CHAPTER 36: PIECES OF THE PAST 2/2


The slam of the door rang in Lucy's ears as she stood there, staring at the empty place where Natsu had just been, unable to comprehend he had actually left.

Fuck you, and I'll see you tomorrow!

He had been so angry Lucy doubted he would willingly see them tomorrow, if not at all. Lucy tried to trust that he had just gone to calm his overheated nerves, as he often did. He needed a moment alone, but would he even come back this time? Had this been the last straw for him? Part of her wanted to rush after him, talk this through, but she knew it was best to let things cool down for a while.

"Just as I guessed, he couldn't take the truth," Gray said as he walked into the dark entry hall. Lucy glanced at him over her shoulder, and wanted to slap that arrogance out of his face. "What you're going through is a huge responsibility, and this just proves he's not ready for it."

"I think you should have been kinder on him," Lucy answered, gloomily glaring at him. He was still shirtless, only wearing brown leather trousers, and that made her awkward.

"Kinder?" Gray snorted. "Nothing in this world will be achieved through kindness. You've got to be harsh if you want to change anything. Vulnerability is a liability. No place for it in this life."

Lucy shook her head, but didn't say anything. Gray's brother, Lyon, was organizing the alchemy ingredients in the alcove, and confusedly observed the quarrel. Gray gestured towards the kitchen. Hesitating at first, she decided to follow him. Her appetite was gone, and she wasn't sure if it would return. She hated conflicts. They wrapped her into cold iron chains and locked her tight into misery, until she'd be released with the keys of reconciliation.

Lucy seated back to her place and reluctantly picked up the spoon. The food Lyon had served had been good, or well, as good as cabbage stew could be. Natsu hadn't eaten anything, so Gray, already finished with his meal, switched the places of the full and the empty plate and began eating.

"Don't worry, Lucy. He's going to come back," Erza reassured as if she was reading her thoughts. "If he came back after our quarrel in the Rift, then he's going to come back now, too."

Lucy chuckled at the memory. "Yeah, except that time he barged into our room right when we girls were getting dressed."

"He did?" Gray laughed and sipped some of his wine, swallowing loudly. "Lucky bastard."

Lucy paid him an annoyed glare. She was getting pissed off at this damned man. He should really learn when to shut up. "It was an accident."

"As if," Gray answered with a grin. "Anyway, I'm fine if Natsu isn't coming with us. That sounded pretty much like it. He could go home or something. He lived somewhere nearby, didn't he?"

Lucy bit her lip and swirled the cabbage with her spoon. "I don't think he's going to go home…"

They hadn't talked about that after leaving High Hrothgar. Actually, as they arrived here, Lucy had wondered if Natsu had been to Morthal before. His home had indeed been nearby, but he had made it clear he wouldn't pay a visit there. The son was dead to the father, and the father was dead to the son.

"He was thrown out, right?" Gray asked.

"No, he ran away."

"Oh, that was it."

Lucy looked at him for a moment, knitting her brows. "How did you know, anyway?"

"We had met before," Gray told after finishing his plate. Lucy had barely batted her eyes, and he had already eaten everything. "And I bet he didn't tell you."

"He didn't," Lucy replied, and finally ate a spoonful of the stew. It had gone cold.

"Well, around five years ago, one summer morning, I found him on the docks. He had probably been sleeping there, and I can't say I was exactly the kindest to him. Something I said pissed him off bad time. He went pretty berserk, nearly killed me with his bare hands. My mother heard the commotion and came to check it out, and broke the fight with the help of a guard. Then she dragged both of us home for scolding."

Lucy swallowed the cold cabbage she'd been chewing on endlessly. "Five years ago? That could be when…"

While she put the pieces of the puzzle together in her mind, Gray continued. "I had never seen her so mad. Of course, she was angry at him for beating me, but she was angry at me for provoking him. But she's a fine, good woman, and quickly realised something was wrong. She kinda had to force it out of that Breton boy, but he eventually told he had run away from home."

"That was right when his mother had died," Lucy said. Natsu had never told her what happened after that. She just knew he had left home, and eventually wound up at the College. What happened in between was shrouded in dark.

Gray lifted his brows, rubbing his chin. "Oh? Well, I didn't know that. No wonder he was so grumpy then. For such a scrawny little half-elf, he punches quite hard."

