Disclaimer: Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima
ACT V: Ragnarok – The Fateful Encounter
Approximately X793
~ o ~ O ~ o ~
Chapter 37: Just a kiss
"This is getting soooo boring!" Natsu said in a grumpy voice, because being pinned down on the ground by Zeref's arrows was starting to be really... really annoying. The fact that his former guild mates and his brother was arguing about what to do next didn't make the situation better. Nope, on the contrary it was so sleep-inducing that he might actually take a nap, just because he was running out of options to occupy his mind.
Ohh and don't worry he had fantasised about loads of stuff, that ranged from utter destruction and violence, to cute fluffy bunnies. Hey, just because he was consumed by the curse, that didn't mean he couldn't think about things that was adorable... and who doesn't like bunnies with their small fluffy feet.
The demon had tried singing as well, which annoyed Laxus so much he had warned him that he would put his fist inside his mouth if he didn't stop it.
Bahhh... stupid idiotic people! Why couldn't they just realise it was too late to do anything?
Nuisances... all of them were nuisances that should go home and... what? Mmm... commit suicide? Play with poop? Hahah! A Poop fight, now that would be fucking disgusting...
Just when he finally had something to occupy his mind, he heard something that sounded like someone landing not that far away from him and before he got a sniff of the person's scent he heard Happy starting to cry very loudly. Like seriously, he was surprised his eardrums didn't pop.
"Wahhh!" the cat kept crying for some stupid reason, making the former Dragon Slayer growl in anger.
"Erza!" Gray shouted in a hopeful tone "You made it!"
"Tsch! Why do you sound so surprised? Did you think she flew into a tree or something...?"
"I knew you would make it back" Zeref smiled warmly, clearly ignoring his brother's rant "My dear Lucy"
"It's good to see you back kid" Laxus nodded sounding somewhat happy as well.
"Wooooow..." Natsu said clearly being sarcastic "... you guys are really bad liars. I can teach you a few tricks if you want me to..."
"Thank you, it's good to be back" a female voice answered, making the demon's eyes widen in surprise because she sounded completely like Lucy. Actually... he sniffed a few times... it even smelled like her.
They dared bring in an imposter?! What the bloody fuck! Ohh he would make that person swim with the fishes, even if it meant he had to place a can of fish beside the corpse.
Usually he would laugh at such a stupid joke, but the anger inside of him was burning away all of his rationality. Unbeknownst to himself black flames eradicated all around his body, however he could feel his muscles prickling as they were filled with adrenaline. As they did he felt himself become really restless, making an urge to take drastic actions form inside of him.
A ferocious snarl that turned into a roar escaped the former Dragon Slayer, as he struggled against his restraints. At first nothing seemed to happen, but as he started to feel more determined his curse also started to fuel his thirst for action, motivating him on a primal level to continue.
"Ahhh!" screaming and making his fight audible, he gathered all of his strength into his arms where the fire kept wildly fluctuating around his skin. This time he heard the black magic loosening their hold on the ground, but he didn't stop his efforts and soon he heard the sound of the magic being forced up from the ground.
Growling and secretly feeling victorious he got into a sitting position, where he quickly pulled the arrows out of his arms, causing a huge amount of blood to spout out from the wounds. Not that he cared or thought logical about his actions, he just didn't want it to be inside of him. So without thinking twice Natsu quickly proceeded to violently tear the arrows out of his thighs, making blood pour from the exposed and torn meat. He didn't remove the magic from his stomach though, because it wasn't really bothering him. Besides he wanted to see the imposter himself, before he smashed her to pieces.
Not noticing the others protesting while he was removing the restraints, he ignored the excruciating pain in his body as he quickly jumped up on his feet and spun around on his heels, in order to stare daggers at the person impersonating Lucy.
Damn, it even looked like her...! Shit, did that mean he had to kill her... again?!
"What the hell is going on here?" Natsu cursed loudly, his eyes darting between Erza and the blonde girl.
"I brought her back for an important task" the armored woman said cryptically as she took a protective stance in front of the girl, raising her sword as if it might intimidate him somehow.
How silly...
"But that can't be!" he pointed an accusing claw towards Lucy "She isn't protected by nakama bullshit like others we know... is she?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about" Erza said, sounding sincere.
