Post Seven Year Time skip.
When Lucy returns to her apartment complex, she's alone.
After seven years, it's surprisingly clean. The bed is made and the floors and walls are relatively free of grime that builds up from time. Even the shelves aren't entirely coated in dust, like she expected. The air still smells musty, and her books pages seem a little yellowed from the last time she saw them- three days ago, but actually seven whole years.
When she found out the news, the apartment wasn't at the forefront of her mind, though it soon became relevant once she realized how run down the guild has become and that she still needed a place to sleep. She had ran to her landlord in a resigned panic, idly wondering if she would ever be able to make up the seven year late rent.
The landlord was shocked to see her. Lucy found out the apartment got paid off and the landlady took to dropping off important mail and occasionally keeping it clean.
Seven years worth of mail is a lot. Envelopes cover every part of Lucy's desk, and it looks as though the pile is on the verge of becoming an avalanche. It'll take her ages to sort through.
She sits down on her bed and almost sneezes from the dust. Her eyes water.
It feels bigger than normal. Emptier.
She supposes that Natsu and Happy never left her alone for long. And where those two go, Gray and sometimes even Ezra follow. Lucy can imagine Ezra in the bath, making herself at home, Gray lounging on the chair, missing a shirt, bantering with Natsu, who would certainly be going through her fridge and cabinets with Happy. After the first few weeks of essentially being roommates with them in all the ways that matter, Lucy grew accustomed to someone crashing on her couch (usually Natsu) every other day.
Company might be nice but Lucy knows she'll need alone time to... digest.
The letters on her desk are from her father. He started sending them not long after the incident. They read like diary entries, Father simply telling her how his week was. He wrote about his business, what he ate for supper, politics. Eventually, five years into the pile, he started writing about his illness and age. His grief about Mother's death and his regrets about his treatment of Lucy. Sometime during the sixth year, the handwriting of the letters changed from her father's to a stranger's. Lucy's eyes water and she tries to pretend it's the dust.
She sorts them into a drawer as she goes through them. At one point, she's forced to light a lacrima lamp. The sun sets and she's yawning, but if she stops, she's not sure if she'll ever have the courage to continue.
There's two letters left on the desk, dated one months ago. One's strapped to a small flat box with a strange magical energy emanating from it. She bites her lip, nervous. Her father's handwriting is on the letter, but it's shaky and wobbly. Lucy might not have recognised it as his, if not for the specific way he dots his 'i's and crosses his 't's. And he would never allow a servant not well trained and practiced in calligraphy write his letters for him.
It's an apology. An acknowledgement of his wrong doings. That he was the reason they drifted apart, not the death of Mother. The letter has spots where the paper warped from contact with water. Lucy feels her cheeks wet and knows she can no longer blame her tears on dust.
Lucy, my daughter. There are many things I regret in this world. I have told you most everything in the letters these past years, but nothing weighs on me more than how I treated you after the death of Layla. I was simply terrible to you.
I have not the energy to languish further. I am using the last of my strength to write this. I know the chances of you seeing this letter are slim to none. But I can't help but hope you will eventually see it. I have passed your inheritance to the head servant, with strict orders to give it to you should you ever reappear.
In the box attached to this letter is a letter opener. It was the only one of Layla's spirits she entrusted to me instead of you. I have no use of it, so I will be entrusting it to you now. I never saw her summon this one, for reasons I can only speculate. If you ever use it, treat it with the utmost caution. Layla merely told me it's name: The Devil Spirit, Rin.
I wish you the best of luck, if you are reading this.
If not: I look forward to reuniting with Layla and you.
With love,
Your father, Jude Heartfilia.
The last envelope on the desk is an announcement of his funeral, that took place two weeks ago.
. . .
Lucy is worried. She knows she shouldn't be; it's against spirit law for them to bring harm to their summoner. Maybe it's overboard to bring Natsu, Gray, and Ezra to witness her form a contract with the spirit. She prefers for the initial summons to be fairly private- a moment to bond with the spirit one on one.
But the magic she senses from it makes her uneasy.
"Lucyyyy~" Happy complains from his position on her pillow, "When are ya gonna start? I'm hungry!"
"Yeah!" Natsu pumps his fist into the air. "I'm gettin' bored, when's the fight?"
Lucy groans. "For the last time, you're not fighting my new spirit. And get off my pillow, Happy! You're shedding everywhere!"
Her pillow, that was previously spotless, now sports hundreds of blue hairs. Happy, in complete defiance of her order, snickers and starts to knead the pillow. Until Lucy pulls it out from under him and whacks him with it.
"...you shouldn't even be summoning a devil in the first place." Gray grumbles while slouching in Lucy's chair.
Natsu, in his battle hunger, pounces on the opportunity. "Oh yeah? You scared of a little demon, stripper?"
"You don't know what you're talking about, flame-brain!" Gray scoffs, standing up.
"Says the pervy popsicle!"
"Squinty eyes!"
