I can't believe I didn't post this sooner. I had this ready for weeks and I thought I posted it but I didn't. I'm literally a fucking idiot but whatever. Another chapter will be uploaded after this one because these should have been posted weeks ago. The new semester starts tomorrow but another chapter is in the works. Also for those of you who might have been confused by chapter numbering, literally ignore it, idk what's happened to it.

Zeref's face was careful not to give anything away. Natsu snickered but it sounded vaguely threatening. "Understood," Zeref said and pulled away. "As enlightening as this conversation has been, I think it would be best for all of us to meet again tomorrow when we have all had a chance to calm down." Jude opened his mouth but Zeref smiled at him. "Do you have arrangements to stay anywhere?" Natsu noted with grim satisfaction that Jude looked uncomfortable.

"I do not," he managed to say with some degree of dignity. "I was planning on staying here." Zeref sighed and closed his eyes. He opened his again and Natsu noticed that his eyes were black again.

"Ask Lucy if she's ok if he stays here." Natsu growled. "I don't like it either, but it has be done." Natsu grit his teeth and stood closer to Lucy.

"Zeref wants to know if you're ok with your asshole father staying here," Natsu murmured. "He won't be upset if you say no." Lucy took a deep breath. Her breath felt cool against Natsu's cheek and he tried not to shudder.

"No, it's ok," Lucy whispered.

"You'll stay in my room," Natsu said. Lucy flushed but nodded. Natsu made eye contact with Zeref. The brothers shared a look of unpleasantness before Zeref sighed and turned back to Jude.

"It would be my pleasure to let you stay here," Zeref offered. "We'll be well-behaved as long as you are." Jude scoffed but didn't reject the offer. "I'll take that as a yes. Invel will show you to your room." The office door slid open and Invel was standing in the doorway. "Please show Mr. Heartfilia to his room. We will have dinner in a few hours." Zeref inclined his head as Jude left and Natsu glared daggers as he passed by. When he left, Zeref turned to Lucy. "I apologize that this is how it is playing out." Lucy shook her head.

"It's ok," she said softly.

"This probably goes without saying, but I want you to stay with Natsu."

"Don't worry, I'm not planning on doing anything else," Lucy reassured. Zeref nodded and slipped out of the room.

"Are you ok Lucy?" Happy asked as he flew over to her and she caught him in her arms.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. Seeing him again is just, unpleasant, to say the least," Lucy answered.

"Maybe we could prank him," Natsu mused. "That could be worth it." Lucy smiled softly and shook her head. Natsu hissed and clutched his forehead again.

"I think we should go find Zeref," Happy said and Lucy nodded in agreement. "Maybe he's made more progress." Said progress had been practically nonexistent. Zeref had said that he had asked someone to come over but Lucy guessed that he was postponing because of her father.

Natsu grabbed Lucy's hand and headed out the door, Happy flying slightly above their heads. The mansion was quiet and their feet barely made noise on the floor. They found Zeref in his office.

He lifted his head. "Natsu, Lucy," he said as a greeting. "Is there something wrong?"

"Have you made any progress?" Natsu asked quietly.

"I might have, but I need to make sure that it actually works and that it's not another disappointment," Zeref replied. "My…friend is coming as soon as Lucy's father leaves. I'm sure they'll be able to help us."

"Is this friend anyone we know?" Natsu asked. Lucy could tell he was annoyed at the fact that Zeref kept alluding to this person with pronouns only and it was chafing at his curiosity. Zeref just gave a secretive smile. As they turned to leave Zeref called after them, "you should go outside, fresh air might be good for you Natsu." Natsu growled at that while Lucy and Happy smothered laughter.

"He has a point," Lucy agreed. "Let's go swim." Who was Natsu to refuse if Lucy wanted to do something?

"Sure," Natsu said and then sprinted out of the house and took a running jump into the pool. With all of his clothes on.

"Natsu!" Lucy yelled. Natsu's head popped up, his pink locks slightly darker from the water. Lucy jogged over to hear him laughing like a child.

