Song: Hear It, See It, And Feel It
By: Dominik A. Hecker

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~Natsu~

I must be going insane. I have to be. My throat was parched, head dizzy due to the hunger gnawing inside me, and the voice that continued to talk. In a way, it was comforting to talk to someone. If I were alone I'm sure I'd beat my head into the rocks by now. "Hey Natsu, you haven't said anything today! Are you feeling alright?" The idea of talking hurt my esophagus. If I am this dehydrated then I must be on my third possibly fourth day of being in this cave, and also nowhere near to gaining my Sight of the Gods. Did I honestly waste five days of trying to find Lucy? Am I really that big of an idiot? "Hey...are you okay?" The voice was soft-spoken, almost whispering now. "I'm sure I can find some water for you-"

"No," I said with authority. Though my voice was scratchy and gruff, after having a coughing fit, I said it again. "No. Thank you for helping, but if I can't reach my Sight then I can't save her!" The voice knew who I was talking about. For the past few days, we got closer. I told him or her about Lucy, and why I was here in order to save her. It was nice for someone to just listen to me rather than call me a moron. "Can I be honest?" The voice asked, this time sounding different. It was becoming more feminine now, and the still cold air became even more chilly. "I think you can do better. You've already been here for four days and still, you have accomplished nothing. After the second day, you let your guard down and told me everything. You allowed me to wander into your mind..."

"What're you talking about?" I pushed aside the strain of my voice and stood on my feet, including the one that was still wounded. "Come on Natsu, you should know how your guild thinks of you. Some meathead that is so dim-witted that he can't even think for a second that a voice in a cave is actually a friend? I've seen your dreams, as well as your nightmares. Or are they premonitions? You can't even tell the difference can't you?" I tried to ignite my fists, but to no avail would they come to life. I forgot the land is cursed. Or... maybe the voice has cursed this wretched place. "Where the hell are you?!"

"I am everywhere. And at this point, I have embedded myself in your mind. Allow me to show you, Natsu Dragneel, the powers of a living demon." Demon?! Did this person just say demon!? I felt what must have been a blade enter my back that I released a yell, but when I reached to see how badly I was bleeding, there was nothing. "To make you believe you were punctured by a shorthand sword is only the beginning. I have scoured every inch of your small mind. There's nothing you can't hide from me. I know all your secrets and all~ your fears."

"I trusted you! I can't believe I actually trusted you!" I bellowed out holding myself through the excruciating pain still in my back. 'I know it isn't real, but why can't I make my body believe me?'

"Because I control your mind now, baby." I swung my fist just to hit nothing but kept swinging until the pain entered where my liver was. An agonizing scream left me until I was hunched over. Nothing I was saying didn't sound true to me. No matter how many times I said the wounds weren't real, or that the voice was just a voice, I still felt the stabs of the invisible blade plunge deep within my muscles. All I can do was scream my lungs out.

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Gray

"What's the meaning of this!?" The orb was only showing the brutal torment of my comrade. His body twisting and kicking as if he was some feral dog being kicked that I couldn't even look anymore. The Giver and Hades only sat with a blank expression. "Don't just sit there! DO SOMETHING!"

"His trial has now started. The demon was very clever waiting for the Dragon Slayer out to his weakest state. With dehydration, hunger, and the power over his mind, Natsu must now fight against the hold of the demon." One of my comrades shouted at the old lady. "But it isn't fair! Natsu's weak it isn't a fair fight!" Hades closed his eyes. "Do you believe a demon would fight fairly? Because as far as I've known about demons, they do as they wish. Regardless of fighting without honor, all they wish for the outcome is them standing in victory. This is not a battle of honor. This is now a battle for Natsu's soul." All I could just do was stand, helpless. I was helpless and powerless to do anything to help Natsu. He was completely alone, and with the way, the orb is showing... Natsu isn't going to make it through this. "Come on Natsu-san! You have to fight against its hold!" Wendy shouted to the orb fully determined for him to hear her. Happy, still holding Natsu's scarf, wept with his paw out. "Nat-zu! Come back to us! You said you would come back to Fairy Tail! For Lucy!"

