OUROBOROS' MERCY

II – The first piece

"I'm selfish, impatient and a little insecure. I make mistakes, I am out of control and at times hard to handle. But if you can't handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don't deserve me at my best."
― Marilyn Monroe

Lucy cautiously took the hand Natsu was offering her and shook it. Just because she didn't see him as an immediate threat to her life didn't mean she trusted him, even with the Lion's Restrictive Bond on. She had to admit that the man was unsettling to say the least. A minute earlier, he looked like a pilgrim witnessing the appearance of a saint, now he was grinning at her like a mischievous kid.

"So," he smirked, "you came here alone and you even tied me up. Never would have thought you were into this kind of thing, Luce. So kinky."

"Shut up, pervert," she retorted. "You're my prisoner."

Natsu's smirk widened even more at that.

"That's even naughtier," he noted. "Which is totally fine by me, though."

Lucy rolled her eyes and grabbed his arm to drag him out of the cave. He didn't resist at all and instead chose to ramble on and on about how boring she was.

"I don't need such a suspicious creature as yourself to find me entertaining," she retorted as they neared the exit of the cave.

It was very dark outside now, Lucy knew from experience that if she were to encounter a monster at such a late hour, the fight would be difficult. One of the few things the scientists all agreed on was the extraordinary power boost the monsters experienced as soon as the sun set. Even Natsu should be feeling agitated and show signs of restlessness. Strangely enough, the only thing he was interested in was his conversation with her.

"A suspicious creature?" he repeated with a large grin. "Me? I'm hurt. What makes you think that I'm one?"

Lucy sighed and took a moment to check her surroundings before turning around to face her prisoner.

"Where do I start," she groaned. "You're immortal, you eat fire and you have some pretty impressive mood swings."

She couldn't be sure now that they were out in the dark, but she thought she saw him arch a brow and smirk at her.

"Well, maybe eating fire is my ability. And you're pretty suspicious as well," he retorted. "You're violent, you talk like an old woman and you walk around with magical handcuffs. Are you sure you're not a pervert, Luce?"

She glared at him and turned around without answering him. If he didn't want to tell her about his real identity, she'd have to investigate the matter. She started to wonder if it really was such a good idea to bring this man back with her, though. And she didn't talk like an old woman...

"Just so you know, I'm much nicer than the people that will interrogate you," she warned. "If you don't want to tell me anything about you, it's fine, but they'll force the answers out of y..."

Lucy's mind barely had the time to register what was happening as something suddenly pulled violently on her arm. Her back was slammed against a tree and her prisoner's large hand covered her mouth and immobilized her head. Lucy growled and inwardly cursed herself. She had been way too naive with this guy. He was a monster and she had been deceived. Natsu, if that really was his name, had made one major mistake, though. Just because she couldn't move her head or try to run away didn't mean she had no way to fight back. She pointed the blade of her right gauntlet to his stomach and pressed it against his shirt as a warning. She didn't want to kill him, but she would if she had to.

The man didn't flinch even when he felt the cold metal of the blade against the torn fabric of his shirt. He only stared at her intensely and slowly shook his head.

"Don't move," he whispered, "and be silent."

His voice was so faint she almost didn't hear him. His body was tense, but there was no trace of anxiety or malice in his eyes. Lucy nodded and he slowly removed his hand before turning his head and staring at a specific point Lucy couldn't see, in the complete darkness behind the trees. They waited like that for a moment, but nothing happened and Lucy started to lose patience. She pushed Natsu away from her and glared at him.

"What the hell are you playing at?" she growled.

He kept staring at the trees, though. All of a sudden, he raised his hands between Lucy and himself.

"Take that off," he ordered.

Lucy frowned and checked the forest once more, but saw nothing. He was trying to deceive her, she was sure. If she really were to inactivate the Bond, he'd be free to use his ability and run away. Then again, he could have done so in the cave. Feeling confused, she hesitated.

"Why?" she asked, her voice a bit louder than she had intended. "What's happening?"

A second later, a cracking sound was heard near them. It all happened so fast Lucy barely had the time to react. She raised the blades of her gauntlets when the creature jumped out of the bushes and bared its large teeth at her. Before she could impale it, Natsu suddenly pushed her out of the way and the beast landed on his shoulder before sinking his fangs into the flesh. Natsu roared menacingly and sent the monster flying a few meters away even with the Bond restricting his movements.

