"What...how?" Lucy shuddered as she looked over the land the rain still pelting down her open hood as the once cold rain now slid down her numbed spine.
The land before her was dry, earth cracked with need of the liquid that stopped its down pour at a well-defined line. The grass green and lush beneath her feet but just a few steps ahead ended with the dry caked dirt. Taking a few steps forward out of the rain the celestial mage cried in joy as she felt the warm rays of the sun for the first time in months. Removing her rain soaked poncho she threw it to the ground as she danced under the clear sky.
"Oh the sun, the sun is shining again," the blonde sighed happily as she lay down on the dry earth as she felt the water slowly begin to evaporate off of her gradually heating skin.
"Come on we have to keep moving," Zeref spoke as he crossed the threshold of the desolate lands.
"How much longer till we can finally rest?" Lucy asked in annoyance as she propped herself up on her elbows. For the past month the blonde hadn't gotten more than four hours of sleep at one time and it was beginning to piss her off.
"There is another crevice about half a day's walk in that direction." The black haired man explained as he pointed straight ahead in the direction of the mountains, "Once we past that there are some caves were we can rest for a full day."
"Ugh..." The blonde groaned as she laid back down. "We're still in danger aren't we?" She asked as she looked over at the blank haired wizard as he nodded his head. "Alright let's go but I want to rest for two days before we move another step." The black haired wizard sighed in aggravation as he nodded his head yes.
"Fine let's go." Lucy groaned as she sat up.
Erza made her way through the over grown foliage that surrounded Natsu's house. It had been two weeks since the guild had returned to Magnolia, and in that time the pink haired man hadn't stepped one foot out of his house. Apparently he and happy had raided Lucy's apartment stealing all of her sheets and clothes before holding up in their house. The only reason the Tatiana knew this was a few days ago Happy had appeared at the guild to pick up food for the dragon slayer and ever since then he had decided to stay with Wendy.
Making a mental note to have Natsu clear out an actual path to his house the red haired woman finally reached the clearing where it stood. But rather than the usual shack that was there it was stacks and piles of lumber. The frame work of several walls already standing on a base of grey stones one area having a set of stairs leading down in to what Erza assumed would be the basement as the constant sound of hammering filled the clearing.
"Natsu?" Erza called as she equipped into a hard hat before continuing forward. "Natsu?" She called as she followed the sound of labored grunting and pounding. Turning a corner she found said man.
"What are you doing here Erza?" The dragon slayer breathed out as he took a short break wiping the sweat from his brow.
"You haven't been to the guild since we got back. Everyone is worried," the red headed girl said as she walked around a pile of stones to get closer to the pink haired man.
"Yeah right," the dragon slayer scoffed as he dropped his hammer into a bucket then picked up the frame work he had been working on. "I highly doubt Grey was concerned," he said as he set the panel upright next to a wall as he grabbed a mallet and started to attach it to the ground.
"Grey is struggling right now, we all are, the news is kind of a shock to us all," Erza said over the loud pounding.
"Yeah? Well try living it," Natsu grunted as he moved to connect the two sides.
"You are still family Natsu, don't ever forget that," the requip mage reassured as she watched Natsu move about the construction site with ease.
Famous for his lack of restraint Makarov had at one time made the dragon slayer help rebuild areas he had destroyed especially if the damage was simply from another fight with the ice make wizard rather than through the completion of a job. And if there was one thing other that fighting Natsu was good at it would have to be building houses. Maybe I should ask him to help me build a house of my own, Erza thought absentmindedly.
"But it would be better if I wasn't a demon or related to Zeref?" Natsu grunted as he turned back towards the Tatiana as he snapped her out of her thoughts. "Don't deny it, everything would be a lot better if we could go back to before this all happened." The pink haired man said as he turned back around to begin building the next wall segment.
"And what if you randomly one day devolved into E.N.D.? Would that make everything better all of us being blindsided like that?" Erza screamed in pain as Natsu stopped smelling the tears that were rolling down her face. "Face it Natsu it is better we know now, what if someone were to take Lucy and your child again."
"That won't happen!" Natsu roared as he turned back to face his team mate.
"Natsu the whole damn country saw what you are capable of at the games but Dragon's keep still attacked." Tatianna said firmly.
"I stayed in control," the dragon slayer growled.
"You did...then... We all felt it during search... You went demon on us, didn't you?" Erza spoke afraid to ask, but she had to know the power she felt was far too familiar just to be a coincidence and with everything that had been happening to her team mate recently the requip mage was beginning to doubt if there actually was such a thing as coincidences.
"Not fully..." Natsu mumbled just loud enough for her to hear.
"Would you harm Lucy?" the requip mage asked the one question she wasn't sure she should.
"Never!" the pink haired man growled out in anger at the accusation the question even posed.
"Natsu," Erza warned as she stepped a little closer the man in front of her.
"I would never hurt my mate!" Natsu shouted as in his rage he released a small ring of fire around his body, as the queen of the fairies jumped out of the way of the disappearing fire. "Sorry, look Erza it knows," Natsu said quietly as he sat down on a pile of lumber.
"It knows what?" The red headed woman asked as she sat down across from Natsu.
