Hello again everyone! It's been a whiles since I've updated my stories, so I'll try to explain while keeping it brief. I've been in the process of not only developing my stories and characters, but I've been in the middle of my own character development. As someone who started out writing purely for myself, I have come to absolutely love sharing these stories with you all. You've probably heard this from me before, and it probably won't be the last time either, but I will try to pump out more of these stories of mine as I gather more and more of the pieces of the plots.

I truly hope you all have enjoyed these stories so far, and I hope you stay with me until the end. I truly feel blessed to see that you all continue to have interest and hope in how these stories turn out! Thank you all so much for your support! Now, onto what you've been waiting for!

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN FAIRY TAIL OR ANY REAL WORLD REFERENCES IN THIS STORY!

Ch8 - Into The Fire

Tell me why I didn't know a single thing about this. Who decided to recast another Demon Gate without my okay? This is making me feel annoyed just thinking about it. A little runt like this claiming to be one of the most powerful beings in creation? Nonsense!

"This is ridiculous! How could a runt like you be one of the Demon Gates?" I growled, eyes fixed on the girl's glowing form.

"Zeref created me, of course." Valia responded. She flexed her fingers, clenching them into fists. She was clearly ready for a fight, and her confidence in her ability seemed to display the fact that I might be in for an actual challenge.

I took a deep breath and let out a sigh. Oh well, I thought, might as well entertain her. And with that, I charged with the intent to kill.

To my surprise, she opened her palm and caught my fist. Not only did she catch it, but she didn't budge. I didn't put everything I had into that punch, but I sure as hell wouldn't say I was holding back either. I felt her clench her fist and watched a familiar fanged smirk appear. Since I was closer, I also took note of the scent she gave off. It was strangely familiar. I could feel my body straining to push through her, but her strength seemed to be similar to my own.

I then felt her grip tighten as she swung me over her head and slammed my body into the ground. And I must say, it did in fact hurt more than I thought it would. It knocked the wind out of my lungs and before I knew it, she swung me into one of the walls of the alley. And what made it worse was she started cackling maniacally. "You are no match for me!" She said with a grin. "Accept your death!"

Naturally I rolled my eyes and stood up. A little shaky, perhaps. Was I a little disoriented, maybe so. But overall, I was fine. "Not bad." I retorted with confidence. "Now it's my turn."

"Does that turn involve that massive gash in your forehead?" Valia questioned, pointing at my face. "Because if it does, then I expected too much from you."

This little bitch. How dare she question my ability! "I wouldn't smack talk until you've actually defeated me." I shot back before I began rushing towards her. Fire engulfed my hand as I clenched it into a fist. As I launched myself at her, she tried to sidestep. I adjusted my aim and slammed right into her gut. Her facial expression changed to one of shock and pain as she flew backwards into the pavement.

"How's that?" I growled, igniting my other scaly fist. She was coughing a little, but managed to get up. Damn. I thought. She's tougher than she looks.

"I won't be done in by an old geezer!" She roared in anger as she charged me head on, fists blazing in blood-red flames. This time, I avoided her attack with a sidestep, driving and elbow into her spine. She gasped for air as she hit the floor once more. We both charged forth, set on the destruction of our opponent, proceeding to trade blows. I had to admit it, I was having a rough time. But the truth was I haven't truly fought like this in a while. Even though I've lived with dragons, some of the most territorial creatures on the planet, I'd never had to go to this extent in roughly a thousand or so years.

The hand to hand combat was especially tricky. I would have thought that practice with Gray and Laxus would have served me better at this point. I guess that even I, the great demon END still have room for improvement. She was aiming for the spots most vulnerable to humanoid creatures. Her attacks were quick, her movements fluid and precise. This wasn't her first time attempting to kill someone of my caliber. However, it is only an attempt after all. With a swift kick, she was back on the ground. No way was I going to let this little upstart of a demon have any more of a shot at winning this fight.

I took a second, stood tall and relaxed. This seemed to catch her off guard. She glared at me, trying to read my next move. With a deep breath, I once again lit my fists ablaze and charged her. She seemed ready to parry my attack, but it wasn't enough. All it takes is one moment's hesitation to turn the tide of battle. I sent as much magic power to my lower body, forcing flames through the bottoms of my feet. I had never tried it before in all my life, so I was surprised when I hit right on the money. My blazing fist drove right into her abdomen, sending her skidding across the ground, leaving cracks in the pavement.

She lay still for a moment before getting up. "Fucking prick!" She roared as she rolled over and kicked her now blazing feet into my jaw. And yes, that fucking hurt. Surprisingly, she sent me into the air. Not only that, but also into another section of the alleyway. I stood up quickly as she turned the corner and jumped on the wall. She launched herself once more at me with a kick to my devilishly handsome face (pardon the pun).

I groaned and rolled further back. I stood up and wiped some blood off of my face. "Is that really all you've got, you punk?" I growled as I stood my ground, fists ablaze.

"Not even close!" Valia retorted, a devilish smirk crossed her lips.

