"Lucy!" cheered a voice Lucy knew well, and she couldn't help the bright smile that broke out across her face as she swung down from Salutem. She glanced back and found the silver-haired woman rushing from the house, trailed after by a pair of felines who bounded after her with tails high in the air.
"Yukino!" Lucy said in greeting just a moment before she slammed into Lucy, hugging her tightly. Lucy returned the hug, pressing her face briefly into Yukino's shoulder. The last time she'd seen the Keeper of the Eclipse Gate, things hadn't ended too well between Sting and Natsu. That, at least, wouldn't be an issue again.
Yukino pulled away with a blinding smile, even as her dark eyes turned on the others there. Natsu was wrinkling his nose, still sitting upon Thanatos and squinting over Yukino's shoulder as if he thought Rogue would materialize. Gray was helping Wendy down from Hypnos, her sharp-toothed equine, trying not to lose track of his own Shiria. Yukino's eyes softened when she looked at Wendy, and she kicked her foot back, tapping her shadow with her toe.
Lucy felt a flicker of satisfaction flutter in her chest when Rogue emerged with a furrowed brow, glancing at Yukino curiously. Natsu had been right; Rogue was there. Lucy wondered why he'd not felt the need to greet them. Shaking her head as Natsu swung down from Thanatos, she asked, "So, Rogue, what's this cursed spot?"
Rogue opened his mouth to answer, looking troubled, but Yukino hissed, silencing him. "Forget that for a moment! Is it true? We heard that you succeeded - why else would Orga and Rufus need to go to the Pergrande Kingdom? But, you actually helped the celestial spirits that were trapped there?" When Lucy frowned, she admitted, "I pestered Libra until she told me what happened. She said you'd even formed a contract with Leo."
Gray snorted as he rubbed his head, amused as Yukino practically bounced on the balls of her feet. "It's not as exciting as you make it out to be, Yukino. Leo nearly killed us a couple of times and we were almost taken out by a dragon and a de - false king," he corrected so smoothly that only Rogue really noticed, and even then, he dismissed it.
Lucy's shoulders tightened at the memory of seeing Acnologia. It had been anything but pleasant, and she didn't like that whatever it was that Acnologia had said still bothered Natsu, even months later. Additionally, Acnologia had just...simply vanished. No one knew where he had gone, but it was as if he'd found something that he wanted and was okay with whatever it was.
Natsu's gaze snapped to Lucy and he narrowed his eyes briefly as he judged the swell of discomfort. Just as quickly, he'd sauntered over to stand beside her and frowned at Yukino. "Not Leo," he told them sharply to change the subject, and Lucy threw him a look of gratitude. "Loke."
"Well, whatever his name is," said Yukino, waving off the comment, "we felt something weird even here. Something dark. Rogue thinks it was a demon." She waved off the idea, earning a look of amusement from her dragon companion. "I think that's ridiculous; there's been no sign of any full-blooded demons in years. Not since Gray's father."
It was Natsu's turn to lock up and Gray's to intervene, deciding they were heading down a dangerous path. "Anyways, Wendy wanted to visit Rogue and Sting, and I decided to tag along to help with this cursed spot, so...what's up with it?"
Rogue's gaze softened slightly and he offered Wendy a gentle smile that she returned faintly, fully understanding why she'd come along. His gaze shifted to the others, however, as he admitted, "It's not exactly a cursed area." When the others frowned, confused, he continued. "Sting took a look recently and said it was a bit off. He said that he thought his light was being consumed."
Natsu went stock still, mind racing. Lucy glanced at him, wondering what he was thinking about as discomfort raced through his veins. There was guilt, too, as he glanced at her, and Lucy's eyebrows lifted. Had someone considered "consuming light?"
But he said nothing as Rogue added, "And Sting said there were figures moving in the trees in the area. As if someone was watching him. He said he heard what sounded like horses and dogs. We got concerned and thought you might have an idea of what it is."
Understanding lit Natsu's eyes and he straightened, looking wary. "Did you notice anything odd about the fairies in the city?"
"Yes," said Rogue slowly, exchanging a startled look with Yukino. "Why?"
"Stay away from it. Don't even think about approaching the area again," said Natsu, letting a loud gust of air escape him, his eyes wide with surprise. He glanced northward, his lips pressing into a hard line. "Sting's lucky he got away the first time, and trust me, you don't want to push it further."
"What is it?" demanded Yukino, seeming worried. "Is it something we need to warn Crocus about?"
