Chapter Fifty-Two
X375: Treason
Lucy walked through the edge of a forest clearing, knowing that certain things felt like the details were all too surreal. Had it worked, was she in a dream?
Pushing through the last of the green thicket, she stopped when she saw two almost identical visions of the Fire Dragon, though one was vastly different in the way that she could feel them.
Natsu stood on the left, arms crossed and glaring heavily at the other side of him.
It stood impassively, with deep crimson skin and scales that looked like they would be at home on a Dragon. He too had pink hair but with streaks of black.
No, that wasn't right, the hair was a clear untainted pink, just as Natsu's was, but two onyx black horns jutted out above the hair, one jagged and broken.
His eyes though, that was the thing that made her heart kick violently against her ribs. They'd both turned to look at her, with the other guy scowling at her presence.
He stared through eyes of the most intense shade of crimson that she'd ever seen. She could feel how sinister his gaze was even from that distance.
"Pack it in," Natsu warned him, his tone more threatening than Lucy had ever heard.
The inner darkness growled somewhat but turned away, casting his powerful gaze down the vast valley that stood before them at the foot of the mountains.
"What do I call you? I won't call you Natsu, you don't have that kind heart of his, but I don't want to just label you as his darkness, that's… Unfair." she said, trying her best not to look away from him.
"For all intents and purposes, I'm a Dragon, he's a Demon," Natsu told her quickly.
"You," E.N.D. spun on his foot, "Seeing things through the Dragon's eyes can sometimes be blurred, but seeing you in front of me now…" he stopped, looking at Natsu briefly.
"If I didn't know any better I would say that you are the reincarnated soul of the Heartfilia woman," he said.
"Well I'm not, my name is Lucy, not Anna, and my soul is my own. You may not like me, but I don't care what you think," she said, pouring as much courage into her words as she could muster.
"Tell 'em, girl," Natsu mused, smiling at her.
"Her presence offends me," E.N.D. stated flatly, holding his stance.
"Your presence offends me, but here we are four hundred years later, you ungrateful bastard." Natsu shot back quickly. In the recent memories they'd shared, he hadn't been able to push Natsu's buttons this fast.
"Ungrateful," E.N.D. spat, blood-red fire burst from his eyes in the exact way Lucy had seen Natsu do in Loduhn when he'd lost control of himself.
"What is there to be grateful for!? Compared to the years I've spent locked away, the time I've been free has been but a fraction of a second! If I could then I would drag all four of you wretched Kings to Purgatory and flay your souls to cinders!" The Demon bellowed.
"All four!?" Natsu almost laughed at that, "Igneel fucked you up, and I've kept you locked away. Acnologia you almost killed, but are you telling me that you're still holding a grudge against Elexion? Elexion was slain, you won't ever be able to get back at him, why even bother holding on?" he asked, actually laughing at the concept.
"Elexion's body was slain but his soul transcended realms. He's been building himself back from the ground up, he is still tied to an anchor being." E.N.D. explained.
"You know something that I don't," Natsu narrowed his eyes at the Demon.
"Elexion could return, but it would take a tremendous level of power. You, Igneel, and Acnologia, in the same location as the anchor being, all using as much power as you can muster, only then do I suspect that Elexion could breach the dimension that his soul is stuck." E.N.D. stated, turning to look back down the valley, finally seeing a figure emerge from a cave.
"Dragon Kings are powerful enough to even cheat death?" Lucy asked in awe, staring at Natsu through wide eyes.
"Not really," the Natsu answered her, "It's more, this one was a special case. While Igneel and I are both the most proficient a fire wielder could ever be, certain elements can take it beyond our level. Elexion could turn his flesh into lightning. I'm guessing that's how his soul was able to survive when he was slain." Natsu explained.
"You're missing the obvious point, Heartfilia girl," E.N.D. said, looking at her this time without half as much aggression as before.
He held the same unexpected level of emotional maturity and intelligence as Natsu did. She'd expected this 'darkness' of his to be purely feral, to be like losing control to instinctive nature, but it wasn't, it was so much worse than that.
This was a real, tangible entity that Natsu was stuck with for his entire life. She knew that he wouldn't tell her, not just yet, but this thing, this creature of darkness, it was something else entirely.
"Elexion was the Lightning Dragon King. He was the only Lightning Dragon left two hundred years ago and he had no disciples. Dragon Slayers, individual to their elements, are just as rare as this idiot, so knowing that, who or what do you suppose could possibly be Elexion's anchor in this world?" he asked.
Lucy stared between them both for a moment. From the way that Natsu was still looking at his other side, he already knew what he was talking about.
"Laxus?" she blinked, unsure.
