HEY Y'ALL! ok so as I mentioned in the NEW Chapter uploaded today this took a long time because I was in a well deserved Holiday Vacation, so, I apologize! But to make up for my minor disappearance, I uploaded both update to this chapter and the new chapter XD

-A-

"Every betrayal contains a perfect moment, a coin stamped heads or tails with salvation on the other side"

Barbara Kingsolver

*Previously*

She pulled her key and unlocked the door quickly, although Vincent had agreed to go their separate ways, she didn't trust him enough yet to be sure he wouldn't run back to Fukuro to give him information; she got inside and rested her forehead on the door. The room was dark and only slightly visible due to the moonlight entering through her window.

"Hey Luce…" she immediately gasped at the hoarse sound coming from behind her, she felt her heart sink all the way to her stomach, of course! They had searched for him in every single place they could thing of except this one… How could she not recognize the voice behind her?

Lucy turned around and found him sitting on the couch, the moonlight bouncing on his messy pink hair and creating a shadow on his face that hid his eyes from her. Natsu had his elbows on his knees and was resting his chin on his hands; she noticed the almost empty bottle on her coffee table and the short glass.

She could tell right away that he looked off, there was no signature grin on his face, and the fire in his eyes seemed long gone… he was just there as a shell of something that used to be but wasn't anymore.

Lucy didn't know how to react, her heart felt like it was about to leave her body; she had waited so long to see him, she missed him so much and he looked so bad; she was fighting every bone in her body to not run and comfort her best friend in this horrible time, to let him rest on her lap and brush her fingers through his hair, to tell him everything was fine now…

"Natsu… Where have you been? Everyone has been looking for you since yesterday…"

"Well Luce, they didn't look very well, did they? I've been here…"

"Since yesterday?..."

"Yeah, I figured out you would eventually come here, honestly I didn't think it would take you this long… how could I know you weren't staying in your own house?"

"I'm… staying in a hotel, it's just that…." She was interrupted abruptly, he didn't even look at her when he asked, "I need to know...is it true?"

"Y-you haven't asked me anything yet…"

Natsu laughed, it was more as if he was mocking the situation, and even in the darkness in the room she could tell his eyes were glossy. The sound was so unlike Natsu, it was a painful, almost to the point of being scary and Lucy didn't know what to make of it, she leaned on the door and stared at him, waiting for him to continue.

"You have a guy now, and that's where you've been… shacking up with him somewhere" his words sounded bitter, he wasn't even looking at her but just staring at the floor.

"Yeah Natsu, I have a boyfriend now, h-he's… great actually"

"Ok great… so go on then, go get it out of your system" He looked at her, and this time his eyes were softer, almost pleading and filled with hope "and then come back and we'll pick up where we left of, ok?" he meant it, he didn't mind if he was second, or if he had to wait, he just wanted her back somehow.

The thought of her being with someone else was killing him inside, but he knew it was his own fault, after all he had never told her what he really felt, nor why he was so upset with her before; so, waiting patiently for her was not something that would come easy, but if it meant having her back he would do so, just for her, because she was worth the wait.

"It's not like that Natsu"

"Of course, it is… I was an idiot and you left and met someone, that's fine Luce, we can talk all about it when you come home ok?"

"I didn't meet someone… I've known him my whole life, and he is the one I want to be with do you understand that?"

He didn't respond, he seemed to be just sitting there staring at noting in particular, one hand holding the other and squeezing making his fingers whiter than usual because of the pressure; "Natsu… I'm not coming back"

Natsu held his breath but otherwise had no reaction, no response, she was expecting a big childish scene, yelling and pouting, she hoped to see her best friend did what he usually did; the man in front of her looked more like a shadow of what she remembered.

"Listen…I've talked to the Master, and I'm leaving for good… I'm getting married in a couple of days and..."

His brow twitched, he turned to look at her and opening and closing his mouth a couple of times before finding his words, but he didn't find any; he stood up and strode towards her, he was so close she could feel heat coming out of his skin; Lucy remembered all those nights she had kicked him out of her bed and cursed herself for not taking advantage of those moments to be honest with him.

"No, you are not, you'll realize he is not for you and you'll come back here Luce. There's no one else for you" there was something in his eyes, he seemed almost feral. Her heart was pounding, her knees were shaking, and a breath got hitched on her throat causing her words to sound less confident than what she wanted "I a-am not. He is the o-one I want to be with, I'm m-marrying him"

He was so frustrated now, he felt that small thread that was holding him together slowly tearing apart; it felt like fire in his veins, a black hole in his stomach and electricity in his heart, his heart started pounding and he had to stop himself from growling "THE HELL YOU ARE!" He pushed Lucy against the door pinning her with his body; he slid his hands down and grabbed her legs to put them around his waist, and she didn't try to stop him.

