Note: I have no idea why I'm writing this, but I think if I didn't, I'd go crazy. And yes, I know writing this I'm jumping the gun, but let me remind everyone: this is a fanfic. It's a made up concept that I thought would be interesting to see.

The Demon's Broken Heart

"You're friend has become a yokai, a nure-onna."

For a moment, it felt like reality itself had come crashing down on Natsu. This couldn't be real, there was no way. It had to be some kind of trick, some illusion by Selene. But Natsu couldn't deny the evidence looming over him right now while crushing him in its coils.

Lucy, no, the nure-onna licked her lips with a cruel, almost feral look in her large, slitted eyes eyes, as Natsu tried to take in al that was happening. His teammate, his best friend, his… Lucy, had become one of the monsters. She'd been twisted and perverted into this creature. And for what? For the Moon Dragon's brief amusement? It felt like Selene had just removed his heart, and crushed it in one hand.

"It's an amazing image, isn't it?" Selene continued, as she sipped her drink, looking down on Natsu from her projection, as her goons guffawed gleefully behind her, "Forced to fight one of your closest comrades along with the rest of her yokai brethren? What can be more entertaining? I do hope you put on a good show for us."

"Don't worry too much about her, she'll be fine in these caverns from now on," Youko said mockingly, "She'll probably eat the rats that lurk in the tunnels; I heard those can be quite filling. Trust me, she'll have a full life as a nure-onna." Natsu, however, wasn't paying attention to any of them, he just continued to stare at the nure-onna, who opened her mouth, revealing a pair of snake-like fangs...

"Natsu," the nure-onna then said, in Lucy's voice, "I'm going to eat you up." A shiver down Natsu's spine, which only got worse as he felt the yokai's tongue draw up his face. However, the disgust and horror Natsu felt began to give way to something else, something a lot hotter, and a lot more powerful:

Rage…

There was no other emotion Natsu felt right now. It was like everything else had been sucked into a void, and replaced with this one, singular feeling. Not since he found Lucy bloodied and beaten during the war with Alvarez, had he been this angry. These people had defiled her, forced her into being something terrible. This could not be forgiven...

Selene, and all her lackeys up at the top of the mountain, would burn for this. There would be no mercy, for none of them deserved it from him. And, if necessary, Natsu would ascend to the heavens, and reduce the moon itself to ashes, and all of Elentir would know his anger.

"So then, son of Igneel," Selene said mockingly, "What do you have to say?" Natsu was silent for a time, before he looked up at her, and said only three words.

"You will… burn!"

In that moment, the laughing stopped, all the women stared at Natsu in silence. They'd been expecting/hoping for him to break down in tears, or to erupt into some incoherent babble of rage, not him to just simmer in anger like this. Even Selene's smile faded into a glare.

Well, you're free to try," she sneered, before the image faded away. With that, Natsu turned his attention back to the nure-onna, who suddenly wasn't smiling anymore, as she reared back, and an old power began to simmer inside the young man.

(|)

Gray paused as he finished beating the latest yokai, as he sensed the cavern getting warm, as a strange power began to flow the tunnels.

"It can't be," he muttered, his eyes wide. He knew this power all too well.

"END," he murmured. but Natsu said the Demon Seed in him, as well the Book of END were both destroyed. Admittedly Gray's knowledge about demons, especially Etherious, was somewhat limited, but there was no way END could have returned, the side of Natsu was supposed to be gone. At least, that was the theory…

"Natsu," he hissed, as he started running through the tunnels, to find his friend. However, he didn't get very far...

(|)

"What kind of magic is that?" Mimi asked, as she and the rest of Selene's court watched, "It wasn't Dragon Slayer Magic."

"By all appearances, our young man appears to have the powers of an Etherious." Everyone looked at Selene, who was glaring at the image of Natsu.

"Etherious?" Hakune asked, none of them having heard that term before.

"Artificially created demons from Earthland, generally made with one singular purpose: death and destruction," Selene explained, as she swirled her cup slightly, "I've heard of them, but I've never actually seen one."

"How powerful are they?" Youko asked.

"Again, I only know what I've heard," Selene answered, "But I will say that this just got a bit more interesting." She then noticed most of her court looking at each other in concern, and the dragon wasn't one to let potential entertainment pass.

"No need to stop our celebration," she declared, giving a smile, "Let's enjoy the performance!" With that, the women burst back into their celebration. Privately though, their mistress was somewhat troubled as she leaned back, frowning into her sake. She may have never seen an Etherious, but Selene had heard rumors, including one that there was one that even Acnologia himself feared. If that was true...

"I can't underestimate him," the dragon mused to herself as she took another sip, "There's apparently much more to him that I initially thought."

(|)

The heat slowly got greater, as the water dripping down the cave walls suddenly evaporated in an instance. The other yokai lurking in the shadows began to flee under the immense pressure of this magic.

"Damn it!" the nure-onna hissed as she recoiled back at the heat, slithering away, glaring at Natsu. No way was she going to give up that easily...

"Fine then!" she said, as she brought her hands together, "I can still beat you! Now that I'm a yokai, my Spiritual Power is the max!" With that, she generated a massive torrent of water, and launched it at Natsu, who didnt' even move. As it turned out, he wouldn't need to, as the moment the water could get close, it started to evaporate. Before the nure-onna knew it, all her water was gone.

"What the...," she muttered. The Dragon Slayer just stood up straight, and cracked his neck. With that, he held out his arms, as black markings started appearing on them, and his eyes began to glow a menacing red. His sweat turned to steam, and when his mouth opened, so did his breath. Natsu then looked down at his enemy, his red eyes piercing through her body.

"Get out of here," was all he said. There could be no doubt that the nure-onna was hungry, but she wasn't stupid; she recognized this power...

With that, she turned on her tail, and rapidly slithered into the darkness; Natsu didn't follow her, he didn't have the time. There was one thing for certain: he had a dragon to kill, and goddesses to bring low.

Note: Call me crazy, but this latest chapter really stressed me out. Lucy's one of my favorite characters, second only to Natsu himself. Seeing her like this is really disheartening for me, to the point it's almost kind of depressing. I really hope this doesn't last long, because it's only going to get more disheartening and cruel. This goes beyond what Faris did to Fairy Tail in the previous arc; this isn't just brain washing, they twisted and altered Lucy's entire body, and it seems, judging by her expression, that they tainted her mind as well. It looks and feels so wrong. I can only imagine what the rest of the girls (and probably Happy by all appearances) were turned into.

I'd like to continue this, but I'm not sure what exactly to do, mostly because I'm not sure what the rest of this will entail, particularly what sorts of monsters Erza, Wendy, Carla, and probably Happy (note he wasn't with Natsu and Gray) were turned into. It's at times like these that the chapter every other week gets so frustrating. If anyone has any ideas, feel free to share.

Please leave a comment, it can really help on some days. I also strongly encourage people to tackle this premise as well, there's a lot of potential in this, both for happy and sad points.