Act 3

Thank you to everyone who gave me condolances. I really appreciate your kind words

31

The Queen of the Damned

"It's an awful truth that suffering can deepen us, give a greater lustre to our colours, a richer resonance to our words."
― Anne Rice, The Queen of the Damned

Wind howled through the trees of the badlands, causing their skeletal remains to creak and shudder as they groaned, adding their own voices to the eerie sound. It was a sound of desolation and death.

It was nothing, however, to the malignant fury radiating from the caves located in its mountains.

Deep inside the clack of claws and the sounds of shifting scales rubbing against stone could be heard as the dragons that lived there gathered around their queen. While not a drake, there were none who doubted Motherglare's strength and ferocity.

At least, not normally.

However, at the moment, the gathered nest were uncertain. Mother Glare had gone up against a drake and lost. While it was true that generally no one but another drake could fight against one and expect to win, this drake had been one of those unnatural human half-breeds. There were some who were beginning to doubt her ability to lead if she could not defeat Black Steel.

Even worse, she had been injured, and was still recovering from her wounds due to the aged Grandina, last of the sky dragons, passing away.

Her eyes flashed dangerously, a boiling rage there that wouldn't be quenched. Her anger was ironically not towards the drake that injured her. Instead it was focused on the slippery human girl and the wingless dragon the wench had defended.

End. The whelp she let escape through her talons when he was a boy. She remembered his blood on her claws where she had nearly slashed his throat open and cleaved his head from his shoulders.

How much simpler would it have been if she had managed to succeed in such an endeavor? Had she eliminated End back when he was still a hatchling, they would live in prosperous lands.

A place warm in climate and with excellent hunting.

Her jaws snapped furiously at the air, ignoring the murmurs of the dragons gathered around her or the restless shifting of tails against rock. But an idea struck her, giving her pacing pause. It was a clever plan, one which made her maw stretch over pointed teeth and a growl rumble to life in her chest.

Why couldn't she finish what she had started with End?

As he was now, the beast would stand no chance. He could not shift into his dragon form, and even if he could, he was still tethered to that flimsy slip of a human girl.

If nothing else, she would let her live for that reason alone. At least until End was dead.

"As soon as I recover, I believe it's time to move on from these lands and make a new territory for ourselves in a far more comfortable location," Motherglare announced to her uncertain nest.

"With all of us, End will be unable to fight against us. He may be a drake, but he is without a nest and is vulnerable in his current form," Motherglare purred, smirking as she saw several heads of her nest perk up at the idea of moving some place warmer.

It was common knowledge that Natsu held the best lands. They were rich with elements, his treasure was vast, and even despite his rulings, the humans prospered. Like fat livestock, ready to be snapped up.

"Levia, I want you to take Zirconis and a small scouting wing to survey the borders." Motherglare ordered as she shifted to ease the building pain on one of her injuries, silently cursing Black Steel for it, "Do not cross them. Remain on our side for now. What we need most is information."

"What kind of information are you looking for my queen?" The large blue dragon rumbled, sitting up proudly at having been singled out for a mission.

"We need to know End's weakest point in his boundary." Motherglare replied, "He's unable to transform or patrol, but we would be fools to expect him to be unaware of what takes place within his territory every time he and that human wench venture out of Magnolia."

"It shall be done my queen." Levia rumbled and bowed his head before nodding at Zirconis and two others.

The gathered nest parted as they headed out for their scouting mission. The hope and anticipation was rising by the moment. The nest had been stagnant for some time. There was barely enough food to feed them in a good year, and in a bad one they often went hungry. Without more food there would be no hatchlings, and without those one day the nest would die.

There were many who were excited over the prospect of enough food to have their nest filled with the sounds of squalling, roaring, happy hatchlings.

And they all thought it would be the sweetest revenge to steal it from the one unworthy of being a dragon in the first place.

Now, with faith in Motherglare reinstated, the dragons spread off to scout their scorched lands to find some herbs to treat their Queen's injuries.