I knew there was no way he can hear us. For four days we would sit and watch Natsu, all of us staring at our comrade just slowly slipping away. If the Giver did this for a millennium then how could Natsu, a human being, stand through this for five days? There was no chance against this fiend. The child of Aini waited Natsu out until he was in this state of weakness. "Am I really going to lose my best friend?" I muttered now holding my stomach as if it was torn out of me. I punched that bastard before he left. I didn't even get the chance to actually tell him I was proud. I'm proud of Flame Breath for finally growing up. "I can't just stand here and watch this unfold!" I moved closer to the Giver, at this point pleading to her. "Take me to him! Let me help Natsu!"

"You can't. This is the point of either fighting off the demon's hold, or die trying." My fist slammed through the wood table. Only she didn't jump from my anger, but instead just glanced at me with those sown eyes. "He's already dying. There's no way he can possibly fight off the demon's power in his condition. He needs help how can you just sit there and watch this!?" The old woman sat there when I noticed her lips fell for just a moment until returning to a thin line. "I can watch this...because I was in the state he was in for a long time in that cave." Now her face expressed anger. "I witnessed my worst fears before my very eyes that I tore them out from the amount of sanity I lost in that cave. I thought it was the demon that tore my eyes out until I could feel them in my hands. The child of Aini is willing to do anything to break the soul of anyone that enters its prison. For the longest time, I was in its clutch until I finally broke free of the hold and earned my Sight. But I lost my eyes in the process, and as well as hope for mankind for the things the demon showed me. That was until Lucy appeared, and the hope that died in that cave came back to life for the sake of humanity. If your comrade realizes the sacrifice he must make then he will know how to free himself."

"Don't tell me he has to give his eyes!" The Giver glared. "No, he doesn't have to give his eyes! How many times must I say that?" Hades turned to me this time and spoke. "Gray, fighting against a demon is not physical. A demon will bend its victim until it gets what it wants. That demon in the cave showed the Giver so much chaos and destruction that she took her own eyes. It wasn't but for a long time until the Giver came to her senses and shattered her bonds from the demon. What you're witnessing right now is the bonds clasping onto Natsu. The question is, will he break his bonds before the fifth day's end?"

"He will." Both beings looked at me surprised at what I said. "I know I'm a hardass on him, but he's the strongest person I have ever met. Natsu can do this before time is up. I'm not scared for him anymore, now I'm just waiting for his slow ass to hurry up." I returned my gaze to the orb. Natsu, struggling to even stand continued to throw his fists until his mute screams tore from his lungs. "What will he have to sacrifice? If not his eyes then what?" The Giver tensed her leathery hands, for a moment reliving when she must've been in the cave. "The demon will sway Natsu into sacrificing something he holds. It could a physical price, or even a mental or emotional. It's the child of Aini that decides what he loses."

"Not unless he beats the demon first. I know he can do it." Eventually, the Giver eased her locked fists. "I wish it could end that way..."

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~Natsu~

A sudden force shoved me back into the floor of the cave. My body aches and begged for me to just give in and let the demon take whatever it wanted. Then I thought of my Guild, and of Lucy's heart stopping at any moment in time. I could still hear the faintness of her heartbeat winding down, slowing to a stop. It was her heart that gave me the strength to pull myself to stand once more. "It's a real shame I have to consume your soul. You were one of the nicer people I've talked to in a while. But what can I say, a demon needs to eat."

"You can go back to Hell," I growled whilst holding my liver that wasn't bleeding but felt wounded by the unseen blade. "I wish I could! Better than being stuck here where your Gods entrapped me. And with the way your soul smells, you have a connection with the Gods. Your woman is a close relative, isn't she? Interesting..." I clawed in front of me only to fall back down to my knees. "Don't even talk about her!"

