Chapter Five - Beginning
In the beginning there was nothing.
Or, like the ancient ones called it, the néant.
As the first differentiation between good and evil took place, an eternal struggle was set in motion.
As that fight began, a mechanism – that wasn't controlled by either faction – appeared.
The Hourglass appeared, in such a way.
It measured the time between the cycles.
The cycles measured the intervals of time between the trial of the trigram.
Such a thing brought a number of other factors into play.
Actors and marionettes, time and music. That one place. For a certain place had to be chosen, being the centre where everything took place.
There would, then, emerge a door. It appeared and was the point that would open to allow the corporeal manifestation of the dual entities.
This one place was then hidden deep into the forest, connecting the array of different locations, the beckon changing also. Still, it was a place that, with time, became sanctified due to the apparition of the godly beings.
Through time, a temple was built in that place, being protected by heavy wards and different forces.
Not everyone could enter the place. Very few people did, actually.
Only those who heard the calling of fate did.
They would go to join the community that had formed around that place, started by a few initiates, an undercurrent of religiosity led people to protect the place, maintain it and be in a blessed place.
The only other people who set foot inside the place were those who were called to challenge on the trigram.
Even the trigram, the defining matter of the cycles and, therefore, ages had to follow some rules.
As it had, at its core, the ever changing passage of time, of the basic factors, the challengers of the trigram would be called according to a certain order of the core elements.
The failing or winning of the trigram would have a deep impact in the whole world. Deciding the course of the cycle.
If evil won, a too big number of wars and injustice would follow, monsters and bad things happening overall. The gnarly fingers of evil would plunge deep into the land and rob any and all vitality contained, bring the dark clouds closer to the ground and have the air too particle-charged so that not much was needed to spark chaos.
If good won, there would be a peaceful time for most during the following cycle. There would always be forays of evilness, as that is an inherent characteristic of the human being, but they would be somewhat quickly be taken care of. The land would then prosper, become greener, as if a veil of haleness had brushed over everything.
The room seemed to be flickering, the walls seemingly throbbing with the beat of his heart, the rush of blood on his ears.
The young man stood just beyond the ring of stone, boot-clad feet still stood on the wooden floor. He was hurt. Quite badly so, blood was oozing from his wounds and dampening his clothes as well as the mud that was clinging to him. He took his first step, foot connecting with the harsh stone and he stumbled away, inside the outer circle formed by the edge and the central circle. His eyes were hidden by a dirty blond fringe, caked with small bits of dirt, dead-looking and still. His legs failed him and he fell to his knees, his right arm extending, his near lifeless hand extending to press against the rectangular plaque that stood in the middle of the circle. The sharp edges of the rectangle cutting into his palm. At that moment, the clear diamond rectangle's insides quickly started filling with a dark mist which spread outward. First it filled the small space between the stone and the diamond, then it slid to the grooves carved in the stone and towards the ten expecting small rectangles, five pearly-white and five of a black onyx colour. In no time they were covered by a dark grey layer which quickly became pitch black.
The light of the room dimmed into near darkness. Only the faintest outlines being noticeable.
The figure shrouded in darkness started to laugh gleefully.
The room was silent but for the sharp drip drip drip of water on the tiled floor and the ragged breath of the young woman that stood before the stone circle. She was drenched, tired and hurting. Her hand was pressing against her side and there was a pained hitch to both her breath and step.
The woman limped towards the centre of the circular formation, unmindful that she was leaving a trail of water behind her. When she reached the hollow in the centre. With a deep breath, bracing herself, she stood before it and extended her hand above it. A purple, tear-shaped amethyst fell from the palm of her hand while, at the same time, water fell from the tips of her fingers.
As the stone fell, it settled neatly into the central groove. After a few instants, a white mist formed and started twirling on the inside, making the stone's colour become lighter. The rest of the hollow filled with a pearly-white substance that shot out, on the carved grooves, towards the tear-like stones that were placed in the surrounding circle.
