"Natsu, I'm sorry," Lucy choked out, shaking as she clutched her coat to her. "I'm sorry I'm still not strong enough. I'm sorry that after all this damn time, I'm still so fucking weak and pathetic and—"

Natsu grabbed Lucy and crushed her against him. He could feel her trembling against him as she let out great sobs. Her hands gripped his shirt tightly as she wept against his chest. All Natsu could do was hold her, smoothing her hair as he muttered reassurances that everything was alright—that she was safe. As Lucy's cries shook her body, Natsu tightened his grip around her to keep her pain from breaking her.

"Did he hurt you?" When her sobs shifted into quiet sniffles, Natsu reluctantly eased his grip on her. Taking a half a step back, he examined her more closely. There weren't any physical wounds that he could see, but it didn't mean that jackass wouldn't stoop so low and hide his attacks. But Lucy slowly shook her head in response.

Natsu couldn't find any relief in that.

It seemed Loke had revealed his true nature to Lucy after spending months hiding it. Something must have happened for him to drop his mask. And that meant, Lucy was in the greatest danger now. But what had he told her? After being so careful to hide his nature, why reveal himself now? What had changed?

"Where is he?" He looked toward the door and then toward the windows. Even if his apartment was installed with the highest security, he still worried. Loke was still an unknown in the Underworld. That bastard was a wolf, but Natsu didn't know how sharp his teeth were.

Not to mention that weird machine he had encountered back at Aries's apartment. There was no telling if there were more of those things in their arsenal. The wounds Natsu had received from the last encounter had left him unable to move for a day. His wounds had healed, strangely enough, but who knows if the same thing would happen the next time he faced that thing.

"I-I don't know." Breaking away, Lucy moved toward the couch. She sat down heavily, grabbing a pillow and hugged it tight against her. Natsu sat down next to her, trying to be patient and comforting but his mind was racing.

The enemy had made their move and Natsu wasn't sure how to counter it. He still didn't know what their grand scheme was. Their only leads were scribbled notes in books. Levy was looking into them but had she unraveled the hidden trail into the past?

And why hadn't Levy contacted him? She was monitoring both Lucy and Loke with the weird tracking device she created. Levy would have seen and heard Loke revealing his true nature to Lucy. She was supposed to alert Natsu the second he did. Lucy was in the most danger at the moment, but his phone had been silent. Discreetly glancing at it now, he saw there were still no messages from her.

Had something happened to Levy?

"Loke was in my apartment when I came home. He started shouting, saying he never loved me—that it was all a lie." Lucy's voice brought Natsu out of his racing thoughts. Fresh tears fell down her cheeks. His fingers itched to wipe them away, but he remained still and listened.

"He said he was only pretending to love me for my father's money. He was tired of pretending and wanted me to transfer my inheritance to him now. But the banks are closed for Christmas so it wouldn't be possible to make such a transaction." Lucy's voice was broken by sobs and sniffles as she forced herself to relive the pain from earlier today.

"He wanted to lock me up to make sure I didn't get away before he got the money. Loke pulled out a gun and forced me into my bedroom. He told me if I tried to escape, he would shoot me."

It was hard to think straight. All he could see was Loke looming over Lucy, threatening her life and Natsu not being there to protect her. Why had he let her out of his sight? Why hadn't he killed Loke when he first smelt the foul stench of the Underworld rolling off of him.

"I was so scared but I knew we had planned to meet tonight. I knew if I got to you, you would help me. You would keep me safe from that monster. I climbed down the fire escape when I heard him leave and ran. I ran all the way to you." Lucy flung herself at Natsu, wrapping her arms around his neck as she wept on his shoulder. "I'm not safe unless I'm with you. I'm not happy unless I'm with you."

She leaned back, tears streaking her cheeks as she beamed at him. "Let's run away together! Just you and me, Natsu! We can escape from Loke and leave it all behind. We can wake up tomorrow somewhere new and far away and pretend all of this was a horrible nightmare."

Did he just hear her correctly? "What are you saying, Lucy?"

Her eyes softened as she wrapped her arms around him again. Her lips brushed against his ear as she spoke softly. "You have to know, Natsu. It was never Loke I loved. It was you. I love you."

Natsu froze, eyes wide. It was like time stopped for a breath of a moment. Those three words danced in his head.

"I love you," she said again, pulling back again to look up at him through tear-wet lashes. She closed her eyes slowly, leaning in with lips tilted toward his.

"Take it off."

Lucy stilled, eyes popping open to balk at Natsu's forwardness. Recovering quickly, Lucy covered her surprise with a smile. "Well, that's moving a little fast," His fingers trailed down her cheek as she spoke. "Maybe we should talk some more before we...umm….."

Natsu's hand gripped Lucy's neck. Her eyes bulged, fear lacing her brown eyes as his grip tightened.