"Why did you do that!?" Lucy yelled furiously. "I was going to take it down!"

Natsu glared at her and growled in pain and annoyance.

"Yeah, and you'd have been covered in its poisonous blood," he retorted. "You're welcome."

Lucy froze at this. That thing was poisonous? But then...

"But you just got bitten," she breathed. "Was it..."

"I'll be fine," he interrupted her. "I can't die, remember?"

But he definitely could feel the pain, that much was clear. His wound was deep and bleeding profusely, even for an immortal being it probably hurt like hell. Lucy looked all around her for something that could be used as a compress, but she had forgotten her first aid kit in the village. Since she rarely got hurt to the point of needing emergency care, she tended to believe that she could always treat her wounds when the mission was over.

"We need to stop the bleeding," she mumbled as she finally decided to rip off a part of her shirt to use it to bandage Natsu's shoulder.

The latter sent her a brief glance over his shoulder before gritting his teeth and bracing himself for what was coming.

"Lucy, it's coming back," he roared, "hide behind the tree!"

Indeed, Lucy saw the monster crawl out of the forest, but something else caught her attention. Someone else, actually. The monster now had a leash around the neck and the man holding it was definitely dangerous as well. She couldn't see his face, but Natsu probably couldn't either seeing as he was wearing a coat with a large hood covering his head. Lucy squinted her eyes when she saw that a lot of dark and tiny things were falling from the man's hands.

"He's bleeding," Natsu told her.

Lucy understood how he got those wounds less than a second later as the beast suddenly jumped at him and sank his fangs in the man's left arm. He whimpered in pain and patted the creature's head with his right hand.

"It's okay, it's okay," he wailed. "I'll let you go in a second."

Lucy should have done something to help the man, he was in danger as long as he had that monster with him and the poison would kill him. But she didn't move. She could feel something so wicked emitting from this man that she didn't dare move closer to him. Natsu seemed to be feeling it too, he growled at the man, but didn't move either.

"What does that mean," she asked with a trembling voice.

Why the heck was she so scared? They looked dangerous, but she was definitely powerful enough to beat them up. She didn't really expect the creepy man to answer her, but he did.

"Sorry about that," he laughed nervously. "He's a bit hungry, so yeah... I didn't think the monster would follow you, this is surprising, yeah. The hunters that came before you were beaten to a pulp when they tried to capture him, yeah."

Lucy clenched her fists without even realizing it. His childish way of speaking sounded genuine and it sent chills down her back. The creature attacked its owner once more and the man only looked at it and sighed as the monster chewed on his arm.

"I'm sure bleeding a lot, yeah," he said. "You're a bad boy, Greg."

"Lucy," Natsu called, "get back. I'll deal with them."

The hooded man heard him and reacted before Lucy could. He raised his head, but the hood kept most of it hidden. His chin and mouth were visible, though. Lucy clenched her jaw, but managed not to react at the sight of the carbonized skin and apparent teeth.

"Deal with us?" he repeated. "You're not gonna hurt Greg, yeah? I need Greg to finish my mission. Greg's a female, by the way."

What was that kid's deal? Was he even a kid? Well, as long as he behaved like one, they had a chance.

"We're not going to hurt Greg," Lucy assured. "Can you tell us what your mission is?"

"Lucy," Natsu growled, "back off."

Lucy saw the burnt skin stretch in what she supposed was an attempted smile. The creature once again pounced on him and this time, Lucy heard the sound of something being torn. The hooded man ignored the monster despite the thing violently shaking his body and nervously rubbed the back of his neck.

"It's a secret," he chuckled. "But you're cute, so I'll tell ya. The old man of the village's poor, so he asked master to kill 30 hunters, yeah? But master didn't want me to kill them, so he gave me Greg and this."

When the first guilds of hunters appeared, the first fraudsters did as well and stole money from the victims, pretending they could get rid of any monster. The royal guards couldn't put a stop to this, so the king added a new law to the current ones, stating that if a town was still suffering from monster attacks even after the intervention of 30 hunters, said town would receive a large amount of money to hire soldiers and build defensive walls. It was commonly named the consolation prize law.

Both Natsu and Lucy tensed when the hooded man put his hands in his pockets, but he only took out a sheet of paper that had been folded. He mumbled while reading it and smiled when he found what he had been looking for.

"Here," he said, "this line: Use the drokorn to make everyone believe that the demon is the culprit. It's Greg, the drokorn. Is he your boyfriend?"

