you say, my lady," he said as he bowed to me in a mocking fashion. He then raised his head and grinned in that hungry way of his. "Why you're here…well, that's a surprise for later. And as for where this is…" He spread his arms wide in a spanning gesture. "Don't you recognize this place? You followed this idiot up here with no clue about what you were getting into, and you got abducted by a certain Vulcan. I don't blame you for trying to forget, though. It was pretty embarrassing."

The minute he mentioned the word "Vulcan", I realized what he was talking about.

"No way," I gasped. "How can we be…?"

"Oh, your stunning intellect always manages to overwhelm me," he said with a smirk. "Yeah, looks like you figured it out. We're on Mount Hakobe."

"But…why? Why here? It makes no sense!"

It really didn't make any sense to me. Mount Hakobe wasn't all that far from Magnolia at all – it was just a couple-hour carriage ride away from our guild. Why did he bother to kidnap me at all when we were so close to home? And how did the demon know all this in the first place? There was no way Natsu could have told it about all this; that was out of the question.

"Oh, no reason," he drawled carelessly, turning his back to me and shrugging. "Just thought it'd make a good backdrop while I" – he turned his head in order to look at me with a sly gleam in his eye – "entertain myself while I wait for the right time. Without being disturbed, that is."

I grew nauseous at the mere thought. If he was talking about what I thought he was talking about, I didn't know if I could stomach it for much longer. "W-wait for what?" I asked, though my voice was considerably lacking in backbone this time. "I don't get it…don't you already have what you want? You've got this body…and you're set on destroying this country, and you can do it whenever you want to, so…why're you waiting? And for what?"

"Natsu" huffed. "Well, isn't somebody asking an awful lot of questions," he mused with an exaggerated annoyed expression – though I didn't think the irritation bit was an act – as he turned around again. "Hmm, I don't know if I want to answer you. It'd ruin the fun of it all, you know."

Again with the fun. I didn't care how sociopathic this demon was; calling something like destroying Fiore and murdering countless innocents – all the while possessing my friend – fu n wasn't right in any sense of the word. I wanted more than anything to attack him, to make him pay for what he had done and was still planning to do…but something was holding me back.

"So you're not going to tell me?" I demanded, my voice trembling slightly despite myself.

"Heh, what would be the point of it? Even if I did tell you, it wouldn't help you in any way. Just a waste of breath if you ask me."

I ground my teeth together in fury. "Why, you…"

He blinked once when he looked at my face. "Ohh, there's fire in your eyes," he noted, his smirk growing even more pronounced as he stepped closer. I wanted to back away, but I couldn't move – I was frozen. "Gotta say I like that in a lady. But it looks to me that you're hesitating there for some reason." He kept coming closer step by step, but I still couldn't get my legs to respond to my pleas. "Is it too cold for you here? Is that why you're not moving? Or is it possible…" He stood right in front of me now, leaning in so close I could see the flecks of gray in his dark eyes. Even now, I couldn't move a muscle. "…that you're scared?" he breathed, his hot breath tickling my cheek.

At that point, instinct kicked in. My body didn't care how terrified I was of the person standing in front of me – since he was a threat, he had to be eliminated, to be repelled, and it didn't matter that I didn't have the strength to fight back. My arm went up, my fingers curled into a fist, and I struck "Natsu" square in the face as hard as I could while I yelled, "STAY AWAY FROM MEEEEE!"

Once I got my bearings back, I watched in astonishment as he stumbled back several feet close to his initial position, out of range from my punches. I could see that I didn't do much damage (if anything, I think that I'd either broken a knuckle somewhere or his skin had burned me – my hand felt searing hot), but the fact that I managed to push him back that far surprised me, adrenaline-fueled or not.

"Wh-whoa…" I marveled as I stared at my hands. "How did I do that?"

"Natsu" rubbed his face in wonder, hissing in surprise. "Ugh, what the hell was that…that hit had a huge amount of weight…" He peeked through his fingers to stare at me in incredulity. "That was ridiculous. It shouldn't have been possible considering your body size!"

