To sthokatrina: AHH! You beautiful person you! I've never had someone NEED to review twice about a story I've written, or even for the same chapter, so I am so very thankful. XD I may have cried a tiny tear of joy at your very exciting second review acting as a guest. Thank you ever so much.

This chapter was written for all my guest reviewers…Even if I don't know your names; I still appreciate the love and support.

BEWARE THE STALKING DEMON IN THE NIGHT!

Chapter 18: Black Tourmaline

Ancient magicians used this stone to protect their souls from Earth Demons while practising their craft, known as Schorl to those creating spells; It is now the primary stone of protection creating a shield that filters our negative energy and internal conflicts; used in the ancient days as a scrying stone

"Give her here END. She's obviously exhausted, and we won't get anything out of her at all now."

Very reluctantly, END passed off a completely unconscious and very boneless Lucy to the Thunder God. She fit so well in END's arms, like part of him that he didn't even know that he was missing had finally come home. He had knelt on that stone floor for close to an hour cuddling the sobbing General to his chest, murmuring nonsense and soothing words to her until she finally collapsed into a fitful sleep.

It would have been adorable if not for the less than wonderful circumstances.

He groaned as his knees popped. The floor was definitely not comfortable, and nor was hugging a woman entirely encased in metal armour to his torso, but he would do it all again. For her.

Only for her.

Maybe for the tiny blue cat that he seemed to know.

END watched with mixed emotions as the hulking blonde carefully carried Nova and Happy – whom she was curled around and reluctant to give up – out of the room and presumably towards her bed chambers somewhere in the castle. The door shut behind them with a muted thud and suddenly the atmosphere of the entire room ratcheted up at least a thousand degrees.

END was a Demon from the pits of Hell, and he's starting to sweat like a pig from the blazing gazes directed at him. He knew that something is coming for his head. It was more than likely Titania, who he could literally feel burning holes in the back of his neck with her glare.

A woman with a sickly sweet countenance and long silver hair – not unlike his own in this form – swept to the front of the room and stood beside the King. Her voice may sound like honey, dripping with affection, but he could hear the underlying tones of power. Of Demons. He should know…they were his kin after all.

"Explain please END, what was that all about? Why did you collapse all of a sudden?"

He can't find his voice for a moment but knows that he must answer as soon as he can to avoid their wrath. "That cat…Exceed…whatever…I recognised the blue colour. That's why I assumed those furballs were important enough to grab. The whole…screaming and collapsing thing? That's what happens when I regain some of my repressed memories. That one was way more painful than any of the other times it's happened. Porlyusica told me I shouldn't force it, let it come naturally or I would have wound up with brain damage."

The King stroked his beard in thought. "Just how many times have you regained some of your long lost memories END?"

"Including this last time you mean? Four in total. Once here, with Happy, once when I heard Mavis' name, once with that witch in the infirmary – I saw a vision of her trying to hit me with a broom – and…oh! Yeah. I almost forgot! The first time it happened was when I kidnapped Luce after the battle."

Immediately multitudes of weapons were pointed at his throat. Damn Titania was quick with her swords. END swallowed thickly and cursed his inability to think before he blurted things out. Especially in a room full of people that obviously didn't trust him yet. Any progress in that department might have just been shattered with that one sentence.

A dangerous voice could be heard, dark and demonic from his right side. "You what?! Kidnapped General Nova?!" END would have cowered if he had any sense left, but he was tired and entirely done with this whole situation.

He just wanted to eat, and then sleep off the remnants of this day. Watching Lucy cry had taken a lot out of the Demon.

"Gods above! Calm your shit Titania. I obviously brought her back; it was right after the battle. I had wanted to talk to her again after we fought. She was…different. Interesting. I could see that Lucy was as tired as I was from the endless fighting. I wanted to know why she recognised that Dragon head. I found her just…looking at the stars in the forest. It was the first attack that I had and didn't know what to make of it, so I almost forgot about it. I asked her if she trusted me. She said yes." END shrugged his shoulders, making sure to keep a wary eye on the sharp swords around him. "So I took her somewhere we couldn't be overheard, and she answered all my questions and told me about the people that lived in Ignis before it was forcibly taken over by the Emperor."

