All Rights to Hiro Mashima

This chapter is decidedly M-rated. Look for the marks (XXX) that mark the beginning and the ends of the scene to preserve your child like innocence if you so, please. If you don't give a flaming fuck…read on you lovely perverts. Love me some smut. :3 Not a full lemon pie this time, just a nice little lime for your reading pleasure.

Written for IronicMelody23 because you a precious cupcake and were BLUSHING at the last chapter. Too cute for the world… Love it. ~CUTE~ also…it's super hard to make me blush anymore, but some of GemNika's shit gets to me. Like her Colu week submissions…damn, that girl has talent and a freaky sixth sense for the smutty goodness. Tingles people. FUCKING GOOSEBUMPS.

BEWARE! SEXY SEXY NALU TIMES AHEAD! HOT DAMN! (also fluff…but who cares about that when we can have smut?)

Chapter 22: Garnet

The word 'Garnet' comes from the Latin word 'Garanatus' which means 'seed-like' in reference to the pomegranate and is the birthstone of January; This stone was very popular in the 18th and 19th centuries in Europe and used in Victorian time for jewellery; thought to cure depression and relieve diseases of the liver; the Ancient Greeks said it guarded children against drowning; Garnet is the symbol of sexual love and eternal commitment as it refers to the sins that Adam and Eve committed while in the Garden of Eden as it is believed that it was not an apple that they ate, but a pomegranate.

xxx

Never in her life had Lucy felt so needy.

Yes, she wanted END, she wanted him to do wonderfully delicious things to her body, but the word want was not the correct one. It was so much more.

What she felt for the Demon grinding against her molten core was need. Pure, unfettered need, right down to her bones – which she was sure were on fire, and her skin was ashes, and her brain was a puddle of super-heated liquid – because she was almost one hundred percent certain that END had used his black Hellfire on her.

She was burning.

And she loved it.

Lucy needed to feel his lips on hers like she needed air to breathe. She needed for him to grind just a little harder to increase the amazing feeling on their skin rubbing together. She needed his hands to rip off her shirt because she was so damn hot and she knew, she just knew, that he could offer her a way to cool down.

He was a drink of chilled water in the middle of the desert, a feast for a starving man, the first breath of fresh air after drowning.

She was sure that she needed him like she knew that her name was Lucy Heartfilia.

His claw-tipped fingers ran through her hair, grazed down her back and wrapped around her hips, crushing her centre against his arousal so that they were more intimately connect as they rocked their way to ecstasy together. END pushed his hands underneath her shirt feeling her naked skin and ran his talons lightly against the sensitive flesh of her stomach.

She shuddered. Those claws of his were dangerous, and the thrill at the fact that he could either gut her or bring her unimaginable pleasure was electric and petrifying.

Between one moment and the next, her only undershirt was shredded into the something that looked close to bandages, but Lucy didn't have the presence of mind to care. She was bare to the night air, and END's crimson eyes grew darker until they were the colour of wine, his stare equal parts hungry and reverent.

Lucy needed his touch. Desperately.

Why wasn't he touching her?

"END…please…I need to feel you…"

He complied and crushed her now completely naked torso to his own.

She writhed against him as her sensitive peaks grazed the hard planes of his chest, lightning shooting down to her already overheated core. "Ahh! Gods yes! Touch me, I need…I ne-" Her voice died in her throat as the Demon wrapped his lips around one dusky nipple and sucked. "NGH. Shit…" His hands shot down to the cheeks of her ass, kneading the ample flesh roughly, her core grinding down harder and closer and hotter onto his twitching scorching length.

She was still burning, and she could never get enough.

Lucy didn't know that being with a man could be this…overwhelming. The pleasure. The feeling. The sounds…it was all new and exciting and terrifying.

END was growling into her ear in a way that was both nostalgic and new at the same time, at the moment it only served to heighten her arousal from melting to supernova. "Lucyy…" Never had her name been spoken like that before, but she would give absolutely anything for him to say it every day just like that.

His tongue was doing devilishly amazing things to her breasts, and she was enthralled with the way his teeth scraped across her skin.

She pushed herself closer to the hard length in his sleeping pants. She needed to remove the space between them.

Having just enough presence of mind to stop herself from ripping off those infernal coverings of his so that he could fill her very empty soaking womanhood, Lucy instead kept her hands busy elsewhere.

Raking blunt nails down his chest and back, delighting in the trails of red left in their wake.

Feeling every contour of his chest and abdominals.

Brushing his silver hair away from his sweaty forehead.

Gripping his prominent horns in her hands and bringing his molten mouth back to hers again in a kiss so fierce it hurt.