We stood there for a moment, gazes locked on eachothers eyes, perhaps trying to read each other's next move. But something wasn't right. It took a second, but I realized we were back in the street. I was so busy trading blows with Valia to notice where we were: smack dab in the middle of the street. Right in front of the burning building. People were staring at us, confused and probably terrified at seeing two people with burning limbs in a street brawl.

I began to worry if someone would recognize me. I had to end this quickly. But by the time I refocused on Valia, she was gone. No trace. My eyes darted around the area to try and catch any sign of her. No dice. I couldn't pick up her scent or even her magic presence.

Shit! I thought to myself. How could I let her get away? Meanwhile, people were gawking and taking photos of me. The sound of sirens was getting closer. I had to get out of there. Right as I was about to make my exit, I caught a familiar blonde and a few other recognizable people.

Lucy. She was staring right at me, along with Levy. Her face held a mixture of emotions: worry, awe, and fear. Her eyes widened and then she looked around frantically. Normally, no one would be able to hear her over all the noise, but thanks to my magic, I could make it out loud and clear.

"Where's Natsu?" Her voice sounded panicked.

"Maybe he's in the building with Gajeel?" Levy said, grabbing Lucy's arm. Her gaze was fixed on the building. I suddenly remembered that Gajeel was a firefighter. He had to be inside the building. Though, I never pegged him as the type to rush into a fire without equipment. I glanced once more at the girls before I made my decision to go give the lug a hand. I shook my head and refocused, leaping towards the burning building. I landed within the burning floor. flames still raged inside, and I saw people lying on the floor. I needed to act quickly.

I concentrated and focused my magic into gathering the flames as I opened my mouth. The flames began to swirl towards me, making their way into my throat. The flames soon had all been funneled into my body, which I had to stifle a belch. It was a lot after all. I glanced around, people making their way towards the exit, glancing at me as they passed. They held the same expressions as the people down below had upon seeing me. It still struck me as odd that some would be in awe of me. Then again, the people in this day and age are quite different from those hundreds of years ago.

"Get out of here!" I yelled, causing them to snap back to reality. They looked around

Now comes a bigger issue. How did I get out of here without being spotted? I didn't have to worry about cameras, they seemed to all be destroyed or no longer functioning. In the chaos and the smoke still filtering out of the building, I tried to make my way through the crowd after suppressing my magic. My scales faded back to flesh, and no one would recognize me. At least, that was my hope.

I heard a familiar voice as I began heading down the stairwell. I knew he'd be here. I came upon everyone's favorite pincushion, Gajeel. As soon as he saw me, he glared. That made me a little nervous as to whether he saw me or not. But my mind was put at ease when he slammed his fist into the top of my head.

"What the fuck is wrong with you!?" He growled. "As far as I know, you sure as hell ain't qualified to handle this situation! Don't go recklessly running to your death, Pinky!"

"Salmon." I growled back. "And I just wanted to help, you don't have to be an ass."

"We'll talk about this later, now git!" He growled before returning to helping people down the stairs. I in turn did the same as I made my way down to the bottom floor. Checking to see if everyone made it out. The upper floors seemed to be vacated already, probably due to Gajeel's efforts. Firefighters started moving up the stairs as the last of the people moved down. A couple of them asked if I was alright, to which I just nodded. I had too much on my mind by that point. Trying to heal my body was proving to be rough. I had bruises that had faded rather well, but still visible to the skin, and the gash on my forehead was closed but still visible. My injuries might be hard to explain, but considering I went into a burning building, I might get away with some of it. And on top of all that, for the first time in a while, my magic felt depleted. I know it had been a while since I actually had a difficult fight, but I clearly needed to brush up on my magic. Oh well, I'll kick her ass when I see her again.

As I made it out, I was met with probably the first hug I'd probably received in hundreds of years. Lucy practically threw herself at me. Gajeel received a similar treatment after he joined us. Poor Levy looked to be on the verge of bawling her eyes out.

"You idiots!" Lucy said, wiping her eyes. "What were you thinking?"

"I didn't really think." I said, for once being honest. "I just felt I had to do something.

Gajeel spoke up. "Well, next time leave things to us." He said, gesturing to himself and the firefighters. "But good on you for wanting to do something." He said, softly.

"Was that a complement?" I said with a smirk.

"Shut up, Pinky."

"You first, Pincushion."

Shortly, we were approached by none other than Erza Scarlet. She chewed us out, especially me since I had no known experience in handling these situations. And I was stuck feeling uneasy. After returning home, I received another lecture from Lucy, who then proceeded to stay overnight for some odd reason. It was strange having humans care for me like this. I found it rather… nice. Upon advice from Erza, I insisted she sleep in my bed, while I lay on what they called a futon. For how different it was from a normal bed, it was quite nice.

"I guess I should thank you to Levy for lending this to me." I muttered while staring at the ceiling. Happy ended up sleeping in the room with Lucy, worrying me slightly. We definitely didn't need him revealing himself as a talking cat. Too many questions to answer from there. And knowing myself, I might slip and give way too much away. With that in mind, I tried to close my eyes, but the previous day's events stuck with me in my dreams. Valia's attempt on my life and our fight in particular stuck out to me. If I had this much trouble with a demon so young, I was in trouble with the rest of the Demon Gates.