Erza looked to the King for judgement. The old man only smiled at END, who nodded in return. A show of acceptance and gratitude between them. "Stand down Titania. I know when someone is lying, and he isn't." Erza willed the mass of weapons away into her own special pocket of space, but kept a close eye on the Demon just in case he made a wrong move.

END ruffled his wings into a more comfortable position trying to not look like a huffy child pouting at the lack of faith they were showing him. He was on their side now! Especially because Lucy was here. He wouldn't abandon his new comrades that easily. END may be a Demon, but he didn't lack the morals of the rest of Tartaros. He would show them all that he could be trusted.

"What did your memories show you END?" A giant behemoth of a man that END knew only by his nickname "The Monster" addressed him formally.

To everyone's surprise, END only shook his head showing off the light blush of pink on his cheeks. No one knew until that moment that Demons could feel such a gentle emotion such as embarrassment. But most understood now that END wasn't a typical Demon…his eyes – even though they were the colour of freshly spilt blood – didn't hold malice or pleasure at another's pain. His eyes smiled too much for him to be a truly demonic.

His rage was something to be wary of, but he seemed to be someone with a moral code.

Maybe that was why the Emperor seemed to think him a failed experiment.

"I'll only tell you what I saw when Luce is back. She needs to hear this almost more than the rest of you do." END's blush had finally receded, and he just looked exhausted.

"Fine. After the morning meal then, we will continue this discussion when all parties are present. I believe that we all could use some sleep at the moment. END, I would like you to follow Lieutenant Fullbuster to the men's corridor, and he will find you a place for you to rest. "

Yawning wildly and giving a disgruntled looking Gray a wide toothy smile that gave off a hint of mischievousness, END followed the Ice Devil Slayer out of the room throwing a 'thanks, Gramps!' over his shoulder to the King. His advisors looked scandalised at the fact that END hadn't shown the appropriate amount of respect to him when in a proper war council, even if this one was thrown together at the drop of a hat.

Makarov sipped his mug of mead and chuckled at the Demon. Even though END wasn't one of his children quite yet – he still had to prove himself in the upcoming days – he was starting to appreciate the Demon. If nothing else, END's lack of propriety was like a breath of fresh air when he was constantly surrounded by an Army and his own advisors that upheld the stuffy traditions and refused to address him as anything other than 'my liege' or 'King Makarov.' Even his own brats only addressed him as 'Gramps' when they were in a more relaxed setting…far away from the spinning finger of Ooba Babasamma.

Sometimes he wondered why he had that woman on his council.

He watched as the rest of his extended – but no less important – family as they shuffled off either to get some sleep or towards the dining room for a quick snack before bed.

The King's musings came to an end when he caught Erza's troubled look. She hadn't moved from her place next to the same window Lucy had jumped out of earlier. Normally Titania was stoic and straightforward, her beautiful eyes always rolling this way and that looking out for ambushes and spies. But this seemed to be something different, brown eyes glazed over, seeing nothing and everything at the same time.

"What troubles you, my girl?"

When no answer was forthcoming from the General, Makarov knew that something was amiss. Titania never daydreamed, nor was lost to her own little world, at least in his company. He didn't know if Jellal saw this side of her more often. It had been that way since she lost her childhood in the tower, she only really showed off her more feminine side to her husband.

"OI! ERZA!"

His raised voice snapped her out of whatever spell had a hold of her. She bowed low with a sheepish smile. "I'm sorry Makarov, I was lost in my memories."

He smirked. It wasn't often that Erza apologised for something, he savoured the feeling. "Pray tell…what could be bothering you so much?"

"Didn't that whole exchange with END remind you of something?"

When he shook his head and asked her to continue, her eyes took on a faraway quality that he now associated with the remembrance of days long past. "When END was weaving his tale…about how he asked Nova to go with him…to trust him when they barely knew each other, not even taking into account that he was still fighting against our Army…didn't it sound suspiciously familiar?"

