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March 6th, X779

The fact that the few remaining gods – those who'd cast Natsu and the rest out – were now Falling, too…well, it didn't bode well. It meant things were going to get much, much worse. It meant that Mavis might have been missing before, but now there was a damn good chance she might actually be in serious danger.

So focused on his concerns for the future and what that meant for his friends, Natsu nearly missed Wendy's sudden high-pitched squeak of his name and the way she tugged anxiously on his sleeve. "Um…Natsu? I think…I think we should go. Like, now."

Natsu glanced at her, and then at the sky again.

The final star had begun to tumble from the sky. Unfortunately for them, stars burned incredibly hot and hit with deadly impact when they came directly at someone like this one appeared to be doing.

Natsu cursed and tore off at a dead sprint, shouting, "Run, Wendy!" He hoped Charle and Happy kept up. Wendy ran as fast as she could, even passing him in her desperation.

It didn't take Natsu very long to realize there was no way in hell they'd get out of the impact zone. So, grimacing and hoping to Valhalla itself that he didn't make things worse than they were, Natsu drew to an abrupt halt and slammed down on his knees. "Wendy!" he yelled, gently placing Lucy on the snowy ground. Even as he did so, snow began to melt beneath his panic and the heat of the approaching star.

Wendy bolted back towards him. He felt a flicker of sympathy for her. Terrified tears rolled down her cheeks as she stood over him, hefting Charle fearfully into her arms. "Natsu–"

He ignored her, quickly turning his attention to Lucy. He pushed the hair from her eyes and gently tried to urge her back awake. She'd slipped unconscious again in the time since he'd picked her up. "Lucy!" Natsu barked. "Lucy, wake up! Now!"

She stirred, grimacing in pain, and he shook her hard. He could apologize later, when they weren't about to be hit by a falling god. Her dark eyes blinked open, staring blearily at him. Natsu could tell she was trying to focus on him, but the world seemed to keep sliding away from her. He ripped the scarf from his neck, snarling, "Lucy!" She snagged his gaze, grappling with comprehension as he pushed his diale into her fingers with shaking hands. "Give me whatever you can," he rasped, guilt heavy in his chest.

Valhalla was quite literally falling further to pieces above their heads, and he was going to take more from it.

But Wendy was in danger here.

Happy and Charle were in danger.

His Lucy was in danger, and to Natsu…

He cared far more about what happened to Lucy than he did to Valhalla. Natsu would happily run around forever without a place to go back to so long as Lucy was there with him.

Natsu curled her fingers around his scarf, his stomach churning as the star's roar grew deafening. Wendy was shaking like a leaf beside them. He could hear her whispering to the wind, begging her mother to help them. Natsu knew Grandeeney would not come.

"C'mon, Luce." When her eyes fluttered, his voice became biting. "Focus."

He dared to look up at the sky. He uttered a low curse. They had moments–

Lucy's breath hitched and her eyes shuttered with some irritation, sparking some relief in Natsu's chest as she did her best to grip his diale in her hands. "Rude," she croaked, and Natsu could hardly breathe as something shifted in him. He would have never been able to explain it to one who wasn't a god. He wasn't sure he could even explain it to a god.

Bit by little bit, an old piece settled into him, flooding him with familiar, searing power. It was as if a missing part of his soul had been returned. It kicked up the temperature, made his eyes burn ever so brightly as he reached over and dragged Wendy down so he could fling himself over all of them. Happy and Charle wriggled in protest, but they ignored their complaints.

And as the star struck the earth, no more than a mile or two away, Natsu let that searing power burn as bright as the sun he'd once been, ensuring that he kept those he loved safe.

Somehow, it was still a surprise to Lucy that Natsu wasn't just her Natsu, the pink-haired idiot who knew as much about her world as she did his. It still somehow managed to escape her mind sometimes that Natsu was an actual god, with actual power that made the world tremble beneath his wake. Most of the time, he was simply her Natsu.

Lucy woke up a bit more the longer she held the scarf, half-smothered beneath Natsu and Wendy and their whimpering cats. Happy had squirmed to hide his face beneath Lucy's arm, trying to take shelter from the bright light that made her screw her eyes shut. Lucy could feel an incredible amount of heat searing at her face, as if every inch of cold she'd ever felt over the last few years had turned into a drought-filled summer heatwave. There was a shrieking, piercing hum that was beautifully musical, but so loud it made her ears ring like an explosion had gone off.