Of the original, I was the last created. With Zeref's goals being that he could create a being strong enough to end his life, as well as reviving his deceased younger brother, it was truly a troublesome thought to think I had such a rough time. Even with my experience, skills, and magic, I shouldn't have struggled that much. Not to say I would have lost, of course. I would have won regardless. But if this was the extent to which I needed to exert myself for one of the lower ranked members of the current Demon Gates, I couldn't deny it worried me.

I rolled over on my side, glancing towards the bedroom door. My thoughts shifted to the blonde who was watching over me. During our time together, I detected a strange scent from her. It smelled of an oddly familiar scent as well. To be frank, she carried with her the smell of demons. Multiple demons. As to why, I had no idea. When I first caught that whiff, I figured it was similar to when her father had sent people to collect her. However, upon recalling that scenario, she never had their scent on her like this. This made me question how this was possible.

I knew she wasn't one herself, as the scent of a demon wasn't as strong as it would be, and there were traces of multiple demons on her. On top of that, the amount of magic in her body didn't even come close to exceeding the amount of a normal human. Either Lucy had come into direct contact with demons, or extremely powerful demons were nearby without her noticing. I figured the latter was the most likely option.

As of how late it was, and my thoughts keeping me awake, I rolled out of the futon and quietly made my way over to the fridge. Grabbing the carton of milk and a mug from the cupboard, I poured a glass and put it in the microwave. Lucy had told me about this little trick a while ago. After a few sips, I felt my body relax. Returning to the futon and closing my eyes, I felt myself drift to sleep. Even then, my mind was plagued with thoughts of Lucy.

The next day, I was told to relax. Honestly, I don't think I had a choice. Erza for one wasn't giving me one (and to be honest, she's a bit terrifying when she's mad), and my boss had been told about what had happened the other day and assumed I'd be out of commission. I can't say that I didn't enjoy the time off, but I knew I didn't need it. Since I had the time, I decided to make the most of it.

As it turned out, Lucy had canceled all her plans for the day, which took me by surprise. I wasn't exactly expecting her to do such a thing for me. Considering I showed no signs of burns or injuries, I was surprised no one questioned my luck or what really happened. Especially her. But hey, I won't judge. Similarly, I wondered what people saw when Valia and I fought in the middle of the street.

As a being literally born from dark magic by an immortal wizard, I never had the experience of seeing how regular humans see the world. I always heard that in this modern time there seemed to be some sort of veil that separated the magic world from the rest of the world. I never really believed it until now. I decided I should test these growing theories at some point.

"Hey, Natsu!" I heard the blonde call out, bringing me out of my pondering. "I'm stepping out for a little bit! Do you need anything?"

I thought for a moment. Nothing really stood out. "Not for me." I replied. "Though, I'm sure Happy would appreciate some fresh fish if you could get your hands on some." With a nod and a wave, she left my little apartment. Shortly thereafter, a little blue fur ball jumped at me, landing on the top of my messy salmon locks.

"What are you playing at?" Happy question. "You don't really seem like the kind to think about others like that."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I said with a glare, grabbing him by the scruff.

Happy shrugged. "I mean, to be honest I'm not exactly the best roommate." He admitted. "It just seems odd to me- wait! Are you up to something?"

I shook my head. "Relax. I just thought you might like the treat." I said with a sigh. "I guess I'll have to eat it when she returns."

His little eyes teared up a little in response. "Natsuuuuu!' He cried with a little sniffle.

"Relax, I'm joking." I said, setting him on the couch. "Just think of it as a treat."

"Natssuuuuuu!" He jumped at me again, giving me a big hug. It was funny to me. He was a little magical creature who just freeloaded in my apartment, but I was kind of enjoying his company. Not only that, but having him around made me feel a little bit more normal.

Time seemed to pass rather slowly as we awaited Lucy's return, so I got up and grabbed a bag of chips from the pantry. Happy happily munched on some of the fish he had in the freezer. The two of us casually lounged around watching the TV until we heard a knock at the door.

Huh, I guess Lucy's back. I turned down the volume as Happy set himself up to be more cat-like. I stretched as I made my way to the door but paused when I got to it. I caught a scent. It was Lucy's, but there was something wrong with it.

Maybe she passed by another lower level demon? Is that what I smell? I thought. I guess I should investigate later. I grabbed the handle and opened the door.

"Hey, Lucy. Welcome ba-"

Lucy was not there. No, instead I had a familiar pink demon standing before me.

"Well, hey there!" She said with a toothy grin.

"Wha-"

That toothy grin warped into a mischievous and malevolent smirk. "Before you say another word, you should consider what fate you'd like to sentence your friend Lucy to. E.N.D., we need to have a little chat."

Well folks, that's a wrap! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I wonder what Valia has in store? Find out next time!

~ Mike

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