Author's Note: Welcome back!

Fairy Tail belongs to the amazing Hiro Mashima.

Chapter Ten:

Kek's Proposal

Everything remains peaceful as a slight breeze picks up in the Palace Gardens. The sun is reflecting off the white marble floors with the specks of gold, and the different flowers surrounding the pathways seem to glow as the sun hits them just right. The palm trees blew in the wind, making a rustling sound.

All of this made the area around Lucy comforting in this strange world she entered two weeks ago. It gives her tranquility without worrying about the violence happening outside the castle walls. It worries her every day not knowing what can happen, so she tries to seek peace where she can find it. She has Dan to lean on if something is worrying her, and surprisingly enough, she also has Cobra since he can read her before she knows what it going on herself. She also has her spirits, which gives her more comfort.

As strange as it is for her, she has a feeling Cobra has been looking out for her lately. Its something she isn't used to, but she finds it a little sweet of him to go out of his way to do that. She knows he isn't that bad deep down; he has a haunting past that led him to become part of the Oracion Seis. She remembers Erza Scarlet mentioning something about the Oracion Seis being slaves as kids at the Tower of Heaven. That is the only reason why she knows about it, and she knows Cobra knows she knows, too.

Lucy flipped through another page of the book she is reading, or the book Cobra suggested she looks at to help gain more information. It is a book about the evil Gods and Goddesses in this world. She thinks this will help her and the Poison Dragon Slayer get a lead with Setekh and Kek, but she has found nothing to help them so far. The book is filled with helpful information dating back to the beginning of time, but nothing seems to giving her any idea about Dan's two sketchy helpers.

She hums as she turns another page, but then something catches her eye. It's a picture of a God, one who looks strong and powerful in a red and black formfitting suit. He has fangs like a snake and eyes as red as blood. The more she looks at the God the more she finds a resemblance to someone in the castle; she can tell from the facial features. Something is telling her to look at this page. Something is saying that this is a key to getting answers.

As the world is filled with many good things, there has to be the bad to balance everything out. The world is filled with chaos, war and bloodshed, since many invasions have taken place over thousands of years. The fear of deserts and sandstorms plague the minds of the people, for the land is unpredictable. Yet all of this is caused by one God, and his name is Set.

Set is the God of the desert, storms, disorder, violence, and foreigners. He is the one who brings all sorts of chaos to the land, and has attacked the other Gods. He is an enemy of Osiris and Horus, brother and nephew to him. He once cut Osiris into fourteen pieces, and spread them across the land. As mythology has it, Osiris' wife, Isis, found his pieces and put him back together, resurrecting him soon after.

Conflict between those two Gods has been going on for thousands of years, and will most likely continue on in the future. Whenever conflict happens, Set's son Anubis, God of mummification and the afterlife, is unclear on which side he fights for, troubling his father greatly.

Set has been known to go down into the Human World to cause chaos among the people, or when he has a plan boiling up in the World of Gods. He goes by different names each time he goes down, and these names are Seth, Setesh, Sutekh, Suty, and finally, Setekh.

Lucy gasped as her eyes widened. She feels her body start to tense as she read over the names Set goes by, and it all started to click together in her mind. The red glow from Setekh's eyes and the time she saw his teeth as the feast. It also explains the magic power she feels coming from him whenever he is around. "Setekh" is just a fake name to hide himself when he comes down to the Human World, for "Set" is his true name.

Setekh is Set, an evil God.

It all makes sense to Lucy now; things coming to life and peaceful towns turning violent are his work. Everything makes sense to her, and she has a feeling Dan is right now being a pawn in whatever plan Set has brewing in his mind. This disgusts Lucy, but she hasn't found anything concerning Kek. This makes her think about the little guy a little more, wondering what he is doing in allegiance to Set.

She looked on the other page to see if there is anything about Kek, and much to her delight, there is something. She sees that there is not much on him except that he is the deification of primordial darkness. The information is small, but as Lucy looks towards the sky and sees how it is a dark purple, she knows Kek is causing it. The two are conspiring with each other for some reason. She concludes. But what is the real question. Hopefully Cobra has something for me when I see him. She sighs at the thought; the poor man hasn't been finding anything lately, which means he either sucks at his job or he really hasn't found anything. Lucy is hoping for the later.

A creaking sound echoed throughout the gardens, drawing Lucy from the book. She looks forward to where the door is, wondering if it is Dan coming to talk to her, but she is disappointed when she sees the small hunched-back figure of Kek walking around. He looks anxious, like someone is going to attack him at any moment, and is twirling his fingers around by his chest. His nose seems to look a little bigger to Lucy, but she focused her eyes somewhere else.

Then she remembers the book she has in front of her, and feels the hairs on her body stick up as an unsettling feeling enters her stomach. If Kek sees her with the book he will know she is doing research on the Gods, and possibly blow her and Cobra's cover. She started to scan the area around her in hopes of finding a place to hide the book, yet to her despair, there is no place to quickly hide it. She bit her bottom lip as she thought about the book's cover. There is no words or descriptions on the back of it, so maybe if she held the top to her chest it will hide it.

