An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Chapters: 1/?
Fandom: Fairy Tail
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Natsu Dragneel/Lucy Heartfilia
Characters: Natsu Dragneel, Lucy Heartfilia, Gray Fullbuster, Erza Scarlet, Happy (Fairy Tail), Wendy Marvell, Fairy Tail Guild
Additional Tags: Mild Horror, Mild Blood, Angst and Romance, Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Falling In Love, Idiots in Love, Natsu is a demon, Hurt Lucy Heartfilia, Protective Natsu Dragneel, Hurt Natsu Dragneel, Angst with a Happy Ending, Fairy Tail Guild, Possible smut
Summary: When a mission goes horribly wrong, Natsu is forced to make a decision - Accept the demon he is, or lose her forever.
(Based on the idea that Natsu is forced to accept that he's a demon/END even though he outwardly denies it all of the time).
Click on the link or read down below.
An unpleasant emotion caused by the threat of danger, pain, or harm.
A twig snapping made him pause, turn, and look back amongst the wall of retreating black trees. The thick under growth snaked its way down the dishevelled path that bared no recent sign of disturbance, leading further into the darkness of the forest. His spooked eyes narrowed to scan the dense woodland, finding nothing but the same eerie silence that emanated from every direction, deafening his ears with its unnatural hum. It seemed not even the glow of the setting sun could cut through the gloominess of the bleak, barren branches that writhed like monstrous tendrils against the grey nothingness.
"Everything okay?" Lucy asked, hugging her trembling arms to her chest, her heart knocking wildly against her ribcage.
"Thought I heard something," Natsu said, giving one last sweep, before turning back to catch up to his blonde partner. "This place sure is creepy."
"Y-Yeah...why didn't we take the flower shop mission again?" Jittery fingers tightened around goose-pimpled skin, her body resisting the urge to flinch at every haunting howl that rumbled from deep within the belly of the woods. "…no freaky trees…no dark forests...nice and safe…" she continued to mumble, her eyes darting from one tree to another, the air feeling heavy on her lungs.
"And super boring! Where's the fun in picking flowers?" He scoffed, his lazy smile giving away a sense of ease, while his darkened, focused stare said otherwise. "Don't make out you weren't swayed by the reward, you could've easily stayed home, and yet, here you are."
"We're a team, Natsu, and team's usually stick together." Her poor attempt at lying didn't fool him, but he'd let it slide for now, they had bigger things to worry about. "Anyway, this monster we're looking for… got any idea of what it might be? You know, so we can prepare ourselves for when it inevitably shows itself."
"Not a clue. The old lady back there didn't even know, but apparently it likes to pray on young women."
"Great…" That's all she needed!
He cackled, "Yeah, it is!"
The trail they were following began to narrow and coil down further into the thicket, disappearing beyond the whiteness of the mist that coated the root-riddled ground. Having to duck under the twining, finger-like twigs, a dangling leaf licked at her bare shoulder like a wet tongue and she all but jumped out of her skin, falling straight into Natsu, his reflexes catching her just in time.
"What the heck was that!?" She yelped, catching sight of her dripping aggressor.
A snigger tickled her ear from behind, "Careful, Luce, it might come back for seconds!"
She scowled up at him while trying to catch her breath, his lack of empathy getting on her last nerve. This boy was enjoying her suffering, having done nothing but try to tease and scare her since the moment they'd stepped foot in the place.
"Come on, scaredy cat!" He goaded, grabbing her clammy hand to pull along.
"Scaredy cat? That's rich considering it was your little buddy that decided to ditch us back there! I bet he's having the time of his life being pampered by that village elder…" Did she sound bitter? Maybe just a bit, but who was she kidding? That cat got away with everything where Natsu was concerned. Choosing to close her mouth before anything worse slipped out, she turned away and huffed, grumbling to herself, "At least I'm here, aren't I?"
"Sure, but if we don't keep moving, we'll become easy dinner for whatever's out there." He pointed into the gaping abyss for emphasis and a chill ran up her spine at the very thought.
Spurring her to move away from the offending leaf, before it could assault her again, the blonde glanced down to where a familiar warmth encapsulated her hand and noticed the dragon slayer had yet to let go. Not that she was complaining, his warmth had always been a source of comfort, and god did she need that right now.
"Will ya stop dragging your feet and hurry up already?" He complained, raising a knowing eyebrow in her direction.
Snapping her out of her daydream, she picked up the pace, his grip only tightening in response, bringing her shoulder to shoulder with him. "Sorry, I was just—"
"Being slow?" He kept his eyes on her longer than she would've liked, probably trying to work out what was going on in that turbulent mind of hers, before finally smirking, "Weirdo…"
They knew not where they were going, nor what they were looking for. The elder back at the village, as Natsu said, had been incredibly vague about this so-called 'monster.' Considering it was stealing people in the dead of night, in a village so small, someone was bound to have seen it. But alas, the people had kept their distance and remained silent, simply accepting their fate as compliant monster chowder, which Lucy found to be all the more suspicious.
"Hey, Natsu, do you think it's even here? It's night time now," she assumed, not that she could tell through the sky of fog, "Won't it be hunting in the village?"
"Hard to tell," he said, his eyes flitting between the shadows as they strolled further and further into the deep, "I can smell it, though."
"Yep, and this thing reeks! Its scent was all over that village earlier, and it's even stronger now."