He kissed her passionately, painfully, deeply; every kiss made her feel the devastation from his soul, the desperate cry from within telling her to stay with him, to try to figure things out together; his tongue was playing circles with hers, engaged in a fierce battle that he won every time, he kept pushing his body towards her and it was almost too much for her to resist, her legs were now willingly wrapped around him and se instinctively pushed her hips towards him; he slid his hand to touch her neck, then down to her shoulder brushing her soft porcelain skin.

Lucy felt a sharp pain on her right arm and pushed him away, falling to the ground with a painful scream; she had never felt something so hot in her life and it took all her strength not to faint. He turned away and laid both of his hands on the sides of his head, he was panting; a deep growl came out of his throat as the flames ignited his body causing some of the windows to break and the carpet underneath him to darken; he looked back to find Lucy shaking on the floor, her blouse covered with blood; she was holding her injured arm with one hand but he could tell the wound was deep.

His heart stopped for a second, he looked at his crimson arm, shinning red scales covering every inch of skin on it, his claws were wet with ruby red liquid… Lucy's blood, that's when it hit him, he had lost it and grabbed Lucy by the arm while they were kissing causing her skin to rip; he had caused pain to the person he cared for the most, just by touching her, she was in pain because he cared for her.

"No, No, I… I didn't mean to… Luce…" his pleading desperate eyes tried to find her one second and avoid her the next, she could see the pain this was causing him "Please, Luce… I'm so sorry…please…"

Lucy would have run to him, she wouldn't have minded, her best friend was in suffering and she would go to hell and back to save him; but she knew today she couldn't. She knew exactly what she had to say. Natsu knelt and extended his shaky hand to touch her.

She cringed against the door and started crying and shaking harder "Please don't hurt me Natsu…" those simple words destroyed something within; his eyes widen, and she could see the tears starting to form in his eyes.

"I didn't… I wouldn't..."

"Why would you do this to me? Why do you want to hurt me?"

"I didn't mean to… Luce I didn't notice…I'm…" he was interrupted by the words that would put the final nail on the coffin that held his sanity "When did you become this monster! Tell me!"

He felt a sharp pain on his chest, as if someone had put a knife through it and pulled down splitting all the blood vessels in half; he stood up and left the apartment without looking back, he couldn't face her, not anymore, the cost of being uncapable of taming the monster inside of him had been too high, he had lost the right to walk next to her, forever.

After a few minutes, Lucy laid on the ground and cried desperately, letting out a soul shattering scream "What have I done?" it kept going for a couple of minutes, but she knew she needed to move, the bleeding on her arm wasn't stopping and even if this wasn't a devastating injury, she still had to take care for it.

As soon as she was able to stop crying, she rushed to the guild hoping someone was still there, her arrival alerted her guild mates.

"We need to call Wendy"

"Levy we can't get her involved! She is just a child"

"Lucy, you are leaving tomorrow, if you go back to him with that on your arm, all of our plans will be useless"

There was no other choice, it didn't take long for the youngest of the Dragon Slayers to arrive; Wendy walked towards Lucy silently and held her hands towards her, as soon as the bright light started emanating from her hands, Lucy felt the pain leaving her body. Everyone was staring at Wendy, half expecting for her to immediately ask what had happen, but to everyone's surprise she didn't ask any questions; she just looked very sad.

"Wendy don't feel bad, I'm ok, this was just an accident"

"No, it wasn't. Natsu did this to you"

"Why… why do you think that?"

"The wound is a deep cut, but its borders are sealed, even without the smell this wound reeks of fire dragon…"

"Wendy… it's not his fault, look…"

"It's ok Lucy, there's no need to discuss this for now"

No one noticed when she grew up, everyone still thought of her as the child, but there she was accepting this was something they couldn't explain, and surprising them with her skills. She didn't say much after that and went back to sleep.

Lucy head back to the hotel to get everything ready, the next couple of days would be long and tortuous. She would leave in the morning and her friends would follow the day after for the big event, she couldn't believe this was happening so quickly.

Vincent left the hotel, he knew Lucy would have the bachelorette party and wouldn't notice his absence. He walked towards Porlyusica's place to check on his sister, she looked better.

"Hi Merr…"

"Vinnie?... What are you doing here; you are not supposed to be here"

Vincent held her hand and kissed her forehead.