He pointed to Natsu and Lucy shook her head, feeling glad that he was being so cooperative.

"No, he's not," she answered. "Can you tell us what happened to the civilians who disappeared? Seven children and three women?"

The hooded boy shrugged.

"Dunno. Never saw them around. Maybe the old geezer killed them himself?"

Lucy tried her best not to react to his words. Maybe the chief had lied and everyone was safe. Maybe he was only hiding them somewhere. Was it naive of her to hope that he couldn't have done such a thing?

"So," she went on, "the town's leader wants to get the consolation prize and your master ordered you to make sure that no hunter would manage to beat Nat... the demon?"

She did her best to sound friendly and used words even children could understand, which seemed to work very well. Even Natsu had stopped growling at her every time she tried to communicate with the strange man, whose creature was still trying to bite his arm off. Lucy grimaced when she heard the bone break and saw more blood running down his arm.

"That's right, yeah," he beamed. "But the demon's too strong, so no one managed to beat him, anyway! Master told me the 30th would come tonight and he was right, yeah! I thought the demon would beat you up, but he didn't, so I have to kill you."

Lucy gulped, things were getting out of hand. The hooded man apologized and let go of the monster's leash. The latter obviously didn't waste a second and ran toward her. Once again, things were happening too quickly and Natsu once again went to stand between her and the creature. Lucy was ready this time, though. She had made a fool out of herself once and had to be protected by her prisoner, who got hurt badly in the process. She was ashamed and furious at herself. Gritting her teeth, she inactivated the Lion's Restrictive Bond and switched back to the offensive mode. She was ready to shoot in less than three seconds, but since she didn't have enough time or control to gather all her power, she'd use about 5%.

"Duck," she yelled at Natsu when the creature leaped forward.

Probably more out of curiosity than fear, the young man obeyed her. She unleashed 5% of the Lion's offensive power in her attack and it was enough to wipe the creature off the map along with the trees in her line of fire. For a little while that seemed to last for hours, neither she nor Natsu could see a thing ahead of them because of the large clouds of dirt and earth which wafted in front of them. It took at least two long minutes for the cold wind to clear the path ahead and when it did, a smug smile appeared on the young woman's lips as she heard her prisoner whistle. She had dug a large 2 miles long trench.

"Impressive," he sang.

Lucy shrugged, trying to act indifferent. The truth was that the Lion's offensive power was so powerful she couldn't even use it fully. If she tried to fire at more than 20% of its capacity, several bones would break in her body.

"That was nothing," she bragged. "Barely enough to warm up. Now that we're done here, let's take you to a doc..."

She froze and stared stupidly ahead of her as a staggering figure tottered out of the bushes and fell to its knees, coughing and crying. The mutilated boy had survived the attack. His clothes had been almost entirely burned down by the Lion's blow and now that his skin was mostly exposed, Lucy was glad that it was so dark. Natsu struggled to stand back up and smirked when he saw how stunned the young woman was.

"Where did all your confidence from earlier go?" he asked. "Don't tell me you're scared of scars."

Lucy gulped, but didn't bother answering. She could hear a slightly tense tone in his voice, he was just as wary as she was. The other boy had disgusting fresh scars, horrifying burns and deep lacerations all over his ghostly pale body, only one ear, empty and bloody eye sockets, and no nose. Lucy was happy she couldn't properly see him because all of the missing parts seemed to have been freshly cut off, strips of flesh dangled from the wounds and blood was flowing profusely. She gritted her lips when she heard his cries.

"Hur...ts so much..." he whined. "Help... dad... hurts..."

Lucy clenched her fists and bit back a sob. He wasn't supposed to survive such a powerful attack, she had killed much larger monsters using only 2 or 3% of her power... He was in so much pain it broke the hunter's heart. The boy had come to kill her, but he obviously was obeying someone else's orders. He probably didn't even understand that his behavior was wrong. A powerful hand firmly grabbed her wrist and thus stopped her from sinking deeper and deeper in her dark thoughts.

"Don't feel guilty, Luce," Natsu growled. "This kid is wicked. I can feel it with every fiber of my body..."

Lucy didn't answer him and instead kept her eyes on the agonizing boy. Even if the boy was as wicked as Natsu seemed to think, it was no reason to hurt him so much.

"We have to help him..." she started.