"Droopy eyes!"
"Boys!"
Erza makes herself known, standing up with enough force to cause the dinner chair she was using to fall over. The two rivals promptly shut up. "Lucy is kind enough to let us in her home. Do not be rude."
Natsu, in that moment, is not smart enough to keep his mouth closed. "But you just broke Lucy's chair!"
This prompts Erza to lunge, inciting a beat down. Until Gray gets involved and smacks Erza with a pillow. That starts an all out pillow fight. No, not a fight, a pillow war .
Lucy takes cover behind her small couch. As much as she appreciates her friends trying to lift her mood, this isn't helping her anxiety. Normally their dramatics and competitiveness distract her from her problems, but this time it persists.
She huddles behind the couch, even as Gray is flung to the floor and Natsu is betrayed by Happy and Erza rules over them all. She feels the hot metal of the letter opener that's supposed to act as a key. It glows slightly and is certainly magical, but it feels so different from her other keys - almost sinister.
Miraculously, the pillow fight doesn't break any lamps or vases that Lucy has.
"If you are all done, I have a summoning to start," Lucy sniffs haughtily, impersonating some of the more annoying upper class people she's interacted with before.
"My apologies," Erza bows in one sharp move. "Please punish me!"
Lucy smiles and waves her off. "Let's just go."
Natsu titled his head. "Why? Where're we going?"
"The forest." Lucy doesn't answer the first question, because that'll get Natsu hyped up for a fight she hopes won't happen. She just doesn't want Fairy Hills to burn down if it gets out of hand.
No one calls her out on the omission.
. . .
The forest is dark. Lucy remembers going to Magnolia Forest in the daytime, and it always seems bright and relatively harmless. But now that twilight's set in it is chilly and ominous. Every rustling leaf and snapping twig has Lucy looking around wildly.
"What's wrong, Luce?" Natsu looks over to her.
"It's creepy," Lucy mutters.
Happy snickers. "It's just a forest!"
"That doesn't make me feel better!" Lucy snaps. And then she shivers.
Happy's probably right. No one else seems bothered. Erza's up ahead, plowing through any saplings, bushes, or branches that dare get in her way. Gray has his arms casually folded, bringing up the rear. Natsu doesn't seem concerned at all. It's just her nerves making her feel uptight.
They make it to a nondescript clearing. "This should do," Lucy decides.
"Finally!" Happy exclaims, slumping to the ground. "We've been walking for hours !"
"It's been ten minutes," Lucy's response doesn't have as much annoyance in it as it usually would.
She holds up the letter opener and takes a deep breath.
"Well, what are you waiting for- ow!" Gray rubs his head and glares at Erza.
"Just let me concentrate!"
She breathes in again, and hones into the magic signature of the 'key.' It's so different from normal Celestial Magic, that she knows the incantation to summon the spirit will be unique. She just has to... understand it.
It came easier than she expects.
"Open the rift of the Prince Devil Spirit, Rin!"
An azure magic circle appears under her feet, and she stabs the letter opener into the air. Instead of turning it to unlock something, she slashes downward, leaving a line of brilliant light.
And the line spreads outward, like a tear in reality.
Inside the tear is a perfect mirror of the forest, except the sky is a blood red and everything else is grayed out. Everything else, except a figure standing just on the other side with stark white hair, glowing blue eyes, and a long tail.
The Demon Spirit steps through the rift and he grins, the feral sort that displays a set of sharp fangs. The rift closes behind him.
"Do you know how long I've been trapped there?" is the first thing he says, with a raspy voice and a manic glint in his eye. And his eyes never left her own. "You're dressed weird."
"Huh- what?" That's rude!
"I guess I should say thanks for releasing me, but I won't." Rin continues speaking, as if he didn't hear her. "Since you're the one who put me in there, Anna."
Anna? What is he talking about?
"Hey, back off, jerk!" Natsu growls.
Rin pauses, and looks over to the fire dragon slayer as if he just noticed his presence. He squints his eyes at Natsu and sniffs the air. "You smell like Zeref."
Gray stiffens. "What?!" He demands.
Rin turns to him and raises an eyebrow. His tail lashes. "Ya know, that dumb wizard guy who makes demons because he's a dumb idiot who got cursed with immortality and forgot that immortality means he can't die."
"What? Zeref has been dead for centuries!" Erza proclaims. Why else would Zeref cults always try to resurrect him? Why else did the Tower of Heaven get built? Why else did it ruin hundreds of lives?
"You also don't know what immortality means?" Rin snorts.
Rage floods Erza's body. This demon is mocking her. In a flash she draws her sword.
Rin crouches low to the ground and bares his fangs. "If you wanna fight, I'll give it to ya!"
Erza charges with a roar.
He lights up in a halo of blue flames, almost blinding in the dark woods, and dodges her flurry of strikes with ease.
Natsu grins. "Now this is my style!"
"This guy knows about Zeref," Gray growls.
