Natsu and Lucy were all out battling, Natsu blocking flying demons in front of Lucy's body.
"We don't want you, you disgusting slug," the demon he was currently fighting with hissed, "Just give us the egg and we'll leave you."
"Yeah right!" Natsu yelled, disintegrating him to ash, "Who's next?"
They were effective, the two of them, killing demons left and right, but the demons were many...as in several hundred.
Lucy rammed another demon into the rock wall, "Natsu, we can't keep this up!"
"We can't run either," Natsu agreed, "There's nowhere to go. Even if we made it to town, they'd follow."
"So what do we do?"
"WE FIGHT HARDER!" Natsu dragon-roared, disintegrating several demons at once. More appeared in their place.
Lucy stood her ground with Natsu, but she knew it would not be long now. For every demon they defeated, 2 more appeared. They were grossly outnumbered and tired. Not even Natsu could keep this up. She wished for her gate keys again, but a fat lot of good wishing would do.
"Who are you anyway?" Natsu screamed at the demon group as he bashed two together.
A demon bit Lucy's wrist, causing her to cry out.
"We are Dorthos, House of the Anwick. Give us what's ours and we'll kill you quickly."
"OVER MY DEAD BODY!" Natsu yelled, releasing another Dragon Roar. Lucy would have teased him about the irony of his comment, but it was highly inappropriate timing.
"Natsu..."Lucy interjected. She watched new hoards of demons approach, "My God...we're fighting all of hell."
"Then we'll fight harder!" Natsu attacked again.
Thump….thump….thump….thump….
Lucy could heard the thumping, but she didn't know where it was coming from.
"Do you hear that?" She called to Natsu.
Natsu shook his head, quickly returning to the task at hand.
A demon slashed her leg. Natsu promptly blew it into oblivion. Lucy fell to her knees, tears streaming down her face as she realized the hopelessness of the situation.
"Natsu...I can't help thinking we're both about to die…I need you to know that I love you." Her voice was barely above a whisper, "And I'm so glad we finally figured out what the guild has been telling us for years."
"Don't you talk like that, Luce!" Natsu warned, "I'm serious! I heard enough of that last night and I should've corrected you then! Fairy Tail wizards never give up! Get off your knees, Lucy!"
She looked up at him, love in her eyes, "No matter what happens, I will always love you, Natsu."
"GET OFF YOUR FUCKING KNEES!" he ordered, using Iron Fist to knock away another group, "GET UP! THIS IS NOT OVER YET! YOU CAN'T TELL ME WE ONLY GET ONE NIGHT TOGETHER! I WANT OUR FUTURE, LUCE! I WANT TO MARRY YOU AND HAVE KIDS WITH YOU AND GROW OLD WITH YOU! THIS DOES NOT END TODAY! DON'T YOU GIVE UP ON ME!"
Thump….thump….thump….thump….
Marriage? Kids? Tears streamed down her face, but she stood up, listening to the mystery heartbeat and trying to decide why she could hear it and Natsu couldn't, even with Dragon Slayer hearing. She felt a surge of comfort thump through it, wrapping her body and giving her courage.
Taking a deep breath, she pumped her fist, "I'm holding you to that, Natsu Dragneel! Marriage and kids! Okay...let's show them what Fairy Tail is...together!"
"That's my girl!" Natsu bellowed.
She screamed at the top of her lungs, "STAR DRESS - TAURUS!"
She wasn't sure if it would work, considering she still had tarred keys, but seconds after calling out the order, her body lit up with light. The demons cowered at it, backing away. Some swore and to Natsu's absolute delight, others melted.
"All right, you sons of bitches! Come and get it!" she roared.
With renewed energy, Lucy went to work, plowing over hordes of demons. She was powerful. Powerful and beautiful as she smashed them to pieces. It was still a losing battle, Natsu knew, but they'd go down fighting like true Fairy Tail mages...and they'd take a shitload of demons down with them.
All at once, demons started scattering in every direction. Lucy blocked them off on one side, destroying them with her ax. Natsu blocked off the left entrance, again using Fire Dragon Iron Fist.
