CHAPTER 25

Despite the fiasco of the wedding, the honeymoon after that day went off without mostly a hitch. It was a month long vacation with just Gajeel and Levy, although after the cultists crashing the event they were hesitant to leave them alone.

Lucy hadn't wanted them to change their plans on account of her though, and so Alzack and Bisca along with Mirajane often took turns patrolling outside their home to make sure no one was going to get near Lucy.

Natsu for his part was on edge. More than once he picked up the scent of a cultist nearby. Clearly despite their spanking at the wedding they were unafraid to come near Lucy.

And they proved it, daring to edge in closer and closer during Gajeel's abscence.

It didn't matter for what reason they wanted Lucy. All it mattered was that they didn't get their hands on her.

The water demoness from before did not return, although it was clear her allies had not given up.

Thankfully Gajeel and Levy returned before another incident could break out. But it left Natsu with an unfortunate decision afterwards. It meant now it was time for him to leave.

He had held off as long as he could, but his surge was beginning to come on. He could feel it building within himself, and knew it got stronger with each passing day. Once it broke, it would cause an avalanche of reactions to skip down the change and wreck havoc on his body and anyone around him.

But Lucy also had that fierce lookin her eyes every time the cultists came up. And that made something in his blood boil with excitement. She was wanting to go after the cult and make them suffer.

And he very badly wanted to see that happen.

He surprised himself with his own bloodlust, the idea of Lucy doing it sending a delightful shiver through his body.

One he promptly smothered.

He was also concerned about her possibly getting overwhelmed by the idea of tackling their whole network. And he wouldn't be around to help her.

It wasn't a thought he liked particularly. Even with looking forward to getting away from Lucy and Gray slobbering on each other he'd never been eager to leave her side. And with a clear and present threat he liked it even less.

Unfortunately, he didn't have much choice.

His father had been very clear about the bad things that could, and would, happen if they weren't careful with his adult surges. He couldn't risk Lucy if he lost control during one.

He shook his head as he watched Lucy frowning at her parent's police files out of the corner of his eye and quickly mixed the chocolate and milk he'd melted together. He doctored the mugs before heading over to the kitchen table to set one down in front of her.

"What's your plan?" He asked as he sat down, taking a long sip out of his, "I know you've got one."

She sighed as she took a sip of her own, and he grinned at the soft feeling of pleasure, "I don't know." She admitted, "Part of me wants to go out there and track them all down and make them pay right now, but the rest of me keeps screaming that I don't have any idea how to do that. These are the people who have methodically hunted my entire family for generations."

She flipped the files closed and pushed them away slightly in frustration, "Different faces same methods and tactics. How am I supposed to fight against that?"

Natsu frowned slightly as he mulled the problem over, "Well, who would be going with you?"

Lucy blinked a little and Natsu snorted out a small laugh, "C'mon Luce… you weren't really thinking of going after these guys yourself were you?" A chill crept up his spine at her surprise, "Were you?"

She shook herself out of her surprise, "Ah no!" She exclaimed, "I know that's not an option! I just... somehow didn't think about anyone else when I was planning this."

Natsu shot her a mildly suspicious look, but let it go as he leaned back again, "Alright then, who would you pick to watch your back while you're hunting?"

"Erza, Gray, and Mira." Lucy replied without hesitation, "Though Mira's still taking care of her siblings."

Natsu nodded approvingly, "Good group." He agreed, certainly the ones he would trust most to protect her in his absence, "Maybe you could start with learning how Erza and the Snowman hunt? If we're gonna start taking jobs after I get back you gotta know that anyway right? If you team up with them you could learn the ropes and keep your ear to the ground for rumors."

He grinned as Lucy's expression suddenly turned into one of intense thought, "Yes." She breathed, "I need to establish myself as independent anyway." She frowned slightly, "Levy won't ever let me not graduate, which will cut into hunting time but..."

But she could still work weekends and summer easily enough.

Excitement coursed through her at the idea. She'd just turned seventeen, and she was getting tired of sitting around. As much as she loved her mother she would not make the same choices. She would not sit and wait for the enemy to trap her and overwhelm her. Maybe it would've been different if she'd been older, married, and had a child, but she didn't.

And she was determined not to live her life in fear.

"Good," Natsu gave her a grin and then stepped back from her, his head cocked to one side, "Alright then, I'm satisfied you've got a good plan in place. Don't forget Levy's been working on that legal guild idea for a while too."

