Natsu. Lucy's breath exploded from her lungs; the air was heavy with a power that felt like hers but different. Stronger. Wilder. It made her crazy. All she wanted to do was grab Natsu and bring him close; she never ever wanted to be far from him. She flexed her fingers in his hold and bowed into the hand that still held her breast.

Struggling to maintain his fury Natsu said, "You tried to kill me." But that wasn't quite right. She did kill you. Yes, only death hurt quite like that. And then he awoke. "You fucking bitch, Lucy."

His voice was deep and growling. It sent shivers over Lucy's skin. "You—you asked—" Natsu bit her again, hard enough that she felt his teeth sink into her skin. She whimpered and took in a noisy breath. He was pressed so tight against her she could feel him get harder. Her body responded similarly.

He sucked her blood away then said, "I never fucking asked for anything like that from you."

She'd never seen him so furious. While she felt elated, she also felt fear. "But you wanted it." Reaching with her free hand she caressed his cheek. Natsu released her breast so he could grab that wrist too. Then he brought her hands together, pinching them with one hand, freeing himself up to keep groping her. He didn't want to and yet he couldn't stop. Fire kept trying to roll over his skin. There were only seconds where he actually tried to stop it, then he thought, what the hell, and let it come. Make her hurt as well. And he did hurt. Every piece of his skin felt raw. His magic felt wrong. Too much. Much too much. He wanted more.

Lucy winced when the fire burned her. It didn't seem to matter if she hissed, Natsu never let up. In fact, when she made a noise of protest it only served to make him push harder against her. His skin had never felt so hot.

"Natsu-"

The way she said his name made Natsu's skin raise, made his cock harder than a rock, made his head dead. "Yes?" He knew he shouldn't be playing into her. He should (punish) her while he could. Make her cry and beg and plead; leave her like she left him. He was still a moth to the flame. He could do that no more than he could stop breathing.

"How did you survive?"

The fire sputtered. "I—"

When he choked Lucy answered for him. "It's because you're just like me, isn't it?" She could barely believe it. What a lucky girl she was. Natsu and Loke and Zeref. Even if Zeref was going to be angry (stay away from Natsu) she knew he wouldn't stay that way for long. Even now she knew he was aware the dragon slayer was by her side. Will he come? Would this be the thing to end his absence? She hoped. So badly she hoped.

Natsu didn't understand the manic look in Lucy's eye, but it made his head swim. He pushed her back against the tree again, leaning back so he could see her dark, excited eyes. "I'm nothing like you, Lucy. I would never do to you what you did to me."

"Are you sure about that?" Her tongue flicked out and brushed his lips.

Natsu closed his eyes. No.

Her fingers flexed in his again. There was no hope of wriggling out of his ironclad grip so she lifted her leg and used her knee to gently rub over the bulge in his pants. "I wouldn't ever hurt you on purpose."

"Stop lying." He shoved her leg aside and ground against her, his hips pinning her to the tree.

"N-Natsu…" In that moment she got to see how much his power had changed. It was rawer and brutal. It was infinitely harder to be near him but she couldn't have stepped away even if she wanted to, he had her thoroughly trapped with his body. "You're different."

How he wished he could deny her claim, but it was true. Something was very wrong. Not wrong. A lick of flame travelled from his hand over her chest, burning an uneven hole over her breasts so the creamy, full tops threatened to fall out of her clothes. Lucy bucked and whimpered, the motion setting her body to bounce distractingly. Natsu squeezed her breast hard. "This is your fault," he said.

"Yes?" she stammered with her pretty, insincere lips. Lips that Natsu leaned in and kissed the corner of.

"Yes," he affirmed.

"Do you like it?"

"I burned down half of the forest in Magnolia when I woke," he told her, too truthful by half.

Lucy shivered. "Why?"

"Because I wanted to." That wasn't true. Not entirely. He wanted to and he didn't. But could he force his magic to do anything but blaze when he woke staring at the overcast sky? Not at all. It was all he could do to stumble away from Fairy Tail, fire leaking out of his skin, and get to somewhere remotely safe: Magnolia's north forest. So many things died in that first wave of powerful magic, burned to a husk. He would have wondered if people did too, but there was only so much compassion available to him.

