Hey all! It's time for chapter 6!

It took a little while to sort out a few things in regards to the plot. Thank you all for you're continued interest in reading this story, I truly appreciate it! :D With the whole gang out for Halloween on this dark night, something is bound to go down. We've got more developing between our characters, and some possible ships in play. I wonder what's going to happen?

CrazyZaika: Regarding to Natsu's feelings about the pairs and to you're guess, they WILL be explained in this chapter!:D

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN FAIRY TAIL OR ANY REAL WORLD REFERENCES IN THIS STORY!

Key for story(More will be added IF needed):

BOLD - anger, attacks

Italic - thoughts, dreams, other end(s) of a phone call, singing and song titles


From the moment Natsu saw that Lucy and Gray were a pair, he felt extremely agitated. Inf act, any time the two were around each other he fell like ripping Gray's throat out. Why was he feeling this way? He didn't quite understand these feelings himself, but he did know he had grown rather fond of the blonde. He and Levy were the first to enter the maze out of the groups, and he could tell she was worried.

"What's wrong, Levy?" he asked, trying to ease his mind.

"Well, I can tell you're not happy."

He was surprised. "W-What do you mean?"

"You're not happy Lucy partnered up with Gray." The pinkette felt his cheeks heat up, and turned away, hearing a giggle from the bluenette. "So I'm right?"

"So what?" he mumbled.

The girl sighed. "You don't get what I'm saying, do you?" When he stayed silent, she began laughing.

"What's so funny!?" he growled as the bluenette shook her head.

"You're in love."

"Huh?"

"I said you're in love, Natsu. Don't you know what that is?"

He nodded, a blush on his face. If he was honest with himself, this was the first time he'd felt this way around someone. Not only because he'd shut others out, but because he never new truly what love was. He hadn't really felt any love, other than the love from Igneel when he took Natsu in, and the kindness from Lisanna when they were kids. He'd only been told more recently what it meant to love another person, when Lucy went on about how Mira and Laxus seemed to love each other in her eyes. He'd asked her exactly what it meant to be a couple and to love someone, and found himself questioning his feelings about her afterwards.

"So, what do I do?"

"Well," she said, "you could act on your feelings."

"But what if she doesn't feel the same?" he asked.

"You know, I always thought you two would make a nice couple." she remarked. "You both have been close these past two months. I'm sure she feels the same."

The boy looked at her, wondering if it could be true. He'd only known her for a couple months, but they saw each other every day, and did most things together. She was truly a special person in his life, ever since the first day of school, and he felt a longing for her. But the way Levy and Lucy described the love between two people, was it had to be reciprocated. Did she really feel that way about him? Thinking about it made his face heat up. Hearing Levy's giggles, he blushed and attempted to shake himself back to reality.

"Anyway, I saw you bickering with Metal Head earlier, you two seem close." he said, throwing her for a loop.

"W-What are you talking about? Gajeel and I? Close?" she stuttered, her face pink. He smirked.

"I thought so." he chuckled, causing Levy to punch him. Suddenly, a man in a hockey mask with a chainsaw popped out of the corn stalks. Levy practically jumped out of her skin while Natsu raised an eyebrow.

The pinkette just waved. "Yo."

The man in the mask shrugged and walked back into the corn, leaving the scared bluenette and indifferent Natsu behind. Natsu looked up into the night sky, seeing next to no stars. Dark clouds had rolled in, making him worry as they continued through the maze.


As Lucy and Gray walked through the maze, she couldn't help but notice him acting strange. He seemed quieter than normal, and every once in a while, he'd be looking at her from the corner of his eye. She didn't know exactly what to make of it. They walked in awkward silence for a while until she decided to end it.

"So…" she said, not knowing where to start.

"How's things going with Flame Brain?" he asked, surprising her. She didn't detect any hostility in his voice, only uneasiness.

"Well, he's as energetic as ever, but he's been acting different lately." she admitted. "The other day, we were talking about Mira and Laxus, considering how they'd make a good couple."

"Huh." he said. "I can actually see them together."

She giggled in agreement. "Yeah. Then, I had to explain to him what love was." He looked at her, a guilty look on his face. "What's wrong, Gray?"

The noirette sighed, a saddened look came over his face. "You remember when we had that fight, over Natsu's living conditions?" When she nodded, he continued. "I do regret taking that far, and to be honest, he and I had a slight similarity when we were young. Neither of us knew our real parents." he said.