All of the ten stones, five white and five black, became coated with a thin white layer, the black stones now becoming of a light grey colour.
Time stood still, the woman's breath evening out.
And then the figure clad in white and brightness seemed to ooze out an air of smugness.
Natsu woke up slowly and he let out a sigh as the customary headache made his head ache.
The day was starting once again.
But, he'd been able to make some experiences, in the few repeats that had gone by. He was always at the same starting point but the last few days had had different outcomes.
The beginning was always the same, he would awake twined with Gray. They would talk or something happened and then they would gather the team and head to the temple.
They'd been able to reach the temple one or two times but then the spectre-like figure would get in the way and put a stop to their plan.
That this happened most of the days was quite annoying.
At least, through it all, Natsu had started to really manage his situation with Gray.
True, it was slow going and Natsu felt a bit skittish around the ice mage. They repeated the previous touches, slowly going further with every time. Natsu was starting to accept the new and slightly strange (but so right-feeling) relationship that was growing between them but Gray's nonchalance and acceptance puzzled him.
And, despite everything, Natsu still couldn't remember what had happened in the night before the day started looping.
However, his curiosity was getting the best of him.
He wanted to know how far he could go, how Gray would react if he pushed him.
After a day where he'd decided to not worry about the strange things happening outside and just pretend to have a normal day, he decided that it was time to try.
He and Gray had a long conversation and went to the guild to have breakfast. Natsu still felt the heavy weight of something against his thigh, something that had been shoved into the pocket, but decided not to care. They arrived at the guild without being surprised by the spectre or anything out of the ordinary happening.
Of course that as soon as the pair entered the guild, the reactions of his guildmates were as he imagined, lots of teasing and sly remarks. All of that only managed to sharpen his curiosity and had him finally coming to a decision.
Not having to face the spectre-like figure during that day also helped.
Natsu started coming to, body relaxed and warm, limbs connecting and intertwining with another body, a strangely protective stance that was reciprocated by the other person. Natsu burrowed further into the warmth before him before his brain really awoke.
He opened his eyes and, as expected, was met with Gray's slumbering face. The ice mage was out cold and Natsu narrowed his eyes, wondering about the best course of action to take. He had been thinking about it so, he wondered if it was the right time to act. At that moment he felt a strange stab of pain behind his eyes, followed by a throbbing at his temples. Natsu felt a strange unease fill him but then he placed his hand against Gray's cheek and saw how the other seemed to want to cuddle further into him, into his warmth. It was slightly unexpected. But felt good. Still, if he were to do something, Gray must awake.
"Gray," he called, his voice coming with a slight gravel at the edges. And then he waited for a reaction. When nothing happened, he did it again. And a few more times.
After he called for him for another number of times, with a hand distractedly running over the ice mage's naked skin, only then did the ice mage start to wake up.
"'Morning." Gray said, all sleepy and warm-sounding. A slight smile curving his mouth.
Natsu answered him with a peck to the lips.
Gray seemed to jolt awake, his interest being easily noticed as it rested against Natsu's leg.
The ice mage answered in kind, tilting his head so that he could brush his lips with Natsu's, his erection sliding against the other's leg. Natsu rolled them so that he was laying on top of Gray, his own erection sliding over the hollow of the ice mage's hip.
"You seem to be quite interested this morning. What's up?" Gray asked, any sign of him having been sleeping having evaporated, as he placed his hands on Natsu's sides, thumbs making small circles against the warm skin.
"I'm just wondering about something." Natsu started saying, a slight uncertainty in his tone.
"Something?" Gray repeated, arching an eyebrow.
"Yeah… would you…?" Natsu interrupted himself with a cough.
"Would I what?" Gray repeated once again, now starting to feel a little impatient.
"Would you let me fuck you?" Natsu finally asked, a dark pink tinge colouring his cheeks.
The room became still, as if time had frozen, for a few moments. The silence weighing immensely. And then Gray answered.
"Okay." Gray said.
"Huh?" Natsu said unintelligibly. He was flabbergasted.