A thought nudged the King in the back of his mind, like an itch that he just couldn't reach. So he ignored it in favour of listening to Erza.

"It sounded exactly like what Lucy said Natsu had asked of her the very first time that they had met. He asked if she trusted him and she said yes…because of a look in his eyes. That time it was loneliness that they both apparently shared, and this time it was that bone-deep weariness over the war that I know all of us feel. Now, add in the fact that he calls her Luce and she doesn't knock him out every time he says it, that he seems to know Happy and actively tries to rile up Gray for some unknown reason, and how protective he feels over an almost complete stranger…It's just too many coincidences for it to be random. I've heard so many stories about that little menace to feel as if I know him too. I realise that I didn't grow up with all of them, but I think I know enough. "

The nudge in his mind was growing stronger, but he was anxious for Titania to lay the final piece before him. "Erza…"

She shook her head as if to remove her wayward thoughts, like a dog shaking off water. "If we didn't know already that Natsu was dead, I would have thought I was looking at an older version of him." Erza smiled ruefully. "Are we sure that he didn't have a Demonised twin brother that none of you knew about?"

The King chuckled at the thought then almost groaned at the amount of destruction the duo would have wrought on the world if that was the case. "No. He did not. He only had Zeref, Happy and Princess Lucy. Especially after Igneel disappeared, he treasured those connections he had, Lucy's most of all. It wasn't until years later, when Lucy Heartfilia showed up at this castle, weary and bloodstained, out of her mind with grief, that we knew that the 'Luce' that Natsu loved so much was the Princess of the Star Kingdom. He never told anyone her last name, where she lived, only talked about their adventures when we saw him and Zeref at official functions. Truthfully…I didn't even know what Lucy looked like, she was never at any of the balls, nor was she allowed out of her room when we did join Jude in his Kingdom." Makarov's blood boiled at the thought of his dear friend who turned so incredibly cruel before he died.

Silence had filled the room before Erza sighed. "This probably means that Zeref might have killed his own brother right? Maybe not directly, but he might have had a hand in the decision…" Red hair swayed as the Re-quip Mage turned towards the setting sun. "You know that no matter what, even if Spriggan is truly Zeref…that we must eliminate him."

"Yes. I know." The King knew more than anyone else what must be done.

"And you also know that there is only one person in Earthland that would be able to do that?"

He knew. They all knew. The only one with the Heavenly light, the single person who could combat the growing darkness that the Emperor was spreading.

"Do you think we should tell her that she is most likely running towards her doom?"

Makarov lit up his pipe and puffed, blowing smoke rings into the early evening air. "I think she already knows."

-ooo-

Damn, he was uncomfortable.

Not physically, mind you. The bed was soft, the pillows plush and it was a good enough size that he could lay on it and stretch his tired wings out without having them drag too much on the floor.

No, he was mentally uncomfortable. Ever since END had started remembering things from when he was human – or so he assumed he was human – he felt…wrong. His skin itched and crawled like it wasn't his own, and he was borrowing it from someone else.

Like an ill-tailored piece of clothing that almost fit, but was a little off somehow.

He shifted around in the bed again trying in vain to get some shut eye before the morning, but it obviously wouldn't be that easy for him.

He sat up abruptly, the walls around him crowding and pushing against his sanity. He hadn't slept in a room with four walls for years, and now when he needed it most, that fourth wall was preventing him from resting.

Maybe some fresh air would do him good, he had always liked the night, when the stars were out. Being a Demon of Darkness prevented him from being afraid of whatever hid in the shadows – primarily because he was the deadliest thing that lurked in the gloom – but he knew…somehow…that the night was where all the most important and exciting things happened.

His claws clicked on the cobblestone of the balcony before he vaulted off the side into the open air.

The wind buffeted around the Demon, caressing him with ticklish fingers, tossing his unruly silver hair around. And he was finally content, his earlier anxiety easing.

