RELENTLESS

Chapter I: Protect him!

In a far end corner of Fiore there was a village, hidden by the many mountain passes and valleys that obscure it from outsiders, only a few hundred called this place home, life was harsh in this place and the winters equally so, still the villagers fought on with their various jobs and duties. A peace full life was all they wanted, for life free of the eternal stress of the larger cities, even so the younger generation of the youths in the village didn't want any of this, they wanted jobs and education something the village could not possibly offer to that extent. Today was the day, though the cheering of the youngsters with nothing more than some bread, cheese and around twenty four winters under their belts they were going to face and head out in the big vast world, on their own, no longer could their tongues taste buds dance with the leek soup that their mothers would make on the harshest of winter nights, when darkness loomed outside the warm heaven that was in the four walls they called home. Nor listen to the vastly romanticized epics of the village elders. They were big boys and girls now, ready to make it on their own.

A group of around fifty or so, was headed towards the village gates, getting the blessings of the people that went about their morning routines, some with their children in hand walked towards the daycare of the village, as the children and their respective families walked the main street the group of youths couldn't help but to wave back at the exited children as a pang of well needed nostalgia rushed their minds. Soon they past the gates, having bid their farewells on the guards men of the village which they all knew, not really surprising since everyone knew everything about each others in the village of few hundred.

The sun shone down on the vast fields outside the village. A pure white sheet of snow, delicately glistening and twinkling in the rays. They could almost taste the ice as it formed the land around them into a beautiful heaven.

Branches laced with a formation of icy crystals, sparkling and glittering, like sequins on a party dress. The fence borderline to the uncharted wilderness was buried in a velvety layer, disturbed by the tiny foot prints of the common birds of the area. The berries the trees are barely seen and the flower beds have become frozen. A bitter breeze gently caressed the face of a certain rose haired woman in the group, none other than the village heads daughter. Many disputes had been fought over her permission to leave the village, her father didn't find her reason to leave sensible at all. She was almost twenty five year old and carried a child! By the gods they thought she was an idiot. She paid no mind, obviously. Many in the leaving party were very concerned with her well being, as she was nearing giving birth to new life.

The bulging roundness of her stomach was a dead give away, as fun as it could be to joke about the matter and call her 'fat' like the children of the village used to do, however this was an utterly serious matter. The daughter of the head was leaving on a voyage for god knows how long and is nearing child birth, but all the pleas of understanding went unheard as she was really determined of bidding good-bye to her life at the village.

She was really smart, and therefore she was always misunderstood by others, giving her a said cold attitude. But in reality she was always there for her friends and family, showering them with undying love. She was also always at peace with her self giving her a big magic wielding potential, and when hitting the age of ten she was thought the ways of the villages ancient Restoration magic, while not yet completely dead it was still considered a form of lost magic by the world magic council, not just the Fiore branch. The Restoration school of magic requires an excellent state of mind, which very few posses.

The magic is centered around nature and its original elements, earth, wind and water. One has to learn all of these forms of elemental magic, to later truly be able to utilize restoration. The tricky part is to conjure and merge all of these basic elements in perfect harmony, and not let any of them out weigh each other and create instability. This required a great deal of natural talent too which the girl happened to posses. Only then is one able to call forth the healing power nature herself, thus becoming a white mage. With all of this accomplished she was now a full fledged healer, searching for proper guild to join, so what if she carried a child, everything would be just peachy, that was the plan she had in mind.

While passing through the forest clad in white, everything seemed so peaceful, she could feel the hidden powers of nature surge through her body.

The wild-life was as silent as the grave, yet so immensely daunting and inspiring. Yet it seemed that the rosettes presence brought surroundings to life as she passed along with her party of fifty. Her fair complexion and snow white skin along with the auburn eyes of hers would captivate any man, her body was so delicate it seemed that if you squeezed it hard enough it would snap in two, her pink hair flowed freely into flawless ringlets, and fair smile finished off her look. One thing was pretty obvious she was to cute to be single, but truth to be told she was. Even though how false that sounds it was the truth. The man in her life was an enigma to the folk of the village, they hadn't seen any man pretty enough to be her supposed partner in crime, as she now was eight and a half months into her pregnancy, yet still unmarried, many have tried to win her heart but to no avail, she was only loyal to the man she had spent that faithful night with. Did she regret it? Not in the slightest, she was overjoyed to be a mother, actually.

