Here's the re written version on Ch11, I hope everyone is doing well, as always thanks for following the story. I apologize for the posting inconsistencies, I have been going through a rough patch but hopefully focusing on my writing will serve as therapy.

NOTE: We have a Beta now! She is working with me on AO3 so, cleaner chapters ahead. Thanks to the awesome Nenley for all her assistance and support.

-A-


"Those candle flames were like the lives of men. So fragile. So deadly. Left alone, they lit and warmed. Let run rampant, they would destroy the very things they were meant to illuminate. Embryonic bonfires, each bearing a seed of destruction so potent it could tumble cities and dash kings to their knees."
― Brandon Sanderson, The way of kings


"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 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.


The day was going as expected in the current situation, fake polite smiles going around along with gentle nods, people touring the amazing manor to "bask in its exquisite design" and expensive decoration, however, this was merely an excuse for all mages to snoop around and find more information.

The guild had not given up yet in finding a way to bring everyone home, and even with short time and resources, Fairy tail was yet to meet an enemy they couldn't defeat.

The house was full of people taking care of the food, tables, chairs, flowers, ribbons, no money was spared on the wedding preparations; so many things to do in so little time. Everything was being set for the big event later that day and the only person looking forward to it was the host.

Lucy was sitting in her room looking at her reflection in mirror; her golden hair still shone with the sunlight that came from her window, and her light brown eyes were still big, so, she hadn't physically change, however, her lips had gotten used to the fake smile by now, her big eyes now broadcasted a shadow of uncertainty and sadness and that alone was reason enough to know things were not the same.

She missed writing letters to her mother, it had been such an important part of her day for so long, and now she had left that behind too. Lucy had continued writing to her mother for a couple of weeks after her arrival, but she soon realized those letters were no longer private, she had no outlet, no one to talk to, no way to get her frustration out, and it was driving her crazy.

Lucy was distracted with her thoughts, observing her defeated appearance when she noticed someone else looking at her reflection and she was forced to change her sadden look into a painful smile.

"Hi Fukuro, I didn't notice when you came in"

He got closer and rested his hand on her dressing table "So, Lulu" his long clean fingers started tapping on the white surface impatiently "Are you finally going to tell me about your trip to the guild?"

"I already told you about it, there's not much else to tell, I just spent some time with my friends, that's all"

"Which friends?"

Lucy did her best not to roll her eyes and instead she forced her smile a bit more "The same friends that are here now, who else?

Fukuro tighten his lips into a thin line and stared at her with such intensity that she felt like the mirror was going to break "So, you didn't see your pet lizard then?"

Lucy felt her blood freeze instantly, she didn't know if he was fishing for information or if he knew what had really happened, but just his tone and expression were enough to send shivers down her spine.

She opened her mouth to speak but was shut down immediately when he slammed his hand on the dressing table "Please don't tell me you think I'm that naive? I'm completely aware that Vincent wasn't with you all the time, hell, I even know your little friend waited for you like the pathetic piece of shit he is and then ran away like a child"

"Fukuro…"

"No… you are going to tell me why he was in your apartment Luce" Him using Natsu's name for her almost made her vomit, when her best friend called her that, her heart jumped in joy and she felt like she was home, but as soon as it rolled out of Fukuro's mouth it sounded wrong and dirty.

"He was just there, and then he left… there's nothing to it"

His voice took a demanding tone, his expression had changed again to something other than human, something that couldn't be controlled "I want to know what happened, and you'll tell me now or I'll take him out"

Lucy had mastered being agreeable, pleasant and conversational; she had done her best to keep him happy since that was the only thing she could do while preparing to take him down, but the moment he threatened Natsu she felt all the masks she had placed above her face fall and break on the marble floor. She looked straight into his eyes with the coldest stare he'd seen in months, her well-practiced smile was gone in a matter of seconds.

"If you take him out then I have no reason to stay, do I?" he scrunched his nose and huffed "You are right, I do think you are the naive one here, I wish I didn't have to remind you that you can't take him out without me making sure your family legacy is buried, so why don't you tone it down a bit and ask again? Politely this time"

Fukuro's fists were clenching, his eyes were filled with anger and it took everything he had to be able to contain himself, but in the end, he took a deep breath and came back to his usual calm demeanor.

