All Rights to Hiro Mashima

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Chapter 16: Star Diopside

Also known as the 'Black Star of India,' a relatively soft stone that is cut into ovals; when light reflects off the polished surface of this stone it gives off a four-ray asterism compared to regular gemstones which give of six-rays; thought to re-energise the body, mind and soul; known as the 'crying stone' used by the people native to India as a cathartic way to purge emotions.

A week after Lucy brought forth her hypothesis about just who the Black Wizard truly was, a very sudden war council was called. All the Generals and their Lieutenants, as well as all the Rogues – including a very peeved Gildarts who wasn't allowed out into the field just yet – gathered once more in the Kings study, squished like sardines in a can.

Déjà vu swept through Lucy as she shifted from foot to foot, her body clad in her full set of magical armour. She was anxious. Something about the way that she was summoned rankled her, and warning bells started to ring in her head. So she donned everything in anticipation, minus her helm, for visibilities sake.

They were standing just as they had a week earlier, except END who had left Domus shortly after to start his information gathering mission. She hadn't heard from him since he left that night, or seen hide nor hair of him either.

Lucy missed his easy smile.

Scoffing softly, she rolled her eyes at her dependence on another living being, even if it was a Demon. She was Crown Princess Lucy Heartfilia, the last known survivor of the Cleansing of Astralis, now known as General Nova, one of the most feared mages of Domus' Army. She was proud of herself and how far she had come, and she had achieved them without much help from anyone. Deep down, she just wanted to be an independent woman that no one would ever have under their thumb again.

It all came down to the pressure and control Jude had over her in Lucy's more impressionable years. Lucy didn't want to ask anyone for help.

Or miss someone's smile. It was ludicrous.

But also, she was lying to herself. Her heart knew it. That insufferable Demon had wormed his way into her thoughts and dreams and her stupid treacherous muscle in her chest with his contagious grins, easy going nature and absolute blind faith in her. Her brain just needed a moment to catch up to what she already knew.

END was infuriating. But he reminded Lucy so much of her best friend that she just couldn't help herself from indulging in being in his presence.

But now in this room with all her family milling around her, she didn't feel as safe as she did by END's side. She reasoned that all those powerful muscles must be good for something, like protecting people or holding someone in his arms, caged to that broad chest.

Makarov cleared his throat so that he was given their full attention. Lucy observed the King as his brows furrowed and looked like he was trying to force the words out of his mouth with difficulty. Whatever he was about to say wouldn't be good.

"END sent a message an hour ago. He has information for us, something big that he can't put into something that could be read by the wrong people. He will join us here momentarily."

And that was it for a while. Impatience and fear ramped up to a new high. It turned even the friendliest mage into a taciturn monster. People paced around the room, played with their various magics or tried to distract themselves by chatting.

Laxus had to break up at least two arguments between Freed and Bixslow as they snarled and glared at each other over the best way to handle their next mission.

Titania sat on the wooden floor sharpening her impressive array of swords and weapons, eyes darting to and fro just daring anyone to tell her to stop her motions. Even though the sounds of the whetstone on steel grated on their nerves, no one was stupid enough to voice their opinions.

The only person who was even relatively peaceful was oddly enough, Lucy. Her comrades watched as she sat before a large open window, her golden hair swaying gently in the breeze. Recognising her position, they stopped wondering why she was just sitting there.

In reality, Lucy was trying to push herself into a deep state of meditation, to try and centre her mind and body so that she was in the right frame of mind when END came.

She was also trying to settle her excitement. It wasn't overseeing END. Of course not. It was the fact that finally, something was happening. Lucy despised waiting. The calm before the storm, that feeling of standing still before a confrontation or battle was the worst feeling in the world.

Lucy had a good feeling that something big, something new would soon be coming their way.

-ooo-

A full hour had passed before Lucy felt any change in her peripherals. While she meditates, her magic pushes out from inside her to become her eyes so that she would never be unawares of her surroundings when in such a vulnerable state.