"Nat-Natsu" She coughed out his name as her hands fluttered up to her throat, trying to break the hold he had on her. "You're choking me."

As he gripped her neck, it took control he barely had to keep from snapping it. The enemy had gone too far now. How dare they. How fucking dare they! To think he wouldn't notice this deception. The anger. It was thrashing under his skin.

"I won't ask a second time," he growled, letting her go and shoving her away from him.

Lucy's mouth gaped like a fish as she took in gulps of air, her lips quivering as she struggled to form words. Her hand rubbed her neck, bruises already blossoming on her skin. "But I don't—"

The gun was in his hand in an instant. Natsu pointed it at Lucy and fired. The bullet grazed her cheek, a thin line of blood marking its path. Lucy's hand went to her cheek, her eyes becoming orbs when she saw the blood staining her fingers. She looked up at Natsu, disbelief coloring her expression. And fear.

It was hard to force himself to look past what he saw. It was Lucy's face. Her voice. Her eyes. But it wasn't her.

The trembles shaking Lucy's body ceased. She shut her mouth, lips tilting into a wicked smirk. A mischievous glint gleamed in her eyes. The skin on her neck lifted from an invisible seam as she pulled the mask from her face. Instead of Lucy, a blue haired woman now kneeled before Nastu.

Mini? Lucy's wedding planner? Natsu hid his shock. It was hard not to recognize the woman after spending the last week watching her go in circles about a wedding he was hellbent on stopping. He didn't realize she was a part of this as well. Another mistake.

"You're supposed to be just a muscle head. How did you know I wasn't Lucy?" Mini asked, her eyes alight with genuine curiosity. Any trace of fear was gone. The fact that he was pointing a gun at her didn't even seem to matter.

"The fact that you're here," Natsu answered. Mini's brow crinkled in confusion. "After Lucy's first run-in with the Underworld, she was so terrified of the Mafia wolves finding her again. The first thing I did was make several escape routes around the city. If she ever felt like her life was in danger, she was supposed to follow one to a secured location first and stay there until I could get to her. You said Loke threatened you and yet, you came here. Lucy would never have done that."

The first three weeks from their return to Italy, Natsu had mapped out dozens of places across the city for Lucy. He didn't want her to feel helpless. He didn't want her to feel trapped ever again. However, even with the escape routes, Lucy never felt truly safe. She wanted to get stronger and that's when she asked Natsu for his help. For him to train her. But, despite training her, she promised to use the escape routes as well.

"We didn't know about that…" Mini's bottom lip stuck out a bit, as she realized the misstep. "Well you win!" Clapping her hands together, Mini applauded Natsu. "Mistress won't be too happy I was discovered so quickly, but it looks like you're not just a muscle head as she suspected. And you seem to know about the Underworld too...who are you?"

"Mistress? Is she the one orchestrating all of this? Tell me who your boss is!" Natsu yelled, aiming the gun at her head.

Mini crossed her arms together, making an 'X'. "Boo! No cheating allowed in this game. Mistress would be extra cross with me. Besides," she tilted her head as the wicked gleam in her eyes shined again, "aren't you asking the wrong questions right now?"

It was Natsu's turn to look confused.

"If I'm here," Mimi mused as she twirled her hair around her finger. "Shouldn't you be asking where the real Lucy is?"

The gun hovered inches away from Lucy's head. It was a clear shot. She was unconscious and tied to a chair. She wouldn't know what happened. It would be a quick death. Painless.

All Loke had to do was pull the trigger. Pull the trigger and Mistress would be satisfied, his mission would be complete, and Aries would be saved. One more death. One more ghost to haunt him.

He released the safety.

Memories flowed into his mind, bringing him back to the earlier days of his mission. Lucy's concerned eyes when they first met, he was half-drowned on the beach. Her soft, kind voice as she nursed him back to health. The peaceful days they spent together in their cottage, filled with books and laughter. Even though he was only pretending, there were moments where he almost believed this could be real. That he could be a normal man in love and he would imagine Aries by his side, spending these peaceful days together.

Lucy stirred and he was forced back to the present. He returned the safety, dropped his arm and stepped backwards towards the window. His hands shook as he set the gun on the window ledge. The dark water below the piers rippled as he cast his gaze outward. This was his fifth attempt to pull the trigger that night.

After ambushing Lucy in her apartment, Loke wasted no time in transporting her to an abandoned warehouse on the piers. It was a prime location to complete his task. Barely anyone came to the waterfront when there were blocks of glittering distractions to better occupy the tourists and NYC residents alike. Which was perfect for Loke. He had already scouted this place when he first came to the city. He would kill her and drop her body to the bottom of the river.

He would frame it as a suicide and blame it on her mental state from losing her company. Lucy wouldn't even know that Mistress was responsible for taking that away from her too.