"Who? Talk about your immortal soulmate...Lucy Heartfilia?" I never told the voice her full name! The demon really is in my head now. If I didn't try to stop it from seeing every memory or thought I had then it'll really know all my weaknesses and fears! I thought of a blank void, like the one where I was trapped by Solantir's flame. A white, open room that was vast and empty. "Don't make me do it the hard way baby. I always get what I want. I really~ want to see your adventures with Fairy Tail. They all look so sweet... and delicious~." I could feel my skull pulsating as what felt like nails clawing inside my cranium. "GET! OUT!"

"Don't tell me what to do mister. You really don't want to see my bad side." I felt a memory of mine fading. It included Lucy, I know it did because it was one of my most cherished memories.

Our first kiss.

"My my! She looks awful with those hideous scars! How can you love something so gross?" The memory was changing, or being manipulated by the demon. Lucy was changing form before my very eyes in my memory. Her scars were being erased as her sweet brown chocolate eyes were morphing into a different color. Her hair became darker until there was a red tint to her blonde streaks. Then I saw the beauty mark near her left eye. This wasn't Lucy I was kissing anymore. As her emerald irises gazed into mine, her mouth placed itself over my lips and unlike my dream when I rejected her, I pulled her lips even closer.

I was kissing Vivian. The woman in my dream.

"NO! STOP IT NOW!!!" A surge of power helped me stand and throw my head into the wall of my prison. I felt blood scaling down my forehead until I knew the memory changed itself back to me kissing Lucy. "Now this became more interesting! I saw that dream of yours a while back but was confused by it. But now I understand. It all makes sense now of your greatest fear!" I was too helpless to even turn myself back to the darkness of the cave. My greatest fear has been found and there was nothing I could do to make the demon forget. "Please don't," I begged still holding my head that had a thunderous storm whirling inside. "Don't say it! I'm begging you please don't!"

"It's not losing the woman you love that you fear the most," I couldn't hold it back anymore. The tears I held back overcame me that I whimper also escaped. "It's the fear of you moving on from her. This woman that you just kissed, you fear that you will love another woman after the death of your..." The demon started to cackle at me. "Is she even your soulmate!? By what I've seen you move on veeery~ quickly. Who knows that you don't even love-"

"I SAID ENOUGH!!!" The ground beneath my feet shattered and caused the walls of the cave to tremble. Dust fell around us as the rocks fumbled around me. "I won't say it again demon! I LOVE LUCY WITH ALL MY HEART! I will never betray her even after death! You can screw yourself and screw your tricks! GO! TO! HELL!!!" I felt the immense power, no, energy of the Gods coursing in my veins. For the first time in four days, I felt light. But it wasn't the sunlight or a light from a candle or even fire. It was the pure rays of the Gods warmth that light emitted itself. It was coming out from me and showing me a world that I could see even in the darkness. Through EarthLand's core, I could see magic itself traveling through the roots of trees and the water of every river that carried it. I watched a flower bloom to life exactly forty miles West of where the cave lied. The land itself was holy, keeping the demon at bay and encasing it in this cave.

And I just destroyed the cave.

Rubble of the rocks surrounded me still holding magic within it. I felt my eyes still closed but could see every finite detail of the Realm I swore to protect. And there, standing before me, was a being that held the most corrupted energy I have ever seen. It was the voice, and for once I can actually see its form. "There you are..." My eyes still closed I was already kicking the demon in the chest hearing it wheeze the amount of power I had in me. It rolled a couple feet away coughing and gasping for air. "You-You obliterated the cave! How-How did-" I didn't care. The next second I was standing over it and clasped my hand around its throat. With my sense of touch, I actually felt skin. And with the narrow throat it had, I believed it was a female. Now that I had the demon in my clutch I wasn't afraid to open my eyes anymore. I received my Sight, and now it was time to kill the demon in front of me. My eyes opened only to face the gorgeous brown eyes I had fallen for. "Please let me go Natsu! You're hurting me!"

