A.N.
Hallo all!
Sorry for the long hiatus! Hope you like the new addition! Sorry it's moving along at a snails pace now, but hopefully the slow build will be worth it.
FYI:
Natsu thoughts
'Lucy thoughts through shared link'
The Guild was always the best place for this sort of thing. He could hear and feel the small crowd around him laughing – it got him all fired up. He wouldn't tell them why just yet, but he didn't have to, when celebrations were in order, explanations weren't. The last bit of the beer sloshed down his throat. A metallic clang rang out as he slammed his mug down. Gray slammed his after him.
A smirk tugged on Natsu's lips.
"Beat you again asshole!" He turned and called down the bar, "Another one, Mira!"
Mira leaned off the counter and away from the conversation with Erza to glare at him. Natsu gulped. Macao and Wakaba had started singing and Gray threw an arm over his shoulder and shouted something in his ear – but he couldn't hear them over the chill running down his spine from Mira's death glare.
She could still be damn terrifying.
She poised her hands on her hips and her face tightened. "Haven't you got more important things to do than drink the day away?"
Erza kicked her stool back and stood.
"Natsu. Lucy is researching ways to stay alive and you're in here like there's something to celebrate." Erza's hands clenched.
His retort died on his lips and the saliva drained from his mouth.
Gray made a grab for Alzack's beer and chugged it. "There is something to celebrate! He just hasn't told what it is yet."
Idiot.
Natsu internally cringed. Gray had been drinking long before he came in, he clearly wasn't thinking straight.
Erza dismissed him, "Quiet, Gray." Gray's arm left his shoulder, Natsu could feel everyone's warmth around him ebbing as they retreated to a safe distance.
Erza's eyes flashed. "Mira tells me you've been in here for hours drinking. Your wife – my friend, Lucy's life hangs in the balance. Explain yourself."
Natsu gulped. Maybe he was the one who hadn't been thinking clearly. Celebrating given the circumstances hadn't been his best idea. Erza was going to kill him.
He shook the fear off and turned back to the bar.
"I have reason to celebrate, alright? Get off my back."
He could almost hear the guild collectively thinking, "Wrong answer."
Erza's battle cry was the only warning.
But it was warning enough.
He kicked off the bar and leapt out of the way of a bone crushing punch.
"REQUIP!"
Erza assumed her familiar battle armor. Natsu felt funny. The excited tingles of an impending battle were dulled by the alcohol. He clenched his fists and flames erupted up his arms.
"Finally! I've been itching for a fight." His breath came out in hot puffs through clenched teeth. Erza pulled free her sword and charged.
The glass bottle clinked – the noise reverberated off the stone walls. His foot caught the uneven ground and threw him off kilter - he brushed against the cool stone. A hiss tore free his mouth.
Fuck. That hurt.
'What hurt?'
He dropped his hand from his chest. Damnit. How did he always forget? What should he say? He couldn't lie.
Fighting.
'Alright…don't destroy too much! Erza will kill you!'
He dropped his hand and gave a dry laugh. Been there, done that.
Who knew him having a few drinks with the guys would piss her off so bad?
Natsu brought the bottle in his hand to his mouth and leaned back, taking a hearty chug. He turned as he did, his feet getting away from him – he stumbled forward and fell into iron bars.
Where was he anyway?
He tried to blink him memory straight – he drank way more than he meant to. Was where Happy when you needed him?
Where was anybody?
Natsu pulled at his hair.
Let's see…
Erza.
Fighting.
Fire.
Shouting.
Cellar.
Bottles.
Lost?
Aha – Cellar! She threw him in the cellar!
"If you want to drink like a pig then do it where I don't have to watch you!" Doors slammed shut. Stumble around till I remember I can make fire. Find bottles. Drink one or three. And now…here?
Natsu brought a flaming fist up to illuminate the hall. His eyes winced with the light change. The iron bars he fell into stretched the length of the hall.
Great he found the guild's holding cells. Some celebration this turned out to be.
He huffed out a puff of smoke and stumbled along the hall.
He had been thinking something was off with Lucy, but it wasn't until this morning that he was able to confirm it. She had been smelling different lately – better even than usual, but he couldn't place it. It was a smell that he knew but it was odd at the same time too. It wasn't until Lisanna stopped by the house this morning, and she smelled the same way.
And that smell was new on her too, but the only thing that had changed, was that Lisanna was…
Pregnant.
Which meant Lucy was –
"I see you are preparing for battle." The hall felt colder. Natsu drew his flaming hand towards the noise and growled as the contents were illuminated.
Why did he ever drink?
It made him slower in battle and forget important shit. Like the smug-bastard who hurt Lucy was in these cells.
"Fuck off."