"You..." a growl formed in his throat as he watched the blonde more intensely, his eyes glistening with anger "... answer me one thing"
"Uhm" Lucy flinched clearly uncomfortable from his piercing stare "Su-sure"
"Before I dropped you, what did I do to you?"
"Wh-what?!"
"Ya heard me!"
"Yeah... but... uhm..." she gulped loudly before continuing "... you gave me a... well I wouldn't call it that, but you said you gave me a good... goodbye kiss"
"Ah-hah!" he smiled wickedly "I made you say it! So you survived that fall somehow, huh? Well son of a bitch..."
"This is not the time for your shenanigans" Erza interrupted in a serious tone.
"Whatever man..." Natsu exhaled loudly, the anger subsiding a bit as he gave Lucy an elevator look, taking in her battered body that was still pretty messed up from her previous battles.
"You guys fall back" the scarlet haired woman demanded "Lucy are you ready?"
"Yes..." she answered and folded her hands in front of her chest. After that Lucy took a deep breath and closed her eyes, making it evident that she was concentrating about something
"Ready for what?" the demon wondered briefly, when he noticed that there was a radiating light starting to gather and pulsate around the blonde girl, making his eyes widen because he instantly recognised what it was.
"Aww heeell no!" the former Dragon Slayer shook his head, his arms forming an x "That's playing dirty and I ain't allowing it!"
"This isn't a game, where you decide the rules" Erza smirked looking way too satisfied for the demon's liking.
"... it should be" Natsu pouted and looked rather childish for a second.
"Is it time?" the scarlet haired woman asked.
"Yes... " Lucy answered and immediately the light around the girl started to grow in volume, covering everything in a warm orange colour.
"No!" the demon snarled and watched Erza sidestepping away, thereby revealing Lucy who was still standing with her hands folded, her eyes closed with the light fluctuating wildly around her contours.
"I'll..." Natsu narrowed his eyes as he felt how his body started to tremble and shiver uncontrollably, because the light was so potent it made him paralysed just looking at it. Actually the light was such a direct contradiction to his own darkness, that he felt fear spawning and crawling right underneath his skin. As he stood completely frozen he barely noticed that a secondary and smaller blonde materialised behind Lucy, but he couldn't see who it was. Not that it mattered he had more important things to think about.
Move... move god damn it... move... the demon thought and felt how his mind seemed to blank all of a sudden, making him gulp loudly as a few droplets of cold sweat trailed down his forehead.
Not being in control of his own body, he just watched in horror as Lucy started walking in his direction.
"I'm sorry, it has come to this" Lucy opened her eyes that was glistening in an orange colour.
"... no..." he managed to whisper in a low inaudible voice, still staring hypnotised at the approaching figure, who was standing right in front of him way to soon.
"Natsu..." she smiled brightly and placed a hand on his chin "... no, I should say END"
Not being able to respond he just stared at her.
"This is goodbye" Lucy said in a fragile voice before tears started running down her face.
Why...? The single word spawned inside his mind, because he didn't understand her reaction at all.
"I'm sorry... I'm so... so sorry"
Why?! He glared into her eyes, searching for the answer but couldn't find anything other than sadness.
Why?! She look so incredibly sad and fragile.
"This... this is it..." she took a deep shaking breath, probably to calm her nerves "... as a last favour let me show you the right way to do this"
He didn't get a chance to even spawn a single thought, before Lucy suddenly captured his lips with her own. The move surprised him at first, making his eyes widen in shock. Not that it should surprise him though, because this was what Lucy had done the last time too.
As they stood there he felt how the light seemed to enter his veins, like a warm and soothing liquid that made his cells prickle and vibrate. It was a pleasant feeling that seemed to become even stronger once it reached his intestines, making it feel like his insides was responding to the light by twisting and turning. Not in a bad way, quite on the contrary.
Closing his eyes, Natsu took a deep breath through his nostrils feeling how the madness and anger inside of him started to vanish, as it did he felt how he gradually earned more control of his body. It was weird though, because it was like the process was a lot slower than it had been the last time. In fact this time it was also like the light was taking away the pain he felt from his wounds, signifying it was either numbing his pain or healing him.
