Disclaimer: All Fairy Tail Characters Belong to Hiro Mashima, Tiamat is loosely based on Tiamat from Forgotten Realms which Belongs to Wizards of the Coast, LLC. The traits of the chromatic dragons have been altered to match the dragon slayers in the Fairy Tail Universe. Drakan belongs to Surreal Software.

Chapter 19: The Ties That Bind

Lucy and Gray were on their way to check on Former Council Member Hogg. He lived a fair distance from Magnolia so they'd had to borrow a mount to get there quickly. Lucy was sitting behind Gray with her arms wrapped around his waist to keep herself from falling off the flitting feline. They were riding through a desert like area and the oppressive heat soon had both of their thoughts turning towards Natsu. Gray decided to try to heed Makarov's words and work things out with Lucy, at the very least it kept his thoughts from wondering what idiotically reckless thing his mate could be up to.

"I'm sorry that you had to find out about us like that." Gray said and he honestly did feel badly about that. He could only imagine how devastated he would have been to walk in on Natsu kissing Lucy.

"It's ok, it was just unexpected but it was our fault for barging into your room.", Lucy said taking great care to keep her words even, "I should have handled it better. Can I ask you something?"

"You can ask whatever you want, I can't guarantee that I'll answer."

"Have you always been in love with Natsu?"

Gray laughed. "We met when we were 10. He was larger than life, even back then. He came into the guild bragging about being raised by a dragon, he was so damn cocky and Gods that pink hair! He pissed me off from the moment I laid eyes on him. So no, that came later."

"When I first started having feelings for him I was angry at myself and at him. I thought that there was something wrong with me because no one else around me seemed to have feelings for someone of their own gender. Hell, when Gramps gave us the sex talk he never even mentioned it as a possibility. I blamed Natsu for somehow causing these feelings even though he truthfully didn't do anything but be himself. That's when our fighting started getting out of control. I wanted to push him away thinking it would make them stop but at the same time I couldn't stay away for long. It was a hard time for me, but as the years passed and it never went away I just accepted it. He felt the same way about me, I just didn't know it. We've always been drawn to each other, I just didn't understand why until now."

"Gray, what you're thinking of doing, you do know he's not going to agree to it?", Lucy said.

"Of course he is, it's the only way to save him."

"That's a horrible reason to do what you're planning."

"He's my mate, that's reason enough." Gray felt that if she was going to be involved she should know at least that much.

"Mate? What are you talking about, didn't you guys just get together?"

"It's a little deeper than that. Dragon Slayers take upon certain aspects of dragons as part of their magic. One of these aspects is mating. Dragons have only one mate that they remain with for their whole lives and so do dragon slayers. They don't actually know who that is until they've had their first heat. Tiamat forced Natsu to experience his first one when she gave him that solution. Even though I'm his actual mate, because she forced herself on him if we don't do something soon to challenge her claim, I might still lose him. I'll stop at nothing to make sure she can't touch him again."

"So, I never really had a chance huh?"

"I don't think so, I'm sorry."

"It's ok."

"Are we ok?"

"We will be.", Lucy knew it was going to be awhile before she was truly okay with all of this but now she knew that she would be.

"I'm sorry about the way I was acting. You were right, I wasn't thinking about what he needed at all."

They spent the rest of the ride in silence, each immersed in their own thoughts. Lucy was startled out of her reverie by Gray stopping their mount abruptly. Had she not been holding on to his waist she probably would have gone flying. She started to protest but instead looked around to see what had caused Gray to stop like that. The town spread before them and to their increasing trepidation it looked like it had been gone over by a wild animal. There were what looked like claw marks across entire buildings. What kind of creature coud do something like that?

"Council Member Hogg!", Lucy said, "We need to find him quick."

They hurried to the address they had been given but Gray already knew it was futile. He'd seen enough to know this was the work of a demon and it had clearly already left town.

xxx

Justin, Rogue and Olga walked into the Fairy Tail Guild. No one noticed them enter as their attention was focused on Master Makarov and a large communications lacrima that was sitting atop one of the room's tables. He seemed to be receiving reports from the field. They looked around for Sting among the mages present in the guild. Rogue was glad to see that the guild did not look too bad considering Tiamat's visit. They moved towards a table to wait for Master Makarov to finish what he was doing.