"What does a monster even smell like?" She asked, somewhat grossed out; somewhat curious.
"Usually of whatever its eaten; blood, guts, dirt and stuff, but not this thing. It smells old, like super old, and kinda off," he explained, sniffing the dank air to catch another whiff of it.
"Yeah, sorta like that sour milk I found the other day in your fridge."
"Gross..." she grimaced, her feet crunching down on the twigs that'd fallen from their perches, her body tensing with this new information. What did it all mean? "Can you smell the girls at all?"
"Nah, I got nothing. If they're not being eaten, I don't know where they are."
Another snap grabbed his attention, this time louder, like the branch of a tree and he twisted quicker than a zap of lightning, dragging Lucy behind him.
"Geez, could you at least worn me before you-"
"Shh!" He stilted, once again scanning the tortured landscape. The whistling of the wind overwhelmed his ears, and the dark, twisting shadows of the night were playing tricks on his eyes. What was this feeling? Like the trees themselves were watching them, but that wasn't possible, right? "I think something's stalking us."
About to ignite his hand, he felt Lucy grab the tail of his scarf and yank him off the exposed area of path, neither catching their balance and both tumbling down, straight into a thorny bush, "Ow, Lucy! Whadd'ya do that for?!"
"Don't give away our position, moron! We don't even know what it is, yet. What if it's just a bird?" Her butt had landed firmly atop his splayed body, but she paid no heed, squishing him down with her sizeable chest, with his head squashed snugly against a neighbouring tree trunk.
"You think the monster's a bird?" He questioned, seemingly unfazed by their positioning.
"That's not what I… wait what? I meant it might be—"
"'Cause that's a big ass bird, Lucy."
"Never mind the bird, Natsu, the damn thing's irrelevant! How'd you know it's the monster stalking us? Is what I meant."
"I don't know! Whatever it was, it sounded bigger than us."
"Oh, I'm countin' on it!" He finally grinned, fisting the air.
Smacking her head into her palm, she couldn't reason with him, even after everything they'd been through together. The poor celestial mage had concluded a very long time ago that his destructive nature would be the death of them both, one day.
"Look, let's gauge what we're up against first, that's all I'm saying. We have no idea what kind of monster this is, or what it wants. What if it's a demon, or a rogue dragon, or something?" Sneaking a peek past the brushes, she could see no sign of any such creature, but that didn't mean it wasn't there waiting for them.
"Don't be so dramatic! A dragon wouldn't live in a place like this, Lucy." And that, he was quite sure of, "As for a demon, well... I dunno—maybe?"
Eyes like a hawk, her breath hitched in her throat. A demon!? She'd only been throwing words around! That wasn't what she'd signed up for; that hadn't been a part of the deal! Just what kind of hellish place was this!?
"What do you mean, maybe!? I don't want there to be a demon! How would you even know that?"
"I don't…gut feeling, I guess," he said, sitting himself up with her still firmly seated in his lap, his ears almost twitching like a dog.
Unnerved and completely at the mercy of her panic, she tried to shake herself out of it—to no avail. "Okay, okay… if it is a demon, don't we need someone like Gray to take it down? He is a demon slayer, after all."
"Probably," he shrugged, peering out from the thorns and leaves, "but Ice block's not here, so it's up to us to figure out."
She sighed, knowing deep down that her and Natsu would have to face whatever this thing was eventually. Whether it be demon, or some mindless monster—the latter being the preferred option.
Lucy despaired at the thought, and this gloomy environment wasn't helping. Why did this forest make her feel so uneasy? She'd been in places far darker than this, having gone up against demons and the like many times before, even saving a certain fire mage from such a fate. She couldn't put her finger on it, but it just felt different here, chilling. There was something far more sinister that lurked within the depths of these lands, an evil that infected it like a disease, leaving a shiver to quake through her bones.
Far too distracted, the blonde hadn't noticed she'd been lifted into the air until a firm, warm hand clenched her thigh, making her look up to the boy of whom it belonged. To her surprise, his usual care free grin spread across his lips, eyes squinting shut to accommodate his growing cheeks. That smile had always been reassuring, even in the darkest of times, but she had to wonder, if behind it, whether he, too, felt as disturbed as she did? Fearing the unknown was only natural, after all.
"Uh...thanks, Natsu, but you can put me down now," she murmured, her arms clinging to him like a frightened child, betraying her request to be separate from his protective body. "Natsu?"
"Do you see that, Luce?" He asked ignoring her, looking much further than any normal human could ever see.
"See, what?" The forbidding backdrop was the only thing occupying her vision, no matter how hard she tried to imagine the sun beaming down its hot rays with colourful flowers blooming all around them. Quite the romantic scene, indeed.
"Not sure...looks like a small house to me."
"A house? Who in their right mind would live here!?" She was flabbergasted—utterly appalled by the thought.
"Who'd you think?" The wicked glint in his eye said it all, and Lucy felt her heart leap up into her throat. This wasn't going to end well…
"You can't be serious! Shouldn't we be going in the opposite direction?"
"This is what we've been paid to do, Lucy, so we can't quit now," he winked, his grin doubling in size. "We're going monster huntin'!"
Thanks for reading the first chapter! There’s plenty more nalu goodness to come.
@uniquedolphin @nashadragneel @millennial-star-gazer @fluegelhorn @yourpillowtalksucks @tiredpersonblog
Sorry if I’ve missed anyone that wanted to be tagged!
