Lucy woke up to to cool morning light surrounded by the most amazing warmth. Instantly she noted the weight slung over her waist and pressed against her back, as well as the heat beneath her cheek. She cracked her eyes open to see her favorite demon snoozing the morning away without a care. One wing was laid out underneath them like a blanket while the other wrapped them in a leathery cocoon. She wondered if it hurt him to have her weight pinning his wing down like that, but he didn't seem to notice it, even as she shifted against him to escape a bit of his overbearing heat.

She wiggled out of his grasp, stepping out of the warm nest that was Natsu and instantly regretted it. The cave was chilly in the morning and she blushed as she realized she was dressed only in her slip. Her corseted dress had been far too uncomfortable to sleep in, but now she picked up the abandoned black silk and redonned it before stepping out of the cave.

Light filtered between he leaves of giant trees to fill forest floor with an ambient glow. Some moths were flying off to find shelter as the sun came around and a few deer grazed innocently on some bushes. She'd never seen anything like it, which honestly didn't mean too much. She hadn't seen a lot of things.

"It's pretty isn't it?" a voice said from behind her and she squeaked in surprise. Natsu chuckled at her before walking over and wrapping his arms around her, pressing her back into his chest. Lucy didn't mind in the least bit, and not just because she was a little cold.

"It's beautiful," she agreed.

"Igneel used to bring me here," Natsu confessed. "When we traveled between nests. A dragon can't really check into an inn, after all."

"Igneel was the fire dragon king," Lucy said, but it was almost like a question rather than a statement.

"Yeah. My dad," Natsu said sadly. "Not my biological dad, obviously, but I don't even remember my human father. Igneel was who raised me, until Zeref came for me."

Lucy didn't know what to say, so she said nothing, instead opting to place her hands on his arms that were wrapped around her.

"Anyway, I haven't been here in centuries. I'm glad to see it looks just the same," he said.

Then he let his arms drop and walked back towards the dying fire. He added some wood and blew more flames on it. Lucy watched in awe as he manipulated the fire with such ease. He looked up to see her watching him and blushed slightly.

"I, um, should probably go get us something to eat," he said, standing awkwardly.

"Thank you," Lucy said earnestly, earning a surprised look from the demon.

"Hunting's not hard for me," Natsu said, ruffling his hair nervously with a clawed hand.

"No," she said, moving towards him and taking his hand. "Thank you for bringing me here. To your and Igneel's place. It means a lot," she said.

Natsu gave her a small smile, his eyes deeply appreciative. He nodded and then headed out into the morning to hunt.

Lucy walked back to the fire and sat down, staring deep into the flames as if they would tell her something if she stared hard enough. Her life was changing faster than she could keep up with. She had just married Zeref, a man she barely knew, and now she was falling quickly in love with his demon brother, another man she barely knew, even if it felt like they'd known each other their whole lives.

She sighed heavily. Somewhere deep inside she wondered if she was making another mistake. Maybe Natsu was under orders from Zeref just to mess with her, or maybe he was tricking her out of his own free will. Even more terrifying was the thought that he wasn't trying to trick her at all. Maybe this was real, and she was destined to live her whole life in love with her brother-in-law. Not that she thought Zeref would particularly mind. It was clear the dark mage didn't have a romantic bone in his body and his only interest in her was the influence she had with Fiore's mages. But having to hide her love from the world sounded so lonely.

Furthermore, even if everything aligned and they could be together freely, there was still the issue of Natsu's lifespan – or rather the issue of hers. Assuming good health and luck she had sixty or seventy years left on this planet, while Natsu would be here for centuries more at least, never aging. What happened ten, twenty, thirty years down the line when she began to look like his mother…his grandmother.

She shuddered at the thought. Maybe love was blind, but Natsu certainly was not. She would feel so ashamed of her age, being withered and beaten by the years. It was a problem that would arise in her marriage to Zeref as well, and while she had boldly proclaimed to the mages that they would accept her changing age with grace, she wasn't sure the reality of her and the demon could be so gracious.

Of course, she was getting ahead of herself with all these thoughts of the future and love when she wasn't even sure where they stood. Clearly they were attracted to each other, and they were marvelous friends – or at least she thought, having never had any friends to compare against – but there was no guarantee that they would last. Perhaps they would naturally tire of each other or something would get between them. After all, this was only day one. Maybe this wasn't even love, just a confused lust brought on by the strange severity of their circumstances.