"Rogue, you're back!" Sting made his way down the infirmary steps quickly and headed towards his friend. He gave him a bone crushing hug and found himself holding on a bit longer than usual. He'd been worried that Tiamat had managed to find him after she had disappeared. He'd found himself thinking quite a lot about the Shadow Dragon Slayer since his disappearance.

He shook Justin's hand and thanked him for having taken Rogue away from Fairy Tail during the attack.

"What happened after I left?", Rogue asked.

"She got another element. Gajeel was able to injure her though. Now they're dealing with a different crisis so Makarov has put me in charge of dealing with Tiamat for now as he deals with Tartaros. I'm still waiting for Lamia Scale to arrive with their God Slayer."

"What can you tell me about this Tiamat?", Olga asked Sting.

"She's a Dragon deity. She currently has access to light, fire, poison, and lightning Dragon Slayer magic, which might make her immune to those elements. She was also capable of casting strong spells that I have never seen before. She has the ability to teleport and shape shift. From what I have heard she was banished to a place called the Nine Hells 400 years ago but we still have not been able to find how it was done."

"Have you ever gone up against an actual God before?"

"No, but she is going after a member of Sabertooth so I will do my best to take her out.", Olga said with more confidence that he felt. It was one of those things he had always asked himself. If he ever got the chance would he be able to defeat a real god? It looked like he was going to find out. If she was really immune to lightning magic that could be a problem. He began to strategize.

"Is Council Member Hogg alive?", Makarov asked the lacrima with agitation.

"Sorry, Gramps. He was already dead when we got here. The town was attacked as well. I think it might have been a demon.", Gray Fullbuster's voice could be heard coming from the lacrima.

"It was horrible, Master.", Lucy added.

Makarov closed his eyes, trying not to show his frustration to his mages. They were already worried enough as it was. He opened them slowly and asked for the next report.

"Gajeel, what about you? Any word on Council Member Belno?"

"We were too late as well, but there does not seem to be any damage to the house or the town.", Gajeel reported to Makarov.

"Well that leaves Natsu and Elfman.", Cana said out loud.

"Natsu's group hasn't reported yet?", Gray and Lucy both asked at the same time.

"Calm down, I'm sure he's fine. He probably stopped to fill that never ending appetite of his before reporting back.", Cana was not able to mask the worry in her tone as well as she would have liked.

"We're here! Sorry it took so long but our lacrima broke and we had to find a replacement.", Wendy reported.

"Wendy, what happened? Is Council Member Michello alright?", Makarov asked with the first hint of hope in his voice.

"Council Member Michello is fine but we ran into one of the demons from Tartaros and we had to fight him. Natsu was able to take him out. He's in pretty bad shape though."

A shout of "Wendy!" could be heard in the background followed by Happy snickering "You're going to get it now!"

"Oh crap! I wasn't supposed to say that. I'm sorry Natsu-san."

"NATSU! What the hell did you do?", Gray screamed at him from his location while managing to glare at Makarov at the same time.

"Gray-sama, it was amazing! He kept eating all of the explosions that the demon kept throwing at us! There must have been at least 50 of them. I've never seen anything like it. Wendy had to heal him after he knocked himself out but he got back up and fought its demon form. Juvia saved the Council Member and others in the town!", Juvia said already forgetting that Natsu had asked them not to tell Gray anything about how he had defeated the demon in her excitement to talk to her beloved.

"He did what?"

"I'm fine Ice Block, and did they mention that I took out the demon? If you want to be mad at anyone you should look to Happy, he almost got himself killed. Look at him, he looks like he was cooked.", Natsu desperately tried to change the subject.

"As much as we're all enjoying this domestic squabble can we take it up later? Were you able to learn anything from Council Member Michello?", Makarov interrupted before things could get further out of control.