He gave her an amused look, "you gonna say goodbye?"

"Goodbye?" Lucy asked him back, her eyes going wide as she looked past him to the door and to where his bag was leaning by it.

"Wait you're leaving? Now?" Lucy protested and scrambled to her feet, "No Natsu you can't leave right away!"

He raised an eyebrow at her, waiting for her stilted reasoning as to why he couldn't leave. But when she gave none except for staring blankly at him, he gave her a somewhat meek smile.

"I figured it would be easier than a drawn out goodbye with everyone making a fuss about it," Natsu admitted and stuck his hands in his pocket.

"But what about graduation?" Lucy protested and Natsu snorted at her.

"I'm a demon Lucy, I'm not exactly going to be studying to be an engineer or the CEO of my own company," he gave her that crooked little grin that made her want to slap him, "I took my final exams already so I'm good to go. I'm not going to be able to walk anyway before my first surge comes on."

"So this is really going to be goodbye then?" Lucy asked him in a quiet voice, "For three whole years?"

"Yeah, but it'll go by in a breeze. And you'll have the others to keep you company," Natsu found himself with an armful of Lucy, squeezing her body to him tight. Her arms were around his neck, secure and firm.

"I'm always a call away," Natsu growled to her, "if you guys get into a sticky situation and need a little bit of extra firepower, just call me back to your side. I'll come in a second."

Lucy nodded into his shirt, "I will you jerk. But you better come back home to me in one piece at the end of those three years. Got it?"

"Don't worry Blondie." Gajeel growled as he stepped out of his and Levy's bedroom with a bulging pack of his own, "I'll make sure he doesn't blow himself to pieces."

Lucy's grip tightened a fraction and Natsu let out a soothing growl, "I promise Lucy." He murmured into her ear, "I promise I'll get stronger and come back to you in one piece." He shifted a little so he could press his forehead against hers, "And I'll call every night so we can talk."

A small smile made its way across Lucy's face, "You better." She replied, her voice thick with emotion, "It's not going to be the same without you here."

"You won't get rid of me once I come back." Natsu promised as Gajeel and Levy gave each other a lingering kiss before the vampire shouldered his pack and moved over to the door.

"C'mon Salamander." He grunted roughly, though not unkindly, "We've got a plane to catch."

Natsu nodded and reluctantly pulled himself away from Lucy and her sweet embrace, "Three years." He promised her, and flashed her a grin, "Maybe I can make it back for your birthday."

Lucy tried to smile around the tears filling her eyes and nodded, "Best birthday present ever." She agreed, "I'm going to get stronger too! Just you wait!"

"I can't wait to see it Luce." He replied sincerely as Gajeel pulled the door open and they slipped through it.

He tried not to grimace as he heard her breath catch as soon as the door closed and the tears start up shortly afterwards.

-::-

Much further away, in the land which existed between the veil of the living and dead, walked the familiar shape of a man with dark blue hair.

Jellal of the Amazons studied the barrier between life and death, testing its strengths as he secured himself in the knowledge that it was undamaged.

Before he began his process of rebuilding this gossamer net, it had several holes punctured in it due to the meddling of those who practiced the dark arts of necromancy.

Such as he did.

Now though he worked to remedy the damage he, and others had done to the careful balance. He would never touch necromancy again as a result, but that didn't mean he would sit on his hands as the damage he caused escalated into damning levels.

And it didn't hurt either when he warned away the people who sought to undo the work he had done to heal the net.

It was slow work, and didn't make up for the damage he had done or lives he had taken. But it brought him one step closer to his beloved.

—::—

Gajeel thought the timing of their departure was something short of a godsend. No sooner had they arrived at their first location did Natsu drop to his knees as the sudden swell of his first adulthood surge hit him. Gajeel was unlikely to forget the panicked expression on Natsu's face as his lungs filled with smoke and he clawed at his chest for air.

For all the strength that Apocolypse dragons possessed, they had to pay several high prices for that power. One of which was their adult surges, which unlike the ones in their youth, aimed to shape the dragons body for transformation and their magic.

Natsu was helpless to do anything but suffer through it as his lungs were the first to be forced through the change as his power built and peaked in an earth shaking surge.

Once the worst of it was over though, Natsu was left cringing through the after effects as he limped around, drained of magic. This was the purpose for Gajeel. At the beginning Natsu would be too weak to protect himself after his surges. It was a prime moment for him to be hunted down if anyone knew what was happening to him.

