Act 4

8

54

Jurassic Park

"All major changes are like death. You can't see to the other side until you are there."

― Michael Crichton, Jurassic Park

Natsu's eyes snapped open, a sudden rush of air rushing into his lungs as he realized holy shit he was falling.

The ground loomed up into his face quickly, before small paws grabbed a hold of his shoulders and flew outwards. Natsu just managed to catch sight of white, fluffy wings leveling him out before they both toppled head first into a pile of tapestries stacked almost to the ceiling of his hoard.

Happy had jumped off the edge right after him. And Natsu barely had the sense to understand how he had fallen in the first place. There was a sharp pain in his skull, and then suddenly before he had realized it, he woke up taking a swandive off the top of his hoard.

Natsu groaned as he sat up, rubbing a hand against his bangs when they were precariously buried in the cushy fabrics, a hand digging back in the folds to fetch Happy.

"Thanks for the save buddy," Natsu grinned at him. The cat was getting better, that was for sure. Even if he was still unsteady with passengers, he had managed to keep everything level enough for them to find something soft to land on.

"Told you my wings were better," Happy said weakly, but wiggled in Natsu's grasp to set soft paws on his cheeks, "Are you okay?"

Taking one look at those big, watery eyes made Natsu's stomach flip.

"Yeah Happy, I'm okay, sorry for worrying you guys," Natsu pushed the tapestries off them and balanced onto his feet, "Let's go back up, alright?"

Happy nodded, but before Natsu could transform to fly even a little, Happy grabbed a hold of him and flew off, wobbling a little as his arms struggled to hold the dragonslayer up.

It looked like his flying privileges had been revoked for the moment. Not that Natsu could blame them. He frowned, falling into silence.

Just what happened to him?

"Natsu!" Lucy exclaimed rushing over to the edge of the ledge with Leo to help pull him to safety the moment Happy flew into view, "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." Natsu replied holding out his arms so Happy could land in them, "Happy caught me! Didn't you little buddy?"

"And it's a good thing!" Lucy huffed, half scolding, "You scared me to death when you took that fall! If he hadn't gone after you..." She shook her head.

Natsu winced a little guiltily, "Sorry for scarin' you Lucy." He apologized.

"Natsu..." Leo spoke up, his expression one of deep worry and even deeper concern, "What happened? I've never seen you collapse like that before."

Natsu opened his mouth to make a smart comment, but the look on the lion's face made him pause. Leo rarely looked like that. He was really worried about him?

The thought warmed him a bit.

Even if it was just worry for what would happen to Lucy if something happened to him reflecting over, it was kind of nice to know the old cat cared.

So he snapped his mouth closed and shook his head a little, "I don't know." He admitted, "There was this sharp pain in my head and the next thing I knew, I was falling."

Leo's frown deepened, "Have you had any other moments like that recently?"

Natsu started to shake his head, but paused, "I'm not sure..." He looked at Lucy, "It started up when I got my transformations back! They've been different since that day. Easier and faster. But it kinda feels like when I was first learning to change too. A little sore after, and stuff."

"Still, that's strange. We should see if Gajeel or the other dragons have ever experienced any lingering pains after transforming," Leo frowned, "This could be related to your connection to Zeref after all."

Lucy rubbed a hand through Natsu's hair and gave him a tense look, "Okay. No more daredevil stunts for the day, okay?" She demanded, "And you are definitely adding stairs and a wider ledge to this place. No questions asked."

"Fine," Natsu huffed out a whine, but allowed Lucy to guide him a safe distance from the edge.

He was made to sit down, much to his ire while Lucy began to pick books out for them to read with Happy and Leo.

"Natsu, why do you have so many books if you don't read?" Happy asked.

"Because he's greedy," Leo grumbled with a roll of his eyes, a finger sliding over a thick leather spine.

Natsu barely even registered the insult, too busy watching Lucy on a ladder, trying to peek up her skirt. Until she dropped a heavy volume directly on his face.

"Whoops," She smirked down at him.

"Luuuuucy!" Natsu whined, pouting as he rubbed his now sore nose.

