This is the last chapter before it splits off into different endings. I've gone a little further into the theory of dragon mating here, so I hope you find my thought process interesting. I also briefly explore a few heavy topics like consent and free will, because with something like a mating complex, that's ripped away from them. I get the whole 'It's romantic, and fate etc.', but I did want to point out how fucked up the whole thing is.
The sun broke through the clouds and streamed in the window onto Lucy's sleeping face, and she woke with a start. Her mouth was dry, and her head hurt. Groaning, she blindly reached over the low bedhead for the usual glass of water she kept on the table for the nights she drank, and she sipped from it slowly, feeling the cool water slip down her throat, hydrating her. She paused a moment, looking at the glass. She hadn't put one down the night before. The last thing she remembered was Erik telling her his story, and tears streaming down her face at the injustice of it all. Had he put it there for her? No, he was held out by the rune barrier. Virgo, maybe? She mused, then shook her head. The mystery would remain just that, she decided, as she shifted and felt how full her bladder was. Groaning, she eased herself up and stumbled to the bathroom. A bath sounded magnificent.
Feeling significantly more human as she walked out of the bathroom, Lucy quickly got dressed before studying her fridge and cupboards for breakfast. Deciding to be lazy, she pulled out the quickest thing she could, and sat down with the latest book she'd been reading.
A few hours later found the celestial mage knocking on the door to Levy and Gajeel's house, and she was greeted by Pantherlily opening the door.
"Lucy," The Exceed greeted her, "Come on in, Levy's been expecting you." Smiling down at the black cat, the blonde entered and slipped her shoes off. Levy rushed into the main room from the bathroom, and threw still-damp hands around her friend.
"Thanks, Lily. You're looking better this morning, Lu." The bluenette exclaimed before drawing back.
"Thanks, Levy." Lucy replied dryly, taking a seat on the couch.
"Do you want some tea?" The solid script mage called back as she ducked into the kitchen to begin boiling some water.
"That sounds amazing, thank you!" Lucy called back. A cupboard slammed shut, and a few shuffling noises came from the kitchen before Levy came back bearing mugs and a few plates.
"Lily, Gaj picked up some kiwis this morning when he was out, do you want a few?" She asked, not missing his face light up as he realised what she was carrying. He nodded in agreement, and made his way over to the small dining table. Diving onto the kiwis as soon as they were placed on the hard surface, he paused a moment to glance up at the bluenette.
"You are a Goddess among women, Levy." He declared solemnly, before shoving an entire kiwi into his mouth, skin and all. A quiet gihihi drifted in from another room, and Levy grinned. Lucy chuckled quietly, and watched her friend fondly as she brought out the tea.
"So, last night." Levy prompted, dropping onto the couch next to Lucy, and the blonde sighed.
"Are all of them supposed to smell incredible?" She whined, and the bluenette giggled. Gajeel stuck his head around the door.
"Wait, all of them?" He asked in surprise, and the two women looked up at him. Lucy nodded hesitantly, and ruby eyes narrowed in on his mate.
"What did the texts say about that?" He asked her, and Levy tapped a finger to her cheek, thinking back through the information she'd consumed in a frenzy so many months ago.
"The texts were old, really old. Some of the ink had faded, but I think they mentioned something about the scent the male dragons give off as well. Something about the more powerful the female, the more options she had. It would make logical sense that would include a sensitivity to scent as well." The bluenette mused, brown eyes distant. Gajeel straightened up and made his way fully into the main room, appraising the blonde.
"The more powerful, huh?" He said thoughtfully, and leaned up against the wall as he considered the implications.
"There are only 7 dragon slayers left that we know about, which means you're an endangered species. It makes sense that powerful, unusual magic is being chosen for the change of scent, meaning it's more likely to pass on to the next generation, including a power boost." Levy offered, brown eyes flicking over to Lucy.
"There's only 3 celestial mages left in the entirety of Fiore, and you outrank the other two by far. Solid Script isn't as rare because anyone can learn it, but I find that it takes a lot of finesse, out of the box thinking, and magical power to use effectively." She thought out loud. Gajeel rumbled his approval, and Lucy nodded.
"Okay, so it's a theory the rarity of our magics caused the change in both of us. Were there any other dragon slayers around when your scent changed?" The blonde asked, desperate for more information. Levy shook her head with a frown.
"I was with the Council at the time, and Gajeel and Lily's unit were stationed nearby. I don't even know where any of the others were. It's not like Gaj was interested in gathering empirical data." She gave him an affectionate smile, and he hummed his assent. Lucy absently poured tea in the two mugs, and carefully picked one up to sip at it.
"No, he was more interested in scaring off the entire unit to get you alone." Lily muttered from the table, and Lucy nearly blew tea out of her nose. The room exploded into laughter, and Lucy put the mug down with a clatter.