A glimmer passes through her body, and she recognises it as something crossing her magic's reach, someone that she was waiting for.

END has finally come back to Domus.

However, he isn't alone.

Five…no six beings are following him at a fast clip.

She recognises their signature as well as she had met many in the deep darkness of many of the forests that surround Domus.

Shadow Wyverns, fully grown and absolutely vicious. Being as END is a Demon who primarily used darkness – as well as flames, but that wouldn't help with the hide of these beasts who rival the Dragons in their tenacity – his type of curse wouldn't help at all in this situation. Gray had problems with these monsters that could slip into the surrounding shadows at any time. Laxus had almost been gutted by one that lived up on Mount Hakobe two years ago.

They were deadly, and it seemed that END, even though he was the most feared Demon, was overwhelmed.

Her magic 'saw' a talon tipped in black wisps strike out and connect with END's right wing absolutely shredding the webbing and sending the Demon falling through the air like a meteor hell bent on colliding with Earthland.

Her breath stalled in her chest as she witnessed him hit the ground.

She was standing and swiftly moving towards the open window before she really thought about it. And then she could feel him get up and start to run straight to the Castle.

He wouldn't last ten minutes with six Shadow Wyverns on his metaphoric tail. He needed something only she or Jellal could help with, light magic. Her magic derived literally from the stars gave off enough Celestial light to injure the Wyverns eyes. Jellal was the same with his Heavenly Body Magic but to a lesser degree.

Although his Grand Chariot spell was no laughing matter.

Before she had another chance to think about what she was about to do, she acted on instinct and her gut which was screaming at her to go to END's aid.

Three stories up, Lucy dove headfirst out of the window and shot down towards the earth with only one thought on her mind.

Protect.

She heard Laxus yell her name before her feet touched the ground, her knees slightly buckling under her. Lucy would have to perfect her landing some time later, but for now, she needed to focus. Silently thanking the person who had forged her armour to be able to disperse a huge amount of force, she pulled her bow off her back and sprinted off towards the edge of the forest.

-ooo-

END was having a very bad day.

No, scratch that. A very bad week.

It turns out that infiltrating his former allies looking for information only and being sneaky about it is extremely boring and tedious. He was a very physical person…Demon. He didn't do spying and sneaking about, he hit things until they couldn't hit back.

He had so much interesting gossip inside his head that he didn't know what to do with, it was unnerving. Like the fact that both Dimeria and Seilah were having a sexual relationship with God Serena, Cobra from the Oracion Seis liked a smidge of bestiality when it came to his snake Cubellios, and Phantom Lord's Jose wore woman's lace undergarments when he went into battle, saying that they were more comfortable.

Honestly, it hadn't been until early in the morning three days after the meeting in Domus that he had remembered the words of Lucy the last time he had seen her. She had been sifting through a puzzle and trying to piece it together. He had been mesmerised by the way that her mind worked and the determined look in her eyes.

So sue him. He was a little distracted, but he did finally remember what she said. Eventually is better than never.

"…how he was always in his lab that he had created in the catacombs of the castle…"

This damn castle had another layer under the earth that he had never bothered to find out about. He cursed his lazy attitude and waited for the dead of night to conceal himself in shadows and searched for three godforsaken nights until he had finally found an innocuous door down a rarely used hallway.

Oh yes, that was the door that he wanted. He could almost taste the magical aura radiating from that place.

So he turned the handle, surprised beyond belief when it had actually turned and opened. It seemed the Black Wizard was a little too trusting of his followers.

A staircase greeted him, dropping down into the inky darkness. He practically lived in the shadows, but these seemed evil, malicious.

END needed to go down there, but he was almost reluctant. However, he wouldn't let Lucy down. She was counting on him and his information so that the Domus Army would live to see another day, another year, another battle.

His acute hearing picked up the sound of soft talking, he recognised the voice. It seemed that the Black Wizard took it upon himself to come down during the night to speak to Mavis, or whatever he was truly doing.