"Just jump in with your clothes on Luce," he urged. "It's more fun than you think." Lucy hesitantly walked to where warm concrete met cool grass. Natsu rolled his eyes. "It's also better if you jump in."

"I can get into pools perfectly well without you Natsu," Lucy snapped at him.

"'Perfectly well' isn't the same as fun, Lucy," Natsu pointed out. Lucy pouted and Natsu rolled his eyes again and hoisted himself out.

"Natsu Dragneel don't you dare!" Lucy warned. Natsu cackled and scooped her up. He took a running leap into the pool again and they both sunk under the waves. "Natsu!" Lucy splashed water in Natsu's face. Natsu was just laughing and soon enough Lucy was giggling too. "You have to stop doing that!"

"Why? It's so entertaining." Natsu laughed.

"He has a point Lucy," Happy teased. "Your face is funny."

"Shut up cat!" Natsu stop chuckling and tensed. "Natsu?"

"Stop spying on us." The humor and laughter left

"Natsu?" Natsu's arms wrapped around her and squeezed her tightly.

"Your asshole father is watching us. Come out you bastard," his voice raised slightly at that. "It almost seems like you care about Lucy now that she's not under your thumb." Sure enough Jude Heartfilia stepped out from the mansion into the blinding sunlight. Natsu took slight pleasure in watching him wince at the sunlight.

"Do you think he can't stand the sunlight because he lives underground?" Natsu whispered to Lucy and he took pride in seeing that Lucy was fighting to hold back laughter. Natsu capitalized on it by tickling her ribs and Lucy burst out laughing.

"Stop it!" she whined and Lucy started squirming against him.

"Disgusting," Jude spat and Lucy froze when she saw Natsu's eyes flash red.

"What that Lucy's having fun? Is that so terrible for you?" Natsu snapped. "Are you such a terrible father that you don't care about her happiness?"

"Natsu," Lucy warned.

"What?" Lucy grabbed his cheeks and pulled his head towards her.

"Your eyes flashed red," Lucy informed him softly. Natsu froze again but shook his head.

"Get away from her," Jude spit out. Natsu whirled around and snarled.

"What are you going to do if I don't?" Natsu challenged. "You can't do anything without getting kicked out."

"Is there a problem?" Zeref's mild voice should not have calmed Lucy down as much as it did, but when she heard his voice something in her relaxed.

"Of course not, just a slight disagreement," Jude dismissed.

"I would greatly prefer if blood weren't shed in my house, so I would appreciate it if you could keep your distance," Zeref said. "I can lead you to the library if you would like to get work done Jude," Zeref offered. When Lucy's father accepted, he went into the house first. Zeref lingered behind long enough to wink at Lucy before following her father back inside. When their footsteps were no longer audible Natsu sighed.

"He's going to see your father's work," Natsu told Lucy softly. "It's a way of gathering data without being suspicious."

"Your brother is the embodiment of suspicious," Lucy countered. Natsu snickered and shrugged.

"I can't deny that." After spending time here, as much as Natsu wanted to cling to hatred of his brother, he couldn't bring himself to hate him as strongly as he did. Especially since they now shared a common enemy. As far as Natsu was concerned, Zeref was treating Happy and Lucy well too. He had even gone so far as to order in raw fish specifically for Happy because Happy's whining had been getting on his nerves. Natsu swam over to the hot tub and lifted himself in. The warm water was relaxing, and he lazily gestured for Lucy to join him. She did and then shuddered as she went from the cool water of the swimming pool to the warm water she was in. Natsu wrapped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer.

"I want to kill him," Natsu muttered in Lucy's ear. "I'm sorry you had to put up with him your entire life."

"He wasn't always like this," Lucy countered. "He was a wonderful father and then my mom died. I think he just didn't know how to handle the grief. I don't think he ever recovered." Natsu whined when he saw Lucy look sad.

"I'm going to eat fish. Behave you two," Happy teased and then flew off into the house. Natsu rolled his eyes .

"I did my best to raise him but he's still a child," Natsu sighed.

