Lucy had never screamed as loudly as she did when she caught a glimpse at what was attacking her. She screamed and screamed as it bit down on her arm, tearing at her flesh with rotten teeth, and with an instinct she didn't realize she'd acquired, grasped her black blade and drove it into the thing's head.

The undead man groaned and collapsed, meekly clawing at the blade, and Lucy continued to scream as she scrambled back as quickly as she could, barely hearing Natsu's own furious shouting over herself. Blood slicked her grip as she snatched up her whip, ready to use it, and desperately reached for her key ring.

"Lucy!" bellowed Natsu from below, and her body throbbed where he'd hit the ground hard. "Lucy!" His rage bubbled low in her gut, and she felt that ancient magic creep back into her senses. It crawled out of hiding like an unseen shadow until she heard Natsu give an ear-piercing sound of fury unlike any other she'd ever heard – one that had even the undead man sobbing for mercy.

"What is he?"

Lucy snapped her head around as Happy yowled at the edge of the pit. The man had appeared among the gold and studied the pit with fascination in light green eyes. "I've never seen anything like this…and I work with the dead!" He grinned, as if he'd found something valuable. "Imagine something like that under my control…"

Lucy's face hardened. This must have been the necromancer that Sting had mentioned – the one he'd claimed they'd not need Natsu's help with. Like hell. Of course he'd come their way. Tightening bloody fingers on her whip's hilt, she seethed, "I won't let you lay a finger on him."

Just as she was his Marked One, Natsu was hers, and like hell she'd let something like a necromancer even think about touching him with their nasty spells! Magic might not have existed in her world, but she knew enough about the concept of necromancy to know that she'd not let an inch of it anywhere near her or Natsu.

"Oh?" crooned the man, and then the undead figure was moving with shocking speed. Lucy snapped her whip at it, but it didn't do anything. The thing managed to slam into her again, this time snapping those rotten teeth hungrily at her throat. Lucy gave a muffled shriek, hating the way her fingers slid as she tried to shove it back. She hissed when her fingers got caught in its teeth. She ignored the pain that splintered through them and instead shouted, "Natsu!"

She couldn't deal with the undead creature and the necromancer – not at the same time.

Not by herself, when she couldn't reach her keys.

So, she heaved and heaved against its shocking strength until her feet slid beneath her. "Ha!" she wheezed when she felt the undead creature's body slide away. She'd been aiming to send it down to Natsu, so he could burn it to ashes and let her deal with the necromancer in peace.

What she didn't expect was it to snag her in the process and drag her down with it. A squawk left her and Happy yowled down after her when Lucy plummeted. She grimaced, not surprised that she'd fallen again.

"Got ya!" Natsu snagged her before she could hit the ground, nearly tripping and falling anyways. He grinned at her despite the situation they'd gotten stuck in and the rage that still glittered in his red-flecked eyes.

"Hi," she breathed before squealing when something rushed past, descending upon the undead figure that had begun to rise. She stared at the ammit as she went to work, not caring that what she was eating was anything but pleasant. "Oh, disgusting," she breathed.

Above their heads, peering down, the necromancer clicked his tongue. Lucy and Natsu craned their heads back. Happy was nowhere to be found; Lucy hoped he'd gone after Virgo. "Ah, it was only a test run anyways. What I want is you." He jabbed a finger at Natsu, grinning maliciously. "I wanted that arm band on the girl's arm, which radiated such interesting magic, but you…oh, what a pleasure it would be to have control over something like you."

"Well, at least you can't die," said Lucy as Natsu gently set her on her feet, eyeing the necromancer with a snarl on his face. He swept an arm quite suddenly between her and another person in the pit, sliding between them. Lucy tripped, but blinked when one of the few they'd condemned glared at him for his action.

"Touch her, and you won't live for more than a couple of seconds," Natsu purred, letting that dark magic swirl through his veins and draw black fire to life. Now wasn't the time to stash it away; besides, Happy wasn't there to direct his magic. He'd have to be careful.

The criminal backed away with a scowl, and then snapped his head around when there was a sudden scream.

The ammit screamed in agony as she pried at the jaws that had closed on her shoulder, separating flesh from bone with the force of their bite. She who had devoured the dead was being devoured herself. No, Lucy thought, feeling sick, not devoured – torn apart, even as she continued to breathe, by the dozens of bodies that lingered.

"This," said Lucy, face white when another person screamed, falling beneath the writhing mass that had begun to erupt around them, "is not good." She latched onto Natsu's arm in fear when she had to skitter aside to avoid a hand made of bone that grasped at her ankle. "Natsu, do something."

