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February 13th, X779

Natsu had seen a lot of things in his long immortal life. He'd seen cultures start and end. He'd seen new gods ascend and old gods get cast aside. He'd lived with Igneel, and then among the gods, and then with Lucy and Wendy. He'd relearned how to live among humans after thousands of years of living among immortals. Natsu could, with pride, even say he knew almost as much as Makarov, though Makarov being the god that he was and his relationship with Mavis made it nearly impossible to know more than he did.

It meant that Natsu certainly knew what he was dealing with now, though he'd only seen one once at a distance. Regardless, he knew what it was, and he knew that he was more than likely in trouble.

The monster that had buried itself into the depths of the Borealis was no god – at least, not anymore. Once, it had certainly been one of Mavis's children. Now, it was nothing more than a twisted creature fallen from Valhalla long before he had. Natsu wondered if they would become twisted like it, if one day he would turn around and become something that no longer remembered who it was. Maybe he really did need to focus a little harder on figuring out what had happened with Mavis and Valhalla.

The creature's attack had been unexpected. It had come at him from behind, the only warning the scrape of claws on metal. It had bowled him over, ripping into him with rows of sharp teeth and claws like razors. Natsu kept a hand planted firmly over the wound in his side, where it had torn right through his flesh with ease. Even now, blood dripped steadily from the wound and drove breath from his lungs. The pain was a shock to his system. He'd been injured in recent times, sure, but it hadn't hurt. Not like this. He was just barely able to stifle the humming that wanted to burst free.

Black threatened to overwhelm Natsu's vision as he sat, hidden among the inner workings of a ship he could never hope to understand. It scared him, that threat of unconsciousness. He was the sun god; he'd not been unconscious since the final darkness that had swept over him in a cloud of ash.

A furious cry erupted somewhere nearby. The creature couldn't see, he realized, nor could it smell if it wasn't drawn towards the scent of his blood. So, how was it tracking him?

Suspicious, Natsu threw a weakened, raspy hum across the room, just to see what it would do. He watched intently, seeing in flashes cast by the sun through the hole in the ship. His fingers tugged the scarf from his neck as the creature lunged towards the sound, snarling furiously, and tied it around his waist as a makeshift bandage. A smug huff puffed from his lips when its talons bounced harmlessly off metal. That was good. It relied on–

A loud yowl made his stomach drop. He wanted nothing more than for his poor little feline friend to just shut the hell up. But Happy yowled a second time and the creature roared as it darted towards the sound. Natsu buried his face in his blood-slicked hand, fighting the sob that bubbled in his chest. He couldn't lose Happy. Maybe he was just a cat, but he was a clever one and his friend. He couldn't lose him, not after Lucy.

Determined, Natsu struggled to his feet, cursing under his breath. He couldn't get them to cooperate, he realized with horror. Perhaps it was the curse, seeping into him, too, but his legs just wouldn't work–

Natsu could have sworn he saw a flash of gold, glimmering in the darkness like the sun itself. The fur-clad monster barreled after it.

Natsu squinted, confused, but was immediately distracted when a hand grabbed his wrist. Natsu whipped around, ready to fight for his life, only to realize that ice crept along his skin where the hand made contact. Once, it wouldn't have been able to. Once, he'd have been so hot to the touch in a situation like this that he would have burned right through the belly of the ship.

"Gray," Natsu breathed, scarcely daring to speak above a whisper. He thought about punching him for being the cause of the majority of his issues over the last few months, but decided it wasn't the time.

"C'mon." Gray dragged Natsu's arm over his shoulders and helped him up. "We've gotta get out of here. Quick."

Natsu swallowed the nausea that shot through him, accompanied by intense pain. "Relies on sound," he told him hoarsely.

"Good. That means we have a better chance." Gray began helping Natsu along. He urged him to go faster, but Natsu could scarcely focus on his voice long enough to comprehend what he was insisting on.

