29: ice dripping cold sweat.


A shirtless Gray stared out the large window of his penthouse as his thumb hovered over the number of Invel on his phone. Should I tell him? Should I not? The another thought crossed his mind. Did he know the truth the whole time? That Natsu's END and Lucy was brought back to life...?

Poor little Gray has no idea that the person Natsu had brought back to life was Anna, not Lucy.

He jumped when he heard his phone ring. He looked down and saw that the call was from Invel. Here it goes, he thought to himself as he accepted the call and put the phone to his ear.

"What do you want?" Gray demanded.

"Why are you always mad whenever I call you?" Invel asked on the other line.

"You knew that END was Natsu Dragneel this whole time, correct?" Gray asked, getting straight to the point.

"Yes, I did," Invel answered without hesitation.

Gray punched the glass of the window he was standing in front of. "So Lucy Heartfilia is your target."

"Correct," Invel answered.

"Why didn't you tell me!?" Gray yelled.

"Was I supposed to?" Invel asked.

"I'm serious!" Gray yelled.

"My orders from Lord Zeref was to release Deliora into the human realm to kill your parents in order to motivate you into being ruthless when it comes to killing demons," Invel said on the other line.

Gray's eyes grew wide as he took a few steps backwards. "S-So Deliora...was released by...you...?"

"Of course. A bunch of demons escape from the Underworld but there are certain types of demons that are locked up in the Books of Zeref like little jail cells. They can't come out unless Zeref or a Spriggan 12 member lets them out. We lost control of Deliora but your trainer Ur thankfully sacrificed her life to kill him," Invel answered.

"So it's your fault that Silver Fullbuster and Ur are dead!" Gray cried.

"It's all part of Lord Zeref's plan. See, now you're the last Fullbuster and it's your destiny to kill END. I even gave you that technique that's passed down your family," Invel answered, obviously not bothered by the revelation.

"Is this what Larcade meant by saying that I'm just a chess piece!?" Gray demanded.

Invel sighed on the other line. "Larcade? That self righteous brat..."

"Your lord or whatever can't just play around with my life however he wants!" Gray cried.

"Maybe, but Lady Mavis Vermillion is in charge of writing fates. She's working with Lord Zeref so whether you like it or not, you must follow the fate she has laid out for you," Invel answered.

Gray ran his fingers through his hair and sat down on the couch. He was beyond pissed off and it was taking every bone in his body not to break something.

"You're the last one left, so you must kill END," Invel reminded him.

"I know!" Gray cried before sighing. "I'll kill Natsu...but can you spare Lucy's life?"

"I'm afraid not. Lucy Heartfilia must die," Invel said.

"Let me guess. It's because she's supposed to be dead?" Gray asked.

"Sure," Invel decided.

"I don't get it. You guys let her live, then suddenly you guys want her to die?" Gray asked.

"There's a lot you don't know," Invel said.

"What else do I not know!?" Gray cried, standing up.

"Kill Natsu Dragneel, and I'll kill Lucy Heartfilia. Once the deed is done, you'll see what I mean," Invel answered.

"Why can't you tell me now!?" Gray cried.

"Little brat," Invel spat out in a dark tone that caused Gray to shiver. "We've only let you live this long because you're useful. Fulfil your purpose or we'll dispose of you quickly."

Gray paused. Even with me gone, they'll find another way to deal with Natsu and Lucy. "Fine. I'll kill Natsu right now."


Laying in the hospital bed with his eyes closed, Natsu was listening to the conversations the 6 doctors around him were having while he pretended to be asleep.

"I don't understand..."

"Me neither. Last night, he came in barely holding onto life. Suddenly, he's perfectly fine."

"His heart was stabbed. I know it was! His heart was about to give out!"

"I think ima look back at my notes...cuz there's now way..."

"We should conduct another test!"

"I though I was going crazy. Looks like I'm not the only one."

Once he heard the doctors leave the room, he opened his eyes and sat up.

"How did I get here? Why am I here?" He looked around the place. "This is a hospital room. Okay. But why?"

