As always, thanks for all the love and happy reading!
No no no, Natsu thought. He wasn't ready for them to know he was there. Midnight said they were getting ready to complete the ritual, but he didn't know what that entailed! And he was a good fighter but…
Xeenathen and Rhjothe were kings, two of the strongest demons in the realms! He didn't stand a chance against them all in his current form.
And if he let the demon out… well, he was as liable to hurt Lucy as he was to save her.
"Who's there?" Rhjothe yelled as the glow he was creating increased. Next to him, Xeenathen hissed.
"It's Natsu," Midnight said. "It seems he managed to escape Zeref's realm somehow."
"I can smell him," Xeenathen said, his breath wheezing out of his lungs.
"Don't worry, I can take care of him," Midnight reassured them.
"You will do no such thing," came a voice. Gillax ducked his head as he entered from the other doorway, slowly removing his lab coat. His teeth glinted in the candlelight as saliva dripped from their sharp points. "Midnight, take the human back upstairs. Zeref will want her safe until we are done."
The other demon scowled. "I don't take orders from you."
"No, but you take them from our kings, and I think they would support my claim that you are best suited to keeping the heir away from our dear hidden hybrid. Wouldn't you, Xeenathen and Rhjothe?"
"He is right," Rhjothe said. "Bring her upstairs, Midnight. We can handle this."
"Whatever," Midnight said with a sigh. His shadows came out and wrapped around Lucy. A moment later, the pair was gone.
"NO!" Natsu emerged from his shadows, unintentionally revealing himself as he sought Midnight's shadow amongst the others. A sharp icicle landed in front of his face, barely missing his shadow. Xeenathen's raspy chuckle filled the cave as he aimed again.
Natsu growled as he allowed himself to fall to the cave floor. A one against three would be difficult, but now that Lucy wasn't around, he could let out his other half. He wasn't sure he could himself back out later, but he'd worry about that when the time came.
Just as he rose up, there was a shout behind him.
"What is the meaning of this?" Erza moved forward, her armor causing her body to blend into the darkness, leaving only her head and hair visible. Her eyes landed on the pool in the middle and then she glared at the other kings. "Sires, it would seem you were not very truthful in the kings' last meeting."
"This is none of your concern, Scarlet," Rhjothe rumbled. "There's no way Zeref brought you down here, so you are entering a king's home without permission. There will be serious consequences once we leave."
"I actually think she'll be in rather good standing with the other demon kings once we leave here." Leo moved to stand beside Erza, his aura a faint glow around him, although it was getting brighter and brighter the more he looked around. Behind him, there was some movement, but Natsu couldn't see who it was.
With a silent curse, he forced his other side back down. With both Erza and Leo here, he couldn't risk letting himself loose, and if he couldn't let himself loose…
Gods above, he just wanted to save Lucy.
"Leo-"
"I know. I have Virgo on it." The angel looked around at the trio. "Which one would you like, Natsu? Since Lucy is your mate, it seems only fair you should get to choose who you'd like to fight.
"Would you prefer one of the kings that helped to plot her capture or…" His gaze sharpened. "The one who's been bleeding her dry since she arrived?"
Natsu growled as Gillax chuckled. "Bring it on, little hybrid. You don't stand a chance."
With a snarl, Natsu took a step forward. "I think this one will do just fine. If you need help with the others, I'm sure I'll be up for it after my warm up."
Leo and Erza chuckled as they readied their stances. "I guess that will depend if we leave you anything to play with."
In an explosion of sound, everyone shot forward at once. Gillax, wings now fully exposed, managed to surprise Natsu with his speed, avoiding the hybrid's charge, and clipping his wing, causing him to roll and nearly wipe out. For a few moments Natsu remained on the defensive, trying to learn the other demon's pattern.
Gillax began to laugh and then paused in the air. The others were making a ruckus with their own fights, but Natsu could hear him plain as day. "This cave seems a little small, doesn't it? Perhaps we should move our fight elsewhere." His wings snapped out, and then he shot towards the other doorway, disappearing into the darkness.
Natsu ignored the others as he fell into his shadows to follow him. He was vaguely aware of a few smaller tunnels off to the side, but Gillax wasn't heading there. Eventually, they entered a large open cave with a small, trickling creek and nothing else. The demon stopped in the middle of the space, his wings moving faintly to keep him airborne. "Natsu, wasn't it?"
With a hiss, Natsu revealed himself again, his wings vibrating from his anger. "And who are you?"
"I'm Gillax, your brother's top researcher." The demon bowed a little, his purple skin blending in perfectly with the blackness around him.
"Never heard of you."
"That's understandable. My work isn't something he talks about much."
"And yet you do it. Why?"
"Because he gives me free reign to do my work as I see fit," Gillax said. "He's not as fond of rules and regulations as the institution is. Why, they never would have allowed me to test out my memory manipulator on-"
Natsu lunged, his shadows a cloak around him, and passed right through where Gillax had been without a touch.
"Now now, don't you want the answer to your question?"
"Not anymore," came the response as a blast of black fire flew through the air. It barely missed Gillax, who flew higher up.
"Well that's rather rude, isn't it?"
"I know what you're doing, and it ain't gonna work," Natsu spit out. He fully immersed himself, hiding in the darkness as the other demon lit his hands to try and track him.
