You are the best guys.
As always, thanks for all the love and happy reading.
Lucy stared at the man in front of her. "Uh… hi?" The man, Natsu, stood again and stepped towards her, causing her to stumble back. "No no, you stay there. I don't know what summons you're talking about, but it wasn't me. So you can leave now. Door's through there," she gestured towards the kitchen, "to the right. Goodbye."
He stared down at her with a frown. "I can't leave. Not until I've made and fulfilled the contract."
"We don't have a contract," she said, suddenly feeling very exposed in her sleep clothes. Her hair was a tangled mess around her head and she wished she knew where her ponytail had gone. "So you can leave right now."
Natsu sighed. "Listen, I get it. You were expecting someone scarier, right?"
There was a long moment of silence. "Uh… what?"
"Is this one of those 'can you kick my ex-boyfriend's ass' kind of things? Because honestly, I'm great with those. This is only one of my forms, I can be a whole lot scarier. It's just that my kind generally don't try to terrify the one who summons us. That's kind of a dick move."
"Your kind?"
"Yeah, demons?"
Lucy's eyes widened, but after a moment, she burst into laughter. The loud, oxygen depriving, gut hurting, tear inducing kind of laughter. She bent over, unable to contain her mirth, eventually falling to the floor. She wrapped her arms around herself as she did her best to keep her eyes on the man as he watched her.
When she caught her breath some time later, she wiped the tears out of her eyes. "Oh man, you had me going for a minute there. A demon? That explains the costume," she chuckled, her face finally dry. "I needed the laugh, thanks." As she stood, she grabbed her phone again from where she'd dropped it next to her. "Now it's time to leave, 'Mr. Demon,'" she said, making air quotes. "I wasn't lying about calling the cops. Or I could kick your ass on my own, if you prefer."
Natsu held up his hands towards her. "That won't be necessary. I'm here to help you, not hurt you."
"The only help I need is getting you out of my home."
"If you like, that can be part of your half of the contract."
"I keep telling you-"
"Alright, I'm growing bored with this," he said cutting her off. He reached down to grab Plue, who was still rubbing against his legs, and set him on the couch. When he turned back, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. As he let it out, he began to change. His skin cleared up, becoming tan and smooth. The horns on his head and the black of his nails faded and then disappeared. The cape disappeared, along with his pants, to be replaced with dark jeans. A white button down and black vest appeared on his torso, along with a scaly looking white scarf. His feet were still bare and he ran his hands through his hair to tame the mess some. He was also shorter; she hadn't noticed how much he towered over her before. When he opened his eyes, they were still endless black pools, but they didn't draw her in the same as they had before. "Satisfied?"
Lucy's heart beat harder as she stared at the man in front of her. Watching him had been disconcerting, but for a moment, she was bothered more by her physical reaction to him. She had been around enough guys to understand when she was attracted to someone, but she forced herself to ignore the heat that was currently blazing its way through her bloodstream.
This wasn't just some hot guy hanging out in her apartment. This was some sort of magic something- she wasn't sure if she believed the demon bit yet- that claimed he needed to finalize a contract she wasn't convinced she was a part of.
"Alright, I believe you're not normal." Damn it, why did the sleeves have to be rolled up? she wondered as her mouth practically watered. "What is this about a contract? How do people usually summon you?"
"They draw the summoning symbol."
"What does that look like? How do people figure out how to do that?"
He shrugged. "There are a few ways. Many of the magical beings that reside on this plane know how, and there are plenty of lost texts floating around that could fall into the hands of humans. As for what it looks like, you made it, so you should know."
"Okay, but I didn't, though."
Natsu sighed, looking around. Once he felt the tug, he walked into the kitchen. He pointed at the pile next to the bowl of food. "It's in here."
"Where?" she asked, following him. "What?! I summoned you with a pile of cheese?!" She began to pace, her hands buried in her hair. Natsu thought about saying something, but chose to watch her talk to herself instead.
This was certain the most amusing summons he'd ever answered. He'd never been brought to the human plane by accident before. The woman before him was beautiful, maybe even more so with the way her cheeks were flushed and her brown eyes glowed. She was average height for a woman, from what he could remember, but her assets were definitely not average. He wondered if that was usual for this time period.