"What exactly did you say to him?"

Gray fell silent for a while. "If I remember right, I might've said something like 'What's a milk-drinker like you doing out here? Go home to your mother.' Well, now that I think of it, might not have been one of my smartest ideas…"

Lucy scoffed. "No wonder he beat you up."

"Yeah, think I deserved that one," Gray answered, and stared at his wine cup before continuing his story. A hint of regret flickered in his eyes, but only for a while. "But well, mom recognized him as Zeref's little brother. She had heard that he had gone missing, and now that Natsu had decided to go look for him, mother wanted to help him. I was so pissed off, because he had just beat me bloody, and she just said that would teach me to keep my mouth shut. Mom allowed him to stay here for a night, fed him, gave him my old shoes and a little bit of gold for his journey."

Lucy nodded, the pieces of the past finally falling into place. Knowing this explained a lot, but she could also understand why he hadn't told her about it. His mother's death had been, and still was, a raw wound. Giving him shit about it just a few days after it had happened was a certain way to get on his list of enemies. Natsu seemed like a man who relied a lot on the first expression, and Gray had totally nailed that. Changing that afterwards would be difficult.

"When did you join the College, Gray?" Lucy asked, swiftly changing the subject a little. She didn't want to talk more about Natsu behind his back.

Gray, seemingly sensing her attempt, shrugged nonchalantly and answered, "When I turned sixteen. It was two years after that incident. He wasn't so happy to see me when I arrived at the College."

She had expected that. "What made you decide you wanted to go there?"

Gray poured himself another cup of wine. "It's a long story, but now that the outsiders have taken themselves out, bet I could tell that to some fine fellow Nords."

He filled Lucy's and Erza's cups too, but Lucy couldn't help but begrudge how he called Natsu an outsider. Gray didn't even attempt to hide how he discriminated everyone who wasn't a Nord, and it offended Lucy. Natsu was her friend, after all, and the reminisce of elven blood wouldn't change that.

"It starts with my mother's sickness," Gray began. "You remember when I told you she's from Solstheim?"

Lucy nodded, concealing her growing annoyment. She inwardly cursed at herself for being taught to be a proper lady. For once, she just wanted to scream and cuss, let that frustration out, but she stayed silent and listened. There was very little she knew about Solstheim and the people who lived there. The only thing she knew was that the island was located somewhere between Skyrim and Morrowind, amidst the frozen Sea of Ghosts.

"She's from the village of Skaal. The Skaal people rarely leave their homelands, but she did. She wanted to see the world and learn magic, and so she left, and joined the College of Winterhold. There was another reason behind that, too. A monster haunted the island of Solstheim, and my mother had gotten into her head that she would be the one to defeat that."

"What kind of a monster?" Erza asked.

"I'm coming to that," Gray said and drank more wine. "She became a very talented mage, but life was rough for her. She lost her daughter, but she still kept pushing forward. She trained ever harder, until she thought she was ready to defeat the monster. Karstaag was the name. A frost giant, terrifyingly strong." He paused for a while, as if gathering the threads of the story, making sure he told it right. "Ur returned to Solstheim and battled against the beast. However, she wasn't strong enough. She was defeated, barely escaped with her life, but was cursed with this disease that has been slowly consuming her. Somehow she knew it would take ten years for the illness to kill her, and it has been nine years already. She's soon going to die."

Lucy fell silent. She noticed how Gray used the word cursed to define how Ur had gotten ill. That's how it felt to Lucy, too. Such a talented wizard reduced to the fragile shell she had just seen… that could only be a curse. When she or Erza didn't say anything, Gray decided to continue.

"Don't be fooled to feel bad for her, though. She's still a Nord of Skaal at heart," Gray said and smiled, but there was only sadness in that smile. "Their religion is quite different from ours. For the Skaal, the All-Maker is the source of all life and creation. When a creature dies, its spirit returns to the All-Maker, who shapes it into something new and returns it to Mundus. The concept of death as an ending to life is unknown to the Skaal. Rather, death is seen as simply the beginning of the next stage of an endless journey."

Lucy blinked her eyes, sudden interest taking over her. "Really? So they are born again after death? I haven't even heard of that before."

