3: let's make a deal.


Mirajane's nails grew into claws and, as fast as lightning, she wrapped her fingers around Natsu's neck and started to choke him.

Natsu was caught completely off guard. He didn't even get to blink when Mirajane suddenly appeared in front of him. He grabbed the arm that was choking him and tried to yank the hand away from his neck. That only caused Mirajane to tighten her grip. Natsu was forced to stare dead at Mirajane's eyes as they glared at him. He refused to let himself lose consciousness, not when he's finally met who he was waiting for.

"Mira! We're outside! People might see you!" Lucy cried. She knew stopping Mirajane from doing whatever she was doing was a death wish but she felt that she had to do something to stop her from killing Natsu.

Mirajane's nails returned back to normal as she let go of Natsu's neck. She giggled. "Oops!"

"He's not dangerous. Trust me," Lucy said.

Mirajane looked at Lucy in disbelief. "But he's a demon."

"You're one too," Lucy said.

Lucy knew what she said had crossed the line. Mirajane is the eldest of the Strauss siblings and they are shapeshifters. Her little sister Lisanna can shapeshift into animals while her little brother Elfman can shapeshift into beasts. Mirajane, however, can shapeshift into demons. Mirajane is quite sensitive over the fact that she's basically a demon, the very being who killed her parents and the rest of the Strauss Clan.

Lucy studied Mirajane's face carefully. "Can...we go inside?"

Mirajane looked at Natsu then at Lucy before sighing. "Fine."

Natsu, Lucy, and Mirajane entered Fairy Hills and made their way to Lucy's room. Along the way, Erza, Juvia, Levy, and Cana were peaking out behind the doors of their rooms. Lucy made sure to glare at them, letting them know that she's not happy that they snitched on her. Once they were in Lucy's room, they sat at the coffee table. Lucy's room was mostly clean. All of her things were put back where they belongs and the broken glass that was on the floor the floor was gone. The only thing that indicated the forceful redecorating her room had gone through was her window. It was still broken so a baby blue curtain was covering it. She calmed down a little. At least her place was cleaned up for her.

"Explain. Now," Mirajane demanded. She was no longer the cheerful Mirajane from before. She was in serious mode.

Lucy folded her hands together on the table. "I went to the basement to find some books on Celestial magic but instead, I found something else." She looked over at Natsu. He was sitting next to her but was glaring at Mirajane. "I found his book, the Book of END," Lucy said.

"What made you even think of opening it in the first place?" Mirajane asked, running her fingers through her snow white hair.

"I wouldn't have even thought about opening that book if it wasn't there in the first place," Lucy answered, standing her ground. In reality, she was shaking. Her legs were begging her to use them to run away.

"I understand that's a mistake made on our part, but still. The talismans should have been enough to keep you away," Mirajane said.

"I..." Lucy didn't have any smart remarks to say to that. "I know."

"Do you know who this being that is sitting next to you is?" Mirajane asked.

"He said his name is Natsu Dragneel," Lucy answered.

"And he's an Etherious Demon," Mirajane added.

Lucy blinked. "An Etherious Demon? In the legends, they are the deadliest kind of demons. Not even the god of death can control them. They're said to feed off the intense pain and suffering of others."

"Exactly, and you've just released the leader of those demons, Etherious Natsu Dragneel. END for short," Mirajane said.

Lucy felt her whole world stop.

Every kid is told stories about END by their parents in order for them to behave. The parents would tell them that if they were bad, END would come out from the Underworld to slowly burn them alive, eating all of their pain in the process. The END that was used to strike fear in children to discipline them happens to be sitting right next to Lucy.

Natsu sensed her fear. "I won't hurt you. You have nothing to be scared of," he told her. He brushed some of her hair out of her face. "Trust me."

Mirajane watched the interaction. "How do I know that you're not lying? You could be seducing her for all I know. You see, as long as she lives here at Fairy Hills, she's my sister and I won't let any harm come to any of my sisters."

Natsu faced Mirajane. "If I was lying, you would been dead by now. I don't need a crowd around if I'm trying to seduce one person." He sent her a deadly look to get his point across.

"I see," Mirajane responded. Then, she reverted back into the cheerful Mirajane. "The Book of END had completely faded away by the time I got here so we can't put END, sorry, Natsu, back in! So, we have no choice but to use it, oops, him, to our advantage, Lucy!"

Lucy jumped what she heard her name get called. "What?"

