Chapter 12 – Again


Hell - Eighteenth Level

Natsu's eyes slowly pried open. Everything around him was a blur. Where am I?

His head pounded furiously and his arm's ached. He looked up and hissed. He was strapped to an X shaped wooden board. No. Not again. He glanced around. Craters of flame and screams of the damned. He was back where he started.

"Oh! You're awake!"

Lucy emerged from within the darkness. She seemed no different from when he saw her last. Curved horns, long tail and sharp fangs. Except her eyes didn't seem as bright.

"What happened?" He coughed.

"Oh, you died!"

That happened to jog Natsu's memory.

Right. Lucy stabbed him.

Lucy cocked her head to the side while lifting her coiled whip in her hand. "Done playing around?"

Natsu flinched backwards, his back pressing into the stiff board behind him. "Why'd you do it?"

"Because I couldn't let you leave."

"I was so close! I was right there. The gate. All I needed was for the guardian to show up and-" Natsu cut himself off after he made a sudden realization. Lucy gave him a soft smile. Oh… "Lucy…are you the guardian?"

A few of the other demons in the torture field chuckled, obviously finding humour in the situation.

Lucy shrugged, and her tail swung gently behind her. "Guilty."

Natsu's heart dropped. How could that be? He trusted her. And it turned out, the entire time on their journey, Lucy was just biding her time to kill him. "You lied to me…" You betrayed me.

"I'm just doing my job, Natsu," Lucy said with a frown. "It's better this way. After all you've been through, an eternity of torture doesn't sound so bad, right?"

"No." Natsu couldn't just give up. He had a life to live. There was Erza and Levy. Heck, at this point he even missed Gray. He had to get back up there. He took a deep breath of the ashy air and released it. "Again."

Lucy raised a brow. "Again?"

His resolve hardened. "You heard me."

A few of the demons whistled and laughed. He didn't know whether it was at his bravery or foolishness.

Lucy sighed, walked up to him and released his bindings. As soon as Natsu's feet hit the ground he was stalking away.

"Natsu, wait!"

He ignored her. Stuffing his hands in his pockets, he was glad to find that he still had some hell money left. He didn't need it yet, but it felt good to have something. He still had the dagger on his hip and judging by the heat in his stomach, the flames were still there. He stomped down the road that he remembered, passing by the ghostly village and down the path into the flaming valley.

A hellhound leapt his way, but Natsu merely swept it aside with his dagger. After killing who knows how many, they seemed much less terrifying. A mammoth on the other hand was a completely different opponent. He squealed as one came his way – probably attracted the noise of his heavy footsteps – and hid within a cave.

His scream echoed throughout the cave when he was spooked by the soft voice speaking from behind him.

"Why didn't you wait for me?"

Natsu whipped around to find Lucy hovering behind him, a frown on her face. She seemed genuinely upset. "What's the point," he grumbled, after calming his nerves. "You'd be there at the gate when I get there anyways…"

She pouted. "But its more fun when we go together!"

Natsu opened his mouth to vent, but decided he didn't want to waste energy doing so. He huffed. "Fine. Do what you want." With that he spun on his heel and trudged into the cave. From what he remembered, he should be able to make it through to the other side. In the back of his head, he knew Lucy was a little upset at his treatment of her, but who else wouldn't be mad? She stabbed him in the back after all.

Even if it was her 'job'.


After an undescribable amount of time, Natsu had arrived again.

Lucy drifted up solemnly behind him. "Are you sure about this?"

Natsu glanced up at the gate with renewed intensity. "Positive." He spun around to face Lucy, prepared for battle, but he only managed to blink once before his vision snapped to darkness.

Unbeknownst to him, his head had been sliced clean off. It rested a few inches away from where his body had subsequently collapsed, the blood already pooling on the ground. Lucy stood over his body, this time with a sword dripping with blood.

She sighed, watching calmly as Natsu's body shimmered away. "Sorry…Natsu." From her back, she sprouted a set of black wings. She took flight, following Natsu's soul as it returned to the torture field.


Natsu woke again. Screams. Maniacal laughter. Fire. "Damn it!" He lifted his head and was no longer surprised to find out where he was. Nor was he surprised to see Lucy. A combination of frustration and exhaustion birthed a crazed grin that spread across his face.

"Again."

Fire, hellhounds, monsters, hell storms. Sleeping in caves, hopping over geysers and eating red flames. A towering dark gate. This time, Natsu managed to parry two of Lucy's swings before she cut him apart.

Eyes opened. "Again."

Screams, fire, pain and darkness accompanied by the splash of blood on black stone.

"Again."

Determination and power shut down by the snap of a neck.

"Again!"

Fear, sorrow and loneliness driving the force of a blade.

"AGAIN!"

.

.

.

Natsu's eyes snapped open with blazing intensity. Flames swirled ferociously around his body.

"Again."