A/N: I'm just gonna stop making guesses about being able to write more. I keep jinxing myself haha

For those of you who are reading as I release them, a recap of recent events: Mard Geer comes to check out what happened to Silver and Keyes, and somewhere in the process, Natsu touches the END book again. This time, demonic markings appear on the arm where he touched and he can feel something stirring inside him. He runs away in a panic. Lucy follows him to the inn and they talk things out. She reassures him he has support while they figure out what just happened, and he finally tells her about what happened to Lisanna.


Two weeks later, Magnolia, Fairy Tail Tavern:

Mira returned from the back room with a note in her hand and a grim expression. "Seven dead from demons in Shirotsume."

Natsu banged his fist on the bar. "Damn."

"Blue Pegasus did their best," Mira said gently. "The deaths occurred before they arrived."

"Not saying they didn't, but for seven people to die before anything could even be done…"

"If only we could put an end to the scourge of demons entirely," Lucy said, propping her head up with one hand. "I always thought the presence of demons was an inevitable mystery, but now that we have a lead, I just want them stopped."

"Blue Pegasus and Lamia Scale will be able to join us shortly for a joint attack on Tartarus," Mira said. "Master's out at a meeting to organize it as we speak. We just need to hold out until then. Humanity has survived centuries of demon attacks; another two weeks is no problem."

"Still…" Lucy bit her lip. Natsu reached a hand over to rub circles on her back with his thumb. They were all feeling impatient having to wait around in Magnolia after all they found out from Silver, but Makarov made them promise not to go off fighting without waiting for backup. And while Natsu was never one to make promises, once one was made, he never broke it.

He could feel Mira's eyes on him as she bustled about the bar while he and Lucy discussed the latest demon appearances. A lot had changed since he first brought Lucy here, and he couldn't be sure which change Mira was responding to: his growing relationship with Lucy, or the awakened presence of END within his consciousness.

Few people at Fairy Tail knew about the whole END business, but if anyone would be able to detect it, it would be Mira with her demon takeover magic. She was retired from fighting, but Natsu seriously doubted that her sharp senses could ever get rusty. She was too powerful of a mage for that.

"How are you holding up, Mira?" Lucy asked when Mira had a spare minute. Evergreen had appeared at the guild the day before, a heavily injured Bixlow in one arm and Freed unconscious in the other. They'd gotten injured using their bodies to shield Laxus during a surprise demon attack. Laxus had sent Evergreen to bring them to the guild for healing, which meant he was out fighting demons alone until she could get back to him.

"Worried," she said. "I know Laxus can handle himself, but I don't like it when he works without backup. And Freed finally woke up, but his head injury is pretty severe. He'll be fine in time, but…"

"Hang in there," Lucy said gently, placing a hand over Mira's. Mira smiled in response.

The guild door slammed open. "Mira! I need the strongest beer you've got. Now."

Natsu looked back in surprise at Cana striding in covered in dirt and scrapes, her already skimpy top torn and practically falling off her shoulders. Jet and Droy made teasing catcalls from a nearby table. She flipped them off.

"What happened to you?" Lucy said as Cana sat down by them at the bar.

"Erza happened," Cana grumbled. "That idiot Gray made her mad and I was an unfortunate bystander who got caught in her fury. Why he can't just keep his mouth shut, I have no clue. He has zero self awareness."

"He's normally careful with his words, but he can really be careless at times," Mira said, hauling an entire barrel of beer up onto the bar. Cana immediately started guzzling it.

"Here, wear my jacket for now," Lucy said, shrugging off her celestial garment and hanging it on Cana's shoulders. It quickly fell off, as she was too busy chugging an entire barrel of alcohol, so Lucy picked it up and held it in waiting. When Cana put the barrel down to catch her breath, Lucy threaded Cana's arms through the arm holes, covering her up as much as possible.

"Thanks," Cana said before letting out a long, loud burp. "So," she said, leaning against the bar with a wicked look in her eyes. "What're you two lovebirds up to?"

Lucy sputtered, embarrassed by the unexpected turn of conversation.

"Lucy, why're you so red?" Natsu said, hoping his feigned obliviousness would diffuse her anxiety in favor of irritation.

Indeed, it worked. "Shut up, Natsu. And Cana, if you have so much free time, why don't you go help Laxus?"

"I could say the same to you," Cana said, taking another long swig. "Besides, it's been a day. He'll be rushing back with Evergreen any minute now."

"I hope he comes quickly," Mira said with a smile. "I miss him."

"You two never used to get along growing up, and now look at you," Cana said.