They'd hardly made it more than a handful of steps when the creature roared. Gray took one look over his shoulder and swore, shoving Natsu as hard as he could. Natsu barked out a cry of pain as he tumbled over the side of the metal pathway they stood on. He was weightless as he fell for a shocking distance before colliding so hard with the floor that he saw stars. The breath was driven from his lungs. Above him, he heard Gray shout, felt the temperature plummet as Gray did something to defend himself a split second before Natsu felt something else hit the floor near him.

Natsu lay there, trying to catch his breath as it rasped wetly in his throat. Nearby, he heard Gray wheeze, "Damn it."

Natsu gave a breathless laugh. "Shut up…before…it hears you," he gasped.

"You shut up." Gray heaved himself upright. At least, Natsu thought he did. He could hardly see anything at all right now. They'd fallen somewhere beneath the hole in the hull. Gray fumbled with something. "Can you walk at all?" he said under his breath, voice closer than it had been moments before.

Natsu considered the question. Probably not, but he didn't want Gray of all people thinking he couldn't do something, so he made himself sit up, biting back the shriek that nearly flew from his lips as pain shot through him, worse than the bullet he'd taken from a fearful human. At least that had healed mere hours afterwards, when Lucy and Wendy had slept safely nearby, tucked into some vehicle he couldn't remember the name of. It hadn't hurt then either.

He took a moment, stifling his heavy gasps with his hands as he hid his face in them. It took him longer than he'd like to admit to summon the courage to try and get up. He refused to admit that he was grateful when Gray fumbled his way over and helped him back to his feet again, pulling his arm over his shoulders once more. Gray sounded exhausted as he muttered, "I know a way out from here. Let's–"

He clamped his mouth shut when something creaked overhead. Natsu didn't need to look up to know the creature had heard them. A yowl drew the creature away, however, and it followed the sound with a furious cry. Natsu heard what sounded like someone hitting a piece of steel with another piece of metal followed by footsteps leading the creature away, further into the ship.

Natsu couldn't say he was fully conscious over the next few minutes as Gray half-carried, half-dragged him up through the Borealis. At some point, the creature began hunting them again, beginning to go so far as to ignore the noise trying to distract it.

"Damn it," croaked Gray. Natsu could taste the fear emanating from him. Natsu didn't blame him; he was scared, too, but Gray had never seen something like this before.

Natsu had though, and he knew that very few things could kill a god. Mavis had been clever when creating her children. She'd wanted a way to ensure that should she make one of her rare mistakes, she could fix it. She'd created several openings to fix something like this – including several golden keys meant to lock Valhalla itself. While the minor gods attached to them couldn't overpower the likes of Natsu, they could certainly amplify a god's power given the chance.

Natsu shoved his hand into his pocket, ignoring the searing pain of clasping Scorpio in his fingers. It wasn't any worse than the pain he felt in his side as Gray let him slide to the floor. He cursed when he fumbled it and let the key clatter to the pathway.

When it crept into view, Natsu realized he'd miscalculated the creature's method.

It relied on sound, yes, but it also had a very long, very disgusting gray tongue that slithered through the trail of golden ichor that continued to steadily flow from the wounds he and Gray both bore. It paused when the golden key clattered along, creating a very distinctive sound that had its lips peeling back to show rows of razor sharp, needle-like teeth.

"Get the key," Natsu breathed, panicked, "get the damn key!"

It was practically on top of them with a voice behind it screamed, "HEY!"

Natsu's breath caught in a half-sob. He knew that voice. Just as well as he knew the furious face glaring at the fallen god from the darkness she'd emerged from. There was something different, something that tugged at an old, dormant piece of him that he'd not had access to for some time, but he had no doubt that it was definitely Lucy Heartfilia standing there.

And there was a creature more than capable of ripping her to shreds between them.