"That kinda brings me into my next concern. None of this really sounds voluntary on the dragon slayer's side. It's not, is it?" She asked quietly after the laughter had died down. The room was instantly sober, and Gajeel sighed, pushing off from the wall.
"It's not, no." He confirmed, and sat heavily at the table. "It's one of the prices we pay for the power we have. None of the dragon slayers are human anymore, and that means we take on some of the qualities of our draconic parents." He paused a moment. "Well, First and Third Gen slayers. Second, not so much, they're following the dragon lacrima inside them. My point is, we signed up for this when we asked for training or for the lacrima."
"Even if you knew it would take certain things away from you later on?" Lucy asked helplessly. He shrugged.
"We didn't know, we were kids. It is what it is, now, and we can't change it." He growled, and the blonde gave him a wan smile.
"If you could change it? If you could have a choice?" She asked gently. The Iron dragon slayer narrowed his eyes at her.
"Then Shrimp and I wouldn't be together." He reluctantly admitted. "Losing her now, though…" He trailed off. Apprehension, resolve and a hint of fear warred across his face, and Levy instantly stood, moving to comfort him.
"I love you, you big idiot, I'm not going anywhere." The bluenette whispered to him, and he clung to her like she could be ripped from his arms. Lucy looked away at the tender display as her friend kissed him gently, reassuring him that she wouldn't dissipate from his life like fog in the morning sun.
That the dragon slayers were taking the whole notion of a mating compulsion like it was just a fact of life as opposed to an utterly horrifying lack of consent on their half absolutely astounded Lucy. She'd run away from home to avoid being married off to expand her father's business, and she recalled the fear, helplessness, and anger that pushed her out of the life she'd always known.
And now… now she was arranging her own marriage, and the blonde couldn't help but feel that fate was laughing at her. She'd run into the arms of something she'd been desperately attempting to escape, pulling in others with her. Lucy understood that once she chose, she'd be making a promise to whoever it was to stay with them forever, through thick and thin. Her word as a celestial mage meant her word was her bond, and to break it would have dire consequences. Could she do it?
Leaning back in her seat, Lucy's eyes were distant as she considered her options. Could she commit to them? Imagining what it would be like to bind herself to each one of them in turn, she knew all of them would do everything and anything for her. The compulsion, and later the mating would make sure of it.
She snapped out of her thoughts as the front door slammed shut, and realised she and Levy were alone. The bluenette took a sip of her tea, and smiled at her.
"Gaj and Lily went to the guild. He wanted to make sure the others weren't doing anything stupid, like starting fights." She told the blonde, and Lucy flushed with embarrassment.
"I didn't even notice them leave." She confessed, and Levy grinned.
"I know. You get like that when you're on a good writing streak. Speaking of, any plans for a new book?" The bluenette's eyes sparkled, grin wide across her face. Lucy smiled back at her.
"Oh yeah, I have something in the works. As soon as I've gotten the outline finished, and written a few chapters, I'll let you read it." She promised, and Levy squealed in delight.
"Before I get on that, though, tell me about when your scent changed. It sounds like Gajeel was very persuasive." Lucy waggled her eyebrows at her friend, and Levy blushed scarlet red. The two women chatted, laughed, and delved into theories, and although they didn't stray into discussions of the blonde's predicament with the dragon slayers, it was never far from their minds.
The remnants of lunch were still on the table, and the women were on their fourth pot of tea when a distant explosion sounded. They looked up, then at each other, and a second, closer explosion followed. Levy closed her eyes for a moment, concentrating on potential magical power that could be causing the explosions, and she swore under her breath. Lucy's eyes watched her friend, concerned, and reached out with her magic to identify what was going on. Oh. Oh, that's a lot of power heading this way, she thought in alarm. Their eyes met again.
"Do we need to make a run for it?" Lucy asked, concerned. Levy looked torn between running and defending her home.
"Let's get outside and assess the situation." The bluenette decided, and made her way to the tiny front garden. Lucy followed, uncoiling her whip. Everything was silent for a moment, and then Natsu sailed backwards over the roof of the house next door, coming to a crashing halt in front of them. Happy dove down from the sky to pick up the salmon-haired slayer and they flew back the way they came, just as Sting and Lector vaulted the roof, a booted foot making its home in Natsu's midriff.
Together, the four of them crashed into the ground, and the woman stared at them in shock.
"What," Lucy began in a deadly voice, "the hell do you two think you're doing?!" She shouted at them, and Natsu looked up from where he had the Sabertooth Master in a headlock.
"Oh, hey Luce, didn't see you there!" He replied cheerfully, quickly avoiding Sting's heel as he tried to stamp on the Fire dragon slayer's toes. A shadow sprang out of the side of the house, and Rogue delivered a vicious punch to Natsu's face, snapping his face to the side. The salmon-haired man hefted the blond and used him to drive Rogue back, and the three men fell over and began brawling in the street. Levy rolled her eyes at them.