"O-Oh, I'm sor-"

"Don't. It's ok." he continued, sighing. "I never seemed to attract anyone in the sense of adopting me, being cold and slightly destructive. That was until a woman named Ur came. She saw past my shell and took me in, making it feel like home. For a couple years I lived with her and my foster brother, another kid she'd taken in, in peace. That was when I met Natsu at school. He was living on his own in the streets, but the principal let him attend the school anyway. He was as he was when you first met him, but a little less distant. He allowed people like the Strauss siblings and me into his life, but not letting us know exactly what was going on. After all, we were only ten." he chuckled.

She was about to comment, but he cut her off. "I'm sure you've heard how he hung out with Lisanna a lot and how I had a crush on her, and how when she died, I blamed him. I always knew he wasn't to blame, I just…" he winced, "I wanted to blame something, or someone, and since she spent the most time with her, I guess I chose to blame him. As we grew apart, I started feeling remorse seeing him like that, but I couldn't seem to forgive him."

As she listened, her heart broke for him. His life had been as tough as Natsu's. "And just like he lost Igneel, I lost her. She lost a short fight to cancer the same year as Lisanna's death. I didn't even get to say goodbye." A lone tear strayed down his face. "I called him out for that too. I took out all of my sadness and anger on him, unjustly, without thinking of what he was feeling."

She looked at the sadness written over his face, feeling terrible. She'd yelled at him, not even knowing his story. She felt like such a hypocrite. Lucy felt tears coming to her eyes as she embraced him, surprising the noirette.

"I'm so sorry!" she cried, embracing him tightly. She felt him slowly wrap his arms around her, pulling her close. They stayed there like that for a little while.

"Lucy?"

She looked up at him as she pulled away a little bit.

"I… I have something to tell you." he said holding her shoulders. "You've changed our lives greatly, and I thank you for that. Somehow, I'm going to make it up to Natsu, I want to be friends with him again." he said, which she smiled at. "But that's not all."

"Huh?"

"Lucy, I feel much different than I did before. The time I've spent with you has changed my life." he said, her eyes widening at what was coming next.

"I… I love you."


As Natsu and Levy walked further into the maze, he kept getting a bad feeling. He'd felt different ever since the injection Zeref gave him, sensing his friends power and having his senses boosted. Eventually, they reached the end, the jump scares hardly being scary, at least to him. They were apparently the second to last out, meeting most of the other groups. Looking among them as they discussed their adventure through the maze. They waited for a while for Lucy and Gray to come out, until Natsu began walking back towards the maze.

"Natsu, where are you going?" asked the bluenette he'd been paired with.

"Their taking forever." he said before disappearing into the corn stalks. He pushed through the thick corn, searching for their scent. The field they were in was quite large, but he felt he could narrow it down. When he finally picked up on Lucy's scent, he pushed forward as fast as he could.

It took him a couple minutes, but he started to hear their voices, though he couldn't hear exactly what they were saying. As he got closer, he began to hear their conversation.

"And just like he lost Igneel, I lost her. She lost a short fight to cancer…"

When he heard that, he felt confusion rush through him, wondering who he lost. Then he remembered the woman, Ur, who'd taken Gray in. He recalled the noirette talking about her like she was his savior in a way. But then, his stomach churned when he could finally see them. They were extremely close, obviously she had been comforting him. He knew that much from the last sentence he'd really focused on hearing, yet he still wanted to punch the guy.

"Lucy, I feel much different than I did before. The time I've spent with you has changed my life."

Hearing that caused his eyes to widen, as his pace slowed down and he was almost through to them. His heart started aching, badly.

"I… I love you."

When those words left Gray's mouth, Natsu couldn't believe it. Gray had feelings for the same person as he did? He refused to accept it, though he had just heard it from the boys mouth.

He watched the blondes eyes widen.

"W-What? H-How can you love me?" she asked, flustered and confused. The noirette grabbed her hands as looked her dead in the eyes.

"It's true." he said. "You made me realize that I'm not a good person, and that I was treating Natsu wrongly. The kindness you show towards others in need, it caught me. Lucy, I truly mean it."And with that, the noirette leaned his head down, his face to Lucy's.

He kissed her.

He took a step back, feeling something on his cheek. He felt it run down into his mouth, tasting the saltiness of the tear. He found himself turn around, not wanting to hear anything else. He began to run, farther and farther away, not wanting to lose to his emotions. As he did, the tears kept coming.

Why is this happening? He wondered. Why am I crying so much, and why does my heart hurt?

He ran and didn't stop, eventually making his way back out of the maze. He slowed down, until he was stopped by a large hand.

"Hey Natsu, whats up?" asked the worried voice of Laxus. The pinkette just held his head low, unable to stop the tears from flowing. Levy, noticing the tears, left Gajeel to check on him.