"What did he want?"

Lucy turned her face to the mirror and started brushing her shiny blond hair, her well-practiced smile back in place.

"He wanted to know about you" he moved to stand behind her and placed his long pale fingers on her shoulders placing a little pressure "And what did you tell him?"

"I told him the truth, that we were getting married, and that he needed to stay away from me"

"Is that all, dear…?"

"Yeah, that's it"

Lucy knew she couldn't lie to him, but she also knew telling him a half-truth would give her some peace while she kept trying to figure a way out; she didn't have much time left.


"Levy we are running out of time" Erza's confidence which was usually higher when in battle was draining by the minute; the idea of being unprepared for what was to come had never bothered her before, she had always known Fairy Tail would defeat any enemy, but now, facing someone who could quite possibly take her friends away before she could react… she felt fearful.

"I have nothing! I've searched every corner of this damn house, I've tried to research on this type of magic, I even got ahold of someone I trust in the council to ask about it, we have nothing… it's almost as if the records of his magic had never existed!"

"Maybe they didn't… and that could only have a couple of explanations… either this was never recorded, or someone was covering their tracks"

Levy's heart ached for her friends too, she had always felt left behind in strength by the people around her but never had she felt as useless as now. She didn't have as much strength as others, and now… her usually praised intelligence was taking her nowhere as well.

While frustration accumulated in the room, Cana sat on one of the beds, legs crossed and rubbing her chin, completely dumbfounded by her usually accurate readings. She had kept trying to get something from her cards without much luck, her readings were the same as before… Suffering, Sacrifice, an unbreakable bond, and then nothing. Her voice interrupted the ongoing argument of her guild mates.

"We don't have a choice… darkness is closing on us and there's no way out. What are we going to do if we don't find a way to break the ties? We can't just watch this happen!"

Silence filled the room, Erza's jaw tightened, and when she was finally able to speak, her voice trembled trying to swallow the knot in her throat "If we can't find a way out, we'll have to choose who to save, won't we?"

Cana's eyes widen in surprise at the severity of her friend's comment, just the thought of choosing one of them made her stomach tumble "Erza we can't make that choice! They are our friends!" Levy stomped her foot on the floor "They are more than our friends, they are our family!"

"You both know as well as I do… if we don't find a way to stop this, it will come to letting Lucy get married and picking the broken pieces of Natsu's heart back up… or stopping the wedding and preparing ourselves to claim his body. Either way, one of them will never be able to forgive us"

Reality sunk in feeling like a bomb in their stomachs and tearing their throats to pieces; Levy was the first to let the tears run down her face, everyone was trying to hide their pain without much success when Erza stood from her place; she walked to the window and made a decision with the determination that was so distinctive of her. She wiped the tears with the back of her hand before speaking.

"Ok,so… we skip the paperwork…" The room went silent again, aside from a couple sniffles "Our original plan was to strip him of his power and turn him in, expecting for the magic council to judge him fairly, those are the rules… but what if someone there covers for him?"

"He could still hurt them… he could hurt any of us" Levy ran her hands through her hair and sighed heavily.

"If we can't trust the council to deliver justice, then… we'll have to take him out ourselves"

Both mages blinked a couple of times and stared at Erza with a baffled expression, they could hear and understand the words coming from her mouth, but they would never think that she meant what she was saying. Erza, the Queen of the fairies, the great Titania, the kind of girl that would seek justice, her joy and pride was the guild, and was incapable of doing something to bring shame to it.

"Erza... what you are talking about… We can't… If we do…" Erza turned to the script mage and raised her hand asking her to stop "I know, I'm not asking you to do it, but when the time comes I do ask you stay out of my way…"

Levy shook her head and stood up, she walked towards her friend and grabbed both her hands "If it comes to it, we'll stay together. We'll protect our family at any cost"

Cana gave them a silent nod; her hands were still shaking from the idea. She felt the nothingness creeping into her chest and cutting into her heart; after losing her mother she never though she would have to lose someone else, but something she had learnt in the wizard world, was that no one could guarantee your life when your job was to go into battle.