Natsu didn't even have enough time to protest as the boy lifted his head and turned it toward them. A disgusted thrill ran down Lucy's back at the stomach-churning sight. Even with empty eye sockets, she could feel the boy's attention on her and it was deeply unsettling.

"Mean," the boy growled between two sobs. "You're so mean... I hate you..."

He crouched down and his muscles tensed as his growls got louder, it truly was a terrifying sight. He shifted and Lucy instinctively moved to stand in front of Natsu. It was her fault that he was hurt and there was no way he'd be able to fight in his condition.

"The hell are you..."

Before her prisoner could pull her back, Lucy saw the mutilated boy jump forward right before a large shadow appeared right in front of her. The corpse of Greg the drokorn fell at her feet and the mutilated boy stopped dead in his tracks, staring at the shadow.

"Take the monster with you," the shadow ordered. "Congratulations, you took down the beast that had been terrifying the village and even discovered that the chief of the village had unleashed it to get his hands on the consolation prize. I suggest that you keep quiet about this boy when you give your report to the Council, unless you want to try and explain to them why you want to keep this other monster alive."

He had a cavernous voice that made Lucy feel cold and deeply ill at ease and prevented her from forming any rational thought. They were dangerous beings and her duty as a hunter was to keep them from getting away, that much was obvious. But she found herself unable to move. And even if she could, would she want to? Her mission was a success, both Natsu and herself would be allowed to leave this place alive, the situation was much more complicated than she had expected and she didn't want to die for the sake of some old bastards that wouldn't even bat an eye if they learned that she had died.

"Hey, who the hell are you calling a monster?"

Lucy was pulled out of her paralyzed state when she heard Natsu's displeased voice. She slowly started to feel warmer and the persistent queasiness that the shadow brought with him started to fade away. She turned her head to look at him and found him standing straight to glare at the shadow, his right fist aflame.

Lucy heard a deep sigh and assumed it came from the shadow as its shape shifted.

"I only came here to put an end to the fight you were going to start," the shadow explained. "I don't intend to fight you and you wouldn't stand a chance against me in your current condition."

Natsu smirked and his flames grew brighter and larger.

"I beg to differ," he countered. "I have several questions and I'll punch the answers out of you if I have to."

The shadow shifted again and a large ray of darkness suddenly flung itself at the fire eating moron. The latter was thrown a few feet away and Lucy winced when she heard his body collide with the cave. She heard a snigger she once again assumed came from the shadow before the latter answered with a smug voice.

"Maybe next time."

Another strong gust of wind and he was gone, leaving Lucy alone with the dead drokorn. She stood there without moving an inch. You know that sick feeling in your gut when you realize you've just made one huge mistake? That was how Lucy felt now that she had let them go. Natsu suddenly appeared by her side, a hand pressed to his left side.

"They're gone?" he winced in pain and growled. "Cowards, they know I'd have kicked their asses..."

Natsu leaned on her all the way down and she heard him pant and hiss a few times. It took them quite some time to do so, but when they reached the foot of the mountain, Lucy sighed in relief. Before they started to climb down, she had used her portable lacrima to contact the master. She told him that the chief of the village was responsible for the attacks and asked for reinforcements and medical help, but didn't say a word about the shadow and the mutilated boy. Since Natsu was in such a bad condition, it took them almost three hours to reach the foot of the mountain, but the reinforcements were there when they finally did.

Since there was no hunter from Fairy Tail near the area, one of its allied guilds, Sabertooth, had sent three of its most powerful hunters to help them out. Rogue was tying the village chief's hands in his back while Sting and Orga were busy knocking out anyone trying to interfere.

"You have the right to remain silent," said Rogue in a monotonous voice.

"You have no idea what you're doing," roared the old man, "this village's doomed without me!"

Sting punched one more man before turning to growl at the old geezer.

"He just told you to shut up, dammit."

Lucy was in very good terms with the three of them, but she didn't want them to start asking questions about Natsu. She took a step back, still supporting her injured prisoner, and pointed at a dark alley.

"Go wait for me there," she whispered. "I won't be long."

The young man nodded and walked away in silence. A minute after that, Sting turned around and saw her. He offered her a large, bright smile and waved at her. Lucy smiled back and approached the small team. She took her friends to the inn where her things were and they settled for the night, Lucy immediately changing to her civilian clothes. They took care of the official procedure, arrested the village chief and seven accomplices before sending an official report to the Council. They also sent messengers to warn the royal guards and request the arrival of an officer to rule over the area while waiting for the Council's decision.

