Hello, everyone !
I'm back with the tenth chapter :D
Enjoy reading~
Disclaimer: My deepest gratitude to Mashima Hiro for bringing this wonderful Fairy Tail alive.
The guild fell into a complete silence. They stood there with their mouths agape, staring at the head with their widened eyes. Lucy's dark persona chuckled upon seeing their flustered expressions.
"I guess this is your first time seeing another head in a body?" she teased.
Natsu was the first one who snapped back into his senses.
"Get out of her body, bastard!" Natsu growled in a low voice.
"Let me think about that…" Lucy's dark persona pretended to think deeply for a moment before letting out a grin. "Nope."
"What do you want from Lucy?" Erza drew her sword out.
"Ooh, put that sword back, Titania. You can't separate me from Lucy by force."
Erza took a stance. "I'll do it if I have to."
Lucy's dark persona clicked her tongue. "I strongly suggest you not to. I am currently one with her. If you try to separate us by force, you'll end up killing her."
"Or I'll end up killing you." Erza hissed back.
"No way." Lucy's dark persona sneered. "Just imagine the scenario of separating a pair of Siamese twins. There's always a part of them that is connected to each other, right? And when you separate that part, the stronger one tends to be the only one who stays alive. Our current situation is just like that, you see. If you separate us by force, I will be the only one who stays alive because I'm the stronger one."
"Erza, I think that makes sense." Jellal interrupted. "We need to find another way to separate them."
Erza squinted her eyes but lowered her hands nonetheless.
"Are you the dark persona created from Kurohei's dark magic inside of Lu-chan?" Levy braced herself to ask.
"Try again, Levy-chan." Lucy's dark persona simply said with an amused grin.
"It's got to be that." Natsu retorted. "This thick dark magic power… It's the same power like the one I sensed when we were retrieving that book."
"That's rude, Natsu." Lucy's dark persona pretended to be hurt from Natsu's words. "Can't you recognize your own magic?"
"My magic is completely different from that." Natsu growled back.
"Don't tell me you forgot already about your E.N.D magic!" Lucy's dark persona let out a somewhat fake gasp.
The guild fell into another silence as their brains were processing what Lucy's dark persona had just said.
"Are you saying you're… Lucy's dark persona which was created from the curse of E.N.D which was left inside of her?" Erza broke the short silence.
"Bingo!" Lucy's dark persona grinned.
"Is that why Salamander couldn't smell her weird scent?" Gajeel asked.
"Another bingo!" Lucy's dark persona congratulated. "A pretty neat camouflage, don't you think? E.N.D's scent once belonged to Natsu, so he wouldn't be able to discern that. Neither can Wendy because she was used to smell Natsu's scent. Your nose is the more sensitive one because you rarely spend time with Natsu, Son of Metalicana, but I figured you wouldn't be too bothered with it. A perfect plan."
"But I thought Lucy's magic is mixing with the dark magic she absorbed from the Book of Kurohei." Gray said.
"Bingo again!" Lucy's dark persona lightly cheered. "But she wouldn't have been able to absorb that magic in the first place if I hadn't resonated with that magic."
"You're the reason she was able to absorb that dark magic!" Cana said in annoyance.
"Correct!" Lucy's dark persona innocently said. "I need a similar magic to sustain myself, don't I?"
"I see." Loke said. "Lucy was able to rewrite the Book of E.N.D because she inherited the compatibility to Zeref's magic which runs in her family. And because of that compatibility, there's a part of E.N.D's magic which is linked to her soul and couldn't be slain by Gray's devil-slaying magic. This magic part resonated with the dark magic from the Book of Kurohei, enabling Lucy to absorb the dark magic into her and strengthening the E.N.D magic."
"You finally figured it out!" Lucy's dark persona cheered happily.
"Hold on, that means… There are actually two different dark magic within Lucy?" Meredy asked.
"I think so." Loke nodded. "Or E.N.D's magic and Kurohei's magic have actually blended into one."
"Hey! I'm the stronger one here!" Lucy's dark persona protested.
