Act 4

7

55

Where the Sidewalk Ends

"And all the colors I am inside have not been invented yet."
― Shel Silverstein, Where the Sidewalk Ends: The Poems and Drawings of Shel Silverstein

Natsu kept his peace on his tentative plan to find out what was going on as they scoured Hargeon and located survivors. For a mercy, most people had fled to shelters that the Galuna demons had not found, so while there were a few dead the property damage was worse.

It was tragic that several among those dead were Lamia Scale members, but it was clear they'd died protecting the civilians, so at least their deaths weren't in vain.

Gray, had begun getting truly frantic when they'd stumbled across the first Lamia Scale body, but there was no sign of Lyon, Jura, or any of the other top members of the guild until they got closer to the port itself and found a fortress of sand logs.

"It's Jura!" Erza cried as they sprinted towards the construction, "Jura!" She called, pounding on a log that was as hard as stone, "Jura can you hear me! It's Erza from Fairy Tail!"

There was a moment of silence and then the sand logs quivered and slowly receded, revealing the bald man himself. Though he was looking considerably worse for the wear.

"Am I glad to see you." The large man rumbled as he stood up, swaying a bit, "Lyon and Chelia must've made it out. We need your help. There are wounded here."

"Wait... you said Lyon and Chelia?!" Gray cried, naked fear in his eyes, "Chelia was the only one who made it to the guild!"

Jura's expression turned grim at that, "That's not good news."

"Where did you last see them?" Erza asked and Jura nodded towards the north side of town, "They were heading in that direction. They'd fought their way back to me to help when it became clear the Galuna demons were much stronger than normal, but even the three of us combined could not stop them."

"I ordered a retreat to the shelters, and sent them to get help from you while I protected the wounded. That was the last I saw of them."

"Thank you Jura." Erza replied even as Gray hopped onto a riding cat and raced off, "We'll search for Lyon and notify Mira that it's safe for Chelia to return."

Despite being exhausted from their own fighting, Fairy Tail split up to try and find Lyon. Which meant Natsu had one of the mage's cloaks shoved into his face by Lucy.

"Oh no," Natsu whined and gingerly sniffed at it. His nose wrinkled, cringing bodily away from the fabric as if disgusted.

"The snow queen better appreciate this," Natsu growled and dropped to his hands and knees to get a better trail on the ground.

"Yeah yeah, quit whining Natsu. We have to find him! He could be seriously injured!" Lucy watched him sniff at the dirt, his sensitive nose going at top speed.

Despite his whining, Lucy knew he was taking it seriously.

"Alright, I got it. This way," Natsu growled and headed off on foot, "He couldn't have made it too far from town."

They just had to follow the stink of ice and stripper. That shouldn't be too hard for him to pick up with all the time he spent hanging out with Gray.

Lucy jogged alongside Natsu, her eyes locked on him and his fluttering white scarf, "I wish icicle breath hadn't run off ahead, we could've used his help."

"It can't be helped, we're heading in the same direction as him so we might find him," Lucy sighed, stopping as Natsu stopped in what had been a densely populated area. He seemed confused for a moment before he picked back up on the scent again.

"You're like a puppy, you really are," Lucy eyed him in amusement.

Natsu shot her a pouty glare that only seemed to amuse her more as he kept on the trail. It led them toward the outskirts of town and toward the cliffs where a path along the cliffs might've gotten Chelia out of town enough to get to Magnolia in the first place. Pretty clever actually.

"He's close." Natsu growled softly as he paused to re-orient himself again, "This way!"

He took off again only to crash headlong into Gray himself, "Hey! Watch where you're going popsicle!"

"You watch where you're going!" Gray growled back furiously, "I'm busy looking for my brother!"

"And what did you think we were doing?" Natsu huffed indignantly, "Takin' a pleasure stroll?"

Lucy stepped firmly between them, "That's enough! We're all looking for Lyon, and Natsu said he was close. So let's find him. You can bicker afterwards."

Natsu grumbled and huffed while Gray stood there in mild shock that Natsu was willingly tracking Lyon down for him.

"C'mon, it's this way still. I can practically taste the freezer burn."

Sure enough, it was only a couple of minutes later Natsu led them to a small cave just out of the way enough to be unnoticeable otherwise. One that was blocked by ice.