-::-

Meanwhile, three people knelt near a river, a heavy canopy of trees overhead.

Every now and then one or all three would look up and glance over their shoulders. Whenever there was a small twig which broke or even a rustle of leaves, all three would tense. They all wore expressions of grim fear, worry and stress on their faces.

The white haired woman with the two men rolled her eyes and sighed after a moment where they both snapped their heads up and behind them in unison.

"Sting, Rogue, if you're going to do that every time a bird chirps, you're going to give yourselves whiplash," Yukino scolded lightly.

"Fat chance of that," Sting said grimly, his eyes slow and hesitant as they grazed across their surroundings.

The river was easily fifty feet wide, with fast moving currents. On one side, where Sting, Rogue and Yukino rested, there was a thick canopy of trees, but little else. And that was only directly on the border of the river. Everywhere else, the ground was twisted and scorched.

"There's barely anything alive over here," Rogue finished the other man's thought. The twins of light and dark, travelling together with a celestial wizard.

The blond man sighed, dragging a hand across his scarred brow, his stomach flipping uncomfortably, "We're literally in the worst part of the world right now. The Badlands. Bad. It's in the title - so yeah, we're a little jumpy."

"The Badlands, hm," Yukino asked, reaching out for Sting's hand and taking it in hers. Her hand covered the top of his knuckles, brushing lightly over a ring decorating his left hand.

"This is the place with dragons all around, isn't it?" Yukino asked.

The two brother's glanced at one another before tensely nodding, "It's said that this land was once beautiful. But it was scorched down by the rage of End."

"Not many people know End's old nest was here," Rogue said quietly, his voice level but sharp eyes on the treeline, "I imagine that is a closely guarded secret."

"But you two know?" Yukino asked, glancing at them for confirmation.

Sting nodded, "We've luckily never met End. But our parents knew Igneel, End's father. They weren't part of the nest, because they could see the writing on the wall for what it was, and got out shortly before the war."

"Otherwise we never would have been here," Rogue finished, his expression grim.

Yukino sighed, having known part of this story from quiet stories in the past, huddled around a campfire to keep warm. The two she travelled with were nomadic dragons. Dragons without territories, nests, or were many like them, but often they were unable to live for very long because of their inability to nest.

Without roots, any tree would die. Yukino, Sting and Rogue all knew they skated by on borrowed time. One day they would come across a threat too large they could not run from.

What choice did they have but to stay on the borders as close as they could? Neither Sting nor Rogue were drakes.

But neither dragon ever dared to so much as put a toe over the line to End's territory. Even though where they stood now, they could easily throw a rock into it from this distance.

At that moment Sting's ears twitched as a familiar sound reached them and he suddenly paled in horror, going nearly as white as his wife's hair.

"No..." He breathed, and watched as his brother went paler than usual as well, "You can't be serious. Of all the times... they pick now to patrol this area?"

"That's the least of our worries Sting." Rogue growled as he got to his feet, "I can hear more than one wingbeat."

Yukino gasped softly, fear clutching her own heart at the prospect. One dragon was frightening enough, unless they were the two with her. And a single dragon, provided it wasn't a drake, could be dealt with. Two was difficult, but possible. More than that was too much though. Especially as her own celestial magic didn't do much more than annoy enemy dragons.

"So can I." Sting confirmed grimly, and scowled as he tugged Yukino deeper into the underbrush. If they were supremely lucky it was possible the patrol would fly past and not catch their scent.

Unfortunately, they weren't that lucky.

Sting winced as he took in the size of the lead dragons as they landed. He could tell they weren't drakes by the way they moved. They lacked the self-assured swagger drakes were known for. But they were still enormous and powerfully built.

Fighting even one of them would be a pain.

And, of course...

"I smell a human." The large green one announced suddenly as he sat up, sniffing the air with an eagerness that made Sting's stomach roil even as a growl built in his chest.