Maybe they were both lying to themselves.

She stood up and paced around, ill-content to sit and feel useless. It was definitely too soon to be prattling on about love. But as she looked around the cave, she felt that maybe it wasn't too soon. After all, he'd brought here, a special spot he'd come with his father years ago. Surely he wouldn't bring just anyone here…

"Aaaaaghhh," she yelled out in frustration.

"Luce? You okay?"

She spun to see Natsu standing in the mouth of the cave, a dead (and thankfully already skinned) creature in his hand.

She laughed lightly to herself, feeling a bit like a maniac as he looked on confused.

"I'm fine," she said.

He walked into the cave tentatively, placing the carcass over the fire to cook.

"That didn't sound 'fine'," he said, giving Lucy a look that begged for her to open up to him. With his big green eyes trained on her, it only took a few moments for her to break.

The truth will set you free. Her mother used to tell her that, especially when she knew Lucy was hiding something from her. The blonde smiled at the thought.

"I was thinking about…us," she said honestly.

Natsu's eyes widened for a moment before he turned to look in the fire, a serious look on his face, as if he'd been dreading this conversation himself.

"Oh," he said. He continued to watch the flames and cooking meat in silence before finally speaking again. "And what do you think about…us?"

Lucy smiled as she watched the poor boy look so nervous, as if he were afraid he was about to lose something precious.

"I think…" she began.

What did she think? She knew she had fears galore, worries and concerns and that she questioned how everyone else felt, but how did she feel?

"I think…I like it," she said.

Natsu's head snapped towards her so fast she thought his neck would break.

"Me too," he said, a timid smile spreading across his lips and relief touching his eyes.

"But I don't know where it will go," Lucy said. "Legally I'm married to Zeref, and you're a demon, which I don't mind but you'll live so much longer than me, and we'll have to hide and what if Zeref tries to do something and—"

"Lucy," Natsu interrupted, moving over towards her and placing his hands on her shoulders. "Breathe," he instructed.

Lucy took a deep breath, lifting his heavy hands up and down with the motion.

"I've spent centuries burning the world down and for the first time in all those years I finally have the chance to build something, with you. That has to mean something. As long as you want me by your side, I will be there."

Lucy's mouth fell open slightly at his unashamed declaration that made her heart pound.

"You do want me, right?" he asked shyly, as if he actually thought she might say no.

"I do," she breathed, smiling gleefully before wrapping her arms around him and kissing him deeply.

She felt the demon smile against her lips as they kissed. His lips were hot and rough and delicious, and his fangs played dangerously around her own softer mouth. He wrapped his arms around her, followed by his wings that nestled them in a private world. A part of Lucy worried she might set alight as his hot skin pressed against hers, much hotter than was natural, but it never even hurt her.

As they embraced, the only thing they both knew was that their world was about to go up in flame – whether that was a good or bad thing was the question.

Lucy sat stiffly in Zeref's room while Natsu begrudgingly waited outside. She watched as the dark mage took a sip of wine, lounging back in his chair cockily. As he'd expected, when Lucy returned to the capitol the next day the king was ready to accept her offer – apparently he was smarter than she gave him credit for. In two weeks, she and Zeref were to make their first public appearance together as husband and wife and finalize the treaty. In the meantime, a cease fire had been called which – Lucy was relieved to hear – had so far been honored by both sides.

"You did very well," he praised in his lilting tone. He always spoke like he knew something you didn't – likely because he did. It drove Lucy crazy.

"It all happened just as you had predicted. I must say I am quite impressed," she said.

"People are not nearly as unpredictable as they like to think," he said, giving her a look that implied they weren't just talking about the king and the treaty.

She blushed lightly.

"I don't mind it – you and Natsu. Of course, your discretion is necessary, but believe it or not, Lady Heartfilia, I do wish for you to be happy here. It will be much easier to sell our relationship if you don't feel like a prisoner. So long as the two of you stay out of the public eye, I can think of no reason why you should not 'follow your heart's desire' or whatever it is you love-struck fools do."

Lucy's eyes widened in shock and slight embarrassment.