"Lyon!" Gray cried urgently and lunged forward only for Natsu to stop him, "Hold your horses for a second would ya?" He grumped, "At least long enough for me to melt this stuff."

He laid a hand on it and it began melting through with an ease that surprised Gray before he belatedly remembered that Lyon wasn't a demonslayer. His ice didn't have that element that made it hard for even Natsu to get rid of.

Which meant Lyon was stupidly lucky none of the Galuna demons had been fire demons.

Or it meant Lyon was in bad shape.

Suddenly anxious and finding Natsu moving too slow, he shifted from side to side until a path was cut through.

Only for Natsu to yelp and duck when an ice-make falcon zoomed straight at his head.

It was smaller than Gray was used to seeing from his brother, and the magical bird shattered upon impact with the stone wall behind Natsu.

"Hey! Watch it!" He growled, just enough for Gray to shove him to the side and climb over him.

"Lyon!" Gray swept his gaze around, "Get your lazy ass up! It's time to go!"

"Gray..." The weaker response came from his left.

Lyon's cloak was shredded, and the light blue fabric was dark purple near his side. There was a fine coat of ice decorating the injury, and his pallor almost matched the white of his hair.

"Late as usual, like we had all the time in the world," Lyon scoffed, but the tightness around his eyes seemed to relax at the sight of Gray, "Chelia... is she-?"

"She's fine," Gray cut him off, walking over to his brother and looping an arm around his middle, lifting Lyon's chest up gingerly, "But c'mon, we need to get you to a doctor. You look like shit."

"Funny, still better looking than you," Lyon replied haughtily, but it was still weaker than he intended.

Gray just snorted out a laugh as he helped his brother out into the open, "The demons are gone, we're taking you to Jura."

"Then Jura survived." Lyon breathed in badly concealed relief, "Good. I would've been very upset if one of the Wizard Saints had been taken out by a pack of rabid demons."

Gray snorted and helped Lyon over to his mount. He handed his brother over to Natsu while he mounted up, and nodded his thanks when the dragon helped hand Lyon up over his brother's protests.

"We'll meet you back there." Lucy told him with a smile, "We'll let Erza and the others know they can call off the search."

"Thanks Lucy." Gray replied and nudged his mount into a fast lope. Hopefully it would be smooth enough Lyon's ice would hold and the injury wouldn't aggravate itself. He knew from experience how problematic that could be.

Fortunately, the ride went well and it wasn't long before they'd ridden back into town. Chelia was already there with Wendy courtesy the Exceed and both girls were busily working on helping the wounded being brought in.

"Lyon!" Chelia exclaimed in horror, attracting Wendy's attention, and rushed over to their side, "Are you alright?"

"Heh, I'm fine." Lyon grunted as he slid down, though he was decidedly wobbly as he did, "As if a pack of demons could take me down. Please."

He tried to stick his nose in the air, but the action proved one too many as his eyes rolled back and he nearly fell on his face. Fortunately the girls were quick to catch him, and Chelia sighed in slight exasperation.

"C'mon. Let's set him down." She smiled at her new friend, "He's always like this."

With Lyon recovered and everyone safe, it didn't take long for the relief efforts to fall underway. There was also the matter of putting those who died to rest. The Galuna Island demons were just as much victims in this as Lamia Scale, and Natsu was enlisted to assist in the construction of a funeral pyre for the deceased.

It was a grim affair, and Fairy Tail stayed to help. Soon they were visited by a few other guilds, who also sought to offer assistance. Blue Pegasus and Mermaid Heel came, and in some way it almost became a competition to see who could offer the most assistance to Lamia Scale.

Lucy had to admit, if there was one way for their competitive spirit to kick in, she was glad that energy was focused on helping the people of Hargeon.

She stood by Natsu's side, who built the fire into a scorching heat. He had a strange expression on his face as he helped stack logs of wood and realized it must have been a strange to use his magic like this.

He backed away, wiping sweat from his forehead as he stared up at the grim construct.

It seemed like all of Hargeon came out to see the burning. The few fire-casting members of Lamia Scale, Blue Pegasus and Mermaid Heel all came forward with Natsu, who represented Fairy Tail, to assist with the burning.

As the fires spread up towards the sky, embers coating clothes and ash thick in the back of Natsu's mouth, he wondered why he ever wanted to kill these people.

Why had Zeref?

Natsu swallowed, his eyes flashing towards Lucy, even as his heart settled on his decision.