Juvia could be heard in the background saying "What does he mean by domestic squabble, my beloved and I weren't fighting." followed by more snickering from Happy and a groan from the Fire Dragon Slayer.

"He keeps saying the words Face and White Inheritance but he won't go into specifics.", Wendy told Makarov, "He hasn't been very cooperative."

"Face is a last resort weapon the Magic Council created.", Michello spoke at last.

"What about this Face, what does it do?", Makarov asked Michello.

Michello remained silent but a sheen of sweat could be seen trickling down his face.

"We need to know Michello. This is not a game. They are sending demons after you and we won't be able to protect you forever. The members of the Magic Council are dead as are Belno and Hogg, you and Yajima were attacked. Who knows how many others will be affected? What are you trying to protect?" Makarov yelled trying to get Michello to react.

"It's a pulse bomb capable of eliminating all the magic in the continent.", Michello said quietly.

"That's insane why would the Council do that?"

"All mages would become ill."

"Tartaros doesn't use magic. The demon told Juvia they use curses."

"That means that while we would be helpless they would be able to do whatever they wanted without any opposition.", Pantherlily fumed.

"Where is it? We'll destroy it before they have a chance to use it.", Natsu finally appeared on the communications lacrima and Gray was able to see just how badly he'd been injured. He was furious, this was exactly what he had been afraid of, damn idiotic Flame Brain!

"I don't know where it is but I have heard that it was organically linked to 3 former council members. The only person who would have that information is the former chairman.", Michello informed Makarov.

"That must be why they're killing former council members! It's the only way to break the seal. Do you think that they already know the location of the weapon?", Lucy wondered.

"Everyone return to the guild, Warren is locating more addresses and we will ask some of the other guilds to help. Sting?", Makarov ordered and closed the connection already trying to figure out how to deal with this new mess.

"I'm on it! I'll get in touch with Yukino.", Sting walked towards Warren to get some addresses to send to Sabertooth.

'Dear Gods, why have I not retired yet? I don't know how many more of these little situations I can handle at my age.' Makarov thought to himself as he made his way upstairs to check on Laxus and the Thunder God Tribe.

xxx

Lyon and Sherria walked into Fairy Tail fully expecting to have to evade flying furniture or at the very least flying mages. To their surprise the guild was quiet. Groups of mages were sitting at different tables doing what looked to be research. They looked around for the guild master or anyone they recognized. Sherria was hoping to see Wendy but she did not seem to be around at the moment. They had become fast friends since the Grand Magic Games. Sherria followed Lyon to the table where his foster brother was sitting along with a few dragon slayers and some other mages. They were all focused on a book written in a language she did not recognize.

"Sherria!", came an excited voice from the door.

Sherria turned to see Wendy Marvell running towards her and smiled. The others in her group headed in her direction as well.

"Gray-sama, we're back!", Juvia headed straight towards the ice mage whereas Natsu stood awkwardly behind the two girls.

Lyon noticed the fury on Gray's face when he saw Natsu and he quickly ran interference for him.

"Juvia don't you look wonderful! I'm so glad I got to see you. Why don't you tell me about your mission? Looking at the lot of you it must have been quite exciting."

Juvia tried to get away but she was so puzzled by the looks Gray was giving Natsu that before she knew what was happening Lyon had grabbed her by the arm and sat her between Gajeel and himself.

Gray got up and walked towards Natsu slowly trying to give himself time to sort through his emotions before he said something he would later regret. What was it he'd thought in the Sun Village before Natsu had fought that monster? They would always run towards danger and put other's safety before their own. It was true, he couldn't blame Natsu for doing what he'd always done and it wasn't fair to try to get him to change for his sake when he was pretty sure he'd have some choice words for Natsu if he ever asked that of him but did he have to go and get himself so beat up all the time?

Natsu looked at him with pleading eyes, asking him not be angry with him. He'd only done what he'd had to after all. Gray looked at him for a few seconds and then blindsided him with a left hook to the jaw.

"What the hell, Ice Princess?"

