The following weeks were some of the most exhaustive of Lucy's life so far. Her mind kept sifting through that strange conversation with the dark mage and her eyes scanned every shadow for sign of his return. She had kept his visit a secret from everyone, scared of what such an association would do for her already fragile reputation. Her servants knew something was wrong; she barely ate and hadn't slept soundly since that night, but they were helpless to their mistress.

Lucy was no damsel in distress, though, and she spent nearly every waking moment in this library or that, looking up all information about the beginning of the war and Zeref that could tell her whether or not his story was true. Honestly, it didn't seem like too much of a stretch that the king would pretend to be the victim, attacked ruthlessly by an evil wizard for no reason what-so-ever, when it was his own forefathers that started and perpetuated the war for their own gain. Lucy knew well enough that the humans made the mages fight this war for them, and it was completely believable that they'd have made the war to begin with.

While she could find no written accounts that so brazenly promoted Zeref's story, she couldn't find any (credible sources, at least) that completely ruled out the possibility he was telling the truth. And that was taking into account that all these books were written by scholars and historians of Fiore, thus more likely to promote the good image of their kingdom over sympathy for the black mage that tortured it.

She also inquired into black magic, gaining not a few suspicious glances by the Crocus librarians, but unfortunately there wasn't much to be read anyway. It was ancient, dark magic that most mages liked to pretend didn't exist; it would only make them seem like more of a threat. It was strictly outlawed, and all scholarly work about it was so censored there was hardly any real information left behind.

She could find nothing detailing this curse Zeref had spoken of, the one that had supposedly made him immortal (which, seeing as he was already four-hundred years old and looked to be in his early twenties, didn't seem completely outrageous). Lucy, however, wasn't so sure it was an unintentional curse as something he'd done quite willingly in a search for eternal power. However, that line of thought would have to be relegated as speculation.

The bit about the dragons had been surprisingly easy to corroborate. It seems humans had kept detailed records of known dragons and their nests, along with any humans that learned their craft. "Dragon slaying" they called it, though quite ironically most of these "slayers" seemed to think of themselves as more dragon than human, often fighting against humans and mages to protect the large reptilian beasts. Rather than being slayers of dragons, they were slayers like dragons.

It had only taken a few minutes of tearing through the records to find a young boy named Natsu had indeed been taken in by the fire dragon king, Igneel, over four centuries prior. However, there was no mention of him being a demon at the time, and after Zeref's forces had slaughtered the dragons who sought to protect humans from his demons, the boy seemed to disappear from history altogether.

Maybe he died in the battle, Lucy thought sadly. She'd never heard of Zeref having a brother before, or of a demon named Natsu. Then again, this was four-hundred years ago. Even if he had survived, he must have died long ago from old age or disease or something.

A loud crash brought Lucy out of her thoughts.

She was sitting in her library amidst piles of books that almost concealed her from sight, like a fort. The celestial mage reached for her keys at her hip and wasted no time in calling out one of her trusty spirits.

"Open Gate of the Maiden: Virgo!" she said, and a pink-haired maid shimmered into existence next to her.

"Punishment time, princess?" the spirit asked with a bow.

"I think there's something going on out there," Lucy whispered, straining her ears for any sign that someone was attacking. "Let's go find out."

Admittedly, Lucy was not battle-ready in any sense. She could only open one gate at a time, and even then it was only for a few minutes. However, hopefully it was just some robber who would easily frighten at the sight of the celestial spirit and leave of their own accord.

Hopefully.

The pair cracked the door open and peeked their heads out into the empty hallway. Everything looked quiet and boring as usual, and for a moment Lucy wondered if one of the servants had simply dropped something.

A second crash eradicated all doubt. Their servants were all top notch, and none were remotely that clumsy. Lucy began down the hall toward the sound, Virgo quick on her heels. When she heard one of the servants scream, Lucy sprinted as fast as she could in her finery and heels, until they made it to the entrance hall.

In the middle of the wide, marble floor was a large blue demon with four arms and a spikey head. Lucy froze, horrified.

I'll be in touch.

What had she done to incur the dark mage's wrath enough that he'd send a demon to kill her?

She shook her head. There was no time to think about that stuff. Right now, she had to focus on getting everyone safely away.

"Virgo, tunnel down and get Spetto. Then take her and the other servants and get them far away from here."

"But what about you?"

"That thing is here for me, Virgo. I'm not stupid enough to think I can fight it. Just don't let anyone else get hurt, understand?" Lucy was shaking with fear, but her determination didn't waver as she stared at her spirit.

"Yes, princess," Virgo said quietly before disappearing through a tunnel in the ground.

Within seconds she had retrieved the terrified maid and vanished back into her hole. Lucy took a shaky breath and turned her gaze to the monstrous demon.