"The demon E.N.D., I can hear it sometimes. It's voice, it thirsts for violence, death, destruction. But it won't hurt Lucy," the pink haired man reassured quietly.
"How can you be certain?" Erza asked skeptically.
"Because it would hurt me."
"I don't understand," the red head said as she raised an eyebrow at her team mate.
"My connection with Luce is stronger than I could ever hope for; it is so strong that right now I can feel her joy at feeling the sun on her face for the first time in a month. I've felt her shiver from the ever present rain that slide down her spine. The demon knows that if Luce gets hurt so will it. It was Luce that restrained it in Crocus, not me,"
"Okay, well I want to train with you on keeping it at bay," Erza said forcefully.
"That's fine," Natsu sighed quietly knowing that a refusal would earn him a beating.
"What are you doing?" the requip mage finally asked as she looked around the area where his house had once stood.
"Luce wanted a house so I am building her a house, one that is big enough for us to raise a family in" Natsu said quietly as he stood up to get back to work.
"That's sweet Natsu, I will assist you," Erza said firmly as she reequipped in to a construction outfit she had just bought.
"No I don't need help," Natsu said frantically as he dropped the hammer he was about to pick up.
"Nonsense... Where are you sleeping?" the red headed woman asked as she looked around not seeing any tent or lodgings available for the dragon slayer to stay.
"My hoard," the dragon slayer sighed in submission knowing that it would just be easier for him to accept the help then try and get Erza to leave him be.
"Good, let's begin." Erza said with a clap.
"Grey, darling Juvia really thinks Grey should talk to Natsu," Juvia spoke as she rubbed the small bump on her abdomen. At four months along it wasn't visible unless she was naked but it was still there.
They sat in the guild hall that was unusually quiet. A few days ago Erza had come to the guild and told them that Natsu was building a house for him, Lucy and their new baby. The nearly every single member had all volunteered to help; half were there now while the rest were out on jobs or running errands. The only person who didn't volunteer to help was the ice make mage as he told Erza rather rudely that there was no way he was helping Natsu build a house.
"No!" Grey hissed in disgust as he shook his head as he downed the last of his beer the magic canceling cuff still rattling against his wrist, which Master still refused to remove.
"Why?" Juvia asked as she sighed in slight concern.
"I don't want to talk about it," the ice make mage muttered as he removed his shirt.
"Is Grey embarrassed by Grey's behavior at the palace or is Grey still mad at Natsu for things that are out of Natsu's control?" Juvia asked as she went to reach for his shirt but her hand was swatted away by a hovering Mirajane for doing so.
"No stretching!" the she demon scolded as she picked up the shirt and handed it to the rain woman.
"He is a demon," Grey hissed out as Mira bit back a growl of her own while she turned around to walk away.
"We don't know why Natsu is," Juvia said firmly.
"He still is one; he is Zeref's brother and enemy of Fairy Tail," the dark haired mage growled out as his wife jumped away from him in fear.
"Well then Juvia guesses that Juvia must go then," the blue haired mage said sadly as she stood to leave but was stopped as her husband grabbed her wrist.
"Where are you going? You can't be on your own; you keep freezing everything whenever you get excited," Grey said sternly as he watched Juvia's down cast face.
It had started happening a few days ago with the first kick Juvia managed to freeze the entire bath trapping not only herself but the majority of the guild's women in the solid water as well.
"Juvia was once a part of Phantom Lord and the enemy of Fairy Tail," the rain woman said quietly as she stood there with Grey's hand still attached to her wrist.
"But you're not anymore," the ice make mage said as he tried to reassure his wife.
"No Juvia is not. Juvia is now a Fairy Tail mage, but by Grey's Logic Juvia can't be trusted," Juvia said sadly as she pulled her hand away from her husband as she turned to walk away.
"What? I never said that," Gray shouted in panic as he stood to stop his wife from leaving.
"But Juvia is worse than Natsu because Juvia choose to be a part of Phantom Lord, while Natsu had no choice in becoming a demon or being brothers with Zeref. If what Master said was true then the choice made for Natsu and we …" the rain woman began but was interrupted by the ice make mage as he begged.
"Juvia please don't leave me," the ice make mage plead, it was the only time she had ever hear Grey sounding so desperate. And he was pleading for her not to go, and that fact broke the water mage's heart.
"I don't have a choice, until Gray goes and talks to Natsu to realize that Natsu is the same person Natsu has always been then Juvia will not be near Gray," the blue haired mage said strongly as she walked towards the bar. "Mira, may Juvia stay with you for a while, Juvia and Gray are fighting and Juvia doesn't want to be near Gray right now," she said as she bit back the tears that threated to fall.
"Yeah, I have an extra couple of rooms since Elfman and Lisanna moved in with their partners," the bar maid smiled as she locked the cash register and grabbed her coat.
"That must be so lonely for Mira," Juvia said as she followed Mirajane to the door.
"Nonsense Freed took over one of the bedrooms with just his books," the she demon laughed as she put an arm around her shoulder. "Now how about we go over to Natsu's house to see how everyone is doing?" Mira asked as the two girls walk out of the guild hall leaving Gray to stand alone in the large room.
"Juvia," Grey called out several tears began to stream down his face. "Juvia!"