"To put it simply, yes. After they die, their soul is reshaped and returned to the world. They could become a bird or a wolf, or just human again. That way, they never feel the fear of death," Gray explained. "Ur never pushed her beliefs to us, though. She allowed me and Lyon to keep our Nine Divines when she adopted us."

Lucy nodded. She wasn't sure how to feel about such a never-ending cycle of life. She found the thought of reuniting with dead relatives in Aetherius more comforting. "How did she become your mother, then?"

"Two years after the defeat, she had to quit her life as a scholar. The illness was slow to show any symptoms, but first, it robbed her of her magicka. She moved from Winterhold to Morthal. During that time, she adopted two boys, me and Lyon, from Honorhall Orphanage at Riften. I had been there for a year after my parents died. They went fishing, a storm hit the sea, and they never came back."

Lucy raised her eyes from the plate to the frost mage, and suddenly, the resentment she felt towards him faded. Gray was around her age, maybe a year or two older, so he had been ten or eleven when he lost his parents. When they had talked in the College, he had let her know they were dead, she just didn't know when, or how. Maybe it was the aid of wine that opened him up.

Now that she thought of it, Natsu and Gray had a lot in common. For tonight, Lucy had observed the amounts of wine Gray had consumed, and it just reminded her of the same thing she had said to Natsu when they had just met. When a man is sad, they grab a bottle and deny they're sad.

"Sorry for your loss," Lucy said silently.

Gray just shrugged. "I hated being adopted by a scholar first. While her magicka was just a fracture of what it used to be, she was still good. My parents taught me to despise magic, but soon I realised the power it holds. It grew into me, and I grew into it," he said, then glanced at Lucy. "Eventually, I decided to pick up where Ur left, and do what she couldn't do. I'm going to defeat Karstaag. No matter what. That's what I'm training for."

Lucy blinked her eyes. A lot of things about him made sense now. "That's… That's an honourable goal, indeed, to defeat such a monster. But what happened to the giant after Ur was defeated? Is he still wreaking havoc on Solstheim?"

"Ur managed to seal him away, but how long he'll stay in that place, can't be known. I hope he stays there until I'm ready to go beat his ass out of existence," Gray chuckled, confident. "Yet still, Ur thinks of me as a fool because of that. Karstaag inflicted her with her disease, and she fears I'd suffer the same fate, still unable to defeat him. But I know I will. I've decided so."

"So, that's why you're training your frost resistance?"

Gray grinned. "Exactly."

"Seems like you've already mastered that," Erza commented. She hadn't said much after Labyrinthian, and Lucy had been wondering what was going through her mind. But she was terrified of dragons, after all, and perhaps that fear still lingered. "Even as a Nord, surviving a direct hit of frost dragon's breath attack was pretty tough."

"It's all about endurance to the cold. It's simple. The next time a snowstorm hits, get undressed and step outside. Just stand there in a blizzard, focus on breathing, and your body will do the rest."

Erza rubbed her chin. "Intriguing."

"I still would rather not do that…" Lucy muttered, and already shivered at the thought.

While Erza and Gray continued the discussion about frost resistance, Lucy tried to finish her meal. As her worst anger towards Gray had faded, she began thinking of Natsu. Somehow she knew that if those two would just talk civilly, man to man, they could solve this ridiculous conflict, with a very small possibility of them becoming friends, or at least tolerating each other's presence on earth. It didn't matter which one of them would be a better teacher for her. She didn't want to surround herself with capable warriors, but with friends she could rely on.

Lucy put the spoon on her plate. She had managed to eat half of the stew, but couldn't force any more down. They were supposed to leave at sunrise, yet Lucy knew she wouldn't get any rest until she had talked with Natsu. She had to at least know he was okay. She wasn't going to leave him behind.

"I think we should check on Natsu," she said suddenly. Erza and Gray stopped talking and turned their eyes on her.

"Why?" Gray asked. "He can take care of himself. If he can't, well, that's too bad. Only the strong survive here –"

"Go ahead," Erza interrupted the frost mage, and smiled at Lucy. "He's probably just getting wasted at the inn, but if you feel like it, go check if he's okay."

"I'll try to talk some sense into his head," Lucy said and turned to Gray. "And no, we are not going to Ustengrav without him."