Mirajane ignored Lucy's question and faced Natsu. "You see, poor little Lucy lost her mother to an illness when she was a child so she started learning Celestial magic to become closer to her mother. That was when she learned that there is a way that she could summon her mother's spirit and talk to it, even if it's only for just 30 seconds. Celestial magic is, after all, the art of summoning and communicating with spirits. The only way for Lucy to talk to her mother's soul is if she collects all 12 golden keys of the Zodiac. Each key summons a Celestial Spirit from the Zodiac. Lucy inherited both the Aquarius key and the Cancer key from her mother and went through so much just to get the Taurus key. It would be nice if a powerful being such as yourself would help her get the other 9 keys."

"Mira, are you serious?" Lucy asked.

"I'll admit, I'm not happy with the idea of letting a demon lose but it is what it is," Mirajane answered with a shrug.

"So all I gotta do is beat some people up and get some golden keys?" Natsu asked.

Mirajane smiled. "Exactly!"

"This has bad idea written all over it..." Lucy mumbled.

Mirajane reached across the table and touched Lucy's hand in reassurance. "Don't worry. I'll order some cute accessories that are perfect for temporarily immobilizing all sorts of beasts and creatures, including demons. Until then, I'll take Natsu off your hands."

"You're taking him?" Lucy asked.

"He's not completely off the hook yet and it's improper for an unmarried man and woman to share a room," Mirajane answered.

"What are you going to do?" Lucy asked.

"He needs a place to stay, right? I have the perfect place in mind!" Mirajane answered.

The girls looked at Natsu who, judging by how spaced out he looked, wasn't paying attention. He blinked, coming back to his senses. "Me? What'd I do?"

"I'm taking you home!" Mirajane cried.

"Who said I'd wanna go somewhere with you?" Natsu asked her, glaring.

Mirajane still had a smile on her face but released a deadly aura.

Natsu flinched. "Yes, ma'am."

Lucy looked at the both of them in disbelief. So even Mirajane the She-devil can even get a dangerous demon known as END to bow down to her will...

She watched as Mirajane and Natsu walked to her front door. Mirajane had opened the door and was about to walk out when she remembered something. "Lucy. The Virgo key is at Everlue Mansion. Just letting you know. Good night!"

Everlue Mansion? But how will I get in there? That place is impossible to break in and not just anyone can enter, Lucy wondered as Mirajane walked out the door, dragging Natsu with her.


The next day, Lucy and Natsu were parked in front of Everlue Mansion.

Earlier, Lucy was asked to interview a man named Lord Everlue who had won the Good Samaritan award after fully paying 100 poor kids' college tuitions. That was the perfect opportunity to get the Virgo key. When she came by Fairy Tail to pick Natsu up, she found out that he was in a small room with talismans plastered all over the walls and ceilings. Lucy had made a mental note to come up with better housing later. Anyway, 2 hours later, they were out of the city and in the countryside, bringing them to where they are now.

"I can't believe that you, a demon, are motion sick," Lucy grumbled as they got out of the car.

"Ground! Yes!" Natsu cried, rolling in the grass.

"Natsu! Get up!" Lucy cried.

The front door of the mansion flew open, revealing a short man with blonde hair. "I am so glad you could make it, Miss Lucy Heartfilia!"

Lucy looked away from Natsu and faced the man. "As am I! And you are...?"

The man twirled the tip of his mustache with his fingers. "Lord Everlue of the Everlue Mansion and the man who had recently received the Good Samaritan award!"

"Oh! Forgive my rudeness!" Lucy cried, bowing. Something tells me this interview won't go well.

Natsu got up from the grass and walked over to Lucy. "Who's this guy?"

Lord Everlue frowned. "I have the same question as well."

Natsu put his arm over Lucy's shoulders and pulled her close to him. "Natsu Dragneel, her boyfriend."

Lucy pushed him away. "He's joking! He's...um...he's an intern! You see, I let him follow me around so he can see what a journalist does!"

"I see...but I'm a very shy man. Is it okay if I ask the lowly intern to not join our interview?" Lord Everlue asked.

Shy? Didn't seem like the type a second ago, Lucy thought before plastering a fake smile onto her face. "No problem!"

Natsu blinked. "I'm not going in with you?"

"No. You can play with the birds or something," Lord Everlue answered. It was very obvious that he didn't care what happened to Natsu.

Natsu glared at him. "Hell no. Not happening."

"It's happening. Deal with it," Lucy told him before entering the mansion.

Lord Everlue shot Natsu a quick fake smile before following Lucy into the mansion. Natsu followed behind but the doors quickly closed in his face.

