Hi guys! First of all, thank you to all you guys for being so patient with me I know my updates have been taking longer and longer time now. But wow, it's already been a month since I last updated... That was fast XD Don't get me wrong I still love writing this story but damn that was fast. Anyway, here's the new update as I have promised for June, I'm probably going to disappear off the face of the Earth till July again but oh well XD
I've been busy as always with school AND new animes, I'm finally watching anime again and it's been great (Oh Fate/Zero~); I barely watch anime now considering how little time I have for myself but short animes I've been able to coordinate into my time.
This chapter unfortunately STILL doesn't have the fight between Lucy and Natsu, I know, I know it's what everyone's waiting for but I've included a fight between Natsu and Sting this time so hopefully that'll make up for it XS
This chapter is also edited by myself, unfortunately I'm not the only one busy with school at the moment, my editor is out with exams, so you'll have to bear with my crappy editing XD Anyway I hope you guys like the chapter!
Chapter 35 (Hate Her, Love Her, Protect Her & Salvation)
Normal POV,
Ever since he was little, Natsu had always liked measuring how strong he was - he was always willing to challenge anything from people to animals, even inanimate objects, as long as he felt like he was up for it he would go for it - there was nearly nothing stopping him.
Fighting was in his blood and his incredible strength was what he used to protect the people he loved - he never even dared to imagine hurting anyone he cared about with his own hands, not seriously anyway.
But now as his eyes met with Lucy's sad brown ones he couldn't help but realise how contradicting, this was against his own laws.
He had come back to protect her, after hearing what that Jackal had said about killing her no way could he have just stood there and let it happen.
He needed to come back.
He hadn't originally thought of going back this early, he was sure he was going to leave for a month or something, at least until the whole thing blew over and he could look at Lucy in the eye again - though to be honest he doubted that would ever happen.
But then on his first day of wandering he had a run in with one of the Nine Demon Gates, who later found out he had a connection with Lucy - which he quickly took advantage of. Natsu beaten him to the ground eventually but not before he heard a quick warning from Jackal - they were out to kill Lucy.
He didn't know whether Tartarus was really connected to Zeref or not but he didn't really care at that time, all he knew was that Lucy was in danger.
He rushed back to Crocus later and was welcomed back to the guild, Makarov nowhere in sight. Natsu was curious as to where the Master was but decided against asking the guild, he could tell it was already a big risk bringing him into the motel with them - Natsu didn't want to get them into more trouble than they probably already were, though he knew he would have to tell them soon why he had come back so quickly.
Erza told him later to come with them to the Domus Flau and he somehow ended up back in the game. He still had no idea where Makarov was and whether he was here now, but even if he was here watching him the Old Man still hadn't stopped him, which could only mean one thing - Makarov wanted him to be there.
Even if he didn't though, it would be too late now anyway.
Natsu stared at the familiar faces standing a few feet in front of him and tried not to cringe as he stood in the dusty battle grounds of the Domus Flau - just seeing Lucy made his chest feel tight and his mouth dry.
He felt his fist tighten unconsciously as his eyes met with Sting's sky blue ones - the Holy Dragon Slayer's eyes glared back, but the drive he had seen on the first day of the Grand Magic Games was gone.
They were as dead as his.
Natsu couldn't help but grin on the inside in irony, the power of love as he had come to find out was a lot stronger than anyone or anything he had ever had to face.
He didn't like to admit it but he respected Sting as being powerful, while he didn't like the other Dragon Slayer he would be stupid to think that the Holy Dragon Slayer was weak. In fact, he would even go as far as saying that the younger man was almost on par with him.
But it seemed even Sting couldn't fight the power of attraction and beauty.
Natsu wondered quietly about how terrible he must look, he wouldn't know. After all, he hadn't looked in a mirror since that day at the hospital wing.
Natsu had always thought he and Sting were incredibly different, but now he suddenly realised just how similar the two of them were. Pathetic men fighting for the affections of one girl that no matter what happened they still wanted, they still chased after.
An old friendship turned to affection.
A rivalry turned to love.
Even the Fire Dragon Slayer wondered how bloody the ending would become if one of them didn't give up soon.
He wondered if it was better to withdraw now.
