Lucy and the Definitive... Cat?

Thronritus de Budathein

Standard disclaimer... Hiro Mashima owns Fairy Tail, Merlin, Belial and this plot are mine. As a note, this happens before the Tartaros arc, as such the demons all have their debut appearances, which is different than after they go through the Hell Core. So please keep that in mind.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Lucy fell to her knees and drew in large gulps of breath, feeling her bones ache and muscles twitch in fatigue. When Mard and Corvus left, the town grew eerily quiet and then out of nowhere the chaos started. She had punched, kicked, whipped and summoned till she was ready to collapse, but as she looked around her, it was worth it.

Many of the town's people were on the ground, sound asleep and not smoking under the bright afternoon sun. Natsu and Meredy were curled up against each other near the diner's entranceway and Lucy smiled at them. She let out a breath and wiped the sweat from her brow, trying to fully sort out all the commotion.

Something happened, something triggered these people into mindless action, and she hoped Mard had answers for her. Lucy fidgeted with the silver ring on her finger, Loke gave it to her when he appeared to help shield her from the madness. She twirled the plain silver band and watched when it blinked out of existence. Lucy looked around and saw the last few bits of golden dust float in the air where Loke once was.

She sat back on her heels, "thanks Loke," she whispered before she licked her dry lips and wished for some water. As she slowly coiled her whip, she felt a hand on her shoulder and startled, she looked up. The waitress from this morning was standing there smiling, most importantly she was holding a glass of water.

"You look like you needed that," she said with a small smile on her round face.

"Yeah, thank you," Lucy said as she took a long drink, enjoying the cold water.

"What happened?" she asked as she stood there with her hands in her white apron pockets.

"People went crazy," was about all Lucy could think for an answer. She honestly had no idea what the fuck had happened but was glad Mard warned her to have Loke here. As Lucy thought of him, she hoped he was okay. It felt like he had been gone for an eternity.

"Yeah," the waitress toed one of the sleeping people with her dingy tennis shoe, "a lot of that since this like religious group moved into the woods."

"Religious group?" Lucy asked before she polished off her water.

The young woman shrugged and reached out her slim hand for the empty glass. "Yeah, they came into town like once a month to spout their nonsense and get supplies."

"Did anyone ever go with them?"

"No clue wasn't my thing. Fucking wierdos if you ask me, something about giving into the beauty of madness or whatever. I'm over here like, bitch being crazy isn't beautiful or fun, ask my shrink." The waitress laughed, "anyways, come on in and get a snack. On the house."

Lucy's stomach rumbled and now a snack sounded like an excellent idea. She slowly stood up before she heard the waitress scream and ran back inside the diner. She held her hand up over her eyes and saw Mard in his large dark demon form racing through the sky coming at her.

He landed a few feet away and changed back into his usual self, only holding a book and looking a bit more frazzled than she was feeling. "Rosebud," he said as the pair gravitated to each other and embraced.

"You're okay, where's Corvus?"

"He was attacked by an Abyssal creature and I am assuming went to his native Plane to heal."