She was clad in an ordinary knee long violet skirt, with black stockings going up to her thighs keeping the cold out and the much appreciated warmth in. A white turtle neck sweater was the what she had picked to wear on her upper body as well as a beige vest whit fur details along the edges. What really finished her look was her long white scaly shawl or rather scarf around her neck, she looked stunning, as in everything else she wore.

The only information the villagers had on him was that he was a damn lucky bastard and apparently a rather powerful mage, as he had saved her from the clutches of a wisp mother, a vile and cunning ethereal being that with her siren song put lone wanderers into slumber while sucking out their magical energy until they ran out and got their life force ripped out of them until they meet their doom.

'Crunch, crack!' Beneath the leaving parties feet the snow let out a crisp crunching sound a they paced towards the nearest town. The crisp autumn, leaves and broken twigs lay forgotten under the white layer of the season, however they aren't unnoticed as they made their best attempt at tripping some of the party members. The soon to be mother, could not help but to smile, while she did so her left K9, was being exposed to the world resembling some sort of fang. The elders had tried with everything in their power to stop her from leaving while having a second life to worry about. She didn't understand what the big deal was? She could just give birth to her child in a city hospital which had much better standards than the villages hospital. Why would they deny her happiness? Getting frustrated with her own thoughts she kicked a clumped up pack of leaves like a ball to the side.

The slippery path became harder with the new layer of morning frost, naturally leaning downwards at each side into a snow covered grass bank, forming a fun slide for the children! The rosette smiled at her everlasting memories of a child. Gazing around her for new untouched snow, she could literally spend all day to find unmarked ice and snow. She always like to be the first one to leave her mark.

Leifur's old chestnut clad horse in the field nearby, neighing, dancing and prancing playfully throughout the field, making interesting patterns in its trail. He only was this playful when it snowed.

'Gasp' The soon to be mother clutched her left shoulder with her right hand to ease the pulsating life in her down-below regions. Everyone quickly rushed to the rosettes side and let her support her weight on their shoulders. It was time it seemed she was entering labor.

-ooo-

Against her will she was taken back to the village and was now under the stern eyes of the elders and under the loving ones of her father. Every since her twentieth birthday when her late mother passed she and her father had gotten closer to ease the sorrow of the passing of the woman they loved.

She had guessed wrong. The place she would give birth was not in some cramped village hospital, they were currently located in the main wing of the village heads house and she was placed on a large bed were she used to came and sleep with her parent whenever she was plagued by nightmares as a child, now it seemed that this was the place were her own child would open her/his eyes for the very first time.

Six pain staking hours later a baby boy was born, after receiving the blessing, courtesy and tradition for the newborns of the main family. Giving birth to a child was a very tiring experience she thought when thinking back on a few hours of her life, but now the happiness of having a newborn child in her embrace made all the small details fade away and only pure ecstasy remain left. It was like having your own heat pack, he was so warm and cuddly, innocent yet somehow knowing. He was going to grow up into a fine man in few years. Now suddenly all of the sweet stories that was told to her about how fast children seemed to grow up seemed very daunting to her. She didn't want her baby to grow up, she wanted him to remain the cute and innocent baby he was, yet untouched by the cruelty and hardships of the world. In the mead hall of the village everyone had thrown a big party in her honor, mead and ale was being inhaled instead of drunk and roasted lamb legs was parading in on silver platters, as the maids carried them in. Her father was unexpectedly generous today it seemed.

He was blessed under the god of prosperity; Halone. Having been brought to this world under the last astral moon of the year, he possessed the right to the blessing upon opening his eyes for the first time in the world. He had inherited his mothers hair, and nose, while having the eyes of the father, that was currently the most logical answer to his onyx colored eyes. A healthy young boy, as there were no complications during his much anticipated birth, he had quickly become the elders pride and joy.

She still had to come up with a name for her son, being unable to come up any fitting name under her pregnancy she was starting to feel stressed. But on the other hand she had made sure to stock up on cute baby attires.

Having abandoned her traveling gear and put on a far nicer red dress perfectly suited for such festivities. It made her heart warm to see her loved ones in such a jolly mood.

