All Rights to Hiro Mashima

Good day my precious cupcakes. :3 There will be only one more chapter after this, so I hope you're ready to rock.

Chapter 43: Verdite

Found in only two remote locations, Eastern Zimbabwe and South Africa, this stone was used in days of old to eliminate toxins of the blood and for cleansing demons; related to Serpentine; named after it's vivid green colour due to traces of chromium; most often carved and used for inlay work in amulets.

"My Lady…how's Igneel?"

"Out of the woods, but still unconscious. That last blast of concentrated Chaos—it was too much for him in the state he was in. Diminished physically and in mental anguish. Ten years ago, he might have shaken it off easily, but now…"

"I understand, my Lady."

"Your Majesty, call me Grandeeney, I no longer have a court to be a Lady of."

"Only if you call me Makarov."

"Agreed."

"Grandeeney…what of Nova, and END?"

"Gone."

"I see. Now we wait?"

"Now we wait."

-ooo-

Leo stood still, silent beside Virgo as they surveyed the mess on the ground. Boots scuffed with dust and ichor, small nicks and burns covered their exposed skin. They were waiting, for what, they weren't sure.

Perhaps a sign.

Their Princess had asked them to come out on their own power for the fight so that her own magic could be saved until when it was truly needed.

So, they waited.

Leo could sense their keys behind him and turned, only to be surprised to find the last person he ever thought to be there.

"Why do you have her keys? Where is she?" But Leo already knew, just as he knew the moment his last key-wielder passed on. The moment Layla was gone.

"Starshine slipped them to me during the battle, just before she shot Acnologia."

Erik—take these to Leo…

…which one is that? I can't remember all those freaky spirits of yours.

He's the one with all the hair and the ridiculous cape.

Alright. Won't you need them where you're going?

No. I don't think so.

You—you don't think you're coming back, do you?

Maybe, maybe not. Just in case, I want them to be safe. Promise me, Eric.

I owe you my life Starshine. How could I say no?

Thank you, Erik.

Leo was floored. Lucy hadn't been without their presence since she got their keys back after her father was killed. "She's going to meet Zeref without us?"

The keys were shoved into Leo's outstretched hands. "I promised to give them to you. I've done what she asked."

Virgo bowed low. "Thank you, Cobra."

He turned and left without another word.

"Virgo, our Princess is going to sacrifice herself to save everyone if she has to, isn't she?"

"It would seem so big brother."

He strapped them to his belt, wincing as Aquarius' key heated up enough to add another small burn to his thumb. "There is not a single person in Earthland that I love more than Lucy, she means everything to me, to us, doesn't she Virgo."

Virgo's normally blank face cracked into a small smile, a little rusty around the edges, but a smile none the less. "That she does. Are you thinking what I think you're thinking?"

"I'll be damned if she leaves from this world without doing something about it. I think I speak for everyone, don't I?"

"Right again, big brother."

"Then what are we waiting for?"

-ooo-

Lucy truly didn't know what to expect when she walked through those doors. She might have thought to have the rest of the twelve shields waiting to attack them as soon as she took one step through the threshold. Or perhaps hordes of Demons, newly created and blood-hungry.

But the massive hall, once glimmering with light from candles and torches, filled with laughter and family, was entirely empty.

Well, almost empty. Only a massive carved throne sat where it had the last time she was here, a single hooded figure slouched low. Spriggan didn't even turn towards their entrance but seemed to be entirely preoccupied with a murmured conversation with the glimmer of light she could barely see at his side.

END rumbled by her side, black eyes squinted in confusion and annoyance. Perhaps he had been ready and waiting for a fight, dark flames flying while adrenaline rose high like waves on the sea.

She could admit that it was truly anticlimactic, but fitting.

"Shall we, Caelesti?"

She smiled, a tight-lipped thing that was as bitter as lemon rind. It gave her a small amount of comfort to know that Natsu she grew up with was still mixed in that soul of his, still cheeky and straight-forward. Stupid Demon-Dragon-man. Lucy loved him so incredibly much.

Natsu tilted his head as he watched her watch him, her eyes bleeding all the adoration and affection she had held inside for years. His voice lowered to a whisper. "—Luce?"

It was all she needed to hear. That one word, that was everything to her. That name that he and only he gave her since she was a little girl so alone, so lonely. These past months, she had lived so much, loved so much. Extended her family beyond anything that she had ever thought possible. Gained so much; a lover in Natsu, a little sister in Wendy, Brothers and another father figure from the Dragons, a Right-hand in Sting, she had forgiven so many, had left her hard, emotionless self behind and bloomed. It was all thanks to Natsu, all thanks to that tiny Dragon-boy that had taken held out his hand and asked for her trust.

Clawed fingers curled around her own. "Let's go, Natsu."

He grinned, more teeth and fangs and gleaming smile than usual, but it was welcomed. "Like we said. We will follow you."

Lucy glanced again through the gloom at Emperor Spriggan. "This time, I might go somewhere you can't follow."

"There is not a single place anywhere, not in Earthland, not the stars, not even under it where this one would not find you. We will go where you do, Caelesti."

And she believed him. Natsu had never, not once, even as a pure Demon unfettered by his Dragon, lied to her.

It was then that the dark hunched figure shifted his head up and looked right at them. Lucy couldn't see his face, or anything really, as the hood he wore covered everything but the tip of a very straight nose. He hooked a pale finger at them, beckoning them closer, and so they went, cautiously as if there were traps and tripwires strung up like a spider's web on the floor.

But to their surprise, there was none.

Another pale hand joined the first, raised slowly and pushed the hood down off the face hidden in shadows.

There was always a part of Lucy that hoped, duly, irrationally because she knew deep down who was behind this war, that the man would be revealed as a stranger.

