Chapter Twenty-three

Can Someone Explain To Me Why Faes Have These Things?!

- sincerely, Natsu

-•-

Lucy had walked in earlier to the Fae castles to gather her things which left Natsu with the one person he was highly uncomfortable with.

"Why is it so white here?"

Gray rolled his eyes at the demon walking beside him.

"Why?" He asked. "Does your darkness feel threatened?"

"No, it feels tempting," Natsu said, ignoring the other faes who drew lowered brows and downcast eyes at him as they went past. "I want to burn this place down to crisp."

Ignoring his opinion as they reached Lucy's quarters, Gray turned to him. "Why did you want to become her protector?"

"None of your business, ice popsicle."

"It kinda is considering the fact it involves my friend."

Natsu's face morphed in interest, blinking at him. "Your friend can handle herself on her own."

"I don't trust you and the secrets you keep, flamefreak."

"You shouldn't." He said, seriously but stopped in consideration. "But that's rich coming from you."

Gray snapped his head towards the demon who relaxed his shoulders knowing that he had flicked a nerve, "What the hell are you talking about?" He said harshly, stepping in as Natsu walked around the small, hollow room in an exploratory manner.

"I mean," the demon said, offering a nasty grin. "The scent of a water elf that is wafting off you, Ice Princess."

He froze.

"Tell me," Natsu implored, schemingly. "Does your friend know about that?"

Swiftly, a sharp icicle sprouted out from his arm aimed right at the demon's chest, narrowly drowning at the skin protecting the heart that beat in his mortal form.

"You won't utter a word about this to her."

"I'm guessing that's a no then," He said, melting Gray's ice in seconds and watching the process with much intrigue.

"But you've acquired magic, that's funny, so it's not one-sided obviously." A smile blurted out on Natsu's face at the implications. "Well, well, would you look at that? The good ole priest has given up his vows, has he?"

"I have—

"You don't need to explain to me," He dwelled upon the individual who flinched at the sort of information Natsu now commandeered. "Just stay out of my way, I'll stay out of yours."

"Whatever, I'm still going to visit once a week Hell," Gray said, folding his arms making infuriating prickles lather beneath Natsu's skin.

He was getting sick and tired of the mistrust bore by almost everyone, did they really think demons were a form of plague or something? But was he really going to ask that question to himself? No, not when he already knew the answer.

"And it's not because you're a demon or something, " He added as Natsu jerked his head slightly at the statement. "Lucy's my friend," And because I'll probably miss her was left unsaid in the air.

The demon looked at him long before nodding at his request or rather a demand.

His ears perked up as the doors opened, Lucy appeared on the beginning of the staircase in much more comfortable clothes and her hair wound up in a tight updo with the brown leather satchel on her shoulder.

She looked down at Gray and frowned promptly.

"What?" He said.

"The faes complained about a weird flasher going about during nightly hours, I'm starting to guess it was you they were talking about." She sighed, shaking her head.

"Huh, no it wasn't—

"Your clothes," Natsu pointed out. "Is this a childhood thing?"

"No, it's not!" Gray said, searching for where his clothes had fallen off to. "Give me a second, I'll be right back."

Lucy shook her head a little as he left the room and she climbed down the stairs, reaching down quickly to him as she fiddled with her pockets, Natsu could hear something, like a metal sound clinking down as she moved.

He watched her bring about a scowl on her face as she met his glare halfway. He got the drill, that they pretty much disliked each other, to put it mildly, and now he had thrown them into jargon they had to work their way out through, together.

In hindsight, Natsu knew this could end in nothing short of a cataclysm but he had to see it through until the end.

Many would question his reasons but demons had faced enough prejudice and something had to be done to renew that. Being the protector not only brought prestige but influence as well, of which he required to better the treatment being met out to them.

Faes were not so much trouble as were the Sorcerers.

Zeref almost always made things difficult. Either to get his attention or simply for the thrill of it. He didn't know which but he didn't care enough to decide because it was had become degrading from the moment trade declined.