Ohh well whatever it did wasn't that important, because there was more pressing things going on that he wanted to focus on. And yes, he meant that literally since Lucy's lips was crushed against his, which he honestly thought was rather confusing. It was... well it was actually kinda weird and yet he kinda enjoyed it on some level. However there was something awkward about it too, because it was like he needed to do something more than just stand there like a statue...
Not knowing what to do or feel Natsu felt how he started to gain more control of his body, making him twitch his arm ever so lightly to test if he had mobility back. When he felt the muscles responding to his command, he tried moving them upwards before he snaked them around Lucy's waist.
It was just to try his body out, it was totally innocent! Seriously!
Ohh well maybe not, because when he had finished doing that he pressed Lucy's body more firmly against himself, making sure not to remove his head because he didn't want to interrupt their connection.
After all he wasn't finished taking advantage of this... uhm... shhh, let's talk about that later brain, jeez!
Tilting his head slightly to the side, he used his tongue to force his way into her mouth and to his satisfaction, she responded by following his actions.
Heck yeah this was more like it!
His stomach started tingling in a satisfying way, the surroundings vanishing leaving just him and Lucy, to have their own little moment. As they stood interlocked with each other, it didn't take long before everything that had been the demon evaporated, replacing some of his genetically structure with light, making him glow as well.
From the outside it was a rather beautiful sight, because both of them was radiating in that soft and warm light.
"I'm sorry to interrupt you guys" Mavis gentle voice suddenly called, making both of them flinch in surprise before they quickly stopped what they were doing in order to look down on the tiny mage.
"Ahem..." the first master obviously faked a cough and looked at the two in turn. It took a second to realise what she was implying, but once he understood her message he somewhat reluctantly removed his arms from Lucy.
"Now this is it" Mavis smiled kindly at both of them before turning her head to exchange a look with Zeref, who looked super confused "Come here..."
"What...?" the black mage's jaw dropped visibly but he did rather slowly follow her command and made his way over to them.
"This is the end..." the small blonde's smile grew bigger as she grabbed Lucy's and Zeref's hands "... we need to form a circle so come on you guys"
"Uhm... right..." feeling as confused as Zeref looked Natsu grabbed Lucy's free hand, which meant he had to hold hands with his big brother.
Aww snap! How did it come to that? Not feeling great about the situation, he obliged and grabbed Zeref's hand with his cheeks blushing because of all the different emotions he was experiencing.
Like heck he had just tried something he had only seen in the *ahem* comics, he was hiding underneath his bed...
"Now all of you close your eyes..." Mavis encouraged and all of them did except Zeref.
"What is this?" he wondered loudly "What's going on?"
"It's okay" the tiny blonde reassured and gave the dark mage's hand a squeeze.
"But how..." he shook his head in disbelief "I can feel your hand so clearly in mine..."
"Lucy summoned me here from the crystal using her celestial magic. This is my physical body that was kept safe from the world due to the strong energies that made Lumen Historie"
"But... the crystal?"
"It's gone" Mavis smiled reassuringly "When I was summoned the crystal shattered into pieces, because all of the unrestricted energy was absorbed by my body"
"You..." Zeref sank loudly before continuing "... you'll die..."
"Yes" she nodded "But so will you... this magic is formed by the light and it will erase your darkness. That means we will both cease to exist in this world and go the next"
"I see..." he smiled warmly and let out a chuckle "... I guess I should have known you would get your way in the end"
"Uh-huh" she giggled brightly "I did tell you a lot of times that we would stop you"
"You sure did"
"Are you ready?" Mavis asked sounding concerned.
"Yes... I've been here for far too long"
Exchanging a quick look with each other they both closed their eyes. So did Lucy and Natsu who had been staring at the two other mages, not daring to interrupt their moment.
The instant Natsu closed his eyes he could feel the lightness in his body starting to slowly drift away. It was rather strange actually because it was like all of his muscles was tingling on such a miniature scale, that every inch of him was moving. It wasn't unpleasant but it didn't feel good either. No, in all honesty it kinda felt wrong. He couldn't put a finger on what it was, but it was like his entire being was trapped in a dimension, where everything could snap in an instant turning his world into something that easily could be deprived from his most haunting nightmares.