Gnashing his teeth in anger, END wondered if Spriggan actually ever slept so that he could get down there and figure out just what the hell was going on.

Two nights passed with the same pattern, until finally on the third night the pattern was broken. END thanked his lucky stars for emergency Shield meetings to discuss something obviously important that they couldn't do during the day.

Once again, he was greeted by those awful shadows, but this time he didn't hesitate. END descended into the darkness until he hit another door, which he also opened.

He was not ready for what he found, no amount of mental preparation could have saved him from the horrified feeling that welled up in his chest.

This wasn't a laboratory. It was a slaughter house.

Bodies were strewn all over the tables, complicated runes and symbols carved into their flesh. Some had their ribs missing so that their innards could be seen. Some were dissected neatly, some ripped apart.

Luckily enough for his nose, they seemed to be almost magically preserved. He didn't know it he could have handled the smell if he had been surrounded by all this death.

He had killed in the past, but he had never created carnage like this just because he could, for the sake of it.

END belatedly noticed the looks of horror on all the victims' faces. He cringed at the sight of their unseeing eyes. There wasn't anything in this world that was worth this amount of murder, for these people didn't die natural deaths.

They all seemed to have distinctly Demon traits, like himself. Horns, wings, tails. Some had scales like a snake, some had fur. All their eyes were a milky pink in colour, obviously having been red at one point.

It seemed as if the Black Wizard was keeping up with his experiments, but for what purpose he couldn't tell.

King Makarov needed to hear about this, immediately.

END turned towards the middle of the room and almost cried out in shock and elation. His luck had finally turned.

He had found one of his objectives. Mavis Vermillion's body.

She looked to be stuck in a gigantic blue glowing crystal. It stood out like a jewel in the blackness. Picking his way between the bodies, he found himself in front of the lacrima and powered one of his more powerful attacks into his palms, laying them flat on its surface.

Letting his curse go, the black flames poured out of his hands and licked at the surface of the lacrima. But he could tell that it wasn't doing anything.

He huffed and moved away towards the back of the expansive room where a simple brown desk sat next to a matching table covered in five lumps of…something.

The desk held nothing of importance, just blueprints that he couldn't read. He took a couple that depicted human anatomy and strange energy signatures and stuffed them unceremoniously into his pockets making sure that he didn't shift the natural order of the papers on the desk.

Now the table…that held something interesting indeed. He knew he needed these to help out the war effort, especially that blue one that he felt like he recognised, so he gathered them up, placing them together in a burlap bag that previously held bound rolls of parchment.

He hefted the sack over his shoulder, gave Mavis another glance, then stole out of the room quickly.

-ooo-

In his haste to reach Domus and Lucy and to shake off any tails he had out of Alvarez, END had foolishly strayed too close to the centre of the forest that bordered those two Kingdoms.

He inadvertently picked up a horde of Shadow Wyvern along the way that was being absolutely stubborn about the fact that he wanted them to die and they refused. His black flames were essentially useless against them, and it was a losing battle.

It was a touch disconcerting.

So he sped his way towards the only place he knew that had a large number of mages that could possibly help him – and he had growled at the fact that anyone needed to help the great and terrible END – dispose of his little problem.

So here he was, sprinting over the ground with a sack in his hand being chased by six ginormous dragon hybrid monsters towards his previous enemies, with a shredded wing and a slight concussion from when he hit the ground.

Oh yes. This week had been absolutely terrible.

Until he watched as a glimmer of light broke through the shadows of the edge of the forest.

END heard a voice yell at him to "GET DOWN" and he trusted the voice to not hurt him while he was vulnerable, so he dropped once again to the dusty ground. He watched in slight awe as a very familiar arrow made of starlight whizzed over his head exploding into a supernova effectively blinding and incapacitating the Wyverns that were hell bent on his blood.

As the spots in his vision vanished, he looks around to see Lucy standing stock still, golden armour glimmering in the sunlight, hair shining like silk, eyes hard and focused holding her magical bow out in front of her.