Natsu shook his head, rocking back on his heels. "Nah. They should be gone in the next few days, just...don't go near 'em." When Lucy made a pointed glare, demanding silently that he tell them all what it was, Natsu ran a hand through his pink hair and said, "It's the Wild Hunt. They stopped by for some reason, and the last thing you want is to get dragged along."
Everyone flinched, and Lucy just sighed heavily. Every time she thought she had a decent handle on what this world before her was like… She didn't even need to ask when Gray noticed her expression and grinned, amused with her. "The Wild Hunt," he said, "is a group of mythics that are similar to the Dullahan. He kind of rides with them sometimes, I think," he added, checking with Natsu for confirmation. Natsu nodded. "They kill whoever they come across and seeing 'em's kinda like black dogs and stuff. They mean massive death will occur in the area - or something really bad at the very least."
Lucy stared at him for a few moments and then threw her hands in the air, furious. "Are you kidding me?" she groused, and Yukino fought back a smile at her annoyance. "Every time I turn around…" She threw another annoyed look at the Eclipse Gate. "I can't come here without something weird happening…"
"Well, it has nothing to do with us, so we don't have to go near it," Natsu said smugly. There was a gleam in his eyes and Lucy paused, glancing at him with another frown. He'd been weirdly excited as of late, about coming to Crocus. As if there was something he wanted to do, and from the nasty feeling that accompanied that excitement…
Lucy wasn't sure she was looking forward to whatever it was he was planning.
"All that aside," said Yukino with a sigh, shaking her head. "Would you like some dinner? Rogue got the feeling you'd be here today and brought extra food from the city."
Much to everyone's surprise, it was Wendy who looked as if she was drooling as she breathed, "Please."
Lucy wasn't sure what dragged her awake that night. She was curled up on the floor beside Wendy, and Happy was curled in the crook of Wendy's legs. The feline was awake, Lucy realized as she sat up with a yawn, his eyes gleaming in the darkness. Lucy furrowed her brow when she realized Natsu was no longer lying beside her on the floor.
When she looked over, Gray was sleeping, too, and Lucy could hear Yukino's soft snoring - though when she'd previously teased her about it, Yukino had furiously denied it, horrified by the suggestion that she snored at all. Rogue was sleeping peacefully in the shadows beside the bed Yukino slept in, protecting his Keeper and Marked One and hidden from sight. But no sign of Natsu. She knew he was awake; he was quiet, determined, agitated about something. Lucy thought he'd gone on a walk to cool off about something or another and left him to it.
A soft tug in her gut had her rising from her place. Lucy carefully picked her way around those sleeping and headed for the door, wondering what exactly it was that was calling to her. Happy mewed softly and came bounding out just before the door shut behind her. Free of the soft silence, Lucy inhaled the brisk air and puffed it out in a small cloud, pretending she didn't feel the chill of the cold.
It wasn't a bad tug, Lucy thought as she frowned at the world around her. Merely a quiet, 'come here' tug that warned against avoiding the command. Her keys heated reassuringly at her hip and Lucy let her hand curl around them, her other hand around her knife awkwardly. Her grip had changed, she realized, after the ghouls. She supposed it was the slightly crooked finger that had healed oddly, even with Wendy's help.
"Come on, Happy," Lucy said softly, unsheathing her knife and striding away from Yukino's cottage. She ignored the brutal, ominous size of the massive Eclipse Gate, focusing on the feeling that guided her away from them, towards a copse of trees nearby. She paused at the edge of the trees, frowning as a soft, haunting song crept from the shadows. She remembered the deadly wendigo, and how it had tried to lull her similarly, but…
This was different. She didn't get a bad feeling.
"What do you think, Happy?" she asked, and the familiar at her feet, ears pricked, twitched his whiskers. He debated for a moment, then meowed, stretching up. Lucy did as she'd seen Natsu do many times, leaning down and offering an arm for the feline to scamper up. He crouched on her shoulder, heavy and reassuring with his tail curled around her throat, eyes intent. "Right," she muttered. "Sort of safe. Not dangerous enough to worry Natsu." Just to be safe, she ran a mental touch over that bond between them, careful not to shred through his concentration. He stirred at the touch and she could picture him purring at it, as he'd purred whenever her fingers had run through his hair in recent times.
So, with care, she and Happy crept into the trees. They'd been walking for a few minutes when something shifting in the trees ahead brought her stumbling to a halt, startled by what she saw.