"I can't," he growled back when another and then another fell around them, regardless of their innocence. "Not without burning them all to a crisp."

Lucy's mind raced as she flicked through her keys, desperately trying to figure out who to summon. She didn't really think any of the spirits she had a contract with could really benefit them at the moment. And she wasn't sure she wanted the man above them to know precisely what she was capable of.

Within minutes, they were all that was left in the pit, and Lucy realized that there were tears rolling down her face. The ground was slick with the blood of those who had died, and the air was so thick with it that she could barely breathe. Natsu looked a little sick, too, gagging as he snarled at the hands grasping for them. One latched onto his arm and wrenched. Caught off guard, Natsu was knocked off balance. He burst into flame instinctively and Lucy winced when the flames licked at her, but didn't mind when the dead seemed to recoil away in fear. In a flash, Natsu was back beside her, grabbing her hand.

"Stick close," he said sharply, taking a deep breath.

Knowing what was coming, Lucy stepped as close as she could get, bracing herself. "Not a problem."

Just as she expected, Natsu unleashed an inferno of hell upon those around them. With no other living creature to worry about except Lucy, he let those flames burn hotter and hotter, until Lucy was biting back a hiss at the sting of them. The dead screamed and cried out as they were burned away. Finally, nothing but ash remained.

Silence fell, outside of the soft panting of Natsu and Lucy. Lucy tried to ignore the new black that stained her body, instead clutching Natsu's hand tightly.

She decided as she looked upon that ash, which contained the remains of people who'd been alive only moments before, that necromancers might have been the worst of those in this time period. Worse even then Grimoire Heart or the demons that others had described to her. Worse than Zancrow, or the ghost haunting the area surrounding Aquarius's lake, or even the concept of Acnologia.

Because they all dealt with the living, and this man played with the dead.

"You good?" Natsu said, saying nothing about the blood she drew when her nails dug into his skin. Black mingled with crimson, and Natsu tried to not think about how unhappy that made him at the moment, not as the necromancer's eyes glowed with excitement while peering down at them.

"I'm…okay," she breathed, clearly not.

He'd warned her, he couldn't help but think, that dealing with necromancers was a nasty business that he was very glad didn't happen very often.

He snapped his jaws together when the necromancer laughed, clapping his hands together like a delighted child. "What the hell are you?" he cried, grinning fearlessly down at them.

"Something that's going to turn you into cinders in a moment," snarled Natsu, glowering up at him as pain throbbed in Lucy's arm. She briefly hoped that she didn't get some kind of weird infection. Too bad they'd not brought Wendy this time.

"But that doesn't answer the question, mister," said the necromancer. Natsu was unnerved when he fearlessly jumped into the pit, sliding down the steep wall with ease. A growl burst from his chest when he tripped forward to stand closer, studying Natsu as if he was the most fascinating specimen he'd ever seen.

Instinct had Natsu opening his mouth, gathering flames in the back of his throat that were as black as night.

"Do you know what kind of stories they tell about you? The body count when you're done? For all we know about you, we could be standing in front of someone who's burned a city to the barest bones!"

Ashes floated around them, clogging his nose and staining his skin – staining Lucy's skin, cloaking her in death.

Suddenly sick, Natsu closed his mouth, recoiling uncertainly. Lucy took his sudden withdrawal in stride, sliding protectively in front of him. For someone who had once been feared as the Demon King, Lucy couldn't help but think that he was rather sensitive. Her whip snapped, stopping the necromancer a few feet away, and she felt a flicker of fear when something heavy filled her body, weighing it down.

His eyes glowed as he took the pair in. "Both of you, actually. You with magic that glows like a fallen star. You'd be just as valuable as he would." Lucy thought she could feel something oily slide along her flesh and she shuddered in disgust. "The way your magic twists together…are you a dragon? You must be, for I've only seen this magic once, from afar when they passed through Crocus – oh! Oh, I see. You must be the son of the Fire Dragon King. That's why I thought you looked so familiar. That pink hair is nearly unforgettable, which makes you…" His green eyes turned back on Lucy, and Lucy felt something in her twist with terror. "Ah, Layla's daughter and the Lost Star. How fitting that Layla's daughter would be given the Marks of Igneel's son. I should have known with that shade of gold your hair holds...Layla's was identical, though I only saw her once. It was a privilege; not many were allowed to lay eyes on the queen. She was kept in the castle for her own safety by the Fire Dragon King and her husband."

Bad. This was very, very bad.