"Come on, Lucy, let's head back inside. I'm sure these idiots won't damage anything, because if they did, they'd be fixing it themselves!" She declared, and turned to return inside. They had books to discuss, and how dare the men interrupt girl time! Lucy's eyes narrowed at the brawlers, and cracked her whip over their heads to get their attention. They froze, and Levy leaned in the doorway, an anticipatory smile on her face.
"Did you hear what Levy said?" The blonde demanded, and they stared back at her in shock. "No damage, or you're fixing it with your own two hands! Now stop fighting on the ground like toddlers!" She snapped, glaring at them. Her hands made their way to her hips, and with her miniskirt and crop top, looked like a pissed-off cheerleader.
"That has got to be the hottest thing I've seen all day." Sting's voice was weak, but he was eyeing her hungrily.
"Yeah." Rogue breathed, red eyes trained on the blonde as she loomed over them, a forbidding expression crossing her face.
"Are you serious?!" She shrieked, and he nodded unashamedly, eyes wandering up and down her body. Behind her, Levy was laughing, and Lucy flushed with embarrassment and mild arousal at how the three men were watching her. I can't believe I'm doing this, she internally groaned, and took a step backwards.
"I can't believe you three are getting turned on by this." She muttered, looking away, missing Natsu's face cracking into a wide grin. He opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off when a bolt of lightning struck the three of them. Lucy jumped away with a scream, watching with wide eyes as they twitched, faces contorting in agony. Scanning the surroundings, she spotted Laxus smirking at them from his spot leaning against a wall a few houses down. Anger built and swirled within her, and she was utterly done with them all.
"Stop!" She shouted at him, and storm grey eyes met furious brown. The lightning stopped, and the Lightning dragon slayer looked surprised. Marching over to him, she shoved a finger in his chest.
"Do you think this overly macho bullshit is worth it? Do I look like I'm impressed?" Lucy knew her voice was loud, but the fury at the unnecessary fighting had hit its peak.
"Uh…" The blond replied intelligently, bewildered as to where all the anger came from in the celestial mage.
"I don't want you to fight each other! I'm not going to be impressed by how much you can beat each other into the dirt, and I'm not going to choose based on how powerful you are! I don't care about that! So just. Stop. Fighting!" She whirled around on the other three, noting distantly that Erik had arrived looking like he'd been through a rough battle, followed by Wendy and Gajeel. They were all staring at her now, wary of her anger.
"I ran away from home to avoid an arranged marriage, and here you all are fighting over me like I'm some prize to be won. I never wanted this." She passed a hand over her face, and her anger dissipated, leaving exhaustion in its wake. "Just… leave me alone right now." She sighed, and turned, walking away from them all.
She didn't know where her feet were taking her, just that there was road ahead of her. The world had shrunk to the wind on her skin and the pathway only a few metres ahead, and she wandered through the streets of Magnolia.
Eventually, she stopped at a little eatery she knew made decent cake, and took her time choosing the perfect slice, taking a seat away from the windows to avoid being spotted by her guildmates or the dragon slayers. She hoped they weren't looking for her, but some part of her craved their touch. She knew it was her side of the compulsion, the same as their utterly edible scent, and she closed her eyes at the thought.
It was after nightfall when she arrived back her apartment, slowly walking along the road next to the canal, Plue in her arms. She sighed as she looked up at the faded red brick building, then up at the sky as the stars twinkled back at her, and she smiled at them softly. She could see several constellations, and muscle memory had her passing her hands over her keys as she silently and fondly greeted her friends, and they warmed under her hand in return.
Deciding she should make her way up, she dismissed Plue, turned her face away from the sky and entered the building, glancing furtively around for her landlady. Thankfully, the old woman was nowhere to be seen, and Lucy sighed in relief as she quickly stole up the stairs. Unlocking the door quietly, she opened it, slipping into the dark apartment beyond. Making sure to lock the door behind her, she leaned back against it, lightly letting her head drop backwards against the wood as she closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
Slowly opening her eyes, she gave the dark apartment a small smile, and pushed away from the door. Walking further into the room, she faltered as a dark shape loomed up on her right, and she gasped in surprise, scrabbling for the light switch as the figure reached for her.
And we've come to the end of the main story! Yes, things got a little heavy in this chapter, and Lucy has some very complicated feelings surrounding the whole situation (which I could have explored more, to be honest).
Next up are the different endings, five in total. They will each be clearly labelled, so you can choose to read your favourite pairing, or all of them. I do, however, recommend reading the crack-endings. They're snippets of endings that could have been, but weren't any of the original options, and they'll be posted as the final chapter (16) of the story.