"Serves you right for trying to peep!" Lucy replied primly, not the least put out by his pout or concerned about damage. Natsu got worse from one of his daily fights and he came out of those without a scratch.

She glanced around a little, looking out at the massive hoard visible beyond the edge of the ledge, "I do have to wonder why you don't at least have this stuff organized though." She commented, "I mean, even if you never showed it to anyone wouldn't you enjoy it more if you could actually see all your art and things?"

Natsu blinked, startled by the thought, "I dunno." He replied, "I never thought about it." He smirked toothily at her, "I just wanted most of it because it was shiny or worth something."

Lucy rolled her eyes, "Dragons are officially worse than ravens." She picked out another book and climbed down the ladder, "You should think about it though. With some work this place could be like the inside of a castle."

The thought made Natsu freeze and stars appeared in his eyes, "Oh do you really think so?!" He exclaimed, "That would be so cool!"

"Aye!" Happy exclaimed, excited despite not knowing what a castle was, and Lucy laughed, "It's a thought for another day boys. We have other stuff to do now."

"Yes ma'am," Natsu drawled, leaning back against a shelf and cracking open the book she tossed at his head.

"So why do you have all these books?" Lucy asked.

"Because I have refined taste," came Natsu's simple reply.

"Really? Because this one is in a totally different language from anything I've ever seen, and I think this one is a cookbook that focused only on how to boil beans properly," Lucy quirked an eyebrow at him, "Very refined."

Natsu didn't even look up, "Beans are an excellent source of protein. I stand by my statement."

Lucy rolled her eyes as she gathered something to read as well, climbing down to join Natsu.

And together they read in comfortable silence, Happy nestling next to them on Natsu's lap, while Leo eventually returned back to the celestial realm to look for more answers there.

-::-

Meanwhile, Gray stared at the lacrima on the desk in Fairy Tail for the hundredth time, uncertainty spilling in his stomach every time he stole a glance.

For a second, Lyon's face had appeared in the crystal, but whatever his brother had attempted to say to him had been cut off.

Was it an accident? Or had it been on purpose.

Things had always been a little tense between him and Lyon. Although their relationship had improved immensely over the years.

So he was a little worried when he thought he caught sight of Lyon's face. Had it just been the light which made his skin look bruised and scratched up? Or was is genuine?

Every attempt he made to connect with Lamia Scale since then had failed.

"You still can't get through to Lyon and Lamia Scale darling?" Juvia asked in concern as she joined him, pulling him out of his broody thoughts.

"No, I can't. And that's got me worried." He growled, "Lyon can be an ass, but even if he was screwing around I should still be able to get through to their guild. Especially after so long."

And it had been hours. He'd brushed it off at first, mostly just trying to call back to chew Lyon out for being a brat, but as the silence had extended he'd gotten more and more worried.

Something in him had started nudging at him that there might be something seriously wrong, and the voice had gotten louder the more time had passed. Whatever could've happened had to be serious if it had shut up the entire guild.

He twitched a bit at the realization that if the entire guild had gone into a communications blackout then it was way beyond serious and into complete disaster. Possibly on the scale of Deliora considering who he was talking about here.

"I'm heading to Harjeon." He said abruptly and started striding towards the door. Whatever had happened he had to get there and find out what it was. Hopefully it was nothing and he was overreacting. Though if that was the case he was going to beat his annoying brother into the middle of next week for worrying him like this.

However, before he could make it to the door a small figure appeared in it, and he sucked in a breath as he recognized the battered form of Chelia.

"Please... help us." The young sky godslayer cried, clearly beyond her limit if her hurts were showing and not healing, "They... they attacked and overwhelmed us."

She slid down the door frame as Wendy rushed to her side, tears spilling over, "I don't know what happened to the others! Lyon helped me get out..."

Juvia rushed over to cradle Chelia's head, her arms wrapping firmly around her limp body as Wendy used her magic to apply emergency first aid. It was truly disconcerting that her injuries hadn't healed over. Her magic was just as impressive as Wendy's was.

"Easy, it's okay, you're safe now," Juvia hushed as she held her firmly while Wendy worked.

Gray dropped down in front of the pink haired mage, his expression tight and worried, "Who attacked you? What's happening in Hargeon?"

