FYI:
Thoughts through the mating mark will be indicated by mentioning touching the mark and:
Lucy's thoughts
'Natsu's thoughts through shared link'
Here we go!
"We can't just keep him locked up down there. We need him."
Her jaw tensed on the last word. Nobody liked hearing it – least of all Natsu and Erza, both visibly flinched at the suggestion, but there was no denying it any further.
Levy and her had read and reread the books. The message was clear…the method not so much.
Lucy steadied herself, the whole Guild was watching. Maybe they were still unsure whether she wasn't some specter brought on by the strange darkness that now permeated all but one hour of the day. Their faces reflected anything from hope to suspicion. Artur fidgeted beside her.
Could he know the trouble she was in? That the family he finally had, could be torn from him? Lucy banished the thought – whenever she thought that way the cool darkness settled in her chest and distracted her further. She had to be strong…for everyone.
Natsu spoke first, "We don't need him. All we need is Nakama. I don't care what crap he's selling, you don't have to fight this- " he gestured wildly to the blackened windows of the guild "-alone. That's not what families do, that's not what Fairy Tail does!"
Some of the guild cheered, others nodded in solidarity. She didn't have todoit alone, she was certain of that. Every one of them would lay down their life beside hers…but it'd be in vain.
She couldn't allow that to happen.
"Natsu's right. Lucy, we are beside you. You are our comrade, we would not ask you to challenge this power by yourself."
Lucy afforded Erza a small smile. Erza's eyes gave her away. Erza the bold, the brave, the selfless… was frightened. They all were.
Lucy was surrounded by the strongest individuals she knew and they were all frightened of this faceless foe.
And why wouldn't they be?
Mirajane went missing two days ago.
Lisanna's soft sobs were barely audible next to Elfman's. Even still, they kept to the back of hall, sparing the rest of the guild their agony, while still showing her their solidarity.
Lucy sought out Levy in the crowd, she held Lizzie in a mother's embrace, while Gajeel brooded protectively nearby. Such an odd couple, yet the sight warmed her. Levy reached out and touched Gajeel's knee, he broke from his stupor and offered the small smile he only ever gave to Levy.
They could be next.
If she didn't act – they could be next to disappear. Her eyes skirted the crowd. Anyone of her nakama could be next.
Lucy's eyebrow ticked. They were wasting time, she had to be stern…she had to be dramatic.
"Let me rephrase – I'm going to meet with him. It can be down there in that dark dungeon - mind you I've been sick for weeks…" She wagged her finger at them. "…I could catch my death! Or it can be up here, and we can treat him with some civility. He's been nothing but forthcoming."
She crossed her arms defiantly and arched her brow.
She would meet with Sadato, one way or another.
"Yes, and that's precisely why I don't trust him." Master spoke, something he hadn't done since it was confirmed that Mira was lost.
Lucy bit her lip. Not having Master on her side would be problematic. At this rate she'd have to strong arm her way in…and against the whole guild, that wasn't going to go over well in her favor.
Lucy felt the coldness settling in her chest, apprehension set in.
She closed her eyes in exasperation.
"I just need you to trust me. I know he has the answers I need. Just trust me…please."
"We trust you Lucy, it's that dark Mage we don't trust. " Lucy opened her eyes to meet Erza's.
The guild murmured their agreement. Lucy searched all of their faces; they couldn't know what they were doing. She had to speak with him! If only she took advantage of the opportunity she had weeks ago, when hopes were high and security lax.
Tears welled up – if she couldn't ask him, they were all damned!
"Let 'em talk. " Lucy whipped eyes back to Natsu; he shuffled at the sudden attention. "Let em talk already. Lucy knows what she's talking about even if we don't…You say you trust her…that means her judgment too. I say we bring him up." His arms crossed defensively.
A tear blazed hotly down her cheek. She reached for her mark.
Thank you.
He gave her a curt nod. He didn't agree with what she was doing, but he'd always stand by her.
The tension kept the air stagnant, and for a moment Lucy believed they would still side against her wishes. Then Erza rose and departed for the cellar.
Sadato, please tell me how I can end this.
No one ever questions how a stranger came to be as they are. They just accept it, with little interest as to how deep the pool from whence the reflection they view appears.