It was funny what simple ten years in the human realm could do.

Time was a shitty concept on Earthland, it moved in accordance to its own speed and will which most of the time sucked but what seemed like ten years in the human world could easily square out as a century on Earthland or the other way round. It all depended on time and its schemes.

Natsu hadn't been crowned as most demon lords were but during and after the war, they considered him as their leader. When he slew down Acnologia, doused in the blood of a dragon with the darkness of a demon, they welcomed him as their High King, they welcomed him as the one who'd protect them.

And he had, very well until his boredom called him out to the human world. Then, he found this peculiar mortal who knew who he was, somehow figured out where he had kept his scarf in the human realms and trapped him in a box with the blood of Christ nonetheless.

But the downside had weighed heavily as well.

Because he was gone for such a long time, the demon realm began having internal as well as external conflicts. Well, the former was a result of the latter which was the breaches of the trade and peace agreements.

Just because there wasn't a king present, the Sorcerers thought it was perfect to impose trade and economic sanctions while being supported by many other races in the conference of magical races. And there were border issues with some surviving Giants accusing of the demons of being treacherous to have sided with the Faes and Sorcerers instead of the opposite side.

None of which would have occurred had Natsu been there at the scene; Zeref wouldn't have bothered and Giants wouldn't have dared.

As a result, everything from food to finance had deteriorated steadily which led to internal conflicts. They demanded for a more permanent leader than Gajeel or Erza. Which led to the ancient nobles arguing pettily for their own gains.

But this all could be remedied by one single fact.

By him becoming the protector of the Priestess, everything would be restored immediately and the underlying poverty amongst the demons, bring up their standard of living and trade.

While magic was the most powerful commodity, it still couldn't make up for food, plus, the magic possessed by demons was rarely agricultural in nature. Nations would begin to send food requirements automatically and make tremendous efforts in advancing relations between the demons and themselves.

After they would become self-sufficient, he would charge his revenge. A demon's memory ran long and an attempt to sideline them was not going to go unanswered.

Not when Natsu was High King it wasn't.

There was only one drawback though; the frowning blonde looking at him like he was the apocalypse. How was he going to behave civilly to her when every bone of his body screamed at him to pick up a fight with her? Natsu rolled his eyes to her wrist where his mark had turned into dots of sorts with connecting lines.

His jaw twitched. "Is that a hint to the magic you have?"

"I'd like to say it's none of your business," She stated, blankly dipped in hostility. "But yes, it is."

At the barb, his mouth pulled in tight. "Little bird, keep going that way and I won't be sure if I'll hold back."

"You can't kill me."

"Sure, I can't." He said, prowling closer and firing a malicious glare as he circled her, "But death isn't the worst thing a mortal like you could endure, you know," He slipped his head down, rounding near her ear, "I could make you suffer in a lot of other ways."

Lucy merely turned her face to him, her blonde hair slightly jerking back; she felt the warmth his breath on the side of her face. It ricocheted sensations in her head as she looked straight at him.

There was something about the way he watched her, she wasn't sure what but it always had an imprint on her. Not that she was going to show it, she wouldn't give him the satisfaction of watching her being affected by something so simple.

"Well then, that makes the two of us." She said, crisply. "I am always happy to return the favour should you do it first."

Natsu stepped back slowly, giving no signs as he looked at the table with a question at an item placed there.

"Why are twirled mushroom tops a form of table decoration?" He mumbled to himself as Lucy checked her satchel for everything she had taken.

It looked funny to him so forgetting for the moment, that he was in the Fae realms which were generally filled with the wackiest kind of magic around in Earthland, Natsu's curiosity mindlessly pulled his fingers to touch it as Lucy frowned at the mention of twirled mushroom tops.

Gluasad circles.

Mavis' voice rung in warning as she snapped her head towards the demon.

"Don't touch it!" She shrieked, pulling his arm back but it was too late because the moment Natsu's hand touched it, the world around her turned before she could blink twice.

And when she did, they were in an entirely different setting.

