A Fairy Tail Gratsu.

Narrator's POV

       It was peaceful in the ryokan. Too peaceful. Sure, Lucy was on her own with Happy (who was currently sat on a warm rock in the boy's Onsen) so there were no icy, fiery or pillowy projectiles flying around, and Lucy would be the last to admit it, but she'd grown so used to Gray and Natsu's antics and Erza's rather aggressive interventions that it unsettled her to hear nothing. Peace and quite were things best forgotten when you were on Team Erza, heck, peace and quite didn't exist for a Fairy Tail Wizard in general, so quite, relaxing moments were rare and oh-so-precious. Not to mention short lived and probably what normal people would not call relaxing.

      So it was great joy and appreciation felt as she soaked in the hot spring, knowing that when the boys returned from whatever venture they were on, her short but blissfully uninterrupted holiday (for the most part. Happy was fairly independent) would be blasted away by either the tongues of flame or the tendrils of ice that usually flowed the two opposites wherever they went.

       Of course, Happy could be a bit of a pain, especially when the sneaky feline sensed Loke around. The cat seemed determined to interrupt absolutely anything that might on the off chance make Natsu mad... or, heavens forbid, sad. Sad Natsu was infinitely more scary than Angry Natsu. Or at least, that's how the little blue exceed saw things. How was he supposed to know that his father figure and best bud knew about Loke and Lucy, especially when The celestial Mage and the Lion had no clue either?

    The cat had noticed Lucy's new key not long after the boys had left, though as he had no idea whether the key was a celestial item or not -it was unlike every other key she had- he didn't say anything. Happy idly wondered where Lucy had acquired that weird key, and made a not to ask Loke about it when he saw him next because Lucy's yelling terrified him in the same way Erza's did, and he had no intention on accidentally making her mad at him. Again.

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       Gray had been relatively surprised at how easy it had been. Once he'd got over his silent fear of his devil slayer powers, going full demon had been a piece of cake. Black scaly skin protected him like a set of armour, and his fingers had changed slightly to give him deadly weapons in the form of ebony claws. His eyesight had changed too, making dark and dim areas light up, and as easy to see as the guild hall in daylight. Natsu had insisted that he revert to human form at least twice though, just to make sure he could change at will.

          Now, both demon and devil slayer were crawling along the lava river's tunnel, each carrying a couple of the Stone Geodes. Gray was slightly annoyed to find that Natsu was Still taller and stronger than him as a demon, despite the fact that his armour like transformation had granted him a few extra inches in height, though nothing as cool as Natsu's wings and tail. Seriously, despite the terrifying reputation that was based on unfounded rumours, END was one of the most awesome creatures he'd ever seen. Shame his black demonic shape was dull and almost normal in comparison.

       He didn't need Natsu's help in the Lava tunnel now, with his claws for climbing and enhanced eyesight, not to mention his apparently temperature resistant skin, though he still needed the scaly scarf as a filter and he'd still have to rely on Ash-for-Brains for navigation. The caves and tunnels were a veritable maze, and how the idiot managed to go the right way when his normal sense of direction was questionable at best, was beyond the ice Mage.

   They were almost out of the volcano when Natsu's deep, gravelly demon's voice rumbled out a question. Gray smiled, finding that question to be somewhat amusing. He answered, being completely honest for once:

    "Mira won't be happy. I know for a fact she has a bet going with Cana and Bickslow about this. Cana's rooting for you and Lisanna, and Mira's all for you and Lucy. Bickslow.... well, I'm pretty sure he knew about you're crush on me since before you did. Also, it's kinda obvious that he knows you are END. At least, it is to me. He has the same look for you as END that he did for Loke when that playboy was pretending to be human." Natsu made an odd rumbling noise, and Gray couldn't tell if it was a Growl, a purr, or something else. By the time they'd discussed the whole idea of... well.... disappointing Mira and Cana by coming out to the guild, they'd completed the journey through the tunnels and were safely outside.