"I said okay. Let's do it." Gray rolled his eyes and slapped Natsu on his side.
"Are you sure?" The fire mage was still in shock. He hadn't expected things to go that way.
"Yeah. Why not? But you have to give me a chance to reciprocate." Gray said matter-of-factly.
"Huh. Deal." Natsu agreed promptly. It was only fair, after all. "So, can we do it?" he repeated once again.
"You're not completely awake yet? That's odd, since you love to wake super early and, is it the booze?" Gray was beginning to say, his stance starting to shift from relaxed to alert.
"Huh? What are you talking about? I'm awake, you ice brain." Natsu grumbled and rolled to the side, facing Gray.
"And you're sure of that…" Gray said, unconvinced. "But what brought this up? Yesterday you were quite eager, I remember but this is a bit different, no?"
Natsu realized, with some clarity and despite the fine mist of the headache that had taken over him, where Gray was coming from. It was a bit odd for them to jump into fucking like this right away, wasn't it? At least to them.
But…
Natsu was on edge.
He had slowly been inching towards more intimacy with Gray – there was something to be said with always waking up cuddling him – both in platonic and sexual ways.
And now they were here and Gray was doubting about his readiness.
"Yes but some time has passed. Things change." Natsu said.
"Since last night?" Gray asked with a chuckle, turning to be facing Natsu.
"Ah, huh, time is time. Now, how do we do this?" Natsu replied dryly, catching himself from the incongruous thing he almost said.
"Do I need to explain you the basics?" The ice mage asked smugly. "Well, the basic mechanics are-"
Natsu slapped his hand over his mouth.
"Dumbass. I know how sex goes." He said with some embarrass.
"That's good to know. Well then, open that drawer," Gray tilted his head towards the bedside table on Natsu's side of the bed. "You can grab the vial with the slick."
Natsu turned and did as ordered, rummaging a bit on the various items – which he had half a mind to wonder at what they were – before his hand curled around a cold flask. He pulled his hand out and inspected his finding. A smallish vial in transparent glass with a golden fluid inside.
"Is this it?" he asked, presenting it to Gray.
"Yup." Gray grabbed the vial and looked at it, a pensive look fluttering on his expression. "How do you want to go with this?"
"That's what I asked." Natsu shot back with a pout.
"Okay, well then, while you think about that, I'll start preparing myself." Gray uncorked the vial and smeared some of the fluid on his hand.
"Ah, right. Want me to do that for-?" Natsu started to ask, extending his hand to grab the vial.
"Nope. You just have to use that tiny and partially melted brain of yours to think on how we're going to do this."
"Who are you calling dumb, ice breath?" Natsu growled, but without fire.
"I wouldn't know…" Gray replied distractedly, expression slightly scrunched up.
"Sheesh, you're in quite a mood, yourself. C'mon, let me try too." Natsu near-whined.
"Fine. Hand." Gray finally conceded, as Natsu eagerly did as he was told. Gray lay on his back and spread his legs. Then he grabbed Natsu's wrist and took it to where Natsu wanted to go. "Don't go all hare-brained or I'll kick you in the face." Gray threatened before arching an eyebrow and looking at Natsu, challengingly.
(1)
Natsu slumped into Gray's embrace, unmindful of the mess between them. He was suddenly feeling tired.
"Okay…" he said after a long while. "That sure was something…"
Gray just ran his hand through the fire mage's pink locks and laughed.
All in all, Natsu found the experience, a success.
(1) As usual, the scene has been censored but, fear not, it can be read on my AO3.
A/N: Well fuck. I think I lost the boys somewhere along the way. OTL
First of all, many apologies for, once again, taking a bit longer to update. *sighs* It has been a rough week. And this chapter hasn't been all that easy to write either, jeez. So here are my sincere apologies for the suckiness of it. :(
Anyway, who's ready for the last chapter? (I don't think I am, though... xD)
As usual, this is unbetaed and has been written unreasonably late at night.
But feedback is always appreciated. ^^