"Fuck! Luce! Fuckingshit…you feel so good!" END knew that if he were alive, he would have been happy to die here, right here, with Lucy in his lap grinding away on his absolutely painfully hard arousal. So he roared his pleasure in the only way he knew how howls of arousal lit up the night while her name and strings of half-formed pleas and curses dripped from his mouth like honey.

In the back of his mind he knew that he should be pissed that Kyouka had done this to them. That Lucy might not actually want to go this far with him – not because he was a Demon per se, but more because he might actually be the incarnation of her best friend – or would regret this entirely when the fog lifted.

But the way she looked, breathless and needy and sweaty, was too much for him, and the way her eyes begged him to keep going and never stop made him melt. He was weak when it came to her, he was the Demon END, but with her, he could be himself, and he relished that feeling. He would do anything and everything for her. To her. She only had to ask.

"Yeeeesssss…Just like that. Fuck….yes…I need more END…pleaseeee." That breathy moan had him almost releasing in his pants, the only thing holding him off was his absolute iron will that had clamped down. But it was waning, weakening. He was so damn close.

How could he deny her anything? She was Lucy. His Luce. The woman that broke down his life in less than a month and gave him something to strive for. Something so that he would see this war through to the end and come out the other side whole. For her.

So if she wanted the world, he would deliver. He was hooked. Completely. By everything she was and everything she had. Her smile blinded him. The fire in her eyes captivated him. Nova fascinated him to no end, and he would have her in any way possible.

So if she wanted more? Then he would give her more.

He could hear her end coming in the way she was panting and felt it in the way her body stuttered against his, the rhythm thrown off by the pleasure that mounted and grew faster than he thought possible. Her fiery core in those impossibly tight shorts glided up and down his own arousal, and he could smell how excited she was. How wound-up they both were, it filled the room, and it was in every breath he took. Musky and salty sweet. He was swimming in it. It screamed sex and dominance and delightfully sinful things.

But he was a Demon and sin was what he did best. His sin at the moment was lust, and he wanted to drag her down to the pits of hell with him. He doubted she would deny him.

"Luce…Luce…tell me. Tell me what you…ngh…want. Please. I'll do anything. Give you anything…tell me…"

But she was too far gone to answer, up into the clouds, high on the edge of something that would bring her unimaginable amounts of bliss, if only she could tip over that precipice. She knew that END could help her. She knew that he could do something. Anything. She needed him to.

He heard her almost silent plea she uttered, and that was when he really lost control in a way that he had never before. Not when he was training. Not in battle. Nowhere. Just here with her. With his Lucy.

END clamped his teeth down on her shoulder and bit through the skin. The pain mixed with the heightened pleasure pushed her off that cliff and into utter rapture. Her body stilled, and she screamed to the heavens, drenching her – and his pants – in warm liquid. Her smell hit him full in the face seconds later.

And he drowned.

Watching her peak and feeling her climax in his arms was enough for him to follow her. The world burst behind his eyes into white and black. He had never felt anything quite like that before…and he would give anything to feel it again. He would do anything to have Lucy in his arms again like this.

xxx

END groaned against her skin and unlocked his jaw, lapping up her crimson blood that had dripped down her arm like strings of garnets.

Lucy moaned lightly at the feeling of his tongue against her oversensitive skin. It was too much and not enough at the same time. In her stupor, she didn't realise that she was shirtless, nor that END had just ripped into the flesh of her shoulder or the fact that she had just orgasmed at the same time with the Demon END in Natsu's old bed.

She was just too sated and tired and warm. So warm.

Not like before, not hot and like her skin was crawling if she didn't get some kind of release. She felt happy. Like she mattered to someone again.

So they melted into the bed again, tangled and sweaty, as END drew up the covers as shivers still wracked their bodies in the wake of their frenzy.

The last thing END had thought before he drifted off into a well-deserved sleep was that for the first time in his life he felt genuine joy.

And that his life was forfeit. Lucy was going to absolutely murder him.

-ooo-

END woke up disoriented.

He was in his bed in the Black Fortress with a strange weight on his chest and hair in his mouth that wasn't his.

And why the hell was he so damn sticky?

Many questions ran through his head before he finally recognised one thing, the hair that invaded his nose and mouth was a bright shade of lilac. Lucy's hair after she had magically changed it earlier the prior day.

Then the memories from the night before slammed into his brain with all the weight of a fucking Wyvern flying at max speed.

Shit. He was dead.

Well…more dead than he already was at the moment because he still wasn't sure if he was truly alive. Damn, he really needed to figure that part out.