"I told you that I would kick your ass if you got hurt and I keep my promises. Be thankful you're pregnant or it would have been worse. Honestly, eating explosions. What the hell were you thinking? There is a living being inside of you now, idiot. Let's take you upstairs to Porlyusica so she can check up on both of you.", Gray chastised his mate.

He grabbed Natsu's hand and led him to the infirmary leaving many open mouthed mages in their wake.

"What just happened?", Juvia asked as her brain was starting to put things together.

Lyon nodded. He would like the answer to that question as well. He looked around the table and noticed that Gajeel, Lucy and Levy were the only ones not looking confused by the exchange.

"Gajeel, can you explain what's going on with my brother and Natsu?"

"Isn't it obvious? They're mates, well technically anyway. We're hoping this book takes care of the rest."

Wendy squealed with excitement, while Sting smiled now that his hunch was corroborated. Rogue looked a bit surprised. They all looked at the book with interest.

"Did he just say Natsu is pregnant?", Olga asked.

"It has to do with the goddess you are going to destroy, we'll catch you up later.", Sting told him.

Gray was kicked out of the infirmary by Porlyusica and he arrived back at the table just in time to listen to Juvia ask the question he had been dreading.

"Mates?", Juvia asked with a slight tremor in her voice, "what does that mean, they're like really good friends?"

"No, it means that Natsu's the one I'm destined to be with. I'm sorry, Juvia. I tried to tell you so many times but you wouldn't listen. I belong with Natsu, I always have."

"But Gray-sama, he's a boy. You won't be able to have a family and...oh.", Juvia stopped herself as she remembered that Natsu was pregnant. She felt the tears come then as her dream came crashing down on her.

"Gray-sama is my light, my reason for leaving the darkness behind. He was the one who stopped my never ending rain and gloom and made the sun shine down on me for the first time. What am I supposed to do now?" She got up from the table not realizing she had said all those things out loud.

She felt powerful arms surround her and she let her tears flow as Gray comforted her as best he could.

"Juvia, you never needed me for any of that. It was always inside you. All I did was point you in the right direction. You are an amazing woman! You're beautiful, brave, loyal, kind and clever and there is a whole world out there for you full of people and experiences. Some even closer than you think. You shine your own light now, just keep following it and you'll be fine."

To everyone's surprise the guild did not flood although Juvia did cry for a bit longer. Gray finally let her go with a kind smile.

"Thank you, Gray. I will think about what you said." It sounded so strange to say his name like that but she knew it was a good first step. She needed to respect his decision , this time she was listening. To her surprise Lucy came up to her and invited her to get some hot cocoa at the bar, which Laki had finally gotten around to fixing after many bribes from Cana.

Natsu came downstairs and watched the unlikely combination of Lucy and Juvia sitting down together. He wondered what happened to cause that but made his way over to Gray's table. He had mentioned there was something that he needed to talk to him about. They were all looking at Lucy and Juvia as well.

"Did I miss something?", Natsu asked.

"Juvia knows now.", Gray told him.

"Oh, should I be concerned?"

"No, she took it considerably better than we expected. What did Porlyusica say?", Gray assured him.

"She told me I was an idiot but she can feel him in there and he doesn't seem to be in distress and then something about my being beyond help.", he shrugged, "So what did you want to talk to me about?"

"Sit down."

Natsu was surprised that he wanted to talk in front of all these people but decided that meant it was not something to worry about. He noticed they were all looking at a book and that there was a red lacrima on the table.

"While you were gone Levy found a ritual that we think might make it so Tiamat's claim on you will no longer be valid.", Gray told him.

"It's called a Soul Bond. It was documented by this group called The Order of the Flame hundreds of years ago. A dragon and a human would unite their souls and blood in an unbreakable spiritual bond. It should override Tiamat's strictly physical claim. Natsu would have to enchant that lacrima with his Dragon Slayer magic creating what is called a Soul Crystal. Then Gray would have to infuse the Soul Crystal with some of his magic and a Seith mage would use the Crystal as a talisman to combine your souls for eternity while both of you recite a simple spell. The Soul Bond will allow you to sense each other and you will also feel each other's pain. ", Levy explained.