"What the hell?!" Natsu ground out and Lucy's vision adjusted to the lush forestry around them. Why was it always a forest? At this rate, she might develop a dislike for the whole lot of them. She groaned, tilting her head back.

"Why are we here?" He angrily sprouted.

"Because you can't keep your hands to yourself." She shot back. "That was a Gluasad circle."

Natsu unclenched his sheer discomfort at where they were as he looked back at the blonde, "A what now?"

"Gluasad circles transport you to places where you don't want to be, they appear randomly and suck you into said place." Lucy revealed, crossing her arms at the demon, "While I wouldn't want to be anywhere except the Fae realms because I don't know any other place on Earthland so you tell me, where are we?"

Natsu tightened his jaw and her eye caught the movement.

"Dragnof."

"Realm of dragons?" Lucy frowned. "Why would you not want to be here?"

"None of your business." He snapped at her making her flinch at the unexpected bite.

"Seeing as we're both stuck here because of you," she said, with an imploring smile. "I'd say it is my business because it dragged us here."

His eyes flashed a shade to bright red before creeping down to black while Lucy simply stood her ground, observing him as he tried to keep his temper in check. The blonde didn't just push his buttons, she damn right stomped on them, knowing exactly what ticked him off.

She, on the other hand, realised that they needed to start moving and possibly get back to the Fae lands before the night fell which seemed very likely seeing the tangerine hues melting into sudden grey skies.

So, having her protector looking at her like there was a very thin line holding him back from doing God-Alone-Knows-What-But-Not-Something-Good to her would not help her case.

"Look," Lucy conceded, after shoving a deep breath in her lungs. "We can resume having our little battle of hate after we reach the Fae realms, right now, can you at least take us out of here?"

His indurated stare wobbled as her reason preyed down on his mind. The focus of his vexation smothered down as he straightened his back, there was a burning in his chest as he surveyed where they were. This was in Igneel's territory, that much he was certain of but he wasn't sure which part of the lands these were in.

It had been ages since he had come back here.

The last time had been during Igneel's death.

A snag jagged down in his throat, stripping air from him momentarily as he remembered what had happened and what it had caused to occur; that was the last time he saw Zeref as his brother because the next was when he rose as the Emperor of Sorcerers, nothing less, nothing more.

Lucy coughed awkwardly to pry his awareness back at the situation but it hardly scored any of his attention. She meditated on watching him suffer and cracking him out from whatever it was about this place that haunted him. She would not lie; she could easily persuade herself with choosing the former really, the demon had beheld many occasions when he would enjoy her pain so why should it be any different here?

Adding to that, he was a demon.

So exactly why did it thunderbolt her when her own hand reached out to his shoulder as the words "Are you alright?" slipped out of her mouth without her automatic filter working.

Natsu broke away from his trance, haling out to notice the contact that she had made with astonishment advancing in the crease of his brow as his eyes encompassed the darkness she was familiar with.

"Are you actually concerned for me?"

"Yes," Lucy said, hinged, trying her level best to fake it till she made it. "You're kinda my ticket outta this place so you having a traumatic breakdown would screw us over."

That simply made Natsu look at her with folded arm and an amused smirk make way to his face.

He looked too pleased for his own good.

"Okay then," He said, turning his feet. "We should probably find shelter for the night then.

She groaned in her head before taking in the meaning of what he was saying.

"Wait, why?" Lucy said, "What do you mean? For the night? Why can't you. . .I don't know, fly us out or something?"

"I could," He said, grinning at her as she briefly relaxed her shoulders. "But do I want to?"

Her face twisted in stunning disbelief.

"You can't be serious."

"You bet I am."

"Why?!"

He simply smiled at her, lips twitching in a way that told her the reason.

"This." Lucy indicated towards the space between them. "Is your idea of getting back at me because you can't kill me?"

"Maybe."

Okay, Lucy took it all back, the guy didn't deserve a cent of her concern or worry, she should've been content with him writhing in pain. At that thought, she looked back at her perfidious hand and cursed the inherent humanity in her.