After a few minutes to let their agreement sink, Levy left the room and walked down the aisle leading to her own chamber; she opened the door without much concern apparently interrupting an intense conversation between an odd group of people, the four mages present stopped talking as she entered the room and stared at her nervously.

Gray cleared his throat and rubbed the back of his head "So I guess we are done then".

She read their body language and decided something suspicious was going on; she stared at Bickslow who would usually jump at the first opportunity to be a total jerk, making fun of people and moving on, was looking down, arms crossed above his chest wearing a solemn expression.

Laxus noticed her staring at them and slapped Bicklow's shoulder sending a minor shock of electricity to his body, "So let's leave the love birds to it, I'm sure they don't need an audience"

The comment and the sting on his arm made him snap out of his thoughts, he laughed and stuck his tongue out trying to go back to his regular demeanor, it was obvious he was trying too hard to contain whatever was on his mind.

"Gray…"

He froze at the door and turned slowly towards her "Yeah?"

"Could you please take your shirt with you?"

"Dammit! Yeah… ok" He moved as quickly as his legs allowed him to and picked his shirt from the floor "see you later!" he slammed the door shut leaving an awkward silence behind him.

Levy leaned against the door and stared at him waiting for him to say something, but he remained quiet, she cleared her throat hoping to elicit a reaction, but he remained stoic on the other end of the room.

"So… ?"

"So? You want to get some lunch shrimp?"

"Are you seriously not telling me what's going on?"

"Nothing is going on, we were just… talking"

"Sure… you were having a friendly conversation with Bicks, Laxus, and Gray of all people… your're a terrible liar" she stared at him for a bit, trying to pressure him into saying something until she got tired of waiting "You said you were going to try to do things right, this doesn't feel like trying, you know?"

Gajeel bit his lower lip and looked down; Levy was his everything and he had sworn to himself to keep her from harm, but what if that pain came from him?

"I… may have to leave the guild, I know I said I wouldn't leave your side shorty, but I… I need to do this…"

Levy recognized the look on his face and signaled him to stop; she tilted her head and smiled. He was amazed, every time she spoke, smiled, every time she took a breath, she amazed him to the point where his heart would feel like it was going to stop beating.

"You did say you wouldn't leave my side… so don't" Gajeel lowered his face, he wasn't ready to deny her anything; he was thinking hard on how to redirect this conversation when she spoke again "Where should we go then?"

Gajeel was taken by surprise; he was sure he hadn't done anything to deserve the amount of luck he had when the adorable bluenette came into his life "I would never ask you to come with me Lev"

"You are not asking… I'll go wherever you go" he shook his head and smiled at her "The guild is your home shrimp" she walked towards him and placed her hand above his chest "You are home too… and you are not getting rid of me that easy"

His smile got even bigger; he hugged her, kissed her lips and whispered, "The world is ours, we'll go wherever you want to go, I 'll show you whatever you want to see shrimp" Levy returned his smile and gave him a long sweet kiss, when she finally let go, it was time to see the bride to be.


Fukuro sat on the library holding an old book with a red dusty cover, it was so thick that its spine was held by a single thread; he rubbed his chin trying to make sense of the words from the old text, that contained all details for the ceremonies that needed to take place between him and his bride.

He had heard most details from his parents when he was younger, but a man like Fukuro would never take chances in regards of something as important as this, after all his purpose had always been to continue his bloodline.

Fukuro was taking notes completely lost in his thoughts when he heard a cracking noise coming from the terrace; he stood up and placed the book on the table when suddenly a burning smell filled his nostrils, he moved faster now and made his way to the glass door, but stopped right after crossing it, his eyes widen in surprise for a second and he slammed his fist on the door frame.

He observed the terrace, there was no one there; the beautiful place which was once covered by his mother's special collection of deadly flowers from side to side was now empty; every flower had been reduced to nothing but ashes. He walked around covering his nose and mouth using his sleeve with a stunned expression; each and every one of those flowers was dangerous by itself but all of them mixed together… he was sure the deadly combination of fumes could cause either long term or permanent damage to anyone who dared to stand there for more than a couple of seconds.

