NOTE: Infernai is a made up langue but to construct it I start with a base of German (in Google translate) and then make alterations to the words to have them sound a bit more complicated. So as you read and get to the section where Infernai is being used, don't worry if you can't translate it and please no hate on any perceived butchering of a beautiful language. I have loads of respect for Germans and the language, after all my paternal grandparents were from Germany.

Reminder, Hiro Mashima owns Fairy Tail.

Natsu was in and out of consciousness, he could smell the hospital grade cleaners and feel the sharp needle in his arm. He tried to open his eyes, but they felt like lead weights. He opened his mouth to speak and before he could, a warm soft hand wrapped around his.

"Don't try to speak Natsu. It's going to be okay." He recognized Meredy's voice. It was reassuring to have his mate with him and Natsu smiled inside himself at the warmth of her.

"Key?" he whispered, his throat dry, and voice weak. What he wouldn't give for some water, heck he'd suck on one of Gray's ice cubes if it was an option. Though he'd never hear the end of the jokes about that one.

"I got it, Corvus has been keeping me company," she said, and he could barely see her through the small slit he managed with his eyes. She looked like a pale blur surrounded by lots of pink.

"Yo, quit treating this fine ass like I'm chopped liver," another voice said.

"Huh?" Natsu asked, he couldn't quite place the snarky voice. Everything hurt and he hated being trapped in the bed and powerless. Showing weakness was not something Natsu ever wanted to do, especially not in front of Meredy. Sadly, the hunt for Corvus's key had turned out to be an epic disaster, which for once was not his fault.

"Cobra, you know the guy who tried to turn your partner into a hot little battery. How is Sunshine these days?" The new voice answered, the words were registering but barely making sense. Natsu's brain felt like sludge.

"Huh?" He asked, feeling Meredy slide up on the bed, still holding his hand.

"Do you want some water?" she asked and Natsu nodded. It took a minute, but she managed to get a straw between his lips, and Natsu barely had the strength to draw some water out of it. He kept trying and got a bit of ice water, it was better than nothing.

"He's pretty fucked, that shit he got whammied with was no fucking joke. Hell, shit that tasty had to be demonic." Cobra chuckled, "see what I did there?"

"Cobra, not now," Meredy replied before she pulled the straw back. "I wonder if maybe the ice chips would have been better."

"Wha…" Natsu took in a breath, "What happened?"

"You were poisoned, the doctors couldn't treat it. I thought you were going to die." Her voice cracked a little as she stroked his cheek, "that's when Corvus showed up and I asked him to find Cobra. Cobra got in here and took the poison out of your body. It's going to be a few days before you will recover."

"Get key to Luce," he said and Meredy sighed.

"Natsu, you come first. Corvus isn't going anywhere."

He used what he had for strength to hold her hand, "t-thank you. Please…" his eyes closed, he wanted to go back to sleep. Hopefully his mate would stay with him, it would make being stuck in the bed a little better.

"Hey Pinkie Pie, can I take this Corvus to Sunshine?" Cobra asked.

"Wouldn't that be doing something nice?" Meredy asked with a bit of a chuckle.

"I get to do one nice thing, once a decade."

Natsu's eyes fluttered and he tried to give Cobra an answer. Which he was thinking should be "no." he had no reason to trust the poison slayer, even if his mate did and even if the guy saved his life. A rare and precious key, if he decided to make a run with it, he could sell it to the highest bidder. Or worse, give it to Sorano.

"Fuck off man. I owe Sunshine one decent fucking good deed. Chickadee and his little key is safe with me." Cobra said, sounding a bit annoyed and offended. It reminded him that despite Cobra being a poison slayer, one of his powers had something to do with soul reading or music or something not poison related.

Natsu tried to take a sniff of the air but the scent of his mate and the hospital was overwhelming him, and he couldn't tell if Cobra was lying. In times like this he'd go with his gut and whatever he could pick up from his heighten senses, but everything was failing. Inside himself he was screaming, feeling trapped inside a useless and unresponsive dead weight of a body.

"Natsu, we can trust him. If you can't trust him, trust me," he kissed his knuckles and Natsu tried to smile at the affection.

"You two are sappy as fuck. I hope I don't turn into a whipped sap when I meet my mate," he said and Natsu groaned.

"Mate?" Meredy asked.

"Damnit," Cobra whispered.

"Get," Natsu whispered, "out. Take key."

"Gone. Key please," he said.