Natsu continued walking in the directions that his instinct insured were resonating from parts of faraway memories. The North-eastern part it would seem like if the pungent scent of basalt stones was anything to go by.

"Oh for fuck's sake," She said, throwing her arms in air as she followed him. "This is childish."

"I am childish." He affirmed.

"What if there are bad monsters out there?"

Natsu stopped walking before looking at Lucy bleakly with a touch of entertainment dancing in his eyes at how far she would stoop to annoy him.

"They wouldn't hurt you if they saw me beside to you."

Lucy snorted at the blatant pride rounding in his words. "Where are we even going?" She said aloud.

"A place I know."

"Why would you know a place here?"

"Because I lived here."

Lucy cocked her head to the side as she continued stepping on a few twigs that creaked, "You lived here?" She clarified.

Natsu wrinkled his nose.

"You ask a lot of questions."

"Well, huh. Why not simply take me back and you don't have to deal with that?" She suggested, blankly.

"And see you be relieved? I wouldn't dare." He replied as his ears caught the shrill babble of stream that ran past in the woods, Natsu knit his brows together in query to himself.

There was not supposed to be any river in the North-eastern part of the territory. Which meant he was wrong, he didn't know these parts well enough or perhaps he did and was hesitant to acknowledge after all Lucy had said that it took one to places they didn't want to be in.

"Was that where you lived?" Her voice came in, eerily downcasted in a way that tugged Natsu as he looked to where she pointed.

He slanted his eyes at the devastating example of a shack. Odd, bad weather and long ages should have eroded it to nothingness, yet, here it stood on a wonky foundation before him. Some parts of the wooden walls had fallen out and the roof tiles of the same had crippled away to let moonlight travel around each internal corner it had. Creepers had curtained it away into hiding, camouflaging it from deviant eyes.

Lucy simply sighed at the lack of reply but didn't bother pursuing the subject because the answer was obvious. She wended her way through to the shack but stopped near the water well that was in the corner, filled with water though it had been destroyed on an edge, she guessed it could still be used if one mended it just that well.

"Do you come here often?"

"No."

"Well, somebody does." She stated, looking at the wood logs stacked next to the well, possibly kept for making a fire. "It doesn't look like it's abandoned."

And she would have turned her attention from the well had it not been something carved on the pulley that balloted the corner of her eye. Lucy's hand caught the rim of it to bring the pulley closer as she looked at the carving on the bottom-most side.

Belonging to N & Z, don't steal.

It looked like it was written by a kid but it was probably because it had been so.

Well, she thought to herself, N is probably this weirdo here. Who's Z?

"I don't think anyone would bother coming here," Natsu said.

"Why would you say so?"

"Because this place holds no value to anyone." He said, appearing blasé to whatever it meant to him.

"Explain the wood logs and the water in the well."

"We should build a campfire or something and stay here for the night." He diverted as she rose a brow at the ignorance flowing in his voice.

"Hmm," Lucy replied which to Natsu's ears sounded like I know you're trying to avoid the topic but I will bring it up at some point in near future, prepare yourself tosser, he rolled his eyes, like she was entitled to any explanation.

The night skies burgeoned with stars, like little snowflakes spilt on dark marble. She had helped to make stack the woods, it was a silent agreement because Lucy knew that any word that came out from their mouth resulted in a fight and that would be pointless if they were to stay the night.

She paid mind to the way he bent his fire, magic flourishing on the tips of his fingers as he made sure his flames dabbed and wrapped around the wood; it hissed and licked the space above it. He controlled the fire to sway and they danced to his command. Lucy felt a sharp pang of envy straight to her heart at her own inability of performing magic that fluently, she had quite literally tried every way she could but nothing seemed to work which resulted in doubt seeping in.

The key that she had been given almost felt like it didn't belong to her.

With all events that passed by, incertitude that hadn't been exterminated with Gray's words began feasting on her.

What if this whole thing was just a huge mistake? Maybe, she wasn't special at all, maybe she was what her classmates had always described her to be, just crazy and weird. Nothing there to see, nothing hiding in plain sight.