Words felt like jello on his tongue. How the hell did Macao and Cana drink so much?
The bastard didn't move – his legs remained crossed and eyes closed. The scars on his face looked haunting in the dim light of Natsu's fist, showing him as the monster he was.
His lack of response pissed Natsu off even more.
"Fuck off, bastard!"
His voice bounced off the walls. Anger boiled up him. He wanted to fight this asshole. He hit the bars with an open palm. They shook and the sound of reverberating metal resounded within his core.
"Not so chatty now, are ya?" The bastard still sat there stoically. Natsu's lip curled and he raised his hand to strike the bars again.
'Natsu-'
He froze, the chill he felt looking at this son-of-bitch melted when he heard Lucy through their link.
'I was thinking…how impossible it was that we found each other. After being separated-'
Anger peaked again, looking at the bastard who caused it.
'-the journey I had. Both ending up on that island at the same time. Me remembering. That's impossible, right? It shouldn't have happened, but it did.'
Natsu didn't realize when he had dropped his hand, but even he was still looking at Sadato…his anger felt cool. Lucy was waiting. She needed him to say something…
Yeah.
Her end was quiet. He was barely able to convey what he was thinking sober, and as shitfaced as he was now, he was glad to get one word to her.
It felt like he could hear her sigh through the link, 'You're still fighting, I get it. Anyway – I just needed something hopeful. With all these books of doom and gloom, I just wanted to remember that we had done it. We did the impossible.'
He felt her leave his mind. She needed something hopeful?
We're having a kid.
Natsu blinked. His hand lay uselessly by his side and the other clenched the bottle. She hadn't heard.
"You realize what is coming?" The gravel voice flooded the hall, but it didn't have the same effect as before. Sadato remained seated with his eyes closed.
Natsu puffed out his chest. "Whatever it is I can handle it." The bottle clinked against the bars.
The bastard's face tightened.
"No you cannot."
Anger boiled up again – who did this fuck think he was? He clenched the bars with both fists, dropping the bottle. It fell with a clank and the soft gurgle of liquid escaping filled the cell.
"I'm Natsu of Fairy Tail and Igneel's son! I can take on whatever this Daemien guy can dish out!"
Sadato smiled humorlessly. "Indeed, you are brave and you are strong. But this is not a battle of heart or will. This is not your war. This was siege started by many, but can only be ended by one." He opened his eyes, they brought forth a dead sort of heat in their stare.
"Lucy Heartfl-" he paused, "Lucy Dragneel, will be the one to decide the fate of this war and this world. I suggest you make peace with that."
The gurgling tapered off and the only noise was his own breathing. Something felt strange…he felt…frightened?
He hated feeling this way.
He clenched the bars, the heat from his hands turning the metal soft.
"What do you know?!"
"I know if you continue as you are there will be nothing left to keep me in this cell."
Natsu sneered and released the bars. "Bastard, you know what I meant!"
"I have told your red-headed demon all there is to know." He could feel him studying him in the low light.
"But you, on the other hand have withheld."
"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?" Sadato grimaced and eased himself to standing and slowly walked towards the bars.
"You have gone on living as though there is no imminent threat, your confidence has left you weak."
Natsu clenched his jaw and reached through the bars. "You bastard!" He caught his shirt and yanked him forward. They stood face to face, hot breath mixing with cool air.
He looked half dead and put up no fight. Natsu's anger fizzled and cracked.
"There will come a day, when your world will shake and you'll stand between two impossible futures. You will be helpless to the choice that is made for you. "
With each breath, he flames grew – he'd burn this bastard, to hell with interrogating him. He said so himself – there was nothing left for him to share, so what was the point of him? He could kill him now and no one could stop him. His jaw clenched so tight, he could hear his fangs protest.
A cold throbbing began in his chest – despite how his flames grew, the coldness persisted.
The flames flicked around Sadato and Natsu could smell the singeing.
Sadato seemed unaffected by the flames, but his eyes grew wide as his hand jutted out. It pressed coolly against the already cold throbbing in his chest.
"There! You feel it now. The darkness. Now, you know what is coming."
Natsu's eyes widened and his throat caught.
The cold throbbing intensified. He dropped his hands releasing the beaten man. He fell to a heap by the bars.
His flames died down, but as he backed up the throbbing increased – urging him to act. To harm.
To kill.
He moved until his back hit the wall – the malicious desire in him growing. Dragon scales erupted along his cheeks. His body felt out of control and the cold began filling his limbs making him weak. His teeth chattered and Sadato's knowing eyes pierced him. What had that fucker done to him?
His knees wobbled and he slid to sitting. The longer he fought the urge to kill him the more the coldness flooded his system. Would he ever know what it was like to feel warm again?
Lucy!