"It's already morning," Sting yawned. "I'm beat. How long til the guards finally show up?"

Orga shrugged and yawned.

"I believe they'll be here shortly," Rogue answered. "But the medical team will take more time since we told them there was no emergency."

Lucy yawned and nodded as well, too tired to really care about all this official stuff. She was grateful to have these guys with her, they really were a huge help. What mattered was that the royal guards were coming and the medical team would come a bit later. Why did she even ask for a medical team in the first place? The young woman's eyes widened as she remembered her injured prisoner. Shit.

"I think I should go back to the guild," she said while jumping to her feet. "Master was worried and I have several things to tell him. Will you guys be alright?"

Sting arched a brow, but Rogue nodded with a neutral face.

"Of course," he assured. "Don't worry and get some rest."

She offered him her sweetest smile and kissed his cheek before grabbing her bag and running out of the inn where they were keeping the chief and his accomplices. Outside, the sun was only starting to rise and the cold wind bit her limbs through her clothes. Shit, Natsu had been alone in the street all night long when it was this cold. Worst of all, she couldn't even remember where she had left him... She ran through the village for a moment before the sound of someone coughing caught her attention. Behind an old dumpster in a small alley, she found her prisoner on all fours, emptying his stomach on the street. He wiped his mouth with the sleeve of his shirt and glanced at her with tired eyes before sending her a childish smile. He had huge dark circles under his eyes and he had sweated so much that his hair was stuck to his forehead.

"I finally got rid of the poison," he said. "I feel much better now. You don't look too good, though. You should get some sleep."

Lucy sighed and shook her head, massaging the bridge of her nose. She was such a freaking moron sometimes. How could she have forgotten about him? She glanced at him with guilty eyes and felt even worse when she saw him smile at her. She was exhausted, but she still had enough energy to do that. She took out a golden ring from her pocket and put it on her finger, taking a deep breath in.

"What are you doing?" Natsu asked with squinted eyes.

"You'll see."

She kneeled beside him and activated the power of the ring. The Zodiac Gears could only be used by someone possessing the ability called Cosmos and Lucy was only the second person in History to have received it. While it was a powerful power that could be used in many different ways, it also usually required a lot of energy. She took out a water bottle out of her bag and opened it before sending Natsu a dark look.

"Don't go imagining things, ok?"

She brought the bottle to her lips and took a mouthful of water. The ring on her finger shone a beautiful blue color and Lucy's hand reached up. She gently grabbed the back of his neck and pressed her lips to his. The young man froze in astonishment until he felt her thumb press against his bottom lip. He opened his mouth and swallowed the water she had been keeping in hers. Immediately, he felt his body relax and the pain subsided greatly.

He didn't push her away, but she leaned back on her own. He would have smirked when he saw that she was slightly blushing, but he was still too dumbstruck to react.

"Um... what?" he only asked.

Lucy wiped her chin and shrugged, trying and miserably failing to act as if she wasn't affected by any of this.

"It's thanks to the ring of Pisces," she explained. "It allows me to change the properties of water, but I have to be touching it directly. I'm not powerful enough to heal someone, but you should be feeling less tired now."

The young man stared at her in amazement and she started to feel embarrassed. Just how intense could his gaze get? He finally grinned like a child on Christmas Day and nodded at her.

"Sure do," he assured. "Guess I'll get poisoned more often. Why don't you drink some of your magical water too? You look tired as hell."

Lucy ignored his playful comment and fought the blush that threatened to worsen as she shrugged.

"The amount of energy it takes for me to use my power directly on my own body is always considerable for some reason," she explained, "it's not worth it."

The young man frowned at this explanation.

"What about the armor you were wearing back then?"

"It appeared thanks to the Lion's power, but it didn't directly affect my body."

The young man jumped to his feet with a bright smile and offered her hand.

"I see, I see," he sang. "Well, I can't wait to see what else you can do with that awesome power of yours. Guess I'll follow you to your guild."

Lucy arched a brow at him and smirked as she stood up on her own.

"You sure look confident," she noted. "Just so you're prepared, you'll meet a lot of people much stronger than me there."

Natsu smirked back.

"I'll just have to show them all that I'm even stronger than they are," he said with a cocky smile.

Lucy rolled her eyes and inwardly sniggered. She couldn't wait to introduce him to Erza.

End of chapter 2