Unbeknownst to him the curse was struggling against the light, trying to cling onto him because it refused to be destroyed. He wanted to struggle and fight against it, but what could he do against something like that?
You need to relax... a weak voice spoke in his mind and he instantly recognised it as being his demonic counterpart.
Hey you okay, dude? Natsu asked sincerely.
There's almost nothing left of me... the curse deleted my existence but it would appear that this Lumen Heart thing has momentarily raised me from the empty space where I was floating around...
Ohh... I'm sorry to hear that...
It' fine... the demon sighed before continuing ...just like Zeref I've been here for far too long... it's time to go.
… kay...
I gotta say though, for an idiot you're not the worst...
Gosh, you're annoying!
Right back at ya kid!
Tsch! Just get your sorry ass out of my head...
You know, once I'm gone I'm taking away all your memories from the past too right?
Wait what?!
You'll keep that memory I showed you with Zeref, but the rest will cease to exist
…. but...
His counterpart chuckled, Right now you might not recollect it, but you have a question that you want to ask.
I do?
Yes... I've left the answer you're looking for in your mind, you'll find it one day
Don't just go around leaving random stuff here!
You ungrateful brat... ohh well it was fun I guess while it lasted... this is it for me... goodbye Natsu Dragneel.
Wait!
But it was too late, he could literally feel the small essence that had been the demon vanish like it was water that suddenly turned into fog. As it did he took a deep breathe, his eyes opening like he had just been hit in the stomach by an invisible force.
Zeref, Mavis and Lucy was curiously looking at him, which made him feel rather uncomfortable. Turning his head he noticed that the first master and him was the only ones who was still glowing, which seemed a bit... odd...
"It's done..." the tiny blonde exhaled "I wish you guys the best of luck for what's to come"
"But we're still here?" Zeref muttered more to himself than anyone else.
"Yes..." Mavis blushed fiercely "... you... you need to kiss me"
"I... what?!" the dark mage's eyes grew so large they looked like they were about to pop out.
"It... uhm..." she stuttered, looking really perplexed.
"You know what?" the dark mage asked and seemed to gain his composure.
"Wha-what?"
"This is a perfect way to end our story" he smiled wholeheartedly while placing his hands on the girl's cheeks.
"I think so too" Mavis blinked with small glistening tears gathering in her eyes.
"Goodbye... and thank you for everything"
"Mmm" she gave a small nod before their lips finally meet each other, for the second time in their lifespan.
As they stood there the light that was engulfing Mavis started moving in Zeref's direction in small waves, that smoothly wrapped around him making him glow as well. While this was happening a darkness started to enter the light and soon the two types of magic intertwined with each other, making it look like two watery like substances that melted into each other.
It was a rather stunning sight especially when it started to consume the two mages, making their images blurry and hard to see. As the magic kept fluctuating it started to slowly break into into small tiny sparkles that flew up into the air, where they slowly started to evaporate. It happened rather fast and eventually there was nothing left but the empty space where the two mages had been not long ago.
"Woow..." Natsu muttered feeling a mixture of emotions. Sure he was rather stunned that it all happened so fast, but he also felt kinda satisfied that his brother finally got his wish fulfilled. However there was something utterly sad about it too, because when they got down to it, Zeref was his only blood relative and now he was gone.
Being occupied in his mind he barely noticed that Lucy was almost silently crying beside him. He heard it though, making him turn around smoothly in order to face her.
"Hey... are you okay?"
"Yeah..." she sniffled and quickly wiped away her tears "... yeah I'm fine... it looks like Lumen Historie healed us..."
"Mmm..." that made sense, he guessed since he couldn't feel his previous wounds any more.
Ohh well, that was convenient, Natsu shrugged and looked down at his hands and to his surprise he was still glowing.
Huh?
Lucy wasn't glowing and now that he thought about it she looked like she was completely fine. Which was rather weird because the last time she had used Lumen Historie she had lost her consciousness and started to bleed from both her nose and ears.
"Luce, are you sure you're okay?" he asked while eyeing her up and down, trying to ensure she was indeed alright.
"Yeah... I'm good" Lucy answered but suddenly her body seemed to stiffen, almost as if she was shocked by something. Actually she looked really worried and almost scared all of a sudden.