The distressed girl bit her bottom lip, her eyes still filled with tears as she thought about what had happened, "The d-demons from Galuna Island..."

"I've never seen them so angry before," Chelia whimpered, "It was like they had gone insane. They didn't recognize us as we tried to contain them. And they were so strong."

"It was like a rush of magic went straight to their heads, and they attacked us relentlessly, I only barely managed to make it out," her bottom lip trembled and she reached out to grasp Gray's shoulders, "Please! You have to help! Jura, Lyon and the others! They're all still fighting, but the demon horde isn't letting up!"

"They're fighting up, heading North," She whimpered.

Heading North.

Towards Magnolia.

Gray's hand tightened against Chelia's shoulder, his throat tight.

"You needn't worry Chelia." Erza said from behind Gray, and gave the upset girl a reassuring look, "We will help."

"No doubt this is Zeref's doing." Jellal growled softly, "With him back in this world it would be trivial for him to overwhelm his lesser demons and control them."

"But surely Natsu would know if that was possible." She protested, but Jellal shook his head, "Natsu isn't fully demonic." He reminded her, "It's possible full demons have a stronger connection to their creator than he does. And if that's the case..."

The thought was utterly chilling.

Erza nodded grimly, vividly remembering her last encounter with the Galuna tribe. They were a quiet people, but weak as demons went, and wouldn't have had any kind of defense against their creator if he'd used whatever strange link he had with them if Jellal was right. Which he tended to be about these things.

"Alright then. Natsu is still the demon king. If we're going to have any chance of stopping the Galuna demons we'll need his help."

"I'll call Lucy's lacrima." Mirajane volunteered and rushed over to their main one.

"Contact the other dragons as well if you can." Erza instructed, "If they've overwhelmed Lamia Scale we'll need their help. Hopefully, none of them are so far away they can't get there in time."

"Erza..." Gray growled warningly, and she dropped a re-assuring gauntlet on his shoulder, "We'll have them meet us there." She continued, "In the meantime we'll divide our forces and go to Lamia Scale's aid."

It didn't take long for her to organize their forces. Some would remain at the guild, just in case, and on alert to move out while the rest would head to Hargeon as fast as they could move.

With luck Natsu and Lucy would meet up with them quickly.

The guild as a whole walked out, Wendy being left with Chelia to try and help her recover some with the promise to join the guild members as soon as she was done.

The departure was fast and hurried, Makarov, Mirajane and some of the others remaining behind to protect the guild should something happen again. They would not be lured away a second time.

With news sent out to the dragons and everyone assembling, Gray made his way towards the guild's mounts. Juvia saddled up behind him, her arms making their way around his tense middle.

"Are you worried about Lyon?" Juvia murmured into the muscle of his shoulder.

Gray shrugged, his eyes narrow and a little distant. But he shook his head.

"Worried about that moron?" He asked, not looking at Juvia. But his hands grasped at her wrists, assuring himself of her presence.

"He wouldn't do mom's teachings wrong. Stubborn bastard is too hard headed to go down by a flock of demonic pigeons," Gray steered his mount towards the side.

Juvia smiled a little, but pressed her body against the curve of her back. She linked their hands together, feeling the coolness of his wedding ring press into her skin.

"Yes, he's just like his brother," Juvia said lightly, ignoring Gray's ill-tempered grunt.

They headed off together, Erza and Jellal flanking on the side.

-::-

Lucy was pulled from her deep immersion in a book about the theory behind different kinds of magical bonds by the sound of her phone going off.

She blinked for a moment as her thoughts shifted gears, and then dove for the chirping device. She'd always been secretly amused by how Earthland didn't have air conditioning, but had the magical equivalent of early smartphones.

"Hello?"

"Lucy, thank goodness!" Mirajane exclaimed in relief, "I need you and Natsu to drop what you're doing and head to Hargeon as fast as you can go!"

Lucy frowned in worry, glancing at Natsu and noticing a similar frown tugging at his lips, "Mira, what's happened?"

"Hargeon and Lamia Scale have been attacked by the demons from Galuna Island! Chelia made it out, but she reports they were completely overwhelmed, and the tribe is heading towards Magnolia!"