"We'll be right back, try to get some sleep," Meredy said as she kissed his cheek. Natsu could hear the pair leave the room and the door lightly shut, clicking into place.

He let out a heavy sigh and he planned that as soon as he was out of here, he had two things to do. Mate Meredy and kick Cobra's ass. First, he needed a nap. Natsu closed his eyes and willed his body to go back to sleep.

Something didn't feel right, his chest was tightening, and his shallow breathing was feeling labored. He couldn't move his arm to clutch his chest and his legs didn't move but his back arched as the pain seared through him.

Alarms went off like wailing banshees and people filed in the room. Someone shouted for something and he felt something being wedged in his mouth between his teeth.

"This won't hurt, you'll feel a pinch Mr. Dragneel," that was before the large needle went straight into his heart.

"Do you think they will help?" Rosebud asked as she closed her brown leather rucksack. Mard knew she was speaking about the demons that came to Earth Land to search for him.

"This is personal, they will," Mard said as he scrunched his nose at his appearance. He was stuck with the cat ears but what bothered him was the fact he was in borrowed clothing. The demon was in long back athletic shorts, a black t-shirt and had no shoes. The suit he was given by Virgo for their appearance in the Celestial Realm was returned, it was also impractical for field work.

Rosebud took his hand and placed a kiss, "let's go shopping. Get you a few items and then head to the orange grove."

"Is this even remotely acceptable?" He asked as he pulled at the bottom of the t-shirt.

"It'll do," she shrugged and went to go put on her own blue tennis shoes. Mard arched a brow as he considered her own attire, the blue mini skirt was nice on her figure but impractical. The white shirt with blue heart was showing enough cleavage to attract every pervert in Earth Land. Not that he minded, he liked the view, but dealing with all those jackasses gawking at his mate. That was unnerving.

She looked up at him, "what is it?"

"Rosebud, though I appreciate your body, is this not impractical?"

Rosebud chuckled, "never figured a demon for a prude. It's light and comfy, gives me full range of movement and sometimes, diplomacy by cleavage works."

"I am no prude. You just do not have scales or hardened skin to protect those beautiful legs."

"I have Gemini, it's not a big deal," she said with a smile and a wink.

Mard let out a breath through his nose, knowing that he was not going to convince her to change. Not that he wanted her to change, he just didn't want her hurt. Rosebud stepped out of the apartment and giving up on this discussion, Mard followed her.

Shopping was a new experience for Mard, he was used to the trading structure of the Underworld. Here they had price tags and a standardized currency. What was annoying was that they could not negotiate a better price. He fancied himself a top haggler, but apparently that skill was not useful here. Though it did make things much quicker, if he was in one of the open markets in the Underworld this would have been a full day.

He finished dressing in the small grey toned men's room of a small café. Mard felt better to be in a pair of black jeans, black boots, and a button-down burgundy shirt with a proper collar. He adjusted the black and silver belt around his waist as someone started knocking at the door. The demon gathered his bags and left, letting in a little boy who seemed to be doing some kind of elaborate dance.

Mard scanned the room and looked for Rosebud, he ignored the few people that paused their conversations to ogle him. He found Rosebud in the back of the café, sitting at one of the small tables, refolding his purchases to put into the backpack. As he walked to her, he heard a few low whistles and one lady who whispered, "fuck, he's hot."

He was used to it, but when demonesses or some demons would say such things. It wasn't because they found him physically attractive, it was because he was the King. They were more attracted to his power than his form and did not care about his personality. Least with Rosebud, she appreciated his body and liked his personality. Most of the time.

"Got us two coffees to go, we gotta get moving," she said as she handed him the black backpack. Mard slid it over his shoulder as he took one of the brown paper cups.

He inhaled the fragrance, "what is this?"

"Minstrellian Sun Roast, it's the darkest they had." She shrugged and took her own cup before turning to leave the place that was starting to get busy. They squeezed past the line of coffee drinkers and luckily no one caused him to spill his precious elixir.

"This is the same one Merlin gave me when she first introduced me to coffee," he said as he took another sip and fell into step with Rosebud.

"Oh, so it's her fault you have that addiction?" Rosebud teased as they headed towards the dirt road that lead to the farm and out of Magnolia. They had a couple hours of walk ahead of them, plenty of time to enjoy conversation with his mate.

He nodded, "I was bored with tea, she asked me if I ever tried coffee. Now here we are."

"You two are really close huh?" she asked.

"She is the only person I ever called friend."

"I get that, even when they drive you fucking crazy, you still gotta have your friends. Like Natsu and me."