-ooo-

As the merry company continued on with their vast party, completely drunk with joy and happiness thus making them ignorant to ever so rapidly approaching danger on the horizon.

Wings of darkness soared through the skies casting a looming shadow over the blurry scenery below, the wilderness withered away as the majestic beast made of scales and muscles flew past. A dark void was trailing behind it. The dark menace had bright blue patterns running along its body. This was Acnologia the dragon king and lord of chaos, and he wasn't happy.

If it wasn't for the sudden outburst of dragon magic located in this village, Acnologia would not have bothered to even appear in this pitiful realm. But there was something or someone out there who had piqued his interest immensely. To say he wasn't exited would be a severe understatement, it had been centuries since he had felt this kind of magic before and he was making sure he could secure its source before any other of the dragon kin would appear, the others would come he was sure of it, dragons were after all greedy at heart, even if they whole-heartedly disagreed with that fact.

Above the dark clouds...

The darkness, to a normal being being where I am would be frightening, however, to me the darkness was my only friend. It would always listen to my lonely cries and never judge me for what I had done. As my wings kept me soaring, i saw a light on the horizon. A small human village at the edge of the mountain. Such timid and bothersome creatures and as my wings subconsciously drew me closer, it happened.

A loud roar carried by the wind amplified its insensitivity, as it hit my eardrums it was that my instincts were right, one of my brethren was after the source of the magic as well. Another roar was sent my way, however only to be withered away by a powerful gust of wind formed from my wings. I could feel the insensitivity of the magic growing but now it wasn't just the source from the mountain side village that was nearing but something on the east horizon as well. As I was approaching from the west I could see the sun rising already, as the previously dark sky is being illuminated by a auburn light.

Such insensitivity! It is becoming rather hot for a winter morning, and I am stupid. The eye of heaven never rises from the west, but from the east and thats were I am approaching from, and the auburn light isn't produced from the sun, obviously it is a very malicious dragon fire. The dragon whose element is fire is none other than Igneel, seems like he just like me was interested by the abnormal amount of dragon magic coming from this village and wants to just like me grasp it for himself. Now I am in proximity of any of his attacks, I'll just wait for him to make the first move, this is going to be fun, after hundreds of years we meet again Igneel...

Central village,

'Ding, dong, ding, dong' The church tower bell was ringing in full effect warning the people of the village from the imposing threat of the two colossal dragons.

"Keep your calm! Don't panic, we are evacuating all towns folk into the cathedral, everyone this way!" A few guards men was shouting out supposedly calming commands for the panic struck villagers, well one can't blame them, the most dangerous thing they had seen in their life was probably a wolf or two, but now when the village faced two very real reptilian monsters they had every right to get scared.

Amongst the ongoing anarchy the villages heiress was cradling a new born baby to her chest while being escorted by a few lancers to safety and refuge. But it was proving rather hard as the hordes of people thrashed about and flipped over fruit stands and various carts had been kicked to the side, the once prosperous merchant square was a war zone, literally! It was as if someone had dropped a cluster of bomb lacrimas down onto the square and put everything in disarray. Some guards even got so struck by fear that they threw of their helmets and took of in the narrow alley ways. The baby hadn't cried out even once since opening eyes to the world soaking in everything like a sponge, even things a new born shouldn't see...

Archers rushed up the guard towers in order to get a better field of view of the dragons and possibly get a shoot on them. Even if the arrows were on the right path to be on target, they were reduced to nothingness as they were a few meters from their target. The insane magic aura being produced by them was simply to strong and potent for measly arrows to even hit.

Fire dragons: Brave flight! The voices of the dragons boomed up above, after being echoed through the mountain pass. There was a blood red colored dragon whose body now was coated in a crimson fire and it charged the big black one head on. Giant sparks flew as the two beasts collided and the rosette could not help but to stare up in awe to the destructive display of fire works.

The dragons seemed rather unscathed from the violent collision that occurred just now, now it turned out to be the black dragons turn to retaliate. Chaos dragons: Dark void! An obsidian black beam of dark matter was hurled towards the red dragon who didn't have any time to avoid and got brutally punished due to that. Vapors of smoke were left trailing after the red dragons body as it came crashing down from the sky like a meteor.