He suddenly remembered that he was stabbed so he felt his chest. Luckily, it was okay. He smiled smugly. "Nice."

He proceeded to get out of bed when he felt the IV that was attached to him. He casually pulled it out and walked out of the hospital room.

"The last thing I remember is getting stabbed by Lucy. Why would Lucy stab me? It makes no sense," he wondered out loud, crossing his arms as he strolled down the hallway.

Then he stopped in front of a room. "Was that a fake Lucy? Cuz once you think about it, me and the others were taken to some place, and God Serena was there." He dug his fingers into his hair. "Fuck! That was a fake Lucy! Ahhh! Lucy's gonna kill me for making out with a fake version of her!"

The door to the room he was standing in front of slid open and a nurse walked out. Looking around the place, Natsu decided to enter the room. Inside of the room, a patient was sitting in her bed as she watched a drama that was on TV. She was munching on some oranges.

"Can I have some?" Natsu asked, approaching the patient.

The patient blinked before handing Natsu a fresh orange for him to peel.

Natsu pulled up a chair next to the patient and sat down. "Do you know how you get here?" He asked the patient.

The patient glanced at him before facing the TV to continue to watch her drama. "A fight was going on so me and a bunch of people were running towards the fight so we could see it. But there was so many people so I ended up tripping and breaking my legs. Also, people trampled over me."

"Damn," Natsu said, peeling his orange. "I don't know how I ended up here, but I know that I was in a cabin with the illusion of my girlfriend. I think I was in some sort of fantasy world or something cuz I was taken 400 years into the past."

"Ah, you're from the psychiatric ward," the patient realized without taking her eyes off the TV.

Natsu tilted his head as he tried to decipher what she meant. Then, seeing that she was so focused on the TV drama, he decided to watch it to see what was so great about it.

"Whoa, isn't he that actor from The Christina?" Natsu asked, pointing at one of the actors.

"Ren Akatsuki?" The patient asked.

"Yeah, him. He ended up with the twin in The Christina but then the twin killed him," Natsu answered.

The patient gasped. "OMG, you watched that scene too!?"

"Who didn't!? That scene was something else!" Natsu cried.

"I cried during that scene!" The patient cried.

"Same! So did my girlfriend!" Natsu cried.

"I didn't know you liked The Christina, though. Usually, girls would be into dramas," the patient asked.

"My girlfriend kept on hyping it up so I decided to see what was so great about it. Yo, that drama is elite!" Natsu answered.

"I wish I had a girlfriend..." the patient mumbled.

"Don't worry! Mavis and I go way back so I can ask her to give you one!" Natsu said before remembering something. "Actually, we're not on good terms at the moment..."

The patient laughed. "You're funny!"

"What's going on in this drama?" Natsu asked, eating a piece of his orange that had no skin on it.

"This drama stars Sherry Blendy and her boyfriend Ren Akatsuki and it's called Forbidden Love! Basically, Sherry and Ren are both from different countries at war with each other and they meet each other because Sherry is a nurse caring for the injured and Ren is a soldier. They fall in love but they know they can't be together because of the war. Plus, politics come into play and Sherry is paid to kill Ren and if she doesn't kill Ren, her little sister who's sick will be killed. Ren, on the other hand, starts to go against his orders when he realizes that his country is the bad guy hurting innocent people so he's the most wanted person in the country and his fellow soldiers are out to kill him," the patient explained.

"Ohhhhhh," Natsu answered as he focused his attention onto the drama.

About 20 minutes later, the drama ended with a cliffhanger.

"Is it over!?" Natsu asked.

"Yeah. We have to catch the next episode next week," the patient answered.

"I gotta tell Lucy about this!" Natsu said as he dug through the pockets of his hospital clothes. "Huh? Where's my phone?"

The patient shrugged. "In your room maybe?"

Natsu stood up. "Later!" He called out before leaving his room. "Once you think about it...I don't have to go back to my room."

Shrugging, he decided to skip through the halls. "Might as well leave this place!"