He knew that look. He'd seen it more than once on dragons who preferred humans as prey.

Rogue's eyes flashed over towards his brother, his hand immediately drawing around his sister-in-law's arm to pull her to safety if they had to. They were in bad shape for a fight, but together he and his brother were tricky enough to take on most enemies.

Even if that meant evading a patrol of dragons.

"Oh, and it's a woman too," The green dragon continued, its tongue rolling out from its mouth to sample the air. He let out a happy growl, "It's been so long since we've had good food. Human women are the best."

Yukino's hands drifted down to her side, fingers brushing against the warm metal which would harness her magic. She may not have been able to do much in a fight, but she wasn't about to go down without giving it her all.

Sting's eyes flashed around, trying to find any exit. Any way which didn't mean certain death.

And then his eyes fell to across the river.

The only dragon these ones would fear was End. They wouldn't risk running over the border for a tasty meal. But the question was, were they willing to risk it?

Certain death or probable death?

He looked at his brother, and Rogue shook his head violently, already seeing where his twin's thoughts were going and in staunch protest.

The heavy thuds of dragons nearby shook the ground, and the trees groaned as thick tails slithered through the brittle limbs. Sting motioned wildly at his brother, miming a gesture of extreme violence, one his brother repeated with a rude motion tacked onto the end.

Yukino rolled her eyes, getting the gist of their plan between them thanks to their frantic hand motions, and deciding to make the choice on her own.

She sprinted out under the tree foliage, tearing herself from Sting and heading straight for the river. They would have argued forever until they were found, and Yukino knew that with her scent around, they would be able to track them all across their lands.

There would be no outrunning them, which only left outsmarting them.

"Oho! There she is! And the perfect age! My favorite!"

"Yuki!" Sting shouted in alarm as she ran out into the river. It wasn't very deep here, but that was not the point! His eyes narrowed to slits as he saw that green scaled bastard eagerly bounce after her, and a bare moment after she'd broken cover he tore out as well, transforming as he did, and he tackled the other dragon with a roar of rage.

Of course, it alerted the rest of the patrol, something he was sure Rogue was going to scold him about later, but he didn't care.

"She is mine!" He roared furiously and blasted Zirconis with a roar at point blank range before getting hit with a tail swipe that sent him flying.

"What's this?" Levia growled menacingly, a smirk curling his muzzle, "A white dragon that smells half human? Oh how wonderful! A little practice on hunting mongrels!"

Suddenly Levia and all the other enemy dragons grunted as they were flattened to the ground, and Sting whipped his head around where his wonderful, beautiful, wife was standing on End's side of the territory with a defiant look on her face and Libra in front of her.

"Not today!" She called, "Not unless you want to brave End's territory!"

Rogue groaned at the sight of Yukino and his brother's star struck expression. As much as he hated to admit it, right now they had only one choice left available to them. And it was the one laid out by Yukino.

"Come on, she's given us enough of a window," Rogue shouted at his brother's transformed state. He slid into his shadowy form, skating up white scales to form between Sting's wings.

The white dragon nodded and twisted around, even as the dragons slowly began to fight off the spirit's influence and rose from the ground.

Still, it provided enough time for them to get to the otherside, Sting transforming down into his smaller shape, his eyes hard and tense on the dragons milling around opposite.

The green dragon let out a disgruntled sound, his dismayed shouting clear over the border, his desire to eat completely overruled by the ground the dragons stood on.

Levia snarled at them, "You escaped for now, but do you really believe you'll be safe over there? End may be a human for now, but not even he knows a letter in the word 'mercy.'"

Sting blinked, his eyes flashing over to Yukino, and then sliding towards his brother. That told them enough that the dragons, while angry, were not willing to cross into End's lands.

And more importantly, it told them that End himself was not able to flatten them with a single claw anymore. If he was trapped in his human form, then that meant they were probably safe enough to rest for a while before moving on to safer boundaries.