Natsu knew his and Sting's love for Lucy has caused nothing but pain for all three of them, but more importantly he knew Lucy blamed herself and he couldn't have that. He didn't want to hurt Lucy, directly or otherwise, but at the same time he couldn't let go.
Maybe deep down Sting knew this as well, why else would his eyes look so dead?
Reality was a real bitch.
Somewhere Natsu could hear the referee counting down to the beginning of the battle - five, four, three-
-two, one.
Silence filled the arena as the word 'one' echoed through the arena, for a full minute Natsu could feel the breaths being held all over the arena - it was only a matter of time before the battle would start and the Fire Dragon Slayer was dreading it.
Suddenly the minute of peace was over and Sting spurred into action, his head jerked up in one quick motion before he ran towards the Fire Dragon Slayer, his fist glowing a hazy white before making contact with Natsu's jaw.
The Fire Dragon Slayer teetered backwards, the impact hitting him by surprise before he realised what was going on.
The fight had already started.
"Salamander!" Gajeel yelled, already sounding very far away to the Fire Dragon Slayer.
Natsu coughed roughly from the heavy impact recovering quickly as he began to look around for the Holy Dragon Slayer.
Out of nowhere Sting rushed towards him again, his eyes glaring as his glowing fist made another move towards Natsu's abdomen.
The Fire Dragon Slayer tried to dodge again but he wasn't so lucky this time either - the fist brushed against him just slightly burning off most of the cloth in that spot and made slight contact.
Natsu bit his lip as he scowled at the White Dragon Slayer, "Oi, what the hell do you think you're doing?!" Sting grinned slightly, "I'm not leaving this arena until you're dead." Natsu stared at him angrily, his left hand clamped on his side which was burning a little too much.
"I didn't come here to pick a fight with you and besides.. I don't think it's a good idea for you to try so hard."
Sting didn't answer and went for Natsu again, his body already throbbing with white light as his fist landed towards Natsu's face. But before it could make contact Natsu grabbed his fist with his right arm, his left arm still at his side.
Natsu hasn't come back to fight the Holy Dragon Slayer again but it seemed it was unavoidable now, he had to be conscious to tell Lucy about Tartarus after all.
Panting he forced Sting's hand down and away from him. "You can't kill me, you're not strong enough." He muttered. Sting's fist tightened, "What did you say?" Natsu smirked, "You. Can't. Kill. Me." He whispered, spelling every single word.
Before Sting could react though Natsu threw him across the arena, body and all. The Holy Dragon Slayer landed with a thud as he slammed into the brick wall of the Domus Flau. Natsu couldn't help but glance smugly at his opponent, he knew he wasn't here to cause a ruckus but damn it, this felt good.
Natsu walked towards Sting's body that was wedged tightly into the Domus Flau's stone walls before stopping just a few centimetres away. "I told you I wasn't here to fight ya." He whispered, before spitting a mixture of blood and spit at Sting's feet
Suddenly a groan erupted from the stone encasing Sting, Natsu alerted by the low noise took a slow step back. The groan began to get louder as the seconds ticked by and Natsu realised, he wasn't going to get away.
Before he was able to run, light began to pour out from between the cracks of the stone wall and within seconds the entire thing gave away with a bang. Natsu looked up in surprise as Sting stood keeled over in front of him, his breath coming to him in quick spasms.
"I told you, I am not leaving here until you are dead-" Sting paused before hiding a small grin, "-Natsu-san."
With lightning speed Sting grabbed Natsu by the neck, choking him - he held the older man up into the air making Natsu cough and spluttered as Sting's grip around his neck tightened.
Sting smirked bitterly at the Fire Dragon Slayer as he clawed desperately at his hand. "You wanna know why I'm doing this? Why I want to kill you so badly?"
Sting tighten his grip further as he began to lower Natsu down so the man was at his own eye level. "Because I hate this world, I hate you and most of all - I hate Lucy."
A single tear fell to the dirt ground as Sting finished speaking, the whole time his voice slowly reducing to a shaking mess, his eyes brimming with bitter tears. Suddenly he let Natsu go, his grip loosened and disappeared completely as if his last sentence took all of his will with it.
Natsu fell to the ground gasping and coughing as he stared up at Sting's turned back and wiped the spit from his mouth, angrily he leaned his hands against the dirt and hissed, "Do you hate her enough to want her dead?"