Until he caught her scent.

It was so strong that he could almost taste it.

It was refreshing on his palate, like mint with a floral compliment that he thought might be jasmine or lilac until he got closer.

No…it was cherry blossoms. Delicate and vibrant at the same time. He dropped down towards the enticing smell, drawn in by the way it seemed to curl around him and beckon him closer. He was weak to resist it.

And there she was…curled up like a little child on a gigantic bed piled with mounds of pillows and a comforter coloured a blue so dark it seemed black. Lucy's armour had been removed and set carefully on a mannequin in the corner, and she was dressed in a floaty black dress with long sleeves to combat the chill of the morning. END glowered, wondering if it was Laxus that had helped her strip then redress. But that didn't seem like something that the hulking blonde would do for someone, even if they were his little sister in everything but blood.

Lucy would probably punch anyone that tried to help her out with anything. She seemed so independent like she didn't need anyone.

Until he remembered that Lucy had needed him, just that afternoon. For comfort and stability. She had clung to him when she wept, and in turn, he had curled around her to protect her from the eyes of her family.

He knew what it was like to feel weak. The Emperor always denied him when it came to battles, even though he was the strongest Demon that they had. Back then, he had wondered why his leader wouldn't let him out of the Black Fortress except for small excursions to find deserters from the Alvarez Army or act as executioner to those who opposed Spriggan. He had killed…yes…but it was always a command from his superior, or from Invel who delighted in telling the Demon what to do.

END glanced again at Lucy and wondered what it would be like to have someone who was the last thing you saw when you went to sleep and the first thing you witnessed when you woke. He wanted that, ached for the stability, the comfort for just once in his life.

So he prayed to all the Gods above and below that Lucy wouldn't slit his throat in the morning and decided to slip into bed with her. He wanted to feel her warmth beside him and now was the perfect opportunity before he had to go back and work as a spy again. Before he had to tell her about how he somehow knew her before his accident. Before she realised how much she didn't truly need him for anything and stopped wanting him around.

It was a foolish dream, but it was all he had. He was made a Demon, not born, this form wasn't even his own, not truly. So his deepest desires and fleeting whims were the only things he owned. Everything else had either been given to him or made for him, nothing but his mind was free from the influence of the Black Wizard.

And sometimes he really wondered if that as strictly true as well, those memories that were repressed had been his own as well, and he had a sneaking suspicion that Spriggan had something to do with why they were missing in the first place.

END huffed softly as he tried to figure out just how to lay on the bed with Lucy, but it wasn't easy as she was curled in the exact middle – around the small form or Happy – leaving equal amounts of room on both sides, but it wasn't enough for him when his wings and horns and claws were out. Not to mention all those sharp edges could do some real damage to her soft flesh, even if he never wanted that to happen, there could be an accident. He was already pushing it contemplating the idea of being so close…so intimate with her, he didn't want to add salt to the wound and make her bleed as well.

His demonic traits shifted away into black ash, silver turned to a bright pink, claws to fingers, red to onyx. Surprisingly, this form, the one that looked more human, felt much better than the demonic one did. His skin didn't tingle and itch. It felt…right.

He eased himself into the bed, lightly shifting the pillow and blankets to get more comfortable.

Hearing a sigh, he froze. END pleaded silently for Lucy to not be awake because if she were, then he would be dead.

He looked over to see her eyes at half-mast, groggy with sleep. He waited for the inevitable blow that would end his life or the shriek that would signal to the world that END would shortly lose his head.

And he waited.

Nothing happened, except for the weary girl gave him a small smile and breathed out going right back to sleep. "…Natsu…"

Jealousy flowed through him at the name. Even though he knew that Natsu was dead and that she had most likely mistaken END for her best friend in her dream, he wished that Lucy was thinking about him, dreaming about him.

He grumbled and whined in the back of his throat at the realisation that Lucy having a dream about him, END, a Demon who wielded black Hellfire, was about as likely as the Black Wizard donning a tutu and pointe shoes to dance ballet.