"Yes," it answered her, "His magic was, at least to begin with, artificial. He was given his magic through a lacrima implant. The only thing from a Dragon that could be implanted like that would be the heart, and it would have to be transposed to the recipient's heart."
"Laxus is a Lightning Dragon Slayer, his implant has essentially transcoded his heart into that of Elexion's. For all intents and purposes, if he had been trained properly from a young age, he would also be a Dragon King by now. I knew there had to be a reason he was that strong," Natsu sucked his teeth.
"Why are you getting all uppity about it? You threw him through the cathedral." Lucy asked in surprise.
"No, I didn't," Natsu told her, his eyes focusing on something behind her.
"I did," the Demon added.
Before she could answer, she realized what they were staring at. As she turned around, she found herself staring at a completely mirror image of herself, dressed in clothes that she had never seen the particular styling of.
This woman didn't regard her at all, but instead walked straight past all three of them, trekking down into the valley.
"Let's go, this is where the memory begins," Natsu told her as the three of them followed Lucy's identical image in an awkward silence.
Before long they stopped when a much younger and vastly more excitable Natsu belted across the valley and took the woman off her feet, swinging her around in glee.
"Natsu!" she tried to scold him but was laughing as she did, "Put me down!" she ordered him. He held her up, keeping her at eye level as if she weighed nothing at all.
"No," he said, sticking his tongue out at her childishly, "I haven't seen you for a year, I'm getting a hug," he said, pulling her in and squeezing.
"Very well," she said, smiling down at him and leaning into it.
"I'm sorry Natsu, I'll try not to leave it so long next time, but I've been away, and I've got bad news. Where's Igneel?" she asked, casting her head toward the mouth of the cave.
A deep rumbling yawn shook the ground as the head of a huge fire Dragon peered out, moving from the darkness until his whole body was before them. He gave a long stretch of the limbs.
Lucy mused at the way she compared it to how Happy would stretch after a long nap.
"Hello miss Heartfilia," Igneel's booming voice called, "It has been a little while,"
"I know, but I've been busy. I went back to Dragnoff undercover. Things are getting bad, it's tense over there. The Queen has bolstered every defence imaginable and she's gathered all manner of tribes under her banner. The amount of defences she's building though, it doesn't make sense, it's like she's looking to attack Fiore but looking to defend against something else," Anna explained, still being firmly held aloft by Natsu who was patiently listening to her.
"Natsu, put her down," Igneel ordered. Natsu obeyed without argument. Lucy smiled, this was the first time she'd seen him do what someone told or even asked of him, without any verbal shot being thrown back. He simply obeyed his father without question.
"Acnologia left in winter, he wanted me to leave with him to go and wage a war on Belserion. She's put defences throughout Dragnoff because he's probably there right now, either that or she expects that I'm there with him and she's afraid that I'll be the one coming for her head." the young Dragon Slayer explained, keeping a neutral face.
"She smelled Igneel on you and you showed her a glimpse of your true power. In her mind, you are a Demon being trained by the only Dragon stronger than her. I can imagine that she doesn't fear Acnologia, but she will always be watching her borders for the day you approach." Anna said, casually pushing a lock of pink hair from the side of his face and over one of his ears.
His neutral face shifted instantly into a bright smile.
Lucy felt almost sad seeing just how happy this younger man was, this smile and the joyous mirth behind his eyes was so real and genuine. This was a man who had a full love of life and those around him.
The man she'd come to know held so much pain and suffering behind his eyes. She knew that he used his humour as a mask, but never imagined that it was to this extent.
She silently stepped closer to him, almost leaning into him.
"Acnologia," the young Dragon Slayer trailed off, turning his eyes away from Anna and Igneel.
Anna gave Igneel a curious look, one that the Fire Dragon King could not return with any degree of subtlety.
"He's set in his path, he's going to exterminate every Dragon he can find there. I'm worried that one day he'll return here for the rest." Natsu said at last.
"You two were very close, I doubt he'd come after you," Anna said, thinking that this would reassure him.
"It's not me I'm worried about. He knows that we're training the next generation of Slayers, I'm worried that he'll be targeting them. I can only stop him if I'm there when he comes," the young Natsu sighed heavily.
"If it came down to it, could you stop him, no matter what it takes to ensure the safety of the other Dragon Slayers?" Anna asked him, her voice softening for the delicate topic.
Natsu looked at her silently.
"You're asking me if I could kill Acnologia?" He raised a brow, half expecting to be asked the question sooner or later.
"No, I know that you can do it, I'm asking if you could bring yourself to do what needs to be done. You two were closer than brothers, weren't you?" Anna tilted her head, seeing the mixture of feelings flash in Natsu's eyes. His face simply looked stoic, but she knew how to read his eyes like a book after these years.