Gray attempted to say something, but Lucy already stood up from the table and left the kitchen. She had already made her mind on this matter, and wouldn't falter.

"Be careful," Erza hollered after her while she was putting on her travelling cloak. Lucy wrapped herself into the warm fur, and answered,

"I'll be back soon."

There was a little lie in that, and Lucy trusted Erza knew that.


Morthal was truly an ominous town at night.

At Helgen, Lucy was rarely allowed to be outside after nightfall. Sometimes she had sneaked out with Loke, but it wasn't nearly as terrifying as Morthal was. Thick fog had shrouded this town into a veil of gloom and mystery, and the dead, leafless trees fortified the impression. She began to shiver from the cold as she stood on the doorstep, wondering where to go.

Lucy headed out in the darkness, seeing nothing but the light of torches passing through the night. Guards on patrol. She waited for one of them to walk by her, and then she asked where the inn was. The given directions made her feel a bit stupid, for the inn was just two houses away, but she thanked anyway and went there, careful not to fall into the swamp on her way.

Warmth embraced her as she stepped into the smoky tavern. There wasn't much life in there. An Orc bard played the lute and sang a raspy melody so terribly Lucy wouldn't be surprised if that 'singing' would get his throat cut. Then there was a brown-haired woman sitting around a table, talking to someone, and Lucy's heart dropped when she saw who that someone was.

Natsu.

Silently, Lucy walked across the inn, right past him, yet he didn't notice her. Strange unease spreading in her chest, she walked to the bar counter and rented herself a room for a night. She had been supposed to stay at Gray's house, but to be honest to herself, she felt more comfortable here. Erza must've sensed her discomfort, so maybe she'd understand her decision and not get worried when she wouldn't get back there tonight. Lucy bought herself a cup of tea with milk, and went to sit on a table on the opposite side of the common hall.

While she was glad to have found him there, something was off. She could sense that. Lucy peeked over her shoulder, saw him staring into the woman's eyes as she talked to him. Lucy couldn't hear what she was saying from the bard's horrible singing, but then she realised how quietly the woman talked. She doubted even Natsu would hear that, yet he still listened, without saying anything.

From what Lucy had understood, it wasn't uncommon for women to approach him. It had happened in Fort Amol, yet back then he had made it rather clear he didn't want anything. Maybe he was too tired to care, having exhausted all of his energy at yelling at Gray, and was now just numbed out? He looked dazed, tired, like he was falling asleep at the table.

Lucy turned her eyes to the woman. She was pretty. She wore a golden necklace, but what caught Lucy's attention was the rather open cleavage of her dress, leaving her intentions just as exposed as her breasts. Of course, she was trying to seduce him. Lucy frowned, forced herself to take a cup of the bitter tea as she began to wonder how this scene would play out. She was, indeed, curious to see if Natsu would actually have this side of him that she knew nothing about.

Still, she couldn't shake off the feeling that something was wrong.

Or was she jealous?

No, she couldn't be.

Then, suddenly, the woman rose up, and Natsu followed her, as if they'd made a common decision to leave the place. He even left his bottle to the table, and in that instant, Lucy understood that Natsu would never leave the inn with a stranger and his drink undrunk.

Right when they headed to the door, Lucy stood up and rushed to Natsu. She blurted out the very first excuse that came to her mind,

"Hey, have you completely forgotten about your wife and children in High Rock!?"

As if some spell was broken, his dazed gaze cleared up and focused on her. "Oh, hi Lucy!"

Confused, Natsu stared at her, almost like he had just woken up from a deep sleep. He didn't seem to understand where he was, or why, and the dumbfounded expression on his face told her that he didn't understand why Lucy was there either. Well, she wasn't supposed to be there, but he wasn't angry at it, just merely surprised. The bard had briefly stopped singing in the background, but carried on before the mood in the inn got too tight.

"Excuse my cousin," Lucy said to the stranger, caught Natsu from the sleeve and dragged him backwards to gain distance. Only then Natsu noticed the woman he had been standing next to. His brows knit into a deep drown as Lucy forced him to face her, and hissed, "What in the name of Mara were you thinking? Have you completely forgotten about them? Have some damn respect for your family, man."

Lucy struggled to maintain her act as Natsu kept blinking. "W-wait, what was I thinking? I –" he stuttered, glanced at the woman again, and shook his head. "Who have I forgotten?"

