Lucy was withdrawing. Finding more comfort with the emotional war going on in her head than the reality of the situation; Anger playing tug of war with lust and her happiness in the corner crying. The middle weighted down with her isolation. So, she stayed in bed when she could. Her laptop perched precariously in her lap, and documents littering the comforter like confetti. Lucy stopped wearily tracking Natsu, her body naturally pinged whenever he got close. She wasn't sleeping, memories played like movies in her dreams; there was no escape so she watched her emotions go to war.

oOo

Natsu watched Lucy seemingly fall apart. Her eyes stopped sparkling or flashing fire at him and looked…dull; her presence seemed to dim a little. Then she decided to marry the fucking bed; it was irritating how little she left her nest of blankets, especially because he couldn't be in it with her. She flinched and watched him warily when ever he moved and that irritated him even more; he'd paced at the foot of her bed growling until he thought she'd combust with how hard she was shaking so he stormed off.

After a while his blonde had stopped shaking and he'd found himself hopeful. Until she just didn't react. She slept constantly at this point. Seeming to shut down completely, groggily rising for a board meeting or proposal hearing; Lucy had stopped dressing up for them, her heels replaced with plain flats. Jeans and T-shirts taking over her tailored pant suits. She never looked in his direction, no matter how close he got to her, yet she still continued to flinch or tense. It aggravated him.

Natsu then became pensive himself. The longer she distanced herself from him the angrier it made him; it made him mad that he couldn't touch her as he pleased, because she constantly flinched. The pink haired man grew hotter in his frustration. It had all started to go to shit the second he'd experienced what it could be between them if she wasn't so scared of him. She'd turned to him and had seemed so relieved to see him, she ran to him. Lucy had clung to him. It had felt…nice. He'd felt needed and useful in a way he hadn't felt in…well he couldn't remember and that was the problem. Natsu realized he wanted Lucy to not only want him but be comfortable around him. Which meant taking things slow, even though he didn't want too. Even though he still wanted to bite her hard enough to bruise and press his fingers hard into the skin of her hips.

"Fuck," Natsu groaned, it was hard to focus with the thought of Lucy's naked form. He wanted her up under him, her legs spread wide and her pretty pussy nice and wet. To not flinch at his rough handling. He didn't want to damage her. He just couldn't seem to help his need to want to dominate her; she looked gorgeous covered in his bruises. "Focus." He really needed to focus before he let his baser instincts talk him into masturbating to the thought of Lucy. His Lucy. "Fucking focus," Natsu groaned, recognizing his haze as unsettling but unable to stop it. "Need answers," the pink haired drake wheezed out, his skin flecking red scales and his horns curling from his head. He was rumbling with the excitement the burn in his throat brought, he paced in front of the fireplace before belching a fire onto the kindling logs. Natsu studied the roar of the flames before stepping through them and disappearing.

"You have no idea how long it took to hunt you down," Natsu griped while wiping a smear of blood from his knuckles onto his pants, "I have some questions small witch…Levy. I'm really struggling."

"Struggling?" The blue haired witch stuttered. She was shaking, crouched over a large bloody body. Levy seemed to giggle almost hysterically when a wet sounding cough sounded below her. "Oh thank Mavis, Gajeel you scared me."

"Focus Levy," Natsu tsked.

"You're the one who didn't answer my question," shot back with attitude, even though her hands shook as levy pushed Gajeel's hair gently from his face. "Struggling how?"

"I feel a twisted…desire no, more like a need, when it comes to power. It's unhealthy?" Natsu struggled to explain before seeming to get annoyed, "Not unhealthy. I'm clearly strong enough to do what I want. I can do whatever I want with no one…" the drake shook his head, staggering a bit and growling loudly; the sound grating painfully against Levy's nerves.

"Do you not remember a damn thing we talked about when you kept us at your castle for a week?" Levy snapped, her ire evident with her tone. "You aren't the Natsu I know anymore. You're not a dragon anymore either. Whatever Zeref did made you…more. Dragon spliced with demon genetics." Levy huffed, "I've already been over this! You've hurt my…" She choked off, sliding to her knees next to the fallen man. "Leave."

"No." A pregnant pause, "What's wrong with my impulse control?"

"Demons are a race that function strictly on pleasure. Whether that be emotional pleasure, physical pleasure or mental pleasure, demons chase those emotional highs associated with feeling happy. Or self-gratification in whatever form they can achieve it," Levy answered automatically. Her voice void of emotion, Natsu watched her unblinking. "Impulse control is low in those creatures, don't know why their wired like that. just are. Anyway, combine a dragon hatchling corpse with demon and boom: you."

"I still don't get it," Natsu grumbled, brows furrowing as he mulls over what Levy just said. "Doesn't matter, you can continue to explain it as we head back to Lucy."

"Excuse me?" Levy's eyes ping to his quickly.

"I've been away from Lucy for too long. Three weeks to be exact, so it's time to go back, and she misses you." The drake answers, snagging Levy's wrist and tugging her along as he begins the trek back.

"L-let go! I'm not leaving Gajeel."