"Ya sure?"
"Uh-huh, I'm good" the blonde bit down her lip, her entire body shaking like she was cold or crying again.
"That's good" he said clearly sceptic about her own judgement.
"Uh-huh" Lucy nodded before placing the palm of her hands above her eyes, clearly being in some inner turmoil about something she didn't want to share with him.
"Idiot..." Natsu muttered more to himself than to her, as he captured her body in a tight hug, hoping that the gesture could soothe her somehow. As he did she responded by placing her own arms around his waist thereby returning the hug.
None of them said anything but just stood there until the Dragon Slayer suddenly felt the remaining light in his body vanish and when it did he raised one of his hands to make sure that it was gone.
"It's gone" Natsu stated while glaring at his hand.
"Really?" Lucy gasped and removed herself from the embrace, before taking a few step backwards, where she eyed him carefully.
"Well yeah" he raised his eyebrow feeling suspicious "What's going on?"
"Nothing..." the celestial mage chuckled sounding relieved about something "... ohh gosh"
"You know you're acting really weird?"
Instead of answering the blonde tilted her head to the side, sending him a radiating smile.
Silly girl... he thought to himself and smiled back at her.
It all happened so suddenly, one minute he was glaring at the celestial mage the next he felt his body becoming completely stiff, making him stand frozen in his position.
Something was wrong... really, really wrong...
He didn't know what it was but his instincts told him, it was highly dangerous and lethal making his eyes widen as a sense of terror was evoked inside of him.
"What's wrong?" Lucy asked but he didn't answer, instead he shook his head as his body started shivering uncontrollably while sweat suddenly poured down his forehead.
"No..." he whispered, his mouth feeling completely dry all of a sudden "… no"
"What?" the celestial mage tried appealing once more, but still didn't receive an answer.
All of his body felt weird, like each and every cell was suddenly vibrating in an unpleasant way. The feeling was so dominant that he barely registered that his breathing was becoming more irregular, because for some reason it was becoming more difficult to make enough oxygen enter his body.
His head... it was like he could hear the sound of his blood rushing through it at a fast pace, drowning out everything else. As it did a sudden flash of pain spawned in his head, making it feel like someone was using gravity to crunch it into a puddle of blood and mush. Speaking of that his ears was tickling, because it felt like something wet and sticky was dripping out of them. Which there was but he couldn't know that for sure.
"My head..." Natsu managed to whisper before he felt a piercing pain rippling through his intestines, making it feel like it was being torn apart by some invisible force from the inside, making him unconsciously place a hand above his mouth as his knees buckled underneath him. He barely registered falling down, but he did feel it when a huge amount of liquid forced itself up into his mouth, where it spouted out between his fingers leaving a crimson trail as it poured down his hand.
Breathing heavily through his mouth he leaned forwards and placed his hands on the ground, before he felt another huge amount of liquid leaving his body, making it splatter with a nasty sound on the ground.
It hurt... each and every inch of him hurt...
Blood started trailing down his nose as well, before landing with low thuds on the mass that was already gathered beneath him, but he didn't register that. Actually there was a lot of things he didn't notice, like how people was calling his name and how Lucy was carefully stroking his back.
Please... stop...
A painful scream escaped his lips as he felt the last tiny pieces of his rationality start to vanish into a pool of nothingness, because the excruciating pain from his organs being torn apart on the inside was too much for him to handle.
Lucy... he managed to think, before his mind seemed to snap like a mirror, into a million pieces, leaving nothing but a vast void. There was nothing... the sound of him breathing, the feeling of his heart beating. It was all gone...
Natsu was officially dead.
A/N: Next time... I'mma gonna pull some serious and hardcore Mashima tricks, like you've never seen them before. You'll see... yesss... bwahahah!
So before leaving here, have this deleted scene/material:
Natsu was having a great time. Honest to god it was so amazing unleashing his curse and the madness inside of him on the world. The feeling of not caring about anything like his old personality always did was so liberating! Haha! Everyone should die if anyone asked him.
Mmm maybe he should do an interview when he got back? The demon thought to himself, wondering briefly how he should pose for the photograph as he dodged an incoming attack.
Weeeeeeeeh! /H