I think you guys are gonna like this one.

Kisses

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CHAPTER 7

Siren

In Greek mythology, the Sirens were beautiful yet dangerous creatures, who lured nearby sailors with their enchanting music and voices to shipwreck on the rocky coast of their island.


Anyone who said those who controlled the element of ice were capable of a profound amount of patience... had obviously never met Gray before.

It was a couple of days after the attack at Lucy's, and she had been called in to speak with the council. In private.

Gray's stomach flopped uncomfortably at the thought, knowing full well that was never a good sign. Whenever the council felt the need to be secretive, it rarely spelled good news.

And unfortunately, with Lucy in the position she was in, that made her a large target.

So that left Gray sitting on his hands in the hallway, waiting for his partner to get out of the meeting with the council. His only source of company was...

Natsu.

His lip curled in annoyance at the blank faced demon sitting across from him.

At the moment he looked normal, but Gray could swear the bastard was making faces at him when he thought he wasn't looking.

Thankfully, he was saved from thinking about it more by the doors opening at last. He shot to his feet immediately, unable to contain his impatience as Lucy emerged with a troubled look on her face.

"Well?" He demanded as soon as she'd joined them, "What did they say?"

"They think they've found a way to transfer the bond I have with Natsu to someone else." Lucy said slowly, her hand curling around Gray's arm as she hustled him and Natsu along to a private corner so they could talk, "He and I are supposed to report to the labs tomorrow morning for the procedure. They think Natsu's adjusted enough he'll be able to cope."

Gray frowned at the anxious look on her face, "But you don't agree?"

Lucy hesitated, "I think Natsu could cope with it fine, but..." She shook her head, "I dunno, that whole meeting had me on edge. It felt like more was being said than what was spoken, but I couldn't tell what."

She rubbed her hands over her arms unconsciously, wishing she understood what her instincts were trying so hard to tell her. Something about that meeting had seriously bothered her though. She just couldn't put her finger on what.

Gray's frown grew more pronounced, "You didn't like what they were saying." It was a statement not a question and they both knew it, "Lucy, if something about this stinks..."

Lucy shifted a bit, "It may be nothing." She interrupted, "It's probably just nerves or something. And besides the council's ordered me. I can't really refuse."

"And what's gonna happen to Natsu?" Gray asked low, not liking the way she was ignoring her gut, but not really able to argue with her either.

Lucy shook her head, "I'm not sure exactly. I know they're going to start testing his limits. Especially now that they know how well he can fight..."

She wasn't comfortable with that either, and it showed, but it wasn't something she could control. She had her orders, and Natsu might be a very sophisticated automaton, but it was clear that was all he was.

At least, that was what she thought until the demon reached out and grasped her wrist in his. The move was so sudden, it took a moment for her to register it was Natsu's hand on her. Slowly, she lifted her eyes to look at him, and what she saw there made her stomach curl up.

There was a look of worry like she'd never seen before on his face.

What was more shocking was the way his mouth opened and closed. His brows pulled together, a raspy sound escaping through his teeth.

The first time he tried, nothing happened, but his eyes sharpened with focus as his lips worked through the empty air.

For the first time ever Natsu's mouth moved in something other than a snarl or other noise.

"L-Lucy..." The demon stuttered quietly, obviously unused to speech of any kind, "No." He pulled her closer, frustration marring his brow, "Lucy... no."

Lucy felt as if the whole world had stopped, tilting right off its axis at those trembling words coming from Natsu.

"Shit," Gray swore, his eyes growing wide in shock as he stared at Lucy, "Did he just-"

Having trouble even understanding what was happening, Lucy just stared at Natsu in shock.

The demon's frown deepened and he pressed his message closer, "Lucy no." he repeated, this time with what seemed to be an air of petulance.

He could speak.

The thought filled up Lucy's mind entirely as she tried to rationalize how someone, who had previously only stood, staring blankly at a wall and growling, could suddenly say words.

Granted, they were short words, and clumsily spoken... but they were words.

"Natsu, you can speak?" Lucy asked in a surge, setting her hands on his shoulders when she pulled her wrist from his grasp, "How long have you been able to? Always?"

The demon's hazy eyes glinted with bewilderment. And she noticed that his gaze wasn't nearly as vacant as it was in the past. No, how long had sentience slowly been filtering in his eyes?

How long had he been thinking for?

"No?" Natsu made a whining noise, nudging forward to press his nose into her cheek, "Lucy no."

A little alarmed by the fact he had chosen now of all times to speak, her hands lifted to either side of his head and gently held him.

"Don't worry Natsu," Lucy murmured, thinking he was going to miss her. It was the only explanation she could think of as to why he would be so anxious all of a sudden, "You'll be in good hands."

He let loose a ragged sounding whine.

Lucy's heart clenched a little at the sound, and she reached around to gently rub his back, "It's okay Natsu." She soothed, trying not to think about how odd it was for her to be soothing him, "I'll be fine."

"Lucy..." Natsu whimpered, his arms slowly coming around to wrap around her in imitation of her own gesture, "No."

There was an undertone of frustration in his words. As if he was trying to convey more than he was, but didn't know how because he wasn't used to speaking. He looked up at Gray over Lucy's shoulder with a fierce look, but it wasn't an angry glare. Gray could tell the demon was trying to demand something.

To protect Lucy?

"I'll keep an eye on her." He promised.

Natsu huffed out a sigh and buried his nose in Lucy's neck almost petulantly.