She did exactly that, and held it close to her chest with both arms, sitting up straighter in her spot next to the fountain in the middle of the garden. She hugged the book to her chest as Kek stopped a couple of feet away from her. His eyes gave her a curious look as he examined the book in her arms, quickly going back up to her face to see if her facial expression will give anything away. Lucy just smiled at the short man, hiding any signs of her inner thoughts.

"Hello, Kek," Lucy greeted as nice as she possibly could. "What brings you here?"

Kek shyly smiled at her as he brought his hands to a standstill. They are now folded neatly in front of him as a wave of confidence washed over him. This made Lucy raise her eyebrows at him, but she still held on to a small smile even though she wanted to punch his nose in.

His aurora seems a little different to Lucy; much more powerful and dark. This made her wary of what he might do or say. She knows she can handle whatever he throws at her, but she will have to be on her toes.

"I'm here to bring you fabulous news," Kek mentioned as he walked a little closer to her, making Lucy uncomfortable. "Something that shall bring two people joy."

"And that is?"

"A proposal, Miss Lucy. Setekh has taken an interest in you, and wants to have your hand in marriage. It is this world's custom to feel gracious about someone has high ranked as him to want your hand." exclaimed Kek as a slight grin expanded his lips.

Lucy stopped breathing. This is not what she expected to happen when Kek walked through the doors leading to the Palace Gardens. A proposal? That just seems like bogus to her, nor does she want to do it. She has only known the man for two weeks, and even then she has sensed evil coming from him. As if she will fall into his hands.

This all brought back memories of when Phantom Lord attacked Fairy Tail because her father wanted her back to marry her off to some guy. She feels exactly the same now as she did back then; angry, sad, surprised… so many emotions. Her hands balled into fists as her breathing came back, but more uneven. Her face started to turn a little red with anger, her hands turning white from the strong grip on the book. How dare Setekh ask this of me! She thought angrily as she looked up at Kek. Her eyes are burning with a fierce fire that can wipe out an entire forest, or in this case, the short man standing in front of her.

"I know this may seem a little daunting," Kek slowly said as he took in the look of anger Lucy is sending his way. "But think about all the benefits that can come with this marriage. The money will come at an abundance, and worrying about food will never be an issue. You will have a magnificent home with a bunch of land, and best of all, it will seem like the world will be at your finger tips."

What Lucy heard flew over her head as she thought about what to say to Kek. She knows what her answer will be, but if she has to give a reason why, she needs to come up with something.

"My answer is no." Lucy firmly told Kek. "I decline this proposal."

Kek looked taken back at the hard tone she just used, but then something happened Lucy did not expect.

A dark look started to grow over Kek's face, like a storm covering up the sky as the rain starts to pour. His eyes flashed a dangerous red as his back suddenly seemed to get a little straighter. The air seemed to pick up around the garden as the sky up above started to turn from purple to a dark grey. His timid manner disappeared in the blink of an eye as an evil look replaced everything.

One of Lucy's arms quickly tore away from the book to rest on her keys, her eyes glaring into his as she felt a dark aurora surround him. This isn't good… she thought to herself as she started to look at the area around her. She is looking for a way out incase he is about to strike. Her mind then unexpectedly drifted to Cobra, and deep in her bones, she feels the need to have him near her - to help her in this situation. She has fought many tough criminals during her time as a wizard, but not a God. She can only hold him off for so long before it starts to turn in Kek's favor.

"And why is that?" Kek's voice got suddenly low and clear as he started to slowly change back to his normal self, but the dark aurora never left. "Is it that buffoon Cobra? You two seem close."

Lucy's cheeks suddenly grew warm at the mention of Cobra. She feels a little funny as she thought about him, but she pushed everything aside as she started to stand up, making her taller than Kek. She then tucked the book under one of her arms, and glared down at the shorter man.

"My answer remains the same. I'm sticking to it, do you understand?" declares Lucy, not going into detail with Cobra. She does feel something for him, but she has yet to determine what that is.

Kek looks like he is about to say something to her, but then the sound of the door opening stopped him from saying anything. The two looked towards the entrance, each with different expressions. Lucy's is nervous yet angry, and she is hoping that it is not Setekh coming to intrude on the conversation. She sees Kek even angrier now since their conversation was disturbed.

Cobra is seen rushing through the door with his one eye looking around for something. His one eye settles on Lucy and Kek after scanning the area, but then his rushed expression turns to one of annoyance. His canines are showing and his eye is shooting daggers at the tiny man.

Lucy feels relieved that it is Cobra who walked through the doors and not Setekh, or else she would have been in major trouble. Relief is washing over her like a waterfall, but as she reads Cobra's body language, she sees he is angry about something. She knows he is trying to keep himself composed, but its seems like he is hiding something. That doesn't take the fact away from how happy she is to see him.

"Cobra…" Lucy whispers with a small smile as one of her hands goes to the middle of her chest in a little ball.

Cobra walks past Kek and stands beside Lucy. He is standing three inches away from her, letting her know he is there. She almost leans into him, but resists due to Kek standing in front of them.

Kek is left standing there, staring at the two mages in front of him. He can see the companionship between the two wizards, yet he sees something else there he does not like.