Warmth began entering him as he touched his mark.
'Natsu? What's wrong?'
Lucy!
Lucy.
It was like a mantra to him. The more he said her name, the more he felt her through their link, the more he remembered himself. The coolness left his body.
'Natsu – you're freaking me out! What's going on?'
Great – that's the last thing he needed, his pregnant mate having a panic attack.
"Now you understand? You know why this is not an enemy you can fight and win." Sadato eyed him levelly.
'Natsu!'
Pipe down weirdo, I'm fine!
'Ugh! You're such a jerk. Don't freak me out like that'
He felt her leave his mind. Fuck. He was going to pay for that one later.
He huffed and redirected his attention to Sadato.
"What was that?"
Sadato scoffed and pulled himself up straighter. "Not very fast on the uptake are you?"
"Hey! You son-of-bi-"
"Quiet. It was the darkness. That is Daemien's tool." Natsu snapped his mouth shut. He really didn't like bastard. But he hated that feeling even more.
"He freezes out your heart until there is nothing left of who you were. Until finally, you are an empty shell of fear and hatred. At that point, he claims you and you are lost to this world."
Natsu's eyebrow ticked. "Claims you?"
"Yes. Have there not been strange disappearances? I told as much to your red-headed demon. Apparently she does not like to share…or perhaps she deemed you too dimwitted."
"That's it!" A growl tore free his chest and leapt to standing.
"I'm tired of looking at your ugly face!" Sadato stared back, gloating – like he expected him to fall into darkness again.
Instead, warmth spread throughout Natsu's body. He thought of Igneel, the guild, Happy, Artur, the damn cat and Lucy – the family they were starting and the heat from him warmed the hall.
"I'm tired of listening to you talk!" The light from his flames flickered off the forgotten bottle. He pulled back and kicked it down the hall – the sound of shattered glass piercing the air.
"I'm tired of distractions! Whatever this bastard throws at us – we'll face it head on." The fuzziness that permeated his mind from the drinks ebbed away.
He thought clearly.
"We, are Fairy Tail! And you're wrong! Whatever impossible futures you think you know, whatever battles, we're never alone! Lucy doesn't have to fight this alone - none of us are ever alone!"
Lucy. He had to get back to Lucy.
The sound of his feet hitting stone as he ran echoed through the hall and invigorated him. He felt a new energy. That bastard had been right about one thing. He was going on like there wasn't a threat, but there was. And worst yet – it was in each and every one of them.
He wouldn't make that mistake again. He wouldn't be careless.
He had a family to protect.
The fool's footsteps retreated down the hall along with his light and warmth. Sadato was left in the dark.
He had grown used to it.
Still – even the dark cell and the red-headed demon were not as horrifying as what was growing beyond these walls.
What was growing all around them.
Sadato gripped the bars and moved to pull himself up, but something caught his eye. Shards of the broken bottle.
He reached forward to grasp one and fingered the glass - pressing against it harder, blood pooled under it's point.
He grimaced. They were all little bottles, were they not? All of humanity, holding in their worth, until some force comes along and breaks them - and the shards of what they once were become tools of harm.
He griped it once more and shucked it down the hall. He resumed pulling himself up and painful gasp tore through him.
His tired bones protested.
He was old.
Being so long away for the US M.G. dimension…he was starting to feel it.
He was not long for this world.
He smiled, but it was empty. If the Lucy Dragneel did not choose wisely – no one would be.
He shuffled to the center of the room and eased himself to sitting and closed his eyes.
Such an unfortunate choice she was left to make, how he wished he was wrong. How he wished she stayed lost. But that would have only delayed the inevitable. His actions perhaps were the most damning.
His treason gave cause for investigation, the investigation led to the discovery of his research, his research to the existence of a dual passage, one of darkness and one for light… their fear led to the acceleration of the world's decay…If he had just left her. Let her return like all those useless mages.
Instead he hid her and in doing so…led to her discovery.
Yes, he had many wrongs to account for and shortly - he would.
A.N.
Gah - I know, I'm the worst. Gone forever and then not even an epic NaLu moment to make up for it?
Hopefully you can forgive me! I'm still doing interviews, but they're tapering down, so hopefully I'll have more time this month and next.
So thoughts?
Honestly - if it wasn't for those who really love this story or at least enjoyed reading it, I probably would have abandoned it.
So here's to you guys: Neena213, KawaiPanda, DancesWithSeatbelts, BSunkissed, SaturnWolf3, RosesAndRavens and those who have reviewed on earlier chapters as well as those who may read, but do not review - this chapter was for you! I hope you enjoyed it :)
Please review and tell me what you think!
I will try to update at the very least one more time this month if not more!
You guys rock!
Till next time!
-UM