Either he wasn't happy with the promise, or he was annoyed he'd had to ask for it. It was kind of hard to tell.

"C'mon Natsu." Lucy encouraged after several moments, "Why don't we head down to the beach again and you can have some fire and ice cream?"

Gray was certain his eyes weren't playing tricks on him as Natsu reluctantly disengaged and shuffled off with considerably less enthusiasm than he usually had when fire was mentioned.

Whatever was going on in the demon's mind he was really upset about this.

-::-

The next day, Lucy was nearing the end of her rope of patience when dealing with Natsu.

He was the very definition of a sulky brat, taking all of her orders literally to the letter. When telling him to get dressed for the day, he simply put on a sock. And when she demanded he put on all of his clothes, he draped them all over his body without actually getting in them.

What was most frustrating was that he didn't even wear socks most of the time as sandals were easier for him to handle.

When it was time for them to get going, he took one step towards the door and spent a whole five minutes lifting his other foot up to walk.

To say she was getting annoyed with him was an understatement, because while his interpretation of her orders was always hit or miss, it seemed like he wasn't even trying today.

If she were honest, Lucy would say most of her anger wasn't coming from Natsu's irritating behavior either. It was out of worry.

She couldn't shake this uneasy feeling in her stomach, but she pushed it aside when she grabbed him by the hand and told him to keep up with her. His hand in hers, she stomped over to the council hall with him in tow.

They were lead into the labs, and Natsu's grip on her hand grew tight, soft growls and whines escaping him as they walked.

He hadn't spoken again since his attempt the previous day, but... Lucy couldn't quite shake it either.

She had gone along with all of this because she thought Natsu was just an empty doll. A golem, tied to her will and all of her orders.

He was only animated because of her magic waking him up.

But she saw he was capable of learning. He was capable of speech - which also meant he had to be capable of thought.

And if he was capable of thought, didn't that mean he felt?

Lucy was uncertain if handing Natsu over to be used as a weapon was a good idea now. He would be used as a tool and nothing more. Experimented on and forced to obey all the council's orders until the day he died.

But wasn't that what he deserved? Lucy's eyes flashed over to the demon, whose eyes travelled over the white walls as if looking for an escape.

He had helped ruin their world...

But Lucy knew more than most, he had been helpless to do anything but follow orders. Just like what he was doing right now. Even if Natsu didn't want to be here, he was compelled to listen.

Suddenly Lucy wondered if they knew the full story about END and Zeref, or the war four hundred years ago that brought their world into its near apocalyptic state.

She was prevented from thinking more on that train when they stopped outside of the lab office and Lucy signed both herself and Natsu in.

"I'll let the doctors know you're here Captain Heartfilia." The receptionist said with a smile, not looking at all uneasy about being in the same room as END, "Just take a seat and they'll be right with you."

Lucy nodded and sat down, pulling Natsu with her, but the doctors must've been anticipating them since no sooner had she ordered him to sit than one came out to greet them with a smile.

"I'm glad you could make it Captain Heartfilia." The man said as he went over to greet them, and held out his hand, "We were starting to worry you wouldn't show up."

Lucy flushed a little at that, "Yeah, sorry about that. Someone," She shot Natsu a glare, "decided to be a brat today."

"Is that so?" The doctor purred, adjusting his glasses, "Fascinating."

He stared at Natsu for a moment, giving the impression he was studying a particularly fascinating species of bug or something, before shaking himself a little, "Well, you're here now, so shall we get started?"

Lucy nodded, "What do we need to do?"

She tried to ignore her increasing reluctance about this. This was the right thing. For both her and Natsu. She was sure of it. She just wished she could convince her gut of that.

"If you would be so kind as to order END to accompany my assistant without a fuss Captain?" The Doctor asked, "She'll take him to the room where he'll be re-linked with his new handler and we'll begin our testing."

Lucy nodded and gave Natsu a firm look, "Natsu, go with this person and do what she asks. Understood?"

Natsu nodded reluctantly at the orders, and turned his attention to the woman where he snarled at her; making her jump.

However, when the assistant moved away Natsu followed. Lucy could tell it was grudging, but he still complied. She shook her head a little and sighed.

"He's been like that all morning."

"Well, we'll find out why." The doctor assured her, "If you will come with me Captain, I'll escort you to the room where we'll deal with your side of the link."

Lucy nodded and walked down a similar hallway that ran parallel to the one Natsu was in. It occurred to her that they would be very close to one another, and she wondered if she would feel anything when their connection was severed.

She trusted the council would find someone that would look after Natsu carefully. After all he could be a handful when he was exploring things.

Waving at him one last time, and Natsu gave her one baleful look over his shoulder before he was guided around a corner and out of sight.

A touch of guilt nagged at her heart, and she pressed her hands against her chest.

She hoped she was doing the right thing.

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30 REVIEWS EQUALS A SNEAK PEEK

There was no mistaking it. The look in his eyes had none of the dullness from before as the pain faded, and he was relieved to see her.

His smile widened into a demonic grin as he hopped to his feet and cracked his knuckles.

He ripped out the IV that had been pumping him full of drugs, his head shaking as he attempted to clear it. Growling, his hand lashed out at once, fingers wrapping around the doctor's throat.

He cocked his head, slanted eyes narrowing as a tick of anger flared within them. Throwing him back into his equipment, Natsu roared out a cone of fire at several people trying to contain him.