She held a ring of keys tightly in one hand, the other clasping something he couldn't see. Her face shifted into one of uncertainty when the fallen god slowly turned on her with a growl. It showed her those sharp teeth, dragging equally dangerous claws along the metal and creating an unearthly screech that they all winced at. Its fur bristled, and a powerful muscular tail thrashed, nearly slapping him and Gray aside.

"Lucy," warned Gray hoarsely, knowing there was nothing they could do to help her, "run!"

The creature lunged, and Natsu could only watch his world be ripped apart all over again as Lucy spun away and disappeared back into the darkness of the Borealis.

Natsu wasn't sure how they ended up on the deck of the Borealis. His best guess was that Gray had dragged him out there, but that only made Natsu angrier with him. He'd abandoned Lucy to the fallen god that haunted his ruined ghost ship. That was just as bad as losing Lucy's soul, in Natsu's opinion. Maybe even worse. Not that Gray was there for him to yell at; Gray had vanished, as if he'd never been there at all.

Regardless, when Natsu was able to focus some of his struggling attention on the situation at hand, he was alone on the ruined metal deck. Natsu grimaced as he shoved himself upright, pressing his hand over his scarf-clad side. It practically burned now, and it was still seeping blood. To his relief, it seemed to have improved some, however. In fact, he felt a lot better than he had even just moments before.

"Damn it," gritted Natsu, not daring to try and stand just yet. He managed to curb the hum that had been practically radiating from him. His gaze roved the deck, seeking a sign of anyone. A quick glance at the sky told him Wendy and the others were due to return any moment–

As if reading his mind, Natsu heard a high-pitched, terrified cry of "Natsu!"

Wendy. A terrified breath rushed from his lungs. It was too dangerous for her here on the Borealis, where a cursed, fallen god now apparently resided. Before he could think of a way to prevent the others from letting her aboard, however, she seemed to appear between one blink and the next, her face blanched with terror. Levy knelt beside her, looking concerned as she said something Natsu couldn't catch.

So maybe he wasn't doing a lot better than he had been. Consciousness was still seeping away here and there. Regardless, he had enough wits about him to try and shove Wendy's desperate hands away, wheezing, "Go."

"What?" whispered Wendy, tears streaming down her cheeks. "Natsu, what's–"

Natsu hummed sharply at Levy. How could she let Wendy aboard? He'd trusted her to keep Wendy safe. Levy met his gaze grimly. "Gajeel's gone inside," she said, and Natsu blinked at the shaking in her voice. "Tell me that Gajeel isn't at risk."

A strangled laugh bubbled out of Natsu's mouth. "Look at me, Levy."

"What is it?" Wendy was determined. She threw her stuffed backpack down beside her. Fear lingered, but she didn't let it slow her down as she began prying out newly acquired medical supplies. She ripped Natsu's scarf away to peer at the injury it had helped hide. "Natsu–"

"It'll heal." He wasn't sure about that. It should have started. He let Wendy do as she wanted, her fingers delving into a red kit she pried open. "It's a fallen god, Levy. I saw it. It's an old one, too."

Levy's face paled. "I haven't seen one in…I don't even know. A long time, certainly. Not since–" She broke off when a loud yowl pierced the air. They all jumped. It was only Charle, however, peering anxiously into the darkness Natsu had stepped through only hours before – the darkness his Lucy had run back into.

Lucy knew she'd not escape the creature's notice again as she sprinted through the ship, desperately trying to come up with a solution. She gasped for air as she ran as fast as she could, trying her hardest to be cautious of where she stepped. Aquarius's coin remained hot in her hand, the ring of keys jingling in the other. The sound was certainly not helping her situation. At least adrenaline numbed the pain in her thigh.

Lucy swallowed a relieved laugh when the level she was on split. Some stairs went up, some went down. Stifling the jingling of the keys and her breath, Lucy bolted down and flung herself over the railing that lined the steps, clinging like a spider to the other side, pressing her forehead against the railing and mouthing silent pleas.