Nervousness crept through her and it took Lucy a moment to realize that it wasn't entirely her own. She glanced over her shoulder and found Natsu's face expressionless, but she knew better. He was worried – nervous, just as she felt, about the fact that someone knew.

Lucy wondered if Virgo had known this would happen – and had chosen to include it in her test. Why else would she not be there, helping them deal with a necromancer like this one? And where the hell had Happy gone?

Lucy's whip snaked across the ground warningly when the necromancer withdrew a knife sheathed at his hip. "Come now, I expected more of a fight from the son of the Fire Dragon King!" he crooned, and Natsu snapped his teeth uncertainly. "Are you all growl and no bite? Will you react better if I tell you about what I'll do with both of you when I'm done?"

Natsu paused suddenly and then rolled his eyes. "Damn it, Happy," he rumbled grouchily, understanding suddenly why his body had been so heavy for the last few minutes, and Lucy looked back at him in confusion. Even the necromancer paused, somewhat confused by Natsu's commentary. Natsu rocked back on his heels, suddenly relaxed and smirking.

"You know I'm not the only dragon around, right?" he said simply. A split second later, something lunged from the shadows, slamming into the necromancer at full force. Lucy caught sight of a bright ruby eye brimming with outrage as jaws clamped down on his arm, massive in size, and dragged him into the darkness.

Lucy stared, her jaw dropped. "Was that–"

"Rogue," confirmed Natsu, dragging her back when a scream filled the air. "Stay back. Rogue's not focused on who he's going to drag in right now, and one misstep…"

"I fall in," she finished, and he nodded.

Silence fell.

And then a humanoid figure was drawing itself out of the shadows. It solidified, and Rogue soon stood before them with Frosch on his shoulder, face flecked with ash and blood. Lucy forced herself not to flinch at the shockingly wild look in his eyes. She forgot, sometimes, that dragons weren't human.

"Was anyone hurt?" Rogue questioned, voice hoarse.

Natsu said nothing, sick as he remembered the people that had fallen to the necromancer with him standing there unable to do anything. "Do you know what kind of stories they tell about you? The body count when you're done?"

Lucy flashed him a worried look and said, "Quite a few were killed here," she gestured to the pit around her, looking unhappy herself about it, "but there wasn't really anything we could do about it. The necromancer was controlling the bodies that had been resting here. Natsu couldn't use his fire without hurting them, and it was…it was just a mess."

Rogue inclined his head. "Happy found me," he told them. Natsu grunted, unsurprised. He'd thought as much. But where the hell was–

"I have seen your judgement," said a voice from above, and they all craned their heads back as the ground shook around them. The pit vanished, and Natsu furrowed his brow when they found themselves standing among the gold of the treasury. Rogue looked incredibly confused and Lucy flashed him a brief, faint grin.

"We were completing a test and the necromancer interrupted. I hope that doesn't become a habit; it seems like most of our exams get interrupted nowadays."

Virgo looked between them all before lingering on Rogue. "Your judgement was noted as well."

"Thank you?" said Rogue, somewhat confused.

"Our judgement of what?" demanded Natsu. "In case you didn't notice, everyone we were 'judging' is dead."

"And you judge yourself guilty of their death," finished Virgo. Natsu recoiled, growling and not entirely happy it had been said aloud. "You blame yourself for the deaths of those murdered by a necromancer. It is an incorrect judgement, Master Natsu." Natsu gaped at her, staring.

She lifted her chin. "Your judgement of them before the necromancer's interference was equal to my own – both of you, Master Natsu and Mistress. Master Natsu, you judge yourself too harshly – something the stars as a whole appreciate. Brother Leo has recognized this. Master Rogue deems you free of guilt as well as Mistress. With that in mind, I will give you my support – both as Keeper and Guardian, and for your determination to meet with Leo." She bowed to Lucy. "It would be an honor to form a contract with you alongside my comrades, Mistress. If you will have me – and I would very much like to have the necromancer, for I dislike my exam being interrupted and would like to deliver punishment."

Calmly, Rogue said, "Sabertooth will see to his punishment. My apologies, celestial spirit."

Virgo inclined her head, to Lucy's surprise, and said, "Then we will form a contract at a later time, Mistress. When we form our contract, I will give you your clue to guide you to the next celestial spirit." She disappeared in a flash of light, and Lucy was quick to snag the key that fell before it could hit the ground. She grasped it tightly, relieved, as she turned to Natsu, worried for him.

He was staring at where she'd been in silence, his lips pressed into a hard line. When he realized Lucy was studying him, he glanced at her and narrowed his eyes a little, rumbling, "What?"