"Um…thank you," she said stupidly, unsure of what else to say in such a situation. Her husband was giving her permission to cheat on him with his brother – her tutors hadn't exactly covered the proper decorum for such a circumstance.

Zeref waved off her thanks.

"Think nothing of it. It's a much preferable situation to you foolishly falling in love with me. As I said, my priority is that everything go according to plan. That will mean good behavior from both of you."

She ignored the slight sting of his insult and nodded her consent.

"Good," he said. "Then you're free to go. Send Natsu in for a quick work on your way out."

Lucy turned to go, glad to leave the black mage's presence. He wasn't particularly cruel or anything, but he was quite intimidating. His dark eyes always seemed to look right through her, as if she were naked in front of him.

As she left, Zeref couldn't help the smug smirk on his face, which he'd been repressing since he'd first seen his brother return with his wife. They thought they were discrete, but anyone with two eyes could see the way they stood so close and their own gazes kept meeting with secretive smiles and light blushes. After four hundred years of being right about everything he had expected the satisfaction to wear off, but it never did. The best part was that he knew his brother saw the trap he'd laid out – Natsu saw the danger and fell for it anyway.

Fool.

All the better for him, though. Fools were so much easier to control, and Zeref needed to control Natsu. He had felt his brother's resistance to him growing over the past century, little attempts to defy orders here and there. As his most powerful demon, Natsu was an asset the black mage couldn't afford to lose or – even worse – have against him. When Zeref had sent Natsu to stay with the dragons, he'd never imagined he would become as powerful as he had, more powerful than himself even.

Not that the fool knew it, of course. Zeref had painstakingly worked to make his brother think he could never win against him. Of course, while his magic over him held he was still stronger, but as soon as that bond broke Zeref would be in danger of losing everything he'd worked for.

Luckily, his brother was a fool. He'd only intended to use the Heartfilia girl to win over the Fiorean mages, but now she was so much more. She was insurance, in case Natsu thought he could defy him. Everyone had a weakness, Natsu was just stupid enough to pick one that Zeref controlled.

A knock on the door drew Zeref's attention.

"Come in," he said, not bothering to raise his voice at all knowing the demon on the other side could hear him just fine.

"You wanted me?" Natsu asked, a scowl plastered on his face. A century ago Natsu would have never scowled at him, and soon he wouldn't dare to again.

"I trust there were no incidents," he said casually, and Natsu's frown deepened.

"I know you already got a report from the others," Natsu said, his tone testing Zeref's patience. "What do you really want?"

Zeref smirked slightly. "I just wanted to offer my congratulations to you little lovebirds."

Natsu tensed up visibly, his green eyes narrowing.

"Don't worry," Zeref said, doing nothing to reassure the wary demon. "As I just told Lucy, I do not mind, so long as you both act nicely."

He paused, waiting to see if Natsu would say anything, but when he didn't, the black mage continued.

"I wonder, do you love her?" Zeref asked, his tone light and almost teasing.

"What would you know about love?" Natsu spat, and the dark mage took that as a yes.

"Admittedly, not much," he said indifferently. "Though I must say I find the emotion quite curious. People often do such stupid things under the guise of 'love'. I only hope you won't be so ignorant. She may be your whore, Natsu, but she will never be your wife."

"Lucy is not a—," Natsu began, but he broke off, reigning in his temper.

"Hm," Zeref smirked at his brother's outburst. "I only mean to remind you of your positions. I would hate for something bad to happen because of your carelessness."

It was a thinly veiled threat at best, and Zeref could see his brother tremble slightly, clearly considering all the awful things the dark mage could and would do to the heiress if he didn't obey. Zeref stayed silent and gave his brother a hard look, forcing the demon to reply.

"That will not happen," Natsu said, a slight growl in his voice.

Zeref smiled, and Natsu recoiled slightly at the sight.

"That's all I wanted to hear, brother," he said happily. "Oh, and please don't get her pregnant. I'd have a hell of a time coming up with an excuse for why my children all have pink hair and scales."

Natsu could feel a growl building inside of him, but quieted it down, not wanting to incur his brother's wrath. He knew very well that now that he had Lucy he was even more under his brother's thumb than usual, and he wasn't ready to push boundaries over a few insults.

