In the dust of the Grimoire Heart battle, Natsu's blonde opponent landed on the ground completely limp after Natsu's final attack. As the debris settled, Natsu could feel the magic within him settling. Despite the pain bursting through him thanks to his rash decisions, he felt thankful for the end of the battle.
The weakened dragon slayer then smiled, turning towards his guild master. Makarov returned the smile, as Natsu declared,"Come on Gramps, let's go fight those Grimoire Heart bastards and make them pay for messing with Fairy Tail!"
Before the dragon slayer could say anything else, he instantly collapsed onto the ground. This snapped Makarov out of his reprieve, as he ran over to the teen. "Natsu!" He called, falling to his knees as he shook the pinkette frantically. The dragon slayer's head lolled around, but his chest continued to rise and fall, calming the guild master slightly.
He let out a relieved sigh, and moved to stand back up. "You wore yourself out again," Makarov whispered gently,"Come on, I'll take you to Wendy, then we can go back to Fairy Tail."
Before he could do anything, however, there was the sound of footsteps behind him. "You won't be taking him anywhere, I'm afraid. Step aside Makarov Dreyar." A soft voice declared. Makarov quickly jerked his head towards the side, seeing a black haired figure approaching him.
He came to a stop a few feet away, dark, dull eyes turning to look down at Makarov. It was none other than Zeref.
"It's you again.." Makarov snarled, his own dark eyes narrowing suspiciously. He heard about everything Zeref had already caused, including the color change of Natsu's scarf. He stood up, moving in front of the unconscious teen. "Why are you here?! What more do you want from him?"
"What I desire from Natsu is none of your business," Zeref responded easily,"Now, step aside."
Makarov's hands moved, desperately pulling all the magic he had into one major attack. The power began to flow around him, his rage growing enormously with every second. "If you think I'm going to let you even touch one of my children again you are sorely mistaken!" He snapped,"Fairy L- AGH!"
Zeref, who had grown annoyed, released a wave of his own magic. The sheer force of it threw the guild master into the air, his magic getting cut off by the abrupt attack. "I told you to step aside, but I suppose we'll have to do it this way." He declared.
As Makarov fell, a flame like dark matter grew in his palm. Then, he threw it forward and sent Makarov flying through the air in a violent explosion. The small man crashed through many trees, the green leaves flying through the air and debris tumbling all over. When everything settled, one could see an unconscious Makarov on the ground, bleeding from several different wounds with small black flames dancing around him. In one simple move, Zeref had defeated him.
The black haired male's eyes then turned towards the unconscious pinkette. He knelt down as his hand rubbed the scratched up cheek, a soft smile rising up on his face.
"You are very strong, Natsu," He whispered,"Not strong enough to destroy me, however. But I can help with that.. I know how to make you stronger. Now, you shall come with me, to prepare for your destiny."
His arms slid, one under Natsu's knees and the other on Natsu's shoulders. His arms were limp and his head rested against Zeref's chest, completely unaware of the carnage that just happened.
With the dragon slayer secured in his arms, Zeref walked past the unconscious Makarov and through the trees. His dark eyes turned back, however, taking in the silhouette of a dragon that seemed to grow closer with every second. Zeref knew what was about to happen, but he didn't care. After all, why would he?
He had gotten what he came for.
Two Years Later
It had been one year since Tenrou had been destroyed, and the death of almost all the Fairy Tail members send sadness through the hearts of many people. But as time continued to move, and no evidence of them being alive was found, everyone had to move on. Not just the remaining Fairy Tail members, but the people who had been close the deceased members as well.
That 'group of people' included Jellal.
The pain of realizing how many people he had lost, including his one true love, stabbed his heart with cold, painful needles even after two years. Part of him, when it first happened had wanted to give up, but he knew he couldn't. He needed to keep going, he needed to run the Crime Sorcière to atone for all his sins. If he could do all that, maybe he would see Erza again in heaven.
That day, he found himself sitting by a large window in their hidden guild hall, a book in hand. In the times between their missions, when the dark thoughts threatened to consume him, a good book always seemed to help his mood.