Silence answered Natsu's question and he grinned ever so slightly, "... No? I didn't think so." Natsu's grip on the dirt deepened before he spoke again shaking himself.
"You know about her reputation right? About Lucy before she met you. About the millions of Dark Guilds she immobilised in those months before she joined Sabertooth?"
Another cold silence answered Natsu, he couldn't help but chuckle. "Well whether you know or not it doesn't matter, all you have to know is that a guild that was aligned with Oracion Seis and Grimoire Heart - called Tartarus was taken down by her somewhere around April."
"Ever since then the rest of Fiore have thought they were dead, even the Magic Council - but I met one of their bastards yesterday and guess what they were after?"
Natsu could hear Sting hold his breath as he whispered, "Lucy."
Silence fell between them, the sound of another fight echoing far far away in place of their silence. Sting's fists tightened, still not looking towards Natsu as the Fire Dragon Slayer stood up.
"Did you think killing me was going to solve everything anyway?" Natsu asked quietly, his back to the Holy Dragon Slayer as well. "You kept saying you love her, you love her but do you?"
"Someone who is willing to hurt other people - nakama or otherwise just because they've been hurt themselves are pathetic. You said you loved her but look at you now?"
"Threatening to kill someone just to hurt her - Saber us being bitter of each other is just hurting her, if we really cared about her we would stop."
"I've said it once to you and I'll say it again - I'm not here to fight over her or your bitterness. I came back because I care about Luce, I came back to protect her. "
"And if you care about her too, you'd do the same."
Natsu turned around, his hand held out to shake the other man's hand. "Let's both protect her, alright?"
A moment of silence went past before Sting answered, chuckling softly. "That's it? A god damn lecture, is that all you've got?" Natsu's eyes widened slightly before he quickly shrunk his hand back, shocked that what he had just said seemed to have meant little to nothing to the other Dragon Slayer.
"You had been my hero since I was a little kid you know, I had dreamed about this day myself - when I'd get to fight you. But I never imagined it to be this way, not here now fighting over a girl."
"It's true I don't hate Lucy, but I didn't want to kill you out of spite either. You think I'd dare hurt her that badly? I wouldn't lay a finger on you, you saw me I could have killed you right there and then but I let you go."
Sting laughed, as if the conversation they were having was one of the funniest ones he'd ever heard. "Then why did you do it, if you cared about her so damn much?" Natsu snapped.
"Why? Because I care, I care about her too much. So much to the point it's pathetic. I was too hopeful, too naive - I thought I could make her forget about you, forget about her entire past and focus on the now."
"I thought I could make her fall in love with me."
"But I was just a replacement, I was a replacement for so long and for a long time I didn't even care - I could be with her and that was what had mattered. But then you came that night and everything fell apart."
"I realised that night how irrelevant I had been in her heart, that no matter how much time passes she'll always, always love you. You who have broken her so many times, who have been the source of her anger, frustration and sadness."
"But even after she had chosen you I couldn't give up on her, no matter how much it had hurt to see her everyday, to see her apologise and feel sorry for me. Even after all that I still love her myself."
"I tried to kill you today because I hate myself, not you, not her - me. "
"But I'm not apologising for today, neither am I siding with you either. If you want to protect her then do it, I don't care. After all, you're the one she wants."
Sting finished bitterly, making Natsu growl in anger. "You're willing to sulk about her but you're not even going to protect her?! Even if she hadn't chose you, you still have a duty of protecting your nakama, no matter what."
Sting was silent before adding quietly, "Who said we were?"
A cold silence filled between them when Natsu spoke again, "I was going to give Lucy to you, you know. But now that I've heard what you've said, clearly you don't deserve her at all."
Natsu raised his fist into the air, fire lighting up the dry air around him as he spoke. "I'll protect her myself, coward."
With that the Fire Dragon Slayer activated like a deadly bomb, his hand flew at Sting's back sending an impact strong enough to break through bones.
A minute passed before Sting fell to the ground, unconscious and out of the round.
Natsu stood there for a minute, staring at Sting as he was carried away by the medics a frown engraved tightly on his face.
He wasn't lying when he talking to Sting, every single word he said was true. He had acknowledged them as equals after realising that Sting was exactly like him, pathetic men chasing after the same girl.