It just wasn't feasible.

Lucy suddenly rolled over and snuggled towards his warmth, squishing the small blue cat in between his hard chest and the voluptuous curves of her chest. The poor exceed looked like he would die of suffocation before he was woken out of his magically induced slumber.

END quirked an eyebrow, wondering what Lucy was doing, seeking his body out like this in her sleep. Was she dreaming again? Did she think he was someone else? Natsu perhaps?

Probably.

"…stupid Demon…"

Well…maybe not. It looked like the Black Wizard should start brushing up on how to do a plié.

-ooo-

Lucy woke up confused.

Last night had been the first time in years that she had had a peaceful dream that centred around her best friend. Usually, it was filled with visions of how Natsu had died. Full of torture and blood and screaming…so much screaming. It usually left her even more tired when she finally woke up than before she passed out.

It was a simple dream. She had rolled over in bed and seen him just…standing there, looking at her. He seemed older, no longer the childish boy, but a roguish and incredibly handsome man. His eyes were the same, though, holding all the mischief and love and joy for life that she remembered.

She missed him terribly.

Lucy sunk down under her mounds of covers once again, thankful that it was only just daybreak and she could sleep a little longer.

Maybe she would dream of her best friend once again.

-ooo-

END felt so very lucky like a guardian angel had been watching over him and woke him up a scant minute before Lucy had.

He had just dove off her balcony, his wings and horns and hair changing once again when he heard Lucy's breathing rate change and her small petulant moan at having been woken up. He could only imagine the childish pout on her full lips and smiled to himself.

Whether it was because Lucy's bed was just so much more comfortable than his had ever been, or because it was Lucy lying beside him, but he had never had such a wonderful sleep. His usual insomnia and restlessness kept at bay by the scent of her hair and the sound of her calm breathing.

It eased a part of himself that he didn't know resided in his heart until that moment. He liked it. He liked waking up to her tousled blonde locks and gentle snores.

The peace that he desperately sought out since that first night they had actually talked and watched the stars turn above them was felt again but on a much grander scale.

This was bliss. He was sure of it. But did he deserve it? He was a being of darkness, a Demon made into a killing machine for a lying bastard hell bent on conquering the world.

End didn't know if he did deserve bliss and happiness or anything like that, but he was greedy and wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth – even if the gift he was getting were unknown to the other party involved – so he would take what he could get before Lucy found out and chopped off his more delicate body parts that he actually thought be might need in the future.

His smile turned devious, his long canines poked out in a way that made him seem like a true predator.

END would definitely be making a return trip to Nova's room tonight.

-ooo-

"Let's begin. END, please tell us about your latest memory."

Makarov had been gracious enough to allow the minimum amount of people into the conference as possible, dismissing his council and held the talk over a delicious looking breakfast.

END looked sceptically at his glass of orange juice and disregarded the King in favour of turning to Lucy – who sat to his right – and tried to remove her attention away from petting a still sleeping Happy and trying to butter her toast with a single hand.

"Luce…what the hell is this?"

"What do you mean?"

The Demon pointed a single clawed finger at the suspicious looking drink beside his plate that was piled high with a remarkable amount of cooked meats. "This…orange juice. What is it?"

"A drink."

"I get that. I've never seen it before. Actually, I've never seen a lot of things on this table before."

Lucy realised that being a Demon in the court of a crazy dictator who liked to kill people and ask questions later might make it hard for END to enjoy leisurely breakfast with his friends.

Then she realised that he didn't have any friends, and took pity on his lack of knowledge of breakfast foods. "It's not going to bite you END. Just try it."

"Is it magical?"

"No."

"Does it do anything to you if you drink it?"

"No."

"What does it taste like?"

"Oranges."

"Wha-" And that is where General Nova decided that he was an inquisitive person and also a gigantic child at heart. He reminded her a little of Laxus when they were alone together. The big ole' teddy bear of a blonde never showed anyone else his softer side. It was slightly disconcerting to see END coming out of the shell that she had met.