She looked away from Natsu lest he should see her cluttering in a mess of self-doubt; no way was she going to show that side to the bloodsucking demon. The orange light from fire gave warmth reminding her of her original elemental dislike, maybe, it was the fact that her parents died in a fire but Lucy wondered if that mattered to her; she had never seen them, didn't know if they loved her or not.

Heck, she didn't even know them.

But it made her ponder as she observed the trail of blue irises that caught her eye, did one of her parents possess magic passed down from Anna? Did it have something to do with why they were killed in the first place? Questions, questions and questions, she thought as no answer drove up to surface.

Her fingers brushed across her wrist where the dots had changed its pattern. She hadn't got enough time to examine this one and to her, it kinda felt like a horse making a high jump, that being said, Lucy effectively knew it wasn't Sagittarius.

She took a small twig that went astray from a tree and copied the mark on the ground lightly.

Is it Leo? Lucy cocked her head to the side as she imagined a lion resting down with head held proudly. So with every key, she received, the mark was to change but Lucy conjectured on how she was supposed to even use it or if she could really summon a constellation.

She shook herself out of it unaware that she was now under Natsu's keen observation because boredom had left him restless. He tapped his foot as he watched her tap her finger's lightly on her wrist before she flicked her head in what he understood as realisation.

Lucy took her satchel from the side, opening it to let her hand vanish into a corner as she took out a cover.

Humans were so amusing to watch, in fact, Natsu found it to be a very unique form of pastime because one just didn't know what they were going to do next but at the same time, their emotions were scattered all over their body language.

He viewed her expression bubbling to immediate joy as she took out a cover that had chocolate biscuits and the smell of Jaffa cakes flood the smoulder in the air.

The blonde felt an onset of disorientation come upon as she suddenly met his eye, Lucy frowned at the prospect of eating alone but sharing it with him didn't feel like she had a companion either.

Yet, for the sake of it.

"Do you want some?"

His brows rode high on his tan forehead.

Technically, he was a demon so he could withstand hunger for years and months and had it been in any other situation with any other person, he would've politely refused the offer because Mira and Erza had thought him manners better, the latter being more threatening.

But it was her.

And she seemed so costive about it that it motivated Natsu to brightly grin at her, taking half the offered food as if it was his birthright. Lucy scowled openly at him but bit down any protest she had because that would be unreasonable on her part.

"You do know we could be sleeping on comfortable beds if in case it wasn't for your want to stay here."

"Yep."

"And you still want to stay here?!"

"Yep."

"Isn't this place like mentally traumatizing and pricking your bones? Wouldn't it be a smarter move to like—

"Nope."

A vein popped out evidently from the side of her head as she throttled the urge to pounce at him.

"You know it was exactly this bullheaded trait of yours that got you in that box." She grated out, louring at him as he leaned against a pale woodblock.

"Oh you mean you didn't have any hand in it at all?" He retorted.

"I asked you to leave the girl alone and you didn't listen." She reiterated from memory.

"Yeah because I didn't want to—

"And then you killed the entire family." Lucy flinched as she remembered coming back to ashes and debris, the day after she had exorcised him out of Maria. A glimmer of puzzlement crossed his face as she stood up when she noticed.

"Why? You don't seem to remember it, do you? Or is that the case for all the innocent lives you take?"

There it was again.

The incurrence of the same rage that she had driven wild in him a few weeks ago.

It wasn't the fact that Lucy was erroneous in her allegations because he had not killed that family, far from it and he thought she knew it but clearly, something had deceived her wrong and Natsu could blinding guess on what rather who.

Still, what she said was unintentionally the truth, tides of memories washed over the shore of his mind as he recalled Igneel's death.

So really, if her razor-sharp barb was to garner his attention, it had been splendidly done.

"You don't know anything." He growled, climbing to his feet as a soft fizz of anger sparked out within his head.

"Or do I?" She challenged.

"I'd suggest you to step down if you know what's good for you."