"Her body can't possibly last with the two dark magic clashing with her own!" Levy said. "We need to separate the magic as soon as possible!"
"Then I'll burn that magic away." Natsu growled loudly and lit his fist ablaze. "If I can get rid of both of the dark magic, you'll be a goner and Lucy will be back to herself."
"Ah, are you thinking of using that special connection between you and your mate?" Lucy's dark persona asked. "You think you won't hurt her because she's now immune to your element? What a very naïve thought, Natsu Dragneel. You seriously think I didn't make any preparation for that?"
Natsu's eyebrows twitched a bit. "What do you mean?"
Lucy's dark persona chuckled. "You don't think I'm that stupid, right? I'm not connected to her physically, I'm connected to her soul! What do you think will happen if you try to separate our souls by force using your fire?"
Jellal made the connection right away. "Don't do it, Natsu! Lucy's soul isn't fire-proof! If you try to separate their souls by force, you'll be burning away Lucy's soul instead which will leave her body empty. If that happens, her dark persona's soul will be able to inhabit Lucy's body and completely takes over!"
"Oho, a smart guy, indeed." Lucy's dark persona chuckled.
Natsu gritted his teeth and turned off his fire reluctantly. "Then what the hell are we supposed to do?!"
"Oh, you don't have to do any—ugh!"
Lucy's dark persona's figure suddenly flickered once, and she winced as if she was in pain. She looked down at Lucy's body and gritted her teeth. "Damn it, Lucy. You're still strong enough to put up a fight?"
"Lucy!" Natsu suddenly called. "Luce! Can you hear me? You have to fight the dark magic! Don't let it take over! Don't give up! You hear me, Luce? Don't give up!"
"Shut it!" Lucy's dark persona growled back. "I know this won't be easy. The Heartfilia souls are known to be so pure and so bright, after all."
"Push her out, Lucy!" Erza added. "Once she's out, Natsu can burn her into nothing!"
"You can do it, Lu-chan!" Levy also cheered.
"I said shut it!" Lucy's dark persona's growl became heavier. "Our souls are connected! There's nothing she can do to—ugh! Lucy…!"
"Their souls are starting to clash again!" Bickslow reported as he activated his second eyes.
"Don't give up, Luce!" Natsu said. He believed in her, the same way she believed in him. He knew it wouldn't be so easy to bring his mate down. Natsu knew her strength even before she knew it herself.
"D—damn it, Lucy Heartfilia…!" Lucy's dark persona started to flicker faster. Her eyebrows furrowed deep in concentration and one of her eyes squinted, she gritted her teeth to bear the pain that only she could feel.
"The light's getting stronger!" Bickslow said. "Lucy's gaining the upper hand!"
"Keep it up, Lucy!" Gray said. "Don't give up! Don't let her win! Push her out!"
"Damn it, you bastard…!" Lucy's dark persona cursed under her breath. The strange veins then finally spread for the last time and covered Lucy's entire body. Her hair turned into pitch black, her fangs and horns grew even longer. Her claws were also elongated.
"The dark magic is getting thicker!" Bickslow said. "Lucy, don't give up!"
"I have no other choice…" Lucy's dark persona managed a cold smirk. "I'll be taking you to that place…!"
"You're not taking her anywhere, you asshole!" Natsu swore.
Lucy's dark persona stared back at Natsu and smiled through the intense pain she was feeling. Her red scales suddenly pulsed, her horns grew longer, and her red eyes glowed even brighter. She then opened her mouth, showing her elongated fangs and roared out loud.
The guild instantly covered their own ears upon hearing the intense roar. A second later, cracks started to appear along the crystalized pillar of light.
"She's breaking out…!" Cana shouted while covering her ears tight.
"Loke! Pour your magic to the pillar!" Erza said.
"I can't!" Loke shouted back. "It was one of the Celestial Spirit King's spells! I can only use it once!"
Sensing the pillar of light which was holding her back was getting weaker, Lucy's dark persona poured out more dark magic to break free. More cracks appeared along the crystalized pillar, ones that were even bigger and longer.