Lucy shifted and mumbled on his chest, and he felt her naked torso press closer. Gods above and below, she was so soft, it almost felt as if silk was slipping over him. END whimpered – which he would never ever fucking tell a soul even if Kyouka tortured him – as she slid a leg between his. She was everywhere, he could feel every nerve ending light up in his body in response to her. His strong arms banded around Lucy's tiny waist tighter as if she would realise that it was a Demon she was snuggling with without clothing and leave him cold and alone.

END felt like he could be the one to treat her better than anyone in all of Earthland. If he had a chance to just show her…that she would be treasured beyond all the gold and jewels in the world.

What had he ever done to deserve this? What had he done in his previous life to deserve her here like this? Lying like lovers entwined in bed, the scent of debauchery all around.

This delicious torture he truly thought was karma for the fact that he had rutted himself to climax against Lucy in the middle of the night.

But the fact that Lucy had done the same meant that he wasn't totally at fault. Right?

Right.

She had lost herself in the pleasure just as he had. He was in the clear. He knew that Lucy had a level head and was predictable. She would be logical, and he wouldn't be murdered.

That thought flew out of his mind as soon as she shifted and sighed into his shoulder and he saw the bite mark in her flesh. Oh…no. Nononono. He was officially a dead man-demon-person walking as soon as Lucy woke up and found out that he had marred the creamy expanse of her arm.

She had many scars, but this one…this one was a mark of possession and Gods did it ever look perfect sitting like the brightest star amongst so many dull constellations. He took his time mapping out her imperfections, for they told him that this was real. She was real, and she was here. END took advantage of whatever time they had left like this and savoured the feeling of rightness as she nuzzled closer to his neck. He carded his hands carefully through her blonde locks and couldn't resist one last kiss he placed on her forehead. He wanted to convey everything he felt that he didn't really understand in that one gesture and he hoped that he did.

Lucy sighed once again, and END felt that even if it was unconscious, Lucy had felt it. Hopefully.

Her lips grazed his neck, and her touch sent electricity shooting from his stomach to all his extremities.

His breath stuttered, and embarrassingly enough, his arousal grew for her as it pressed against Lucy's soft thigh, hard and throbbing and needy once again. He tried to ignore it, tried to ignore her, but that proverbial jar of worms had been opened last night, and there was no way to close it. He had seen her come loose at the seams and that image had been seared into his brain, complete with heaving chest and sweat slicked curves. He would never part with that memory, he would fight tooth and nail to keep it for it was the most beautiful thing he had seen to date.

Not in a lecherous way. In a way that made him feel…something new. Something significant. Right in the centre of his chest. It was a soothing warmth, and he was loathe to part with it so easily.

So he would be greedy and keep it close, keep Lucy close for as long as possible. Which was getting shorter and shorter with every passing minute as he drew closer to his inevitable doom.

Irrationally, he was proud. Natsu had never been this close to her. Natsu had never sent her over that edge into bliss. Natsu had never seen her climax or held her as she shivered in the wake of rapture. He had never even kissed her, he was sure of that.

END slapped a hand over his eyes and groaned low in his throat. He was even more pathetic now. He was fucking competing with the other part of himself. He was so engrossed in his own self-pity, END didn't realise that Lucy had woken up and was now staring a little dazedly at him.

"So it wasn't a dream." She murmured. END was so startled out of his Natsu-bashing and subsequent attempts to console himself that he wasn't the worst Demon that ever walked in Earthland, that he let out an indelicate yelp that was at least two octaves higher than usual. (This was disregarded by both parties involved as there were bigger problems at the moment, but Lucy would remember it and hold it over his head for years.)

"Uh…" Articulate as always, END had nothing to say and all he could think about was the fact that she had yet to move away from him, or kill him, or chop his dick off and make him eat it.

Lucy nodded sagely and finally disentangled herself from his strong grip. She rose from the bed, either unaware or uncaring that she was still naked from the waist up – END was fully aware of it as he felt his mouth simultaneously dry up and salivate – and sauntered off towards the bathroom without another word or backwards glance. "I'll be back after I wash."

Dumbfounded, he just stared at her and thanked his lucky stars and all the known deities that his head – both of them in fact – was still attached to his body.

-ooo-

As Lucy closed the door, she lost the unflappable façade that she had shown END. She sat down quickly on the floor and panted as if she had finished a training session with both Capricorn and Laxus. What was she supposed to think? Supposed to do? Waking up against all that hot muscle and entangled in the embrace of END, who was her mortal enemy only two fucking weeks ago!

She had awoken out of one of the best sleep she had ever and almost passed out again from all the images that had assaulted her, and the fact she could feel END's arousal against her thigh, and it scared her how much she wanted to do something about it. She was also terrified of what would happen after this…situation. Was it in END's nature to do something like this? He was a Demon, and she knew that they were carnal in nature. So what was she? A conquest? Just another woman in his bed?