Of course Natsu didn't let that get him down and he investigated their area to find something squeaking frantically in the bushes.

It was an injured cat, a unique shade of blue which reminded him of Levy's hair and filled Gajeel with an odd sense of homesickness. It was no doubt fae in origin, but the feline looked sick and only a couple of years old.

Natsu scooped the tiny thing up with hands so gentle Gajeel hasn't thought it was possible for him. For as much as he related to Natsu being a bull in a china cabinet, he was far better at taking care of things than he thought.

"Hey little buddy," Natsu said hoarsely, his voice ragged and much deeper than it had been before thanks to the change in his throat and lungs.

"Not doing so good?" Natsu cooed to the cat, who coughed weakly into Natsu's shirt, "that's okay pal. I've got ya."

To Gajeel's amazement, Natsu nursed the little cat back from the brink of death. The cat, once recovered, became an instant and steadfast friend to Natsu, glued at the hip and seeming to have always belonged there.

They were also especially annoying when they hung out together. Which was always.

The cat called himself Happy, and he was perfectly content to stay with them on their travels. Happy shared every meal with Natsu and stayed curled up in his bed with him when they went to sleep. And Natsu found himself with a perfect audience to regale the little cat with as many stories about his friends as possible.

When Gajeel noticed the stories leaned heavily towards Lucy, he didn't mention it. Happy on the other hand was ruthless and insisted that Natsu liiiiiiiiiiked her.

A tease, Gajeel noted, which he never denied.

The relationship was mutually beneficial, because in the months that followed, Gajeel found that Natsu recovered from his surges much faster with Happy's company.

And when anything so much as sniffed at Happy the wrong way, Natsu would gladly protect the cat with his life.

Which was fortunate as the surges were steadily getting worse.

As Igneel had promised, it wasn't long before they had to move further afield to keep from damaging any of the local populace. Though the times in between were probably worse. More than once Gajeel had been forced to feed Natsu's bloodlust immediately afterwards or risk the demon going into another frenzy.

Fortunately, that hunger had awoken the same time as his sexual one, and a prolonged spar seemed to be every bit as satisfying. It kept Natsu fed properly until his energy evened out enough for them to make a supply run to the nearest village or town.

Once they were there, Gajeel would usually let them stay a night so Natsu could feed his other appetites. He didn't much like it, but he'd long since accepted his young ward turned brother didn't have the luxury of a proper courtship. Not currently anyway.

He was grateful for the international phone though. Natsu seemed to recover faster when he got to talk to Lucy and the rest.

He would never admit it worked wonders for his own sanity as well.

-::-

"I'm glad to see you up and around again!" Lucy gushed into her phone, "Gajeel said this one was especially bad.

"Yeah." Natsu groaned, "I'm still sore to be honest. This one broke a lot of my bones and put them back together. Strengthening them if I remember what dad said right."

"He cried like a little baby!" Happy cackled from the background.

"Shut up!" Natsu huffed, "I did not!"

Lucy giggled a little at the by play, "Well at least it's over and done with." She soothed him, "How far along are you?"

"We're not sure exactly." Natsu replied, "But Gajeel thinks it's getting close to halfway, and I think he's right. All this time my body's been getting ready to be able to change. Once I can do that it'll be the halfway point. The surges will be power only and not physical." He grimaced a bit, "I'll still be stuck out here training until they stop, but I won't feel like an overcooked noodle at the end at least."

He cocked his head, "How's your hunt going?"

Lucy sighed a bit in frustration, "Both good and bad." She admitted, "I've been learning a lot. Especially since we took that trip to Galuna." She grinned, "You know how they made us honorary Amazons for what we did for Jellal? Well they insisted that meant I get some Amazonian training."

"Yeah?" Natsu's expression lit up, "What'd they teach ya?"

"How to handle a whip for one thing." Lucy giggled, "And they helped me improve my hand to hand. I also got a few lessons from the clergy, and managed to make a contract with Sagittarius while I was there!"

She frowned a little as she leaned back in her chair a bit, "The one thing it didn't do was help me with that scroll Jellal gave me. Their celestial magic is fascinating, but so very different from what I do." She shook her head, "And yet I feel like I'm missing something obvious."

"You're the smartest necromancer I know." Natsu pointed out reasonably, "I'm pretty sure you'll get the idea eventually." He looked off screen and grimace, "Sorry Luce I gotta go. Gajeel says it's time for a supply run."

"Alright." Lucy smiled, "You take care and call me again when you get a chance?"