"Oh, running away again, are we?" She asked as he resisted the urge to curl his lip in anguish, severing the cracks on his wall of patience.

"Little bird." He uttered as the flames of the campfire fizzled out to a more threatening heat. "Don't fuck with me right now."

"Funny, I thought demons were supposed to be frigid cold to guilt that came from their crimes." She said, introspectively as she crossed her arms; not quite realising what kind of a dragon she was tickling.

"Tell me Natsu." She purred. "Did you end up killing someone you cared?"

Swift as the wind, he was right in front of her; too close for any of their liking but fuelled with too much of turgid emotions.

"Oh." She said.

"I touched a nerve then?" Lucy drawled out, her tone modulated. "Well, I suppose even demons can feel—

"I said." He dragged out, teeth clashing as he forced out in a fit of temper. "Don't fuck with me, didn't I?"

Darkness drew out, repelling any light save that from the heavens, it wrapped around them penetratively as Natsu towered her, sneering down at her as she held her nerves tight. Even in his mindless blather of feelings, he knew he couldn't hurt her and she knew it so well. The understanding reached him like a gnawing clot in his chest, an itch he couldn't scratch.

But that didn't mean he couldn't make her hurt.

Maybe, not burning her to crisp but he definitely could do a sizeable amount of ruination.

Natsu stepped back, darkness immediately withdrawing as she narrowed her eyes at the movement, she could see him working and Lucy didn't have a clue of what it could be.

"Who was it," he asked, snidely. "That told you the family in Klomino was killed? Who—

"The Church did. Yeah, so what's your point?"

"Figures." He shrugged, callous. "I had possessed Maria, sure. But was I responsible for their death after you exorcised me? I don't think so."

"What are you implying?"

"The Church lied to you, Lucy, like it always had. Poor thing and you never knew until now." He tutted in mockery. "The family most likely had been exported to another place before you could even awake and they burnt the hut down"

"Shut your trap," she said, twisting her mouth. "I know what you're trying to do and it's not working."

"Or do you?"

"Don't play mind games with me, Dragneel."

"I'm not." And the blankness of his voice scared Lucy as she creased her brow.

"You're lying, the Church wouldn't do that to me." She said, steeling her voice but it was for nought because Natsu knew fear when he saw it and her eyes clearly depicted it; fear of betrayal.

"Oh, but you don't believe that, do you?" He said, going further. "They excommunicated you right after the exorcism, didn't they? Because you refused to do anymore and even after all this time they still chased you around to slave to their work, didn't they?"

"Stop." She said.

"In the end, all you got was betrayal, they used you, little bird—

"Stop, ple—

"And you meant nothing to them. The same Church you so valiantly protected let you go, they used your anger to trap me in that box."

"I SAID STOP!" Lucy screamed, shutting her eyes as she released an unholy amount of magic wave that would have thrown Natsu across the fields if he had not been who he was; war instincts were hard to wipe out.

"Get out of my face." She said quietly. Too quietly.

"I can't leave you—

"Now." She barked out, eyes of burnt sienna spilling tears and Natsu didn't think she realised it either.

Reluctantly, he turned his head and walked away, he didn't regret a word he said just because she was crying because she deserved it, though, he might have overstepped the boundaries. He disappeared into the woods, giving her just enough space to deal but was at close proximity if anything went amiss.

Lucy's legs mollified as she collapsed on the wooden log as she curled up close into the warmth of the flames, ignoring the trail of blue irises that had her hopes earlier.

Rasping out a string of grief-stricken sobs, she tried to tend to the blows delivered by raw truth.

Gray had been wrong. He had been so very wrong.

She wasn't braver than this, she couldn't have been.

Well, well, can't do much about them both, can we?

They both are log-headed and stubborn, and Lucy kinda has a good reason, she's literally been brought up with Christian values of demons being evil, it'll take some time for her to change tho. A

And Natsu's always been the tit for tat kinda dude when provoked.

But anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, ya'all give reviews that make my mother question if I've just had a break-up or something, such tear-striking ones bro.

Love,

Chaol.