When he skipped past a storage closet, he sensed the pain of a slap from inside of the closet. Interested in what's going on, he skipped backwards so he was right at the door of the storage closet and opened it a crack.

A nurse was rubbing her cheek and looking down. Another nurse looked absolutely pissed off.

"I can't believe you! We've been friends since Day 1 yet you had the audacity to sleep with my boyfriend!?" Pissed-Off Nurse yelled.

"First of all, he's not your boyfriend! Second, he said he loves me!" Slapped Nurse yelled back.

Pissed-Off Nurse lunged forward towards her with her hands out, prepared to strangle her. "You fucking bitc-"

"Whoa! Hey!" Natsu cried, getting in between the two of them.

"Move out of the way! I need to kill this bitch!" Pissed-Off Nurse yelled.

"This is a patient!" Slapped Nurse cried.

"Then this patient can see me beat the living shit out of you!" Pissed-Off Nurse yelled.

"Yoyoyoyo! Wait!" Natsu cried, blocking Slapped Nurse from Pissed-Off Nurse.

"Go to your room!" Pissed-Off Nurse cried.

Natsu took her hand and linked it with Slapped Nurse's hand. "Now you two are besties!"

Pissed-Off Nurse looked at Natsu as if he was joking.

Slapped Nurse grabbed onto Pissed-Off Nurse's arm and bit it.

"Owwwww! What the fuck!?" Pissed-Off Nurse yelled.

"Payback for trying to kill me!" Slapped Nurse yelled.

The two of them started to pull each other's hair out and punch as they screamed. During the whole commotion, Natsu barely managed to sneak out of the closet. Girl fights today are so different from girl fights back then.

He shivered when he glanced back at the storage closet door. "Girls are scary when they're mad. Yikes."

Whistling, he continued to stroll down the hallway as he made his way to the exit. He passed by a group of doctors who had recognized him.

"Hey...isn't he that patient who had mysteriously healed himself...?"

"Sir! Go back to your room!"

Natsu pointed at himself. "Me?"

"Yes, you! We need to continue doing some tests!" One of the doctors cried.

"But I'm fine now!" Natsu told them before he picked up his pace to speed walk away from them.

"Grab him!" Another doctor yelled.

This is where I run! Natsu thought, running.

He didn't think to activate his super speed but it didn't matter. The doctors were still unable to catch up to him. They tripped over furniture and some even stopped running in order to catch their breaths. Long lines of doctors ran after Natsu but he managed to quickly outwit them.

Once Natsu was in the lobby, he turned back to triumphantly look back at the dozens of doctors laying on the floor, "defeated" by him. "Haha. Anyways, by-"

He was cut off by a cold hand grabbing him by the shoulder. "Go back to your hospital room quietly. I'm in a bad mood so just listen to me and don't piss me off," a familiar voice whispered into his ear.

Natsu narrowed his eyes. He's back.

Without fighting back, Natsu shoved his hands into the pockets of his hospital pants. "Sure."

Minutes later, Natsu was sitting in his bed in the hospital room. His phone was in his hands and he was playing a game on it. "Long time no see, Gray."

Gray, the person who had grabbed Natsu by the shoulder, locked the hospital room door and leaned against the door. "The last time we saw each other was before that whole Sabretooth shooting incident."

"The house was nice without you," Natsu said without looking up from his phone.

"Did Lucy come by?" Gray asked.

Natsu frowned. "Nope."

Gray walked over to the window and watched the snow fall. "Can't blame her. Outside is a complete blizzard right now. Only an idiot would be outside right now."

"So I guess you're in idiot since you were outside a few minutes ago," Natsu cheekily remarked without looking up from his phone.

Gray scoffed as he closed the curtains. "Shut up. You're not funny"

"You know, you remind me of this one guy I know. I've never gotten along with that guy," Natsu said. "His name was Glaucus."

Immediately, the black markings of the special Fullbuster Technique appeared on Gray's body and his fingers quickly wrapped around Natsu's neck. Despite getting strangled, Natsu kept a straight face as he stared up at Gray.