My rage flared up again. "Keep poking fun like that and I'll show you that there's more where that came from!" I threatened heatedly, balling both my hands into fists and trying to hold a defensive stance. "You're gonna be sorry you ever messed with Fairy Tail! And you'll be sorry for hurting our friend like this!" I didn't have any basis for that threat; that had probably just been a lucky shot, but I had nothing else going for me – I'd realized beforehand that both my keys and whip weren't on my person anymore. He'd probably confiscated them once we'd gotten here, but I wasn't about to back down just because I was weaponless.

Abruptly "Natsu" materialized right in front of me in an impossible amount of time considering his distance from me earlier. His expression was completely different now – it was filled with pure hate and malice, and his eyes were craving carnage. It was at that moment that I realized that taunting the demon possessing a person with the powers of a dragon wasn't the smartest thing to do.

"Well, I see that our little lady friend wants to play rough," he murmured into my ear, his tone deadly quiet. I could feel the heat radiating from his body increasing in temperature by the word. "In that case, I'll be more than happy to oblige. However, I'd advise you to be more careful about what you wish for, because…" His hand clamped like a vise around my neck, choking me and rendering me immobile. "…it just might come true."

Before I could so much as even think about struggling, he ignited his hand in flame and set my entire body on fire.


Natsu

I couldn't watch this. There was no way. This went against everything I lived for and trampled all my beliefs into the dust. I'd made it a policy to never hurt anyone in cold blood – but here I was, unable to do anything but watch and listen as I burned Lucy's whole body and listened to her screams of pain.

That was the thing – what my friends probably didn't know was that I'd been conscious this entire time. I'd heard everything they'd said to the demon once they'd found me, felt it when Lucy kicked me into a tree trunk, and seen myself knock Lucy unconscious and bring her all the way up here to Mount Hakobe. I could sense everything; the only thing I couldn't do right now was take charge of the rest of my body and mind. I was essentially trapped in my own body, and I couldn't control what went on around me.

It didn't matter if the demon was the one actually trying to hurt her. In everyone else's eyes, it would be me that would be torturing a fellow innocent friend and guild mate.

And just now, I did hear Lucy's words to me. I did hear her telling me to fight, to force this demon into submission. That was something I wanted to do more than anything, and believe me, I've tried, but none of my efforts made any difference. The demon had closed me off; it wouldn't listen to what I was saying anymore – nothing I did affected it at all, but it did go the other way around. I was at a threshold here, and I was on the verge of crossing it. There was literally nothing I could do to break free on my own – that was the whole reason I'd forced Lucy into that promise in the first place, no matter how guilty I'd felt doing it.

The demon wouldn't let Lucy go, and she just kept on shrieking in agony and pleading for it to stop and let her go. I wanted to make it stop hurting her, stop the noise – something, anything. But I was still helpless. I didn't want to watch, but it purposely kept my eyes open wide and unblinking, forcing me to lay my eyes upon the suffering it was laying down on my friend by my hand. I could feel him grinning with my face at the sight of Lucy writhing and screaming, and it was laughing at the amount of torture he was bringing down on me by making me witness this. I was extremely aware of the leather pouch that I knew contained Lucy's Gate Keys pressing against my chest underneath my coat, but I had no way to give it back to her. And her whip was dangling on a jagged spire at the other side of this cavern, way too far for her to reach. Lucy was completely powerless to defend herself as the demon beat her, and that was ripping my heart open.

But even that was nothing compared to watching this happen – watching myself torturing Lucy in cold blood. That just about tore my entire chest a new one.

Are you watching this, Natsu?I heard its thoughts reverberating through my head. Are you having fun? I do wonder what all your admirers and friends will say when they see this, because they won't know that it's not you. Oh, I can just see it now…the aftermath of the glorious destruction…

All at once, a flood of images assaulted my mind – all my friends at Fairy Tail, their expressions one of horror and disgust as they watched me burn Magnolia down to the ground, starting with our precious guild hall – the somber and silently furious masks of the Magic Council members as they sent out the "kill on sight" order to every wizard guild in the kingdom – blood that wasn't mine staining my hands, my clothes, my entire body – Lucy's charred corpse burned beyond recognition left in a heap on the cold, hard ground –

STOP IT! I screamed all at once in terror. STOP IT; STOP SHOWING ME THOSE AWFUL THINGS! STOP HURTING HER! JUST LEAVE US ALONE!