"What do you want from me?" Lucy asked, somehow managing to keep her voice from wavering too much, though she couldn't keep her knees from wobbling cravenly as the demon turned its focus to her.

"You're Lucy Heartfilia?" it asked, its voice deep and gravelly.

"I am," she said, gripping the banister for strength.

"I'm here to take you to my master," it said stepping towards her.

"W-why?" she asked, taking a step backwards as it came nearer.

"I don't care why, you're coming with me," it said, clearly getting agitated.

Lucy gripped her keys in her hand for strength, hoping that Virgo had managed to get everyone far enough away before she turned around and began sprinting down the hall away from the strange beast.

"You can't run from me, girlie," it said menacingly behind her, and she swallowed the urge to scream as she heard its pounding footsteps getting closer and closer behind her.

Lucy turned sharply and ran down an adjacent hall to a smaller staircase that led to the servant's quarters. She'd hoped the narrower passages would prevent the demon from following, but it seemed he just as easily smashed through the stone and wood. She practically fell down the stairs, losing one of her shoes in the process and quickly discarding the other. She hated those heels anyway.

Her bare feet pounded against the ground frantically as the beast behind her destroyed everything in its path. She could barely think, her whole body running purely on adrenaline and instinct. She dashed into the kitchen where piles of chopped vegetables spoke of the dinner she was supposed to have had. Without thinking she grabbed the knife from the chopping board and turned to face the demon that was bursting through the door.

This was the end of the line. She knew she couldn't out-run this thing and she couldn't win against it, but at least she could put up a fight.

"Open gate of the Lion: Leo!" she yelled, and a golden gate shimmered open.

"Lucy!"

The suave lion stepped out, looking at her worriedly. She'd never been able to sustain her magic this long before, and it was sure to go out any moment now, so Leo wasted no time in charging towards the monster. She gripped the counter with one hand for balance as her magic drained from her, the knife clutched in her other hand. The clash of the lion against the demon sent carrots and potatoes flying.

Unfortunately, her power didn't last long, and after a few hits the lion disappeared in a shower of sparkles back into the spirit world. Lucy breathed heavily, leaning on the table for support as she glared up at the demon. She flung the knife at its spikey form, but it just bounced off his skin and clattered to the floor, serving only to annoy the monster more. It growled at her and she stepped back, now completely defenseless. As she let go of the table, the last of her strength left her. She tripped on her skirts, tumbling ungracefully to the ground as everything went black.

"…you to bring her to me I meant alive, you brute, not half-dead," a male's voice growled lowly.

"She wore herself out trying to fight me, I didn't hurt a hair on her head," a deep voice responded defensively.

"All of you are bloody useless. I just have to make Natsu do everything, don't I? He's the only one of you that can actually carry out an order."

"I apologize, my lord," the deeper voice groveled.

"Just get out of here before Lamy has to revive you," the man said.

Lucy cracked her eyes open as she heard a heavy door shut, presumably behind the demon that had brought her here. Her head throbbed as she pushed herself up on her elbows and glanced around. She was in what appeared to be a kind of study. There was a large desk on one side of the room and the walls were lined with books. She was laying on a couch, her dress torn and her feet still bare. Memories of what just happened crashed down on her as she spotted the man standing on the edge of the shadows.

"Forgive me, Lady Heartfilia. I had not intended for you or your home to be harmed," Zeref said, moseying over to sit in a chair opposite of her.

In the firelight she could see him better than she had last time. She still couldn't believe how young he looked, just a few years older than herself. However, the power that emanated from him couldn't be mistaken for the power of a twenty-something. It was dominating, ancient, and even now Lucy could feel the natural instinct to submit to him well up inside of her.

Of course, she wasn't a lady of natural instinct.

"Where are we?"

"In my demons' flying cube. It's a bit boorish, I'll admit, but it gets the job done," he said.

"Why am I here?" she asked sharply and she thought the mage's eyes seemed to smile at her defiance.

"I only wish to speak with you. I have a proposal of sorts, you see. Something I think you might be very interested in."

His black eyes examined her, betraying none of his thoughts.

"Proposal?" Lucy pushed herself up until she was sitting more properly in the chair. Or at least as properly as she could with no shoes and a torn dress.

"You remember, I hope, our previous conversation?" the black mage said.

"You mean your impromptu midnight history lecture?" she bit back. Fear had begun to subside, replaced by something akin to irritation. Zeref smiled in amusement.

"There are a lot of eyes on you, my lady. I had hoped to keep any connection with me discrete, for now at least."

"And sending a demon bursting into my hope to kidnap me counts as discrete," she returned testily. The man frowned slightly.

"That was my mistake. I should have sent Natsu," he said. "Talk about boorish. He's destructive, but at least he's got a shred of tact more than the others."

"Natsu…," Lucy said at the name. "Your brother?"