"You bet!" Natsu beamed, "Tomorrow if I don't surge! Promise!"

The call ended and Lucy smiled fondly at the screen for several moments. It was moments like these she missed her demon the most. Though she was pretty sure it would be worse if they couldn't talk at all.

She looked up from the fire where Gray sat and joined her, angling a soda towards her with a jaunty grin. She accepted it with a smile and cracked the tab open.

"So hows the pyro doin' any better than yesterday?" Gray asked, and Lucy was amused to see the genuine concern on his face. Oh how far he had come.

"Yeah, he's sore but he's making progress," Lucy bit her bottom lip and averted her gaze from Gray. He, with all his sharpness, picked up quickly on the way her eyes turned from him.

It caused a slightly awkward air to grow between them as an aware sort of silence stretched over the space.

"Right, so..." Gray coughed and glanced at his girlfriend, who was trying to fiddle with her can and shoot nervous little glances at him.

He sighed heavily and dropped his own drink, not at all wanting to beat around the bush for something as important as this.

They both had felt the shift in the air between them. The attraction that had been here before had simmered into a soft affection and even just an easy companionship. Sure, they had experimented together in the past, back when their passions had been high enough to match their desires.

But now it was different, and those passions had all but blown out.

"Come on Lucy, let's not do this awkward thing where we stop talking to one another," Gray pulled on her cheek, causing her to shriek in surprise and flail at him. He smiled at her and let go at once.

"We're friends right?" He tried.

Lucy blinked at him, but slowly nodded as she realized what he was saying. She have him a shy, almost apologetic look.

"I think that might be he problem Gray. We're just really good friends," Lucy sighed.

"Two good friends with excellent tastes," Gray lead in with a wink.

"That's true, you are... really attractive," Lucy couldn't help but give him an admiring look. Gray let out an embarrassed sounding laugh and lightly elbowed her back.

"Look whose talking, you could tame a dragon with those eyelashes alone," Gray smirked at her, but it faltered a little bit, "but it's not right for either of us, huh?"

Lucy blinked at him, the sense of relief that rushed through her at his quiet observation almost made her lightheaded.

"Yeah. You're right. It's not," she agreed, "we make too good of friends for us to be anything else."

Gray grinned back at her and slung an arm around her shoulders to squeeze her to his side.

"Good. Now quit acting all weird around me like you're afraid you're going to shatter my heart into a million pieces or something dramatically Shakespearean," Gray snorted.

"See if I'm sensitive to your feelings again." Lucy huffed, but a small smile was playing around her side as she leaned into him.

This was better. More than that it was nice. It was relaxing to cuddle into him without any of the stress of trying to muster up enthusiasm for playing. Which, by itself, was a really big clue their romance had fizzled. Especially for her.

Like all mages everywhere, she'd gone though something of her own power surge when she'd turned eighteen. It hadn't been anything like Natsu's, but it had signaled her full maturity all the same. And with it had come the adult side of necromancy. The side she'd never really thought much about.

Mostly because it had never bothered her the way her family journals and memories insisted it would.

She'd thought for a long time she simply wasn't powerful enough for it to.

Her eighteenth birthday had proved how completely false that was.

Life energy now simmered just under her skin, ready to leap to her call at a moment's notice, and with it came a nearly overwhelming need to discharge it and create new life with it.

It had driven her insane in the beginning, and with the passion gone between her and Gray it would again if she wasn't careful. Fortunately, dealing with the problem was possible on her own. Even if it wasn't as satisfying.

"So are you gonna start dating again between missions?" Gray asked curiously, his fingers trailing over her arm, and she spared a brief wish that he was warmer.

"Probably." She admitted reluctantly, "Or try to anyway. I think I might take a break for a while though. We're just so busy with the cultists... it wouldn't be fair."

He nodded thoughtfully, "Are you going to be okay with that though?" He asked in concern, "With your magic and everything?"

Lucy flashed him a wry smirk, "I'll be fine on that front. I'm not like Natsu where I have to have a partner."

She wished she had more to show for her adventures with the others like Natsu did. She had been pouring over the scrolls and sparring with Erza and Gray whenever she had a chance, but she still felt like there was something out of her reach.

Levy told her to give it some time, but she admitted to a little bit of impatience. There was still so much that Lucy didn't know, so much she knew she could find out.