"The pillar won't hold for much longer…! Everyone, GET DOWN!" Loke shouted to the rest of the guild, sensing the upcoming blast as the crystalized pillar was about to explode.
The guild laid flat on the floor and a second after that, Lucy's dark persona managed to break free. The crystalized pillar exploded, sending pieces of it flew all over the guildhall.
Lucy's body with its changed appearance was floating in the midair. Lucy's dark persona gains a much clearer figure now. Her body was still transparent as her soul hadn't taken over Lucy's body yet, but it was no longer her head only that could be seen. She was standing on her feet, one of her hands was supporting Lucy's back while the other one was stuck in Lucy's chest.
"Ah, I'm finally free…"
Natsu lifted his head up and glared at Lucy's dark persona. "Get your hands off of her!"
Lucy's dark persona chuckled and flexed her hand which was inside Lucy's chest. She then slowly pulled it out. When it was finally out, a yellow orb was floating above her palm. Her long claws surrounded the orb, acting as a cage perfectly.
"That's… That's Lucy's soul!" Bickslow said.
"Pretty, isn't it?" Lucy's dark persona mused. "Look at this light… So pure and so bright, the courtesy of being the descendant of one of the greatest Celestial wizards of all time, Anna Heartfilia."
"You bastard…!" Natsu stood up and was about to attack Lucy's dark persona when she simply glared at him and easily blast him away with her dark magic's force.
"Natsu-san!" Wendy quickly made her way to him.
"Change of plans." Lucy's dark persona said. "Her soul is much stronger than I expected, so I have to crush it in another place."
"Stop!" Natsu growled from afar.
"Where are you taking her?!" Happy braced himself to ask, although his entire body was shaking badly out of fear.
"A place befitting to crush a soul as beautiful as this one." Lucy's dark persona smirked. "A place where only the kings can go to, a place that fits none of you."
"Stop, I said!" Natsu said and stood up.
"Do you think we'll let you?!" Erza also growled and pulled herself up.
"Don't you dare touch Lucy's soul!" Gray warned.
Lucy's dark persona rolled her eyes. "Humans do learn with the hard way, eh? Fine."
Her red eyes then glowed, and the whole guild was down on their knees at the next second. They instantly broke into a cold sweat, their strength left their bodies as if it was being sapped away. They couldn't stand up as their legs felt like a jelly and to be honest, they didn't want to.
Natsu and his teammates instantly recognized this feeling.
The same feeling they felt when they battled against Hades in Tenroujima.
Fear.
Although the intensity of it this time was totally on a different level than Hades's. It was a truly intense one, as if a massive wave downed on them and swept them away. The air started thinning and they began to gasp to breathe. Their entire body trembled badly, their eyes were quivering as countless of nightmares started to appear in their heads.
"S—stop…" Wendy hugged herself as fear started to grapple her heart. "P—please… Stop…"
"No… No… No…!" Levy clutched her head as all sorts of nightmares appeared in her head. The images she kept seeing was horribly vivid, Levy felt like her sanity was being ripped away bit by bit.
Lucy's soul suddenly pulsed and the glowing in Lucy's dark persona's red eyes abruptly stopped. The guild let out the breaths they were unconsciously holding in and gasped for fresh air, while Lucy's dark persona glared at the floating orb above her palm.
"You just keep interrupting…" she cursed. "No time left, I guess."
Lucy's dark persona pulled out her hand from behind Lucy's back—causing Lucy's soulless body to fall onto the floor—and thrusted it forward. She closed her eyes to concentrate and mumbled under her breath. "This is the key of E.N.D, the strongest demon of Zeref. Open, Omegalpha!" She then opened her eyes again after a few seconds as a black vortex started to form in front of her.
"S—Stop…!" Natsu croaked as he was still gasping for air. "Where… Where are you taking my mate's soul…!"
Lucy's dark persona glanced at Natsu once the vortex had completely formed. She let out an amused smirk and stepped inside the vortex. "I'll be waiting in the Omegalpha, Natsu."