He wasn't worried about himself; his mother, as terrible as she'd been, had made sure most known poisons were of no concern to him using different methods, one of them being exposing him over and over to small amounts since his younger years.

The more he walked the more he saw this was no simple attack, but a warning; it hadn't touched any other part of the house, it had been so well controlled that the fire, as destructive as it had been, had not broken the windows. Once he got to the middle of the terrace, he saw the once beautifully made cement bench, in pieces scattered on the floor.

The thin gold lines seemed to have melted from the heat and were now returning to their solid state on the torched floor, the zodiac clock was nothing but dust; he clenched his fists and gritted his teeth when suddenly something caught his eye; above the pieces of the engraved cement bed laid a wedding invite; the once beautiful white paper still burning from its sides.

"Salamander…"

Yes, the idea of Natsu being behind this was the first thing that crossed his mind, however he disregarded it quite quickly; the Fire Dragon Slayer was strong and definitely capable of such a thing, however he was not as restrained as to not burn the house down, not only that but he had been marked by Fukuro's magic and if he had been there, he would have sensed him immediately and gotten rid of him in a heartbeat.

Of course, he was angry about the destruction, he would have to rebuild the terrace in order to continue with his plans, and although the wedding wouldn't be delayed, his wedding night would. He wasn't too worried about the attack, whomever had caused the fire would not be around for long, the poison in the fumes would take care of breaking someone's mind and body until the point of death, no normal mage would ever survive that.


Everything was ready, the wedding would be taking place outside at Lucy's request despite the cold weather; she'd always loved the garden view from her window and decided that if this was imminent, she would do it the way she pictured it.

She didn't feel defeated, her strength came from knowing he would be ok and even if it pained him, Natsu would survive whatever came his way, as long as she knew that, she could continue.

Shimmering lights, white chair rows, flowers; it looked like an actual fairy tale wedding. The aisle was decorated with a long white carpet, and to the sides on every third chair row, big metallic fire torches to keep warm in the midst of winter.

Lucy stood there observing the beautiful details and trying to hold her tears while holding Levy's hand, "So this is happening" Levy squeezed her fingers and bit her lip "Lu… We'll figure it out, everyone is working really hard"

"No Levy" the celestial mage gave her friend a sweet smile that didn't quite reach her eyes "We both know is too late for us to figure anything out. I just need to make sure Natsu is being taken care of, ok?"

"Lucy… come on, you can't give up now"

"You guys need to promise not to leave him alone, he'll be the biggest pain in the ass after I'm completely gone" There were tears running down her face along with a painful smile "Lu…"

"Promise… just do this for me…"

"I promise…"

Lucy nodded and turned on her heel to go back inside the manor; it made no sense to delay the inevitable, and with that the process started.

She took care of hair, makeup and clothes in her room, the girls sat with her during the process looking gloomier than ever; the situation hadn't completely sunk and although they knew there wasn't enough time, they kept thinking on ways to get both their friends out of this situation.

Fairy Tail was used to thinking that in the end everything would work out in their favor, because it usually did; the guild was known for the crazy amount of miracles they had managed to come up with throughout the years… but now it felt like they had finally run out of luck.

Lucy sat in front of her mirror placing the finishing touches on her hair; a couple of pearly white hair pins with golden rose flowers. She grabbed her pink lipstick and took one last look at her reflection when she heard the rushed footsteps on the aisle outside her room.

Gajeel punched the door open startling everyone while still trying to catch his breath "Get your stuff now, we are leaving"

Lucy almost wanted to laugh at his incoherent words "Wow if only I knew it was that simple Gajeel! Are you fucking kidding me?" she rolled her eyes and turned to the mirror again; Gajeel moved quickly and pulled Lucy from her shoulder, before raising his voice; it was almost a feral sound, like a growl from a wild animal, "I have no time for your shit Bunny girl! Leave everything behind and move! We've got to go"

Levy knew him well, there was no way this was a normal situation; she walked to him and grabbed his arm "What the hell is happening?"

"My nose is never wrong and believe me when I say, there's nothing good about what's coming our way, whatever the cost… we need to make sure everyone gets out of here"

"Whatever the cost?" Gajeel bit his lip and pointed at the door "Just go Levy, please!"