Rows of houses, small and big alike were thrashed as the red beast skidded to a halt after destroying the family district of the village, retaliation was quick to be handed out. Fire dragons: Heavenly destroyer! An immense pillar of pure orange flame was shot towards the black being in the midnight sky, but to no avail as strange blue markings all over its body started to shine, while a large amount of light blue energy was being gathered in its mouth. Chaos dragons: Barrier! As the attack was announced in before the initial attack with a loud roar, the blue energy shoot out and formed a hexagon shaped shield and as unlikely it was, the mighty pillar of burning inferno got reflected into smaller pillars who homed in on the village blasting away the debris from the fire dragons crash landing. The town was set a flame, a wildfire had formed and was eating away the village at rapid speeds, the night sky was lit up with such a intense light the other wise visible night stars weren't visible anymore.

The rose haired mother along with her child had lost their escort and were now lost in the raging inferno that was once a peaceful village, the dead littered the streets and blood ran down the alleys, as the battle above them on continued. The rosette mother ran down the alleys, as fast as her legs could manage, the fear of losing her newborn was to great for her to care about the dying villagers on the streets. The hellish burns on their bodies seemed unreal as if taken from another world, what in the name of the gods could scar someone so heavily, well, now they knew that dragons could. They were constantly screaming out of agony not being able to muster enough strength to resist the pain, she felt bad not being able to help any of them but her sons safety would always come first, even if they only had been together for about two hours give or take, she felt a strong love towards him, although it probably was the unconditional love of a mother, suddenly a large chunk of debris blocked of the path to their escape, she couldn't let it end here, the things she has yet to experience with her flooded her mind and brought tears to her eyes, she had unconsciously started to cry. The dragons were still at it neither one of them seemed to be backing down as of yet.

Her resolve started to crumble, little by little as the debris caught fire from the blazing surroundings. Chaos dragons: Banish! A blue light flared in the sky, blinding her while the initial attack started to cover the red fire dragons body rapidly, it seemed its body were being torn apart in...Then everything went black for the rosette, as the aftermath shock waves hit her body.

Up in the sky, earlier.

"Acnologia, I will not stand idly by as you corrupt this world with your hate!" The mighty fire dragon roared.

"You feel it too, brother? There is a strong force of magic, just like ours, I know you want to grasp it just as much as me, isn't it so Igneel?" The last word uttered by the dragon king was dripping in malice and soaked in poison, aiming to agitate the fire dragon so he goes on the offense while his guards is down, that was the plan Acnologia had in mind. Would the great red dragon fall for a trick that simple, well it seemed so.

"How dare you call me brother, you traitor! After everything you did? You are bloodthirsty self proclaimed king, nobody of our kin supports you! You damn king slayer! I should have killed you when I had the chance, now DIE! Fire dragons: Brave flight! The fire dragon had snapped, boiling over with compressed anger and grief, his scaled body became covered in a crimson flame as he charged the black dragon, aiming for his exposed gray colored under body.

"Igneel my dear brother, now isn't the time to bring up some four hundred year old grudge? I know you are better than that!" Acnologia mockingly said, as he swiftly avoided the crimson comet of fiery death by doing a barrel roll to the side, then continued his mockery of the fire dragon. "You are still the same Igneel, so very rash and impulsive, while always playing the wise front you are a raging inferno on the inside! Chaos dragons: Dark void! A black beam of dark matter was shot towards the fire dragon who had no chance of evasion. The attack hit violently on the blazing dragons spine and his momentum was lost as he slided across the village as if it was some sort of carpet, completely tearing it asunder!

"If you get your hands on this new power we are all doomed and I will be damned before I let you turn Earth land to your personal play ground! Fire dragons: Heavenly destroyer! An orange inferno was called forth from the fire dragons lungs angled towards Acnologia!

"Is that all? Then I am sorry to say I have to end this now. Chaos dragons: Barrier! Many blue hexagons created from the dragon kings breath formed a shield and successfully reflected the flames into smaller shards who flew into the village setting it on fire, a great deal of blinding flashes occurred as the shards rained down onto the village. Acnologia knew he couldn't finish off Igneel anytime soon so decided to put a great deal of his magical energy behind one attack, not to incapacitate but to simply buy himself time to collect the new source, even though both of them didn't know what the magical power actually was.