Trying not to be a creep, he returned his eyes to her face, watching as she continued to pretend he wasn't here. "… up Lucy. We have work to do. If we fall asleep at our desk again, we'll have a sore neck and then work will be terrible tomorrow. Wake up."
"You probably won't believe me, but you're not sleeping."
She stopped and studied him for a while. The way her eyes scrutinized him unnerved him in a way humans typically didn't. She appeared to come to some conclusion as she straightened and relaxed her shoulders. "Alright," she said, turning away. Before she left the room, she paused. "Are you telling me that to summon you, all someone has to do is make a pile of shredded cheese?"
He glanced at the pile on the counter, deciding that must be what she was referring to. Mentally, he made a note that he needed to update his knowledge of the human world. "No, but it seems you somehow managed to create my symbol at the bottom of the pile of… that." As she walked towards him, he carefully cleared the pile off of the symbol at the bottom. The pieces that created his fire emblem were glowing slightly and were stuck to the countertop beneath them. She poked at the pile, surprising him when he realized she was so close.
"Is that going to stay there forever now?"
"The symbol remains active for 24 hours, or until the terms of the contract are agreed upon."
"So if we don't figure out a contract, you'll go away tomorrow."
"Yes."
"Huh." She grabbed the bowl next to the symbol, opened a drawer for a silver instrument, and then took both into the other room. He stared after her for a moment before he finally followed. She was sitting at a small table covered in papers, a blanket over her lap, eating her food while reading the papers.
He moved closer, but thought better of it after remembering how she kicked him earlier. He paused halfway across the room before he stopped to watch her. "I didn't get your name," he said when she continued to ignore him.
"Pretty sure you know it," she said absently.
He cocked his head to the side. "The summoning doesn't give me any information about the summoner or the purpose. That's your job once I arrive."
She flipped a paper. "Since you're a creation from my head, it would be reasonable to assume that you know my name."
Natsu took a moment to process her words before he chuckled. "So wait- now I'm a figment of your imagination?"
"I'm not sure how my desire to have a little more excitement in my life managed to create this little scenario, but I can accept it."
"You sound awfully calm about being crazy."
She raised a finger as she looked at him. "Not crazy, just bored." Her eyes turned back to her work. "It'll make a fun story, if I decide to write it out some day."
Natsu ran his fingers through his hair, at a loss for what to do. The cat came to wrap around his legs again, his purr momentarily the loudest noise in the room. "Alright… you. I don't know what to do to convince you without scaring you, and I would really rather not have to do that." She didn't even spare him a glance as she continued to eat. "If I'm a figment of your imagination, how could you touch me?"
She glanced at him, then at the wall where he'd landed. "I don't see a mark from you landing. Maybe I didn't actually touch you."
He took a step, causing her to spin in her chair. "I'd rather you kept your distance. Figment of my imagination or not, I'm still uncomfortable with you being here."
Natsu pointed at his feet. "Your cat is touching me, and I picked him up earlier."
"See, mentioning Plue doesn't actually help your case. He's usually wary of new people and he's taken an instant liking to you. Whether he's actually touching you or not, that isn't a good argument." She put her feet up on her desk, taking another bite of her salad. "If you're going to keep arguing, you might as well do it while I eat. What else you got?"
"The fact that I have no information about you makes this rather difficult."
"Or you're just claiming to not have the information."
He crossed his arms, feeling annoyance started to surface. "If you gave me a minute and let me touch your head, I could erase those doubts."
"Oh really? How's that?"
"Because then I could read you."
Her eyebrows came together as she frowned. "Read me?"
He nodded. "Like a book."
"How would that help you?"
"By familiarizing myself with your thoughts and memories, I would be able to figure out what I can do to get you to believe me. Plus, my magic reads your past events as an objective outsider. Which means I would know what happened clearly, instead of seeing them through the veil of memory and emotion. Are there any memories you have that aren't quite clear that you'd like to be able to remember better? Conversations with loved ones, arguments with a rival, that sort of thing? I could help you remember them clearly. That seems like a fairly good way to convince you."
She contemplated him carefully. "Is this part of the contract? Will I owe you later?"