Mard chuckled, "I think Natsu is saner than Merlin."

Rosebud laughed, "you haven't seen him on a mission."

The pair finished up their coffees and enjoyed some light hearted banter while talking alongside the dirt road. Mard couldn't get over how much nicer the sun was here, or how the air was not tinged in Sulphur and the smell of death. The Underworld did take a while to get used, but it was much more hospitable than Hell.

As they came over the hill, Mard smelt something in the air and grabbed Rosebud's arm. She stopped and looked up at him as he cataloged the scent. Something was burning.

Wood.

Grass.

Fruit.

Flesh.

"Mard?" she asked as he picked her up and started to run. He was faster and stronger than her, they had already wasted time and that proved to be a critical error. Especially if he was right.

I think the grove is on fire.

"Fuck, hurry." She said as she wrapped her arms around his neck and Mard leapt into the air.

As they shot upward, "trust me?"

Before Rosebud could answer he tossed her high above him and gathered his power. His head hurt as horns grew from it, his mouth was heavy and painful as it changed, and his skin tingled as dark scales appeared over his human flesh. His clothing vanished as large black bat like wings erupted from between his shoulder blades. Mard let out a threatening growl as his wings beat the air and he reached up to catch a screaming Rosebud.

It is Mard, he said as she kept screaming, the sound hurting his sensitive ears.

Rosebud! He bellowed into her head and she blinked at him with wide eyes as they flew over the tree tops. His silver eyes scanning the countryside and seeing tendrils of thick black along the horizon. Mard continued flying in the direction, trying to block out her screaming and holding her tight, despite Rosebud squirming wildly in fear.

"M-Mard? Holy fuck!"

Etherious form, apologies, flying is faster.

"Jesus fucking Christ, you almost gave me a heart attack!" Rosebud buried her face into his neck as he kept a tight grip over her petite frame.

I already apologized, Rosebud.

She groaned into his neck as Mard flew, the smoke stack was getting larger and he could hear the screams of people. Mard stopped in the air and beat his wings to keep them aloft, his eyes tracking the chaos.

People were being chased by others in bright white coats. The large farm structures were ablaze as animals screamed through the pain of death. His eyes noticed one figure to the side, and he descended to the ground with Rosebud still determined to choke him. They landed and he set her down before releasing his Etherious form.

She panted and then sniffed, her blonde head whipping towards the chaos. "Come on!" Rosebud took off and Mard followed her, they passed a sign for Orange Blossom Grove and came upon a scene straight of his own past.

The farm was on fire and people being slaughtered.

"Stop!" Lucy screamed as she ran straight into the chaos. She knew Mard was behind her, it was nice to have the back-up, but her concern was on the people who were being chased.

She unhooked her whip from her belt and cracked it to the side, letting her power flow into it. She saw one of the people and almost tripped over her own feet when she noticed the white lab coat and large spiraling horns coming from its head. That demon Prince mentioned something about her demons wearing white lab coats.

"I said stop! They are innocent!" the demon ignored her and took ahold of the poor worker who was flaying in its grasp.

A flick of her wrist and she wrapped her whip around the demon's neck, as she dropped her center of gravity, forcing its body back and release the scared farmer. Mard's hand wrapped over her's and he pulled with her, sending the demon flying and releasing the whip's hold on him. She ran for the farmer whose eyes were wide and he was gulping large amounts of air.

"T-thank you," he managed, but Lucy barely heard it as another scream had her running over towards the burning building to stop the demons that had other humans in their hands.

"Rosebud! Wait!" Mard called out and she didn't care as she was ready to go all Star Dress on someone's ass.

The ground started shaking and Lucy almost tripped, she looked over her shoulder and saw hundreds of vines coming out of the ground. Standing in the middle was Mard, his body glowing in purple as his eyes turned pure silver. A shriek had her turning around and she saw one of the vines wrap around one of the demons, lifting it in the air and cocooning it.

"Genugori, Mard Geer," a woman's voice boomed through the noise. Lucy recognized the voice but not the word, she looked around her and saw Belial walking towards them, "bededen verwinschun."

"Lassdei daemoni aufhoiren," he replied, leaving Lucy confused. She really needed an Idiot's Guide to Infernai.

Belial adjusted her glasses, her red eyes glowing as she held up a slim hand, "haltishta mei daemoni." The demons not held inside of Mard's vines quickly released the humans in their hold. The people ran from the burning barn and huddled together, crying and shaking.