A stand-in. A nobody.

But as blank black eyes blinked back at her own amber ones, that tiny patch of hope in her heart shriveled and died.

Zeref Dragneel.

"Lady Heartfilia. We meet at last. Although, you don't seem to be surprised by my face here."

She looked back skeptically at Zeref, confused as to why they were making conversation. Perhaps he wanted to drag this out a while longer? But, for what reason?

"I have suspected for over a month, Zeref, that you were not as dead as you appeared to be. Your body was never found, never displayed in death by the enemy."

"An oversight." He sighed as though the world's weight was upon his shoulders, but then turned abruptly to look at Natsu.

"You are neither the one I created or the brother I left behind."

"We are not, Aesu, this one is both and neither. One longs to part the flesh from your bones, while the other loves and hates you in equal measure. It is an—" Wings shuffled while brows pinched down in frustration. "—uncomfortable feeling."

"All in due time END. I hold no illusions over what I have done. And who I have done those things for."

Zeref's eyes bounced back to Nova, looking her over again, pupils blown wide in the dim light. "Pity, you seem to have forgotten your noble stars. I had very much wanted to meet them."

"They are far from here Zeref."

"Again, a pity."

Natsu gnashed his teeth in impatience. "We have waited long for this meeting Aesu. Enough talk."

Zeref hummed and stroked a finger over a small piece of blue stone to his right. It was a moment before Lucy realized what she had thought was a shard of glass, was, in fact, a jagged corner of a massive pale blue lacrima that saturated the air with waves muted magic. "Aesu—I don't think I've ever heard that word before, it is not one that I am familiar with, not one from the Daemon."

Natsu's eyes burned black as the oil-slicked words in Demon tongue whipped around his ankles in agitation, before creeping up his leg until they were lost underneath the blue flag of the Domus army he had wrapped around his waist. "It is not my word, but this one's. Brother."

That word, hissed through teeth, dripped poison and rage and crept over their skin like insect legs. Lucy understood then, it was the last plea, maybe even a last acknowledgment of Natsu to the man he knew so long ago as his brother.

"It is not from the Daemon, but from the Dragons."

Zeref looked stunned, of all things, at the acceptance that there was something out there that could still rattle him, still confuse him. Zeref whispered something so low back, but with the way, his mouth moved, slowly, carefully. Lucy had no doubts about what that single word could be.

"Brother."

It was as if the string holding Natsu back was cut, and suddenly the whole room was filled with movement. Lucy herself was stiff and unable to catch her breath at the sudden shift, but Natsu was—he was—gone. One moment he had been standing at her side, a bulwark in the storm that was this war, and then the next he was gone.

Perhaps gone wasn't the right word to use, maybe moved or shifted, or transparent was a better word. Because he was still in that massive room, still there with her, but gone from her side.

Then she noticed that Zeref was too.

Her ears hurt at the muffled booms and crackles of live electricity and flames that seemed to bounce off the stones and reverberate painfully in her head. Lucy realized that it was sound of the two brothers colliding that was making that horrific noise.

Their fight – if one could call it that, really, it was more of a blur of motion and movements, limbs and wings, tail lashing, black smoke flying – was so fast it was hard to even for Nova to see. Lucy huffed, and the realization that she was still standing there watching as Zeref's fist collided so hard into Natsu's ribs she could hear the cracks.

But what could she do from here? Her arrows were more likely to injure both than just Zeref at the speeds they were fighting at. Her sword could only be useful up close – the same went for her conjured broadsword. The whip—

—ah.

Her river whip snaked out and defied the laws of gravity and physics, sneaking one way then the next listening to the will of its wielder. Lucy pushed her magic to the limits and called on Taurus' strength. Even though he was so far away, she had such a strong bond with the Golden Bull – with all her keys really – that she was able to activate that star dress without those keys on her hip like normal. It was harder than usual but doable.

She planted her feet on the ground and before Zeref knew what was happening, Nova knocked him off his feet throwing the surprisingly light Emperor back into his throne, the hard stone unforgiving.

A pleased smirk crossed her features as she heard something snap and Zeref's pained grunt. Hopefully, it was something important, at the very least it gave Natsu a little room to breathe.

Zeref whipped his hooded cape onto the ground, teeth grinding in pain and frustration. He was cradling his left arm, blood seeping from his elbow to stain his pristine white shirt a bright crimson. "I see. I hope you regret that decision, Nova."

Lucy wanted to roll her eyes but didn't have a moment to spare as the Black Wizard closed his eyes and chanted something feverishly. Whatever it was made Natsu – who had appeared at her side only moments earlier – shiver.

Immediately, she was on guard, ready for his next attack, but it never came. Her golden sword glinted in the low light as she took a few steps forward before halting like a puppet with cut strings.

A massive, sickly black magic circle wheeled over their heads. It was so large that they couldn't see the edges. Lucy made a split-second decision, raised her palm and just as she gave her sword it's shape with her magic, conjured a glowing golden sphere around Natsu. She only had enough time to do this, and hopefully, her light would protect END long enough that he wouldn't be killed by Zeref's death wave. Lucy knew that she was woefully outmatched by the Black Wizard, the magic that poured off him was seemingly endless.

As the last words of his chant rung out into the dead spaces of the chamber, Lucy smiled at Natsu who hadn't yet noticed the shield around him. She knew she had made the right choice, in this. Natsu was the one who had a future, a family, his nest back. Igneel, brothers, and sisters.

Her smile turned pained at the thought of leaving, but she didn't let her eyes leave his form. Their eyes connected.

—Dabit vitam…

…Suscitat mortuos…

…Daemones adducer—

It was silent.

Then—

Nothing.

...you stupid brat...

Love you long time,

LoadedEel