"Takes one to know one," Lucy muttered.

"Hey! I am an adult."

"Ok Natsu, whatever helps you sleep at night." Lucy snickered. Lucy glanced over to see Natsu pouting at her. Lucy laughed and leaned in to kiss his cheek. At the last minute Natsu jerked his head around so he was kissing her back. "Sneaky," Lucy chided but Natsu grinned in response. Natsu lunged and Lucy squealed and jumped out of the pool. Completely ignoring that she was dripping wet she tore off into the house and sprinted for Zeref's office.

"Luce! Get back here!" Natsu yelled and took off in hot pursuit. Lucy wondered what the point was if Natsu's sense of smell was so good but she figured it could be fun anyway. The door to the library was open as Lucy sprinted by, laughing all the while. Lucy missed her father looking up and scoffing.

"Zeref, I need to hide in here," Lucy said as she skidded into Zeref's office and closed the door behind her. Zeref raised a black eyebrow.

"Is there any particular reason why?"

"Your brother's chasing me," Lucy stated, like that explained everything.

"You do know about his heightened sense of smell, right?" Lucy nodded, regaining her breath as she leaned on the door. "There's a crawl space behind that small bookshelf. It's been relatively untouched since Natsu left." Lucy flashed a smile and scampered in. Once she had calmed down she looked around.

The floor was littered with fleece blankets, stuffed animals, and pillows of all different colors. A small window was built into the wall, with a telescope perched in front of it. Naturally there were books in here too. Lucy noticed with a smile that some of them were children's books. If it were anyone else, Lucy thought it would be creepy, but Lucy understood that Zeref was somewhat nostalgic when it came to his younger brother. It was interesting for Lucy to think that she was fine with that fact now. After seeing them interact with the fighting and the teasing, Lucy could picture a young Natsu running wild with Zeref chasing behind to keep his beloved little brother out of trouble. It also didn't escape Lucy's notice that Natsu had seemed more relaxed than he had in a while since they had decided to stay and had accepted Zeref's help. Lucy fought back a chuckle when she heard Natsu storm into the room.

"I know she came in here," Natsu demanded. "Where is she?"

"A place you probably have forgotten about," Zeref answered cryptically. Lucy got the feeling that Natsu had rolled his eyes.

"Then you don't mind me sniffing around?"

"Of course not, this is your house as well, feel free to do whatever you like." Lucy didn't hear a response but footsteps were steadily approaching and then stopped directly in front of the door. The bookcase swung open and Natsu clambered into the room. When the door closed he let out a gasp and collapsed on the floor since he was narrowly avoiding hitting his head on the ceiling while standing.

"Whenever I couldn't sleep, Zeref would take me in here and we would look at the stars or he would read stories to me," Natsu reminisced. "Nothing has changed." He grinned as he picked up a stuffed animal red dragon.

"So you were obsessed with dragons when you were little?" Lucy asked softly.

"I still am," Natsu admitted. "I wanted to be a dragon when I was younger. That couldn't happen so Zeref introduced me to Igneel because that was the closest I could be to become a dragon."

"Zeref said he called Igneel because you refused to learn how to read," Lucy said. Natsu flushed and looked up at the ceiling.

"That was a tiny reason why," Natsu retorted. Lucy shrugged her shoulders.

"Whatever you say Natsu." Natsu lunged and started tickling her mercilessly. Lucy shrieked and bolted out of the crawl space. Zeref just shook his head as Lucy ran off, Natsu in hot pursuit.

"What are you shaking your head for?" Natsu playfully snapped as he ran out of the room. Zeref couldn't help the chuckle he let out before returning to his work. When Lucy finally made it to their bedroom, Natsu was right behind her and tackled her to the bed.