I wished more than anything to cover my eyes, my ears, just cut off all my senses and avoid having to suffer through this torture, but the demon was heartless, unforgiving. It forced me to watch, it forced me to listen, it forced me to see its twisted thoughts, and I didn't know how far I could make it without my mind snapping under the pressure. I could see into its warped mind just as well as it could see into mine…if it wanted to. I had no choice in the matter. It wouldn't let up, and the words and images flowing into my head were just so disjointed and nonsensical that it practically suffocated me.

"How'd you like this, little lady?" the demon whispered in my voice, finally dropping her. I saw her limp body curl up on the cold ground, and she wasn't moving. My heart leapt in dread – she couldn't possibly be –

C'mon, Lucy, I prayed desperately. Don't do this to me. You can't die on me! You're stronger than this; I know you are! Get up!

To my immense relief, I saw that Lucy was still alive and kicking once her fingers twitched and clenched into a fist after a moment.

"I won't…go out like this…" Lucy struggled to her knees despite the burn scars on her, and she shot me – or in this case, the demon – a murderous glare from her hunched position. "It…would be bad…for our guild…"

The demon narrowed my eyes in disgust at her defiance. "Now, now; this isn't the time for you to be worried about your precious reputation," it said ominously. "Or do you want your little friends to find your charred cadaver in an ice cavern because you couldn't keep your pretty little mouth shut?"

It then raised an arm and smacked Lucy to the side. Lucy, being in no shape to move out of the way, yelled in pain as she was sent flying into the middle of the chamber and slammed against something hard. I couldn't see it because the demon didn't turn my head to look at her (thankfully), but I winced at the sound of the impact because I could still tell that had been a huge blow for her in her state. I mean, I had strong arms; I knew how destructive I could be and how much damage I could dish out. To me it was just a punch, but it must've felt like a sledgehammer to her. Plus I'd felt the rawness of her burned skin against the back of my hand so badly that the scars alone nearly punctured my skin.

You bastard; I told you to leave her alone! I screamed. LISTEN TO ME, DAMN IT! STOP IGNORING ME!

The demon went right on continuing to do just that as he turned around to see where he'd sent Lucy flying. She was crumpled against another, larger pillar of ice rock, with shards of ice crystals embedded in her skin making her bleed and worsen the burn scars she'd gotten seconds earlier. She was somehow still conscious, and she was still glaring at me – the demon – with the same hate as before. As shaken as I was at her condition and the very fact that I was letting this happen, I couldn't help but admire the pluckiness that made her so special at work here. She had a determined gleam in them, too, which showed me that she had no intention of caving in to the demon's assault.

"Oh, what's with that fiery look?" the demon asked coldly as it advanced on her slowly. "Something else you want to say before I start breaking you?"

Lucy put a scarred hand against the pillar she'd been thrown against, and then painfully pulled herself to her feet – at least, it seemed like that to me. She grunted and gasped in pain every time she moved even a little bit, and she stumbled a couple times, but she eventually was on her feet again, standing up as straight as she could. She was still glaring at the demon, but…it felt different this time. Her gaze was piercing clear through – so I knew that she wasn't glowering at the demon anymore, and my heart clenched at that realization.

She was looking at me.

"Now you listen real carefully," she ordered furiously, jabbing a finger at me. "You may beat my body into a pulp as much as you like, but I won't let something like this break me! I know you won't forgive me if I let that happen! I'll do whatever it takes to beat you out, so promise me that you'll fight too! Or else you'll be in for the punishment of your life once this is all over; you hear me?! We're not going to let you off easy for giving up on us just because you're Natsu!"

I could feel the demon's utter confusion and bafflement at her words as it blinked my eyes trying to comprehend what she was saying, but I understood her perfectly – because she was talking to me, and she knew I was listening. Right now, the demon was nonexistent – it was just me and her.

And I loved her even more for that.

That's right; how could I have forgotten this? Every problem had a solution. There were a bunch of options I could have taken in order to try and fix this. And the words giving up were never supposed to be in Fairy Tail's vocabulary. I technically wasn't a member anymore, but that couldn't stop me from having the same heart that I always had when I still had been one. I owed Lucy big time for reminding me just who I was. Big time.


"Just how long are you going to delude yourself?" the demon growled at her (which was weird since I'd never noticed how scary I sounded whenever I got angry). "Your friend is gone, and he isn't coming back! Get that through that bleached brain of yours!"