"Igneel, I don't have anymore time to spare for our little spar, after all I have to collect whats rightfully mine!" The fire dragon was just about to prepare another attack but was cut short by Acnologias sudden announcement. "Chaos dragons: Banish!" From the sky a pillar of very bright turquoise light started to wrap itself around the great fire dragon, his body started to blur and fade, however the dragon was very calm for being stuck in situation like this one, he then proceeded to speak with the same calmness. "How? What is this?" Igneel was perplexed about how a dragon could learn such an advanced form of mortal magic.

"Oh, don't worry you are just being transported through time and space." Acnologia casually said while flashed his razor sharp teeth in his mouth, there had been too long since he had this much fun, this even beat the time at the civil war.

Igneel stared at him with blank ice cold sapphire eyes that gleamed and blurred in the night sky, his last words were; "...I will find you...!" Before being completely wrapped in blue magic and dissipated into nothingness, Acnologia knew he wasn't dead, it would take so much more than than to kill off a dragon, he just got warped in time and could appear at any given time period in history, this was a truly dangerous magic, messing with the flown of time could be the undoing of every last living dragon, as of today. But Igneel wasn't stupid, if he dares to change anything in the past, no one will know what the consequences will be.

Ancient dragon slayers used this form of magic to banish dragons, that was a time way before him or Igneel, Actually Igneel was way older than Acnologia, but that is irrelevant. These were times which dragons ruled the skies and the lands, ruling over both Earth land and Edolas with an iron fist, naturally there were those who openly resisted them and sought salvation from those with magical prowess. They also sought help from mythical beasts such as phoenixes and Wyvern, the human race with their trivial alliances actually fought back the dragons.

Then there were smart humans who cast their dignity aside and bowed down to dragons to become dragon priests. Thus learning extremely powerful dragon magic spells. Seen as traitors and corrupt individuals by the human and its allied races, and useful feudal lords by the dragons, the dragon priests would keep everything in check with the humans by enforcing the dragons ideologies onto the regular people, be it with sweet words or brutal violence. This was a time when brothers spilled their own kins blood under the dragons gaze from above. It was only natural in times of distress like those that a party of heroes rose to defy the dragon rule, there were four of them in total, all wielding close to legendary magic, a war followed, a war that was known as the bloodiest campaign in human history, until that happened. With mighty dragon slaying sword; Ascalon, the party of heroes paved a way through the battlefield killing all the lesser dragons that were dispatched there.

The dragon priests were quick to abandon their oaths and turn against their masters, they were not welcomed but were undoubtedly a power full asset to the humans and her allies. Only the dragon priests of fire, sky and metal stood their ground trying to protect their masters but obviously were killed off almost immediately by the rest of the dragon priests. There were twenty great elemental dragons, after that incident only twelve left the turncoat dragon priest, the dragons had dug their own grave, by teaching them their own magic, which of course is very effective against themselves, as the only thing that can truly kill a dragon is a dragon. Not literally but in the form of magic, items like Ascalon which are sealed with humongous amounts dragon magic, or simply the dragons own magic could be used to kill dragons.

The dragon priests, were soon forgiven for their former actions, because of their so called 'bravery' and were now called dragon slayers. All the dragons were banished by the heroes and either willingly allied themselves with the humans and thought them dragon slayer or got killed. Even the mighty king of dragons at that time willingly submitted to bond with humans.

Thus ended the dragon rule of the sky and the lands. Leaving the world as it is today. That was about one and a half millennium ago, most of the dragons went into constant hiding. 1100 years passed and generation after generation of heroes came inherited the previous heroes abilities through tutelage, but with every generation the heroes become more and more battle starved and bloodthirsty, and when the hidden dragons tried to rise back up from the bitter ash of their defeat and take back their rule with their newly crowned dragon king, the allied dragon slayers and their masters who were some of the former elemental dragons, utterly defeated them. But this time victory wasn't as sweet as they had thought. The real dragon king was slain and all that was left was sorrow for the dragons that were allied with the humans. They no longer had anything left to fight for. They left the humans with a promise that every generation a dragon would come and take a child or newborn to train them in dragon slaying arts, in case of a new conflict.