He shook his head. "We would be even, since I would also be using the contact as a way to update my understanding of how your world works. It's been a long time since I've been here, and my job will be much easier once I am up to date."
Lucy tossed the last tomato into her mouth as she contemplated the man's offer. Now that she'd calmed down some, she had realized that the story this man, or demon rather, was selling was much too elaborate for her brain to have just made it up to entertain herself. Not that she'd ever admit out loud, but she had more than once envisioned having conversations like this with the characters in the story she was writing. It helped when she'd get stuck, uncertain how she wanted them to react to some scenarios. This was much different, though, since she wasn't running both sides of the conversation.
She didn't honestly think he was a figment of her imagination, but the offer he was making held her tongue. If she let him believe for a time that she was still on the fence, she could have fun with this memory magic he claimed to have. If he stuck around a while, maybe she could use him to help settle some arguments she'd had with Cana about work over the last few years. Especially the incident with the Email-That-Shall-Not-Be-Named.
Honestly, the rest of it didn't appeal to her much. The past was the past, there was nothing you could do about it, so reliving it was pointless. Maybe he could help refresh some of the memories of her mother, but she wasn't sure if she wanted that. She was okay now, and while she missed her mother, it had only been a few short years since she'd finally been able to think about her without feeling like there was an anvil on her chest.
"Let's say you convince me," she said as she set down her bowl. "Explain this contract to me."
"It's the same as any contract. We discuss terms and negotiate until we agree on them. It used to be a wish based system, but they changed it when the program lost too many volunteers."
"Volunteers? Demons need to volunteer for this kind of thing?"
He exhaled, waving one hand as he rolled his eyes. "There was a thing a while back that changed how everything worked. The tale isn't worth retelling.
"On my plane, there's a system in place so you can basically upgrade to a different level of hell. If you fulfill enough contracts with acceptable ratings, then you can move up. It used to be that demons would answer the summons and fulfill wishes, but eventually humans started figuring out how to cut out the loopholes enough that demons quit having fun with them and they stopped doing it."
"Why is there a system in place to make you available to be summoned at all?"
"Some deal between our realm and another one. The head honcho has a quota to fill, so once demons basically lost the ability to play with the humans who summoned them and quit volunteering, he changed the conditions.
"Now, we get summoned and make contracts. I have to use my magic to fulfill your terms of the contract, and you have to fulfill my terms. The catch is I can't use my magic to help you fulfill my terms, even if we tried to make it a requirement. There's a plethora of rules and regulations that restrict it, and to keep my requests from being too extreme or harmful."
"What do you mean too extreme?"
He seemed to consider his words before he answered her. "The original rules were one wish for one soul. Souls are powerful in our realm, but they're rarely offered anymore, so some demons have tried to use loopholes to get their hands on them after the contract is filled. Now, there are a lot of rules about the state the human has to be left in at the end of the contract, and about repeated contact without prior consent. There are also a lot of rules limiting the amount of negotiation that can happen to add the soul to the agreement, so humans don't feel forced to give them up. And while I'm not obligated to protect you, I'm not allowed to harm you or request permission to perform harmful acts.
"Not that I would," he reassured her as she paled. "Being a half-breed, the violent tendencies aren't as strong in me as they are in other demons. To be honest, most of what I want is a break from the realms, and I'm willing to do just about anything to make that happen."
There was a lot there to unpack, but she let herself focus on the least scary portion of what he'd said. "Half-breed?"
He smirked. "If I'm a figment of your imagination, you should know what I mean." The light in his eyes made her think he suspected she already knew he was real.
Lucy didn't comment. Instead, she carefully digested the information he'd given her. He seemed nice enough, for a half-demon. Maybe she could deal with spending some time with him, if his terms weren't unreasonable. He'd already told her that if they didn't agree by the 24 hour mark, he'd go back home and everything would go back to normal. Maybe letting him into her head wasn't the greatest idea, but what could he do with that information- if he was real- when he went back? She could always make it a term of the contract that he couldn't tell anyone else on his plane, or hers, about her inner thoughts.
She'd wanted a little excitement, right?
"Alright," she said, gesturing at her head. "Do your thing."
Edited 6/11/20