"Shut up, you freak show!" she shouted, slashing the air with her hand. The ice shards that had buried themselves in her skin flew off her arm as she did this, and most of the others had melted by that point. "I wasn't talking to you and I'm not going to believe another one of your lies! I know my friend is in there, and he'll definitely be taking back what's his! You can't stop him no matter what trick you use because the Salamander isn't someone who knows when to quit!"

In spite of the situation, I couldn't help but laugh silently to myself at her sheer guts. Well, that's Lucy for ya…

"Bold statement," the demon hissed venomously (okay, now that was creepy-sounding). "Let's see if you can deliver on it!"

I could feel its uncertainty as it set my hand on fire for another round of Lucy Piñata, which was a big mistake on its part – because I finally found an opening. It was at that point that I realized that the reason I couldn't fight back before was that the demon had strong confidence in itself and its plan and it didn't waver in its standing. Now that it was losing that sureness, it grew more vulnerable, and its fortifications around both our minds were starting to crumble – which meant I could fight back. I already knew that I would by no means be able to keep it at bay forever (I still made them make that promise to me for a damn good reason), but I could do it long enough in order to give Lucy an edge over it…or me. Geez, this was ridiculously confusing.

And don't you dare make fun. Why don't you try being two different people at once and see how you like it?

Alright, you freaky demon, I declared, startling it beyond measure – it had heard me this time. That was all I needed. You heard my friend, right? I'll be taking back my body for a bit!

"Wh-what?!" it cried in alarm as the fire went out and my hand clenched over my heart. "H-how did this – what'd you do?!"

Well, it looks like you were the one not paying attention this time, wise guy, I said in accusation. Didn't Lucy just get done saying it? Take a page out of your own book, why don't ya?

Lucy looked surprised at the demon's sudden strange behavior, but then her scarred face broke into a grin once she realized what was happening.

"Natsu!" she cried, her voice full of unbridled hope. "Don't stop fighting! Keep going!"

Hell yeah, I will, I said confidently. You hear that, demon? Go on and take a back seat. My friend and I are gonna chat for a while!

"Rrrgh…HOW DARE YOU!" it bellowed in unadulterated rage.

That's all out of you, I ordered. Now beat it!

The demon roared again defiantly, but I managed to cut it off once I got back the feeling in the rest of my body – including my heart, which was beating so furiously I was afraid it would burst from the stress. The rhythm of my body felt so off to me that I wasn't ready for the strain the moment I got back in control, so I stumbled and fell down to my hand and knees, gasping for some precious air with a hand on my chest as I struggled to numb the pain somehow.

"Natsu!" Lucy cried again, this time in fear as she ran over to where I was kneeling and got down to her own knees, placing her hand on my shoulder and squeezing. "Natsu, it's you, right? Are you okay? Come on, talk to me!"

I raised my head with some difficulty and looked into Lucy's brown eyes, which were filled with nothing but concern. She wasn't even afraid of the possibility that it could have easily not been me, but she trusted me to have succeeded…which, of course, I did.

"Lucy," I managed to croak in between the gasping. Man, I sounded horrible. I sounded like I was dying.

She took that as a confirmation that it was really me, and tears began welling up and spilling out of her eyes. "Natsu…thank goodness…you're back…"

"Yeah…it's me." I winced as the pain in my heart spiked for a brief moment – the demon was fighting back. I didn't have much time. "Lucy…listen to me for a sec."

"Huh?" She looked slightly taken aback through the tears, but I knew I had her attention.

"Well, the truth is," I said slowly as I lowered my head again, breathing as rhythmically as possible to keep from hyperventilating, "I can't…keep the demon at bay forever…so I need to tell you everything…as fast as I can…before it comes back."

That news didn't sit well with her at all. She looked indignant as she demanded, "What are you saying, Natsu?! Don't tell me you're giving up again!" She gingerly wiped the tears away from her eyes and went back to glowering at me. "You're telling me that fought your way out just to say that you can't keep it up?!"

"Look, it's a miracle that…I managed to fight at all," I countered heavily, struggling to raise my head again. "And I have…no idea how much longer…I can stay like this…so just let me talk while…I still can. Please, Lucy!"

That shut her up. She went white-faced and silent, and I took that chance to start spilling.

"First…let me say that…I'm sorry," I began, massaging my chest. "I didn't mean to…leave you like that in…the middle of the night…but I had to."