"I wasn't doing anything but answering your question," Gillax argued.
"You're trying to make me angry so I won't fight as effectively." He rushed passed the other demon, cutting him across the arm before he returned to the edges of the cave. His voice floated around the room, a spell forcing it to echo and hide his position. "That, or you're trying to keep me busy. I don't have time to play with you. I have to rescue Lucy."
"Then be my guest and go after her," Gillax said with a smile. He was focusing across the cave, the exact opposite side from where Natsu was.
"I will, as soon as I take care of you." Natsu zipped across the room, exposing his claws just before he reached his target. Gillax whipped around and cut Natsu instead as he dodged the claws and sliced through his shadow with a long blade.
Natsu hissed as the blade cut him, but didn't stop moving. Scales coated his skin as he fully left his shadow and his magic covered him in red and black fire. His spiked tail sailed through the air, barely missing Gillax's head as the other demon swung low at Natsu's feet.
The pair swung and dodged for a few minutes, neither getting hit or landing any blows, before Natsu finally managed a punch to the other's shoulder. For a moment, his arm went limp, surprising Gillax long enough for Natsu to wrap his tail around him and fling him to the ground.
The air rushed out of Gillax's lungs as he landed, and a crunch echoed around the space as Natsu landed on him. His limp arm refused to respond, and then Natsu leaned forward to sink his teeth into his other shoulder. He howled in pain as Natsu growled and clenched his jaw, squeezing his mouth shut. As Gillax's shoulder popped out of the socket, he suddenly roared. He flapped his wings hard, knocking Natsu loose, and shot into the air again. Blood dripped off him, hitting the stones below in quiet drips.
As Natsu took flight again, Gillax began to laugh. "Oh, this is getting fun," he said, his arms hanging limp at his sides. Despite that, his mouth spread into a wide grin as he continued to laugh. "I should expect nothing less of Igneel and Dathrokia's son."
Natsu ignored his words, instead allowing himself to grow even larger as he shot through the air once more. Gillax dodged to the side and suddenly, he was across the room. The hybrid turned, his claws and teeth fully extended, and hissed.
"Oh now now, no need to get upset. I figured it out long before Zeref told me. I'm rather surprised. Igneel didn't strike me as one that could be so easily duped. But then, the former nightmare demon queen was rather cunning."
Natsu blinked, hard, as he realized Gillax's wings were changing. He had two pairs now, moving at different speeds, and one of them appeared to have an extra hand on the end. He'd also grown larger, his tail nearly twice as long now. Natsu should have expected it, but he hadn't thought much about the fight, only focused on trying to take him down quickly so he could get to Lucy.
"Are you ready, Dragneel? It's been a long time since I was able to go all out, so I find that I'm looking forward to this quite a lot. I apologize in advance," Gillax said, his head lowering and a grin spreading across his face, "but I really don't know how to hold back like this."
Natsu tried to ready himself, but he was not prepared for the speed at which Gillax moved. He could barely track the other demon as he zipped passed again and again, some times slicing him with those taloned fingers, and sometimes merely knocking him around in the air when he was able to move fast enough. He was getting dizzy, his opponent's movements harder and harder to follow, when he was suddenly thrown at the ground and a large body landed on top of him.
The air left his lungs in a hiss, and a blade slammed into his thigh, pinning him to the ground. Gillax laughed as he began to swipe his talons across Natsu's chest. Natsu tried to get up, but with his body pinned by the larger demon and his wings held down by the larger ones above him, he couldn't do much more than swing with his arms, which were somehow too short to reach Gillax.
He tried, again and again, but couldn't do any damage as the other began to break through the scales on his chest. Blood splattered them both, and the more he got on himself, the more Gillax laughed, and the more crazed his eyes became.
Natsu began to throw fire at the other demon, but it bounced harmlessly off his skin. None of his spells seemed to have any effect, and the more he tried, the more exhausted he became, as though Gillax was gaining strength the more magic he threw at him.
Of course… Natsu gasped as Gillax's claws finally found his skin. He's one of those demons. The kind that fed off magic instead of food or blood. He actually was getting stronger the longer Natsu used his magic on him.
He roared as Gillax continued to claw at him, his attention moving further down, aiming for the organs and soft flesh of his stomach. Natsu tried once more to put his strength into his wings and knock the other demon off, but he failed.
With a grunt, Natsu resigned himself to his fate. If he wanted to live, he would have to allow his other side out. He was strong, there was no doubt, but he had always been at his strongest while in his demon form. The mixture of his blood made that form far more lethal than he could ever be in his human or dragon form.
With an apology to Lucy, because he didn't know if he could pull himself back enough to save her once this fight way over, he closed his eyes and gave himself up to his dark side.
Gillax paused as his prey suddenly stopped moving. "Aww… don't tell me you're dead already. I'm not ready for the fun to end."
When Natsu's scales suddenly went full black, Gillax's senses went wild, telling him to get back, but he didn't have time to move before those eyes snapped open, paralyzing him with their glowing depths.
And then Natsu moved.
These next few parts might get a little weird on length. I have specific cut off points I'd like to stick to, so I might not make my preferred five pages every time. I will try to keep it close, but bear with me when these aren't as long as the others.