A glowing golden warrior Princess smiting her enemies down like a vengeful angel.

He had never seen something so beautiful in his entire life.

-ooo-

She had never been so thankful in her entire life that END had faith in her. She expected him to fight her, or outright refuse to drop to the ground when she had called for him to get down. Whether he recognised her voice of saw her, it didn't matter…it seemed that END did have the ability to be self-preserving when he wanted to be.

He was still a bit of an idiot that took some unnecessary risks, but not when he knew the stakes were against him.

She lowered her hand out in front of her and hauled the dazed and confused Demon to his feet, the look on his face was hard to decipher. Something between reverence and awe simmered just below the surface of his crimson eyes.

Lucy waved her hand in front of his face a few times, worried that he was slipping into shock from his injury on his wing.

Nothing. Not even a smile.

Desperate times calls for desperate measures, especially knowing that END wouldn't want to seem weak in front of the mages finally catching up to them.

So she socked him in the jaw again, taking care to make it marginally lighter than the last time she had done it. He was a Demon, he could take it.

Fire ignited in his eyes once again as he focused on her for the first time since she had arrived at his side.

He grinned, fangs poking out from between his lips. Lucy's anxiety completely left her body.

END was here. He was still smiling. He wasn't dead. Her new partner was back with news, and apparently a burlap sack filled with something.

"Holy Hells Luce. That was amazing, I knew you were fucking strong, but shit!" He breathes.

She peeked over his shoulder towards what she assumed was an empty field but looked at the carnage she had wrought instead. It looked like one of Jackal's bombs had gone off, the ground ripped apart with deep holes scattered about. She cringed, realising that her emotions must have pushed her magic towards its limits when she saw the six Shadow Wyverns chasing END. Mangled body parts were strewn around already being picked apart by scavenging birds and opportunistic predators. "Crap, I didn't mean to do that…" Ah well, at least someone would be getting a meal out of this.

Gods, she hadn't panicked like that and lost control of a spell in years

"LUCY!"

She had exactly two seconds to hand her bow off to a very apprehensive looking END before a solid wall of muscle tackled her off her feet.

Lucy and her big brother rolled around grappling with each other for dominance until the Thunder God pinned her to the ground with his massive arms. "Fucks sakes! Stay still!"

"Dammit, Sparky let me go." When the stoic hulking blonde above her refused with a quick shake of his head, she looked to her other friends who had arrived. "Oi! Erza! Gray! Help!"

They only stared blankly at her, neither wanting to go toe to toe with the Lightning Mage.

Growling in a way that sent shivers tingling up END's spine, Lucy tried to buck her stupid big brother off of her. "Cowards."

END watched with an amused look on his face until Lucy looked up at him imploringly with the biggest, sappiest puppy dog eyes he had ever seen. He felt himself start to melt into a Demon sized puddle. Lucy wanted his help, who was he to refuse those gigantic brown eyes and pouty mouth.

Damn, he was putty in her hand after knowing her for barely two weeks.

Laxus broke the wavering silence by slamming his meaty fist beside her head causing Lucy to squawk indignantly her beseeching gaze turned away from END for the moment.

"What the actual fuck were you thinking Blondie? You almost gave Gramps a heart attack pulling a stunt like that!"

Her pout was back out in full force, and Laxus could feel himself wavering. He had always been susceptible to Lucy's emotional faces. He just couldn't watch her cry or be sad or anything that wasn't happy. Everyone who knew her fell under her spell. It had to do with her fiery gaze coupled with the fact that she was so innocently good, giving everyone she met a second chance.

She had befriended END for the Gods' sakes.

The Thunder God watched as fire returned to her eyes, crackling to life with a vengeance and he almost audibly gulped. Nova only looked like this when she knew she had an ironclad reason that couldn't be argued around. Both of them were like two peas in a pod, stubborn to a fault and moody as hell.