"No, it's okay!" she cried, putting both hands on my shoulders now. "You had no choice but to leave; if you'd stayed, the demon would've hurt more people!"

I managed a grin through the exhaustion. "Well…that's good to hear…" I paused mid-sentence to cough a couple times – crap, this wasn't a good sign. Was I talking too much? Was I pushing it?

"Natsu!" Lucy said in terror. "Please, you shouldn't talk anymore! You're using up too much energy!"

"I'm fine." I took a huge breath and kept going. "And another thing…everything starts tonight."

"What?"

"That's what this…demon's waiting for," I breathed heavily. It was even harder to speak coherently now, but I didn't stop. I could feel the beads of sweat running down my face as I tried to keep talking through the squeezed sponge that was my set of chest muscle. "The deadline…the one it set…the day before…when it all started…"

"The deadline is tonight?!" she repeated in disbelief. "That's why it's waiting?!"

I nodded once, which made my head spin so much I almost threw up. I made a mental note telling me that I wasn't going to be doing that again.

"And here…" I managed to move the hand I'd placed on my chest to the inside of my coat. My fingers found the smooth feel of leather, and I closed my fist around it and brought it out, handing the pouch to her. "Take this back…it's your keys."

Lucy gasped as she took the pouch from me. "My Gate Keys!" she exclaimed as my arm lost its strength and hung limply. "But how was it…?"

"The demon searched you," I began explaining with difficulty, "and took everything you…could've used to fight back…it decided to keep…the keys on me, but…your whip was…"

"My whip…" She scanned the cavern briefly before looking back at me, her expression expectant. "Where is it?"

I raised my arm again (which was stupidly hard; it felt like an overcooked noodle) and pointed to the other side of the cavern over her shoulder, where the whip hung on a spire at eye level. She turned to look in the direction I pointed, and flushed once she saw where it was.

"It…it was there the whole time?" she said weakly. "How did I miss that?"

"I guess…you just didn't look hard enough."

Her face went even redder in fury and embarrassment, but I didn't give her a chance to retort. Now wasn't the time for that.

"Hurry…you've got to…get out of here," I panted wearily now, looking at Lucy's eyes directly in urgency. "You have to…go and…warn everyone…"

Lucy's expression immediately cleared at those words. "But – I can't leave you here, Natsu!" she protested. "I can't leave you like this! You need help!"

I gave a shuddering sigh as my head once again hung from my shoulders. "Do you really…think it'll be…a good idea…to take me back…?" I muttered to her testily. "You already know…why I left…in the first place…right?"

Lucy hesitated. "Well…yeah, but –"

"Not just that," I interrupted (the abruptness of it making me cough a couple times), "but you also know…it'll be even worse…if you stay here."

Lucy blanched at that, and I knew I had her. If she took me back, the demon would just regain control and decide to hurt all of my friends. If she chose to stay here, it would still come back, and it would take extra precautionary measures to keep me or her from pulling a fast one on it a second time, which wouldn't be good for either of us.

"Grab your whip and go," I said firmly. "I can't go with you…and you can't stay. It should be obvious what you have to do…you already know, right?"

Lucy bit her lip, her eyes watering with fresh tears as she held her keys to her heart. "But Natsu…"

This was bad. The pain in my heart was getting worse by the second, and I still couldn't convince her to leave. She was afraid of leaving me behind and losing me again. I had to pull out all the stops in order to reassure her before the demon came back.

You'll pay dearly, the demon roared in my head, albeit in a strangely muffled and echoing voice. Mark my words; you'll pay dearly for this, Natsu Dragneel!

I did my best to ignore it as I pulled away from Lucy's grip and struggled to push myself to my feet. It wasn't easy since my knees felt like it was the consistency of jelly, but I managed to stand after a couple more seconds of effort, using Lucy's shoulders as the brace. I was breathing so hard my lungs felt like bursting, and I couldn't talk for a longer amount of time than I would've liked, but I'd have to make-do.

Damn it all, Lucy, I thought to myself. Why do you have to be so nice all the time?

"Lucy," I finally said aloud through the panting, "don't worry about me; it'll be okay. You won't lose me. I promise."

She didn't say anything in response, but just kept on looking at me with pleading eyes, silently begging me for the answer she wanted. But I couldn't give that to her…not yet.