"Lucy?" I breathed. My arm picked her off the ground as she wrapped her hands around my fist that gripped her throat. Her lips were turning blue, eyes pouring out tears from the amount of pain she was in. "I-I can't br-eathe." She whispered to me. Her grip was becoming weaker. "Na-ts-u..."

It's only the demon.

The voices. The ones that spoke to Lucy. They were talking to me again!

"How do you know!?" I yelled glaring around me even though they were just in my head.

It takes the form of something you love so you will spare it. It has no original form, Natsu Dragneel. To finally be rid of the demon you must simply extinguish it. Must We take over and do it for you?

"Nat-su..." The Lucy in front of me let go of my wrist. She looked lifeless before me. "Oh Gods, Lucy!"

That isn't Our stupid mutt. You must kill the demon.

"Just shut up!" I gently set Lucy on the ground before putting my ear close to her lips. She was barely breathing; I had to save her. "Hang on Lucy, I'll save you."

No! You must use your Sight! Demons do not hold a soul of their own which means this is not Lucy!

"I don't care! I don't care if it is a demon! It has Lucy's face and her voice! How can I kill someone that precisely resembles her?!" I heaved in frustration while my hand tilted Lucy's head up. I began to lean down to give her mouth to mouth.

Look in her eyes then. If it really is the stupid horrid mutt then tell Us if she has those irises you love so much.

I halted. Maybe...maybe they were right. I'm not thinking straight. I just obliterated the prison it was in for who knows how long! Why can't I let my heart stop making decisions for me and actually think for once!?

"Too slow..." The next second something impacted my head that I saw stars. The world was spinning making me unable to pull myself up straight until I knew the woman I loved shifted her appearance. Now I was facing Vivian as she smirked with vice. "Should have listened to the Balance, baby. Now I'm going to consume your soul and pay a little visit to your ex-girlfriend after we're done here." Vivian kneeled before me then grabbed my chin to pull my face closer to her. Her hideous green eyes stared me down almost making me shiver from how cold they were. "My soul won't taste good. That's all I say." I said completely nonchalant. Vivian rolled her eyes only to just slap my cheek with incredible force. Yep, it stung. A bruise will be there tomorrow. "All humans are the same. Egotistic, greedy, and full of sarcasm! Honestly, when does it ever end with the petty comebacks?!" The demon adjusted her hair that for a moment I thought I was actually looking at a human. After licking her lips, Vivian yanked my head back by pulling my hair. "Open wide~."

I felt my mind being split open like a coconut. All my repressed memories and emotions spurred out like a dam breaking. I witnessed memories that I couldn't recall before, learning things I haven't even known or heard until now. Everything was slipping from my grasp, Vivian was consuming my very essence taking away the very meaning of who I am. I'm powerless to do anything, I can't even fight from how weak I feel. There was no control anymore, nothing but the pit of what I assumed must be her stomach. It was cold. So, terribly... cold.

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Gray

"Wh...What just happened?" Jellal questioned. We just witnessed everything. From the cave exploding to Natsu screaming at the air around him holding the false Lucy, and now an unknown woman who I've never seen before...just consumed Natsu's soul. I haven't felt such hopelessness when Lucy was the Dark One. It felt like everything we did was all for nothing. We sent Natsu to his death and none of us tried to intervene. "We failed. We failed Lucy." I deflated, and before I could make sense of what's happening, I fell to the ground right on my ass. The atmosphere became dark while my eyes lingered onto the orb. Natsu's body was just sitting there unmoving. You would think he was in deep thought or napping, but it wasn't true. I watched his soul being consumed by that demon. He was gone. We didn't have Sight or Natsu to bring Lucy back...

