Zeref sat down and wiped away the blood from his hands.

The Prince was still roaring in the bloodied throne room where Zeref had left the already fading body of the dead King.

The two ogre demons had chained him to the wall with a perfect view of the mutilated monarch, and the raw grief and rage emanating from the young ruler was like a fine wine to the Dark Wizard.

Yet-he couldn't forget his objective.

That golden girl. He had to kill her.

But, if his memory served him right, she couldn't be killed in the way the Celestial King perished. She had to sealed away in the darkest of his tombs, trapped behind a prison of his wicked wards.

Bait.

He needed bait.

O.O

Natsu flew low against the ground, still carrying Lucy in his arms.

He had decided to call her by her name since they were now temporary allies.

Allies. He tasted the word hesitatingly. It was an unfamiliar word, but not an unpleasant one. Having an ally was like having a shield. A bit bulky and strange to accustom oneself to at first, but then it would prove invaluable in battle.

At least he hoped so. Maybe Lucy would turn traitor after she stepped into her castle, but who cares? He could always eat her if she turned.

Lucy nudged him. "Take us through those orchards over there." He obeyed, swooping quickly and silently. He prided himself on his peerless flying skills.

"And be more stealthy about it." She hissed. "You fly like a drunken bumblebee."

"Says the girl who glows like a lightning bug." He returned. Seeing her scorching glare, he added cheekily, "At least not from your ass."

Lucy whacked him good and hard, and Natsu veered wildly left, and scowled at her as he adjusted his course. "That hurt!"

"Next time you talk about my ass, I'll hit you where the sun never shines, got that, pervert?" She flung her words like darts, and every one of them made him flinch.

He was going to end up eating her, wasn't he?

O.O

The moment they saw the body, Jellal grabbed Erza and shoved her behind him.

"Zeref you cold-blooded MURDERER!"

The red-haired woman's shriek echoed loudly in the cavernous hall. The two ogre demons looked up and snarled menacingly.

Prince Loke looked like the very picture of despair, while Zeref just stood there, his arms calmly folded and his expression almost gentle with amusement.

Erza wanted to plunge her sword right in his lucid and foolhardy FACE.

"The famed Captain. And the General. What an honor that you would come calling." Zeref walked—no, GLIDED forward. His shoes whispered across the marbled floor. "I had desired to meet you before, but circumstance were not in my favor."

"Well, they are going to be a HELL lot more unforgiving!" Erza spat and drew her sword once again, but Jellal held out a stern arm in front, his eyes burning with an untold rage. "Leave him to me, Erza."

"I smell blood." Zeref observed quietly. "Are you wounded, Captain?"

"And if I was, would that ease your blackened heart?" Erza growled, spinning her blade so that it struck the ground with a vicious SCREECH. "Eat my metal, bastard." She crouched.

"Erza, no!" Jellal shouted in vain.

The red-haired Captain sprung at the Dark Wizard.

O.O

The bold statement hung the air for approximately twelve seconds.

"How can you seal away Zeref?" Yukino said in disbelief. "It has never been done successfully before!"

"Once." Mavis acknowledged. "He was sealed away by one of the most powerful wizards in history, whose name I will not speak in the mortal tongue. However, Zeref broke free because the process was not complete."

"I don't follow." Yukino's head was whirling again.

"You remember the old legend of the dragon boy and the starry girl who loved each other so much they gave up their lives to bring peace to the kingdoms?" Mavis asked. Yukino nodded.

"Well, those two also died to seal away Zeref." Mavis held up a hand to prevent the barrage of questions Yukino was about to launch at her. "The legend deliberately omits the fact that Zeref would be sealed, for that very reason, out of fear."

Yukino blinked slowly, rolling the words in her head. "But how do you fit in all this?"

Mavis' face changed imperceptibly. "I once had a strong relationship with Zeref. By my severed connections I can establish a strong magic link in order to seal him away."

"That makes no sense." Yukino declared.

"Lots of things don't." Mavis informed her. "All you have to know is that I can seal away Zeref due to our previous connections. All of magic can be established strongly through your personal feelings." She stuck out her bare hand, white and smooth. "Do you trust me?"