It was all part of the plan. The dismantling of Urano Metria. The isolation of Lucy from her friends. Mistress knew taking away the pillars of the new life Lucy had built for herself would make Lucy vulnerable. It left the perfect opportunity for Loke to enter back into her life, making Lucy fall back on an old comfort from her past.

The only thing she hadn't accounted for was Natsu. Not even Mistress's network could dig up any information on him. Yet, he knew about the Underworld. He was even strong enough to do damage to Caelum. That man was a dangerous unknown and in this dark world, ignorance meant death. Thankfully, Mistress had sent Mini to distract him, giving Loke the time he needed to complete his mission.

He closed his eyes and ran a hand through his hair. It wasn't like he had trouble pulling the trigger in the past. He was a Deadman. He made more ghosts than he could count. His hands were not clean by any measure. He knew what was at stake if he didn't give Mistress what she wanted. And this was the thing she had wanted for so long. So why was he hesitating?

He opened his eyes and paused. Lucy was awake. Loke locked eyes with her reflection in the window. Wide eyes full of questions and fear. He bent his head and whispered a silent apology as he grabbed his gun. It was time to end this.

Levy exited the shop with a bag full of bagels under her arm, a tray holding two coffees in one hand, and a thousand thoughts running in her head. Lucy's call had troubled her. Aries's went to the hospital for a fainting spell and they only kept her overnight based on her medical history. That was standard practice enough. However, the fact that the hospital was now withholding visitation was worrisome.

There was definitely a connection between Loke and Aries. Aries's reaction in the cafe when she saw Loke. The books with the diary entries. The weird machine that just so happened to be waiting at Arie's apartment that almost killed Natsu. And now this? These were all puzzle pieces to the greater picture but no matter how hard she tried, Levy couldn't puzzle them out. It wasn't some scholarly goal on the line, if she couldn't solve this, it was their lives.

A cold wind bit through her winter layers as Levy walked the two blocks to the park's entrance. She tucked her chin into the folds of her scarf and kept a brisk pace to keep her limbs from freezing. It was still early in the morning when Levy arrived at INH Fountain. She placed the bag of bagels at her feet before claiming one of the coffees by taking generous gulps of the hot beverage. It warmed her right down to her toes.

While she waited for Lucy, Levy pulled out her phone and hacked into the hospital's computer system. She quickly found Aries's records and saw that her doctor did change the visitor status on her forms. However, when Levy checked the employee log, the doctor who supposedly changed her forms was already out on vacation.

Levy bit the inside of cheek as her fingers were a flurry across her phone's keyboard. She wished she was back in her office with her multitude of screens and faster processing. Instead, she downloaded the camera footage and sent it to her harddrive, typing in codes to analyze the data of the past week and highlight specific patterns she was looking for. She took a moment to take another swig of her coffee while she waited for the analysis to finish.

"Who are you?" Levy muttered to herself as she reviewed the file her system had sent her. A young nurse with white hair and deep blue eyes appeared on her screen. She was seen entering the doctor's office who usually handled Aries's visits. What was even more interesting was the fact that there had been no record of the nurse in the system until two weeks ago.

Nurse Angel.

There wasn't even a last name she could search for. Levy took Angel's image and ran it through a facial recognition software she had developed for a certain government organization. The results were inconclusive. If this woman wasn't showing up in the system, it only meant one thing. Nurse Angel wasn't as angelic as she appeared to be.

"Levy!"

Levy's head snapped up, her eyes trying to adjust back to processing the real world instead of her digital one. The park had become slightly more crowded than when she arrived. But in the sparse crowd, Levy was startled to see Gajeel jogging towards her. Which was odd because it took until the sun was high up in the sky before Gajeel even considered waking up. His job meant a lot of night gigs, so he became more nocturnal over the years. Which never bothered Levy because her job made her work odd hours as well.

"Gajeel? You're out before noon. And you're...jogging?" Levy arched an eyebrow at the black jogging suit he wore.

"You know I get my cardio through rocking out at the concerts. This," he said as he gestured toward his ensemble. "Is just some promotional gear I'm trying out for some new clients we booked last week. Getting some last minute brand promotion before the holidays." Gajeel explained as he sat beside her. "Oh, breakfast!"

Before she could stop him, Gajeel was already tearing into the bag and biting into a bagel. Levy sighed as she watched her husband polish off the bagels. There was no stopping him when it came to food. During the dinner parties they had, Levy had to make sure there was enough food to feed a small army. When Natsu was in town, she had to make the meal large enough for two armies. Those two turned gorging themselves into a competition.

I'll grab some food from one of the food carts, Levy thought as she handed Gajeel her coffee so he could wash everything down.

"What are you doing out here so early anyway?" He eyed the second coffee and then glanced at her phone. "I'm not interrupting a date, am I?" He joked but

The joke