Gajeel was the cold sarcastic idiot everyone had learned to love but seeing that desperate look on his face was not something they were used to. The girls started running towards the stairs; everyone seemed to be moving following the lead of the same suspicious group Levy had interrupted not too long ago.

When they reached the first floor, most of the guild was already there making their way towards the door, it seemed no one knew what was happening, but they had all recognized the danger in their friend's eyes.

Gray was walking with the last of the group when he looked out the window, his mouth opened, and his eyes widen; the sight was too impressive to look away.

He saw what seemed to be his best friend walking slowly, hair covering his forehead with hooded eyes facing front, he was passed what used to be the front gate, now laid deformed and melted on the floor; Natsu was calmly making his way to the house through the middle of the road. It almost seemed as if the mere contact of his body heat was destroying everything around him.

Every step Natsu took created a flame that left a scorch mark on the stone floor, and as he moved forward the trees surrounding him would burst into flames, causing fire columns to rise every time he moved ahead and making the sky look orange and red. The beautiful tree line was now a memory, and, in its place, hell rose from below the ground making everything in the slayer's way die. He was walking at a normal pace, calm, hands in his pockets, his regular outfit and his muffler around his neck as if everything was ok.

Gray had only seen one mage kill everything around him while he walked and saying him and Natsu had a couple of things in common was an understatement; the scene made him remember Zeref, but instead of black strings suffocating life, fire was the one making it impossible for anything to survive.

He ran to the front door pulling everyone from the entrance and standing in front of them with his arms wide open; in a brave but dumb display, Gajeel, Laxus and Bickslow followed his lead.

Of course, in the midst of danger, no one was that interested in getting their host out of the house, so, he was the last one down the stairs.

"What the hell is going on here?" Fukuro was sure the fairies had been plotting against him and seeing them all together near the door was evidence enough for him.

"I told you sometimes things are better asked than stolen kid, we can't control what's going to happen now" Makarov's voice showed concern instead of his usual confidence and that was reason enough for the rest of his children to shiver.

"This is exactly what you all wanted! To ruin this day for us!"

"Boy, this is something you brought upon yourself… and we failed to stop it"

"You old fool!" Fukuro felt his anger rising, he would not let them take away everything he had worked for "Lucy come here, Now!" he grabbed her by the wrist and pulled but felt resistance.

Lucy didn't really know what was happening, but she trusted her guild mates with her life.

"Wait! Please"

Fukuro held her wrist up angrily in a way that would surely leave a bruise, he gave her that look she had feared for the last couple of months, and without warning he slapped her across the face causing her to tumble and fall to the ground.

The scene to follow unfolded almost in slow motion, just when the sharp sound of their friend being slapped echoed in everyone's ears, a bright firebolt crossed the room blinding them before hitting Fukuro in the chest with such strength that he was thrown back.

The temperature of the room became hotter every time Natsu took a step closer to them, it was almost too much to bear; each step he took was followed by the cracking sound of the marble floors breaking under the heat of his body and the pressure of his feet.

Fukuro managed raise his head and attempted to stand up, he cleaned his mouth with the back of his hand before mumbling "You are dead Salamander"

A crooked grin appeared on Natsu's face, it was not his usual smile but something else; the room froze at the sight of him taking a jump and landing on top of his prey in an animalistic way, his left arm, which was now covered in crimson scales clawed into Fukuro's shoulder, burning its way through skin and muscle.

Natsu placed his face right next to his ear "Who said you could touch her?", he pushed his claws deeper; Fukuro's blood poured on the once white and shiny floors; he gritted his teeth trying to swallow his own screams, and then grinned back with a bit of blood coming out if his mouth "Farewell Salamander…"

"NO!"

Lucy's high pitch scream resonated through the room as the realization of what was going to happen sunk in breaking everyone out of their astonishment and causing for the rest of their friends to close their eyes to avoid seeing the strongest man they have met fall under such circumstances.

She placed her face against the floor and cried, all the times he had been there to comfort her or bring her back home were rushing through her mind, the last thing she remembered was the glowing Sakura tree passing through her window and the smile of her best friend.