It seemed to go on forever, but also for a brief moment in time, all at once, before it stopped.

The hum vanished. Natsu heaved for hair as some of the heat did, too, though it lingered somewhat. Natsu's body trembled above theirs, and Lucy recalled the moment in which Levy had become accustomed to the sudden influx of her regained power following the return of her diale. When she rolled her head to the side to look after prying her eyes open, she was unsurprised to find that anything surrounding them was simply gone. All that remained was a charred, parched patch of earth that had once held dead trees, debris, shrubbery, and their shack. Even stones had shattered beneath the force of it all.

When Natsu sat up, Lucy couldn't hear a thing. She could see his lips moving as he said something, but all she heard was the ringing in her ears. Her chest heaved for air, but the pain that had pierced itself had dulled to a small ache.

At the same time, Lucy had never felt so awake.

It was so strange. The other times she'd handed over some power to Natsu – and the one time with Levy – she'd felt exhausted after. This though…

Hands shook her shoulders gently, making her focus. Lucy blinked up at Natsu, who was mouthing something she couldn't hear. She grimaced as she swatted his hands away and rocked upright, pointing to her ears and waving him off. He tried to speak again, but Lucy shook her head irritably. There was no point. She couldn't hear. When she looked desperately to Wendy for help, Wendy yelled something at Natsu, who winced.

The point had been made, and Lucy thought Wendy might be laughing.

Lucy glanced around at the destruction, as did the others. Natsu was radiating heat as he tossed his scarf back around his neck. A quick glance at his face told her there was a bit more to it than the heat. There were no longer little suns in his familiar onyx eyes; they had become suns themselves. She thought light simmered beneath his skin, snaking along his veins.

Lucy had to look away for a moment, her heart skipping a beat at the oddness of it all – at the reminder.

Natsu was not human.

Neither was she now.

She hated how she kept forgetting such simple little things.

Lucy climbed to her feet, wavering a bit when Natsu urged her up. His fingers lingered on her elbow, hot to the touch, burning her through her coat. She brushed herself off, noticing a few scorch marks on the ground near them. She immediately checked on Wendy, worried she'd been harmed. Wendy seemed fine, albeit a little alarmed by the particularly larch scorch mark near her.

It seemed like ages before they'd regained their bearings. At last, when the ringing in her ears was manageable, Lucy was able to ask in a voice much louder than she'd have liked, "Are you okay, Wendy?"

"Me?!" spluttered Wendy, also louder than they should have been speaking. "You're the one who passed out!"

Natsu looked between the two, exasperated. "Do you have to yell?"

Lucy glared half-heartedly at him. "You deafened me," she complained. "You never said you were loud when you went full sun god!"

Natsu rolled his eyes, but she could see the small smile tugging at his lips as he nudged her. She didn't recall much about passing out, but it must have been true, for Wendy seemed as relieved as Natsu did. The brush of fur against her leg drew Lucy's attention to Happy, who stretched up with a pathetic look on his face. Lucy did as he asked and scooped him into her arms, burying her face in his fur. Happy purred, and while she couldn't hear it, she certainly felt the rumbling against her cheek. Lucy was happy he was okay – and Charle, who lashed her tail as she crouched beside Wendy's feet.

A tug in her chest drew her attention promptly northeast. She searched that direction, stomach twisting anxiously. She had no doubt a god awaited them in that direction. The question was: which god was it?

As if reading her mind, Natsu raked a hand through his pink hair and said loud enough that they could hear, "Those have to be the minor gods – the ones attached to the keys. We should see if we can track the one that almost killed us down and figure out what happened now." Lucy could feel his unease. He was worried that what they'd done with his diale had contributed to the second Fall.

Lucy knew, somewhere deep in her chest, that it wasn't. She could feel it. This had nothing to do with them.

Still, curiosity had her removing her keys from her pockets, fumbling thoughtfully with them until she held Aquarius's key. She smoothed her thumb over it and willed it into the coin she knew it could become.

She cursed when nothing happened. They were simply keys now. Her diale, apparently, but nothing more than a set of keys she couldn't use. That was not good, considering how heavily they'd been relying on them for safety. She shook them to catch Natsu's attention, not feeling like she wanted to holler everytime she needed something. "I can't use them, Natsu."