At least for the time being.

Sting felt Yukino's hand slide into his and the weight of her gentle smile warmed him.

"We'll take that risk," Sting shouted across the river, his wife by his side and his brother by his other.

After all, trapped between a rock and a hard place - what other choice did they have but to keep skating on?

Together the three of them turned and headed deeper into End's territory, none of them willing to risk lingering long enough to encourage the wrath of the watching dragons. Staying long enough for End to find them was also out of the question.

Which meant they had to throw themselves into the belly of the beast.

And pray for the best.

-::-

When Lucy stirred, she awoke to the sounds of fervent shushing and the smell of something burning.

A slice of sunlight burned across her eyelids and she groaned, feeling her body ache in stiff and unpleasant ways.

She was alone in bed, her eyelids feeling abnormally heavy as she remembered how she had completely fallen apart the previous night, sobbing into Natsu's arms.

And as far as she knew, he had stayed up and held her the whole time.

Body stiff and joints mechanical, Lucy managed to pry her sluggish limbs from the sucking embrace of her comforter. She didn't even want to get up today after the night she had.

But the swearing she heard in the kitchen frightened her, and she slowly began to suspect Natsu was in danger of burning the house down.

She was treated to the sight of Natsu standing over smoking eggs, with Happy smothered in his pink hair and trying to shout out directions at Natsu with limited success.

It was then she noticed he was missing his patented scarf. He looked strange without it on his person, his neck suspiciously bare before her eyes, and wondered where it had gone. Something tickled her back, and she realized with a start of surprise that it was still draped around her shoulders.

She must've made some kind of sound because Natsu looked up at her just then, and despite how miserable she felt she couldn't help a small smile at the small pout on his lips, and the faintly sheepish look in his eyes.

"Aw, I wanted to surprise you Lucy!"

He'd wanted to surprise her? With breakfast?

The gesture was so sweet that it actually helped dull the pain, and the catastrophe he was in the process of creating was so very Natsu that she actually managed a weak laugh.

She shuffled into the kitchen all the way and gently kissed his cheek as she took the frying pan away, "Thanks Natsu." She murmured, truly meaning it, "I really appreciate that."

She nudged him a little, an echo of her usual personality showing through in the face of this distraction, "But maybe I should show you how to properly make eggs first?"

Natsu blinked, fingers brushing against his cheek curiously and then grinned at the soft teasing, relieved beyond belief to hear it. He nodded, "Sounds good Luce." He replied, for once not whining at her about how he could do it or anything, and stepped aside, "Just tell me what to do."

His smile broadened in the face of her surprise over his unusual compliance, but he didn't elaborate. Maybe later he could explain what it meant for nestmates to take care of each other. And there was no mistake. She was nest. But for right now she was looking a little happier, so he would leave it.

Thankfully Lucy didn't ask him about it either. She just smiled a little more, making him preen a little that he'd gotten her to, and nodded at the fridge, "Okay. Get out some bacon then. We'll start with that."

Natsu blinked a little, wondering why they would do that, but nodded and went to retrieve the bacon while she dumped out the burnt eggs.

He couldn't help sneaking glances at her as he did though. Apart from his worry about her, and he thought maybe a nice day in front of the lacrimatron would be in order, he couldn't help just noticing her.

Not that he hadn't seen her in the mornings before, but the sight of his scarf wrapped loosely around her shoulders like that kept catching his eye.

No one else had ever worn it, and it was saturated with his scent. It was kind of like he was in two places at once and still had his arms around her. Which was stupid and corny, but that didn't make it less true. Or stop him from liking it.

She looked good in his scarf, and he liked watching her while she was wearing it. That was good enough for him.

"Natsu?" Lucy questioned, breaking him from his thoughts and reaching out her hand for the pack of bacon he was close to melting in his grasp, "You got it?"

He snapped out of his thoughts and nodded, nearly choking on his tongue as he tore it open with his teeth and passed it over.