"Closer than brothers," the young Natsu mused slightly, looking at the ground by their feet while he thought about it, truly thought about whether or not he could do what must be done and take the life of one that meant so much to him.
"I don't know," he answered honestly, "But if indecision ever gets the better of me, you can probably safely assume that my bad side will kill without hesitation." He sighed, the concept alone struck a painful chord in his heart.
"You cannot ever rely on that," Anna said, shaking her head with extreme vehemence. "You promised me that you wouldn't ever stop fighting."
"I don't intend to break a promise, but I won't stand here and tell you that I can do that," the young Natsu told her, "Besides, we don't know what's going through that idiot's skull, if and when he has this big confrontation with Belserion he may be satisfied and it will end there." He added quickly, a hopeful mirth shining in his eyes.
"I think you're being blindsided with emotions that you've yet to fully understand if you think that Acnologia will be satisfied with stopping there," Anna told him with a sad smile.
The world shifted, and the memory faded until the three spectators stood in a vast whiteness, with nothing of note surrounding them.
"Natsu, wake up, I can't stop it!" Anna's voice came from nowhere but echoed everywhere around them. It sounded shaky, distraught, and violently harrowed.
Natsu and the Demon shared a look, but neither were too worried about what was happening. Was this normal to them? Did the two of them, despite being at odds with each other for so long, did they have an oddly civil relationship with one another?
"I said," another voice called out. Lucy didn't know who it was. Both of the visions of Natsu faltered, like they'd been struck by lightning.
"It's been a long time, little b-" A short man with black hair and black robes adorned by a white sash appeared before them, striking forward with a confident smile on his face.
"Enough!" Natsu yelled so loud that the ground shook. With one hand, he grabbed Lucy by the waist and firmly pulled her behind him.
The Demon took on an aura of bright orange that looked like it could have simply been tiny flames licking eagerly at the air around him.
"I'm impressed, I can feel the real you hiding under that skin, I thought you'd have come out by now." the man said with that same smile, tilting his head ever so slightly.
"This isn't real," Natsu said through gritted teeth, "He isn't real, we have to calm down," he added quickly, tightening his hold on Lucy's waist.
She leant into his back, peering over his shoulder. If none of this was real, and this particular memory dream didn't pose a threat, then why was he so tense? It wasn't just Natsu, the Demon too had fallen into an aggressive stance, ready to lash out at a moment's notice.
"Natsu, who is that?" she asked, hoping that the man wouldn't respond to them. Nothing had so far, why would it now?
"You should be dead," the man pointed, looking directly into Lucy's eyes. "You must have been on the brink of death in the Celestial world. Fascinating," he said, his delicate smile never once faltering.
"This is no longer a safe place, Dragon," E.N.D. said, cursed flames enveloping him as his face morphed by pain and anger, driven forward.
"Natsu!" Lucy yelled, feeling fear strike her in the heart like a lance made of ice. Her whole body reacted violently to the tension surrounding them.
"Oh?" the man said at last, "I see, that isn't Anna, how could it be? If she'd have survived in the Celestial world then you would have rescued her centuries ago, that must simply be a descendant. Funny how history repeats itself, so, tell me…" the man faltered.
"Do you believe that I'm real now? Have you gotten strong enough to kill me yet, Natsu?" he asked, looking between the Dragon and the Demon.
"Why?" Natsu asked through gritted teeth, "Why couldn't you have done this not even a year ago? Why start this now when I've finally found a reason to live? I was holding on to vengeance for hundreds of years, serving a purpose that you were too cowardly to face alongside me, and for what?" he spat, his own anger rising, but still kept in check.
It was taking everything that he had in order to not let the Demon take over.
"If I kill you now, your body and mind will remain alive elsewhere, won't they?" E.N.D. asked, reigning himself in as the flames evaporated and he took a few steps back.
What in all the world could make Natsu's darkness react in that way? Everything that was happening was making Lucy's fear grow more intense.
"You think that you're finally strong enough?" the man with the black hair raised a brow, looking directly at the Demon without any sense of fear.
"How long have you been watching me? Was all of this orchestrated by you from the very beginning?" Natsu asked, his glare only getting more intense by the second.
"No." he said at last, "This isn't my doing. This is what I suspect is the last of Anna's magic, resonating from that shiny trinket there," he pointed at Natsu's chest.
"This," Natsu began, "Is the Heartfilia Celestial key," he brushed a hand over it.
"Ah, naturally," the black-haired mage sighed with a soft smile, "The reason you've kept yourself in control all this time is because Anna implanted a Celestial key that's kept the real you locked away." he mused.