She didn't even want to touch the fact that END could truly be Natsu. That was a shit-storm that she would think about another day. Strangely enough, she felt like she was betraying her pink-haired friend in some way. It was at that point where she had felt a wave of pure shame wash through her that she was prepared to jump off his chest and run and run somewhere where END could never find her.

Until Lucy felt a single hand slid through her hair and a tender kiss placed on her forehead that was so heartbreakingly soft that she had almost cried.

In that action, she knew that END didn't just lust after her. Well, that was there, but it wasn't the only emotion that he felt. There was more, and for that, she was eternally thankful.

For she wasn't the only one. She wasn't alone in the fact that she had felt something more for this Demon.

Lucy picked herself off the stone floor and filled the basin with scalding water, ready to soak the sweat and…discharge away. She sniffed a bar of soap and delighted in the fresh, airy scent it gave off then turned towards the giant mirror above the sink.

Brown eyes glazed over as she took in her reflection. Golden hair messy and twisted, dangerous curves and heavily lidded gaze. She paused as she saw one thing that didn't belong. Sweeping her hair to the side, she took in the mark, looking at it like a puzzle she couldn't solve until she recognised the puncture marks as teeth.

All reason flew out the window, and cold anger swept through like a frigid hurricane. "What…the…hell…did that damn Demon do to me?" She growled like a Dragon, her eyes slits and nostrils flaring.

Pushing her rage down as the basin was finally full and it was time to wash the day's events off of her, Lucy entered the tub and scrubbed every inch of herself ridding her skin and hair of the scent of sweat and sin.

She realised that she wasn't really mad per se. It was closer to annoyance. She didn't mind scars. They told stories of battles lost and won, of adventures and wild days and exciting nights. But how would she explain this one? She could just see it now.

"Oh, this one? END and I were sleeping in the same bed together, and Kyouka cursed us with heightened pleasure, and we rubbed our way to bliss together and then END bit my shoulder, weird right? It's right beside the one I got as a child playing with sticks."

Erza would smack her for being so careless in the chambers of an unbound male, and then Titania would come out and skin END alive and wear his flesh as a cloak.

Should she even hide it?

Lucy didn't really want to, something in her baser instincts cried out for her to show the world that END had claimed her while her higher brain functions wanted her to cover it and pretend it wasn't there.

So she went with a decision that was somewhere in the middle of both. She wouldn't hide it intentionally – it wasn't her fault that she usually wore armour that covered her completely – but she wouldn't flaunt it to the world.

She nodded, full of courage again at her logical decision that appeased both sides of herself.

That was until she realised that she hadn't brought a single stitch of clothing in with her other than her shorts and underwear that she wore the day before. That newfound strength fled from her body as she slumped forward and groaned.

She had a choice.

Leave the way she came into the bathroom in only those shorts.

Or completely naked, because apparently, END didn't believe in towels. (He would argue when asked about it that he would just light himself on fire, he didn't need stupid pieces of cloth to dry off when his curse was enough.)

So she chose the lesser of the two evils. Lucy slipped on her shorts while disregarding her absolutely ruined panties, opting to just throw those into the trash instead.

She breathed deeply, steeled herself, then walked out with all the bravery she could muster – which wasn't a whole lot considering the circumstances – to find END passed out in the bed snoring like a bear.

Smirking slightly at her good luck and the fact that he looked cute like that, Lucy donned the rest of her clothes and armour without incident.

END grunted awake as she was slipping her gauntlets on over her hands, her weapons clinking together on her back and the familiar weight of the daggers in her boots giving her a sense of peace.

What had her life come to that the feeling of war instruments gave her more serenity than most other things?

He stared owlishly at her, and she smiled at his confusion. "The bathroom is open if you would like to wash. We have many tasks to complete and little time to do so."

Giving her a slight nod as his expression of hope and happiness fell into a grimace, END stalked off to the bathroom, spending a total of thirty seconds behind the door before coming back out completely nude with a look of absolute unwavering determination plastered on his face.

He stopped inches from her, their noses almost touching. "Do you realise that you're naked?"

"Yes."

"Why are you naked?"

"Because I stripped before figuring something out."

She watched him until he grabbed her by her upper arms and crushing his mouth against his in wild kiss that burned and bruised and melted both parties. Lucy couldn't do anything but return the favour with equal passion.

Ripping his lips off of her, END leant down to her ear and growled in a way that she vaguely felt in her fingers and toes. "We have more important things to deal with at the moment…but we will talk later. Make no mistake." And then he was gone, giving her an impressive view of his perfectly toned backside.

Lucy licked her lips, her eyes almost glowing with promises better left unsaid.

Oh. They would definitely be talking later.