"No, dear Fairies, this is now the time for him to strike. His soul will cause him to relive his most emotional memories which will either cause an effect that will take root of the demon or let him forever be trapped in the belly of that beast." The Giver swiped the orb that now we were just seeing a black screen. "What is this?" Makarov asked still keeping his eyes on the orb. "We are about to watch Natsu's final moments and see if he succeeds once and for all."

"Succeed!? HIS SOUL WAS EATEN!!!" I screamed pointing directly at the orb. Hades stepped in. "Yes, his soul was eaten. But, Natsu gained Sight and now all he must do is shatter the hold of his imprisonment and his soul will return back to the host! It is possible, Fairy Tail, yet the chances of success are primly low. Only one other being has ever won against the pit of a demon's stomach." Cana slapped her hand on the table. "Lemme guess, this old bag right here?" She pointed to the Giver. "Y-Yes it was me. Don't you see everyone! Natsu has done the impossible in only four days whereas it took me thousands of years! I now believe Natsu can escape the demon and extinguish it once and for all!"

"How come you didn't extinguish it?" I folded my arms arching my eyebrow. The Giver showed a grim frown. "Without my eyes, I was helpless at the time. All I wanted after I finished was to escape once and for all! It's really my fault that this child of Aini still exists. If I had only extinguished its existence then maybe Natsu's favor would have played out better."

"That isn't true, Giver," Mira spoke up before stepping closer. "If Natsu doesn't fight the child of Aini, then we have not found an easier way to reach Lucy. In a way, you helped Natsu grow stronger."

"I wish it were true, but I am only a coward. I hide in darkness and witness millions of possibilities of the future and instead of telling the fortunes of kindhearted souls, I only tell the Gods for their schemes. It-..." Hades put both of his hands around the Giver's shoulder as if to silence her. "Speak no more friend. You may tell them something you wish you hadn't." Reluctantly, the Giver agreed. Happy, sobbing his eyes out, pointed to the orb. "What's happening to Natsu's soul!?"

"Reliving his final moments. The ones his soul cherished the most. What you are about to see is his greatest weakness. Let us hope he will make it his strength to survive." We resume to staring into the orb. The empty void was twisting and turning with various colors, and before I knew I was looking at Lucy's apartment. Natsu and Lucy were sharing a bed together as they held and slept together in each other's arms. "Oh, Natsu..." Erza wept clutching Jellal for support. I peered closer to see if I could see anything else. Until we heard something come for the orb. "Hey, Sleepyhead."

Lucy just spoke.

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~Natsu~

"Hey, Sleepyhead." Now I was surrounded by warmth. The familiar limbs that secured my chest linked behind onto my back as her chest was resting next to me. Her scent lingered my nose that I almost moaned with a rush. I haven't smelled her sweet scent since Aria. It's been so long since I've held the love of my life in my arms. "Come on now, you gotta wake up." I struggled to open my eyes, but when I did I couldn't close them again.

There were her brown irises staring into my soul. The innocent chocolate eyes I had fallen for were looking at me, mesmerizing me into a trance. "Lucy." I breathed when she giggled. "You've been asleep for awhile you know? Shouldn't we go to the Guild and start a mission?"

"No, let's stay in bed." I pulled her closer wrapping my hands on her shoulders gliding them down her arms. I wanted to remember her curves and the softness of her skin, and the way Lucy's long hair tickled me every time they flowed over my face. "You're being a lazy bum you know? I know you miss the Guild." Lucy propped her head with her hand to gaze down. My head was still glued to the feathered pillow until I hid into her chest. "Don't make me go, Luce. I can't live another second without you in my life." My body was suddenly shaking with fear. With the way all of this was so perfect I knew it wasn't real. Lucy and I only shared this once and she was still injured with her torn back. We couldn't hold each other this closely from the fear of her wounds reopening. Now I can hold her, and touch her and love her. I wanted to stay and be with Lucy. "The Guild needs you Natsu. I need you."