He had to find out.

Lucy came up beside him and slipped her hand into his, squeezing supportively. She didn't say anything during the burning. She just tried to be a support to Natsu the way he was with her while they listened to the tears around them.

Once it was over she gently guided him back to their shared room, the very same one they'd had her first night in this world, and tugged him over to the bed so they could snuggle.

"Natsu..." She murmured into the silence after a while, the grief having affected them as well, if only peripherally, "When this is all over, when Zeref is dealt with, do you think we could go away for a while? Just us?"

She felt him shift and looked up at him, a blush dusting her cheeks, "Just to relax for a while?"

"Not gonna worry about the rent if we're gone?" Natsu asked, his eyes lingering on her. His arm fell heavy and comforting across her waist, his head mashed in the pillow next to her.

"Oh don't you remind me before we do anything," Lucy chided, but couldn't help but sulk at the reminder.

Natsu huffed out a small laugh, still saddened by the amount of loss around them. His arm twisted around Lucy even more securely and he breathed in her scent.

"Move in with me," He murmured against her neck.

Lucy blinked, frowning in confusion and tugging on his shirt. She momentarily pulled herself from his warm embrace, flinching a little over how a shock of cold air from the oncoming wintery front chilled her.

"Uh, Natsu we already live together," She poked at his chest.

His hand, warm and rough caught hers, his thumb tracing nervous patterns against her guild mark.

"I don't mean in the apartment," Natsu said edging around the point. And was he... blushing?

"You mean your hoard?" Lucy asked, eyes widening in clarification.

Natsu nodded.

Lucy felt her jaw drop in surprise, and her heart thumped in her chest. He wanted her to live with him in his lair? The one place he was so very protective of?

That had to be like the equivalent of a proposal or something from a dragon. Especially him.

Her heart melted and she wrapped her arms tightly around him, "Yes!" She exclaimed happily and kissed his neck before pulling back enough to kiss his lips excitedly.

She grinned at him, "I would love to."

She squeaked a little when a broad, happy, smile practically exploded on his face and he pounced on her just as excitedly as she had him.

"Really?" He asked, and then blushed a bit, "I mean..."

Lucy giggled at him, "Yes really." She replied, "Though we'll have to clean it up some. Maybe we can turn it into that castle I was talking about."

After all, the lair was big enough for it. And she definitely wasn't going to live somewhere without a few more windows.

Granted, that assumed he would be willing to spend some of his gold on stuff like that, but judging by the look on his face she rather suspected he was willing to make the trade.

She cocked her head thoughtfully, "You know... that lair of yours is more than big enough for more than just us. Maybe, once we get everything cleaned up, we can turn it into the official nest?"

She knew, after all her talks with the various dragonslayers, that a nest typically lived all together in one big lair and each had their own section to hold themselves, their personal family, and their hoard.

If Natsu was going to clean up and convert the little mountain he lived in anyway... why not go all out?

Natsu hummed, surprising himself when he found he didn't particularly mind. Although really, why would he? It was the same concept as living in an apartment building with Lucy. Only this one would have more room.

That, and having a community, close like that again...

It was something he wanted.

Natsu hummed, "Why don't we work on making it livable for just you first." He grunted, but was still blindingly happy Lucy had agreed.

He hadn't thought she would, and now that she had...

It made him all the more determined to rip his stupid brother's head off to make sure he'd never do anything to hurt his family again.

The thought of Zeref sobered him again, and Natsu's fingers pressed into Lucy's hip. For a moment, he wanted to just forget.

But he knew he couldn't. Not with what had just happened outside their window. Natsu could still smell the ash. He wanted to take another shower.

But more importantly. He had to ask Lucy about his plan. Because nothing he'd do, he would venture without first informing her. He had learned his lesson the hard way.

"Lucy," He tucked her cold body back against his, warming her up with a few quick strokes of his hand against her arm, "Get some rest. We're heading back to Magnolia tomorrow, and we've got a lot of planning left to do."

His plan could wait. On the eve of so much pain from Hargeon, she did not need to go to sleep worrying about him.

I can't believe we're almost done guys!

:'D I can't wait to see this fic through! We are curious if you all are still reading though, because we've noticed a sharp drop in reviews! Your comments and questions really do make our day and encourage us to keep writing! We may not be able to reply to them all, but they are writer-nutrition and do motivate us when we're working!

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