The two join the fight and suddenly it's a three on one.
Rin is doing extremely well: Natsu's fire is redirected, Gray's ice gets melted, and Erza's swords are dodged. He's fast, blitzing between combo attacks like he's a summer breeze. Until Erza requips into her Black Wing armor set and adds another dimension to the battle.
Rin, visibly annoyed, dodges an attack from the sky and ducks under a kick from Natsu. His flames flare and melt an ice spear attack launched at him.
"Alright!" The Demon Spirit growls. "I'm done with y'all!"
And the heat in the clearing becomes insufferable. Lucy gasps and scrambles away. Gray's knees hit the earth and he's steaming- Erza switches to her Flame Empress armor, but even then she's still sweating. Natsu seems unaffected by the temperature increase.
Natsu grins in his battle crazy. "Bring it on!"
Rin growls. He flings his hand in Natsu's direction and launches a blast of blue flames.
Natsu's grin widens and he opens his mouth wide, ready to swallow it.
Only instead of eating it, the fire dragon slayer shrieks.
It only lasts for a second, a full second of Natsu's body contorting in pain, before he falls to the ground with a smoking mouth.
"Natsu..." Lucy whispers, shocked.
"What did you do?!" Erza demands, leveling a sword at Rin's throat.
"What do you mean- What did I do!?" Rin's tail flicks and he glares. " He's the one who tried to eat fire ! My fire!"
"He's a fire dragon slayer!"
Rin's glower seems to deepen. "So? Just because he can kill fire dragons, doesn't mean he's immune to fire."
This ignorant comment renders Erza completely speechless.
"A-actually," Lucy is hesitant to speak up. "That's exactly what it means. Fire dragon slayers are a type of mage taught by a fire dragon, so they inherit the dragons abilities, diet, sense of smell and other things like that. They're immune to fire and eat it."
"Oh." Rin seems a little more subdued now. "But he still shouldn't've eaten my Blue Flame. Or even let it get that close when I'm mad like that."
"Why's that?" Erza challenges. "As far as I can tell, it's just fire that is blue."
The demon's lips pull up into a snarl. "Blue Flames can burn anything. Everyone knows that. And only two creatures can use them, so they're legendary." He pauses. "I was a little confused why y'all didn't run the moment you saw blue fire."
He points at Lucy. "Especially you, Anna. You know better."
Lucy sputters. "My name isn't Anna! It's Lucy!"
Rin's eyes widen before he squints and moves closer. He takes two sniffs and steps back. "Huh. Sorry 'bout that."
Natsu groans something unintelligible from his place on the floor.
Happy translates for him. "But Natsu's eaten blue fire before."
"Yeah, can't Macao turn his fire different colors?" Gray starts standing up. "What's so special about yours?"
"Humans are so dumb." Rin's tail lashes about. He doesn't answer the question. "Where's my sword?"
"Huh?"
Natsu tries to protest the topic change. He immediately regrets doing so and slumps over with a wheeze.
Rin ignores Natsu and turns to face Lucy. "My sword. Ya know, the one you used to unseal me? It's probably about this big." He stretches his arms out.
"Uhm. Do you mean this?" Lucy holds up the letter opener.
The demon snatches it from her and cradles it to his chest. " Kurikara , what did they do to you?"
His head snaps back over to Lucy. "How did you wield it?"
"Huh?" Lucy mutters dumbly. She's really getting tired of not knowing what's going on.
"It gets mad whenever someone other than me wields it! So how'd ya do it without even getting tired?!"
"Maybe it wanted me to?" Lucy wonders. "You said you were trapped there?"
He nods once.
"Then it probably wanted me to get you out."
"I'm confused," Gray muttered. "I thought you were supposed to be a Celestial Spirit Demon guy. Were you not summoned from the spirit world?"
Rin snorts. "I'm only half celestial spirit. I don't live there and I can't travel between realms like that. I'm also half demon, so when I get summoned I stick around."
"Do you need to make a contract with Lucy?" Erza asks.
Rin eyes Lucy warily with a wrinkled nose. "Nah. I don't like celestial spirit mages."
Then he starts stalking off.
"Hey! Where are you going!" Erza calls.
"To find out how ta fix Kurikara!" Rin snaps back.
"I'm sure you'll have an easier time fixing you're sword if you stick with us!" Lucy tries.
The demon snorts. "Yeah right! You just want another servant!"
"We're part of Fairy Tail. A strong guild full of mages of all kinds." Gray speaks up. "I bet we could help out. Without anything in return."
That makes Rin pause. "Nothing's free. What's the catch?"
"Become a member."
A/N:
In this, Rin was not raised by humans, so he's a little more feral/bloodthirsty/prone to violence. He's not evil, but he doesn't have a bunch of empathy. Kurikara is his weapon, like Aquarius's water urn or Cancer's scissors. It doesn't seal his power, but he can fight a lot better with it.
Feel free to use this as a plot bunny. If you do, please let me know so I can read it.