Yukino stared at the glimmering, radiant girl floating gently in front of her. She had no reason to trust this girl, no reason to believe this apparition who promised an impossibility.

Yet somewhere in those soulful emerald eyes, there was a well of sad quiet suffering, an earnest desire to rectify the pain brought about by that enigmatic Dark Wizard, and a kindness that touched her silvery heart.

She stuck her hand. "I do."

O.O

Lucy could feel Natsu beginning to tire. His flying had become rather erratic, and his exhausted exhalations breathed weariness. After all, he did chase her all the way to the Earth from the Dragon People's fortress.

"You alright?" She asked.

"Just shut up." He gasped. "I rather not waste my oxygen talking to a firefly."

Lucy opened her mouth to retaliate but then realized how they were beginning to skim the Starry palace battlements rather unnervingly close. "NATSU PULL UP—"

They crashed in a heap on the top tower of the Starry palace, tumbling over and over in the sweet smelling marble of the Starry People. Natsu coughed and clawed for breath, his wings shuddering and twitching.

Lucy groaned. "I think you used me as a landing pad, you barbaric dragon." Natsu just glared, his eyes watering with the sheer air of the cold atmosphere.

"We still have quite a distance to go." Lucy held up her hands to point at the softly glowing palace on the horizon, beginning to be outlined by the light of the moon. Oh Yukino…

"I know…just give me a second…." Natsu rasped, shaking his head.

Lucy waited impatiently for three seconds, and then burst out. "I need to kill that Dark Wizard and you cough your guts out just by a little excessive flying! I've never seen anything so—"

He was at her throat in an instance, his face hovering over hers. His right arm pinned both of her own against the tower's spire, above her head. The cool evening air danced with his hair, with hers. She yelped at the sudden unexpected contact, and instantly turned very red by the way his soft exhalations stirred her bangs. He was too close. He was WAY too close…

"Listen, Miss Smart-mouth." Natsu purred, smiling at her instant recoil. "I'm in charge, and though I granted you this little escapade, that doesn't mean you get to say whatever comes into that pretty head of yours."

He traced her cheek with a clawed finger, gently, drawing it down to her bare neck, to that hollow between her shoulder blades. His eyes never left her face. "No matter how pretty it is." He breathed.

Lucy swallowed, staring at his fierce ochre eyes, lit by a fire she couldn't comprehend. His intensity grew minutely but noticeably, and he murmured, "No matter…"

Suddenly the too-intimate moment was broken by a shattering window far below the tower, and an agonized scream rent the air. Natsu and Lucy both flinched and jumped guiltily away from each other. "What was that?"

A single raw cry of anguish shattered the night. "ERZA!"

"My Captain!" Lucy dragged Natsu after him with unexpected strength, through a tiny door through the side of the tower.

They descended the stairs three at a time, Natsu yelping, "Does your Erza have anything to do with the Captain Scarlet who killed four ogre demons at the Battle of Bronze Hills a year ago?"

"The one and only!" Lucy barreled through another door, and broke into a spring down a wide marble hall, past gawking guards and suddenly screaming maids at the sight of the dragon boy. "And the one who called her name was the General!"

No, please, don't tell me…

They crashed into the largest set of beautifully carved doors, and into the throne room, and into a horrific sight that made even Natsu hiss in disbelief.

Her dead father, splayed out all over the marble floor.

Her bloodied brother, still pinned against the wall, turning to gawk at his disheveled sister.

The ragged General, screaming his fiance's name, running for her falling body.

The wide-eyed Captain, staring at the black and poisoned blade protruding from her chest.

The Dark Wizard, cold-faced, tall, pristine, and smiling, her blood coating his hands.

The murderer. Her father's murderer.

Something in Lucy snapped.

"MURDERER!"

And with that single hate-filled word, the Sun Princess of the Starry Kingdom, daughter of the deceased, attacked the Dark Wizard Zeref of the Underworld.

TO BE CONTINUED