I am their monster, to them – my pool is a mere puddle.
Sadato inhaled. His taut muscles pulled over grinding bones, as each day he felt closer to death, closer to the mortality he once abandoned those centuries ago when he joined the agency.
Mortality? In all honesty, it was his humanity he began to feel again.
He exhaled.
Lorelei.
He had been a boy once.
Once he had loved.
Then he learned of loss and became a man.
As a man, he became immortal. The things of legends, or night fables one told to their children to insure their compliance, 'Behave of the boogey-man will come for you!'
Finally, he looked the part.
He had become the ghoul he so dutifully played for the agency.
The cold dark made his injuries from Hokee ache and his phantom fingers twitch.
He had delivered many a dark Mage their end, he saw now that they were the lucky ones. Where they found a quick end, he was left with his musings and over eight hundred years of wrongs.
A quick secession of footsteps met his ears.
He knew them – the red-headed demon approached. He readied himself.
He hadn't recalled upon their first meeting, but they had considered her for the agency. When she was a child she was too unstable, and as a woman she was far too indebted to her guild. Her inaccessibility was considered a great loss for the agency.
She would have been wonderful at acquisition.
Her steps approached and with their movement came light. She was carrying a torch.
She stopped in front of his cell and held up the torch, illuminating him. He blinked the sting from the light away passively.
"Your presence is requested. You will come." She grimaced as though the words held an unsavory taste and she unlocked his cell.
He grimaced along with her.
It was time.
What Erza pulled from the cellar was hardly the man she knew as Sadato. Far from the rigid man she encountered over a year ago, and surprisingly, he barely resembled the man she sat across mere weeks ago.
Dark hair haggard, face ghastly pale with gauntly cheeks and eyes that sunk in to reach the other end. His skin hung like damp sheets on a line.
He was a walking ghost.
Lucy stood in the center of the hall waiting. When he brought his eyes to meet hers, she barely suppressed the shiver. He was changed…weaker – yet more frightening.
Lucy's hands felt clammy.
"I need your help." Lucy hated the quiver in her voice. Some heroine she was shaping out to be…
Her plea felt heavy in the room. The tension around her was stifling; it made it hard to catch her breath.
"I need to know how to summon the Goddess."
Her timbre increased, she gathered what strength she did have and from what she lacked she drew from Natsu's hand on her shoulder.
A ghost smile graced his lips and she once more fought the urge to shiver. Natsu's grip on her shoulder tightened.
His eyes darted to the darken windows that were growing brighter – it'd shortly be time for the hour of light.
"I would like to sit outside. In the warmth. I will answer any questions you have out there." His voice was still like gravel, but tighter - like a string pulled taut and plucked by a heavy handed player.
"You're not in position to make conditions. Explain wha-"
"That's fine. I would like that too." Erza gaffed either at being interrupted or Lucy's willingness to comply.
What did it matter? It was the end of the world. They might as well enjoy the sunlight.
No one took the sun's warmth for granted these days, but for Sadato the promise of light could mean everything to the amount of help he offer.
Natsu led the way; his steps were measured – far unlike his normal swagger and more like the one she saw in battle. He wasn't pleased, but he'd be damned if she did this alone.
Happy flew wordlessly beside him a frown settling on his brow. Artur skipped beneath him, seemingly unfrighten, but why should he be? Bennie was close at his heels.
This was her family.
This was for them.
He had not cried in centuries – certainly not since joining the agency. The sunlight danced on his face – his eyes ached from it and welled, but he fought their closure. The air had smelled dark – not even moments ago. Now, in the light – he felt its beauty. Smelled it's potential. He gasped.
"Right – you're out here. So tell her what she needs."
Dragon slayer.
Sadato felt his way to kneeling. He once fled the light, now he would do anything to die in its glory.
"Answer!"
The red-headed demon grew impatient. If he answered now, they would take him to the cell where he would die in shadowy destitute.
"You were not the first." He willed his voice to carry the apathetic tone he perfected, but is humanity got the best of him. They shuffled behind him.
"You were not the first key I knew. "
Lucy's eyes darted to Natsu. He shrugged.
She knew she couldn't be the first-first, but to have him know one before her….Even if he was as old as he claimed, something like worldwide darkness would have been mentioned at least once somewhere.