Natsu wasn't listening to the explanation as much as he was gaging Gray's reactions and he could easily tell that there was something that was being kept from him.

"What's the catch?"

"What do you mean?", Gray said nervously.

"I'm sorry Gray. I told you I wasn't comfortable keeping this from him. If you die before he does, Gray will live but with the loss of the Soul Bond and the added loss of his mate he probably won't last long . When he does die his soul will be trapped to where his remains lay and he will become a Soul Shadow, no longer a part of this world but not able to move on either. This can be undone if someone takes the Soul Crystal to his remains then his soul will be set free to join yours in the afterlife. If Gray dies first then you will also die. If you both die of old age then both your souls will be released to the afterlife. " Levy told Natsu.

Natsu looked at Gray in horror. "Are you out of your mind?"

"For once I agree with Natsu, you can't seriously be considering this, Gray.", Lyon looked at his brother in fear.

Gray ignored his brother and pleaded with his mate "Natsu, it's the only way to keep her from claiming you. I want to do this."

"Well, I don't want you to. If you found this I'm sure you can find something else."

"Natsu please--"

"I SAID NO. I would rather live a lifetime with that bitch than doom you to that fate.", Natsu yelled at Gray then he got up and left the guild, slamming the door behind him. A shocked silence followed the outburst and Erza and Lucy followed him outside.

"Are you ok?", Erza asked him in a gentle tone.

"What the hell is he thinking, Erza?", Natsu asked still in a rage.

Erza sighed. "I think that he loves you and he's terrified of losing you, especially to her. He's not really thinking about the consequences at the moment. Look, I know you don't want to hear this right now but you should at least think about it. You didn't see him when you were missing, or when you were found. I think he feels that going through that again is a fate worse than anything the Soul Binding can do to him. There's also the child to think of, if he is indeed going to be a demigod do you want to her to have access to that much more power? I'm not saying he's right but at least try to look at it from his perspective."

Natsu looked at Erza with his brows furrowed. Mira came out of the guild at that moment with a slip of paper in her hand and headed towards them.

"Erza we have to go. Warren was able to find the address for the former chairman that Michello was talking about. Master wants the two of us to go check on him."

"The two of us together on a mission? I look forward to it, let's go.'

Mira and Erza waved and left to look for a mount to get them to their destination.

"What the heck is a demigod?", Natsu asked out loud.

"It means your child is half human and half god.", Lucy answered, "He has the potential to be a very powerful being as both his parents are powerful in their own right. If Tiamat got her hands on him she could turn him into a force for evil but if you and Gray, and by extension the rest of us, managed to raise him then maybe he could be a force for good. If Tiamat gets to you she gets the child as well."

They both sat outside quietly while Natsu thought about that for a while. This was all so confusing. He didn't want Gray to be a Soul Shadow but he didn't want Tiamat to have his son. His head felt like it was going to burst so he talked to Lucy instead.

"So, you're finally talking to me again?"

Lucy blushed. "Uhm yeah. About that, I'm sorry I was being a jerk."

Natsu sighed. "No, it's my fault. I had no idea you felt that way about me. If I did or said anything that made you think there was something more between us I'm truly sorry."

"I thought you did and I guess that's why I was so upset in the beginning but looking back it was all me. I read more into your actions because I wanted to. Now that I've seen how you act with Gray I can definitely see the difference. Erza's right by the way, he loves you very much. I was there when Levy first told him about the possibilty of this ritual and he didn't even hesitate he just said, Tell me what I have to do. "

"I can't ask this of him, it's too much."

"I'll tell you what he told me when he was trying to get me to talk to you.", Lucy tried to imitate Gray's deep voice, "Natsu, maybe you should think about what he means to you and then something along the lines of are you sure this is what you want? Because it sure as hell isn't what he needs from you right now."

They both chuckled. "When did grumpy old Gray get to be so wise?", Natsu asked with a smile.

"It must be his impending fatherhood.", Lucy teased.