Zeref look impressed. "So you remember our talk quite well, I take it?"

"I remember enough," she said, trying to hide the fact she'd combed through nearly every second of it.

"Then you remember how I said my goals have changed, I assume. I think I have a way to accomplish those goals, with minimal blood-shed, and I think you can help."

"Why would I help you?" she almost spat.

Even if he had spent centuries pulling the short stick on justice, that didn't change what he'd done and the hell he'd put so many people through.

"Because I believe you want to see this war come to an end as much as I do. I know you are tired of seeing mages fight and die on the front lines, and you are tired of the injustice the face when they return. Together, we can stop it," he said.

He lounged back regally, confidently as his black eyes captured her attention fully. She couldn't break away from his dark gaze, no matter how much it scared her. She didn't trust this man, but if he thought he had a solution, she at least wanted to hear it.

"And what is this magical solution of yours?"

"It's not magic at all, my lady. It's a treaty. A peace treaty," the mage said.

"What makes you think after all this time our king will even glance at your treaty? Treaties rely on trust, and you'll be hard pressed to find a single person in Fiore that would trust you."

"That's where you come in," he said.

"I certainly don't trust you," Lucy snapped.

"But you want to."

Lucy stared at him for a moment. She wanted to deny his words, but they were true. She did want to believe that he wasn't as awful as she'd believed, and that together they could somehow help bring her kingdom a well-earned peace.

"What would you have me do?" she asked nervously.

"Marry me," he said instantly. "Then, as my ambassador and a subject of Fiore, I want you to take my treaty to your king, imploring him to make peace."

"Make peace?" Lucy asked, trying not to get distracted by the whole 'marry me' thing.

"I request to lay down arms and keep the land I hold now so I can turn it into a legitimate country with you as my queen. In my kingdom, mages will be able to live freely, without fearing their fellow villagers or government," he said.

Zeref stood and strode across the room to his desk and extracted two scrolls of paper. He moved like a cat, smoothly and surely as he crossed the room back to Lucy and handed them to her.

"I have drawn these up and will send them with you to review as you make your decision. One is a transcript of the peace treaty I wish the king of Fiore to sign. The second is a marriage contract, detailing all legalities and expectations. If you have anything you wish to add or amend, please let me know."

"I-I can't marry you!" Lucy spluttered suddenly as the absurdity of it all crashed around her. She stood up and backed away into a bookshelf. "You're centuries older than me! And-and I can't be a queen! I think you're mistaken about all of this."

Her mind was racing, trying to keep up with everything he was saying.

"I am rarely mistaken, my lady."

"But why marry me? Surely a twenty year old unaccomplished mage means nothing to you."

"On the contrary, Lady Heartfilia, you are an important player in all of this. You are the only mage member of the nobility, the only one who has been fighting to get mages across the land the rights they deserve. That has not gone unnoticed," Zeref said as he took his place back in his chair.

Lucy however didn't sit down, choosing instead to remain standing by the wall.

"I'm nothing but a pampered princess trying to play wizard to them," she said, unable to keep the sadness out of her voice.

When she was younger she'd dreamed of joining a wizard's guild, fighting alongside nakama to bring peace to the kingdom. As she'd grown older, though, she realized that she was a prisoner to her station, her corsets and heeled-shoes the chains that bound her inside her mansion-cage.

"I know that is a lie, my lady, as do you. You are well respected, trusted by mages. You're a symbol of hope to them. They see you and think that perhaps if a mage can be accepted at court then they can be accepted in their own towns."

Lucy said nothing, instead turning her gaze to the blazing fire.

"Like you said, treaties are based on trust. If I were to stroll into the palace today and hand this to the king he would turn it away without any consideration. If you, however, the darling of the mages and icon of hope, were to convince the people who fight this war for your monarch that the treaty is a legitimate and that I can be trusted to uphold my promise to give them a better life, then the king will have no choice. After all, he's not the one fighting and dying thanklessly."

"So why marry me? Why not just have be as an ally?"

"I'm well aware of my own reputation, Lady Heartfilia. If you walked in there simply as an ally, everyone would believe that I'd blackmailed you into it. It has to be believable."

"And our marriage would be believable?" Lucy scoffed.

"I think you could make it believable."

Lucy turned her gaze back to the black mage. How on Earthland could she marry him?

"People will want to believe in my goodness just like you do. If people think I'm in love with you, it makes me seem less like a monster and more like one of them, like someone they can trust. After all, you are beautiful, Lucy, and accomplished in many ways. It's not so unbelievable that you could seduce a misunderstood man of evil," he almost seemed to smirk and Lucy flushed lightly. "It would make a good fairy tale at least."

He stood up and walked to stand in front of her by the fire.