A demon approached Lucy from behind, his teeth dripping in saliva. He carefully maneuvered around Lucy's blind spots until he was directly behind her.
"LUCY BEHIND YOU!" Natsu screamed out.
The demon didn't go for her. He snatched the backpack and started to run. The other demons closed in.
"NO!" Lucy screamed, "Natsu, we have to get the backpack!"
Suddenly, the demon froze solid, backpack still in midair.
"What the hell?" Natsu asked.
The battleground had stopped effectively, everyone looking at the strange frozen-out-of-nowhere anomaly.
Other demons started to freeze up too, others getting captured in water bubbles, then getting electrocuted.
"That can only mean one thing!" Lucy grinned to Natsu, her face almost splitting.
"That's right!" Natsu resumed fighting, "The cavalry has arrived! Ice Freak, I've NEVER been so glad to see you!"
Gray used an ice wall, blocking an escape route while Juvia slammed them into the ice wall with her water. Behind her, Laxus pummeled 3 demons at once.
"Are you both okay?" Juvia yelled between shots of magic.
"Yeah!" Lucy yelled back, "But I don't know if I could've said the same thing 5 minutes from now!"
"Is the egg safe?" Gray froze 3 more demons, smashing them with his demon slayer arm.
"You froze it, Ice for Brains!" Natsu looked around, "They're retreating! Don't let anyone get away!"
The 5 wizards chased down every demon they could, but were essentially happy that they'd won...for now. Panting furiously, Natsu found Lucy, colliding into her with a passionate kiss.
"You were so HOT!" he exclaimed, adrenaline still pumping through his veins, "And I cannot WAIT to get you alone later!"
The other 3 wizards' mouths dropped open.
"Oh yeah!" Natsu said cheerfully, "Lucy and I are in love. Have been forever. Finally admitted it last night." Grinning widely, he stomped off to see about getting the backpack out of the ice block.
Lucy smacked him in the arm as he passed her, "Baka! Ever heard of tact?"
Laxus snickered, "Well, we all knew it would happen eventually."
"We need to move," Juvia interjected, "We've had a retreat for now, but the demons will be back."
Gray nodded, helping Juvia to her feet. Natsu lightly melted the ice block that contained the backpack, smashing the demon who held it to pieces.
"Out to the road," Laxus ordered, "Erza, Gajeel and Levy should almost be here."
Nodding, the others followed him.
They met up with Erza, Gajeel, and Levy on the road, as suspected. The entire team now together, they sat at a pub in the town, which was actually only 10 km from the battleground.
Lucy had the egg out, so everyone could see. Again, its' luster was small. There was nothing unusual about the egg itself. It hardly looked like an artifact at all.
Thump….thump….thump….thump….
Lucy glanced at her comrades to see if any else could hear it. She was beginning to think she had an ear infection.
"All this death over an egg," Erza sighed.
"Those were good people," Lucy said solemnly, having heard about the village's demise, "They housed us for 3 days while our wounds healed."
"Then we need to make their deaths mean something," Levy interjected, "By finishing this once and for all."
"And how do we do that?" Gray asked, "That was one wave. My understanding is that they'll keep coming."
"We should call Fairy Tail," Laxus suggested, "Make things things there are okay."
Erza used the lacrima. As the image of their guild appeared, they despairingly realized all was not well at Fairy Tail. The guild hall was a mess. A mess indeed, but standing.
"We held them off as best as we could," Cana was saying, "but we expect we'll be attacked again before long. Jet saw shadows in the forest again on his patrol."
"Is everyone okay?" Juvia asked.
"So far," Mirajane interjected, "We had cuts and bruises, but only low level demons were sent here and the 5 larger demons were sent here. I think it's a threat. They're trying to make sure you know they aren't going to stop."
"They burned an entire village here," Natsu said, his voice low, "They all died. Every last one of them."
He grasped Lucy's hand under the table.
"My dad is on his way," Cana offered, "He knows something, but he wouldn't tell us what. All he said was that the attacks won't stop...not until they get what they want or Lucy stops them. The power to stop this is in Lucy's hands."