Honestly, people couldn't believe that they weren't even remotely related.

"END was in trouble! His curses are black flames derived from darkness! Those were goddamn Shadow Wyverns Thunder Thighs! My magic combats the darkness, you know that. END knows that. That's why I had to go, Jellal wasn't in the right position, and I had no time, what would Gramps say if I had just let END get shredded? His wing is little more than scraps as it is. Chelia will definitely need to look at it."

Gray and END snorted at her creative nickname for the Thunder God.

Laxus dropped his intimidating gaze while placing his forehead against her shoulder in defeat. Everyone knows that she's won, but no one knows more than Lucy herself who beamed in victory, her smile blinding.

Her brother groaned, the sound weak in his throat. "Fuck…alright…could ya give like…some warning before you jump out a damn window, though? How did you even survive a three story drop?" The blonde rolls off the petite mage who massaged her back, having hit it awkwardly when Laxus had basically thrown her to the ground.

END's eyes bug out, and he chokes on his spit. "Three stories Luce! Hell, you didn't have to risk your life for me! I'm a Demon, I don't even know if I'm alive, either way, it isn't worth your sacrifice."

While Laxus nods sagely at his words, fully agreeing with END – for once – before Lucy snarls and springs with surprising grace and poise into the aforementioned Demon's face.

"I don't care if you're a Demon! I don't even care if you were my most hated enemy! If someone needs my help, I will gladly give it. There is nothing worse than being cowardly if you can give assistance. You are worth it END. You are my fucking comrade, and I won't see you die when I knew that I could do something about it. I'm wearing magical armour, the force of the drop was displaced around me in a shock wave. I specifically asked for that to be built in when I commissioned it." She whirled around towards her friends next. "Do you really have no faith in me at all? Do you think I am that stupid to kill myself by throwing my body out of a window? Titania knew that I had this made, did you even listen to her when she tried to tell you I was fine?"

Gray cringed. His faith had wavered when he had seen one of his oldest and most beloved friends throw herself out a window dropping down to the ground. He knew Lucy wasn't stupid, and he knew she thought about everything before she did it. He was ashamed of how little faith he put in her. He hadn't listened to Erza at all, but in his defence, his little sister had pitched herself off a parapet.

He was scared as shit.

They all mumbled their apologies to General Nova. All except END who's eyes burned with a blazing fury. When Lucy looked towards him, he seemed to lose it. Gray finally knew why END was one of the most feared Demon's and why he specifically led the Etherious Army. It was his eyes, blood red, and merciless. Baser instincts at play, Gray shrunk back as a little part of himself wavered and quivered at the look in END's eyes.

Erza and Laxus looked wary, ready to jump in and help Nova out if she needed it.

They couldn't have been more mistaken, Lucy hadn't shied away. Instead, she seemed to bolster under END's piercing gaze, his anger giving her the strength to stand her ground.

He exploded. END just couldn't figure out why he felt so strongly about preserving Lucy to the best of his abilities, but he couldn't do that if she was willing to sacrifice herself for him of all things. She was…precious. He was sure. A treasure. Something to be coveted.

"I AM NOT WORTH YOUR LIFE! I'm a failed experiment, I am a Demon with so much bloodshed on his hands that they might as well be stained for eternity. I will NOT let you sacrifice yourself for me." It was an order, not a suggestion. If Lucy was stubborn as an ox, END had her beat a thousand times over, only the Black Wizard could sway him now. And even then, he would have to kill him to get to her.

"EVERY LIFE IS WORTH SOMETHING YOU...YOU INSUFFERABLE DEMON! YOU IDIOT!"

"FINE! If you feel like that, then I will just have to watch your back for you! I won't have you being self-sacrificing on my watch if I have anything to say about it!"

"I do NOT need protecting!"

"There is a warrant out for your death. Specifically your death! I will watch your back whether you want it or not. We're partners, General Nova, accept it!"