"Natsu! What's wrong? Why are you crying?" asked the bluenette. "Where are Gray an-" she stopped when she saw him tense up. He shoved Laxus' hand off his shoulder, leaving the blond confused.

"Ask Gray." Natsu said, his voice shaky as he walked off. Before he did, Levy swore she saw his jade eyes flash red. She reached out to him as he left, until Gajeel stopped her, shaking his head silently.

"Give him some time." he sighed. "He's not in his right mind."

Levy was hesitant, but she nodded, watching her friend walked off. Suddenly, it occurred to her what she and Natsu had discussed earlier that night.

Oh no.


When the two came out of the maze, Lucy and Gray had maintained an awkward silence between them, as well as the blush on their face. She noticed the strange looks on their friends faces, and realized that Natsu was missing. Levy ran to the blonde, and pulled her away from the rest of the group.

"Lucy! Where have you and Gray been!?" she asked frantically, confusing the blonde.

"W-What do you mean, Lev?" she asked. "We were in the maze."

"Doing what? Tell me Lu, what did you two do?"

"Levy, what's going on!? I don't know what's gotten into you, but…" she paused, realizing she had almost lied to the bluenette. Levy was her best female friend, and they made a pact to not keep secrets from each other, no matter what.

The blonde sighed. "Fine, but please don't make a big deal out of it." She told her friend what happened, about her and Grays conversation, as well as their kiss, and didn't understand why the bluenettes face twisted into one of horror.

"Levy, what's wrong?"

"Oh Natsu.." murmured the bluenette under her breath. The blonde grabbed her friend by the shoulders.

"What's going on, Levy?"

"When Natsu and I were walking, I noticed something was off, so I asked him what it was about."

"And?" asked the blonde, worried.

"He loves you, Lucy." The blonde froze. Before she could speak, the bluenette cut her off. "We were all wondering where you were," the bluenette said, "so Natsu went into the maze to find you too and…"

Lucy didn't need any more to understand what she was saying. Natsu saw their kiss. The boy who she'd helped with his healing, she'd unknowingly and inadvertently hurt him. She felt her body shaking. She looked around frantically.

"Levy, where is he?"

"He stormed off."

With that, the blonde bolted away from her friends, causing even more confusion.


"Natsu!"

She called out his name, running through the dark woods without a light other than the full moon that night. Over and over, desperate to find him. She had no idea what Gray had planned to do, and had no intention of hurting the pinkette, but fate truly was cruel to mess with this boy so much. As she walked farther, she began to fear the worst. Thankfully, she saw the boy's hair beside a tree. He was sitting against it, leaning against the trunk, his face resting on his arms.

Her heart ached to see him like this. She took another step towards him.

"Nats-"

"What do you want?" he asked, the sadness in his voice clear, causing her to feel even worse.

"Levy told me what happened, and I… I didn't know he was going to kiss me, Natsu. And I-I didn't know you saw or had feelings for me." she said.

"Why does it hurt so bad?" he said, looking up. The tear stains on his checks, the sorrowful look in his eyes, which were red from crying. She felt tears of her own welling up in her ducts. "Why, Lucy? Why do-"

She hugged him, starting to cry herself. He pulled her closer and began crying again. She pressed her face into the crook of his neck, gripping the back of his shirt. They stayed like that for a while until they had both calmed down enough to talk. She looked at his jade eyes, and told him about what happened earlier, after he'd apparently left.


She didn't know what to think of it. All she thought of at that moment was how she had got Gray to love her, let alone kiss her. She just did what she thought was right it terms of being a good friend. Her face was bright red, embarrassed beyond belief before he pulled away. Her mind was racing a mile a minute.

"W-What did you do that for?" she stuttered.

"I told you I love you, remember?" he said, raising an eyebrow. "Wouldn't it be natural for me to do that?"

"B-But we barely know each other and I-I'm not that popular, and.."

The boy just started laughing. "Lucy, I can tell that was unexpected, but I felt I needed to make my feelings for you clear." he said. "I had too, considering how someone else seems to have their eyes on you."

"W-What do-"

"Don't even ask." he said with a smirk. "I'm not telling."

She pouted. "That's mean, Gray." This caused him to laugh again, making her giggle a little. After that, they stood silently for a while.

"Gray, I-I'm sorry but I can't return your feelings." she said with a sad look on her face. He sighed.

"I actually figured this was going to happen." he said. "But if you're interested, you know who to call." he smirked, causing her to blush. "S-Shut up!" she stuttered. Suddenly, she smirked.