As he gently flipped the pages, he could hear footsteps coming towards him. His eyes turned, seeing the two other guild members coming towards him. Ultear was much calmer, but Meredy bounced towards him excitedly, her pink hair flowing all over. "Jellal!" She exclaimed loudly,"Stop sulking, we have a possible lead!"
"A lead?" Jellal questioned, sliding his feet off the windowsill as his hand placed the bookmark on the page, then placed the book down on the windowsill. "For which guild? Naked Mummy? Blue Skull?"
A small smile rose up on Ultear's soft face, her brown eyes shining with morbid glee. "No, even better," She declared,"We have a lead on Tartaros."
Jellal's eyes widened in surprise, feeling hope brimming in his chest. Tartaros was a dark guild they had been desperate to stop, but had no way to know what to do. Instantly, he began to question them. "What kind of lead?" He asked,"Where is it?"
Meredy, who had managed to hold in all her excitement, finally burst out and yelled,"It's a demon!" Ultear placed a hand on the girl's shoulder in an attempt to calm her. When she stopped wiggling, Ultear continued.
"There have been reports of a demon attacking civilians in several towns, the exact same one. The first few attacks happened right near their guild.. Quite suspicious, huh?" She explained, smiling gently.
Jellal couldn't help the smile that crawled across his face when those words registered with him. He stood up tall, feeling much more alive than he had in the past two years. "So, I guess we know what we're doing tomorrow," He declared.
Meredy giggled happily, throwing her hands up with a loud squeal. "Yay! We're gonna catch a demon~ We're gonna catch a demon~!" She sang, turning and dashing towards her room to start packing.
Ultear sighed, rolling her eyes and shaking her head good naturedly. "Well, I'd better go make sure she only packs what she needs," The mage said, before following the pink haired girl down the hall.
Jellal watched them go, letting the smile on his face change into a sad one. His hand reached into his coat pocket, pulling out a small folded item. Unfolding it revealed a picture that had been taken right before Tenrou. How Jellal got ahold of it, he'd never tell. He simply stared at all the smiling faces, feeling the pain in his heart grow.
"Don't worry.. We'll get revenge all of you," He whispered,"I'll get revenge for you. I promise."
His finger traced over a familiar redheaded woman, taking in the smile that was ingrained in his head already, before folding it back up.
Looking up, and pushing his blue hair from his face, the young man took off down the hall towards his own room. He only had a little time to pack and prepare. They couldn't waste any time getting out there.
It was time to begin their revenge
It took a few days to get to where the last sighting of the demon was, in the lush mountains near oceanside cities like Hargeon. The trio wandered out into the mountains, searching for any hint of the demon that they would hopefully find.
After about an hour of wandering, they came upon the sight of dead, scorched trees, dirt and small patches of what looked like burnt grass. Meredy gasped excitedly at the sight, pointing to the area excitedly. "Guys! Demon tracks!" She cried out loudly, getting quickly hushed by the other two. She then turned her head, looking down sheepishly.
Jellal wandered towards one of the trees, pulling his blue gloves off so that he could touch the tree. The second his hand made contact with it, he could feel the strong heat. He hissed slightly, pulling his hand back.
Turning to his companions, he then declared,"It's still warm, it was here very recently. I think it would be smart to stay here and wait for it to come back."
Ultear nodded in agreement, and calmly replied,"I'll set up a few alarms and traps, just so we'll know when it's coming."
Jellal hummed calmly in return, watching to woman walk off to begin working her magic. The bluenette looked around, examining the scorched clearing in more depth. It was completely scorched to the ground, but there was no smoke in the air, no sign of prolonged burning. What kind of demon was so powerful that it could burn things in a single second?
He looked towards Meredy, who was squinting slightly as her bright eyes examining the clearing as well. But she seemed a little more nervous than him. "Meredy, what's the matter?" He asked.
The girl frowned, sniffing the air. "Something smells like it's burning," She whispered worriedly.