"But I'm right here." Lucy gently shushed me, her nails now combing through my salmon locks. "You know what I mean Natsu. If you don't fight then I'll never see you again. I can't protect you from the dangers coming." I pulled my head back to look at Lucy. Her eyes were tearing up as she still smiled. "I have made countless mistakes. From hiding so many secrets from you to trying to end my immortal life. I've betrayed your trust. Natsu, I am so sorry for everything I've put you through."

"Please don't apologize Lucy." I pulled myself to sit whilst taking Lucy's hands into mine. Gently I brought them to my lips, kissing every single knuckle softly. Lucy's bloodied tears fell down her cheeks when she placed her hands over my cheeks. "You know what you have to do Natsu. Don't let me stop you from bringing me back, and save the Guild." I was uncontrollable from the amount of shaking my body was doing. I felt like a leaf on a windy Autumn day about to fall from its twig. "Please, Natsu, remember this and only this." Lucy pulled my face less than an inch away from her. "I will always love you. Dead or alive, I am a part of you. I will never be far from you because you and I are soulmates. We will always find a way back to each other. You have saved me more than once, I know you can do it one more time." Lucy filled the gap between us when she placed a kiss on our lips. It was the same sweet strawberry and vanilla taste that I yearned. Even as we both were silently crying, my heart shattering by knowing I was leaving her once more, I knew I had to defeat the demon that has entrapped my soul. Lucy was my greatest weakness, but she was also my greatest strength to continue to fight. If it meant I could bring her back then nothing could prevent me from succeeding. "I love you, Lucy." I whispered in between our long, overdue kiss. "I love you too, Natsu."

I will do everything in my power to bring the woman I love back...

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Gray

Natsu's final moments were done after they parted from this kiss. The orb faded and returned to its original form of being a purple, glass ball. No one in the Guild Hall knew what to say. All of his comrades witnessed what must have been his most vulnerable state. A part of him we have never seen aside from Lucy. What I saw was a man that desperately wanted to be with the woman he loves. Natsu was to the point of letting the demon have his soul if it weren't for the projection of the Lucy he knew to talk him to coming back to the Guild. This was the real Natsu. A dumbass with a romanticized heart. "Damn." Gajeel broke the ice for all of us with his one comment. "Just...damn." He said again after crossing his arms and looking down at his boots.

"If I had known Natsu could love someone so much I would have taken him more seriously. The man lives and breathes brawls and missions for Gods sake!" Max exclaimed holding his broom with sappy eyes. Makarov placed his hand on the orb until closing his eyes. "I knew their love was strong, but I had never known how close they were until witnessing this. Their souls are truly connected. Even before the Souls Connection, they must have been soulmates not by mistake. Their love for one another is pure unlike any other form of love I have ever seen." Master Makarov removed his hand. "Giver, what has happened to Natsu?"

The old woman and Hades looked at each other talking without their lips then looked back at us. "Do you wish to see?" The Bringer asked. "Yes, please show us what happened to our nakama." I said in return wanting to know where he was. The Giver once again tapped the orb with her index finger bringing the orb to life once more. "Show me: Natsu Dragneel." Now all I could do was hope. Hoping he fought and won from inside the demon and returned to his body. Hoping he hadn't succumbed to his weakness. Hoping that my brother would return home.

The image the orb was showing was fuzzy from smoke and dust. Whatever happened it looked like a sandstorm near impossible to see what happened. Then I saw an image standing. The same vest that flicked the air at his knees and his spiky hair that was untamed danced with the wind. Steam rose from his skin with his eyes staring far beyond EarthLand. In front of him was the body of the demon. All that was left of the corpse was the strawberry blonde hair and dulled emerald eyes staring longingly at the now starry sky. Natsu's fourth day was finished.

"He did it." I murmured. "He defeated the demon. Natsu has the Sight of the Gods." I towered over the orb. All I witnessed was Natsu closing his eyes from his thousand-yard stare and then collapsing to the ground.

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As always... love you all!❤️