"What?!" Lucy exclaimed, half rising out of the little nest she and Natsu had made while they were reading, "But I thought the Galuna demons were peaceful?"

"They were. But something's happened to them. Please Lucy, hurry. Natsu is still the demon king. It's possible he can put an end to this before it gets even more out of control."

"We're on our way." Lucy replied firmly as Natsu got to his feet, and helped her up, a look of furious determination on his face.

She ended the call and looked at him, "Do you think you can stop it?"

Natsu didn't answer at first, instead insisting on carrying Lucy down from their tall perch. It was only when they were once again on solid ground did he glance at her.

"I dunno," Natsu shrugged, "The Galuna island demons are a bunch of wimps, I don't see how it's even possible for them to give a guild like Lamia Scale a hard time."

"But you're the king of demons right, you should be able to stop them," Lucy gave him a concerned look, "Without fighting too. In your condition, I don't see how you could keep them in line physically."

Natsu's squinted his eyes at her and pouted, "Excuse me. Rude much."

"I'm fine now. It was just a dizzy spell," And it was true. Natsu felt more than ok. In fact he was feeling a little energetic now. He hopped on the balls of his feet and rolled his shoulders.

" 'King' is only a fancy title really, I'm not the king of anyone. I'm not even sure who came up with that title or when, " He smirked.

"You just never thought to correct anyone?" Lucy gaped at him.

"Why would I? I'm the strongest demon. That sort of makes it true by default doesn't it?" Came his bland response.

Lucy rolled her eyes a little, but couldn't find a way to refute his point. If the culture was so obsessed with who was strongest then it made sense that even if he didn't rule anything Natsu would be considered king. Though she had to wonder what would happen if he actually did take a hand in ruling the demons.

It would shake things up that was for sure.

However, she could think about that later. Right now they had a crisis to manage.

"Are you going to transform fully?" She asked, and he grinned broadly at her.

"Of course! Gotta go in with a bang right? Even if those Galuna guys are wimps my dragon size will help squish 'em better than this form could."

He put action to words by trotting a little distance away, his form ripping as he did, and shifting upwards into the enormous red dragon she remembered so vividly.

She hadn't seen this form up close since his fight with Cobra. His rescue didn't count since she hadn't been able to see him at all until he got to her then.

It was every bit as breathtaking and awe inspiring as she remembered, but it was also completely different.

This Natsu didn't glare at her in hate as he had when she first got to this world. He didn't snarl or bare his fangs menacingly. He wasn't breathing fire from his mouth. And the Fairy Tail emblem had magically enlarged and took up his entire shoulder very visibly. She hadn't noticed that during the Cobra fight either. It looked good.

"You comin' or what Lucy?" He grinned at her, holding out a foreclaw invitingly, and very obviously enjoying her reaction.

Even at his worst he doubted he would have misinterpreted her look of awe and wonder for anything except what it was.

"Of course I am!" Lucy's cheeks flushed as she stared at him, embarrassed over being caught staring at him so obviously. She walked over to his extended claw, bracing her foot against it and hoisting herself up.

"How do I get on your back?" Lucy asked. Hot scales shifted under her, and she had to admit she liked the warmth significantly better than Gajeel's cold plates.

Natsu outright huffed at that, coils of smoke curling out from his nostrils and his massive head swung over to peer at Lucy with one golden eye, "We're going into a fight Lucy. You really think you can handle riding alone on my back?"

Lucy smirked at him and set a hand on his scaled cheek, shooting a glance over her shoulder at where Happy was.

"It's hardly the first time I've ridden you," Her sly smirk only grew at the wide-eyed look Natsu was giving her.

Who knew dragons could make such expressions?

"Have it your way Luce," Natsu's maw split open to show a row of needle-sharp teeth.

Another huff of smoke spilled from him and he lightly nudged her bottom with his nose to help steady her as she made her way up his thick shoulder and grabbed onto one of his spines.

Once he was sure she and Happy were both secure he moved out of his lair and took off. He was careful not to jar his passengers more than absolutely necessary, but he also poured on the speed as much as he could without dislodging them. He hadn't liked what he'd heard from Mira, and wasn't about to let the damned snowcone get into a mess like this without him there.

