Protection: A Fairy Tail Fanfiction

Chapter Twelve: Detonation

"I would rather die a meaningful death than to live a meaningless life." - Corazon Aquino

CHAPTER XII: Detonation

THE lakuma announcement came in at 14:31.

The guild went completely silent at 14:32.

Natsu paled midway through the message at 14:32.

The glass in Natsu's hand slipped and shattered against the ground at 14:33.

Zeref's face disappeared in the image at 14:34, leaving silence at his disappearance.

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Natsu should have been expecting it - He'd told himself that he had been expecting it, and maybe he had in the beginning, but he'd allowed his defenses to slip and fall around Zeref, and now Lucy was going to pay the price for his stupidity.

"Natsu?" Mirajane said slowly, finally breaking the unusual silence. He blinked at her, pulling himself out of the cotton clouds that had been gathering in his head. "Are you ...?"

"Shit." He said quietly, and then more loudly, "Shit, shit, shit. I can't ... aggh. Why didn't I ... Dammit. Dammit, Zeref." He hit the side of his head and began pacing, because he couldn't stay still anymore. "Why the Hell ... Crap. I'm an idiot. I can't believe ... dammit."

He breathed fire through his nose, and forced himself to sit down next to the Popsicle.

Then he leapt back up because he was not sitting next to that stripper. Not even if his life depended on it, no way.

"Sooooo," Gajeel drawled slowly, "I think Salamander's trying to say what are we going to do now?"

"Sit down before you make a hole in the floor, Natsu," Gramps said tiredly, and Natsu dropped onto the chair next to Lisanna. He clenched his fists and grounded his teeth together. "There's only one thing we can do - Stop Zeref and get Lucy back."

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"Stop this, Zeref," Lucy commands as she tugs at the chains. "This isn't you."

He stares at her, and he says, "Don't you realize it? For every light you cast, there will be a shadow. For every hero, there is a monster. For every Beowulf, there is a Grindal. I just chose to be the monster under your bed, the darkness of the night." He smiles. "I wanted this."

Lucy shakes her head, and he thinks it's in disgust. He turns away from her, and he tells himself that it's because she is no bigger than an ant, not because he feels guilty for the way blood drips down her face.

Liar, liar, liar - You're a liar Zeref, to yourself, to your brother, to the world -

Enough.

"Did you know that once, I tried to be the hero? I just wanted my brother to be happy. But then the world rejected me and my hopes, so I rejected the world in return. For what goes around comes around, and that there must always be a balance in the universe.

"For every good man, there is a villain lurking in the shadows, waiting to catch you."

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"Down here?" Erza repeated through the intercom Max had created. Natsu shivered as he stared at the dark, foreboding entrance into the underground tunnels that led out of Magnolia. He didn't want to go in. That was dark and it made his dragon senses protest.