"Are you fucking kidding me!?" Natsu yelled, his fists engulfing in flames. Then he quickly calmed himself down and started pacing back and forth. "I'll give them one minute," he told himself.

He literally counted down the seconds. Once he made it to 60 seconds, he kicked down the double doors that were the front doors of the mansion. With his hands behind his back, he casually entered the mansion as if he didn't just kick down the doors.

The walls were littered with perfectly framed paintings of Lord Everlue holding a glass of red wine with a disgusting smile on his face. If there weren't any self portraits on the walls, then there were doors. Many doors. Lucy had to be behind one of the doors. "Time to start looking," Natsu said to himself.

He kicked down the first door, revealing a room where an ice sculpture of Lord Everlue was being sculpted. "Nope."

The next door he kicked down revealed a room with many shiny, golden trophies of just Lord Everlue's face. "Nope."

After that, the next door he kicked down revealed a room with baseball jerseys that had Lord Everlue's face on it. "Nope." He noticed a baseball bat leaning against the wall. "Might as well," he decided. He grabbed the baseball bat and went to the next door.

When he kicked down the next door, the room revealed to be filled with glass sculptures of Lord Everlue's face. Natsu was irritated at this point. "I'm tired of seeing your face!" He yelled as he swung his baseball bat so he could hit each glass figure and shatter them.

Meanwhile, a bunch of rooms away from the room Natsu was in, Lucy and Lord Everlue were sitting at the dinning table. Lord Everlue was talking about his deeds while Lucy scribbled in her notebook in order to keep herself awake.

"And that's why I decided to help those kids!" Lord Everlue cried.

Lucy quickly looked up from her notebook and smiled. "Wow! Amazing!" She rubbed her eyes. I have to ask him about Virgo's key. But how do I ask? I don't even know if he's a wizard or not.

She looked around the place to see if there were indications that he practiced magic. As she looked around, however, her eyes threatened to close and a new burst of sleepiness hit her. She yawned. Damn. His whole speech was so fucking boring! Look at how tired I am...

She noticed the valerian plants at the center of the dinning table. Inhaling the root of the plant makes people. However, Lucy was far away from the plant's root. She shouldn't be feeling sleepy. When she squinted her eyes, she noticed a magical aura. A spell has been casted on the plant and judging by how big the aura is, it was an enhancement spell.

There was no doubt about it: a spell was casted onto the plant to enhance the scent of its roots, causing Lucy to feel sleepy.

"Sir, are you a wizard?" Lucy slowly asked.

She didn't get an answer. When she looked over to where he was sitting, however, she was shocked to find that he wasn't there. Instead, there was a hole where he once sat.

"Fuck!" She spat out before falling into a deep sleep.

A few rooms down, Natsu walked out of the room he was currently in. I don't get it. I should be able to trace her scent. Something's blocking it!

The, he had a "duh" moment.

He stopped focusing on trying to locate Lucy's scent and instead focused on locating the source of where whatever was blocking Lucy's scent from him. That lead him to the dinning room.

"I'm here!" He yelled as he kicked down the door. The minute he did, sleepiness started to slowly fall over him. Refusing to be beaten by a low level sleep spell, he quickly located the source. Once he saw that it was from the flowers on the table, he burned them.

"Finally!" He cried before closing his eyes. He could now focus on finding Lucy's scent.

Each being has a specific scent that makes them stand out from the others. Lucy's specific scent was a mixture of vanilla, rose, and stardust but at the same time it wasn't. Personal scents were hard to explain.

Natsu opened his eyes when he located Lucy's scent. It happened to be coming from the hole that was next to him. He looked around the dinning room once before jumping down the hole.

The hole took him to a dark, underground hall where the dim lights were flickering like crazy. The end of the hall was hard to see from where Natsu was standing. He dragged the baseball bat down the hall as he walked. She's down here.

He had only made it a few steps down the hall when he sensed something appear behind him out of thin air. When he turned around, he saw a a maid who was as big as a giant and had glowing yellow eyes.

"You shouldn't be down here," the maid said in a monstrous voice.

"And why should I care?" Natsu asked. This thing isn't human. It's not a demon either. Is it a spirit?

The maid narrowed its eyes at him. "Under orders of my master Lord Everlue, I will dispose of trespassers quickly."

Natsu laughed. "Ohhh! Who knew that the creepy old guy was planning something!? Oh wait. I knew! I'm so fucking smart! Hahahaha!" His demeanor quickly changed to a deadly one. "Never killed a spirit before. This should be fun."