Her figure then could no longer be seen as the vortex closed and disappeared into thin air.
After Lucy's dark persona went off somewhere with Lucy's soul, it was no surprise that the empty body became cold. Lucy's body was taken to the guild's infirmary and Natsu quickly worked his magic to warm her up. There were only a few people inside of the infirmary, beside Natsu and Happy. His other teammates were obviously present, along with Gajeel, Juvia, Jellal, Meredy, and Loke. The other members were still at the guildhall, recuperating from the intense wave of fear they had just experienced. It was their first time experiencing something like that, after all.
The people in the infirmary started to discuss their next step as Natsu poured out his magic to warm his mate's body.
"We need to take her soul back as soon as possible." Erza said. "Did anyone know where she's gone off to?"
"Something called Omegalpha." Natsu answered. "I heard she said that place's name right before she disappeared into that vortex."
"What kind of place is that?" Gray asked.
"I've never heard of that name before." Jellal said. "It's possible that this 'Omegalpha' is a whole new dimension."
"You mean… A separate dimension like the Celestial world?" Gray blinked his eyes.
"Perhaps." Jellal was also unsure. "It doesn't sound like a name of a city nor a country to me."
"This is a big problem." Erza clamped her chin with a hand as her brain spun to think. "If this 'Omegalpha' is truly a different dimension, then how the hell can we get there?"
"I'll return to the Celestial world now." Loke said as an idea suddenly crossed his mind. Didn't Lucy's dark persona say that she was going to a place 'where only the kings can go to'? "Perhaps the Celestial Spirit King knows something."
Erza nodded. "Tell us anything you know once you find out."
"Will do." Loke nodded back and then he returned to the Celestial world.
"In the meantime, we should look for this 'Omegalpha' as much as we can." Erza said. "Natsu will stay here to keep Lucy's body warm."
"I will stay here too." Wendy volunteered. "I will heal Natsu-san."
"No, we're good. Thanks, Wendy." Natsu turned his head over to look at the petite dragon slayer and gently smiled. "My mark still works, so I can channel my power to her better. I only need to warm her up twice or thrice a day."
"But Natsu-san…"
"Leave Lucy to us, Wendy!" Happy smiled at his teammate. "The sooner we find a way to get to the Omegalpha, the faster we can retrieve Lucy's soul!"
Wendy was a bit hesitant to leave the two of them in the infirmary alone, but finally agreed. Lucy is Natsu's mate now, he surely knew her condition better. Wendy finally nodded at them and left the infirmary with the others.
Once everything became quiet, Happy walked towards Natsu who was sitting beside Lucy's bed. Happy looked up at his father figure and asked worriedly. "Natsu, are you sure you only need to warm her up twice or thrice a day?"
Natsu glanced down at Happy and let out a small smile. "Of course, little buddy. Because her body bears my mark, my power can stay for a longer time inside of her."
"I'm glad to hear that." Happy let out a relieved sigh. "We have to keep her body warm until we get her soul back, don't we?"
"Yeah."
Both of them then fell into a silence.
"You know…" Natsu suddenly started to speak softly, breaking the silence between him and Happy. "I was thinking of proposing to her in the past few weeks, actually."
Happy's eyes lit up. "Really?"
"Yeah." Natsu chuckled. "I am so ready to build a family with her, Happy. I wanted to ask her a couple of times in these past few weeks, but I ended up always getting cold feet."
"No wonder." Happy said in understanding. "Asking the hand of the person you love in marriage is quite nerve-wrecking. Or at least that was what Bisca told me, anyway."
"Didn't Bisca get cold feet when she asked Alzack to marry her?" Natsu asked amusedly.
"She did." Happy grinned. "But Bisca told me that a girl's bravery is not something to belittle of. Her cold feet were gone in the next second and she asked the question loud and clear."
Natsu chuckled. "Then I guess I'm not as brave as Bisca yet."
"Of course you are!" Happy protested. "And it's not your fault you couldn't ask her yet! She… She was a bit off for the past two months, after all. I don't think there was any right time to ask her?"
