So I promised it, so it shall be. To those that celebrate, Happy Thanksgiving! To those that don't… you're really not missing out on much anymore. The stores have honestly ruined the whole thing for me.

As always, thanks for all the love and happy reading!


Lucy's heart was racing as she ran, zigzagging through the rundown city. She didn't remember being there before, but somehow knew she was going in the right direction. After a few more turns, she stopped.

Ahead of her stood four men and a woman. The woman she didn't mind so much but the men…

The screeching behind her had her whipping around. A large, black skinned demon came to a stop a few dozen feet away. Green ooze dripped from its mouth as it stalked her, its wings vibrating.

Lucy looked behind her again at the people standing silently before looking once more at the demon.

Which way should she go?

With a strangled sob, she bolted to her right down a different alley.


"So tell me again what you're doing here?"

Gillax brought up a new screen. "I altered my invention so I can put memories together. I figured the more scary things I threw at her, the better reaction I could get. So far it seems to be working. I'm going to have to go back and redo the first few tests but this is increasing the output from the last few by quite a bit."

On the screen, a blurry image showed Lucy running from multiple groups of people. They appeared to be in one of the cities in the Dark, from what Zeref could tell. As he watched, one of the smaller screens lit up, and a new group of people showed up directly in front of her.

"Seems I've found another." Gillax's smile widened. "This is incredible. With every addition, her heart rate and blood output increases. I never expected this to be so much fun!"

"Careful, Gillax." Zeref moved to peer down at Lucy, who remained strapped to the table. She was frowning and twitching, her breathing coming in sharp gasps. "We don't want to scare her to death."

"Sire, I'm not-"

"She's human, if you recall." The look that passed between them was cold and had Gillax shrinking back. "She is fragile. If you stress her heart too much, she could die. Be sure that doesn't happen, won't you?"

"Yes sir," Gillax said with a bow. "I will endeavor to keep her alive."

"Good." With that, Zeref turned and left.


Anger.

Red clouded his vision as he dug into the wall of the realm, trying to get out.

He wasn't supposed to see her. He was supposed to stay here and clear his head. He was supposed to pull himself together.

He didn't care.

As he continued to tear at the fabric of his brother's sanctuary, all he could do was allow the heat to flow through and out of him. He had no filter. No way to calm himself. No way to slow everything down.

He had to see her.

Deep down, deep deep down, in the part of him that was more dragon than demon, he understood why he was there. He understood why going to see her was a bad idea. He understood that there would be severe consequences for his actions. Not only was he going to find his way back to the world he was banned from, but he was going to tear a hole in a realm.

They were never going to let him out of his nest again, if they didn't kill him first.

But he didn't care.

He was already dead without her.

He just wanted to take one last breath before the end.


Leo landed with a thud. He'd heard some chatter while visiting his king, and it hadn't been good. He needed to talk to find Natsu now.

"Leo, what on earth are you doing here?"

The angel whipped around, glad he hadn't had to look for the dragon. "Grandeeney, thank the gods. Where is Natsu?"

She frowned as she sat next to him. "I'm afraid I haven't seen him in a while. Not since he returned from the human realm."

"Where is he?"

"I don't know." Grandeeney leaned closer. "You seem frazzled, Leo. What's going on? Did something happen?"

"I need him. Now."

The dragon's frown deepened. "You know, the least you could do is let him mourn in peace. Haven't we done enough to him?"

"Grandeeney-"

"No angel, I won't help you." She stood and opened her wings, preparing to take off. "We have yanked him away from his mate, which is cruel enough, but he is also not allowed to go see her again. For the sake of the realms, I helped you separate him from her, but I will not help you find him when he is trying to put himself back together."

"They got Lucy again."

Grandeeney froze. With a growl the likes of which Leo had never thought to hear from the gentle dragon, she glared at him as the wind swirled around her. "You lost the Heartfilia heir? What was the point of what we did if you were going to lose her again so soon after Natsu left? What are you angels even good for if you can't protect one measy human?"

Leo couldn't hold back the flare of his magic as he lifted his head to glare back. "There are many more demons trying to take her than we previously thought. I've had spies keeping an eye on the Dark since we retrieved Lucy and none have seen hide nor hair of Zalanoon, which means someone else has her.