She nearly jumped out of her skin when Levy let out an excited shout, throwing her out of her thoughts. Erza snorted awake from inside her sleeping bag, sword drawn and still somehow managing to look menacing with her blanket draped over her head and pillow plastered to her breastplate.

"Levy! Gods what's the matter?!" Gray demanded, looking at the older of them like she had lost her damn mind. Lucy secretly shared the thought and gave Levy a worried look, wondering if perhaps all this time spent separated from Gajeel had finally snuck up on her.

However Levy turned her bright smile on them and held up her lacrima device where it showed a new letter in her inbox.

"My request for a neutral aligned guild was finally approved!" Levy burst out, looking overjoyed by the achievement, "After the Little incident with Jellal's tower, I redoubled my efforts to show how effective it could be to have mages of all backgrounds come together despite their Magic's roots in different philosophies."

"And they actually bought that?" Gray asked, looking at her in shock as Erza drew in closer.

"Well no, but it's hard to argue with proof," Levy huffed and set her hands on her hips.

"You guys really outshone yourselves with all your teamwork and made it much easier to sell this to the council. It doesn't hurt that they're pretty superstitious when it comes to fae so they might have gotten it into their heads that I would curse their children or something," Levy rambled.

"It looks as if they've put in a caveat in their approval," Erza noted, "they expect the guild to be run by an established light mage to ensure that it falls within the realm of a 'good' guild."

Lucy sagged in disappointment, "so in other words, that's their polite way of telling us to go play in traffic. Where are we going to find an established light mage who can lead a guild? Master Bob is the only one I know of, but he already has Blue Pegasus."

Levy wagged a finger at Lucy and shook her head, "Don't count out us lily-white light aligned yet! There's plenty of us that have a streak of mischief!"

"There's a man I met once several years ago when I was on the run from Twilight Ogre," Levy grinned at them, latching onto the momentum with both hands, "I say we hunt him down and convince him to help us."

"And who is this man that you would have lead us in a new guild?" Erza asked curiously.

"Someone I think we've all met at least once, save for you your Majesty," Levy turned towards Erza and set her hands together, "He calls himself Makarov, one of the Wizard saints."

"At the time when he rescued me from Twilight Ogre, I had no idea who he was. It was only after speaking with Master Bob did I realize," Levy admitted.

Gray's eyes widened as he vaguely remembered the red headed man who was on a journey to find his children. How he had dropped him off at an old man's house. A man named Makarov.

And a man that he could remember Gildarts, an extremely powerful mage, treating him with respect.

"You sure he'd be interested in us?" He asked, "I mean, if he's gone out of his way to stay out of sight he might not want to come back."

"It's always a possibility." Levy conceded, "But we won't know for sure until we ask. And even if he says no there's a chance he could know someone who would be interested."

"So how are we going to find him?" Lucy asked, "It's not really something we can just ask most of the light guilds about."

"I think he's friends with Master Bob." Levy replied, "He may keep in touch. It's a place to start anyway."

"Jura from Lamia Scale might know too." Gray mused thoughtfully, "He's a Wizard Saint too, and that's probably not a real big club."

"That's two potential leads then." Erza nodded approvingly, "Once we're done with this mission we can seek them out."

"Hmph." Lucy huffed, "At this rate we might as well go now. There hasn't been so much as a sign of these cultists or Ultear in weeks. Not even a mildly irritated spirit."

Erza dropped her hand on Lucy's shoulder, "Have faith." She soothed, "We've narrowed the area considerably for this cell. We'll find the dogs and deal with them."

Lucy flashed her a smile, "I know. I'm just... frustrated." She shook her head, "We've been at this for over a year and every time we think we've made progress those jerks show up again. I hate it."

"It's gonna take time." Gray reminded her, "You know that. Between us, Doranboldt, and Mira we've been systematically taking their bases out. They've gotta be getting desperate by now. And hey you've come a really long way in the last year too you know." He flashed her a grin, "You've made contracts with ten of the twelve zodiac spirits and some of the lesser ones. That's no small thing Lucy."

"Gray's right." Levy replied, "Try not to worry so much about it. We're not going to let those robed jerks get their hands on you!"

Lucy flushed a bit and smiled, "Thanks guys." She glanced at the time and a sudden yawn hit her, "I should probably go to bed."

"Indeed." Erza agreed, "Rest. I'll take first watch."

Lucy smiled as the redhead plopped herself down and pulled out a whetstone. It was comforting in a way, and she resolved to stop worrying so much and just keep moving forward. That was the only way to go after all.