The monster stumbled to a halt, thinking. After a moment, it chose to descend. Lucy pressed herself closer to the railing, clawing her way up between it the second it was past. Her leg just narrowly avoided kicking its tail.

As it fumbled about below, Lucy took a moment to kneel there and catch her breath and consider what she ought to do. She needed to win time for Gray to get Natsu out; she'd not seen much of him, but there had been a lot of blood. That much she knew. She'd nearly slipped in it several times. She didn't think she could do much to rid them entirely of the problem, but the creature seemed averse to the light, so if she could just get outside–

Something brushed her leg and Lucy nearly threw herself down the stairs in fear. Luckily, it was just Happy. His eyes gleamed in the darkness as he flicked his tail. He knew to be quiet, apparently, and he nuzzled his little nose against her fingers, whiskers tickling her skin. It took her a moment to realize he held something in his jaws.

Lucy took the key he gave her. Scorpio, she realized, puzzled as to how she knew with such dim lighting. It was simply a tug in her gut, though it didn't matter much to her. She twirled the key mindlessly in her fingers, listening to the monster snarl its frustration below. It began backtracking, returning to the point it had lost her.

No one was coming to help her this time. At least, she hoped not. They were too injured. Doing so would get them into more trouble. So she'd have to do this herself, just as she'd done before Natsu wrecked her idea of a normal life in the aftermath of the world's end.

She had Scorpio's key, she thought to herself. That alone should do the trick. If it could defeat Vhalis, then surely it could kill a cursed creature like this one? At least, Scorpio's dagger should have been capable of downing it long enough that someone else could figure out what to do.

She ticked through the list of other keys on her person and found her fingers lingering on one in particular. Just once, she'd asked Loke what his key could do. She'd never used it before, so she'd been curious.

"I'm supposed to be a god of protection, Lucy. What do you think it'd be?" he'd laughed. She'd guessed something similar to Aries: a shield. When he'd laughed again, she'd guessed something else – something that could get her to safety. Lucy had never found out what his key could do. She'd not wanted to use it for the simple reason of finding out either; that had seemed wrong.

Happy reached over to sniff thoughtfully at Loke's key, chirping curiously.

Lucy stared at the feline in horror as the creature roared in response. Within seconds, something started thundering back in their direction, throwing itself up the steps as quickly as it could. In no time, the monster was bearing down upon her, its needle-like teeth bared as it lunged for her.

Figuring she had nothing to lose, Lucy willed Loke's key into whatever it would become. A laugh burst from her lungs, filled with relief, when something heavy took form over her body and the creature's needle-teeth bounced off of the golden plates of armor that protected her. The monster screamed its fury in her face when teeth broke upon making contact. It grew infuriated when it lashed out. Lucy yelped as she was thrown down a flight of metal stairs that were closer than she'd expected, wheezing for air when she hit the bottom harmlessly.

Lucy cursed breathlessly when the armor melted away, as if something about the creature had destroyed it. Loke's key clattered to the walkway beside her, useless. She snagged it and shoved it into her pocket, allowing Scorpio's key to take form in her hand as she shot to her feet. Maybe she had no defenses now, but she had something to use against the creature.

The monster seemed to laugh as it lunged. Lucy, ashen-faced, lifted the knife in preparation–

A set of jaws suddenly seized the creature by its throat, wrestling it to the ground. In the dimness, Lucy caught sight of something equally as large with glowing red eyes tear into it, snarling aloud. Her heart skipped a beat as fear crept up her throat – until she recalled another time, another place, where she'd come face to face with a canine cloaked in a sleek metal pelt, nosing its way from the darkness of a barn.

Gajeel.

The god of warfare was using what little power he still held to attempt to subdue the cursed creature plaguing the Borealis. Lucy blanched when the sharp iron-like teeth in Gajeel's massive canine body seemed to fire themselves from his mouth and directly into the monster's body, making it scream in pain and fury as it rounded on him. Sharp talons gauged through the metal sheeting of Gajeel's flank, making him yelp.

