Gray was as she left him. Well, mostly. He lay flat on his back, hands clasped in the waistband of his pants. His erection wasn't any secret to Lucy, his pants bulging around his groin. Coming to sit beside him she crossed her legs and propped her elbow on her thigh. Her chin found home in her palm.

"You were watching, weren't you?"

Gray's slate coloured eyes found hers. At first he just blinked, then Lucy realized he wasn't speaking because he couldn't. She touched his arm, taking away some of the magic that paralyzed him, and let him find his voice.

"Lucy," he choked out hoarsely. "Lucy, Gods—Natsu—Zeref—" The fire was clear enough through the trees, it could have only been the dragon slayer, but Gray was sure Zeref was there as well. He had to have been. No one felt as poisonous as that.

"Shh." She touched her finger to his lip, silencing him. "He's gone."

Gray quieted, then stilled. Lucy realized that she'd hit him with more magic. Gray wasn't like Loke or Zeref or (though she didn't know why) Natsu. He was just a regular sort of man, human and soft and breakable.

Eager to confess and fill the silence she said, "Natsu, too. You know, I infected him. He's like me now."

Gray's eyes got large and frightened. His mouth remained closed.

Lucy found his forehead and brushed the hair away. Beneath the dark locks was a scar left behind by Lyon. She traced it, remembering. "You and I, we were close, Gray." She trailed down his temple, his cheek, brushed over his jaw and realized that she wanted to keep him too. She wanted the whole world; who knew she was such a greedy girl?

He was still hard, Lucy saw. She moved down his chest, past his belly button, making him quiver. She didn't hesitate skipping over the waistband of his pants, she brushed right over it and grabbed his erection. He bowed and gasped, coming unparalysed.

"Lucy—"

She looked away from his groin and found his eyes. "I don't want to kill you. And I want to kill you. I want you to belong to me, and yet I know that if I try, you'll die. I can't let you go because you'll cause problems for me, and I hate to make you stay. What am I supposed to do?"

He didn't respond, too busy looking at her plump, cherry red lips, at her skin, clearer than quarts, at her eyes, blacker than midnight.

Lucy whispered, "Tell me you want this."

The sun was rising, turning the sky red like desert sand.

"I—" He knew what he should say. You're sick. You need help. Get away from me. Could he find the will to spit those things out, though? No. He wanted the poison that was Lucy Heartfilia. "K—kiss me."

Lucy closed her eyes and savored his words. She heard Gray shifting. Kiss me. He was going to die. "I can't, Gray. You'll—you'll die if I do." She thought she was brave enough to do it, but she wasn't. Gray was her friend. Or he had been before. "Just—"

A small amount of stubble scraped her skin as he lifted himself up into a sitting position and pressed his cheek to hers.

"Gray—" Don't.

Then he found her lips and her fear and reticence faded. He tasted cold and fresh and strange when his tongue prodded her lips apart, like wintergreen and new winter ice. His hand found her cheek and she opened her eyes to look into his heavy-lidded ones. He looked like he was suffering, his eyes pinched at the corners. She willed him to be smart enough to pull away.

He wasn't. Or maybe he couldn't. It was too late now. She kissed him back more thoroughly, touching her fingers to his side. His muscles were hard under her hands, tense. Magic slipped out of her and into him, making him twitch and shiver. When he shook so violently she was worried his heart would stop, she broke the kiss and leaned back so she could see what she'd done.

Gray was all black lines and pale lips.

Forcing air into his lungs hurt. "W—what's happening?"

Lucy felt tears prick her eyes. "I think you're dying, Gray."

A tremor took him. He reached for her hand. "Lucy—"

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry." It was like with Loke, but she didn't think Gray would get better. Taking his shoulders, she pushed him back on the hard ground so his head was mostly in her lap. "Maybe—maybe try to relax." She'd feel the life leave him, that way she'd never forget what she'd done.

Gray's throat worked to swallow. "Lucy—"

"Yes?"

"Kiss me." He reached for her, touching her cheek. To do that was to really condemn him. She did it anyway. Finding his mouth, she reached for Zeref. The dark mage was thinking of books and spells and things that turned her blood cold and hot, of belonging and being free, of wanting and needing and breathing and ceasing to be.

Stumbling through Hargeon's streets at the brink of dawn, tired and used and furious, Natsu sensed him before he saw him; his aura filled up the air until it was swollen and dense and difficult to breathe.