"It seems like you have other people to keep you company… I will be on my way." Kek said to them with a small bow of his head, and turned on his heel to start walking out of the Palace Gardens.

The two mages watched the short man leave the area with the door slowly closing behind him. They both started to relax as the air around them started to turn normal, and as Lucy looked up towards the sky, she sees the dark grey sky turn back to purple. The wind around them started to die down to a nice, comforting breeze, making Lucy feel a little safer than she did a couple of moments ago. As she looked to her left at Cobra, she sees he feels the same.

He then turns to look at her with his one eye. "What the hell happened?"

Lucy sighed as she sat back down on the stone fountain, laying the book on her lap. Prior events ran though her mind, making her feel uneasy, but she starts to wonder why Cobra hasn't bluntly said anything about the proposal. She figures he wants to hear it come out of her own mouth and use her words, which she respects.

"Setekh… wants my hand in marriage," sighs Lucy as she rubs her upper arms with her hands. "I declined the offer for obvious reasons, but it almost seemed like Kek was going to force me into it. I don't know the customs of this world, but that is not right."

She hears Cobra hum at her words, but soon feels a comforting hand on her left shoulder. His hand is touching her shoulder lightly, almost as if he doesn't know how to properly comfort someone, yet she appreciates the little connection. There are no words needed, for their body language is just enough communication.

"I have found something," Cobra mentions a few moments later. "It is of importance."

Lucy looks up at him surprised, and yanks him down on the fountain next to her. He glares at her as he almost fell back into the water, but she taps her foot on the stone beneath her. He sighs as he folds his arms over his chest as he prepares to tell her the information he has found.

"Dan showed me a passageway to tunnels underneath the castle, and told me what I could possibly find in there. They are old and not taken care of except for one of them. The first place I went to was a jail for prisoners of war, where their skeletons still lay. Those skeletons look like they haven't been taken care of for ages, but when I entered a catacomb, some of the skeletons looked like they have been recently taken care of. Their armor is still new and their weapons are still in good shape," Cobra explained as he tried to figure out what it all means.

"Anything else?" asks Lucy.

"I'm getting to it! Anyway, I followed the catacomb to a door and behind that door lead to a room used for generals. I found Kek and Setekh there talking to each other. They looked different, had a much more powerful feel, and Setekh went with a new name that also begins with 'S'…" Cobra trailed off as he thought about what Setekh is actually called. "Yet that isn't the only thing that stuck out to me. They mentioned about taking this whole land under their control starting from this castle, and from a place called Uruk. That is all I gathered."

Lucy hums as she thought about what Cobra told her. She knows he is telling her the truth, yet she feels like he is hiding something else from her. She just nods her head as she took in everything, but then she started to open up the book on her lap to the pages she wants Cobra to read.

"Setekh's real name is Set. He looks like this, right?" Lucy asks as she hands the book over to Cobra, who slowly takes it from her. "He is a God, not a mortal man, and the same is with Kek. They're evil Gods, too, and they seem to be working together."

Cobra growls as he read the paper, smashing the book back together. "That explains something Dan told us. They are disturbing the Gods in their little world because they are trying to take it over, but that isn't all of it. They want to take this one as well."

"That explains the people and animals turning into skeleton creatures, and the dead coming to life!" Lucy concluded as her eyes lit up with realization.

"No shit, Sherlock," Cobra mumbles, but he growls when Lucy suddenly takes the book from his hands and smacks him with it. "Ow…"

"Suck it up. We have to warn Dan with what is going on; he can't trust those two!" exclaims Lucy as she starts to stand up. "If this is the case, then the two of us have to set out sooner than we think. We can't waste time here waiting for the scouts to return."

Cobra stood up with her as he rubs the painful bump on his head, glaring and hissing at her. He is trying to see why he deserved the smack, but from reading Lucy he knows she is right now annoyed with him. This is what I get for worrying about her? He thinks angrily to himself, but then he feels himself freeze a little. I should have told her what they thought of her, but what Kek asked seemed to cover that already… He concludes.

Lucy starts to walk away from the fountain towards the entrance to the Palace Gardens with Cobra following not far behind.

Yet the door slams open as Dan comes running in, his chest heaving and his breathing heavy. Lucy stands there surprised while Cobra stands there calmly, knowing that this was going to happen.

"The scouts are returning!" Dan breathed out. "We must greet them at the castle's entrance! Now, now!"

Lucy shivers a little from the urgent tone he is using, and starts to run behind him. She is gripping the book in her hand as she ran, thinking and wondering what the scouts will return with.

Cobra isn't too far behind them, but he already knows what Dan's urgency is about. His face grew grim as he read Dan, not liking what he is about to be faced with.

Sorry about taking forever to get this thing uploaded. I had a lot going on the past few days, which made it a little difficult to write and edit. I hope you all enjoyed this! Please review below if you think this was a good chapter, or if I need to improve the characters a little more. I know I have to work on Cobra, so any advice is welcome.

I apologize for any spelling and/or grammar mistakes. They simply escaped my eyes while editing.

Coming soon to The Cursed World:

Chapter Eleven: The Truth Is Revealed