"Mine?" Lucy asked incredulously, "Why me?"
"I wish we knew," Mirajane ran a hand through her hair, "Gildarts left yesterday, so he should be tracking you now. Hopefully you'll see him soon."
"How about now?" a new voice asked.
The entire table turned, slapping his back and calling out their welcome.
"We'll go for now," Mirajane said, "Find out what's going on and keep in touch with us."
"Will do," Laxus said, "Tell Gramps we'll figure this out."
"He's due back tomorrow," Cana said, "I just hope he's safe. These demons are determined to get at us, one way or another."
"Call ahead to the magic council and request an escort," Laxus told them. He paused, unused to showing that he cared, "And Mira, take care of the guild. And yourself. We'll be home soon."
She waved and disconnected the call.
A waitress brought Gildarts a much-needed beer as he sat down at the table. When he looked up, all the mages were eyeing him...waiting for him to speak.
"Well?" Juvia said expectantly, "What does Gildarts know about this?"
"The House of Dorthos," Gildarts let out a deep sigh.
He didn't speak for a moment. All eyes remained on him.
"GET ON WITH IT, OLD MAN!" Natsu smacked him in the head, supposedly to wake Gildarts from his stupor.
"Yeah - the House of Dorthos...I ran into them several years back on a mission," Gildarts continued, "At the time, I was dating Cana's mom, actually. Only woman I ever loved...curves on that body that -"
"GILDARTS!" Lucy yelled, "Please! We're tired. We've been through a lot in the past few days. We just need to know how to end this."
"It won't end," Gildarts stated ominously, "They'll send wave after wave of demons until they get what they want."
He pointed at the egg, sitting on the table, "That egg," he continued, "Houses a celestial being called Atria. She is the Celestial King's wife."
Thump….thump….thump….thump….
"Stash-Face has a wife?" Natsu asked, choking on his beer a bit.
"He loved her with everything he had," Gildarts continued, smacking Natsu on the back until he managed to knock his head into the table, effectively ending the coughing fit, "Then one day, Dude Anthony -"
"DUKE ANTOINE!" Lucy, Erza and Natsu all yelled at once.
"Yeah - that dude. Anyway, he fell in love with the Celestial Queen. He was a celestial mage himself and she was his spirit. She didn't return the feelings and in a fit, Dude Anthony smacked her, beating her almost to a pulp. The Celestial King was outraged, causing a war between the Celestial heavens and Dude Anthony's army on Earthland. Of course, Dude Anthony's army was incapable of defeating the Celestial army. They all died and went to hell, where Dude Anthony was promptly made a demon. In his demon form, he kidnapped the Celestial Queen, locking her away in the artifact for 1000 years. However, the King intervened during the spell casting, quickly casting one of his own. He could not save his queen, but he could deny the devil access to her. His spell added a condition to the spell on the egg - Only a Celestial wizard could ever touch the egg as only a Celestial wizard can set the Queen free. Being that Celestial wizards are so few and far between, Dude Anthony figured there was little to no chance of the egg ever being restored. HE would never be with the Celestial Queen, but neither would the Celestial King."
The table was quiet, listening to Gildarts' every word.
"How do you know all this?" Lucy asked. Natsu squeezed her leg underneath the table.
"I was in the dungeons of Dorthos for a couple years," Gildarts admitted, slapping his knee, "Made the mistake of messing with one of Antoine's women."
Gajeel face palmed.
"Anyway, while I was there, one of the other inmates told me the whole story. He even broke it down for me that this is the century that the 1000 years would be up. I forgot about it for a long time, but it all came back to me as soon as Cana told me the story. Anyway, when I asked where the egg was now, he told me the 1000 years was almost up and the egg would again become visible to the Celestial eye. Unfortunately, it also meant that the demons could find it...which is why Dude Anthony made the job request so quickly. If he could get his hands on the egg, the Celestial King would not see his precious wife ever again. Furthermore, he could use it as leverage to push another war between the kingdoms. This time, he would have an army of demons to fight for him. However, this was going to be easier said than done. Only a Celestial wizard could handle the egg."