"You should listen to Virgo," is all Lucy could say as Happy wove between her ankles, purring his relief.


"Thank you for your help, Rogue," Lucy said when they'd tracked down Salutem, who'd not wandered very far from where they'd left him. Dusk had fallen while they'd been down in the tunnels. Lucy wondered how Rogue had known about this entrance, which unlike the one she'd fallen in to, had led to the streets behind where Mercurius Castle once stood.

"Of course," said Rogue pleasantly. Natsu left them to go and make sure Salutem's things – and theirs – were still there. He'd been quiet while they walked, and Lucy made a mental note to check on him later, regardless of whether he thought he needed the check in or not. Rogue scratched Frosch's chin, and the green-furred cat – Lucy thought he was odder looking than Happy, sometimes – purred very loudly. He clearly treasured Rogue, almost like Charle did Wendy without the teeth and claws.

"Lucy, I did want to ask," said Rogue suddenly, frowning at her. "Regarding the necromancer's statement about the Lost Star…" Lucy's flinch was enough. "Ah, so he spoke the truth. You are Lucy Heartfilia, the lost princess of Fiore then?"

"Yes, but please don't go around telling anyone – not even Yukino," Lucy asked with a heavy sigh. "And definitely not Sting. We're trying to keep it under wraps."

"You have my word that I will not tell anyone, although Yukino will know that I'm keeping secrets from her." Rogue touched his chest with a fond look. "She won't pry if I tell her it was a secret you asked me not to keep."

"Thank you," Lucy said sincerely before smiling when Natsu brought Salutem over. The stag gave a happy bellow and plunged his muzzle into Lucy's fingers, ripping the reins from Natsu's hands. Natsu gaped at him, somewhat betrayed, and Lucy grinned. "Thank you again for your help, Rogue. Hopefully we can visit again sometime – or one of you can come and visit Fairy Tail's guildhall. It's too bad Yukino can't leave the Gate; she'd love Magnolia, I think."

"She does get rather lonely with only Sting and I for company," agreed Rogue. "Perhaps we'll have a party at the cottage, just for her." He bid them farewell after that and when he was gone, melting into the shadows with Frosch trotting after them, Lucy hummed.

"I like Rogue," she told Natsu.

"He's always been the calmest of the youngest generation," said Natsu simply. "He forms his own opinions before he listens to Sting's. Sting tends to lean too much on him for his thoughts. Needs to get his own backbone."

Despite his current disapproval of Sting, Lucy thought that he seemed rather like a guardian of sorts.

Natsu suddenly snagged her arm, and Lucy flinched at the pain that shot through it. She'd forgotten about the bite there. She held still as Natsu leaned in to inspect it, his eyes narrowed. "Should've brought Wendy. Don't have anything good for injuries like that. S'one thing if it's a bite from Happy or something, but necromancer magic isn't like most others."

"Well, let's clean it out and bandage it," said Lucy, peering at it herself. "And our next stop is the Archives. Levy has to have something useful there, right? I mean, they looked pretty set up with everything…"

"Yeah, I guess." Natsu didn't look as if he liked having to wait that long to get it properly dealt with, but didn't have much of a choice. He knew for a fact that most places in Crocus didn't have the proper tools and herbs for tending to injuries created by necromancers. Nor did the rare mythics spread out in the city with magic akin to Wendy's have the ability to heal them.

Still, he supposed that Lucy had done well against her first necromancer.

And when he told her as much hesitantly, he didn't think the sun shone as brightly as she did.


Natsu makes me so sad sometimes. Poor guy.

And so ends the necromancer! Next big mythic thing you guys get to look forward to that some people actually requested: wendigo. ;)

On another note...I think I'm going to lift the rating. As mentioned by a few people, it frees me up to do some fun things. ;) Can't wait to get to the end of the Lost Years~

AND ON YET ANOTHER NOTE: I will be doing an update on THURSDAY and WILL NOT be updating on MONDAY NEXT WEEK. I'm traveling for my spring break and will be taking my IPad instead of my laptop, which doesn't work with updating (unless I'm just an idiot who can't figure it out). So expect a much speedier update and then a sadly long wait. ;)

Thanks to reviewers (stranger1999, madaraswife, aquarius592, BeautifulSamurai, itsxoi, Uchida Akira, Surfy, xHallowedFangirlx, NaLuFireSpirit, FairyTailxFanGirl, Eyriegirl, Lodemai04, Lissuin, Lovetoreadff, and IIendais!) as well as those who favorited and followed!