"Gotcha!" he crowed.

~~~Line break~~~

Dinner was an awkward affair. The food was delicious like it always was and Natsu saw this as an excuse to eat in the most uncivilized manner Lucy had ever seen since knowing him, which said a lot.

"Natsu, please," Zeref sighed. Natsu looked at his older brother innocently and shoved a forkful of turkey into his mouth.

"What?" Lucy bit her lip to fight back her laughter at her father's disgusted face.

"This is who you'd rather spend your time with?" her father asked. Lucy saw Natsu's eyes light up with glee.

"Well at least he has a personality," Lucy countered calmly.

"He has something, I'm not sure if I would call it personality though." Zeref rolled his eyes and muttered something under his breath that had Natsu choking on food. Zeref flashed his younger brother an amused glance.

"There's another fish in the freezer Happy," Zeref said.

"Aye!" the little blue Exceed exclaimed and fluttered into the kitchen.

"Would anyone like dessert?" Zeref asked.

"Yes please!" Natsu and Lucy said in unison before looking at each other and grinning.

"Nailed it," Lucy said and they fist-bumped.

"You're in looooove," Happy teased behind a paw. Lucy blushed and Natsu snickered. His grin turned wicked when he saw Jude's disapproving glare. To be more obnoxious he pressed a quick kiss to Lucy's forehead. The blonde's cheeks flushed pink and playfully batted at Natsu's shoulder in lighthearted retaliation.

"Damn straight, buddy," Natsu agreed. "Zeref where's the cake, already?"

"How did you know it was cake?" Zeref questioned as he placed a cake on the table. His eyes narrowed and Natsu gave him a grin that was both mischievous and innocent. Something that only Natsu could pull off.

"I was hungry," Natsu huffed. "Jesus, I didn't know you were this protective of your food."

"Just for that you're getting served last," Zeref said and started cutting thin slices.

"Oh, sue me," Natsu snapped in a playful way. "Luce will give me hers."

"I will not!" Lucy protested. "You get enough of my food at home, you're not stealing any food from me now."

"We live in the same house!"

"But there's food that's marked for me and food in my room and you just eat it!" Natsu huffed but still stole a bite of cake and positively glowed at the small act of trouble. Lucy resisted the urge to drag her finger through the frosting and smear it across Natsu's face. She did stick her tongue out though. Natsu pouted and glared at his older brother who took an awful long time cutting a slice of cake and made a show of putting the cake on his plate. Natsu dug in with no hesitation.

"Slob," Jude muttered under his breath. "Zancrow would still be willing to marry you." Natsu snarled and Zeref growled.

"I thought he was in jail," Zeref said conversationally, acting as if his show of derision hadn't occurred.

"No thanks to those traitors, Meredy and Ultear," Jude spat.

"Watch it buddy, those are some of our friends," Natsu snapped back. "Ain't our fault they're good at their jobs."

"Are they really traitors if they were never on your side to begin with?" Lucy asked quietly.

"Don't get involved in this."

"I'm already involved in this," Lucy argued back. "Ultear and Meredy are amazing, if you weren't doing shady business deals then maybe that wouldn't have happened." Lucy's father slammed his hands down on the table, causing the plates and glasses to rattle on the table.

"Shut up girl," her father snarled. Natsu stood up so quickly his chair fell back and Lucy's heart stopped when she saw Natsu's eyes were glowing red. Zeref stood up as well although concern was etched in his face.

"Don't fucking talk to her like that," Natsu said. His voice was low and Lucy shivered although she couldn't figure out why. It wasn't out of fear, of that much she was certain. "If you weren't such a bastard to her then maybe you wouldn't be in this situation."

"Lucy, maybe you and Natsu should go back to your room," Zeref suggested.

"Fuck that," Natsu scoffed. "Maybe I should thank you. If you hadn't caused Lucy to run away, she would be in a shitty relationship with that arsonist."

"That was never proved!" Natsu rolled his eyes, which were still red.

"Because you choose to overlook when genuinely bad people do genuinely bad things, but someone like, I don't know, Evelyn, does something that's damaging to you it's a free-for-all." Lucy was surprised to see that Natsu didn't have smoke coming from his ears. His face was flushed with anger and his fists were clenched so tightly his knuckles were pale compared to his tan. Natsu's jaw was tense and Zeref and Lucy exchanged concerned expressions. It almost looked like he was fighting with himself. Lucy then noticed that his entire body was shaking with what she had to assume was rage.

"How is she doing by the way? She must hate my daughter." The way he said it with a tinge of pride made Natsu see red.

"We actually get along really well," Lucy interjected before Natsu could say anything else. "It was rough for a month or so but then we bonded during our fight with Tartaros." Lucy was relieved to see that Natsu had sat down and continued eating but realized he was stabbing the cake with a fork like it had personally offended him. His mouth was set in a scowl and he was glaring down at the plate.

"Natsu, do you mind if I have a bite?" Happy asked, trying to distract Natsu from whatever thoughts he was having. Natsu forced a smile and nodded.

"Sure thing, buddy," he replied. There was a tension in his voice that Lucy had only heard from him during intense fights. Lucy was thankful her father decided not to push his luck and remained quiet throughout the remainder of the meal.