"Lucy Heartfilia was never supposed to be a demon," Zeref said at his back. "But her body is trying to undergo the transformation. She'll die if she's left the way she is now."

The dragon slayer turned. He wasn't able to focus on the demon king's words, only on his presence. He felt compelled towards him, but he was too stubborn to listen to that complicated and new sensation. "Zeref." His hands burst into flames. "I should kill you right here where you stand." As if he could. Maybe, but he'd feel sick doing it, which in itself was absurd; there was no one in the world he hated more than the dark mage Zeref.

Zeref's smile was small and self-depreciating. "Weeks ago I'd let you."

Natsu's flames sputtered; he ground his teeth together, willing the fire hotter. It wouldn't submit because it just didn't feel like his any longer. Zeref doesn't know that. Except, he imagined that the demon king did. Defiantly, he said, "You make it sound like I need your permission."

"I suppose in a way you do. I made you, your power is born of me. You're strong enough to kill me now, if I let you, but… our situation has changed," Zeref finished.

Natsu's heart hammered too fast. "Made me? What the hell are you talking about?"

Zeref's eyes cut through him. "I think you know. Feeling a little different these days, Natsu?"

Natsu felt like he was being looked through. He wanted to shake his head but he had never been very good at lying. "The only thing I know is that you're flapping your gums an awful lot. Get out of my way." He needed to get out of there, away from Zeref.

Zeref grabbed his shoulder, holding him in place. "The only place you're going is Piper's Hold."

Natsu's skin jumped as though he'd been shocked. He took a hasty step backwards and rubbed the place furiously. The flesh felt burned and raw. "Piper's Hold?" He didn't know why he asked, "What's there?"

"Lucy. She'll need help."

"Lucy," Natsu snorted.

"Go, Natsu."

"Like hell. I don't have time for this. For her."

"You don't have time to obey your master?" Zeref sneered.

Master. The word made his muscles sing, his head ring."I don't know what you're talking about." As if he could deny it.

"I think you do."

"Shut the hell up." His fire flared up again, violent and wild.

Zeref kept on speaking. "You're a demon, Natsu. My strongest." Brother. The last just wouldn't come out, not while all of his shame stared angrily back at him. I wish I could have saved you, I wish you were better. I wish things weren't the way they were.

It felt like Natsu's air was stolen away. "A demon. Fuck off." He tried to brush past Zeref again. The demon king grabbed his shoulder and squeezed until Natsu gasped and dreamed of pulling away. It stopped there.

"It's true." Zeref smiled because to do anything else was to crumple.

Natsu bristled. First Lucy and now this shit. "You're enjoying this?" A black tide was rising too quickly and threatening to consume him.

No. Yes. Zeref had never felt darker. "I can just see the humor in it. You're so obviously changed and yet you deny it."

"Because it's not true."

"How about we ask that girl you were going to kill? See what she has to say?" the demon king asked.

Natsu's mouth went dry. "I—" wasn't going to. He severed the words because they felt untrue. Instead he asked, "How do you—?"

"Know that?" Zeref finished with a grin. "We're connected, Natsu, through one of my demon books. END."

END. The world slowed. Natsu swallowed a lump in his throat. END. "Stop fucking with me."

"I don't lie. You are he, my strongest demon."

Feeling like he was choking, Natsu gathered and threw a ball of fire at the demon king.

Zeref easily pushed the attack aside. His eyes shone bright in the darkness, his own magic bouncing excitedly around his body. "I've ruined you. Look at what I've done." He touched a cool hand to Natsu's cheek. The place went numb. Natsu pulled back sharply and breathed heavily from his nose. That unfamiliar darkness welled inside of his bones, answering some subtle call.

"Your mine, and you have been for a very long time," Zeref continued. "I had been waiting for something to bring you forward, I never imagined it would be Layla's daughter. And now that you're here…" He looked off into the encroaching night, a mixed expression on his face.

Natsu clutched his fist nervously.

Demon.

END.

Who are you? Do you know? He tried to think of his earliest memory and recalled only Igneel. He couldn't remember his mother or his father or anything else from his life before.

No. It's not true.

His mind rebelled. He shoved Zeref away and started moving, but the demon king materialized before him and blocked his path.

The expression on Zeref's face was sad. "In all the times I've imagined this moment, I never thought it would go like this. I thought I would be recklessly staring down my death, but a lot of things are different."

"Shut up and get away from me," Natsu threatened.

Zeref ignored him. "What is it going to take to convince you?"