"Just shut up," Lucy shushed at him, then left him at the door of the room she had rented, and then hurried back to the stranger. "I'm sorry, but he's rather –"

When she saw her eyes, she froze. They gleamed in a faint amber glow, and Lucy forced herself to look away. She lowered her gaze down onto the woman's chest, preferring to stare at her cleavage instead of those captivating eyes, and then she understood what kind of a spell Natsu had fallen under.

A vampire's charm.

"Oh, I see," the woman said and chuckled. She sounded confident, as if knowing this was only a small delay in getting what she wanted. Then she looked past Lucy and winked at Natsu, making her shiver in rage. "We'll meet again, sweetie. See you later."

When the vampire excused herself and left the inn, Lucy squeezed her trembling hands into fists. This was exactly what Gray had warned them about, yet Natsu had still fallen into that trap. He had left his guard down. Maybe Gray's lecture had been in place, after all. As confused as ever, the fire mage scratched the back of his head, and went to pick up the wine bottle he had left on the table. Before he seated down, Lucy marched to him, grabbed his arm and dragged him to her room.

"Okay, what was that all about?" Natsu asked her as she slammed the door shut and locked it.

There was a lantern on the nightstand, but Lucy didn't bother to light it. She cast magical Candlelight to hover in the air above them. Not wasting time on explanations, Lucy caught his white scarf and pulled it away from his neck, dropped it to the floor, quickly doing the same to his cloak. His eyes widened as she placed her hands on his jaws, turning his head into different directions while studying his skin under the light.

Utterly confused, possibly a bit scared too, Natsu lifted his arms into a half surrender, still holding the wine bottle in his left hand. "W-what are you doing!?"

"Checking you for scratches," Lucy answered, but as she began to move aside his robes, he caught her wrists and made her stop.

"Scratches? What the fuck?"

"The woman was a vampire. They say that if a vampire scratches you, you'll turn into one." As he loosened the hold around her hands, Lucy writhed herself free. She wiped the hair out of his forehead and pointed at a graze on his skin. "You got his in the ruins, right?"

"Vampire?" Natsu asked, eyes widening. "Are you sure? Well, that explains something…"

Lucy nodded. There were no other wounds on his face or neck, but she checked his arms too. She pulled up the loose sleeves of his robes, seeing no other injuries than the bitemark on the back of his hand. How ironic that felt now. "There's no other way you would've gone out with a stranger and left your wine undrunk unless you were manipulated to. She used an Illusion spell on you. Charm, or something. Vampires do that."

There was little she knew about vampires, to be exact. If there were books written about them, Lucy hadn't read any. All she knew was the folklore she'd heard as growing up, the scary tales the children of the town used to tell each other at night. Haming had said that vampires preferred the blood of the virgins, for it had a more appealing taste to them. Lucy had later realised that it was most likely just Haming's secret plan for luring more girls to the granary with him.

As Lucy finally let go of him, Natsu stepped back and took a long gulp from the bottle. "But why would've she done that?"

Shrugging, Lucy picked up the scarf and gave it back to him. Remembering Haming's old banter, she jested, "Probably to feast on your delicious virgin blood."

Natsu gave her a long, silent glare, his brows nearly lifted to his hairline.

"Do you even know how fucked up that sounds, considering you quite literally bit me yesterday?"

Lucy held back a small laugh as Natsu sipped the wine again. Yes, she could've reworded that sentence, but she too was getting way too tired for thinking clearly. Her heart was still beating fast and the nervous unease refused to leave her guts.

"I didn't mean it like that!" she defended, then became serious again. "Well, how do you feel? Are you alright?"

Natsu sat down on the bed and held his head in his hands, the neck of the wine bottle locked between his fingers. "Like my mind has been raped," he groaned. "Can't really describe this in any other way."

Lucy remained silent for a while. She seated next to him on the small bed, but instead of staying on the edge, she crawled closer to the wall and rested her back against it. She brought her legs to her chest. For that very brief moment she had looked into the vampire's eyes, she had felt like her mind was truly being intruded by an outer force, a different being. Natsu hadn't been able to defend against that, and Lucy couldn't even imagine how horrible that must feel. Lucy hoped with all of her heart that other than feeling terrible, he'd come out okay from this encounter with a vampire.