Acnologia however wanted to bring the dragons back up to their long lost throne, by reviving the world eater, the one that is rumored to be the very earth itself that Earth land is based upon. In the northern countries the world eater is rumored to have his body snared around the world in an endless circle.

But that was an infinite amount of steps ahead of Acnologias plan, first he needed to find the source of this new dragon magic.

-ooo-

'Those puny humans, they are nothing more than ants, were could they be hiding this source of magic?'By closing his eyes Acnologia started to pin point were the source was coming from and soon found out it was in the former merchant district of the village. Swooping down and landing down on some burnt debris, he started scanning the surroundings, and soon spotted a human who was alive, it seemed to be a woman, upon closer look one could see that she was impaled by a sharp metal shard and was bleeding profusely, without stop, he had to hurry if he wanted to get some information out of her.

"You human, were are you hiding the dragon magic? Speak!" he said in voice full of authority. But she just ignored him and started to crawl to the left all of sudden. "There is no use in running as you can see you are currently bleeding out , and dying so speak and I shall make it as mercy full as I can!" He really hated dealing with humans they were so single minded.

She just continued to crawl to the left. Turning his head to see why she was crawling Acnologia spotted a small bundle one meter to her left, it turned out to be a baby. She had left a crimson smear on the ground as she crawled towards the baby, but she didn't quite have the strength to reach it so Acnologia pushed the newborn baby closer to her with blunt side of his talon. It seemed a pang of relief hit the supposed mother as she cradled the baby tightly to her chest.

The moment his talon touched the baby the black dragon felt a strong sensation of magic from the baby. He was sure of it, the baby was the source of the dragon magic.

The rose haired woman and mother was losing her life force, trying to hold back her coughs that brought up loots of blood from her ruined inner organs. Suddenly her auburn eyes were locked with Acnologias own, she suddenly formed such a commanding aura around her it was actually scary, continuing to look into his eyes with a judging expression, after a few moments she just nodded to herself.

Giving up her last powers to ensure her baby's safety she gathered some nature magic from the earth to the palm pf her hand, emitting a warm green light. She tenderly placed it on her baby's right shoulder forming a mark of some sort, it was colored blue. Then she proceeded to gaze upon the dragon once again with a stern expression, just like a parent scolding a child. Then she spoke the words; "Protect h-him!" A few trickles of blood began tracing from her mouth down to her chin, signaling that she don't have much time left.

Acnologia couldn't find any reason to decline, this baby was the item he was looking for, and by taking a human baby as foster son his plan would greatly escalate.

"I shall, do as you ask, human!" In response she just nodded again being too weak to do anything else, the rosette then proceeded to reach for her neck to unwrap her white scaled scarf, and wrap it around her baby, gently. Kissing him on the forehead for the first and last time, as the tears ran down the womans cheeks, Acnologia felt disgusted by himself for feeling some thing for the pink haired woman.

"S-show him relentless l-love and affection!" The stern look was back and Acnologia just nodded this time, not bothering to say anything. Her weak bloodied arms lifted the baby up and slowly gave him to Acnologia, who scooped up her baby with his claws.

There was something the woman wanted to say, one last thing before she left this plane. "H-his name i-is...Nnn...Aaa...Ttss...She didn't get to finish her sentence as her human body gave up and her heart stopped beating, however Acnologia instantly got what she was trying to say...Natsu, his name was Natsu, as in summers day, how ironic as he was born on winter day. Acnologia scoffed, although the baby was human he had already taken a liking to the little thing. Not once had he cried, instead he was reaching his hand trying to touch Acnologias face, but to no avail. He had very big magical reserves for being a baby which was good, because the black dragons style of magic was very consuming for humans. This boy was special, if not for his pink hair, then because of his magical potential, one day he would grow up to become a fine sorcerer, a sorcerer who would do his bidding...

AN: And done, I really enjoyed writing this because of all the small details I mixed in from other lores, I am hoping to be able to update weekly, if not I am terribly sorry! I haven't decided on a paring yet but I am open to suggestions when we get to the point in the story when pairings are being possible.

Until next time bye!

Please leave a line or two, it means the world to me!