~Silly Demon~
Song; Carnivore

Lucy caught up to him as the sky began to bleed with the new arrival of the sun. He had left so much carnage behind in his path towards Magnolia. Smoke stained the air and fire burned wherever he stepped. His presence alone was enough to make the mightiest warriors shake in their skins. But not Lucy. Never again. Her victory was assured by the dawn of a new morning.

Lucy would not allow defeat to breath upon her existence ever again.

Her eyes, once light and full of optimism, were now dark and cold as they watched E.N.D amble along. Every step he took burnt the already dead ground. Flowers withered and turned to ash around him, marking his path ahead with death. The weak sun slowly clawed its way through the heavy smoke that dominated its sky. Trying its best to shine whatever dull light it had left against the wall of grey smoke.

Lucy raised her arm, and let her whip crack like a scream in the still air, the only other sound came from the softly crackling fires. E.N.D's smooth footsteps came to a halt and Lucy dropped her arm, the tip of her whip kissing the dirt. The Demon titled his horned head, the light colored tips darkened by drying blood. His red scales glittered in the sun's struggling light as he causally looked over his shoulder.

What he saw was the one who should not be there.

E.N.D's bored expression morphed into something resembling relief. His lips lifted up into a smile and he swiftly turned around to fully face the lady whom he thought he had lost for good. "Luce..." He breathed, his demonic eyes softening as well has the darkness residing in him at the sight of her.

"I'm pleased to see you," he said, still smiling, still with that soft expression that no Demon should ever know how to make. E.N.D took a hesitant step forward and when Lucy did not move, only stayed, the Demon took it as an open invitation to come even closer.
E.N.D unfurled his wings and with one strong flap, he found himself landing in front of her.

He had missed her. He regretted trying to make her leave. To stop her heart from beating. He would apologize to her. Surely, she would forgive him. E.N.D wished for her to stay with him. He would be so lonely if she did not. Conquering a whole world alone and becoming a ruler without a Queen faithfully by his side would just not do.

E.N.D wanted her to stay... Forevermore.

She was the one that glowed in all of his memories. The one who was always smiling at him. Laughing with him. Holding him in an achingly soft embrace that he himself had never felt before. E.N.D knew these weren't really his memories to have. He did not live them. His lesser self had.
It wasn't fair.

E.N.D wanted to make similar memories. Warm ones that his other half had. He wanted to make them all with Luce. His greatest weakness. Oh, how the Demon was weak for the Princess.

E.N.D's whole being ached to reach out and hold her. To touch her with the softest of touches. He had never truly been gentle with anything in his 400 years of life. He just did not see the point of being careful with something that would just end up breaking anyway. But, with her, with Luce... E.N.D would treat her as if she were the most frailest of glass.

Like a snowflake that will melt away with one touch.

E.N.D timidly reached for her with one of his taloned hands, being extremely mindful of his bone tearing claws, and ever so gently, cupped the back of her golden head.

With that one touch E.N.D knew it was as close to heaven as he would ever get.

The tension creeped out of his body and he curled his tail around her ankles. He needed to feel her more. So, he flared his wings and covered her back with them, resembling a cocoon of sorts. E.N.D brought his other hand up and palmed her smooth cheek. The Great Demon sighed contently before leaning his neck forward, and brushed his forehead against her own.

No wonder why his lesser self loved this so much.

E.N.D, for the first time in his whole diabolical life, he felt... Safe.

A golden tipped dagger plunged between his ribs and arched up, digging through his flesh to get to his heart. E.N.D jerked back, not in pain really, but in surprise. Part of his mind, the lighter one, half expected to find another dull Magic user that had come to slay him. However, the darker part of his mind, the superior one, knew better.

The strike had come from the woman in his arms.

Luce had tried to take out the very thing she loved.

E.N.D's arms dropped from her skin and his wings slowly moved away. The shadows that his wings had caused recoiled from the Princess' face and what E.N.D saw sent something cold racing down his spine.
Luce was smiling.
Smiling as she twisted the dagger cruelly.

E.N.D's face fell and took on a blank mask. "What's this?" The Demon murmured, grabbing Luce's wrist, and pulling it away from the dagger's hilt. The golden dagger remained wedged deeply into the Demon's ribs but he did not care at that moment. He was too busy staring into Luce's too dark eyes. Those were not her eyes. No.
All the light had been snuffed out.

"What have you done?" E.N.D wondered, studying a Princess who he thought he had known. A Princess that was no longer there to be seen. "What have you allowed to take over you?"

Lucy titled one side of her lips up into a sharp grin. "What?" She mocked, "Don't like the new me?" Lucy wrenched herself out of E.N.D's slack hold and leaped back a step or two. "I find that this is rather a fine improvement." She curtsied, that same devilish grin still marring her face, her tangled locks shadowing her eyes. "Don't you think?"

E.N.D squared his shoulders as the tendrils that served as his healers wrapped around the dagger and pulled it out. Before the blade could even hit the ground the wound was healed. E.N.D glanced down at the weapon and clicked his tongue in annoyance when he saw the symbol carved into the golden hilt.

The twisted symbol of the Lion; Leo.

"You are with the those lowly stars..." The Demon observed with clear distaste. "How dull." Lucy straightened her spine and fixed E.N.D with eyes overflowing with so much hate that it could not even hope to fill an entire ocean. "You will not think it so dull when you can see what you look like without any skin." Her threat was backed up by the crack of her whip.

E.N.D's face softened and a feeling of sorrow flashed deep within him. This were not his emotions. He knew that. Though he much wanted to believe that even he was capable of feeling something besides bloodlust and hatred. However, he knew he could never feel those other emotions that others have so freely. He was a Demon after all with Hell fire burning within him.

