People were arguing. Lucy opened her mouth and tried to tell them to be quiet but her tongue felt dry and thick. She coughed.

"Wait, I think she's waking up."

She opened her eyes. Natsu and Zeref were peering down at her with concerned expressions.

She had another small fit of coughs. "What happened?" she asked.

The two men looked at each other.

"What?" she asked again.

Zeref began. "You've suffered a case of apoplexy, which today is more commonly referred to as a stroke. This often results in physical disabilities, loss of memory, and emotional changes. I've used my healing spell on you, but the symptoms of apoplexy are not always something that can be healed."

"So, what's wrong with me?"

"Perhaps nothing—do you know your name?"

"Lucy Heartfilla."

"Your birthdate?"

"March 7th."

Zeref relaxed a little.

"Is that good?" she asked.

"Yes."

Zeref continued asking questions and did a couple physical tests. Lucy was able to answer all his questions but a few of them seemed to take a longer than they should have. The delay was so slight, that Zeref didn't seem to notice but it made her uneasy. Natsu watched quietly.

Zeref finished his last test. "I don't see any lasting damage."

"Thank goodness. That was lucky, huh?" she said.

"Yes." He suddenly became stern. "Because what you just did was extremely dangerous. We're lucky you're not dead. The type of stroke you had has a 50% mortality rate."

She felt the tips of her ears get hot. "But it was worth it, right? You're both still alive."

"Yeah," said Natsu. He shifted slightly, putting himself between her and Zeref. "Brotan was incredible and fought Ancologia on even ground. I was eventually able to fly and joined the fight. Once that happened, Brotan gathered energy and cast the spell that made Acnologia human again."

She looked at Zeref. "So… you have your brother back?"

"Yes, although I almost lost him. Once Aaron returned to human form, several dragons who had been watching the fight from afar attacked him. Igneel jumped in and stopped them but I'm furious with the Queen. Dragons don't often go against her so I think she might have been behind the attack. Anyways, we were able to put Aaron in magic binding handcuffs and we have him locked in the dungeon below."

She looked around. "A dungeon? Wait, where are we?"

"I've obtained another castle, not far from my previous one."

"I hope you didn't kill the owner."

"No, he is still alive," he said with a small grin.

Lucy pictured the dungeon. Somewhere not far from her, a man who had lived as a monster for 400 years was sitting in a dark room with shackles. "Is your brother remorseful?" she asked.

Zeref's expression became flat. "No, although that may improve with time. I think he needs to remember what it's like to be human."

Zeref's eyes had become bright when he mentioned his brother. He saw Lucy watching him and cleared his throat. "Don't worry about my brother right now. We need you to focus on getting better. After all, Natsu is now a Dragon King. We're going to need you to get stronger and summon the First again to undo the spell."

Lucy's eyes widened and she looked at Natsu. He scratched his head and laughed nervously. "You forgot about that, huh? Don't worry—I have complete control over my actions. I'm not going to go crazy and start destroying villages anytime soon." He looked over at Zeref. "Actually, considering how dangerous it was for her to summon the First last time, I'm wondering if we should even try to undo the spell."

Zeref pursed his lips together. "We've already discussed this. Although you are stable now, humans aren't meant to yield that much power. It would be better for everyone involved if we can remove the Dragon King curse from you once Lucy is strong enough to do so."

Natsu frowned. "What if this is just a plan for you to spend more time with Lucy?"

"This isn't some ploy to steal your girlfriend. Lucy loves you and not me— I can accept that and move on. Once the spell has been undone, I will collect my brother and you will never see us again."

For some reason, Zeref's words stung. He was right, she did love Natsu, but there had been something special between them. She looked away.

Natsu was watching Zeref closely. "I guess I believe you," he said reluctantly.

"Well, I hope so because I don't think you're going to be keen on my next suggestion."

"What's that?"

"I think it is best that I lock you up in my dungeon also, just until we are able to reverse the Dragon King spell. You seem to be stable now but Aaron went through a period of stability."

Lucy reached out and touched Natsu's arm. "I'll work really hard so that I can summon Brotan and change you back. Please do what he asks in the meantime."

"No, I don't want to leave you alone with him." He glared at Zeref. "If I start to lose control, then I'll agree to be locked up but I feel completely fine right now. You said your brother was already distraught before he became a Dragon King, right? I'm not distraught. Hell, I'm the happiest I've ever been." He wrapped an arm around Lucy.

"I don't really have time to argue with you about this. I'd like to start training with Lucy and I'd also like to spend some time with Aaron. I know half the world would like to see him dead but he's still my brother. Do what you want, but just realize that if you do lose control, you're putting Lucy at risk. She is the only one who can summon the First and stop you if the dragon inside you takes over. If that happens, I'll ask Lucy to try and stop you which might kill her. You don't want that on your hands, do you?"

Natsu looked away. "That's not going to happen."

Zeref was about to respond but Lucy suddenly remembered something. "Wait!" she exclaimed.

She fumbled at her side. "Where are my Celestial Keys?"

Zeref and Natsu exchanged concerned looks.

"Don't you remember?" said Natsu.

Lucy thought back to what she had done. It had been dancing at the edge of her memory like a dog scratching at the door, but she had pushed it away.

"I—" she began. She stopped, suddenly overcome with fear. She looked at Natsu and she could see his eyes beginning to brim with tears.

"I destroyed all my keys," she finished.

The words hung in the air. They were too awful—too horrid to possibly be true. Had she really destroyed the part of her that she cherished above everything else—her bond with her spirits?

The realization of what she had done began to trickle into her, filling a well of despair.

"Oh god," she whispered. She clasped her hand over her mouth. "They're gone. I've lost my friends."

Zeref's raised a finger. "Actually, I don't think that's true."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"All you did was transfer power from your keys to Brotan so that he could have physical form. I believe we could do something similar to bring your spirits back. Once you summon Brotan to undo the Dragon King's curse, you should be able to transfer Brotan's energy back into your spirits. Actually, that reminds me…" Zeref reached into his pocket and pulled out Brotan's necklace. "This is essentially worthless now. When you gave Brotan physical form, you didn't bind him to an object so he is actually bound to you. If we are able to transfer the energy back to your spirits, we can bind his ghost back to this necklace and it will be as if nothing ever happened."

Lucy listened carefully. "Is there a way to bring my spirits back without making Brotan lose his physical form?"

Zeref raised an eyebrow.

"I mean, he's kind of like one of my Celestial Spirits now. I don't want to take his physical form away from him."

Zeref sighed. "I don't think you will ever be strong enough to give your Celestial Spirits back their physical form without taking the energy back from Brotan. I would do it for you, but using that much energy would probably trigger my deathwave. You will need to make a choice."

She shook her head. "Can't you think of anything else?"

He thought for a moment. "Well, I can consult some of my old books and see if there is another way to gather large amounts of energy but I don't know if you'll like what I find. We're talking about magic that is unbalanced. The results often fall into black magic which I know you're not a fan of."

"Well, just take a look and let me know if you find anything. If there's a way to get my spirits back without taking away Brotan's physical form, I'd like to try to find it."

Bigdream3r: Oh my goodness you guys. I am so embarrassed. I had the wrong chapter 3 in here for 2 months. Thank you Moon Stone Tiger Lily for catching that! I feel the whole story didn't make sense without that chapter. *face palm*

I had to post another chapter to explain myself.