When all that fire had burned out he felt like himself again for the briefest moment. He wasn't burning up inside, he wasn't totally apathetic, he could think, at least for a little while before the magic all built up inside him again and he had to release it. In his reprieve his mind wandered to betrayal. Betrayed by his magic, betrayed by Lucy. He kept thinking about her bowing beneath the man in her apartment, her hanging off Loke minutes before she showed him what she did to Shadow Father. And, of course, the hole she left inside of him; it was so large that his fire just bled out. He felt violent and angry and wretched.

"And then you came back to me," Lucy purred, rubbing against him.

Natsu took in a shallow breath. "So you could make it better."

"I can only make it worse." Which, maybe in a way was a kind of better. For her, at least.

"Then so you can suffer just like me."

"If it's you making me suffer, Natsu, I'll lay down for punishment."

"You're not supposed to enjoy it." And neither was he, but there was a wicked smile on his mouth, he couldn't deny.

She turned her head so her lips were pressing against his ear and whispered, "But I do. Does that make you angry with me?"

"Very." Was that his voice? It was strangled and dark, desperate and silken.

Shifting, Lucy spread her legs in invitation. "Touch me."

"I should kill you."

"Fuck me first. I don't care what happens after," she said in a lewd little whisper that made Natsu's head rush.

"Lucy—"

"Please. Please." Lucy bowed her head back against the solid tree at her back and looked towards the midnight sky. Not only was Natsu making her crazy, but Zeref was right there, right under her skin, pushing at her painfully. Wonderfully. She could barely think her body was so hot. It's almost like he wants Natsu to... Almost.

I knew you liked it, she thought at the dark mage. He is response was silence.

Natsu lungs only half filled. "You're so fucking—" hot. beautiful. terrible. perfect.

"I don't care."

With shaking fingers Natsu found the inside of her thigh and followed it up under her skirt to the fabric of her panties. She was so wet he could hear it. It drove him crazy. His cock pulsed painfully, restricted by his pants. Gods. "I don't want to be like this," he said, trying to convince himself, though even as he spoke he found Lucy's earlobe and sucked on it.

Lucy allowed herself a smile. "I know you're a liar."

Natsu didn't respond, he was too busy finding her parted lips and kissing them, pushing his tongue into her mouth. Distracted, he forgot to hold her so tightly.

Lucy worked one wrist free and found his erection. Her fingers were sure and skilled moving over him. "I would have missed this if you died," she said.

It was unorthodox, but her words burned through him and only made him harder. He realized with a start that he liked this new, hateful Lucy. He'd never say as much though. Grunting, he crushed his mouth to hers again and unbuckled his pants. Lucy crooned when she realized what he was doing. She squirmed and tried to grab her skirt to do the same but he pushed her hand away.

When Natsu was free he ran the tips his fingers over his hard body and gave a muted moan. He was sensitive. Still kissing her, he grabbed himself and pumped his hand, imagining coming on her as she was and giving her nothing,

Again, Lucy tried to grab him. He pushed her hand aside and broke their kiss so he could hiss, "Don't."

"Natsu," she pleaded and licked his bottom lip.

Lucy's actions gave Natsu a better idea. Abandoning his body, he grabbed her by the shoulders and forced her to the ground. Lucy went willingly and eagerly, opening her mouth like the good girl she wasn't and immediately taking him in deep.

Her mouth was the hottest thing he'd ever felt. Stretching, he grabbed a tree branch above his head for something to hold, then cupped the back of Lucy's head. Her hair was silk in his hands. Grabbing it, he shoved himself deep, deep inside. She protested, gagging slightly, but when he eased back she came back on her own, taking him in deep enough that he watched her eyes fill with tears. Again and again. Her hands dropped between her legs. Natsu watched raptly while she fingered herself.

"Fuck." He felt himself swell and throb in her mouth. "That's so hot."

She didn't seem to hear him, enthralled with her own pleasure. Miffed—why should Lucy have anything—he pulled her back by the hair. His cock came out of her mouth with a loud pop that he tried not to enjoy so much.