"Gross, you know we have knives and scissors for that sort of thing," Lucy chided, a little more color returning to her cheeks. Natsu just flashed her a roguish grin and cocked his head.

"Where's the fun in that?" He purred at her, returning to their cooler so he could retrieve some eggs for Happy to crack.

He was terrible at delicately fracturing the shell and splitting it apart. And with the weird thoughts running through his head over Lucy in his scarf right now, he was bound to smash the entire egg into the bowl, shell and all.

They worked together in comfortable silence, Lucy occasionally giving him a soft quip and instruction on what to do. The normalcy of the task seemed to help her ground herself past her grief again, and he complied without a word. For the most part.

"Lucyyyy," He whimpered, "hungryyyyy..."

Lucy laughed softly at his antics, the ache in her chest easing a little at them, "You're always hungry." She teased, but slid his omelet onto his plate with half the bacon easily enough.

She'd pleaded with Mirajane for a few cooking lessons early on so she could cook things in large enough quantities for a dragonslayer to be satisfied with and not completely break their budget in the process. This was one of the results. And she was rather proud of it.

She collected her own, much smaller one, onto her own plate and curled her free hand in his, "C'mon." She murmured, "Let's break the rules and eat in front of the TV today."

Natsu grinned a bit at her weird word for the lacrimatron, though he agreed it was kind of a mouthful, "Yeah!" He exclaimed and rushed into the other room with Happy so they could set up a nest of blankets and pillows so they'd be comfortable.

By the time Lucy got there she had to giggle at how quickly he and Happy had built something that was on its way to being a pillow fort.

Maybe she would introduce them to the concept.

"C'mon Lucy!" Natsu grinned from his spot, "There are movies on!"

"Alright, alright!" Lucy laughed, amused at how much like an excited kid Natsu could be, and sat down with him.

She snuggled into him a little as they began eating, needing the contact. Last night had torn open all of her old scars in the worst way possible, and she knew herself well enough to know she wasn't anything like fine yet.

"Thanks Natsu." She murmured as they finished their food and settled in for some movie watching, and was rewarded with an arm around her waist pulling her into a gentle half hug.

"You're nest Lucy." He growled softly, and smiled down at her, "Nest takes care of each other."

And he would do his best to take care of her while she licked her wounds.

That was a promise.

She gave him a faint look of surprise but leaned into his touch. A smile worked across her face, sinking into his warmth while Happy curled up into a ball for a nap.

She knew he wanted to question her. To ask her if she was okay. But instead he kept his eyes ahead of him, locked onto the movie playing in front of her.

She hesitantly looped her index and middle finger around his ring and pinky finger, catching his attention when she curled it towards her.

"It's like I lost her all over again," She murmured quietly against his shoulder.

His grip tightened around her hand, this time shifting to thread all their fingers together.

He turned his attention towards her, his intense gaze focused wholly on her. And she imagined that despite his childish ooing and aaing over the movie, it always had been.

But he said nothing, his full focus only on her and whatever she wanted to say.

Lucy's lips trembled, and she found herself wanting to tell him everything.

She swallowed thickly , her eyes lifting to his.

"Would you mind," She asked shyly, averting her gaze down to her hands, "If I told you about them?"

His tan fingers closed around hers and he gave her an open smile. His thumb swiped across the back of her hand, over her pink guildmark and moved in a comforting circle.

"Tell me everything," He invited.

So she did. Maybe it was the sleepy morning, or the silly pillow fort. Maybe it was their fluffy companion, watching them quietly from his spot on Lucy's lap. Maybe it was how Natsu held her hand and drank in every word she said.

But she told him everything, from the time before her mother had fallen sick, to the way her health deteriorated, and finally how she lost her relationship with her father.

She told him of the good and bad times, of the scraped knees and laughter.

She told him how deeply she missed her parents every day, or how she regretted never fully being able to make amends with her father.