"That's not important; the important thing is you're safe now"

"I'm so sorry Vinnie…" Merryl started sobbing "This is all my fault, I'm so sorry… I had to do this, you need to understand, I fucked up so much, but in the end, I just wanted to keep you and mom safe, safe from him"

Vincent's face darkened again, "Merry...Mom…" he squeezed his sister's hand and bit his lip trying to hold back his tears, and she immediately pulled her hand away and shook her head "No...No… he said you would both be ok, he said if I was useful you would both be ok"

"Merr… she's gone, her mind is gone…"

"How...?"

"He wanted to prove himself… he used her to show what he could do"

Merryl's scream was filled with pain and sorrow, her salty tears burned her face. Vincent tried to console her but there was nothing he could do. Porlyusica ran towards them and threw something in Merryl's mouth before covering it with her hand; after a few seconds, she was calm and sleepy.

"Ma'am I want to thank you for what you've done for my sister, but I need to leave soon, and I fear she'll be in far more danger if I take her with me…"

"Go now, I won't be in charge of her, but she can stay here while she gets better"

Lucy left early in the morning with Vincent, they boarded the train with sad looks on their face, her eyes were still red from crying most of the night.

"You can't let him see you like that Miss"

She was startled by his voice, "It's just the dust… It's very windy today"

"Right; well how about we get you some drops to get that dust out of you eye, does that sound ok?"

Lucy nodded; something had happened to Vincent during the last few days, he seemed nicer, empathetic, even worried about her.

The rest of the ride was quiet, they got to the manor and Lucy kept playing her doting fiancée's role to perfection, while Vince watched from the distance, he had a feeling what had happened to his sister wouldn't be the last he heard from Fairy Tail.

After Lucy left, the guild had less than a day to get everyone ready for the trip, not everyone was going, some people were not convinced about Lucy's wedding and didn't want to watch her go through with it.

"Have you found him yet?" Makarov was worried about Natsu, leaving him behind to try and take Fukuro out wasn't going to be an easy task.

"We haven't, we have groups searching everywhere"

"Well Freed, you have Laxus, Gajeel, and Wendy! You have three Dragon Slayers, and three flying cats! Are you telling me their noses can't pick up his scent?"

The slayers looked a bit ashamed, Laxus stepped up to try to explain "We did pick up his scent gramps, but he seems to be everywhere, each time we're close we seem to have missed him by minutes, it's almost as if he…"

"As if he was avoiding us…" Gray slammed his drink on the table, "Well thunderbolt, the reason why it seems that way, is because he IS avoiding us. We shunned him! We lied to him! And then we managed to make him feel like a monster"

"Watch yourself Gray… we didn't make him feel like a monster… blondie did"

Erza had heard enough, she slammed her hands on the table "Are you both blind? Do you think she wanted this? Are you so dumb to think we even had a choice?" there were tears on her eyes, but she managed to keep them inside.

Silence took over, Laxus and Gray knew this was not the moment to fight, "We are sorry …"

"Everyone needs to go home and rest, if he doesn't want to be found then we won't find him. We need everyone in the best possible condition tomorrow morning"

The group nodded, and each went their own way. Levy started walking to go to her apartment when Gajeel caught up to her.

"Hey short-stuff…"

"Hey…."

"Can we… go somewhere?"

They walked to Gajeel's house in silence; he got two beers from the kitchen and sat down across from Levy.

"Is this about what happened?"

Gajeel took the letter she left out of his pocket and laid it in front of her. "Did you mean it?"

"I did…"

"I'm not easy to deal with shrimp, you can walk away and pretend this never happened, I wouldn't blame you"

"I know…"

"I'm jealous and possessive… and I'll make wrong choices, I can't promise to be better, I'll try but there's no guarantee"

"I know…"

"Ok then it's settled" Gajeel moved closer to Levy and put his arm around her, "From this day on, I'm never leaving your side…"

She blushed and laid her head on his shoulder; he grabbed her chin and pulled her into a kiss.

"I don't know what's going to happen after tomorrow; but let's make the best of whatever time we have"

They day passed, and it was time to board the train, they were still worried about Natsu, but could only worry about one at a time, and right now their priority was to save Lucy from a dark fate.

They took off early in the morning hoping everything would fall into place.

Natsu saw them leave from a safe distance, and just walked away; he seemed tired and unfocused, there were circles under his eyes, his knuckles had several cuts from where he had tried to get rid of his frustration earlier that day.