"You tortured my ancestor! And you killed so many people! You killed Erza, and if I let you live, you'll kill Lucy! Die!" Gray yelled.

When Natsu heard that he'll kill Lucy, he grabbed Gray's arms and simply threw him off him. "What do you mean I'll kill Lucy? Why would I kill her?" He asked, sitting up and cracking his neck.

Gray stood up and the wall and furniture started to form frost. "How am I supposed to know? Lucy just said that she had her fortune read and it said that you-" he pointed at Natsu with an icy glare. "You are the one who will burn her alive!"

"You believe in that shit?" Natsu asked.

"A reliable fortune teller was the one who told her," Gray answered.

"But think about it. Me killing Lucy makes no sense," Natsu said, hopping out of bed. He started to slowly make his way towards Gray who was backing up.

"I'm getting the feeling that you know that I'm END. No...you know everything. Who told you?" Natsu put his hands behind his back. "Doesn't matter. You know that while I was in the human realm, Lucy and I lived in harmony together. But then your ancestor Glaucus came in and killed her. Of course I went through hell just to bring her back to life. So tell me, why the fuck would I kill her?"

"I know why!" A new voice rang in the room.

Gray and Natsu looked at the hospital bed and saw a man sitting on it, munching on gummies. The man was shirtless, showing off the marks he had on his arms and chest. One mark that stood out was the mark of the sun that was on his chest.

"What are you doing here, Ignia? Haven't you caused enough trouble?" Natsu asked the man named Ignia.

"Ignia? As in the god of the sun?" Gray asked.

"The one and only," Ignia said with a smirk. "How do you like the power that I gave your ancestor?"

"I'm still mad at you for sending Glaucus to kill Lucy," Natsu reminded Ignia.

"Don't blame me. You were tuning soft," Ignia said before narrowing his eyes at Natsu with a dark look. "You have my father inside of you and as long as you do, I won't let you turn soft. The girl had to die and look. You're not a softy anymore."

Ignia grabbed a handful of gummies and offered them to Gray who declined. Ignia shrugged and ate one of the gummies in his hands. "Anything that has to do with that Lucy girl makes you go all soft. How can the great Igneel have a weakness?"

Natsu's fists engulfed into flames. "Why do you care? You don't even love Igneel!"

Ignia laughed. "I'll admit it, I like pissing you off on purpose!"

Am I caught in some family drama? Gray wondered, looking at Natsu then at Ignia. In the legends, Ingia, the god of the sun, is the son of Igneel, the god of fire. Natsu has Igneel inside of him, technically making him Igneel. So would Ignia be his son? And then that Larcade guy is Natsu's nephew, and Natsu's brother is Zeref who's the god of death.

"Wait," Ignia said before eating the rest of the gummies in his hand. "Want me to piss you off even more?"

"What?" Natsu asked, narrowing his eyes at Ignia.

"You're more fun when you're mad. You know, the heavenly realm was boring without you. Gajeel's nice to piss off, I guess, but you're way better," Ignia said.

"What did you do?" Natsu asked, quickly catching on that Ignia was up to something.

Ignia put his hands up. "What did i do? It's more like what did you do?"

"Me," Natsu said in disbelief.

"How can you get the girl you apparently love and some other girl who looks like her mixed up?" Ignia asked with a mischievous smirk.

"It's not my fault that I accidentally fell for an illusion, okay!? Don't tell Lucy, she'll kill me!" Natsu cried.

Huh? Gray wondered.

Ignia blinked. "Illusion?" Then he remembered that Natsu was stuck in Larcade's painting. He laughed. "You even fell for an illusion!? Damn, that's rich!"

"Leave before I beat you up!" Natsu cried.

"Let me finish first," Ignia said, holding back his laugh. "What if I told you...that you got the wrong girl?"

"Why the fuck would I get the wrong girl. Lucy is Lucy," Natsu asked.

"Exactly. Lucy is Lucy. Anna is Anna," Ignia answered.

Natsu and Gray were completely lost.

"Was Anna Lucy's name back then?" Gray asked Natsu who nodded.