After a brief moment, she eventually realized that I wasn't going to give, and she couldn't stay silent anymore.

"Why?" she asked at last, her voice breaking. "Why are you doing this, Natsu? Why do you keep pushing me away? Why won't you let me help? I'm your friend!"

I closed my eyes briefly before I stared her in the eyes again. "While the demon was in control…" I began, ignoring the sandpapery sensation in my throat and lungs, "…I could…see everything that it saw…feel everything it felt…and hear everything that it heard. I was there the whole time. I didn't miss a word any of you guys said…and my back still aches from when you kicked me into that tree," I added with a ghost of a smile, causing her to blush furiously again and prompting a feeble chuckle out of me, "so I'm just letting you know…I was never gone. And I'll still be here when the demon comes back. I want you…and everybody else to know that. That's why…" I tightened my hold on her shoulders in an attempt to get the message across, and pulled her closer to me so that we were practically nose to nose. "…that's why you have to go back by yourself. Tell them everything I just told you. You have to. They need to know all this – especially if you want to save me."

I pulled away again once I finished talking, but I didn't let her go (otherwise I would just fall down again). That was it. I'd done it. I'd finally told her everything. If she didn't believe me now, it was the end of our home, our friendship…our world. Everything.

Lucy was quiet, absorbing all the information that I'd given her. After a minute, one thought seemed to strike her – and judging from the horrified expression on her face, it wasn't a pleasant one.

"You mean…you saw and heard everything this whole time?" she asked me, her voice trembling slightly as she gingerly traced the myriad of burn scars and puncture wounds on her forearms. "Everything?"

I immediately realized what she was getting at. As much as I didn't want to confirm it, it wasn't something I could lie to her about. She'd already put two and two together and figured it out on her own.

I exhaled, shuddering from the movement as I replied reluctantly, "…Yeah."

All at once, she started crying again, the tears spilling from them like a fountain coming to life, and I could make no move to stop her.

"That…that's just…" She choked back the rest of her tears as she covered her face. "Natsu, I…I'm so sorry…I didn't think that you'd be…that must've been awful…"

"Don't be sorry." I chuckled weakly. "It wasn't your fault."

"But…"

Her protest was cut short when I felt something invisible slice through my chest, forcing a sharp wince out of me and bringing me to my knees again.

"Natsu!" Lucy cried, lowering herself to my level in an attempt to help me.

I won't stand for this any longer! the demon bellowed, its voice significantly louder this time. This girl will be the first to die!

Terror shot through my aching chest, and I quickly pushed Lucy away, toward the other end of the cavern. My body was getting numb; I was losing feeling. The demon was fighting harder now, and it would come back any minute.

Lucy looked downright startled at my sudden hostility. "Wh-what is –?"

"Run now, Lucy!" I managed to yell in spite of my breathlessness. "It's coming back!"

Lucy got to her feet unsteadily. Her expression was torn. "Natsu, I –"

"I said RUN!" I shouted, cutting her off. My vision was getting blurry now. "It wants to kill you!"

"But –"

"JUST QUIT WASTING YOUR TIME WITH ME AND GET OUT OF HERE!" I screamed at last, choking as the words came out. I was on the verge of collapsing to the ground, and I fought with all my might to stay upright. "OR DO YOU WANT US BOTH TO DIE?!"

That jogged Lucy into action. She quickly turned on her heel and fled from the cavern, snatching her whip off the spire as she passed it into the darkness of the rest of the cave.

As I watched her go, I smiled to myself before the sharp pain in my chest intensified and everything went blank. I'd succeeded. She had finally listened to my advice and believed my words.

Even the lie.


Huh. Writing Natsu in this chapter was pretty interesting.

This was a toughie to write for multiple reasons, but I hope this came out satisfactory. This is my most popular story so far, and I guess that sort of went to my head before I tried working on this, which dissuaded me quite a bit. I'll try to curb that from now on; I promise.

That said, difficult as it was I really enjoyed writing this chapter. I was just breaking both Natsu and Lucy left and right…yes, I enjoyed that. You may condemn me now.

And yes, I know that Happy didn't show up here in spite of what I said last chapter. I never said that all three of them would speak in a single given chapter, did I? He'll be in the next update; I promise.

Well, I hope to see you all (and Happy) back in my next chapter!