He knew his friends had tried to find him, he had been about to get caught several times, but managed to escape by a couple of minutes; he couldn't face them if they knew what he had done to Lucy, of course they knew, why else would they be so determined to find him? The only reason why he had managed to stay away from the guild and keep some of his sanity, was because he knew Lucy was safe, he had tracked her scent since the day, just to make sure she was ok.

He was determined to leave for some time until he could figure everything out, that's until he ran into Merryl. The burns on her body were still quite visible, her hair was messier than usual, and her eyes seemed lost somewhere else; she was dragging her feet, and looked so broken…

"I thought I told you to leave!"

He noticed there was no response, so he walked towards her and pulled her arm, he didn't know how bad she'd been hurt by his fire until that moment, he'd been able to see some of the burns from the distance, but seeing her up close…

"He broke his promise...he said she would be ok… he lied" Merryl held him by the collar of his shirt and pulled him before she started crying again.

"Just leave Merryl; this is your last warning"

"He used me, you, your perfect little girlfriend too… oh he'll use her all right, as many times as he wants, he owns her fear now" the tears kept running down her face while she laughed at him and cupped his face "And you fell for his tricks, he fucking played you like a flute"

Natsu grabbed her by the neck and threw her to the floor, "What the fuck are you talking about?"

"You've probably seen him before; he marked you and made you live your worst fear over and over, and he got off on your pain. He made you shun her, and now you'll lose her forever, just as I lost my mother" she kept laughing to his face, he felt that thin thread disappearing once again, he was drifting into chaos slowly.

"Bullshit, fucking psycho… How the hell would you know that?"

"Oh, that's easy enough, he owns my fear too. I helped him get her, and you, we are all his now"

Natsu had been angry a couple of times, it was not a new feeling for him, but the intensity of this anger was quickly overshadowing any emotion he had felt before; this was not only anger, this was hate, he wanted her dead, he wanted to feel her warm blood on his hands and dripping down his body, he wanted to look as the last spark disappeared from her eyes, he could picture himself ripping her heart out with one hand and watching as her body twitched… he wanted to hear her plead for her life and laugh at her face for being so naïve, never before had he felt so much need to hurt someone.

"But I know something no one knows lover-boy… how about we make a deal?"

The Fairy tail guild arrived at their destination a few hours later. Their plan was set, but they still needed to find an in, a weakness in him that they could exploit.

"Gajeel… Can we talk in private?"

"What do you want Gray?"

"Look, I want to think everything will work out, but let's be honest; we barely have half a plan"

"What are you thinking about then?"

"If everything fails, I'm ready to make the hard choices… no matter the cost"

"You realize if we kill him, we'll have to leave the guild, to disappear… Would you be willing to do that, to leave everything behind?"

"For Natsu?... Flame head has been a pain in my ass since we were kids, he is stubborn, annoying, and extremely problematic… of course I would, he's family… Gramps is right, he is… my best friend and I'll be damned if I let this guy take him out"

"What about Juvia?"

"You dragons and your lack of balls… Juvia knows about this, and she'll come with me if it comes to that"

A voice came from behind them "We're in" Laxus had been able to listen to them and got closer with Bickslow by his side. "I've been banned from the guild before and getting rid of the dick who's trying to screw with my family sounds like a better reason to"

"What's your excuse Bickslow?"

"Mah… mostly the same, also can't let that guy get into Lucy's pants, can we?" Bickslow stuck his tongue out as he often did, they didn't really know if this was his regular pervy self or him trying to break the tension.

"Welcome Fairy Tail!" Fukuro sounded excited. He stood on the door greeting every single guild member individually. Everyone that chose to go to the wedding was made aware of the situation, and the risk they were taking; they had decided to face this as a family.

"Well, why don't we figure out how many rooms you will need before we get on with our day"

Lucy held Fukuro by the arm and smiled at him trying to get him away from as many hands as she could; she refused to let him hold more of her friend's lives in his power.

"That sounds like a perfect plan dear"

"Levy and I will take a room for ourselves" Levy immediately blushed while noticing all the inquiring looks staring their way, Gajeel put his arm around her neck and told her "I warned you I wouldn't leave your side shrimp… you are pretty much screwed" he gave her a big toothy smile and she simply muttered "Stupid Gajeel…"

"Gray-sama and Juvia will too!" Gray was looking the other way nervously but extended his hand to hold Juvia's.