"Now, already some troublesome mages have decided to form a resistance movement up in the northern mountains. Word is that they are staging a protest of sorts for the day of the signing, which is obviously unacceptable. I need you to kill them all and get rid of the bodies. As you know, a cease fire has already been implemented and it would be quite unfortunate if those idiots were to think we were in violation of it, so try to be discrete about it. Leave no survivors."

Natsu bit the inside of his cheek, his eyes darkening significantly. He'd done this so many times for his brother, killing people for whatever reasons the black mage thought necessary, but it had never hurt as much as it did now. He suddenly remembered why he had buried his humanity. How was he supposed to go about murdering innocent people now that he was beginning to feel like a person again?

Dark eyes and golden hair flashed in his mind.

That's how. Because if he protests at all, Zeref might hurt Lucy. And maybe he really was a monster, because he would rather watch the whole world burn than watch Lucy get hurt.

"She can't know," he said quietly.

He knew that this would just give his brother even more power over him, but while Lucy knew about the horrors of his past, he couldn't stand to imagine her face if she found out the past weren't behind him at all. Besides, her knowing about it wouldn't help stop it. It would only add to the pain.

Zeref smiled again – never a good sign for anybody. "Of course," he said. "It shouldn't take you more than a few hours, so best get on with it."

For a moment Natsu thought he might cry out of pure pity for himself, but he didn't. Instead he sunk his mind back the way he always had, letting all feeling wash away. It didn't work nearly as well as it had before Lucy, but it helped a bit. He walked over to the balcony and launched himself off it, headed towards the north.

Lucy flew out of bed and towards the door when she heard a light rapping on it. She opened it up to reveal Natsu and a smile instantly worked its way across her face. He'd disappeared a few hours ago right after they'd arrived and she was surprised how bored she was without him. She'd tried reading, but every few paragraphs her thoughts wandered to the demon, wondering where he was and what he was doing. She couldn't believe how much she had come to rely on him in such a short period of time.

He looked exhausted, his eyes a bit wary, but he had a small smile all the same.

"You're back!" she said happily, quickly pressing herself against him in a hug which he gently returned.

"Yeah, Zeref just had a few errands for me to run. Nothing too exciting," he said, his voice slightly more tense than normal but Lucy brushed it off as her imagination.

She grabbed his clawed hand and pulled him into the room, shutting the door behind him. As soon as it shut, she pressed her lips against his in a fiery kiss which he returned, gently at first but then with growing passion. He walked her back towards the bed, never breaking the kiss, and laid her back so that he was straddled over her, their lips still locked in their infernal dance. He kissed her as a drowning man gasps for air, as if his very soul had been suffocated.

Lucy's hands wound around his neck, pulling him close against her. Her nails scratched at his hair and at the base of his horns, a spot she'd found he particularly liked. He purred against her and nipped at her lip with a fang before licking along it until she opened her mouth and he dove in.

They kissed for what felt like hours – and indeed might have been – their bodies hot and desperate against each other. They pressed together, grinding lustily, but neither one was ready to go any further. They were both new to the world of love – both emotionally and physically – and wanted to go slowly, each afraid they might mess something up.

Finally when they were both exhausted they simply held each other. Lucy fell asleep quickly, worn out by the week and comfortable in Natsu's warm embrace. As he heard her heartbeat slow and her breathing steady out, the demon held her like she was the most precious thing he'd ever touched. Because she was. She felt so small and fragile in his arms, but he knew she was strong of spirit – stronger than him.

What was all of his power worth if he couldn't even decide how to use it?

His mind flashed to that afternoon. The screams. The blood. The acrid smell of burning flesh and cries for mercy. He let out a shaky breath and buried his head in her hair, silently letting out the tears that had been threatening to fall since Zeref had given his order. He shook slightly as he cried, and for a moment he was afraid he'd woken Lucy up, but she just shifted herself against him, cuddling deeper into his chest.

He felt sick as he thought about touching her with his bloodstained hands. Inside he knew she deserved so much more than the monster she got, the hideous, murderous creature that he was. She deserved a knight in shining armor, a hero of ages that would sweep her off her feet and treat her like a goddess. But Natsu was selfish, and despite what she deserved, he needed her. So he would follow Zeref's orders, slaying the innocent and enforcing his brother's cruelty, and then at night he would return to her and try to forget everything.

Will we ever be free?

He took another shaky breath, tears streaming down his face as he let himself sink into a tortured and troubled sleep.