"Do you even remember what happened?" Lucy asked. The Candlelight spell expired, so Lucy lit the wax candles of the lantern to give softer light to the room.

"No," he answered with a faint headshake. "She came to me, said something, and after I looked into her eyes, all was black. Did she really try enthralling me or something? Gods, that's disgusting."

"Either that, or then she would've just drunk your blood. Maybe she was hungry. I don't know if they actually kill their victim when they feed on people, though…"

And then it dawned on her how horribly things could've turned out if she hadn't come checking on him. She was so glad she listened to her intuition instead of Gray. Her heart would always know the best.

Natsu chuckled suddenly. He lifted his head from his knees, turned towards her. "So, you're saying that if I wasn't a virgin, these bloodsuckers would leave me alone?" He rubbed his chin and eyed her from head to toes. "Hmm…"

Lucy went bloody flustered as she realised what he was thinking. "I ain't gonna help you with that!"

"Yeah," Natsu answered and turned away. "On a second thought… maybe not."

Lucy's face was burning hot. Had he really considered bedding her to get rid of his innocence for the sole purpose of being less appealing to the vampires, or had that been just a very tired joke? He had said he had no interest in such a thing, but there was, certainly, some logic behind that. Lucy knew he had this 'friends help friends' mindset, that wasn't how far Lucy would take that – especially when in reality vampires most likely didn't have such preferences over the blood they consumed.

Well, the blame was on her for assuming he wouldn't take that joke literally.

After a long silence, Natsu took a drink from the wine bottle, and said, "What a fucking day."

"Indeed," Lucy agreed, and stole the bottle from his hands. She sipped the sour wine and cringed. "But this won't make it much better."

Natsu gazed at her quizzically. "Yeah, I know, but it helps me to sleep. Give it back."

Lucy refused, placing the bottle closer to her. "You were planning to drink until you'd pass out? I ain't gonna let you do that alone."

"I think that's a bad idea…" Natsu mumbled and reached out his hand. "Seriously, give it back."

With an inward grin, she gave the bottle to him. "Exactly. With a damn vampire around, now isn't a good time to get shitfaced."

Natsu sighed. "But I just can't fucking sleep. It's just…" he started, but paused for taking a hesitant drink. "After all the shit I've seen, some days I just have to numb that down."

Lucy smiled warmly. "I know, I know," she said and took the bottle again, gently placing it on her lips. "I ain't sleeping that well either."

Natsu gave her a long glare as she downed a fair amount of wine. "Seriously."

"I said I wouldn't let you get shitfaced alone."

Natsu shielded his eyes with his palm as Lucy pushed the bottle back to him. "And I really don't want to handle drunk Lucy again."

"Then put down the damn bottle, because I ain't stopping this until you do," Lucy answered. She knew very well Natsu wouldn't want her to get drunk. Gray had served her some wine, she wouldn't take any more without it rising to her head. She already felt a bit dizzy.

"Damn you," he mumbled under his breath, reluctantly closed the bottle and put it on the floor.

From there on, they sat in perfect silence for a while. Lucy didn't know what to say. While she was tired, that little incident with the vampire had agitated her nerves, and now she knew she wouldn't fall asleep either. But maybe sitting there by Natsu's side all night wouldn't be so bad, especially if she considered the other alternative of what could've happened. He could be somewhere out there with a bleeding neck or enthralled as a vampire's slave. Maybe this was what he preferred too, over those two choices.

But if she now knew who the vampire was, should she go tell the guards or the Jarl about that? If that vampire woman had become a menace to the town, it felt like her responsibility to tell someone. However, Lucy wasn't sure if she wanted to get involved in this. They had a mission they should be focusing on. No time to waste.

Yet, she still had a thing she had to do – convince Natsu to accept Gray joining their team.

"By the way, Gray told me what happened here five years ago," Lucy started and cleared her throat. The silence had lasted for long enough, and it seemed no vampires would come after them again. Lucy wanted to trust in the strength and safety of the locked door. "I guess that was right after you had left home?"

As if surprised, Natsu glanced at her. He rested his back against the wall and nodded. "I bet he also told you that I beat him up?"

Lucy chuckled. The wine had made her cheeks burn, but gladly she could still talk without slurring. "He did, but I totally understand why. He can be a total dick indeed."