He didn't say a single word the entire time. Natsu just listened.

There was no need for him to say anything.

And by the time she was done telling her story, something loosened in her chest.

The old, half healed wounds began to scab over.

"Your mom sounds like she was really nice Lucy." Happy said from where he was curled up in her lap when she was done, "I bet that's why you're so nice!"

Lucy let out a somewhat watery laugh, and gently scratched behind the kitten's ears, "Thanks Happy. She really was nice." She brushed lightly at the tears stinging her eyes again. They'd surfaced more than once during her story, but this time they were at least bittersweet instead of wholly sad. That was a step in the right direction.

Natsu chuckled a bit, "I think you nailed it there buddy." He glanced at Lucy, his expression softening when he did. He didn't have to ask if she was feeling better. He could tell she was.

He wasn't sure if she would be up for anything for a couple of days, but that was alright. She was healing and that was the important part.

Lucy opened her mouth to reply, but was interrupted when there was a thump outside their door, and a moment later Erza came crashing through it with Wendy tucked under one arm and a box in her other hand.

"Behold Lucy!" Erza cried stridently, seemingly not caring that she'd just broken into their apartment or that they were less than ten feet away, "We have come to cheer you up!"

"Wha-?" Lucy gawked.

"Mira helped me bake a cake for you Lucy!" Wendy smiled from where she was dangling in the redhead's arm, "I thought it might help you feel better!"

Lucy was, once again, prevented from replying when Gray staggered in behind them, "Damnit Erza!" He griped, "Why the hell did you punch me?"

"I'm sorry." Erza apologized absently, "That was an accident. I saw a naked man outside Lucy's apartment and feared the worst."

"Why the hell would you even think that?!"

"Perhaps if you remembered to wear your clothing it wouldn't be an issue!"

Lucy gaped at the back and forth, trying to bite back her laughter at the absurdity that was her friends, but the sight of Erza calmly swinging Wendy around as she berated Gray was just too much.

She abruptly burst into howls of laughter, "Oh god!" She gasped, clutching her belly, "You guys..." She took one look at the way they'd frozen when she started laughing and abruptly dissolved into fresh peals.

Natsu grinned at the sight of them, pleased the guild had decided to come at Erza's beckoning.

She really was a force to be reckoned with.

Earlier in the day he had sent Happy off to the guild to let them know about Midnight. He hadn't wanted to leave Lucy alone, but there was no way he was going to be able to leave the incident alone. The guild needed to know as soon as possible.

This was their reaction to one of their own being hurt, huh?

He had to say, he liked it.

Lucy was laughing again, her fingers loose in his hand, but still close.

Something had shifted between them in the intimacy of her baring her feelings to him. Natsu couldn't pinpoint the emotion precisely, but he felt like there was a new change. Or at least an evolving one.

So as the guild made themselves at home, Erza slicing them generous pieces of cake, allowing a nice piece for Lucy, Wendy, and herself - Gray crowded in with everyone else who could manage to fit in their tiny, one room apartment.

Natsu knew Gray was checking over the house, making sure there wasn't a chance someone could break in. Gajeel was discreetly strengthening their locks while Levy distracted Lucy with an adventure novel about a boy on a quest to search for magical gems with his strange dog.

Natsu appreciated the team effort, and he knew Lucy did as well.

And soon, her new family helped soothe the pain left behind by the memories of her old one, gathered together and close in their cramped room. They elbowed one another for room, and while Natsu almost got lured into a fight several times with Gray, he stubbornly refused to budge from Lucy's side.

Thank you again to everyone who reviewed! I forgot to update this sooner, so I'm hurrying past the review responses again. SORRRRRRRRY. I got distracted and I have work in the morning! Let us know what you thought!

If the proof of what Gray was looking at hadn't been staring him in the face he would have never believed it. Ever.

Unfortunately, he could not deny the evidence he was presented with.

Natsu, the terrible demon dragon himself, was in love.