It was just another thing that reminded her painfully of her best friend.

"END…just try it alright? You might like it. I promise it's delicious."

He knew that Lucy didn't make promises easily, it just her personality. If she gave her world, it would be fine. She had promised to help him, END, against her family when she was sure that they would try to injure him without a thought to the consequences.

So he drank the interesting juice in a single gulp, mulled over the slightly acidic flavour and deemed this 'orange juice' acceptable. "Strange."

Lucy only nodded and continued to slice up and eat a pear with a delicate grace that was ethereal. Her Princess side was showing again.

This exchange was not lost on the other mages in the room, crowded around the table and slowly eating their own meals very quietly so as to not interrupt END and Lucy. They wanted some good gossip to talk about later.

Both Titania and Laxus didn't really enjoy the fact that END and their little sister seemed so familiar and comfortable with each other.

Makarov coughed and repeated his question to END, who glared down at his half-finished food, remembering why Lucy had been so upset yesterday, and about the memories, he had gained out of it. He could still hear her sobs even though she seemed much more composed today, sitting quietly by his side with a look of interest on his face.

Instead of addressing the King, he turned his body fully towards Lucy and talked to her instead. He didn't want to think about all the other people in the room. He would much rather just be with her, but he knew that wasn't possible.

"It happened when you said Happy's name. I saw vision after vision that all centred around that little blue cat. When his egg was found, flying with him, adventures, laughter."

Lucy smiled down at the cat on her lap, seeming at peace with this revelation. "So…you knew Happy before…"

"I think so. But there was someone else in those memories. A little girl with golden hair and big brown eyes."

"What-"

END quickly covered her mouth with his hand, needing to get this all out before he lost his nerve. He could almost smell her sadness and confusion.

"Please. Just…listen."

Her nod was enough for him to continue. "Her name was never said, but I saw one memory of her standing beside a little hut on a cliff overlooking a huge ocean."

Lucy wrenched his hand from her face, a look of fury in her eyes that hadn't been there before. Angry tears fell from her eyes and Lucy spat words at him with so much venom he didn't know why he wasn't disintegrating.

"Who the hell were you? Did you spy on us!? Only Natsu and I knew about that place, no one else."

He tried to reach out to her again, just as he had yesterday to give her some semblance of comfort but Lucy only batted his claws away from her shoulder, cutting herself in the process.

He had smelled the blood before he saw it and it only served to make him feel guiltier than he already did at the fact that he had made her cry. Once again, she had tears in her eyes, and it was due to him. Self-loathing welled up and spread through him.

"Dammit Luce! I'm sorry. I don't know who I was! I don't think I was spying on yah."

He wanted to take her pain away, to wipe her tears from her face. But this damn form he was in was all sharp edges and filled with danger.

He growled out his frustration. "Gods, this form is fucking ridiculous."

Titania caught on to his worlds before anyone else did. "…this form?"

END didn't listen to her and continued to try to will away his anger at being unable to comfort the one person who had accepted him, horns and all, didn't cower away from his blood red eyes.

Had spoken to him as another being of equal standing instead of a servant or a disappointment or a failed experiment.

Before he could truly think about it, his body moved robotically. He stood up straight, knocking his chair back onto the ground, the only sound in the deafening silence that permeated the room.

He snarled at his thoughts. He trusted Lucy, he trusted the King and his comrades. He wanted to change into his other form, for the express purpose of comforting the still crying Lucy. That form didn't have claws or horns. He wouldn't accidentally cut her that way.

He felt the shift in his appearance and saw the swirl of black ash float away into nothing that signalled that his demonic appearance was now gone.

END thought that Lucy would now allow him to at least get closer to her, but his luck seemed to run out at that point.

What he got instead was a pale, trembling girl, devastation and bitterness in her eyes as she looked at his new form. For a moment, he thought she was disgusted, but that train of thought was derailed as soon as it popped up.

She breathed only one word, and that one word was his undoing to everything he thought he knew to be true.

"…Natsu?"