"I do not intend to force you to do anything. I simply ask that you consider," he said softly. "This could be our chance to end this horrific war and allow mages to live freely. I know your kingdom is experiencing a strain on resources, food is becoming scarcer and scarcer, children are born while their fathers die in battle, and for what? I don't like seeing innocent people hurt. Please, consider it at least."

A deal with the devil. However, if it brought peace would it even matter how it came about? A single loveless marriage seemed like more than a fair trade for the end of a detestable war. Lucy clutched the scrolls in her hand and nodded, turning her eyes away from his penetrating black stare and trying not to think about how pretty he was or how close he was standing.

"I'll have Natsu return you to your home. I'll be back in a week for your answer. I encourage you to seek the advice of legal council, but please try to keep the matter confidential for now. And remember, Lady Heartfilia, your willing participation is important to me. If you decide not to take my offer, no harm will come your way, but the war will not stop and more mages will die. I don't think either of us wants that," he said calmly, turning away from her to stare into the fire.

At that moment, she could see the four-hundred year old man that lay beneath the surface of his young skin. She could see a man that was tired of war, tired of pain and despair. Marrying him was crazy, but perhaps in a crazy world a crazy solution was the only one that would work.

The door opened up behind her.

"Ah Natsu, perfect," Zeref said. "Please escort Lady Heartfilia back to her home, and try to make sure she's conscious when she gets there."

Lucy turned around, freezing as she looked at the demon in the doorway.

She realized then that Natsu hadn't disappeared from records after the incident with the dragons after all. In fact, he was in every record of the war that had been written throughout all four centuries of fighting, but it seemed Zeref was the only one to call him by that name anymore. The rest of the world knew him as END.

Zeref may be the evil mastermind behind the war, but END was the face of the war, many times the last face mages fighting him would ever see. He was ruthless, often consuming entire armies in his flames. He was nearly a perfect weapon, and nobody yet had even almost defeated him.

Lucy trembled slightly as the imposing demon looked right at her with his dangerous green eyes. She'd seen drawings of him before, but seeing him in person was all the more terrifying and…odd.

He had sharp horns that curled out from his salmon hair, large burgundy, leathery wings that protruded from his back, claws that could undoubtedly gut a man with a single slash, and a dusting of crimson scales over his tan skin. However, if it weren't for the demonic-accessories, he almost would have looked like a normal boy her age. A very attractive boy at that. Lucy noted absently that he looked nothing like his brother.

His eyes seemed to darken as he took in her shocked expression.

"Follow me," he said gruffly.

"Manners, Natsu," Zeref chided his brother who just hmphed in return. "I'll see you in a week, Lady Heartfilia."

She felt Zeref's eyes on her as she silently trailed after the demon out the door. He led her through a maze of stone hallways until they reached one of the sides of the cube structure. She stared out at the world beneath them but all she could see was cloud. Apparently Zeref really was going for discretion.

Before she could process what was happening, she was falling through the thick white clouds to her doom. She screamed and flailed before realizing that she was being held by END as they soared above her estate. She wrapped her arms tightly around his neck burying her face in his chest as she felt them drop. Finally, she heard the loud flap of his wings slowing them to a halt as he landed by her front door.

The legendary demon set her down carefully. He turned to leave, but Lucy spoke up.

"E-END?" she asked her voice shaking with hesitation. "Do…with regards to this treaty…Do you think he will actually abide by it? Zeref, I mean."

Natsu looked at the girl in her torn dress with layers of petticoats spilling out. She shook slightly under his gaze, her full strength still not returned to her from her fight earlier. Lucy was scared and confused about all of this, and she didn't know what possessed her to ask Zeref's right hand man and most powerful demon for his opinion. Apparently the demon was equally shocked.

"Zeref is not one to break promises, nor threats," he said simply, unwilling to lie to the girl, yet unable to speak ill of his master. She looked sweet and innocent, and he cringed slightly at the thought of what marrying Zeref would do to her.

Lucy nodded and turned to enter her home, the documents still crushed in her hand. The reality of the evening seemed to crash down around her as she wandered back into her home, amidst a haze of exhaustion and fear.

This was going to be a long week.

Outside, Natsu turned and took flight into the night, his large wings pushing him higher and higher back to the cube. He didn't know what his brother was planning, but whatever it was couldn't be good. Zeref could hold a vendetta like no man Natsu had ever seen, and he knew his brother wanted to bring Fiore to its knees.

He also knew that they were closer than they'd ever been. The kingdom's resources were dwindling, their morale taking a dive as the mages continued to be repressed. It seemed so odd that Zeref would choose now to institute a peace deal.

The demon didn't know how making peace would help Zeref exact his revenge, but he was sure the black mage's strategy would be infallible as always. Unfortunately for him, as one of Zeref's demons he was helpless to do anything but obey his brother and master while the world burned around them.

He clenched his teeth and continued to soar through the night, pitying the young girl with the world on her shoulders.