Lucy and the book of END

The Battle with Tartaros

Lucy's POV:

The clashing of magic and explosions could be heard all over Magnolia. Demon after demon dropped at the feet of Fairy Tails most elite. Lucy recognising she'd played a large role in the overall battle felt accomplished! They were actually going to win, Natsu her Natsu was just ahead fighting Mard Geer. He wouldn't lose, he never loses, she had so much faith in him.

A short glance away she saw her Fairy Tail guild mates picking themselves up, healing after a long battle. Sabertooth were also within the fray of mages. She stood quite far away from the group out of ears distance and almost out of view, with her eyes trained on Natsu's fight. She needed to be closer to the battle just in case, she wasn't down for the count yet and was ready to step in any minute. Yet before she could even bat an eyelid, her senses were overrun with dark magic.

"Darker magic than we've already experienced, what is this feeling?" Lucy muttered to herself, were some of  Zeref's toughest demons in a guild together not dark enough.

Already prepared for the battle at hand, she pushed her feet into the ground and grasped at her keys, ready for anything. This presence felt wrong, familiar but wrong and that's when she saw it. The jitter involved when a magic user moves either at speed or from teleportation.

'Zeref' she screamed in her head, hands grasped round her keys so tight she could feel their worry.

He'd positioned himself similar to her, observing the battle, not close enough to be spotted, yet she knew both individuals sensed his presence. Mard Geer was the first to relinquish the fight, Lucy observed the curling of his lips, this was his master, this was his reasoning behind everything.

Zeref in what seemed to be his usual black robed attire, stepped into the ash covered battle scene. Lucy could tell his face seemed uninterested, eyes unmoving from the book Mard Geer held in his hands.

"Zeref!" Natsu growled, she could tell he was annoyed at the interruption of the fight but further knew a harder fight was on the cards, one he wasn't prepared for.

"Master, this was all for you. END will be resurrected soon enough! We will fulfil your plans." Mard Geer almost sounded joyful from what Lucy could pick up.

Zeref's face began to reflect anger. 'Anger, why anger?' Lucy questioned herself. His eyes slowly reaching the face of one of his strongest demons. Mard Geer dropped the blissful expression instead showing confusion, even hurt that Zeref did not beam at the work he had done.

Within a second she watched as Natsu flew far from his position in front of Mard Geer, unhurt but pushed far from the battle. Her eyes turned away from Natsu as he picked himself off the floor. Eyes growing wide she blinked watching as Mard Geer collapsed, a huge hole through his chest with Zeref blankly watching him fall. She didn't understand, why would Zeref assassinate him, what was going on!

"Such unneeded violence." Zeref spoke so softly she only just picked it up.

As Natsu recollected himself he began to sprint at full pace, fist aflame on course towards Zeref. Yet once again was pushed far from the dark wizard with a burst like magic spell. 'Should I do something?' Lucy couldn't think straight, this was ZEREF. Immortal dark wizard, created hundreds of demons and other magics, that Zeref. In the name of saving life and ridding of evil yes, but she was not in over her head, she was smart and could calculate when to pick a fight.

"I will see you soon Etherious Natsu Dragneel END, hopefully you can bring more power for me then. For now I'll hold onto this, it is your book, your existence." Zeref muttered but she knew even with his keen hearing, this sentence wasn't for Natsu, it was just to himself.

She froze, her keys digging into her fingers. Natsu her Natsu, it couldn't be possible, but here Zeref was literally spelling it out for her. Natsu's entire life fluttered between Zeref's fingers with the dragon slayer being unaware thrown from the battlefield. Feeling dark magic grow once again she knew she had to act, she didn't have time to think things through, she didn't have time to react the news, she needed the book. As Zeref began to teleport away Loke was already flashing past her eyes in a gold haze, grabbing the book from his hands as Zeref left what she hoped would be Magnolia.

'Had Zeref noticed her grab the book, he surely would when he arrived wherever he teleported, would he think he dropped it? Would he come back?' Questions darted round Lucy's head.

"Take it to the spirit world for now, let nobody know you have it, I will summon you later." She spoke in a strong tone, it didn't even feel like it came from her yet it did. She understood the importance of keeping it safe but also secret for the time being. She needed to be away from this spot in case he did return, but should she go towards the others? How was she supposed to react to such a revelation, after such a long few days of battle, and the need for secrecy? Zeref had made clear he had no intention of telling Natsu the truth, not yet anyway. Once she had overcome the news she would be the one to tell him.

"Get it out your head for now Lucy, one thing at a time, let's join up with the others and celebrate this victory. We should hopefully have time to think about what is next." After softly negotiating with herself she pushed herself forward heading towards the large collection of mages now in merriment. Forcing a smile she ran behind Natsu holding him tight, she needed this after a hard few days. He smiled back at her as she blushed, he always knew how to get her heart racing. She watched her friends cheer out, they survived what was likely their worst encounter so far as a guild.

After a long parading on the scorched rubble, they headed to what remained of the Fairy Tail guild building with Sabertooth to party the night away. Erza would definitely have them all in construction uniforms tomorrow to clean up the town.