"That's an understatement."

Lucy smiled a bit. "He also told me about his mother's illness. Her name was Ur, right?"

"She was Zeref's teacher in the College. That's why she decided to help me out when I said I was searching for him," Natsu said. "But I never learned what was wrong with her."

"Gray said that nine years ago, she tried to defeat a monster in Solstheim. Karstaag, a frost giant. She was defeated, and contracted that disease, or curse, or whatever it is that's slowly sucking the life out of her," Lucy explained. "Now Gray wants to defeat that monster. I think that… You know, he also lost his parents at a young age. He was in the terrible orphanage at Riften, the same one that Aventus Aretino was. He isn't full of shit either. He's just covered in it, just as you said last night."

Natsu remained silent. Lucy struggled to read his thoughts through his face, as he blankly stared at the shadows on the wall. "So, he succeeded in begging the sympathy points from you."

Lucy snorted. "He might be harsh, and a bully, but deep down he's not that bad. You just have to see through that. I know we all could come along," she said, then lowered her voice. "Especially with the frost dragon's magic, I could need someone's help in learning how to unlock that. And I doubt you'll teach me any frost spells."

"Well… you've got a point," Natsu agreed. Lucy wondered if he meant that, or was just too tired to argue against it.

"We're all going to Ustengrav together tomorrow, right?"

"Do I have a choice?"

Lucy took that as a yes. "Not really."

Natsu chuckled and buried his face into his hands. "By Sheogorath's beard…"

"Just sleep over it. You're too tired to think clearly."

"Didn't I just say that I can't sleep? When I close my eyes, all I can see is that damn dragon hatchling. Like I can still hear it screaming in my head as it dies," Natsu mumbled. "Sorry. It must be worse for you than it is for me. But with that fucking vampire intruding my mind, now I just..."

"It ain't easy for you either," Lucy replied and went through her bag. While she didn't know a sleep spell, she knew something else. "You still need some sleep. It's going to be another long way to Ustengrav, and who knows what we'll find out there. Drinking until you pass out isn't going to make you feel any better tomorrow."

"Any better ideas, then?" Natsu asked and glanced at the book in Lucy's hands. "Gods, you're gonna whack me unconscious with that?"

"No, dummy. I'll read it to you. Whenever I had trouble falling asleep as a kid, my mother always read to me. Then I started reading for myself. Ironically, the stories were so interesting that those became the things that kept me awake," Lucy said and smiled. "Come on, get comfortable."

Grumpily, Natsu laid down on the bed and Lucy sat down next to him. He cringed as Lucy tucked him under the blanket. "That's the book I found at the monastery?"

"Yes. Enjoy your tale of choice, then," she chuckled. She placed the book in her lap, opened it and began to read out loud, keeping her voice as soft as possible. "Many people have heard the term 'Dragonborn' - we are of course ruled by the 'Dragonborn Emperors' - but the true meaning of the term is not commonly understood. For those of us in the Order of Talos, this is a subject near and dear to our hearts, and in this book I will attempt to illuminate the history and significance of those known as Dragonborn down through the ages."

"Gods. I didn't understand half of that. Are you gonna bore me to death?"

"Just shut up and listen," Lucy shushed and continued. Lucy was very aware of his love for history, or rather, the lack of it. "Most scholars agree that the term was first used in connection with the Covenant of Akatosh, when the blessed St. Alessia was given the Amulet of Kings and the Dragonfires in the Temple of the One were first lit."

She never found the time to read this book with thought. After leaving Whiterun, she had been too exhausted to read it each night when they finally camped. She had barely written any journal entries either, so she thought she should write something next morning before they'd head to Ustengrav. Otherwise, she'd forget.

"Hey, weren't you supposed to stay at Gray's place?" Natsu asked suddenly.

"Ain't going back there tonight. I had enough of his shit, too, so I rented this room," Lucy told. "And yes, I know you didn't have gold to afford your own, so unless you planned to sleep on the floor of the common hall, you can stay here."

"Thanks."

Lucy smiled. When scholar Mystogan had given them some gold, Lucy had taken it under her possession. Natsu had seemingly forgotten that, and had to choose between wine and bed. The wine had won.