"And whoever it is is strong. They managed to help a nightmare demon escape from the lowest realm and sent him to the human one to catch Lucy. I have multiple people keeping an eye on her, but a nightmare demon is a much different foe to deal with than any I have them watching out for. It was not our fault. If anything, it's the fault of Zeref. I understand they are his people, but he agreed to their punishment and has been in charge of keeping them contained since it was carried out."

"Of course an angel would blame someone else," Grandeeney spit out.

In a flash, Leo transformed to his true form, his wings spread and the glow of his magic making it hard for anyone to look at him for too long, even the psuedo-dragon queen. "Enough," he growled. "I get it. You didn't want to split Natsu from his mate, and you don't like that they went so far as to ban him from seeing her again. I did not anticipate that result either, but it is what it is.

"Right now, I need your help to find him. Even if they are not bonded, I know he will be able to find her, and I do not have time for this game of yours. If these people are doing the same things with Lucy that Mao was doing, they will not need as much time as usual to collect enough blood to complete their ritual and combine the realms back into the origin. Mao was researching a way to help Lucy's body replace her blood faster than it is normally capable of. If I'm right, than the people who have her probably managed to get their hands on his research and will have a head start figuring out how to make that process faster.

"This isn't about me or what I did, or your part in it. This is about the realms and Lucy. I need his help and you're the only link I have to find him."

Grandeeney continued to glare at him, even as it began to hurt her eyes. "First you separate them and now you want them to be together again." She let out a breath, allowing herself to relax, which caused Leo to as well. "I hope you understand the irony."

"I do." Leo's glow faded almost completely, but he didn't change his form. "Please Grandeeney. I need to find her and I can't do it on my own."

"Don't you angels have better magic than the demons when it comes to that kind of thing?"

"Only sometimes." He frowned and rubbed his sternum, where the pain from the broken connection still stung. "And not when the magic is cut off."

That surprised her. "What do you mean cut off?"

He gave her the same explanation that he'd given Erza, and mentioned he was working with the other demon. "I had no idea your magic was so intrusive," she said eventually.

Leo nodded. "It's better for what we do. At any rate, will you help me?"

"I wish that I could," the dragon said, "but I honestly have no idea where Natsu is."

"He really hasn't been back?"

Grandeeney grew visibly uncomfortable. "Once he found out that even I had a hand in everything, he grew rather violent and went off to visit his brother. I haven't seen him since, and I don't know where he would go. This is his home, and with Igneel's nest here, I expected him to come back by now, no matter how angry he was."

"Would Zeref have sent him somewhere?"

"Where?" she asked with a small smile. "He can't return to the human realm, the other realms don't welcome any demons, partial or otherwise, and this is the only realm dragons are allowed to live. There is nowhere else."

Leo growled and began to pace. There had to be somewhere.

Erza visited Zeref. If Natsu had been there, she would know, right?

The angel lifted his hand and opened a small portal. On the other side, Erza appeared, looking annoyed as she walked down the stairs of a large castle.

"Erza."

The demon looked around, her expression changing to one of surprise as she spotted Leo's visage to her left. "Leo. What are you doing?"

"Checking in. Did you already speak with Zeref?"

"Yes, and he's giving me the run around. He seems sincere enough, but I can't shake the feeling that he's keeping something from me."

"Did you see Natsu while you were there?"

"No, should I have?"

The angel sighed. "I don't know. Grandeeney said he hasn't been back to the nest since he first arrived home. He left to go visit his brother and hasn't returned, and from what I hear, this is the only realm he can be in right now."

Erza crossed her arms and tapped her chin. "That's not entirely true."

"What do you mean?" Grandeeney asked as she leaned down to see the demon.

"Natsu's options are limited right now, you are correct, but yours isn't the only one he could go to." She looked at Leo once more. "If Zeref wanted to, he could have sent Natsu to his private realm. I doubt any of the other kings would offer such an invitation, but as brothers, Zeref might be willing to."

"How would we get there?" Leo asked.

"Zeref would have to send us, but according to him, he doesn't know where Natsu is." Erza's expression became calculating. "If he's lying, and he did send Natsu away, I have to wonder why. While he did vote to separate Natsu and Lucy to help protect the realms, that doesn't necessarily exclude him from suspicion."

"I thought even the kings wouldn't dare lie to you?" Leo asked with a smirk.