She couldn't understand the word he uttered, for it was in the ancient language he knew, but she was fairly sure it was a filthy one.

Thank the stars he'd given Lucy that Lucy could track other gods. If they'd had to rely on Natsu, he doubted they'd have been able to make such a direct path towards the god that had come closest to them. He was hopeful that god would notice him, at the very least, and start tracking him in turn.

He desperately hoped it wasn't Aquarius. Someone like Capricorn or Aries would be much, much more helpful. Someone who wouldn't threaten him the second they laid eyes on him would be great, honestly.

The sun blazed high in the sky, a little warmer than it had in recent times, as they followed Lucy. Natsu ensured to keep close to his friends, guilt still heavy in his chest from when he'd tried to help Wendy when she'd slipped in the slush he'd unintentionally created. He'd moved to snag her elbow before she could fall. Instead, he'd managed to sear her arm through her coat, not only destroying her coat sleeve but also burning her beneath it.

"It's fine," she'd reassured, though her voice had been rough with pain. "It was an accident, Natsu."

Half-spirit or not, Wendy was still half-human, and he'd forgotten how easy it was for him to hurt humans. At least Lucy hardly seemed to notice. When she'd grabbed his arm to catch his attention, he'd not burned her. That was a relief. He only had to worry about one person then.

He'd forgotten how intense it was – how the heat seemed to radiate through him, filling him with energy he'd not recalled having since before the Fall. He wondered if Lucy felt the same.

It had not escaped Natsu's notice that Lucy was a little different after the second Fall. He knew Wendy hadn't missed it either, her gaze occasionally lingering on Lucy and her nearly glowing golden hair and her overly bright eyes, which looked as if someone had carved a piece of starlit darkness out of a burning ring of light.

He studied her as they walked. She'd mentioned some accusing her of stealing something from him. Loke had suggested she'd taken something "extra" when they'd made her into what she now was, though she'd not known what he meant entirely. It was definitely something beyond the piece of Valhalla pinned to her. He knew it was.

He'd given it to her.

He'd wanted to give her the moon and stars, after all.

Not that he'd done it intentionally. Natsu wasn't sure how he'd done it, nor did he think Lucy knew much about it either. Loke and the others didn't seem to. He hadn't known for sure that he'd done it until now, when it came out so openly.

But Natsu didn't mind. He'd give Lucy everything if it meant keeping her happy and alive.

"Natsu," Lucy suddenly called, breaking into his thoughts. He turned his face expectantly towards her and realized she was pointing ahead. When he followed her gaze, he was unsurprised to see what could only be described as a mountain of earth and ash littered with carcasses of dead trees. They began picking their way towards it.

When they climbed to the top of the little mountain, they looked down upon a massive crater. Natsu studied the center of that crater, recalling how long it had taken him to pick himself back up after being thrown from Valhalla the first time – before he'd ever met Lucy. Naturally, with their present luck, the crater was empty.

Natsu scanned the area. "Feel anything, Luce?"

"Yes and no," Lucy huffed, frowning. "They're close, I think, but–" She broke off with a sharp squeal of alarm.

Natsu whipped around, an explosive hum bursting from him. Wendy slapped her hands over her ears as Natsu glowered at the figure that had appeared beside Lucy, peering curiously at her. He relaxed, the hum vanishing, but still scowled. "Virgo," he huffed, relieved and annoyed at the same time. He didn't like how she'd not announced herself, but at least it wasn't like with Aquarius, who'd have done far worse than simply scared them.

The minor goddess ignored Natsu, studying Lucy with such intense fascination in her blue eyes it clearly made Lucy uncomfortable. Virgo still radiated power, noted Natsu. Enough so that he could feel it now that he knew she was there. "You've not used my whip," she said to Lucy, who was rather pale-faced and confused by her proximity. "I've been waiting."

Natsu couldn't help the small, choked laugh that nearly escaped. Virgo was notorious for being one of the strangest of those associated with the keys. He still liked her regardless, even if he'd never been one to use her key himself. "I don't think your whip is as helpful as Scorpio's knife against the Vhalis, Virgo. Against the Vhalis, at least."