A few yards down, Lucy, who was put under the sleep spell, slowly opened her eyes. When she looked around, she saw that her arms and feet were tied and her mouth was gagged. How did I get down here!? Okay, okay. Stay calm. First of all, I gotta free my hands, then my legs. With my legs free, I could kick that Everlue asshole in the balls.

Her arms were tightly tied behind her back. Then, her wrists were tied together. It was as if she was crossing her arms but at her back instead of in front of her. As she struggled to maneuver her hands to untie the rope on her wrists, two sets of footprints were making their way to her.

"You got another bitch for me to sell?" A voice asked.

Lucy stopped struggling so she could listen to the voice.

"Yes, and she's definitely a catch," she heard Lord Everlue's voice say.

"A journalist, right?" The unknown speaker asked.

"Yes. Making up that story about how I got the Good Samaritan award really paid off!" Lord Everlue cried.

So that story was fake!? I knew I wasn't gonna like what he had to say! Lucy thought.

"You said this journalist is a catch. She better be," the unknown speaker said.

"Oh yes she is. She's Lucky Lucy Heartfilia of the Heartfilia Konzern," Lord Everlue said.

Lucy frowned. She didn't want to hear that name again.

"Damn! She really is a catch! But why's she working as some journalist when she's already so rich?" The unknown speaker asked.

"Who cares!? We have her, do we not!?" Lord Everlue cried.

Out of the shadows, Lord Everlue and the unknown speaker came into view. The unknown speaker happened to be a tall man with dark blue hair and a bunch of silver rings on his fingers.

He smiled at Lucy. "Hello, blonde beauty. The name's Bora. You're gonna get me lots of money, you know?"

Lucy glared at him. "You're funny if you think ima sit here and let y'all sell me into trafficking and shit."

"Oh? Where's daddy Jude Heartfilia? I wonder how much he'll pay when he finds out what we did with his daughter!" Bora started laughing.

"But you about to find out how much you'll pay for laying a finger on my girl," a familiar voice said.

The three of them looked in the direction of where the voice was coming from.

Holding the baseball bat in one hand and spinning a golden key in the other, Natsu, the owner of the voice, was looking at Bora up and down.

Lucy smiled. "Natsu! You got a golden key!"

Natsu faced Lucy and waved the key in his hands. "This is the key you're looking for, right?"

"Yes! Perfect!" Lucy cried.

"As a thank you, gimme a kiss on the cheek," Natsu playfully demanded with a smile.

Lucy narrowed her eyes at him. "You know damn well that's not gonna happen."

"Okay, so I guess no Zodiac key for you," Natsu said as he pocketed the key.

"How dare you!? How were you able to defeat my Virgo!? She's a Celestial Spirit! Not just anyone can defeat one!" Lord Everlue cried, charging at Natsu.

Natsu simply swung the baseball bat and hit Lord Everlue, knocking out the rich man. Then he rested the big part of the bat against his shoulder. "Exactly. I'm not just anyone. I'm a demon. Fear me."

Bora smirked. "Like that'll scare me. I got fire magic and demons hate fire." He held his palm out and a large flame of fire appeared.

"Not really," Natsu answered. A large ring of fire circled the both of them. "I control fire, and I can eat fire too. Nothing special really."

Both of their flames went out. It was very clear who was the winner in their little competition. Bora balled his fists and charged at Natsu. Natsu grabbed his fist with his free hand and twisted his arm.

"Owowowowowowow!" Bora yelled.

Natsu smirked. "Let's make this more fun." As if it were nothing, he yanked Bora's arm right from his sockets.

Bora screamed as he fell onto the ground and clutched where his right arm used to be tightly with his left hand. His arm, that was carelessly dropped onto the ground, did nothing to heal the pain he was feeling. The arm only reminded him that his fucking arm was ripped out.

Natsu covered his eyes with his free arm as he tilted his heat to the ceiling. "Haven't had a meal in years. Feels nice."

Why the fuck is he hiding his eyes? Lucy realized that Natsu was feeding off of Bora's pain. "Natsu! Don't hurt him anymore! Just get us outta here!"

Natsu sighed before uncovering his eyes and running over to Lucy. He picked her up bridal style. "Fuck. I forgot how we got here. Time to burn this place down!"

"Wait, what!?" Lucy cried.

Natsu turned around and walked away with Lucy still in his arms. He left a path of fire behind him that engulfed everything. Lucy looked back. This is the power of a demon. Wow.