Huddled together were three figures, each watching her as she watched them. A young girl, a youthful woman who ranged between her twenties and forties, and an old woman who creaked with age. Lucy thought them unnerving as the youngest of them beamed in greeting, lifting her hands to show the tapestry in her small, chubby fingers. The youthful woman took it and lifted it higher, shaking it out, and then held one end while the old woman took the other, displaying it.
Lucy's stomach churned with discomfort and fear as the tapestry was revealed. Its image was familiar, she realized. It was one she'd seen in textbooks. It showed a depiction of the destruction of Crocus, with the son of the Fire Dragon King displayed as a shadowy figure, annihilating the city and turning it to smoke and ash. The tapestry was famous for its detail and brilliant colors.
A hiss behind her had her snapping her head around as the trio scowled at someone behind her. Lucy blinked in alarm when she realized who she was looking at. The figure rode side-saddle upon a skeletal, decaying horse that looked more skeleton than anything else. A whip, resembling the spine of a human, was clasped in one hand and a head, the color of rotten meat, was tucked under the other arm, dark hair flowing from the scalp. Instead of the male she'd seen through a small window, the creature had taken on a female appearance, its figure slim and bony.
The Dullahan.
When Lucy glanced back, the trio had vanished. Lucy felt even more unnerved, unsure of what to think of the three. Who had they been? Still, she forced herself to bow her head to the Dullahan, remembering Natsu's warnings about creatures like it. "Be as polite as you can. Never demand anything of it. Bargain for nothing. Accept what it tells you. And don't argue with it."
The Dullahan's dead eyes shifted to rest on her as she said in a shaking whisper, "It's an honor to stand before you, Dullahan."
The Demon King has taught you well, whispered a voice in her head, and Lucy fought the urge to balk at it. Happy bristled on her shoulder, but remained quiet. When Lucy smiled faintly and looked over her shoulder again, the Dullahan added quietly, The Fates have decided. What has been woven will come to be.
Lucy hummed, still uneasy. "I won't let Crocus be destroyed."
The Fates have decided, child. The Dullahan sounded almost gentle. What has been woven will come to be, regardless of what you do.
"Don't argue," she thought a voice in the back of her head whispered, sounding suspiciously like Natsu. She chose to listen to it, merely shrugging cautiously to show that she could agree to disagree about the matter. She moved on, asking softly, "Are you the one who wanted me to come out here?"
Yes. I wished to pass on a warning, out of courtesy for the Fallen Star who existed so long ago. She was the first to express proper etiquette, the first I did not slaughter for their impropriety. Anna Heartfilia was beloved by more than just dragons and stars and gods.
Lucy blinked, studying the Dullahan before lowering her gaze, caught off guard. She could feel a sudden immense curiosity on Natsu's behalf gathering in his chest as he realized she wasn't just thinking. She felt him pressing, trying to see what she saw, but she pushed him back. "I did not know Anna Heartfilia," she said, "but from what I've been told, I consider it an honor to have been descended from her."
Mm, the Demon King remains blind as to what he's found himself tied to. The Dullahan made a sound akin to a chuckle, and the rasping that filled her head made her shiver. The Dullahan's rotting horse snorted, shaking its head as if echoing the amusement that radiated from its rider. As a gift, for your politeness, I will tell you this, Lost Star: Layla Heartfilia could not have children. So when the desire grew too great, she begged Leo to bargain with the Wild Hunt on her behalf. The Wild Hunt heard her pleas on Leo's lips and stole a star from the night sky. I, the Dullahan, placed it within her belly. When nine months had come to pass, Layla Heartfilia gave birth to a star who had fallen from the same constellations as her ancestor.
Lucy's lips trembled, her dark eyes flying wide with shock and uncertainty. "What?" she whispered, voice cracking. "Might I ask if Loke-"
The stars were unaware until this night of what occurred to result in the birth of Layla Heartfilia's child. Leo might have bargained, but he knew not of what took place to ensure it happened.
A hand lifted to caress Happy's head, and the feline nuzzled her cheek comfortingly as Lucy forced herself to ask, "May...may I ask what the bargain was?"
The Dullahan studied her in silence for a few moments before it spoke. The Wild Hunt decided on the same bargain it makes for all who dare to bargain with us: death. In exchange for her child, Layla Heartfilia would die on the child's fifth birthday. We do not cause the deaths of those who bargain with us. The Fates take the bargain and weave it into their fate.
Lucy was so dizzy, she thought she'd collapse. Natsu's curiosity had slowly turned into rage and concern, the heat that gathered in her chest so fierce that she had to push it down, soothing it. She was fine, she told him silently. Mostly.