Ignia sighed and face palmed. "How slow can you be? Lucy never died and she was never brought back to life. Anna was the one killed by Glaucus and the one that you had brought back to life. That Irene bitch decided to a put-a-dragon-inside-of-a-human-and-turn-them-into-a-dragon-god so she put Anna inside of Lucy."

Gray stared at Ignia as he thought back to the conversation he had with Invel earlier. When I asked Invel if he's going after Lucy because she's supposed to be dead, he didn't say yes. All he said was sure. Is Ignia...saying that...

"If you're going to try to make me believe your lies, then make it make sense. Why does Lucy have the same scent as Anna?" Natsu asked, crossing his arms.

"Why do you have the same scent as Igneel?" Ignia didn't let Natsu answered. "It's because Igneel is inside of you. So why does Lucy have the same scent as Anna? It's because Anna is inside of Lucy."

"When I asked Mavis to give Lucy back her memories, she told me she wouldn't do it," Natsu said.

"That's because she had no memories from the beginning," Ignia answered.

"So, you're saying that Lucy is not the one Natsu brought back to life?" Gray asked.

Ignia nodded. "That's exactly what I'm saying."

Natsu's eyes grew wide as he felt his whole entire world crash before him. Lucy's not Anna!? But then why do I have feelings for her? Is it because I have her mixed up for Anna? Yeah, that's obviously the reason why! Wowwwww, Zeref really is a genius when it comes to human lives! Was he planning on tricking me this whole time!? He clenched his fists. Good move, Zeref, but you forget that I'm a Dragneel too.

Gray pulled out his phone and tapped on Lucy's contact so he could call her. "How do we get Anna out of Lucy!? Cuz Invel's going to kill Lucy right now!" He asked Ignia as he waited for Lucy to answer.

"Kill the host body. Simple," Ignia answered.

"Uggg!" Gray groaned when Lucy didn't answered. He called Mirajane next who answered on the first ring.

"Gray?" Mirajane asked on the other line.

"Where's Lucy!?" Gray demanded.

"She's at work. Why?" Mirajane asked.

"Thanks!" Gray answered, hanging up. "I'm going to Lucy!"

"I'm going with you," Natsu said.

"Why? I thought you only cared about Anna?" Gray asked with some attitude.

"Just let me go with you!" Natsu demanded.

"Whatever! I heard you're motion sick so don't throw up in my car!" Gray cried.

Both boys ran out of the hospital room and into the blizzard so they could make their way to Lucy's workplace. Gray was going because he had to stop Invel. As for the reason why Natsu was going...


Random Fact: I really hate Romeo & Juliet. I remember having to read that story for school and I was rolling my eyes throughout the whole thing. Then the ending? Bruh, I was laughing. I was all like, "that's it?" Maybe I'm just a hater, idk. Like, I like a good romance story but in my opinion, Romeo & Juliet is not romantic at all. It was stupid to me

Wassup!? It's ya gurl sugarsugarrush!

I think I've mentioned this before, but this story idea was born after watching the 1st episode of Tale of the Nine Tailed, right? In the drama, there are two brothers, Lee Yeon and Lee Rang, who are always fighting similar to how Stephan and Damon from the Vampire Diaries fight, right? Originally, I was going to have that be Natsu and Ignia but I completely forgot that plan until chapter 13. Kinda sucks...I'd like to have written those scenes. Oh well

Reviews:

Amanny- Yep! And thank you so much!

Copperreign12- Hehehehehehe...! And thank you so much!

akashitetsuya3120- Ahhhh I know right!?

The drama, Forbidden Love, is inspired by the dramas Crash Landing On You, Descendants of the Sun, It's Okay Not To Be Okay, The King: Eternal Monarch, and the story of the Romanov Family. Then, the scene with Natsu getting the nurses to stop trying to kill each other was based on this video I saw on Twitter of this guy trying to stop two people from fighting

Yo, we're almost done!

Ima close this now! Don't forget to PM me or leave me some reviews! Later, yo!