AN: So this is actually a companion piece to a piece of art that I did as a request over on my tumblr (joliemariella) for a NaLu take on the myth of Hades and Persephone! To find it you can just search 'death becomes thee' on my blog and check it out :)

This is most likely just going to be a one shot...but I might come back to it later and finish it out. Dunno, what do you guys think? Leave a comment at let me know!

Edit 4/15/17: So I wound up writing more of this after all, so I went ahead and touched up a few little things in this chapter too. Nothing major, no need to reread or anything if you remember what all happened.

Death Becomes Thee

Chapter One

Lucy, Goddess of the Underworld, smiled faintly down into the pool of water at her feet. It was approximately six feet across, perfectly circular, and located in the center of the gray, dismal gardens that surrounded her castle.

Once, she had thought having a castle to fill all that darkness would make her feel better; ease her melancholy in some small way. For a time, it had, and decades passed in a steady march as the goddess built her home, stone by stone with her own pale, strong hands. From the foundation she laid sprung grand halls, fairy tale towers, and a vast library full of every book ever written, or that ever would be written.

When she finished, the Goddess of Death looked on her work and thought that it was good.

Eventually, though, like every attempt she made to 'liven' up the world of the dead, all those empty, echoing chambers only served to remind Lucy of how very lonely she was. It didn't matter what she filled the rooms with or how many intricate gardens she planted, because, in the end, the goddess was alone.

The fact that there were more people occupying her realm under the earth than there were stars in the sky was an irony that haunted her daily. Every person who had ever lived wound up down in the dark with Lucy, but not a single one was able to see her. Her very presence in the Underworld kept it running smoothly; the living died on schedule, and the dead stayed dead. If she strayed from her realm, the entire process ground to a halt and upset the delicate balance that kept life running for everyone else.

Despite her frustrations with her dull, depressing existence, Lucy couldn't quite bring herself to leave, not when so many innocent mortals would pay the price for her freedom. An eternity of mortal agony awaited those who were meant to die but did not. Without the Underworld running, the deathly wounded remained so indefinitely, and with the balance of life undone, humanity's fragile bodies would be unable to heal even the smallest injury.

Though she was bitter about the lot with which she had been stuck after the great war against the titans, she was not a cruel goddess. She would not take her anger out on her fragile charges.

So she wandered the darkness alone, studying those human souls who came into her care, sending some to Tartaros to be punished for crimes committed in life, while others she sent to the fields of Elysium to experience eternal happiness as reward for a life well lived.

She did not dare venture into the fields herself, however. Not anymore.

When the world was younger, and the Underworld was still new, she had rarely left them. Here was beauty and light to rival Mount Olympus, and she had craved it like a drug.

Gradually, though, the pain of watching the souls that inhabited that place enjoy it, and each other, had become too much for Lucy. What good was something so beautiful if she had no one to share it with? No one to talk to, to share her troubles with, to listen to... No one at all.

One day (Or night, perhaps. One could never tell in that place), Lisanna, Goddess of the Moon had taken pity on Lucy and given her a gift to ease the pain of her existence: a perfectly round pool of water, crystal clear and mirror bright, appearing like a small moon itself where it rested in the gardens of the Underworld. Through it, Lucy was able to gaze upon the surface world to pass the lonely hours. It wasn't the same as having someone to share her life with, but watching living mortals was easier than those in the Elysium fields. At least everything was not perfect bliss on Earth. The imperfections of the world gave it infinite variety, and held the goddess' attention better than anything else.

It was during these long hours of watching the mortal realm that Lucy first saw him.

Natsu, he was called by his friends and family. Son of Makarov, God of the Harvest, he was more full of life than anyone she had ever seen. The vibrancy of his soul was what initially drew the goddess' attention, but it was his unaffected kindness in dealing with others, loyalty to his friends, and unbridled love of life that kept her coming back for more.

Day after day she would return, though at first she feigned disinterest, even to herself. She tried to convince herself that it was chance that made the pool focus where he was, rather than her undefinable need to see him, if only for a few seconds.

Seconds turned into minutes, though, and minutes into hours, until he was all that could keep her attention for any length of time. She no longer wandered through her realm, or haunted the echoing hallways of her castle. Her gardens went untended as Lucy watched Natsu and came to love his vibrant smile. His laugh was like music to her ears, and his rare moments of solemnity treasured memories.

Even now she watched as he ran along the beach, racing a few of his friends while others cheered them on from nearby.

It looked like fun.

"You're obsessed, you know."

Lucy jumped in shock as a voice other than her own rang across the gardens. Her vast, dark wings flared as the goddess turned and glared at her guest over one armored shoulder.

"What do you want, Mavis?" she asked flatly as the Queen of the Gods approached, a smile on her face.

"I've come to check on you, Lucy. I haven't seen you in eons. I was worried about you." She glanced back at the pool, which still focused on Natsu, who had apparently won his race and seemed to be bragging. "I think I was right to be."

Lucy's shoulders stiffened, and she waved a hand, banishing the image from the pool. It rippled for a moment, then fell still, reflecting the two godesses as they stood at its edge.

"Yes, well, not all of us are free to come and go as they please," she replied, dark eyes narrowing as she watched her sister goddess.

Mavis just smiled at her and waved a hand over the pool, mimicking the gesture her host had performed a moment before, though in reverse. Natsu's familiar face returned, the suddenness of it making Lucy's heart ache.

"You know, all this watching doesn't really accomplish anything," Mavis commented eventually, and Lucy was forced to tear her eyes from the pool to look at the Thunder Goddess.

"What?" she asked, unsure of what she insinuating, though quite sure she was doing just that.

"If you like him so much, you should just go get him," Mavis pointed out with a smile.

"You're mad," Lucy said with a frown, though her heart pounded in her breast at the very thought. To have Natsu here with her...to actually speak to him, see his wonderful smile in person, touch his sun-kissed skin...

A shiver of longing rippled through Lucy, shaking the goddess to her very core.

"No, look, it would be easy," Mavis said. "You wouldn't be gone but a few minutes."

The two goddesses locked eyes, and in that moment, thousands of years spent alone in the shadows pressed in on Lucy from all sides. They made the darkness heavy with the weight of all that loneliness.

A second of weakness was all it took.

"What do I...what do I have to do?"

Mavis smiled.