"We were both different as kids," Mira said. "Back then I felt like a mother nagging her unruly teenager, but we both changed. I stopped trying to rule over everyone, and he started opening up a little."

"I can't imagine you being naggy," Lucy said. "You're so nice!"

Cana hummed. "She was less of a nag and more of a...dominatrix?"

Mira smiled coyly. "Come on now, don't say it like that; you'll give her the wrong idea."

"What wrong idea?" Cana deadpanned.

Natsu interrupted the conversation. "Whatever is the case, I don't want to know," he said.

"That's right, Natsu's bad with this stuff," Cana said, fist-bumping his shoulder affectionately. "Oh, a somewhat related topic. You and Gray haven't been fighting since you came back, I noticed. He won't tell me anything, but it's pretty obvious something's up. That fight with Erza too, he was being unusually snippy with her. Did something happen on your mission? We don't want to push the subject too much, but..."

"Cana's right. Everyone's been worried," Mira said.

Natsu exchanged a look with Lucy. Things had been awkward between the two of them thanks to the END reveal. Gray had just promised his dad he'd stop Tartarus from reviving END, and turns out Natsu was actually END, or had END living inside of him, or whatever the case was. They were still trying to figure out the specifics before telling the others. But those who'd been there to witness Natsu making this discovery obviously knew there was some sort of connection, and Gray was the one who'd taken it worst.

Natsu sighed. They'd probably have to tell Mira soon anyway so she could help them figure out what exactly Natsu's relationship with END was, so he might as well stop hiding it from her. And Cana was close with Gray, so she'd be able to be an emotional support for whatever conflicted feelings Gray was having.

"Let's go into the back room," Natsu said, standing up.

Lucy stared at him. "Are you sure?"

He nodded. "We could use some outside opinions. I'm sure Makarov would agree if he were here."

"True. It's not like he'll get mad, since it's Mira," Lucy said.

"You about to tell us some top secret stuff?" Cana asked as they headed into the back room.

"Pretty much," Natsu said. "It's also a personal issue." He led them to a part of the back room they used sometimes for meetings. Makarov's office was the ideal location for private meetings, of course, but the rest of them used this little corner of the back room hidden by cardboard boxes and protected with a rune Freed regularly updated.

Natsu hopped onto a barrel and swung his legs. "Mira might already have figured part of this out," he said, "but the gist of it is, I might be Zeref's ultimate demon."

Lucy recapped what happened on their mission, Natsu adding in his first-hand perspective as needed. While Cana seemed completely flabbergasted, Mira listened to it all intently, lips pursed and brows furrowed.

"You should've consulted me sooner," Mira said. "I can find out the situation quickly if I use my takeover."

"That's exactly why Makarov said not to consult you yet," Lucy said. "It's dangerous. I think he's worried about you, too."

"I can come out of retirement whenever I choose," Mira said. "I think this is a big enough incident for me to use my magic again."

"No," Natsu said. "Don't."

"Just let her help," Cana said.

"No, Natsu's right," Lucy said. "We don't want to accidentally accelerate END's awakening. That's exactly what Tartarus would want."

Mira frowned, clearly in disagreement. "I'd say it's worth the risk, but it's your body, Natsu."

"I don't want you to use takeover, but...do you sense anything? Like, has my aura changed or something?" Natsu said.

Mira shook her head. "I couldn't tell anything at all. But you know–" She raised a finger and smiled. "–that just means that you are completely human. Whether you have a dormant demon inside you or are partially demonic yourself, that part of you is completely absent at the moment. I'll bet if those markings ever appear again, I'd be able to sense something. So keep an eye out for them, okay?"

Natsu nodded. "Of course."

"Thanks, Mira," Lucy said.

"And don't worry about Gray," Cana said. "I'll talk to that idiot. He's bottling things up again, as usual."

"That'd be great," Lucy said. "I think Juvia's at a loss for what to do at this point."

"Poor girl picked a really difficult man to love," Cana said, sighing.

"We've all got our issues," Lucy said. "Gray's just had it the hardest lately."

"He really can't catch a break, can he?" Cana said. "Yeah, don't worry, I'll knock some sense into 'im. Can't have him moping around forever with demons all over the place."

"Thank you for telling us, Natsu. This is really difficult for you, too," Mira said.

Natsu nodded tersely.

Natsu couldn't sleep well that night, too fraught with worry over what all of this could mean. If Mirajane the Demon couldn't sense anything wrong with him, that was a good thing, right? But it also meant they were in the dark until something happened. The confirmation of just how little they knew was only amplifying his anxiety.


