Act 4

SPECIAL THANKS TO AJDRAKES! She drew us some art of Natsu in his dragon form! It's on my tumblr if you want to see it!

(You guys totally should)


50

Holes

"When you spend your whole life living in a hole," he said, "the only way you can go is up."

― Louis Sachar, Holes


Zeref stepped calmly through the gate, a small smile on his face, and looked around. He was tremendously pleased to see Natsu there, the look of shock on his face was quite amusing, and it made him wish he'd brought a camera.

Less amusing, however, were the two young women Natsu was hovering over so protectively. He could sense Natsu's distress, and it was easy to tell why. Their states were deplorable. Particularly Lucy's as that was likely the source of most of Natsu's upset.

He frowned at the sight and looked at Hades, "What is the meaning of this?" He asked, his tone deceptively mild, "I was not expecting to find young Lucy in such a state when I arrived."

Hades went pale at the disapproval, "A-apologies Lord Zeref!" He exclaimed, "The girl refused to open the gate after surrendering herself! She required persuasion."

Zeref's eyes narrowed, "Persuasion in the form of forced combat?" He asked, looking at Kain and the curse doll still in his hands, "I see."

He eyed Kain contemplatively for a moment and a black orb appeared in his hand, "I do not approve of anyone upsetting my brother by hurting his lover." He stated calmly, but the look in his eyes spoke of a boiling rage that convinced anyone looking he and Natsu really were related.

Lucy ducked instinctively as the orb sailed over her head in a blink and smashed into Kain. She flinched at the sound of his pained screams, not daring to look up, and cringed even further back when she heard footsteps approaching them.

Zeref, however, simply bent over and picked up the keys before dangling them in front of Lucy, ignoring his brother's warning growls, "Here." He said gently, all traces of anger gone, "It would be a shame for you to lose these."

Lucy stared at the dark wizard she'd heard so much about in shock, not able to believe what she was seeing. Surely it was all a trick?

She glanced at Natsu, who was growling darkly at his brother and then reached out to quickly snatch them from Zeref, more than a little afraid she would be fried next given the way things had fallen out between her and Natsu.

The dark wizard merely smiled at her, as if he'd read her thoughts and found them amusing, "It's truly a pleasure to meet you Lucy Heartfilia. I'm only sorry it wasn't under better circumstances."

He glanced at his brother, "As it seems you've chosen to forgive her for her deception... you should probably get the ladies to a healer little brother." He smiled beatifically at Natsu, "Though I'm very glad to see you again as well."

Natsu was tense, a trickle of sweat running down his temple and into his scarf. Understanding and rage warred through him at Zeref's words.

He had been played.

This whole time.

That dream he had. The one in the library. Zeref had done this on purpose. Shock shot through his nerve endings, and Zeref's smile merely grew calmly.

Zeref did this all on purpose. In the hopes this very thing would happen. That Natsu would leave Lucy unguarded, that Fairy Tail would scatter looking for him. To leave their home vulnerable to attack.

Zeref manipulated the whole thing.

Anger throbbed just under his skin, fury making itself known in the blaze of his eyes and the veins pulsing at his temples. Natsu's heart raced even as he was desperate to reign in his temper.

Even with one of the Seven Kin dead, Natsu didn't stand a chance against both the remaining members of Grimoire Heart and Zeref.

Especially not with two injured and battered women.

"You're just letting us go?" Natsu snarled quietly.

Zeref looked thoughtful, his eyes dark as they trailed over Natsu's scarf before landing on the woman beside his brother.

"For now," Zeref allowed.

He stepped towards Natsu, his hands lifting to set on his little brother's scowling face. Zeref's touch was icy against Natsu's natural heat, but neither seem interested in that.

Natsu's entire body coiled for a fight, but he didn't leap backwards or smack Zeref's hands away in favor of remaining where he was. Guarding Lucy and Yukino.

"We have all the time in the world to catch up now," Zeref's eyes glittered.

He stepped away and raised both palms to the wall, "In fact, I'll make it easy for you. A gate, straight back to your precious Fairy Tail."

Faster than what even Lucy could generate, a gate snapped open.

On the other side of the magic, they could see the battleground of Fairy Tail and the shocked faces of their guild members that greeted them on the other side. A doorway between them had suddenly opened up.

Natsu was not stupid.

This was a display of power.

And in some ways it was even more frightening than if Zeref had decided to kill them on the spot.

Because it told Natsu, Zeref would be able to find him no matter where he went in the world. He could be by his brothers side in an instant.

There was no escape.

So Natsu growled and reconsidered smashing a flaming fist into his brother's face. Instead he decided to take Zeref's offer. Bending down next to Lucy, he scooped her into his arms and over his shoulder. Yukino went over the other.

Puffing out a breath, Natsu turned towards the gate.

"This ain't over Zeref," He growled quietly.

"Of course not little brother." Zeref agreed amenably as they passed through the gate, "But I have a number of things to attend to first. I'm sure you understand."

He smiled again at the stunned Fairy Tail and snapped the gate shut.

Shocked and horrified silence reigned among the guild for a long moment, "Was... was that...?" Macao whispered, unable to even put words to what he'd seen.

"Yeah." Natsu replied, a trifle shortly, as he found the softest bit of ground he could and gently set Lucy and Yukino down, "It's a long story. Is Wendy still around?"

That drew everyone's attention to the reason he wanted to know, but before anyone could say anything a small blue and white missile shoved its way through the crowd and half tackled Natsu, "You're back!"

Natsu couldn't help smiling a little at the reception, and rubbed his hand over Wendy's head, "Yeah." He agreed, fresh guilt twisting in him at the sight of her worry, "I'm back. I'll explain everything later. Can you look at Lucy and Yukino for me right now?"