The Galuna demons were wimps by even human wizard standards. There was no way they should've been able to overwhelm Lamia Scale like Mira had said.

The fact they had either meant Lamia Scale was much weaker than he'd always believed, or his bastard brother was involved somehow.

He wasn't sure off hand which scenario he wanted more.

Thankfully, he caught up to the rest of the guild quickly enough as they neared the outskirts of Hargeon. From a distance he could see plumes of smoke rising in various places around the port and mingling with the dark clouds hanging over it.

It looked like the Galuna demons had been having their fun.

He bared his fangs a little, growling softly in his displeasure over the invasion of his territory as he spotted the first line of demons approaching.

His eyes widened as he took in the dark aura pouring off them, the bared fangs, and the crazed look in their eyes.

That... could not be good.

"Get ready for a fight Luce!" He growled over his shoulder.

"Let's go Natsu!" Lucy called back, setting a hand on his hot scales to reassure him she would be fine where she was.

She pressed a hand against her keyring, "Open! Gate of the Ram! Aries!"

At the shimmer of Aries' gate opening, she took a deep breath and reached for another. Two. She could do this.

Summoning two spirits would be nothing.

She reached for another, slashing the golden key through the air, "Open Gate of the Scorpion! Scorpio!"

At the second gate shimmering around her, she found both Scorpio and Aries standing astride Natsu's back.

"Wicked job Miss Lucy!" Scorpio crowed and Aries nodded shyly.

"Thanks for coming you guys!" Lucy smiled in relief while Natsu straightened out under them, his body tensing as the flock of demons began to take to the air after the dragon.

"Help me keep these guys off Natsu's back!" Lucy shouted, uncoiling her whip, "Try not to hurt them too bad! They're not in their right minds!"

With a sharp toss of her wrist, her whip snapped out, coiling around one of the ankles of the demons. Natsu rolled to the side, and she used his momentum to drag the demon into his brethren.

"Of course Miss Lucy!" Aries stammered and held out her hands, causing a shield of wool to smother the demons in a ball of fluff.

Natsu laughed as they rolled and knocked the demons back. But there was definitely something wrong with everything happening.

The demons weren't just insane. They were powerful.

It was like a rush of magic had gone straight to their heads, and they were fighting with the single minded purpose of just simple destruction.

It was quickly clear just how Lamia Scale had been so thoroughly defeated. There was no way anyone could win without taking kill shots. Something that the guild as a whole was reluctant to do given their peaceful history with their now crazed allies.

Natsu's eyes narrowed dangerously. However, it wasn't something he was above doing. He felt a twinge of guilt that he was about to kill demons that had been clearly driven insane by something, but to protect Lucy and his nest he would do much worse than that.

Especially since, even with the others fighting all out on the ground, they were barely keeping them at bay.

And they were tiring.

"Damnit Erza!" Gray shouted as he slammed his fists together, "At this rate they're gonna tear us to pieces! They're just too strong!"

"There must be a way to save them!" Erza cried back, "They were our friends before Zeref returned! We have to help them!"

Gray's eyes narrowed as his demonslayer tattoo appeared, "We can't help them if they kill us first!" He growled.

His magic started building, the deadly ice magic he'd learned from his father to combat Natsu rising to the surface. Magic he was now preparing to turn on the Galuna tribe. However much he didn't want to personally, he was not going to let anyone else get hurt.

However, before he could so much as summon an ice cube's worth of demonslaying ice, the Galuna tribe began to falter.

They paused their attacks as demon after demon clutched their heads, screaming in agony, while the dark purple aura around them flared up and purple flames began bursting from their bodies.

One by one, each demon was reduced to ash. Flames burned through them in a searing heat that could be felt from one side of Fiore to the other.

Each one began to drop from the sky like a load of bricks. The ones on the ground already fell to their knees before the fire totally consumed them and their bodies began to disintegrate.

Natsu landed among the burning bodies of demons, his dark gaze narrowed and wings folded up to protect the precious cargo on his back. Lucy was tiring, but had managed to keep two spirits sustained. It was impressive she had lasted as long as she did.