"Meredy, honey, everything is burning," Ultear responded jokingly, turning towards them after finish another magic circle. Her smirk vanished, however, as Meredy shook her head frantically.
"No! No! It's like.. Smokey, and new! It smells like it just happened!" She explained, desperate to get her point across.
Ultear frowned deeper, her head tilting in confusion. That was when, behind her, Jellal saw something glowing in the dark. It looked like embers… It looked like.. Fire.
Jellal quickly pulled some magic into his hand as he yelled,"Ultear! Move!"
The young woman gasped, twirling around and stumbling away. In that moment, Jellal's Jiu Leixing burst into existence, flying towards the demon in the shadows. Debris flew into the air, along with a loud roar.
At first, Jellal thought he might have stopped the monster that easily. But of course, he was wrong. It was not even a moment later than the heat in the air began to rise, and another loud roar exploded. Suddenly, bursting through the trees and up in front of the bright sun was the silhouette of the demon.
Jellal's eyes widened, almost mistaking the sight for a dragon. The jagged wings, horns, and swishing tail were contrasted by human-like limbs. The glowing yellow eyes stared straight at them, and the head suddenly reared back.
The trio snapped out of their surprise, scrambling out of the way as hot, burning flames flowed all over the clearing. Jellal quickly thought of a water spell, it towards the flames, but it turned to steam before it could even touch the flames. Shit!
Meredy ran around the side, raising her hands up. "Maguilty Water!" She yelled, the blue swords materializing and flying toward the monster. The monster's flames flew towards her, aiming to stop the swords going towards her. Ultear and Jellal went around to the other side, desperate to overpower the demon and get what they desired.
Jellal pushed his hand out, powering up his telekinesis and connecting it to the monster, He threw his hand down, sending the thing slamming into the ground violently. It's attention was then taken away from Meredy, the heat in the air rising as it turned towards Jellal.
One clawed hand was surrounded by bright flames as the monster's wings rose up. "Darkness Cage!" He yelled, the dark sphere flew towards the wings, wrapping them around and tightening the wings together. It instantly flopped down as their flames blasted in every direction, violet screeches escaping from its mouth.
Their legs began to scramble, attempting to free itself from the magic. Desperate to keep the monster down, Ultear quickly activated more magic, exclaiming,"Ice Make: Rosen Krone!"
The roses instantly began to swirl around the creature, Ultear making sure to push more magic into it to keep the ice strong. Jellal quickly moved to help, pushing more magic into a Bind Snake, restraining the demon even more. But even then, the demon didn't calm down
For several long minutes the three stood, prepared for anything, as they watched the monster's flames swirl and thrash as it screamed at the top of it's lungs. After a while, it resorted to thrashing and screaming, but then it seemed that it's several weeks of rampages finally caught up with the monster. The heat in the air began to vanish, as the monster lay there panting weakly.
Jellal took a few deep breaths before he walked forward, finally getting a full view of the.. "Wait.." He whispered, eyes searching the body. "There's no guild mark on it.."
"No guild mark?" Ultear questioned, wandering forward and kneeling down next to Jellal calmly.
Meredy looked between them and then back at the panting creature, before gently asking,"Then.. Where did it come from?"
He knelt down, his ungloved hand touching the clawed, red scaled hand. Instantly, the monster flinched, a loud whine escaping it before being followed by several smaller ones.
Jellal's gaze went up the arm, and he realized that there was also plenty of human skin on the monster. He looked towards the burned remains of what was left of the clothing it wore.. Wait a minute.. That clothing..
His blue eyes snapped towards the monster's face. Jellal felt his heart beating as he finally got a closer look. Underneath the horns was a head of pink hair, and even though one side of that face was covered with scales, he saw human skin on the other side.
Jellal disregarded the fact that he could still get hurt and pushed his hand forward, pressing it onto the human cheek, and pushing the head up slightly. He ignored the shaking as his other hand moved, pushing the bangs out of its face. As soon as those pink bangs were out of his way, Jellal knew what he saw.
Underneath all the flames, scales, claws, and horns.. It was..
"Natsu..?"