Lucy gripped her hair in her hands, trying to stop herself from throttling the presumptuous Demon in front of her. She must not kill. She needed END. He was an ally. She spun around again and pointed a single threatening finger right in his face. "FINE! We are partners! So I will watch your back as well!" She spits the words at him, not worried by the fact that they were screaming at each other with their noses almost touching.

END opened his mouth to deny her, but she cut him off with an inhuman screech. "ACCEPT IT END!"

"FINE!"

"FINE!"

"YOU NEED YOUR WING HEALED!"

"I KNOW!"

END handed back her bow, gripping the sack tightly in his hands and both END and Nova stalked off back towards the castle, hands clasped together as she practically dragged him towards the infirmary, leaving three very dumbfounded mages in their wake.

Laxus growled. "Anyone want to tell me what the actual fuck just happened?"

-ooo-

"Tch. Girl, get out of my infirmary. You aren't even remotely injured."

Lucy left in a huff and a swirl of gold, her hair fanning out around her like a halo. Undoubtedly she would be waiting on the other side of the door, but he would expect nothing less from Nova.

END liked Porlyusica, a lot. Especially because she didn't seem to have an aversion to him like she did towards other humans. It seemed that because he was a Demon, he was treated with a modicum of patience and respect.

"Stop mooning over that brat for a moment. Who would've guessed that END could love another person?" Maybe respect wasn't the right word. More like…grudging acceptance. She tolerated him, to an extent.

He peered at the pink haired healer, who was merely standing in front of him waiting for someone named Chelia to arrive. "Love? Who said anything about love?"

"Tch. Brat. You're just like all the others. Denial is written all over your stupid faces. I can tell, it's not something that's new. You know it, it's in your heart."

His expression grew hard. "I don't have a heart anymore you old witch. Anything I could have felt shrivelled and died the day I became a Demon. Like you said…I'm not a human."

She waved a wizened hand in front of his face. "Semantics. Emotions aren't only limited to human beings, not matter how much I hate them, I do admire their…tenacity. You are not a husk, END, you are just in a new form."

"She deserves better. More. If I even loved her…that is."

Porlyusica looked like she wanted to cry in frustration. "She deserves whatever her heart desires you stupid Demon. Don't be an idiot."

The door slammed open, and a small pink haired teenager skipped into the room in a whirlwind of humming and smiles. "Hello END. My name is Chelia Blendy, I'm a sky GodSlayer. Stay still, and my magic should heal you right up!"

END also decided he liked Chelia. He hadn't been around many children in his life that he could remember. He watched and felt as her magic rippled over his tattered wing, knitting the two halves together without a scar.

"All finished! Bye!" Chelia skipped back out the door leaving a bemused Demon behind.

"Ugh, humans. So chipper all the time."

Yah, he really liked the old bat.

Porlyusica looked towards END again. "What are you still doing in here? You're healed, aren't you? Get out of here, your tainting it with your presence!"

Pain ripped through his head in a now familiar sensation. He knew he was witnessing a flashback, memory, but what he saw this time made no sense to him.

Porlyusica in front of a small cabin brandishing a wooden beam, bellowing and yelling her head off. The same woman with a subdued look on her face offering a wrapped package.

The white hot splintering feeling in his brain dispersed and he blinked in the light of the lanterns. Sometime during his vision, he had slipped off the cot he was lying on and was now lying face down on the cold stone floor.

"What the hell was that END?"

The healer was none too pleased with this turn of events. She just wanted peace and quiet, not another problem to deal with.

END hauled himself off the ground, wincing as his knee cracked painfully. "I'm gaining my memories back…slowly. It seems that when I was human, I had seen you before. You were trying to hit me with a broom."

She actually chuckled slyly at that admission. "That was how my interactions usually went. But you will be fine, your mind is forcing you to remember things before you lost your memories. Let it happen naturally and don't force it. If you do, you might end up with permanent brain damage. Then you would be even more useless than you are now. Now GET OUT!"

He flew out of there like the hounds of hell were snapping at his heels.