"You know, there's someone in our little group who has eyes for you, Gray." she chuckled evilly.

"Juvia?" he said, nonchalantly.

"Damn it!" cried the blonde. Causing him to chuckle. "Anyway, let's get back to the others now." he said. Nodding, she smiled as an awkward silence fell over them, and they continued through the maze.


After telling the pinkette the story, he sighed, seemingly with relief, causing her to blush. He looked up into the dark sky, making her wonder what he was thinking about. Especially when a smile drew over his lips. She found herself staring at them, recalling Gray's slightly cool, and soft lips, making her wonder how Natsu's felt. She felt her body heating up, as her mind wandered, telling her to do something.

"By the way, Luce," said the pinkette, snapping her out of her trance, "What was the reason you turned him down?"

"Why do you want to know?" she smirked, trying to get him flustered. He just looked at her, an eyebrow raised.

"Cause I love you, duh." he said, getting her flustered instead. "I want to know my chances."

"Well…"

Suddenly, they bother heard a twig snap, causing the Natsu to jump up from his position, a serious look on his face. Lucy slowly got up, as he got in front of her, protectively.

"You know, you've got a really annoying mood swing going on there, don't ya pinky?" chuckled a man's voice from the darkness around them. Natsu considered trying to take them down, but didn't know if they were normal, or another one of Zeref's subjects. A vicious laughter erupted from the man's throat as Natsu sensed him in every direction.

"I smell your fear..." he said. "I love the scent of a terrified dragon!"

"What do you mean?" growled Natsu. "What dragon?"

The man began cackling as he landed in front of them in the shadows of the trees. His head was lowered, and covered in long, wild dark blue hair. His body was covered in a high collared, black cloak, sharp red claws hanging around his neck, a sash around his waist, and a baggy pair of blue pants. At first glance and if they didn't know where he came from, he would have come off as a someone who might mug someone. As he stood up, showing his face to them, light blue markings could be seen on his right arm, as well as his face. His dark skin made him seem to be much larger than he was, almost like he was looming over them. His blue eyes, bore into Lucy's, striking her with fear as Natsu continued to stay between them.

"Who are you and what do you want?" growled the pinkette, feeling the fire within him swell.

The man was on him in an instant, his large hand around Natsu's neck and lifting the boy into the air. He struggled to get out of the mans tight grip on his throat gasping for air.

He smirked at Natsu. "My name is Acnologia, the Dragon King." he chuckled. "Surely you should've been able to entertain me more before I kill you, but Zeref needs you alive right now."

"Natsu!" cried the blonde. She did the only thing she could think of at the moment. She slammed her foot into the man's crotch. Now, no matter how much you can take, whether you have pain resistance or anything, anyone would double over at that, which the man did, dropping the body. Natsu gasped for air as she helped him up and ran. Luckily, he recovered quickly. It was no use. He caught them in an instant, knocking Natsu down, and then her. She tried fighting his grasp, but it did nothing. Suddenly, flames roared to life as Natsu finally transformed.

His ruby red eyes filled with anger. "Don't you fucking touch her!" he growled.

Acnologia began laughing hysterically. "Finally! You're dragon comes forth!" His blue eyes holding a maddened gaze. "I'm going to enjoy this!" he growled as they lunged at each other. Natsu barely got a punch in as the man's fist landed on his head with a loud crack, knocking him to the ground unconscious. The girl scrambled to him, tears pouring from her face as she gazed upon his lifeless one. Her screams loud and repetitive.

"Natsu! Natsu, please wake up!" she cried. "Natsu!"

They were ended with a swift blow to her head. Her vision faded, still showing her the man laughing over them, that sick twisted smile on his face as darkness fell over her. Her eyes shut, possibly for the last time. Her only thought was the boy's name.

Natsu.


Acnologia is finally here. I was debating on who to have in this story, and finally came to the conclusion to add him in. Don't worry though, this isn't the last time we'll see him. It seems he's working for Zeref, and I kinda made him seem OP in this little scene, which will be explained later on. I'm sure you get it. I'm sure a couple people might be wondering why the hell I had Gray seem to be a kinder person so quick. Don't worry, things have only begun to play out, hehehe ;3

As for the scene where Lucy finds Natsu in the woods, I realize it was a little strange, but oh well. It had to be done because... well, I can't say now. You'll have to keep reading to find out. :D

Song(s) in this chapter:

- None this Chapter! :P

New character's ages in this chapter:

- Acnologia: ?

FEEL FREE TO LEAVE A REVIEW OR A QUESTION IN EITHER THE REVIEW SECTION OR IN A PM, AND THANKS FOR READING! :D