Erza glared at him, making the hair in his mane stand up. "I told you, I could tell he was keeping something from me. I couldn't find a good way to ask, so I left. Accusing a king is not the easiest thing in our world.

"Under the circumstances, I think we should find out what he's hiding. If it is Natsu, we may have to assume he's conspiring with whoever is trying to bring back the origin and get whatever information out of him that we can. I don't like the idea of accusing any king of such things, but we will figure it out when we get there."

"So how do you plan to figure out what he's lying about?"

"First, I need to finish reporting to the rest of the kings. Then I am heading to the lowest realm. I need to make sure Midnight is the only one involved. If others are missing, we may be in trouble." She lowered her arms. "Do what you can with the rest of the Zodiac. Perhaps they can find something in the meantime. I'll meet you in my office later, if you don't reach out first." In a flash, she was gone.

Leo dropped the portal and sighed. "If Zeref is hiding Natsu, there's no way we'll be able to find him."

"That's not entirely true." Leo looked up but didn't have enough time to react as Grandeeney opened her mouth and roared. He slammed his hands over his ringing ears until she'd finished, several seconds later.

"Little warning next time?" he asked.

"Sorry, but time is of the essence." Grandeeney looked down. "Follow me, Leo the Lion." With a flap of her wings, she was airborne.

It took a minute, but Leo was able to catch up. "Where are we going?"

"To get the others," she called over the wind. "If Zeref is hiding Natsu in his personal realm, there's no telling how long he'll keep Natsu there."

"Surely Natsu wouldn't want to stay forever?"

"Of course not, but those pocket realms run based on how their owner wants. If he chose to, Zeref could slow time down there to a crawl. Natsu may think only minutes have passed when in truth years could pass here without him being any wiser."

Leo felt uneasy. "So he could keep him there indefinitely, unaware that anything has transpired here."

"Exactly."

"Does Natsu not know that's a possibility?"

"No," she answered. "Not many do. Igneel used one once, which is the only reason I know. Natsu would have no idea, and he trusts his brother, so he'd have no reason to suspect him of foul play."

"So what exactly are we going to do about it?" Leo asked. If she was right, they'd have to somehow convince Zeref to bring his brother back, and with him denying knowing where Natsu was…

"Do not worry, Leo the Lion." She smiled at him. "We dragons are more observant and more powerful than you might think."

"Well, I think you're pretty strong, so that kind of terrifies me."

She laughed and flapped once more, the power of her wings and magic propelling them forward at incredible speeds. "Remember that feeling if you ever find cause to be upset with our kind. We are more than capable of defending ourselves."

"I'm not liking that threat, Grandeeney."

"It's merely a warning," she reassured him.

Suddenly, another set of wings joined them, and then another and another. Within minutes, it seemed all of the dragons had joined them. Leo kept an eye on them, but they seemed to be okay with him being there. "So what's going on?" he asked when it became clear she was not going to tell him what they were up to.

"We are going to send you to Natsu."

Surprise had him slowing down for a moment before he pushed back to the correct speed. "How is that possible?"

"As I said, we are much more observant than most give us credit for." She gave him a smile. "We know where the kings' realms are, and while they believe they are the only ones that can open it, that is just not true."

Hope filled Leo's chest. "You can really get me to Natsu? Even if he is Zeref's secret realm?"

"Especially if he is." She faced forward once more. "We will look there first. I have a strong feeling that's where he is, and those feelings are very rarely wrong."

Relief flooded his body and Leo's shoulders sank even as his wings carried him on. "Thank you, Grandeeney."

"There is no need to thank me," she said, "so long as you allow Natsu the opportunity to say goodbye this time."

"I promise," he said, his hand against his chest.

"Then hurry." With another strong flap of her wings, they all sped forward even faster. "Let us retrieve Natsu, so that you may once more save the Heartfilia heir."


It was too much.

He could feel fear filling his chest, and he didn't know where it was coming from.

He needed to escape.

It was the only way to save himself.

With claws that bled, he continued to scratch and claw at the realm's barrier, frantic to get out.

He didn't know what chased him, only that he had to do everything he could to keep going and not get caught.

Faster.

Even as the walls crackled and warped, he continued to dig.

He had to escape.

He had to…

He had to find someone.