"Akatosh, looking with pity upon the plight of men, drew precious blood from his own heart, and blessed St. Alessia with this blood of dragons, and made a covenant that so long as Alessia's generations were true to the dragon blood," Lucy read with a quiet, steady tone. "Akatosh would endeavor to seal tight the Gates of Oblivion, and to deny the armies of Daedra and undead to their enemies, the Daedra-loving Ayleids. Those blessed by Akatosh with 'the dragon blood' became known more simply as Dragonborn."

Lucy glanced at Natsu. He was staring at the lantern on the nightstand, the gentle fluttering lights dancing across his features. While he probably didn't find the story as interesting as Lucy did, at least it had calmed him down. Back at High Hrothgar, Lucy had sometimes read for him when there had been funny parts in the books she read, so maybe his mind connected her voice to the safety of the monastery now.

"The connection with the rulers of the Empire was thus there from the beginning - only those of the dragon blood were able to wear the Amulet of Kings and light the Dragonfires. All the legitimate rulers of the Empire have been Dragonborn - the Emperors and Empresses of the first Cyrodilic Empire founded by Alessia; Reman Cyrodiil and his heirs; and of course, Tiber Septim and his heirs, down to our current Emperor, His Majesty Pelagius Septim IV."

She had to remind herself that the book was written almost three hundred years ago. The Septim family was assassinated during Oblivion Crisis, therefore the rulers of the Empire were no longer Dragonborn, and the Amulet of Kings was destroyed. Lucy lifted her gaze from the book to the fire mage. Finally, his eyes slipped closed. Lucy smiled softly as she continued reading.

"Because of this connection with the Emperors, however, the other significance of the Dragonborn has been obscured and largely forgotten by all but scholars and those of us dedicated to the service of the blessed Talos, who was Tiber Septim. Very few realize that being Dragonborn is not a simple matter of heredity - being the blessing of Akatosh Himself, it is beyond our understanding exactly how and why it is bestowed. Those who become Emperor and light the Dragonfires are surely Dragonborn - the proof is in the wearing of the Amulet and the lighting of the Fires. But were they Dragonborn and thus able to do these things - or was the doing the sign of the blessing of Akatosh descending upon them? All that we can say is that it is both, and neither - a divine mystery."

Lucy chucked as Natsu started to snore quietly. Her sleep spell had been even more effective than she had presumed. She decided to read one more paragraph, just to be sure.

"The line of Septims have all been Dragonborn, of course, which is one reason the simplistic notion of it being hereditary has become so commonplace. But we know for certain that the early Cyrodilic rulers were not all related. There is also no evidence that Reman Cyrodiil was descended from Alessia, although there are many legends that would make it so, most of them dating from the time of Reman and likely attempts to legitimize his rule."

Lucy stopped reading as she was sure Natsu was sleeping. She placed the book on the nightstand, stood up and took off her boots. After putting her boots to the side, she stripped the cloak from her shoulders, instantly starting to shiver from cold. She hurried back to the bed, hesitation and shame disappearing as she buried herself under the warmth of the blanket.

At this point, after all they had gone through, Lucy no longer minded sleeping so close to him. She rolled on her stomach, her side barely touching his, and grabbed the black-leathered book again. She browsed back to the page she had left at, focused her eyes on the text, devouring the knowledge of the Dragonblood who had come before her.

We know that the Blades, usually thought of as the Emperor's bodyguards, originated in Akaviri crusaders who invaded Tamriel for obscure reasons in the late First Era. They appear to have been searching for a Dragonborn - the events at Pale Pass bear this out - and the Akaviri were the first to proclaim Reman Cyrodiil as Dragonborn…

As much as she loved history, soon the sleep won over her too.


A/N: Hi guys, hope you enjoyed the chapter!

I have been developing Gray's backstory for a while, and with that Karstaag thing I wanted to create straight parallel to Fairy Tail and Deliora. There's going to be more of Gray and Solstheim in the future, but so far that explains why he's so passionate about training magic, especially his frost resistance. Who guessed Natsu and Gray had met before the College?

Natsu in the other hand keeps being my punching bag. Do you think he's really gonna come out okay from this little vampire incident? Anyway, I really liked writing the Nalu moments here. Hope you liked them too.

Next up, to Ustengrav! Prepare for Draugr and necromancers!