Disclaimer: All rights of Fairy tail go to Hiro Mashima!

The wind left a shiver on her back as the air was cooled off after the rain from earlier. Strands of blonde hair graced her features as her gaze was fixed on the person in front of her, trying to get an idea of what he was holding back, trying to figure out why he was so different as what she had seen for the last couple of weeks. His hair colour was unmistakably the same salmon pink, but there were no horns, no scales, no murderous aura nor claws… When she would have met him today, there would be no doubt that they could've become friends as he seemed like a nice guy concerned enough to care for his friends. His posture was the one of a well-trained mage as his outfit showed enough skin to see his sculpted muscles. Her mind was sending her warnings as they were standing only two meters apart, but she tried to ignore them as he didn't do anything to her to be as distrusting she was acting towards him. She couldn't answer his question, it was weird to have him help her when he was the person who tried to kill her in her sleep… He put a step in her direction while asking if she was okay, but memories of her nightmares came back and she backed away.

"I can't help you if you don't talk to me, Luigi."

She overcame the warnings of her mind and tried to get some sound out of her mouth louder than her own fear.

"Are you cold? Your whole body is shivering, maybe we can continue this inside?"

He started turning to get back inside and she finally found her voice back.

"I… I don't think I can…"

It was nearly a whisper, but he turned around and looked at her with a surprised and wondering expression. It seemed as though he wondered what she wanted to say.

"You can't? Are your feet frozen to the floor? I have fire magic you know, I can free you in a second. Let's see-"

When he took another step in her direction, she backed away again holding her hand in front of her in a reflex.

"I'm not frozen to the floor, see? It's just… I… I don't think I can be in one room with you."
"Is it because I bumped into you? I said I was sorry already."
"No, it's not that, it's…"

It seemed so weird to say it, as though it was a cheap flirt but she had to say it or she was just a weird girl who was being difficult.

"It's what?"
"This isn't the first time we meet."
"Really? I wouldn't forget you if we would have met before."
"I… You… You appeared in my dreams."

Saying it sounded so silly as she saw him wonder and her mind went back to normal as she wanted to convince him it was real. Her posture towards him changed as she knew he wouldn't believe it.

"You're a weird one Luigi. If that was a joke then it's a weird one."
"No it's real! I mean, you are in my nightmares for 4 weeks on a row and it's always the same one… the last one was different but that was because Gray… Forget that, it comes down to it that you're there… trying to kill me... Every night again…"

A moment of silence passed and she couldn't read his expression. Would he get why she was acting like this? That it's just her own head who refused to reach for his helping hand and stay? She wanted him to get it, to understand why she was acting like she did but he suddenly turned towards the road in front of the house. Lucy followed his gaze and saw two people walking towards the place where Lucy and Natsu were standing. Natsu sniffed the air and he growled, which send a shiver down Lucy's spine.

"Stay behind me."

Not heeding Lucy's warning, he walked to a spot in front of her, a mere metre away from her and Lucy didn't know what was going on. He was so close to her and seemed tense as the persons came closer. When she looked at them, she recognised Juvia's blue hair.

"Oh it's alright, that's Juvia. The person next to her is probably the one who wanted to teach me more about my magic."
"They are probably not what you think they are. That man is the Emperor's general who killed hundreds of innocent people last year. He- he's not a friend of us."

When Natsu was done talking, they stopped in front of the two mages and most of the features of the man were hidden beneath the hood of his cape but he was a tall and lean man. When Lucy looked at Juvia, she saw a welcoming face.

"Hey Lucy! Everything alright? We've been looking for you. This is the person I told you about, he knows a lot about celestial magic and he wanted to meet you. Who's your friend?"

Lucy wanted to answer, but Natsu was the first one to talk and he seemed to ignore Juvia and directed his question straight at the male: "What are you doing here? I thought we were done dealing with you guys."

The man pulled his hood off his head and smiled sadly at Natsu.

"We came for the girl, Natsu. I'm not searching for trouble."
"What do you want from her?"
"She's a celestial mage if you noticed, I can train her."
"Until she becomes just like you? Over my dead body."
"Look Natsu, I didn't think I would run into you guys. Let the girl decide for her own."

Natsu seemed to think of letting it go when he looked at Lucy, but he couldn't.

"You sick bastard. Aren't you even trying to be ashamed for what you did? You knew Lisanna was still there. You KNEW she was bringing those people to safety."

When he said that, his hands started showing small flares of fire and Lucy heard the heartfelt emotion in his voice when he spoke.

"You disappeared like nothing happened. You just left her there…"
"Natsu, don't be stupid. I did what I was ordered to do."
"Do you blindly jump off a bridge if you were ordered to?!"
"I don't have time for this, take a step back."
"I won't."
"Don't try me Natsu, you know what I can do. Stubbornness isn't at place here."
"I won't let you make her one of your puppets for the army."
"You leave me no choice then."