But Natsu wasn't sure how long they could have stuck it out for without having had to start killing them.

To face such a possibility, not many in his guild would have taken that chance. And as he saw the burning bodies of his fellow demons, he couldn't help but feel a bit of grim relief.

His guild was safe. For now.

But it was equal parts confusing and worrisome. This stank of Zeref's work. But not even his intentional magic did this kind of thing.

"The demons burst into flames," Erza murmured and Natsu shook ash from his scales, "Natsu was that-"

"Wasn't me," He replied and bent down so Lucy could slide off safely. He transformed down a moment later, cracking his neck from the tenseness he felt in his body.

"I don't understand," Lucy looked around, the silence overtaking the battleground beginning to encroach as the last screams of the demons died down.

"What happened to them?" She asked, "It's like they burned up from inside."

Gray bent, scooping up a handful of the ash, his expression dark.

Natsu did the same, his eyes widening at the residual magic he felt dragging from the ash. Inside dust, he could feel a ping of magic drawing at him. Tugging in the back of his mind and whispering in his head.

"It was Zeref," Natsu said quietly, tilting his head to the side. Almost as if he were listening to something just out of range.

"They did burn apart from the inside, but that was just because they had too much power ripping them apart," Natsu stared, "And this magic came from Zeref."

"Why would Zeref tear apart his own demons after siccing them on a village," Gray asked shortly.

Natsu shook his head, trying to find the answer himself. But he wasn't able to sew the threads together.

"He wouldn't," Natsu trailed off.

Lucy frowned as she put a hand on Natsu's shoulder, "Natsu... you said you've got a bond with Zeref. They would've too right?" She paused, groping a little for the words, "Is it possible that... something he was doing affected them by accident or something?"

"What, you mean like spillover?" Gray asked with a frown, "How would that even work?"

Lucy shrugged a little helplessly, "I don't know, but if all demons have a connection to Zeref maybe it's on all the time, and the weaker ones are more susceptible to whatever he's doing?"

"If that's the case," Erza spoke up, "Then he must be working on something truly terrible."

Which was not a comforting thought at all.

"Whatever the case, it means breaking Natsu's bond with that freak is more important than ever." Gray growled darkly, "Even if he's too powerful to be affected like these guys were we don't want him connected when Zeref plays his hand."

The very thought had Natsu scowling darkly. He didn't like the idea of the bond directly affecting demons like this. He was pretty sure he was too powerful to be affected by something like what Lucy was proposing, but could he resist a deliberate act? That he wasn't so sure about.

Assuming Lucy was right.

He straightened up and gave Lucy a smile, "Let's not worry about it right now." He told her, "Even if you're right, which we don't know for sure, it's not an immediate threat to me."

He wrapped an arm around her shoulder, "C'mon. Let's get down there and find the ice prick's brother. We can worry about the rest of this stuff later."

His thoughts were still running wild, and he could tell Lucy wasn't entirely convinced.

There was just one thing wrong with Erza's theory that Zeref was intentionally up to something. And that was the past.

During the Celestial War, Zeref had never done anything like what they saw today. The Galuna island demons had existed back then, and Zeref had performed so many unspeakable actions with his magic back then, he wasn't convinced there was something he was doing.

But there was no mistake. This stank of Zeref.

Natsu didn't understand and it drove him insane not to know what was going on. Inside his own head, he was reasonably certain he was in full control of his mental faculties.

But the headaches he was getting. Right before they got word about the Galuna Island demons...

He glanced down at the ash, blowing away in the ocean breeze. His arm tightened around Lucy's shoulders.

Zeref was certain he would reach out to him.

Maybe it was time Natsu did. And let those dreams serve him for a change, instead of the other way around.

Alright lovelies, as you all know we are almost done with this fic! We've been working really hard to bring you this one, and our new fic as well! You all should know that we're planning a short oneshot for our winner of our 2000th's review. It's a Jerza oneshot that will take place after Parallels in the same universe!

As usual, thank you SO much to everyone who reviews! I know this whole fic is already written already so you don't have to motivate us to write, but it really does help up want to continue producing material for you all to enjoy!