The vines dissipated, breaking apart into millions of glowing pink rose petals. She held out her hand as petals floated down to her and she could feel a bit of Mard's power in them. Her mate mark along her waist started to warm up and for a second in the middle of chaos she felt as if he was holding her. They vanished, except for one in her hand, it turned to a dark purple before the wind blew and took it away.

"Interesting," Belial said, and Lucy narrowed her eyes as she glared at the demoness.

"What the fuck do you think you were doing?" Lucy asked.

"Purging the virus, it was here."

"You were killing innocent people!" Lucy roared as she cracked her whip and walked straight up to Belial. She didn't care if this was a Prince of Hell, she was going to get a piece of her mind and a few lashings for good measure.

"This is not a war you can win with compassion, Starnienangel."

"Rosebud," Mard took her hand and gently pulled at her fingers to loosen her grip on the whip. She looked up into his coal black eyes, his face impassive but she could just tell this was upsetting him too. "Belial, I would assume that this was because the infected blood seeped into the ground?"

The demoness nodded, "standard verbranterde protocol."

"Verbra-what-the-fuck?"

Mard pursed his lips, "in your language it would be purification in fire protocol."

"Why kill the people and animals?" Lucy asked, still a bit annoyed by this entire scene. A loud crash came behind her and Mard tackled her to the ground as the barn started to collapse.

"I need water," Lucy said ready to summon Aquarius. The mermaid would do a bunch of damage but at least the fire would be out, before it spread into the fields.

Belial looked at one of the demons and said something to it in Infernai. Mard helped her up as the demon went to the burning barn. He began waving his hands and chanting, the fire rose off the structure, coalescing into a massive fireball high in the sky. From there it shot straight up and vanished past the clouds.

"There, are we happy Starnienangel?" Belial said, the condescension not hard to miss in her voice.

"Starnienangel?" Lucy asked.

"Angel of Stars," Mard whispered.

Belial began to laugh and Lucy and Mard both turned their attention to her as she chuckled and pulled off her glasses to wipe them. "What's her problem?"

"Rosebud, if I knew, I would tell you."

"You are both charming, keeping secrets from each other."

"Excuse me. I don't keep anything from him," Lucy said as she tightened her stance and balled her hands into fists. If this bitch really wanted a fight, then she was going to get one. It seemed like this Prince was enjoying pushing her buttons and Lucy was not in the mood.

"Belial, as charming as you have the capacity to be, this is not helping. We must focus," Mard said, his voice clipped.

She propped her glasses on her head and tapped a black nail to her deep red lips. "It is no matter. I offer my apologies. You would not know yet for humans are not as sensitive as demons."

Lucy and Mard looked at each other questioningly and then back at Belial. The demoness appeared amused as she reached into her lab coat pocket and pulled out a small black notebook and golden pen. She opened the notebook and quickly notated something before returning the items to her pocket.

"What did you hope to get out of being here today?" she asked.

"I wanted to interview the people and find out if they knew other towns or places Mal travelled to. We could backtrack along his previous route and look for any others." Lucy said, certain this was the only course of action they could do.

"That would take too much time," she waved over one of the demons. A man approached her, this one didn't look demonic except for the inhumanely beautiful face and bright chartreuse eyes with slits like a snake's eye. She conversed with the demon for a moment before he nodded and then stuck out a long pink forked tongue.

Lucy watched and shuddered when Belial used one of her nails to slice off half of it. The demon closed his eyes, the pain etched in his features, but he did not make a sound. Belial held the piece of flesh and Lucy was going to lose her coffee as it twitched.

The Prince spoke an incantation and Lucy looked up at Mard. "What is she doing?"

"That was a Natterschlagift, a pestilence snake demon. His tongue is sensitive enough to taste and detect plagues or poisons while they are only present, even if dormant."

Belial walked over with the tongue and held it up to Lucy, "here."

She took a step back, "what am I supposed to do with that?"

The Prince looked at her and arched a brow, "eat it of course. It will grant you the ability of the Natterschlagift for one lunar cycle."

Lucy scrunched her nose. The idea was vile, and she thought she would be sick. She put her hands up, "no, um Mard you're used to that kind of stuff."

"Do not worry, Starnienangel," Belial smiled, it was disturbing in its sweetness. Lucy took another step as Mard was ready to reach for it. The Prince dangled it, her red eyes dancing in amusement, "it will not hurt the baby."

As always, review, fave and follow! Thank you to everyone who has so far. Can't believe how many people are following one of the crackiest of crackships LOL