~~~Line break~~~

When dinner was over, Natsu had stood up so quickly his chair shot backwards and he gripped Lucy's wrist tightly, but not tight enough to be painful and dragged her back to his room. He sat down on the bed and tried to control his breathing.

"I can feel the etherious," Natsu murmured. "It's like there's a separate consciousness in my mind."

"What is it telling you?"

"To beat your father until he's begging for mercy." The words were spoken in a cool, indifferent manner, Natsu's eyes were dark and devoid of life. "It's nothing less than he deserves. Would you want revenge in that way?" There was a spark of something Lucy was reluctant to name in his eyes. Natsu seemed almost excited about the prospect.

"Natsu, are you in control right now?"

"I'm still sitting here right?" Lucy figured that he had a point. She froze as Natsu wrapped a strong arm around her waist and held her tightly. "If you stay with me everything will be fine." Lucy didn't know what to think of that so she just let her head rest on Natsu's shoulder. They stayed like that for a moment before Natsu pulled away and rested both hands on her shoulders. "I'm never going to hurt you, no matter what. I swear it." Lucy knew that he meant it. He protected his family fiercely but Lucy couldn't shake the feeling that he treasured her more than that.

~~~Line Break~~~

When Erza, Gajeel, Gray, and Wendy were back in Fiore they rushed to the Fairy Tail HQ immediately. "What do we tell them?" Wendy asked.

"The truth?" Gray replied. "What else could we do? Tell them that Natsu, Lucy, and Happy were thrown overboard and washed up somewhere on an island between Alvarez and Fiore?"

Gajeel snorted. "Yeah, they'd buy that. I say we just tell them that we have no idea what the fuck is going on." It was the line that Gajeel had repeated on the way back to Fiore.

"We'll tell them the truth about what happened and Zeref's ultimatum," Erza decided. "I can't help the feeling that there's more to that situation than what it appears to be."

"What do you mean?" Wendy asked.

"It doesn't seem like either Natsu or Lucy to just accept being told to stay somewhere," Erza pointed out.

"They would if our lives or Fairy Tail are at risk," Gray pointed out. He too had a sinking suspicion that something far more serious was going on but he couldn't figure out what so he just prayed that he was wrong about his hunch that this was bad. The elevator ride was silent and when they stepped out there was deafening chattering before it tapered off when it was clear Lucy and Natsu were not with them. Evelyn pushed her way to the front of the crowd.

"Where's my brother?" Evelyn asked quietly, her voice shaking.

"Zeref gave Natsu an ultimatum," Erza explained. Gray had to give her credit, her voice was strong and sure. "If he, Lucy, and Happy remained with him, then the rest of us would be spared."

"How much damage could Zeref possibly do?" Warren asked.

"Natsu told us that Zeref knew about you, Evie," Erza said quietly. The girl's face paled.

"How? Natsu has never said anything about me being his sister." Erza rested her hand on Evelyn's head.

"That's why Natsu decided to stay," Erza explained softly. "He didn't want you to be in danger." She removed her hand and straightened up. "The obvious next step is asking ourselves what to do about this."

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