A Demon was not supposed to feel...not even a Princess could change that.

E.N.D's tail flicked in the air behind him and his talons clicked together as Lucy began to circle him. His black and red eyes followed her every silent step. "What happened to you, Luce? What did you do to yourself?"

"What I had to..." Lucy stated simply, "to get rid of you." E.N.D supposed that the tightness in his chest was what a human would classify as 'hurt'. Though he wasn't too sure. One could never be sure when this was the first time feeling it. "I understand," E.N.D muttered. It was not a lie. He completely understood why Luce wished to rid the Earth of him.

He was a monster. A Hellish Demon that destroyed everything he touched. Burned everything to ash. Hurt everything that could understand the word. Laughed in delight when his victims' screams intertwined with his own sick laughter.

E.N.D would have stopped.
Stopped being a monster.
Stopped hurting. Killing. He would have stopped it all because he had found the one thing that could slay the monster inside of him. E.N.D had found an angel with a halo for both of them.

That angel was gone now and she had taken her halo with her. E.N.D should have known... Nothing good ever came from a Demon falling in love with an angel. For the tainted were never supposed to touch the pure.

Lucy darted forward, the muscles in her legs straining against her flesh as she tore across the ground. E.N.D flared his wings but before he could flap them-Lucy was there; inches away from his face. In that split second E.N.D could see deep into Lucy Heartfilia's eyes.

They were as endless and dark as his own.

Lucy dipped low, tucked back her arm, and slammed her fist forward and into E.N.D's kidneys. The Demon's body spasmed and he rocked back from the force of the blow that caused several blood vessels to burst. E.N.D staggered backward, clutching at his stomach that cried out in agony. He gritted his teeth, his canines digging into his bottom lip.

The hit had been strong and sure. There had been no hesitation on Luce's part. Even now she was gearing up to go again. She was bouncing on the balls of her feet, her arms covering the sides of her face, her expression one of pure determination.

She was terrifyingly... "Beautiful..." E.N.D gasped, the withering black tendrils along his body working overtime to fix his insides. Lucy's face screwed up in anger with disgust clearly mixed in. Half a breath entered E.N.D's lungs when Lucy struck out again.

She kicked off the ground, spun in the air, and rammed the heel of her foot into the Demon's jaw; breaking it. E.N.D's head snapped to the side and bloody saliva flew from his shattered mouth. Lucy grabbed the Demon's head, one hand fisting into his hair, the other gripping his shoulder hard enough to leave a bruise. She made sure her grip was tight enough for him not to get away and brought up her knee right into his gut.

E.N.D's eyes bulged and suddenly his lower half was on fire, the kind of fire that destroyed. Lucy kneed him multiple times, all in the same spot. Again and again until all he knew was pain and all he could hear were his own bones caving in.

A horrible sounding choke came from E.N.D right before he crumbled to the dirt. Lucy let go of his shoulder but kept her hand buried in his hair. "So this is Zeref's all powerful Demon?" She huffed out a haughty laugh, yanking his head to the side by his hair. "Beaten, brought down to its knees so quickly," Lucy shook her head, "and here I had thought that you were some kind of devil." Lucy laughed anew and her eyes twinkled with mirth that was usually found in a killer's eyes. "Silly me."

E.N.D closed his eyes, his face a mask of pain. But not the kind that his body felt. No. This pain came from deep within, all the way to the heart he knew he didn't have. But if he did, it would cease to exist from all the agony it would receive. Because this was not his Luce. The one that his vessel's memories were all about. That girl had shown so bright that any star would have weeped in jealously. That girl had a heart so full of kindness that it sometimes overflowed. That girl had been beautifully strong.

This girl was not her. Not anymore. This girl was cruel and broken. An emotionless husk wearing a face that should not ever twist into the wicked smirk she wore now. E.N.D reached up to touch his chest where a heart was supposed to beat. If he had one...he would have used it to fill it to the brim with love. To give it to that girl that only now lived in his memories. 

But he could not. For E.N.D had failed to protect the one thing he could not bear to lose. He had lost his Queen. He had let her slip right through his blood stained fingers. Like a fool, he had tried to rid himself of her, only thinking of himself. Of only his safety.

Silly him.

For thinking that he could live the rest of his long existence alone. To rule without someone who he could share his triumphs with. To love someone who loved him just as much. Silly Demon. Silly...

E.N.D clenched his newly healed jaw and slowly cracked open his eyes. His eyes were filled with Lucy's wicked smile and ugly eyes. Not mine. He thought, his the pain that pulsed through his chest easing with every denial he chanted.
Not mine. Not mine. Not mine.

The Lucy she once now no longer resided beneath her flesh. The lady that stood proudly on the tarnished battlefield facing down a Demon from Hell was someone that the other Lucy never dreamed of becoming. An empty husk of a once vibrant Princess. A monster... No. Even better.
A carnivore.

E.N.D locked up what little emotion he had within him and put a deadbolt around them with heavy chains. This was not his Queen. She was gone. Dead. He was a Demon. A creature of born of evil. He was a King.
E.N.D would not be defeated.

The Demon rose and flared out his wings, he titled his head down, looking at Lucy through his lashes. His voice rumbled through him when he murmured, "Do not forget that your Dragon is still within me. If I go, then so does he."

The carnivore within her smiled it's dark smile.

"Keep him."

The ultimate show down between Demon and Princess is reaching its climax! The fate of the world rests with one of them. Will it all fall to E.N.D, the Demonic Dragon who wishes to rule it with a fiery fist, or will a carnivorous Princess with no sense of compassion and an ever consuming need to maim and kill anything that she sees as evil, win it all?

~To be Continued...~

This chapter is for
Souldrop

🔥Thank you all for waiting patiently 🔥