Virgo turned those unnerving blue eyes onto him. She tipped her head a bit as she studied him with growing anger. "You took from Valhalla," she accused. "After all we did to protect it?"

Natsu huffed. "You nearly killed them." He made a small gesture to Lucy and Wendy, who was frowning as a breeze whisked over her face.

Virgo snorted dismissively and turned back to Lucy. "Where is Leo?" she demanded.

"We don't know." Lucy glanced hopefully at Natsu for help, but he only shrugged. He couldn't help her with anything right now. Virgo wouldn't listen to a word he said if she didn't want to. "The last we heard, he'd headed towards the capital with some of our friends, so we were going to see if we could find him, actually."

Natsu didn't expect the pale look of fear to materialize on Virgo's face. 'He was meant to stay with you."

"We got separated." Lucy sounded uncertain. Natsu drew closer to her, not liking it. His shoulder gently knocked hers in reassurance. "There were Vhalis…and our friends were in danger, too. He helped them get to safety. Juvia said–"

Virgo shook her head irritably, whirling back towards Natsu with a frantic jerk of her body. "Something must have happened," she insisted. "We would not have Fallen if something were not wrong–"

Natsu couldn't help but laugh.

"Natsu," said Lucy with a frown. "This isn't funny!"

Natsu grinned at her, and the smile was cold, and angry, and downright bitter. "We've been saying the same thing for the last year after they," he inclined his head at Virgo, "kicked us out of Valhalla without warning us first. Now, they're upset because the same thing happened to them. It's the same thing as the first Fall. Nothing's different. Except this time, we're all down here in this world while Valhalla is officially entirely in pieces."

Lucy gave him such a look of disapproval that Natsu might have considered apologizing had he not been so tired of the other gods. Sighing, she turned back to Virgo. "You guys made the first Fall happen, so what happened this time then?"

It was, much to all of their surprise, Wendy who answered.

Her face was ashen when she whispered, "Grandeeney says Mavis is dying."

Even Natsu, who'd not been happy with Mavis as of late, flinched.

Virgo's eyes widened. "Mavis cannot die," she argued, "Spirits–"

"–can be killed if they're held in a physical form for longer than they should be, right?" finished Lucy, staring at Natsu harshly. Her voice trembled a little. "Natsu, you said that's what happened with that other one, right?"

Natsu didn't answer, stunned. He didn't like Mavis at the moment. He'd never wanted her to make him into a god. He'd learned to like his work in the end, but he'd hated it initially. He'd not liked her rules, or her potential future sentiments towards Lucy. He'd blamed her for a lot of what was happening. But he didn't want Mavis to die, and Grandeeney would sure as hell have never lied about that.

On top of that–

"We have a problem if someone knows how to do that," he said uneasily. "If they can capture a spirit–"

"They can capture a god," Virgo finished grimly. "We must find them and deliver their punishment. It is too bad I am unable to offer my whip's services. It is a sufficient choice for such things."

Lucy made a face, eyeing Virgo with discomfort that might have made Natsu laugh any other time. Now, he only ran his hands down his face, hiding there for just a moment. He took a ragged breath, wondering if it'd be worth dragging his friends back into the mountains to see Igneel. He'd be their best shot at figuring out what they needed to look for and how they could stop someone capable of capturing a spirit.

Because Virgo was right.

Someone who knew enough to catch a spirit was dangerous, and could easily capture a god, too.

But Natsu wouldn't drag Lucy up into the mountains again. He wouldn't take Wendy there either, though he knew Wendy had liked Igneel's secret alcove with its stone columns and altars–

He stilled, then jerked his hands away from his face. "I need an altar!" he declared, eyes wide. "If I can make an altar, I can communicate with Igneel." It'd not be like what Lucy claimed her "phone" to be capable of. It would only be a prayer, but he knew Igneel would hear it, because no one prayed to Igneel as a god anymore.

Igneel wouldn't answer in words – not from this distance.

But Igneel had never refused Natsu's call, and he didn't think they had the time to figure out something else.

VIRGO'S HERE! And things are happening again~

Also, we hit 700 reviews! Thank you all so much!

Thanks to reviewers (fjsmothie, InWonderl4nd, hopelesskar, galactiaconstella, XxStar'sDustxX, & InfiniteMiste!) as well as those who favorited and followed!