Lucy weighed the dagger in her hand, faltering as a thought occurred to her. If this creature could hurt the gods as it had been, then it was unlikely Gajeel would be able to stop it entirely. But Scorpio…the poison that lined the blade of that knife had stopped a Vhalis, and even Natsu had ensured to not cut himself on it.

Lucy didn't let herself hesitate. She threw herself into the fray with a clenched jaw, determination burning in her veins. As the creature distracted itself with Gajeel, who snarled when it latched its needle-like teeth onto his shoulder, Lucy darted close enough that she could smell the reeking odor that seemed to emanate from the creature.

Lucy had never taken the life of something other than a bug before or after the Vhalis had come. They didn't count; she'd not been the one to get rid of them, though it had never stopped bothering her when they were eliminated around her. It was never their fault that they were doing what they were doing, if what she'd been told about the lost souls was to be believed.

Still, Lucy would argue that she found no pleasure in the agonized scream the monster uttered as it recoiled away from the burning pain in its ribs. It grappled with a clawed, hand-like appendage at the poison-lined blade as it released Gajeel and reeled back. Lucy wasn't fast enough to miss the blow that sent her spinning, leaving her in a dazed heap a few feet away.

The monster screamed once more before collapsing. It gave a few more desperate, terrified whimpers before finally falling still, its body twitching once, twice, and then no more. Lucy let out a soft, disbelieving laugh. Erza had brushed by, though she'd not seen her. Thank the stars above.

Lucy took a moment to catch her breath, the world spinning around her. When it settled, she sat up, wincing as pain stung her head. She touched the cut there, wincing as blood trickled into her eyes. It didn't seem all that bad at least, so she focused on other matters – like the shouting of her name from somewhere, echoing off metal that creaked and stirred as it hadn't before. Ghostly machinery slowly roared back to life. Emergency lights flickered red and filled the space with more light than they'd had before.

So the creature had been the source of the curse. Juvia would be pleased.

"You good, crazy lady?"

Lucy looked over. Gajeel stood there, chest heaving as he tried to catch his own breath. Gold pooled between his fingers as he clutched the nasty bite in his shoulder. His eyes were still a bright magma as he slowly blinked at her.

"Yeah," she choked out, struggling to her feet. She staggered a little. "Thanks for the help." Lucy didn't bother to ask how he was; clearly, he was irritated that the creature had taken a chunk out of him.

"Lucy!" a voice hollered again. Gray. Her stomach twisted as she recalled who Gray was supposed to be with. Her head and body ached, and her leg, now that adrenaline had worn off, was sore and wet with fresh blood. Happy stuck close as they stepped around the creature's shadow-lined body. It had begun to dissolve into darkness, as if it were never there. Lucy stopped only to grab Scorpio's blade. Something swelled in her chest as she attached his key to her ring alongside the rest, but understanding it could wait.

There was a familiar, desperate hum piercing her ears, and Lucy could hardly breathe at the thought of Natsu.

I SAID A REUNION BUT I NEVER SAID FOR HOW LONG.

In all honesties, the real reunion is next chapter. I swear I'm not playing this time. Complete with Wendy, Lucy, Natsu, and our favorite felines. :D Surprisingly, it's been very hard to write and I almost couldn't update this week because of it.

In other news, I had a new idea (which I thought might not happen after Starfall) and there may be some big work to follow this. Not that it's ending anytime soon.

Thanks to reviewers (Guest #1, InWonderl4nd, Meow Orbit, BurstingDragons, Lycamall, ShanpaiUniverse, xennia-x, Rachel Maddison, stranger1999, hopelesskar, Star-Queen Lucy, DREAMCHASING, InfiniteMiste, Guest #2, Sanspree, STAG98, galactiaconstella, nerdalertwarning, Ilysael, XxStar's DustxX, & takeagamble27!) as well as those who favorited and followed!