"Funny, I don't think it's made me any wiser."

"Yeah, I'm thinking Gray's going to be raising two kids. Three if you count Happy.", Lucy giggled.

After days of silence Natsu was really happy to hear that sound again. They shared a hug and went back inside. Gray was still sitting at the same table having an argument with Lyon and looking absolutely miserable. He walked over to the table and sat down.

"I'm sorry I didn't let you talk, but you shouldn't have tried to hide that from me.", Natsu told Gray in a serious tone.

"You're right, I just didn't want you to say no and Lucy said that you wouldn't agree to it."

"Why is this so important to you?"

"You said so yourself, I'm your mate. We're meant to be together but she wants to have you, has already had you, just to piss off Igneel. I already know what it feels like to lose you and I don't ever want to go through that again. I also don't want her to get the kid. It protects both of you and that's all I want to do."

"Who's going to protect you?"

Gray shrugged. "I don't need protection at the moment. Please Natsu, I need to know both of you are going to be safe."

"You said we needed a Seith mage but Bickslow's out of commission.", Natsu said putting up the last obstacle he could think of.

"We have another Seith mage in Fairy Tail.", Levy said with a smile. She pointed at the Request Board. They all turned to look and saw no one there except for Nab doing his routine scan for jobs.

"Nab?"

Levy nodded. She grabbed a piece of paper and wrote out a job request, a special one that only Nab can do.

Requested Wizard: Seith Mage Nab Lasaro

Job: Perform a soul bind between a dragon and a human.

Reward: A job that only Nab can do and a free dinner.

Location: Fairy Tail Guild Hall, Dragon Slayer Table.

Timeframe: Now

She handed it over to Lucy who placed it on the board. They sat at their table and waited for Nab to respond. Nab finally noticed the request and his eyes opened in wonder, a smile gracing his lips. He grabbed the piece of paper and headed over to their table excitedly. He officially accepted the request and Levy explained what he needed to do.

Natsu and Gray sat staring at each other in a final contest of wills.

"Are you sure this is what you really want, Ice Princess?"

Gray nodded and Natsu sighed in resignation. "Hand me the damn lacrima before I change my mind."

Sting added "Don't forget about the mating bite."

"No, that's private. I'm not doing that here. We can get the blood another way. Does someone have a knife?"

Gray molded a knife and handed it over to Natsu. Natsu sliced his palm and let the blood sit there, he handed the knife back to Gray. He grabbed the lacrima and cast an enchantment on it with his Dragon Slayer Magic. The lacrima glowed brightly as he fed it more of his magic and blood until it became solid again. It was now his Soul Crystal, he handed it over to Gray who did the same thing.

They each recited their part of the spell as they held on to the crystal:

"With my fire and blood I join my soul to thee"

"With my ice and blood I join my soul to thee"

The Soul Crystal began to crackle and they handed it to Nab. He waited until they were ready and added his Seith Magic to the crystal activating it. Arcs of lightning shot out towards Natsu and Gray penetrating their hearts. Then just as suddenly it stopped and the crystal transformed into a pendant. Gajeel grabbed it and made a necklace for it. He handed it to Natsu.

"I think you're supposed to wear this."

Natsu was staring at Gray and his hands were trembling as he put the necklace around his neck.

"This feels really weird." They both said at the same time.

"I believe the request said something about a free dinner?" Nab asked enthusiastically.

xxx

A/N I had to change the timing to be able to include the Soul Binding, it should sync back up next chapter. The Soul Binding is based off of a video game called Drakan that apparently came out in the late 90's which I think EclipsingParadise will get a kick out of. I changed it a bit but it fit my need for something intimate but non sexual that they could do to outmaneuver Tiamat. I had a lot of fun finally giving Nab a job that only he could do. Thanks to the usual suspects, you keep me going. A special thanks to Valythe on AO3 for absolutely making my day yesterday and SilverWhiteDragon on for her enthusiastic questions and reactions!

Oops, I somehow lost a part of the chapter so that's why I had to update again. Sorry :(.