Lucy giggled a bit, looking at Levy and Gray's face "Well it seems this will be a weekend full of surprises. If everyone agrees, I think that the Raijinshuu can share a room, Erza, Cana, and Wendy too; Master you will of course have your own room, and our happy couples can get rooms for themselves. The rest can accommodate as they please, would that work?"

"Well, it sounds like a plan then. You've heard our hosts brats! Let's get moving" Makarov signaled everyone to go to their rooms to put everything away and walked towards Fukuro.

"You have a beautiful home"

"You honor me Master Makarov"

They walked side by side, Makarov held his hands behind his back "You also have a beloved daughter of mine, and I never got asked for my opinion"

"Will all due respect sir, you are not her father, and even if you were, I wouldn't have asked for permission" Fukuro gave him a smile without avoiding his eyes, political politeness mixed with disdain; a cocky smirk appeared on Makarov's face "I may not be her father but she is my daughter, young man. With age you come to find that some things are better asked that stolen"

Titania observed her friend; the card mage sat on one of the beds, legs crossed while scratching her chin, repeating the same motion with her cards for the last half an hour "Hey Cana… What are you doing?"

"Hm…hey Erza, just… trying to get something from my cards, I'm worried about him, something is not right"

"We are all worried about him Cana, but we need to focus on today; we'll kick some sense back into him some other time ok?" Erza smiled in a confident way trying to comfort Cana, but deep inside she was mortified about the suffering they put their friend through, not only that but the fact that he was now facing that suffering by himself.

They have all seen Natsu in pain at some point, but ever since Igneel's dead things had not been the same and even if not everyone could tell, Erza did. Natsu had always been a happy guy, nerves of steel, easy going behavior, whatever he faced he would succeed and move forward, which was why it was so hard for everyone to see him so out of himself lately.

"I know, but it's not that Erza" She sighed, "I keep getting the same reading since Natsu left on that mission to begin with, it didn't make sense back then, but now…"

"Which mission?"

Cana took a deep breath and shook his head "The one where he met Merryl… that woman is trouble"

"Indeed" Erza sat next to Cana and put her hand on her shoulder, "Tell me what you see"

Cana started pointing at her cards to explain, "Suffering, Sacrifice, an unbreakable bond, and then nothing…"

"Cana what do you mean with nothing"

"Exactly that, noting… no outcome we can foresee, or expect"

Natsu was out of his mind with anger; his blood was boiling, this had happened under his nose, everyone knew what was happening but him and Lucy was too far right now. Merryl had given him all he needed, he was determined to see this through and would not rest until his hand felt Fukuro's neck break on his grasp, he wanted to make him pay for everything he had done.

It was too much for him, he had been played like an idiot, he had let them all go out of fear of facing his mistakes and she was out there trying to keep him alive, she had lied to him… he knew her better than he knew himself, he should have been able to tell. Natsu was too angry and the darkness within had started taking over the corners of his mind again, this time… he didn't try to stop it.

He grabbed Merryl by the neck and raised her from the floor, he held her there for a couple of seconds to look at her eyes, she saw no forgiveness, no light, nothing of what she had seen before.

In a quick move he threw her against the threes on the side, and she stayed there, lying on the floor; she wasn't scared, in her mind there was nothing to be scared of anymore, she just hoped the sweet relieve of death would take her soon now that she had set all wheels in motion, but it didn't come.

She looked up to see Natsu kneeling, both hands on the floor, fingers digging on the ground, panting. He started punching the ground so hard, the earth trembled at his touch, fire emanated from his body with such heath that it was hard to stand close to it, his flames were entwined, one pure crimson red, the other as black as charcoal, and then suddenly he stopped.

He stood up, patted his clothes in the most common way possible and started walking with a stern face as if nothing had happened.

"Wait!" She could barely stand but managed to get close enough to grab his leg, "Just end this! What are you waiting for?!"

He turned her way and she felt shivers down her spine, if she hadn't known him so well, she would have thought it wasn't him, this man standing in front of her was someone completely different.

"Do you think I am as merciful as to just finish you off?" He gave her a crooked grin that made her sweat and reconsider the decision to let him finish her "You may be useless now, but you don't deserve mercy" he knelt again and grabbed her chin with strength "If you want mercy… search for your God… not for a demon" she had seen that face before, not on him, but Fukuro... Whatever had changed her former lover into the soulless monster he became, whatever pain he had experienced, it had now been forced upon someone else; he kicked her out of the way and left.

Merryl was left alone with her thoughts, she couldn't move now, but she didn't care. She finally understood how Fukuro ended up being the way he was, and she added one more regret to her long list; She'd played an important role to push Natsu a step closer of being just like him.