Do not blame yourself, child, for the decisions of others, whispered the Dullahan, and Lucy found herself shaking her head.
"Thank you, Dullahan, but I'm not...I don't blame myself. I'm merely trying to understand how this might fit in with what's to happen with Crocus and the Eclipse Gate." She bit her lip. "The warning," she realized, frowning. "You said you had a warning for me. May I ask what it is?"
The Dullahan answered simply, Remember, Lost Star, that there is more than one way to save the Demon King. Starting with Leo.
Lucy opened her mouth to ask him more, but the Dullhan's horse reared up on its hind legs with a hoarse cry and then was lurching forward into a dead gallop. Lucy whipped around to watch it go and flinched at the braying of hunting hounds and bellowed cries of the hunters themselves. A moment later, she heard the thundering of hooves, which faded into silence within minutes.
Alone in the forest, Lucy shivered and whispered to Happy, "I think...Happy, I think it's time to summon Loke. I've got a few questions for him. And from the sounds of it, it's time Natsu and I complete his test."
But first…
Natsu was prying at their bond, talons gouging it in his frustration. He was hunting for her, seeking her location, and from the very far-off shouts in the trees, she got the feeling Gray had noticed her missing presence, too. Shaking her head, Lucy took a shuddering breath and turned in the direction she'd come from, pretending that the image of the Fates' tapestry wasn't plastered in her mind.
What has been woven will come to be, the Dullahan had told her, and Lucy refused to believe it.
The last thing Lucy expected upon sweeping past the Eclipse Gate was for Loke to appear in a muted flash of light and shove her down so quickly, she barely had time to realize what she'd seen over the side of the hill. "Loke," she sputtered, wincing from Happy's claw marks on her shoulders. "What the hell-"
"Sh," he shushed, growling like a lion. He pressed her into the grass, hissing softly in her ear. "Did you see all of the people down there?"
"Yes?" she said, wheezing for air as she pushed herself lightly onto her elbows. She crept forward a little to peer down at the crowd that was wandering this way and that around the cottage of the Keeper of the Eclipse Gate. Dawn light was still creeping into existence, and she couldn't see well, necessarily, but she could see enough to know that dozens of people in white uniforms were everywhere. "Who are they?" She was relieved when she saw Gray and Wendy clustered with a very angry Rogue and Yukino, who was scowling.
"Councilmen and women," murmured Loke. His gaze suddenly snapped to Lucy, who came to what she knew to be the same realization.
"Natsu," breathed Lucy, scanning the area again. He was nowhere to be seen, nor was Thanatos among their mounts, who'd been kept in the back, near the cottage. Three mounts remained where there should have been four. Happy thrashed his tail as he crouched beside Lucy's head, growling. "Where's Natsu?" She sank back and back, ignoring the taste of blood on her tongue and a warning from Loke.
Smoke and ash and flame smoldering in the ruins of the house before him, eyes reflecting in the nighttime darkness as he watched the crying woman wail at the loss of their home, as he watched the angry older man stare harshly at the remains of his home before searching the area, as if knowing-
Her face went white as she realized that alongside everything else she'd felt that night, as Natsu had sought her out and reacted to her own emotions with agitation and concern, he was smug. Smug, and proud, and satisfied with something. With smoke and ash and flame, with the pain and fury of the man he'd been watching. Her back ached as she shifted back, ducking in the long, dead autumn grass as a Councilman glanced towards the Gate.
"Natsu, what did you do?" she whispered aloud, horrified as she realized there might have been something else. He'd been so excited to come to Crocus. So secretive about it, had been quieter than normal in their travels, as if plotting and planning-
Loke made a sound of disgust and murmured simply, "That part of him didn't only start when Zeref created the Demon King, Lucy. Before END, there was Natsu. They might have some differences, but in the end...they are one and the same."
The Fates have decided, child. What has been woven will come to be, regardless of what you do.
WHOO some drama this chapter! The Dullahan made an appearance (I absolutely adore the thing, so I was very excited to bring it back), we saw the Fates, AND Natsu's done something very bad. Can't wait for you all to keep seeing more. ;)
Thanks to reviewers (Bookwork129, Meow Orbit, valerioux, Uchida Akira, Wapii, lcr0718, LavenderMoonRose, polinar, SheWhoLeavesCrappyReviews, stranger1999, Lissuin, Sele de la Luna, EraticMind, itsxoi, AthomeinFairytail, FairyTailxFanGirl, Guest #1, 52dreamer52, madaraswife, moonluver92, and Guest #2!) as well as those who favorited and followed!