"He'll come get you when you're ready to go home."

oOo

Lucy wasn't sure how long Natsu had already been gone when she finally noticed he wasn't skulking around in the shadows. She'd been lost in the depths of her mind, barely managing to function enough to keep the business running efficiently. She was constantly tired but for once felt like she could actually sleep during the night. Lucy didn't realize how tense she'd been while Natsu was around; her muscles relaxed, and she felt like she could actually take a deep breath.

As the days ticked by with still no sight of Natsu, Lucy found her mood improving. She slept still rather fitfully but now didn't dream. She didn't have to worry about anyone barging in while she was naked. She felt like she didn't have to look over her shoulder. The only problem being the flame shaped bruise on her hand physically ached. She thought it was all in her head until she rubbed her fingers over it and the pain that shot up her arm had her whimpering. "I don't remember anyone mentioning that this mark could hurt me," Lucy slurred around a yawn. Sliding off the couch and snagging the extra blanket she weaved her way into her bedroom and under the thick layers of covers. "It's been so cold lately. I never realized how much heat Natsu put off," the blonde found herself musing with pursed lips. Why was she even thinking about him in the first place? He wasn't here and had no place in her thoughts.

Lucy slept better than she had in weeks that night but woke up with a nagging shriek in the back of her mind.

As week blended into week Lucy couldn't help but start to feel a cold dread settle in. The familiar mark on her hand had started to spread into a painful mulberry bruise up her hand, wrapping around her wrist and slithering up to her forearm. It hurt to touch it and seemed to deepen in color and grow in length the more she found herself anxiously noticing Natsu's absence. Is he not coming back? If he doesn't come back what is she supposed to do about her arm? Was this natural? "I wish I could ask Levy," Lucy babbled to help distract from the pain of wrapping her arm in a warm towel. She learned that heat helped dull the pain. Immediately after mentioning her blue haired friend, the fireplace in front of Lucy roared to life, the flames seeming to lick over the edges and threatened to burn her wallpaper. Lucy found herself screaming as a large mass shot out of the fire and landed on her rug with a shriek.

"LEVY?"

"L-Lulu," a shaky greeting. Lucy watched in stunned amazement as Levy sat up and ran shaking hands from the top of her blue head to her feet.

"W-where have you been? I've missed you." The blonde found herself hurtling forward to wrap her friend in a tight hug. Both women fighting back tears. They were unaware of Natsu hoisting himself through the fireplace and inhaling the flames.

"I'm sorry Lucy," Levy whispered, "Communication had been knocked out after the guild was overrun with demons."

"D -," Lucy's question died in her throat as warm fingers wrapped around her right arm and disconnected it from Levy. Lucy would know that heat, that grip anywhere. Natsu.

"Sorry I've been gone so long Luce," her personal demon apologized, his fingers oddly gentle against her bruised flesh. She wanted to moan at the heat that seems to seep into her flesh to her vary bones. Exactly what she needed. "I would have left a sprite with ya if I'd known I'd be gone that long."

"Let go," Lucy breathed. Her eyes dragging away from the sight of his fingers around her arm and landing on his onyx gaze. She felt like the ground shifted, her sense of balance crumbling as her anxiety reared its head. Lucy watched him hesitate before reluctantly releasing her arm but keeping his gaze steady on her. He didn't blink, she knew that because she didn't either. "Uhm," Lucy felt her checks grow warm at the look of heat that creeped into his eyes; it had her heart tripping over itself with a flash of alarm, she wasn't sure if it was from lust or fear.

"Lucy! Get him to take me back, please!" Levy's voice brought Lucy out of her daze with an uncomfortable blush, "I have to get back to – are those gate keys?" the change in topic had Lucy blinking in confusion before her eyes swung to the cluster of antique keys sitting on the coffee table. She'd forgotten she'd brought them down, the gentle warmth that radiated from them had helped Lucy handle the pain of her emotional confusion while Natsu was gone.

"Small witch," The menacing snarl that thundered from Natsu had both women break into a cold sweat. Levy swallowed audibly, her hazel gaze swinging in Lucy's direction before dropping to the floor. "I didn't bring you here to talk about keys."

"You brought me here to answer questions," Levy stuttered and gave Lucy a pointed look from under her lashes.

"And to keep Lucy company for a while."

"What are gate keys?" the blonde managed to find her voice after clearing her throat a few times. She was feeling dizzy and didn't like the tension hanging in the air. She felt like she was coming into an important conversation with no understanding. She flinched when another lower growl hummed from the demon in the room.

"She asked a question," Levy whispered before sliding closer to Lucy, "They're a form of summoning magic that requires the witch to make a pact before they can be activated. It's an old and very complicated form of magic that very few know how to wield. To be honest we thought that most contract magic was unpracticed…"

"How do you know they're gate keys…do you see the glow around them?"

"Glow?" Levy asked intrigued, "I don't see a glow, but they give off a hum of energy that's unmistakable to those born into the magical world. You see a glow around them?"

"Yes, its like a soft ambient spark…and they feel warm." Lucy hesitated before blurting, "They're familiar to me, I think." a nervous lick of her lips before her eyes dart from the keys, to Levy and back to the keys again, "Sometimes when I hold them I hear voices."

"Voices?"

"My mothers name or my name mostly. Warm, like I've known them my entire life. It makes me nostalgic."

"Lucy, you might-" Levy was cut off by an angry roar.

"ENOUGH."