5 minutes later, they were sitting on top of Lucy's car as they watched Everlue Mansion burn.

Lucy hasn't even looked Natsu in the eye yet. She didn't know what to say or think. It was hard to believe that the pain-eating monster from the legends was sitting next to her, proclaiming that they were once lovers. Earlier, she was only hoping that all of the stories were just stories. The Natsu she often saw was, well, not a monster. However, she was reminded that he was when she saw him rip off Bora's arm like it was nothing and burn down the whole mansion.

Natsu touched Lucy's hand that was laying flat between them. Lucy jumped and looked at him. "W-What is it?"

"You're scared, aren't you?" Natsu asked, frowning.

"I'm not," Lucy answered, unsure if she was lying or not.

"So why aren't you saying anything?" Natsu asked.

"I was just...thinking," Lucy answered.

"Thinking about what?" Natsu asked.

"How come you were hiding your eyes earlier?" Lucy asked.

Natsu looked at the fire. "I've always been able to eat fire. It's not like I'd die without eating fire or anything. It just boosts my power. But as an Etherious, I live off of pain. Whenever I eat pain, my eyes change and it reminds me that I'm demon and I need to hurt people just so I could have a good meal."

"You don't like being a demon?" Lucy asked.

"Never have. Never will, but it doesn't matter. It is what it is. If I could use this demon power to protect you, then it's fine with me," Natsu answered.

Lucy looked away from Natsu. "Thanks for saving me today. I guess we're cool or something. You know, you saved me, I saved you from that book." Then a thought crossed her mind so she faced Natsu. "That book was like some prison for you, right?"

Natsu was looking at her. "More like a torture chamber. My brother doesn't play when it comes to torture."

"Your brother was the one who put you into the Book of END?" Lucy asked.

"Yep," Natsu answered.

"What kind of brother would do that?" Lucy asked.

Natsu shrugged. "It was shocking at first, especially since we were so close, but then it made sense. I have be punished for taking one of the souls he had in the Underworld and for killing others. Oh yeah, he's the god of death."

Luc blinked. "Wow. That's unexpected. What do you think he'll do when he finds out you're out of the book?"

Natsu laid back on the car and put his hands behind his head as a cushion. "Nothing."

Lucy looked down at him. "Nothing?"

"He won't do anything cuz he won't find out. I'll make sure of that," Natsu said confidently.

"Right," Lucy said before holding her hand out. "Key?"

"Kiss me and I'll give it to you," Natsu answered.

Lucy glared at him. "You know, this partnership of ours is not going to work if you keep on acting like we're a couple."

"So we're in a partnership?" Natsu asked.

"Obviously. Just so you know, I still don't like you," Lucy answered.

Natsu smiled. "From complete strangers to a partnership. Soon, our current relationship will evolve. I like that."


Zeref Dragneel, the god of death, was walking down the hallway of his Underworld palace. The hallway had tall Corinthian pillars holding the high ceiling and on either side of the hallway was the River Styx. A few boats were going down the river either with new arrivals to the Underworld or to bring in the new arrivals.

"My dearly beloved brother and I made a deal all those years ago. I'll let his lover roam the human realm freely if he suffers in the Book of END," Zeref said before sighing. "Not just anyone can break the seal on that book. Only his human lover can, and she did. She released my brother into the world, therefore, breaking the deal my brother and I had."

He stopped walking. "I want her back here."

"Yes, Your Majesty," 12 voices hidden in the shadows answered. Each of the shadows disappeared.


Random Fact: When I was 6 or 7, I once had this babysitter who locked me and my little siblings out of our house and stole our car. Ever since that incident, my family and extended family stopped getting babysitters and we started to stay with each other more

Wassup!? It's ya gurl sugarsugarrush!

I'm back at it again with them fast updates! Whoaaaaaaaa! (I should really do the same thing with my other stories but we ain't gon' talk about that...)

Reviews:

FireShifter- Thank you so much! Unfortunately for Natsu, he's got a lot of work on his hands! Mirajane has thankfully calmed down!

JuptileNamudori253- Lol your fine homie! And thank you so much!

This chapter turned out to be waaayyyyyy longer than I expected. I did some trimming but it still turned out to be long. My perfectionist self kept on cutting and cutting things out all day that eventually, at 2am in the morning, I was all like "just fuck it!"

I'm sleepy as fuck so ima close this and go to bed. Don't forget to PM me or leave me a review! Later, yo!


Edited: 05/10/21