"That explains a lot," Lucy said slowly, "That's why Loke wanted me to give the egg to him."
"So eventually they would have to touch the egg somehow, right?" Natsu asked, "I mean, they just want the egg...they don't want Lucy."
Gildarts shook his head, confirming what Natsu already knew deep down, "They won't kill her, but she will never again see the light of day. They will take her and make her a slave to the demon king. She's the only one who can open the egg and turn Atria to the demons' side."
Lucy shuddered, leaning in to Natsu, who held her protectively.
"So what about Lucy's tarred keys then?" Gray put in, changing the subject so Lucy would relax a bit, "What do you think about that, Gildarts?"
Lucy removed the keys from her belt and dropped them to the table, careful not to thud them and hurt her spirits.
Picking up the ball of tar, Gildarts examined it, turning it around slowly, "I don't know."
"Why do I keep hearing a heartbeat?" Lucy asked him.
Gildarts shook his head again.
"Okay, so the story is making more sense now," Erza said, "The question is, how do we stop the attacks? What does Lucy have to do?"
Lucy cringed, not liking that it was going to come down to her. Natsu squeezed her knee reassuringly.
"You've become strong, yes?" Gildarts asked, only looking at Lucy. He reached across the table and took her hands, squeezing them in his own, "When the time comes, you'll know what to do."
Natsu stood up, slamming his hands down on top of Gildarts', forcing him to let go, "Crazy old pervert! What kind of lame-ass advice is that?"
Gildarts rose to his full height, towering Natsu by a good foot and a half, "Natsu, I get that you're tapping that now," he paused, pointed to Lucy, who was in the process of dying of embarrassment as Levy, Gajeel and Erza's mouths dropped open (they didn't know yet), "But listen to me when I say, you cannot finish it this time. This is Lucy's moment. And you have to make the decision to let her be the hero this time. Back the fuck off of her. She'll know what to do and the time to do it."
Natsu didn't back down. It was a staring contest.
Laughing, Gildarts ruffled his head, "You're a good kid, Nats. Always loved ya."
With that, he stood from the table, "Night all!"
"You aren't staying to help us fight?" Levy asked.
"I will be there," Gildarts promised, "But you know me...I'm a loner kind of guy," he winked, "I'll be watching!"
With that, Gildarts disappeared.
"He didn't pay for his beer," Gray muttered, eyeing the empty mug, "Fucker."
Erza threw an extra bit of coin on the table to cover it, "I suggest we get rooms for the night and start heading home tomorrow."
"Agreed," Laxus stated, "If we can get that far, it would be good if the next battle is on home soil where we have a bit of an advantage."
"Myself, Juvia, Levy and Lucy will share a room. And you boys -"
"Nooooo can do!" Natsu interjected, "I sleep with Lucy now."
Lucy blushed.
"YOU MEAN THAT BASTARD GILDARTS WAS TELLING THE TRUTH?" Gajeel started to gag. Levy rushed to his side, thumping lightly on his back.
Natsu squeezed Lucy's hand, smiling into her eyes, "Yeah," he said softly, taking her hand in his and kissing her lightly on the forehead, "I love her more than anything else in Earthland...and for some reason, she loves me too. She's all mine."
"Indeed," Erza muttered, clearly unimpressed. Reason being however, that she'd just lost the bet at Fairy Tail. She'd thought it would be another year before Natsu and Lucy figured it out.
"Well, Juvia and Gray have been together longer than them! Juvia should get to share a room with Gray!" Juvia stood up, grabbing her boyfriend's arm. She had had no time alone with him since they met up again.
"Gajeel and I could share," Levy said softly, blushing as they were not together yet.
"I ain't sharing with you," Laxus said flatly to Erza, "Sorry, but Gajeel, you're with me, and Levy, you're with Erza."
He stalked away from the table. Levy's face fell and Lucy shot her a sympathetic look as Natsu tugged her away from the table.
They checked into a hotel down the road. Nobody had a hard time falling asleep that night.