"Natsu," Lucy whimpered. "Come back."

"Be quiet." But he did want to be closer to her. Taking her by the arms he pulled her away from the tree. Lucy shuffled awkwardly on her knees, branches and needles digging into her skin. Did Natsu care? Not at all. Any discomfort she had seemed to bring him pleasure. His hand landed between her shoulder blades, then he pushed her down. Lucy got to her hands and knees.

"More." Natsu kept pushing until her cheek rested against the ground.

Lucy had never felt so exposed. "Oh—"

He fell to his knees behind her, then lifted up her skirt so he could see what lay underneath. Even in the moonlight he could see her panties were totally soaked through. She tried to touch herself again but he grabbed both of her wrists and pinned them behind her back, holding her tightly in his much larger hand.

"Natsu…" She gasped his name when he pulled her panties aside again.

"Do you want me to stop?" he asked in a strangled voice.

Lucy didn't know if he could if she said yes. She pressed her cheek to the ground and smelled the pine needles under her nose. Shadows surrounded them. Inside the blackest she could feel Zeref. There was less anger now and more excitement. He wanted Natsu to stop and he wanted him to keep going. He wanted to see Lucy squirm and sob.

"No," she said hoarsely.

Maintaining his hold on her wrists, Natsu grabbed his shaft and guided himself to her entrance with teasing in mind. The blonde was having none of that. She backed up on him, forcing him to plunge deep inside. Her body was soft and warm. Natsu breathed shallowly and rocked his hips, unable to help himself. Lucy moaned every time his skin met hers. He moved faster, spurred on by her obvious enjoyment, until she was practically screaming. The sound of flesh on flesh was loud in the otherwise quiet night.

For Lucy it was almost too much. Natsu's fire was bleeding out—she didn't even think he noticed. It wrapped around her like a too-warm lover and greedily ate at her own magic dropping away. And then there was Zeref. He was near by. Sort of. Not him, exactly, but his essence. He was the shadows in the forgotten hollows of the tree roots, he was the midnight air. He was everywhere and nowhere, until he was the ground beneath her.

'This is a strange way to stay away from Natsu,' he whispered in her mind.

'I can't, I'm sorry,' she thought morosely.

Seeping coldness crept up from the ground. Its frigidness was a sharp contrast to Natsu's scorching flames. A shadowy tendril caressed Lucy's lips and then her breasts. She cried out as it moved lower, slipping past her bellybutton and between her legs where it pressed into her, a cool shadowed hand. Phantom fingers began rubbing her gently. She fisted her hands in the sandy dirt and panted as an intense wave of pleasure moved through her. Natsu and Zeref. She was having them both.

Feeling another, familiar presence, Natsu slowed and tried to pull away, but when he stopped thrusting Lucy did it for him, desperate to keep him there.

"Don't stop, Natsu. I'm—I'm close."

"Lucy," he gasped and squeezed her tighter. He was sure Zeref was there, he could smell him, he could feel him, but he couldn't pull away from the blonde long enough to find him. "Lucy, wait." He tried again to draw back.

"Nonono. Keep going," she begged.

Natsu felt drunk on Lucy. Her excitement was a contagious thing. You have to stop. He didn't want to. "Just—wait—"

"No." Dark tendrils rose up from Lucy's fingers and wrapped around Natsu's back, pinning him in place.

"Lucy—!" She felt so good, gyrating her hips like that. His protest turned to a dark moan.

"Shut up, Natsu. Shut up. Shut up and keep going." Though it was impossible for him to move now. Stationary, he watched Lucy roll her hips back again and again, making herself scream.

When she came, Natsu came with her. He could think of nothing but the fire arcing over his skin to alight the needles on the ground and the pleasure that rolled through him. The fire got so out of control that it swallowed all the air, smothering the flames. Natsu opened his eyes and saw what he'd been looking for. Zeref was beneath Lucy, both corporeal and a ghost. Their mouths were stitched together. The dark mage lifted his gaze and met Natsu's before he melded into the shadows.