Natsu suddenly groaned lowly. "Damn it! Why didn't I realize there's something wrong with her? I shouldn't have let her go to all those solo missions! I should have noticed all these changes within her!"
"Natsu, none of this is your fault." Happy cheered. "You know how good Lucy is in hiding things from other people."
"But I'm her mate, Happy! I'm her partner!" Natsu was still blaming himself. "And yet all this happened because she rewrote the Book of E.N.D… All this happened because of me… It's my fault…"
"Natsu!" Happy sternly reprimanded. "Lucy has never regretted rewriting that book for you! Don't you dare blame yourself for any of this!"
Happy's stern voice took Natsu aback but also snapped him back to his senses. He smiled at his longtime partner. "You're right, little buddy. I'm sorry."
Happy shook his head weakly and stared back at Lucy. "Natsu…" he meekly called. "Lucy… She'll be okay, right?"
"Of course." Natsu gave out his signature toothy grin. "Once we can reach that Omegalpha place, I'll give her dark persona a good beating and we'll bring her soul back."
Happy nodded, his big eyes glinted a bit as optimism started to fill his heart.
However, despite Natsu's usual positivity, the main problem still remained. No one had any idea where this Omegalpha was. Even Makarov was at loss because he had never heard of it before. There was nothing written about the place in the guild's library, either. Knowing that their search was futile, they then decided to rely on Loke. Hopefully, the lion Celestial spirit would come and give the answer they needed. Natsu had been pouring his magic into Lucy's soulless body, but even he could feel the slight coldness that started to be more permanent as each day passed.
Anxiousness started to fill Natsu's heart, but he did well in hiding it. He didn't want to worsen the guild's condition, especially Happy and his teammates. He kept pouring his magic into her body while praying that Loke would come as soon as possible, because he knew that was the only thing he could do at the moment.
Finally, on the fourth day after Lucy's body lost its soul, Loke appeared again at the guild.
"We've been waiting, dude!" Gray greeted his once partner for the S-Class Trial in relief.
"Here! This is the key to the Omegalpha!" Loke thrusted out his hand, showing a small gold key on his palm. "Like Jellal had thought, it's a different dimension. This dimension can only be accessed by kings, like the Celestial Spirit King or Mard Geer, the Underworld King."
"But Lucy's dark persona isn't a king." Happy pointed out.
"Yes, but she was created from a portion of E.N.D's magic which was left inside of Lucy." Loke answered. "E.N.D is the strongest demon Zeref had ever created, its power rivals that of a king's."
"But why would Lucy's dark persona take Lucy's soul to that dimension?" Erza asked.
"The Celestial Spirit King said that that dimension is a dark one." Loke anxiously said. "Lucy's dark persona must be thinking of utilizing the dimension's dark aura to crush Lucy's soul."
"We need to hurry." Gray said. "I don't think Lucy's soul will last for a long time in a dark place like that."
"How do we use they key, Loke?" Erza asked.
"I'll open the dimension for you using this key. Once you retrieved Lucy's soul and destroyed her dark persona, the blast from E.N.D magic will reopen the vortex for you from the inside." Loke said. "Please bring my master back, safe and sound."
"Will do." Natsu immediately promised. "By the way, Lucy needs a refill of magic power in two hours. Can you guys—"
"We'll keep her body warm with our magic, Natsu." Levy quickly assured. "Don't worry, we'll be taking care of her."
Natsu nodded and smiled. "Thanks, guys."
"Okay, are you ready?" Loke asked which was answered with a firm nod from the members of Team Natsu. He nodded back at them and then thrust the key forward to the air. "This is the key of the Celestial Spirit King, the king of 88 stars! Open, Omegalpha!"
The key glowed and a second later, a vortex appeared. The same black vortex like the one Lucy's dark persona opened. Team Natsu stared at the vortex in silence before stepping into it one by one.
I'm coming, Luce.
Done !
I suffered a worse writer's block when writing this chapter, but I'm glad I managed to finish it !
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