Markings: a NaLu/Fairy Tail Fanfic

Dusk falls to Night

(A/N: The first chapter for the re-write is up! (Well, most of it, anyways). Ah, I feel so much better about this fanficiton now that it's all been heavily edited! I hope you like it, and thank you for reading!!

~~~~~ Chapter 1~~~~~

P.O.V. : ?????

An angry growl echoed throughout the stone walls of a large room. There was little question of the sound's source; it was obvious it came from the only one in the position to make such a noise in this place and get away with it: it came from a shadowed figure seated upon an elegant obsidian throne.

The said figure looked at the servant kneeling at the base of the throne in poorly concealed disgust- if he was even attempting to hide it- and fury. "What did you say?" the shadowed figure hissed.

Quivering under the weight of his lord's glare, the servant spoke in a nervous stutter. "Y-your orders, my lord, th-they could not be carried out."

The lord snarled, and flicked his wrist, effectively sending a wall of invisible force at the kneeling man. The servant was taken by surprise, and with a slightly strangled yelp was sent flying back several  feet. "Who was in charge of this mission?"

Scrambling back to his kneeling position, the servant paused for a moment. "My son, my lord." He said in a strangled whisper. He clasped his hands together. "But it wasn't his fault! The mage he and his team faced was too strong! I-if you must take someone, take me instead!" begged the man.

The previous fury in the room seemed to dissipate at once, and as the servant dared to glance upwards, he saw a frown on his master's lips.

"Do you really take me as such a cruel man, servant?" The man queried.

The servant in question blinked, confusion surging over his brain. "W-well-"

The frown transformed into a devilish smirk. "Because you are absolutely right." The man snapped his fingers, directing his voice at one of the 'guards' (it wasn't like he really needed them, he just liked toying with people; it was entertaining) at the entryway to the rather dark room . "You! Bring me this filth's entire family. At once."

The guard's head bobbed up and down hastily. "Yes, my lord! They shall be brought!" Without further ado, the man hurried off, armor clinking annoyingly.

The lord turned back to the now sobbing servant, eyeing him up and down. "Who was it that was powerful enough to stop some of the best of the fighters?" he demanded.

The servant paused his irritating tears for the briefest of moments, while choking out one name.



"Natsu. Natsu Dragneel."



**********************

Later that night, the Lord could be found in his chambers, his hands behind his back and staring out the window. The rain pelted onto it, creating waves of water that streamed down to the levels below. What had had become of the servant? He had brought his whole family in, and had the son watch as he tortured and killed his whole family in front of his eyes. He smirked at the thought of it.

So, Dragneel was the one causing the trouble. Again. The Lord himself knew the mage fairly well himself and despised his very being. Earlier, when he was weaker- he curled his lip in disgust- and not quite in his right mind, when his thoughts had been of nothing but how he just didn't want to harm anything else, he had hoped- ew- that Dragneel would be powerful enough to kill him before he forgot the meaning of life, or whatever the hell it was. He hadn't been, and the Lord had been enraged by a battle that took place where he was-- well, whatever it had been that he hoped, it had been futile. Now Dragneel just annoyed him. And thwarted his plans at times, conciously or unconciously he really had no clue. There had to be a way to get him out of the way, if only-!

"Ah." He muttered.

The lord started pacing back and forth in front of the window. He he ran it through his mind several times over, and came to the conclusion that it had to be his most diabolical plan yet.

Throwing open the doors to his chamber, he bellowed "servant!"

The dead servant's son scurried to his chambers and bowed before him.

"My Lord?" He whispered.

"I have a mission you must carry out." The lord had a maniacal glint in his eyes.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

P.O.V. Natsu Dragneel

Natsu Dragneel, the fire dragonslayer, stared up into the darkening sky as he breathed a contented sigh. His teams' most recent mission had gone quite well; they had completed it in almost no time at all, and they had little trouble-a giant leap from what usually happened on most missions. The dragonslayer suppressed a snort, remembering just how many of them had gone haywire. Pretty much all of them.

Currently, he Lucy, Gray, Happy, and Erza were making their way back to the guild, and Lucy had already retreated into Horologium, the grandfather clock spirit of hers, claiming that it was freezing out. He huffed a breath into the air, watching as a cloud of steam formed and dissipated within moments. Well, it wasn't as if he could feel it too much (being a fire mage and all), but he supposed that if he could see his breath, it must have been cold to some degree.

Heh, degree.

Happy shifted from his place atop Natsu's head. "Aye, Natsu," he squeaked sleepily, "Are we there yet?"