Wendy gasped and nodded, "Of course! I'll do my best!"

She was low on power after dealing with the battle, but for Lucy and Yukino she would drain herself dry. It was because of Lucy that she had a nest again, and Yukino gave her hope that one day she would find a permanent love too.

Lucy stared at Natsu, tears gathering in her eyes even as Wendy's healing washed over her, "Natsu... I'm sorry."

She choked a little on a sob, "I'm so sorry! I should've told you about the book sooner! I didn't mean it like that. I swear!" She met his eyes, dangerously close to babbling as she tried to get everything out, "I haven't read it in months. Not since we met Gajeel. I was going to show you so we could read it together..."

It was hard to stutter out the apology, but Lucy was half afraid Natsu would disappear again the instant he knew they were okay.

He wasn't saying anything though, and that frightened Lucy even more as they stared at one another. Natsu's eyes were very dark, even if his expression was far more readable than it had been last time they saw one another.

There wasn't any anger on his face. None.

Instead all she saw were his dark eyes, watching her with such intensity she thought she would burst into flame.

"Nats-" She tried, but he shook his head.

"Focus on getting patched up Lucy," He said patiently, fingers curling into his scarf. Not once did his eyes flicker away from hers.

"We can talk about it later, alright?" He said quietly.

Natsu wasn't entirely certain he would be sticking around. However this played out, he would have to tread carefully. In the meantime, he had to inform the guild about what happened, then locate Sting...

He wasn't too thrilled about letting him know what happened to Yukino.

Lucy's mouth snapped shut and she dropped her gaze as she nodded quietly. Her heart felt like it was being squeezed in a vice. She wasn't convinced there would be a later. He'd already proved he had no problems with walking out of her life, and though he'd rescued her and Yukino that didn't mean he'd really forgiven her. Or ever would.

However, she kept it to herself as best she could. He'd made it clear he wasn't going to talk about it now, and the last thing she could handle at the moment was another fight. So when Wendy had them healed enough they could wobble their way to a place to lie down in the overcrowded infirmary she went without a murmur of protest.

She just didn't have the energy for anything else.

She curled up on her cot, smiling wanly at Wendy in thanks for her help, and hoped her shaking would be overlooked in the general chaos going on around them. Or at least ignored as something other than tears.

It was a futile hope of course, but her family let her cry in peace for the moment, and politely pretended they didn't notice for now.

More than one silently promised to pound Natsu if they didn't work things out soon though. More than the pounding he was already going to get anyway.

Natsu for his part, retreated back up to the roof of the damaged guild hall, having barely been put back together since the first attack from the Oracian Seis.

In fact he probably shouldn't have even been sitting on it considering its weak structural integrity, but he had always been one to ignore something as inconsequential as a safety hazard.

He would have been content to just sit there and brood while he waited for Lucy to recover, but it seemed that was not what was in the cards for him.

He was joined by the unexpected form of Wendy, scooting up onto the roof, light as a feather and as fast as a breeze.

She sat down next to him, tucking her legs up around her small body and leaning against Natsu's shoulder. Immediately he lifted his arm and pulled her into his side. His chest already felt less constrictive.

"Is she going to be okay? Yukino too?" Natsu asked. Wendy's affirming nod made the tension in his gut uncoil. Physically, she would recover. They both would.

But he did not doubt that the experience at Grimoire Hearts hands had left their mark. Such things always did.

"What about you Wendy? Carla told me you fought too, you okay?" Natsu pulled away enough to look at the hatchling's tired face.

Wendy just smiled and nodded at him, "Yeah. I'm alright. But I'm glad you saw Carla. Lucy said she was going to send them to your hoard. I guess that's where you were this whole time."

Natsu huffed out a sound that sounded dismal even to himself.

"You and Lucy will make up," Wendy seemed to read into his quiet sighs.

"It wouldn't hurt to apologize though," Wendy nudged him with her shoulder and Natsu snorted.

"You think she'd forgive me? I burned her," Natsu mumbled, ashamed he had lost control of his magic for even a moment. His head was still trying to wrap itself around what Lucy said.

She hadn't read the book since they met Gajeel? She had wanted to read it together? But why?

Wendy just shrugged.

"I think you both have a lot to say you're sorry about," She smiled and took his hand, giving his larger one a small squeeze.

"But you'll both be okay. And we'll stop Zeref too," She said with a firmness Natsu admired.

"Yeah," Natsu murmured, his eyes sliding shut.

"Breeze feels nice," he noted.

"Yes, it does."


I answered this question on tumblr, but a lot of people are asking about why Natsu didn't read about Lucy's feelings in the book. It doesn't update that specifically about her. She's still a new character as well as its caretaker. She hasn't been involved in the story enough. Also, it doesn't update THAT often. It does large chunks at once.

HERE IS YOUR WELL DESERVED SNEAK PEEK! ALL YOU GUYS REVIEWED SO MUCH! OMG!


He headed over to Lucy, pleased to see that she was looking a lot healthier, physically at least, in the two days since he'd brought her back, "You up for a walk or somethin' Lucy?"

She stared up at him uncomprehendingly for a moment, and he winced mentally at the sight of her red eyes, before his words penetrated and mingled hope and fear crossed her face as she quickly nodded and got up.

"Yeah." She replied, though even her voice sounded weird. Not at all as confident as it should. Though it lacked the anger he'd been expecting.

Was she really that upset? Or was she that afraid of him? He wasn't sure which, and either possibility made his gut twist.

Regardless, it was time to face the music.