She gripped her fist to her chest and opened her mouth to speak when he stopped her by continuing.
"Do not be misled. I am not what you see of me." He turned to her squinting in the light.
"You were not the first key I knew, nor were you the first to be left with the burden of choice."
Movement out of her peripheral caught her attention. Those who still remained in the town had left the safety of their homes to bask in the brief sunlight. They regarded the Fairy Tail crowd warily, their fear made Lucy's hair stand on end.
Was it Fairy Tail or Sadato they were frightened of? Lucy felt the prickling of guilt. When things have gone wrong in the world, heroes begin to look like the villains.
Sadato gasped and turned back towards the light, reaching towards it with his one remaining hand. Barely audible he started again.
"She…" He laughed a mirthlessly, "my bottle." Lucy shot Natsu another worried glance and he shrugged. His voice grew louder. "She… chose to destroy her key and with it her life…One cannot exist without the other…" He drew in a shallow. "But the time for that choice has passed."
His words fell out in wheezes as his voice faltered. Lucy desperately wanted to spare a look to her Nakama behind her, but she kept her gaze steady on Sadato. His head fell forward and his arm dropped and he grew still. Lucy's heart leapt to her chest – he didn't just die, did he?!
"Sadato!" She made a move towards him and he twitched.
"This will be the last one. The last light on Earthland." He turned to face her with his eyes piercing and wet. "You wish to know how to summon the Goddess? Celestial Mage, you have always known the way."
Lucy stepped back – away from his eyes raw with emotion, and towards the safety that stood behind her.
I've always known? Just summon the Goddess like any other key she hoped to make a contract with? But this wasn't any other key – this key was her soul! It can't be the same.
She moved her head in protest, but the changing sky halted her.
Shadows encompassed the sun.
"The sun is setting already! It just got here!" Only Happy could make ominous news sound cheery.
"He has grown in strength. He will be coming. Prepare yourself, he aims to consume the key." Lucy whipped her eyes back to Sadato, widening them as she did.
"What do you mean!?"
"He means Daemien-what's-his-ass is coming, and we better be ready. Honestly, Luce do you even listen?" She shot Natsu a withering glare; he was wearing his cocky grin, eyes gleaming, as he cracked his knuckles.
Sadato remained kneeling, soaking up the remaining warmth in the air. He turned his gaze to Natsu.
"Do not let them taint the heart of the key, Dragon Slayer."
Natsu scoffed, "She ain't just a key, her name is Lucy of Fairy Tail, and like he'd even get near her."
Lucy's heart thumped loudly in her chest. Natsu – ever confident and quite sure she would need saving.
Lucy's breath hitched. But she did. This time she really did need saving, but there was no one who could fit the bill. Like the first one Sadato knew…she was burdened with choice.
Erza began giving orders and guild moved fluidly. In the darkened distance screams arose, steadily growing closer with the receding light. Sadato lay forgotten in the mix and for a moment she and he were the only stagnant figures.
The screams increased, in pitch and in number.
Lucy's heart beat wildly and she felt for her mark.
Natsu!
He whipped around to face her.
I love you.
His gave her his fanged grin and flicked a thumb against his mark.
'I love you Luce.'
His voice bounced inside her mind, warming every part of her. She felt whole, finally saying it and hearing him say it back. She believed in him, and in Fairy Tail, but what was coming... She knew they could not stop it.
She had to...whatever the cost.
This was goodbye.
She palmed her mark and smiled brilliantly.
Take care of our family.
His grin dissolved. He leapt towards her.
She searched inside of herself – chasing the glow that thumped alongside her heart and into its ethereal binds.
"I am linked to the path to the world of Celestial Spirits, now! O spirit, answer my call and pass through the gate!"
The darkness that encompassed her vision erupted into glorious white light.
A.N.:
Yay, I'm back!
Please forgive me! (grovels on knees)
I didn't forget about you guys and this story!
...Well, that's a lie, I totally did, but I have resolved to finish it!
Interviews are long since over, admission's offers accepted and school starts in September... so between my traveling and working dwindling down I have time to tie up this story and offer some closure.
Thank you so much for reading my story, for your reviews, your messages and your support! Let's see how The Goddess Gate ends!
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