Natsu pouted. "Were you napping and letting me do all the walking for you, again?" He glared half-heartedly at the cat face peeking over his forehead.

"Aye, sir!" The blue cat grinned.

Natsu rolled his eyes. "Whatever. Yeah, we're nearly at the guild, you can get your fish there. Go back to sleep, Happy."

"Fish!" exclaimed Happy, who then promptly fell back into dreamland.

Smiling slightly at the cat's cheerfulness, Natsu continued forward. It was natural that they should feel at ease after completing a mission... The smile turned downwards. But he couldn't help but feel that something... something was about to go terribly wrong.

Natsu wasn't one to ignore his instincts. He kept his guard. After all, if something did happen, he would protect his nakama, no matter what the cost.



Unseen by the Fairy Tail mages, an individual, or rather, individuals, were tailing them.

******************

The team was nearly at the guild when Natsu took notice that Lucy had fallen asleep, her head leaning forward so much that it pressed into the glass door on Horologium.

"Oi," Natsu grinned, "Happy, it looks like you aren't the only one who was tired!"

"Huh?" Happy was confused for a moment until he caught sight of Lucy. "Ohhh, Lushy's napping too!" he giggled.

Erza smiled. "Well, I suppose that we're all weary after walking all that way."

Gray put up a hand. "But she didn't even wal-"

Erza hummed in affirmative, interrupting the ice mage. "Yes, we are all weary from walking such a long way."

Gray muttered something incoherent.

"Well, then, I could take her down to her apartment..." She trailed off, looking hungrily at the guild. "But the strawberry cake is in there..."

Natsu laughed. "Ah, Erza, it's okay, I'll take her!"

"Natsu, can I stay here for my fish?" Happy asked, twirling up in the air around Natsu's head.

"What, there's none at Lucy's house?"

The blue cat giggled. "Nope, I ate it all last time we visited."

"Oh, yeah..." Natsu rubbed the back of his head as he remembered their last trip to Lucy's house-the same spot that Lucy had punched after they walked in on her coming out of the shower. Again. "Well, that's okay, but you shouldn't leave until I come back. Or ask Mira or Lisanna to walk you home if you wanna return before I do, okay?"

Happy gave a little exclamation of joy. "Aye, sir!" He happened to glance at Gray. "Graaaay~" Sang the small cat.

"What?"

"Your clooooothes~"

"Huh-?" Gray's eyes shot down towards his body, which was now missing one coat, shirt, and pair of pants. "What the-! Shit!" He ran off. "I'll see you guys tomorrow!" he called over his shoulder.

Good old Gray and his quirks. Natsu couldn't help but smirk. He didn't have any weird habits.

"Yes, you do," Happy stared at him seriously. "Many, many."

"What?"

"Nothing!"

Erza huffed a smile and grabbed Happy by the tail. "Let's go, Happy." She pushed her way into the guild.

"Charle~!" The dragonslayer heard Happy call for the female cat before the doors swung shut, effectively blocking the jabber and ruckus from the outside world.

Natsu beamed. That was Fairy Tail, alright.

Still smiling widely he crouched down next to Horologium. "Open up," he commanded.

The clock complied. "The time was up, just now. I won't have the need to drop her, now." He said, before giving the pink, er, salmon haired teen a wink and disappearing back to the Celestial World, allowing Lucy to fall neatly into his arms.

Natsu nearly dropped her in shock. Geez, she was freezing.

The blonde smiled in her sleep, snuggling closer to Natsu. "My personal heater..." She mumbled, causing Natsu to burst out in a violent flush, easily out-pinking his hair.

"D-don't say stuff like that!" he stammered. It wasn't as if she could hear him, anyways; she was deep in the grasp of sleep.

Cheeks still colored, Natsu walked the several blocks back to Lucy's apartment, and by the time he had arrived, the sun was just brushing the horizon. Natsu stared at it for a moment. It was so pretty. Hey, just because he was a guy didn't mean he couldn't appreciate beauty. He glanced down at Lucy, then strode up the steps leading into her apartment.

"Where did she leave the key...?" He wondered. Then he shrugged. Well, it wasn't as if he hadn't kicked in the door before. He lifted a leg, making sure not to jostle Lucy. There would be no regrets when Lucy punched his face in tomorrow; he recovered every time. For the most part. He was sure there were some brain cells that he would not recover.

Oh, well. Natsu kicked, but stumbled slightly when his foot met no resistance, the door having swung open at the barest touch.

"What...?"