"Enough," the Demon said, stepping forwards to attack. The black-haired man swiped a hand at the air. A small ripple of black was faintly visible before the Demon disappeared, banished from this shared headspace.
"You think you're in control, in here, in your own head, but you aren't. You forget that I created you Natsu, you can't escape what you truly are. The book of E.N.D is still out there and no matter how many Celestial Keys you weave into your heart, once that book is opened and read aloud, you will become who you are meant to be," the man said, his smile dropping for the first time.
"Let's get one thing clear, asshole. You didn't create me, you mutated and warped the other one, I am what I am because of Igneel and Anna," Natsu said, gently pushing Lucy back as he stepped forward. The aura that surrounded him was something that she could feel in every part of her body.
"You're a fool if you write off Anna's magic so easily." he shook his head, a smirk appearing on his lips, "She was the strongest Celestial mage in history, only the most powerful Heartfilia will be able to unlock that key, and this one is too smart to do that." he grinned, knowing that no matter what his age-old adversary thought, this was irrefutable.
"You pride yourself in your self-restraint, but I am simply a manipulated vision of how you remember me. What do you think might happen when I find you?" the man tilted his head.
"My will is greater than yours," Natsu told him quickly.
"We'll see soon enough, son of the Dragon. Every time you sleep, I'll be here, more present every single time until you remember what your purpose is. Goodbye for now, Natsu," he said with an almost sarcastic smile.
"Your immortality has rotted your brain if you think you can freely come and go whenever you want. Do you really believe that in all this time I haven't gotten stronger? If I released all of my power, I could burn the veil between dimensions, I'd wager that even if I can't kill you, you won't be smiling after provoking me." Natsu's grin had taken on a worryingly unhinged look to it.
"Natsu, calm down, he's getting under your skin without you even realizing it!" Lucy said, grabbing his arm to pull him back.
Natsu listened, taking a deep breath.
"You know, I've always hated you for what you did to me," Natsu crossed his arms, glaring at the man who simply smiled.
"Zeref," with that, the two of them awoke. The first rays of the morning sun breached through Lucy's windows, casting a small light on the two of them.
Natsu, for the most part, hadn't initially moved, instead using an arm to hide his eyes. As she got up, still clutching at the cover, she could see tears falling down his cheeks.
"Zeref, you called him Zeref. Is that…" she began, falling quiet for a moment while she mustered the courage to ask the question that she didn't want the answer to.
In her heart, she could already feel it, she knew without it needing to be said.
"I…" he breathed out a heavy sigh, focusing for a single instant. Heat rose in his cheeks and evaporated the tears as he sat up, glaring at the sun itself.
"I should probably explain, but… I don't want to have this conversation three times, can you wait until we're all together?" he asked her, looking over.
There it was again, that deep pain and sadness he'd been holding onto for his whole life.
"I won't push you on it, but I have to know." she said, steadying her breathing, "The most evil dark mage ever, was that the man who just trespassed into your dream?" she asked, putting a hand on his shoulder.
At first, the act had been one of support, to show him that no matter what his response, she was by his side, but after a few moments where she'd accepted the fact that she already knew the answer, it had become a way to support herself from fainting.
The fear she'd felt in that dream was only increasing now that she was awake.
"Yeah, that one," he said quietly, "I'll explain, but not right now, please, just… Give me a little bit of time to figure it out," he said, taking a moment to adjust his mentality.
He never went into those dreams expecting one thing over another, but Zeref invading, him really being there, turned everything upside down.
He couldn't risk Zeref triggering E.N.D. Instead, he'd have to come up with some kind of plan or strategy. Could Porlyusica do anything to enchant or block his mind from anyone else?
"Hey," Lucy said, putting a hand on his chest. The Heartfilia key glowed brightly from her presence.
"No matter what," she said, letting the implication hang in the air.
"Come on, let's go and see if Erza and the geezer have returned from the magic council," he said, his bright smile appearing.
Though she knew it was a mask, she couldn't press him on it. She thought she was getting a good handle on how much he'd suffered in his life, but this… He had a connection to the Zeref, how much of a burden had he held?
"Yo," Natsu's normal cheery voice brought her out of her thoughts and back into reality. When she looked up she saw that his eyes were only inches from hers as he pulled her into a kiss.
"Let's go," he said, lifting her up out of the bed with ease.
"Ok, take me away, Dragon," she said with a smile as they moved on with the morning, their first stop, the guildhall where their next mission awaited.
A/N: I'm trying to streamline the dream sequences. I've figured out how I want to do it, so there will be three more chapters over two more dreams before everything 'should' be written how I've planned.
As far as smut goes, the previous chapter is entirely the most that will be put into words, I'd prefer to leave that aspect to readers' imagination.