And after realising that, he decide he would just protect Lucy from then on. He knew how many things he had put Lucy through, he knew how much of a pain he was to her and to him seeing her made him wince and his chest tight at the same time.
He knew her seeing him was just hurting her and his whole business with Sting was hurting her even more - the hospital incident explained it all. Natsu didn't want to hurt Lucy anymore, he wanted to protect her that was all and to do that he had to make peace with Sting.
Natsu knew in the back of his head Sting probably had only said those things because he was angry but hearing those words coming out of his mouth angered him.
A brash decision, but he couldn't help but feel the frustration in his voice and having it open up something in him too.
To hell was he just going to withdraw now.
Natsu looked across the playing field he realise with surprise and horror that Erza who had been his buffer zone between him and Lucy had been beaten and was gone, leaving only Lucy and him.
He met her eyes blankly and tighten his fists to steady himself.
It was fine even if the peace between him and Sting couldn't be achieved, he'll protect her himself, make her happy himself.
But first he had to tell her about Tartarus.
Natsu wondered how Lucy was going to take the news but part of him knew not lightly, he wondered if he should tell her at all if he could just handle it himself. But if Tartarus really was connected to Zeref that no way could he do it alone.
It was decided, he had to tell her.
Suddenly a flash of gold suddenly caught his eyes as he straightened up, surprised he looked towards where it was coming from and felt his blood run cold.
Why were Lucy's beloved keys on the ground?
He stared at the leather bag of Celestial Spirit Keys lying dejectedly on the dusty ground before he looked back up at Lucy's eyes and realised for the first time that day how empty they were.
The Lucy he was standing in front of - who was she?
Lucy stared detachedly as Natsu took down Sting in just one hit, her hands were clenched tightly at her sides as Natsu's blank eyes looked up to meet hers, his hand still in a tight fist.
She couldn't help but look over at Sting's unconscious body on the ground and feel a tinge of fear, a fear for Natsu and a fear for Sting's life. She knew Sting had taken worst beatings before but the look on Natsu's face made her doubt it was anything but a weak attack.
Suddenly she realised Natsu's gazed had moved and was at her feet now, she glance downwards only to catch sight of her keys. She stared at the leather pack for a minute, thinking about what she had said to Erza before.
"Take them, I don't need them where I'm going."
She wasn't lying though was she? The light should never touch the surface of where she was going, whether it was hell or some other disastrous dimension, she knew she couldn't bring anyone with her - other than Zeref.
That was just how sure she was of dying, she was certain no one lived after a fight with Zeref. She could only hope that she was strong enough to take him down with her.
But as she stared down at the leather pack she couldn't help but feel lonely, those keys - those spirits had been with her since she was little to the adult she was now and she had been treating them like trash for the past few months until very recently.
Now she was even going to abandon them just because she was selfish enough to die alone, pretending it was for a noble cause. Lucy could only hope in another life her keys would be with someone who deserved them more.
All of them, Aquarius, Loki, Capricorn everyone deserved someone that just wasn't her, she had wronged them so many times and yet they had stayed by her side. Whether it was their faith in her that was too much,or her own selfishness she will never know.
Lucy tore her gaze away from the little leather pack and looked up, meeting Natsu stricken eyes. Lucy couldn't help but smile bitterly at his apparent shock at her attitude, she laughed. She wasn't the same Lucy he had known all those years ago, not even close.
Reality had warped the Chaos Dragon Slayer past the point of recognition. Lucy couldn't help but wonder of Natsu would still be upset if she was gone or had she already changed too much from the person he had known and fallen in love with.
Love, Lucy wondered how she could be loved.
Lucy had been in love before, had friends and a family before, had something she was fighting for before but that was all gone now. Meaningless words, that people preach but still hold no weight.
Death was her only answer, death was where it all ends, death was what was going to solve all of her problems - by destroying the root of all of them, herself.
Well, there you go! I hope you liked it, I spent way too much time on the actual fighting scenes and trying to execute things perfectly but oh well I hope it was worth it XD
Also how are you guys enjoying the Tartarus Arc (For those that watch the anime) unfortunately I don't watch the anime anymore but I do still read the manga and the newest chapter has been surprising interesting, really exceeded my expectations for the arc. Hey, the X792 Arc might not be a complete bust after all XD
Please Read and Review!