"I said shut up and get—"

Zeref touched a hand to Natsu's chest and pulled with his magic. Fire exploded from Natsu's skin in a wild hot rush. He screamed, unable to do anything else, and fell to his knees; it hurt. And it kept on hurting well past the point of being able to feel. He was being bled dry. He tried to hold the magic in, but when he did, it whipped against him, slashing and cutting in a way it never had before, making the pain even worseuntil he thought he was going to die. This is it. You're finished. The world was greying. He never thought much about dying, but when he did he thought he'd go out with a little more bang and a little less bust. He was helpless.

Zeref looked on with a sense of grim satisfaction as Natsu writhed and screamed.

A part of him was horrified.

Haven't you taken enough from him?

A part of him was glad.

No.

He wanted more. He was the man that wanted to eat the world.

Someone slammed their window down the street to block out the sounds of his brother's torment. That sharp noise was enough to bring Zeref back to himself. He eased away before he tore Natsu to shreds and let the magic die. Don't destroy everything you touch. Temperance. He hadn't ever been very good with that.

When Zeref finally let him loose, Natsu sweated and panted. He groaned and clutched his arm around his ribs. His whole body ached so acutely he thought he was going to be sick. The sensation passed slowly, though when he looked up at the dark wizard the world swayed violently.

"Do you believe me now?"

Natsu gritted his teeth then staggered into a standing position. "You bastard," he wheezed and swung his fist, going against the voice in his head telling him he should pay fealty to the demon king.

His punch missed.

Zeref wasn't where he thought he would be. Natsu tumbled forward onto the asphalt, scraping his knees. And then Zeref was there. He grabbed a fistful of Natsu's hair and wrenched his head back roughly. "I'm through with this game. Go to Piper's Hold."

Natsu worked to swallow. Something black and wriggling was moving through his body, something that wanted to obey. "W—why?"

"I told you, Lucy will need someone."

Lucy. "I don't want anything to do with that whore," he spat out. "She's—"

Zeref lanced a thread of darkness into his chest. It travelled throughout his body, up his spine and into his head. Bright light exploded behind his eyes, the pain was so intense. "You love her, that's why you're angry, but that doesn't change the fact that you'll go to her."

"You fucked her," Natsu said between gasps, not even able to deny him.

When Zeref didn't respond, Natsu swung again, this time with his elbow. The movement was awkward and slow with him still on his knees. Zeref caught his arm, sidestepped and wrenched it behind his back. Then, mercilessly, he forced his brother's cheek into the ground. I am a bad man, he decided. He wanted everything from the world and he wasn't afraid to take it.

"Do you think people can change?" he asked on a whim.

"Not you," Natsu spat, dirt and dust clinging to his lips as he spoke.

Fears confirmed, Zeref said, "That's what I thought." And if that were the case… "Go to Piper's Hold, Natsu. Don't fight your nature; help Lucy."

He was having a very difficult time holding onto his anger, even with his face forced to the ground. "Why don't you?"

"I want this too badly," Zeref admitted. "I'm too close to it."

"Want what too badly?" He knew.

"Lucy," Zeref replied. "I—I think I love her."

Natsu's skin blazed hot. He hated Lucy but he loved her, too. He didn't want anyone else to have her. "Don't lie, people like you don't know what love is."

Zeref flinched. "People like us," he corrected. "You care for her and so do I."

"I'm nothing like you."

"You're wrong. We're a pair, Natsu, two pieces of a whole."

Natsu's mind whirled.

"And you know it; everything, your magic, your voice, you body betrays you. It'll be easier on you if you stopped fighting and just obeyed. She needs someone there."

He cursed and hardened himself to Zeref's words. "Then you go. I'm done with her."

"Lucy stopped Shadow Father from devouring the world. She sacrificed a lot for you, the least you could do is be there with her at the end."

"End?"

"Don't you want to be there when she burns out and fades away?"

Natsu's skin crawled. "What are you doing to her?"

Zeref swallowed. He couldn't bring himself to reply.

"Tell me!"

But the dark wizard was gone, faded into the shadows.

Lucy left Gray looking ashen. She couldn't bring herself to check his heart. She knew what she'd find.

Heart leaden, she stumbled towards Piper's Hold. Her skin felt like it was splitting apart, her eyes burned and her body hurt. She could feel Zeref through their connection, pushing her along, encouraging her when she wanted to fall to the ground and let all the magic tear her skin apart. She was just a girl after all, just a human that thought she could save the world. And she had, but the cost was high. The price was Lucy Heartfilia and she could never escape paying.