He woke up in the morning exhausted but strangely comfortable. He opened his eyes, vision hazy. Right in front of him was Lucy's face.

He was instantly awake, and his mind frantically tried to remember how this situation came to be. He was...on the floor? He was resting against Plue's huge body just like Lucy always did, one hand gripping Lucy's as if his life depended on it and the other arm draped over her waist. Happy lay sprawled between them. His ears priced up when he heard Natsu shifting.

"Good morning," Happy said with a yawn.

"Morning," Natsu mumbled.

"Feeling okay?"

"Mm. Yeah. Not sure how I ended up here though."

"You were having a nightmare. Holding your hand and stuff seemed to help, but Lucy had to stand to reach you in your hammock, so she carried you over here instead."

Natsu's ears felt hot. He didn't remember this at all.

Happy snickered, watching him blush. "You were hugging her suuuuper tight and whimpering a lot," he drawled.

Natsu ground a fist into the top of Happy's head. "Shut up."

"Embarrassed?"

"Stupid cat."

"You sound like Lucy."

Speaking of Lucy, if what Happy said was true, she must be exhausted. Natsu slowly sat up and extracted his hand from hers. He grabbed a nearby blanket and draped it over her to replace his body heat. She stirred, but didn't wake.

He went downstairs to start breakfast for Happy and him. For some reason it always surprised people that he was a good cook. Just because he acted carelessly didn't mean he couldn't feed himself, especially given how enormous his appetite was. He had fine control over his fire, and with his heightened senses, he was also a precise hunter. So if anything, he always cooked meat to perfection.

Soon he was chowing down on a pile of sausage and bacon, while Happy happily tore apart a freshly-caught fish. He'd have to go to the butcher again in the morning, or maybe take a longer hunting trip to find some big game; Happy's fish was always easy to catch from the nearby stream, but he was running low on red meat.

Lucy didn't like to eat much in the morning, but a slice or two of bread was always the perfect amount for her. So when he heard signs that Lucy had woken up, he got up from his own breakfast to make some toast. She came down already dressed and placed her key holder on the table to free up both hands to tie up her usual side ponytail.

"Good morning," Lucy said.

"Good morning," Happy replied.

"Happy told me about you helping me out last night," Natsu said. "Thanks."

"Of course. Do you not remember anything?"

Natsu shook his head. "Not at all. I must've been asleep the whole time. I remember worrying about stuff as I fell asleep, and then when I woke up I was on Plue."

Lucy smiled a bit and sat down to eat the toast laid out for her. "He's pretty comfy, isn't he?"

"I can see why you don't mind sleeping on the floor," Natsu said, grinning.

"Well, you're welcome to join me on the floor anytime if you need it."

"I hope I won't need it. I've had plenty of nightmares, but never enough to make me cry out in my sleep like that. Happy can attest to that."

"Aye!"

"And it's weird that I don't remember anything. I don't really remember my dreams, but I almost always remember nightmares."

Lucy frowned. "Might be a demon thing? We should get Mira to check it out."

"If it happens again, I will," Natsu said. "The END thing happened weeks ago and there weren't any changes until now. I'm not sure it's related." It was true that Natsu usually remembered nightmares and that he didn't outwardly show any signs except for a cold sweat and heavy breathing once he was awake, but until now his nightmares were always about Lisanna. And before Lisanna, they were always about Igneel. Natsu hadn't had a dream about Lisanna since the END incident, which might mean the subject of his nightmares had changed again. And if the subject changed, then maybe it was only natural that the way they affected him changed, too.

Natsu wondered what Igneel would think if he knew about all this. Natsu's priorities lay with stopping Tartarus right now, but his chest ached a little as his father came to mind for the first time in a while. Sorry, Pops. I'll look for you again soon. Wait for me.

A faint rumble in the distance shook Natsu from his thoughts. He leapt to his feet.

"What was that?" Happy said, fur standing on end.

"It came from the direction of Magnolia."

"Let's go," Lucy said, shoving the remainder of the toast into her mouth. She stood up and grabbed her keys in one swift motion, then she was out the door. Natsu and Happy weren't far behind.

Soon they were at the edge of the woods, looking over the field that separated them from Magnolia. Clouds of dust rose from various parts of the city, citizens fleeing to the outskirts. Someone saw them standing there and shouted for them to return to the woods and hide.

They'd taken too long planning their attack; Tartarus had come to them first. Magnolia was under attack.


A/N: Thanks for reading!