The man made some signs in the air and pointed to Natsu, which created a magic circle around him and Lucy was near the edge in the circle. She tried to step out of it, but there seemed to be an invisible wall. Natsu seemed to lose all control and fire engulfed both of his hands.

"Don't come crying afterwards Jellal, or Siegrain, whatever you call yourself these days, you started it. Now who's the pity one?"

The man named Jellal turned his hands and Juvia walked towards him to stop him, but he pushed her away.

"Jellal stop! Lucy is in your magic circle!"

Jellal didn't hear it but Natsu did while the sky split open to show several planets who collected a light for the giant impact. Natsu looked behind him to see that Lucy was indeed standing in the circle. Acting on instinct, he diminished his flames and pulled Lucy closer to cover her for the coming attack. He was holding her under him and a second later, the attack was released on them. Lucy felt the hit as her leg seemed to be stabbed by several blades invisible blades in the light and her body was pushed lower by Natsu's weight which was pushed down from the attack while he growled in pain. She didn't know what was happening, but she knew her leg hurt as hell because it wasn't covered by her protector. That meant that Natsu got the full attack while protecting her. His growl wasn't terrifying anymore. It represented his pain and she didn't know what to feel. His grip felt warm as his strong arms surrounded her. The attack stopped and she noticed some tears falling on the ground as Natsu pulled back and she realised they were from her. He smiled the biggest smile she'd ever seen while a stream of blood ran down the side of his face.

"I'm sorry about the close proximity while you're scared of me. Are you okay?"

Lucy nodded while more tears flowed down her cheeks. How could this person still be concerned about her? She didn't even mention her leg, it was nothing compared to what he got to deal with.

"Let's talk later, okay? I got to deal with this guy first."

He swayed a bit whilst standing upright. Lucy thought he wouldn't be able to fight and it was mainly because he protected her… When he turned around, she saw his clothes ripped and the flesh beneath it was covered in blood from the impact. Her instinct kicked in. This guy wouldn't be able to win like this. She pushed herself up and reached for her keys. This asked for one of her most powerful keys and she hoped it would last enough to give some damage. She called out to the universe while holding her key in the air and bringing it down: "Gate of the lion, I open thee! Loke!"

A yellow light shined bright as the spirit she summoned crossed time and space to stand mere seconds later in front of her in a costume as always.

"You called princess? Did you miss me?"
"Loke, charge at that guy!"
"The power of love shines brighter than the enemy! Everything for you my love!"

Loke charged forward with his Regulus Impact in a speed faster than light and hit the opponent who didn't flinch much like Gray used to in their training, but the attack certainly left an impact. Lucy didn't know how powerful this man must be to not sway one bit after that attack. He smiled gently at Lucy saying that she still needed to learn a lot about her magic before that would have any effect on him.

"It's alright Luigi, I got this."

Natsu's fists were surrounded by fire again and he charged at the man. The battle had begun and Lucy backed away until she stood against a wall. The attack had no effect and if this Jellal person would take advantage of Natsu's injured back, it would be all over. She heard a voice and saw Juvia motioning for her to come to her, she took a few steps but stopped. Lucy didn't know what to believe anymore. In reality people did what they wanted, they didn't help her because she was an heir to an estate. They tricked her and she fell for it. She got distracted by the voice of her loyal spirit.

"It's too dangerous Lucy! Let's get out of here!"
"No Loke, I'm staying. Let's help where we can."

When Juvia noticed that Lucy wasn't coming towards her, she looked sad and turned away, avoiding the fight and returning to her town. Her job was accomplished. She delivered the girl and that was it. It was Jellal's own fault that he hurt her and was caught up in a fight, she had nothing to do with it.

As Lucy followed the fight, she was impressed by Natsu's strength. Although he had just been hit by a powerful attack, he was still fighting. She also noticed the changes and her heartbeat went faster as she saw her nightmare coming to life. On his face were traces of small scales. Nothing more, merely four scales on each cheek. But if it was possible to gain features like that, he could also gain horns and claws…
A shockwave hit her and Loke was sent back to the spirit world when she was thrown against the wall. She tried to remain conscious when her vision started to fail. Her leg hurt again from being thrown against the wall and she saw that Jellal took one look at the one who caused the shockwave before retreating. The redheaded woman was shocked to see Jellal, but looked at Natsu and wanted to help him up, but he pulled himself upright and went to Lucy to see if she was ok.
The fight was done. The redheaded woman saved them. She felt the adrenaline leaving her body and without willing to, her muscles relaxed. Natsu caught her before she fell on the floor. The last thing she saw was the gentle and worried smile of the man she had feared for so many weeks while his scales disappeared. A warm feeling came over her, maybe she didn't have to be so afraid anymore. The last thing she noticed were his warm and gentle arms who lifted her up and seemed to carry her back inside before everything turned dark.

Title: Beth Crowley – The Dark

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