Gate of the Nightmare's Realm
A terrible curse is cast upon the Fairy Tail guild, causing some of the guild members to get trapped in a horrible series of nightmares. What's worse is that the longer they are trapped, the worse the nightmares become. How will they escape when one wrong move could mean getting trapped in the nightmare realm forever? And could it be thanks to Lucy? May contain: humor, adult themes, violence, gore, etc.
Af1-chan: I got this idea from another idea I had, and I hope you enjoy it! (The other idea will eventually become a one to four-shot.)Not much to say this time. I will update my other stories soon, don't worry. Also, I'm not sure if I've used the right genres on this story. If you've got better genre suggestions, please let me know. (Seriously! I'm...confused? [yes, question mark]) Anyways, here we go.
Happy: Aye! Af1chan doesn't own any anime in existence, let along Fairy Tail.
Mirajane: Onto~ the story!
PS: Just so there are no misunderstandings, this will have comedy and weird stuff and couples mostly, but it's probably also going to get kind of fucked up at some parts. Be prepared.
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Prologue: Strange Visitations and Premonitions
White light.
Everywhere Natsu turned, all he could see was a blinding white light. Although he could've sworn he was in the guild arguing with Gray due to his stupid stripping habit, he now found himself in this bright abyss of nothing.
"Where am I?" he asked aloud.
His voice bounced around the area, but no reply bounced back.
"Anyone here? Lucy? Happy? Icy bastard?" He tried again. Still no reply but the sound of his own echo.
The light to the right of him began to shine brighter than the rest of the surrounding light. This is weird… He thought, beginning to walk towards the brightest part of the light.
It seemed like he was walking in place. Even though he was making his body move toward the light, he could not reach it no matter how hard he tried.
"WHY IS THE FUCKING LIGHT RUNNING AWAY FROM ME?!" He yelled angrily, pumping his fists in the air. His words echoed around the area again, much to his displeasure. "AND WHY IS THERE A FREAKING ECHO?! IT'S ANNOYING, DAMN IT!"
"I wonder why…?" A deep, male voice said. It was coming from the bright part of the light.
"Who's there?" Natsu asked cautiously, squinting towards the light.
"Don't be afraid, boy." The voice continued.
"Who are you?! What have you done to me?" He asked again, setting his hands ablaze.
"I haven't done anything… though if I wanted to, I could." The voice chuckled. "Now, now, put that fire out."
"Don't tell me what to do! Show yourself, you mysterious glowing bastard!" Natsu yelled, making his fire burn brighter.
"That's no way to talk to me…" The voice growled.
In an instant, Natsu's flames were reduced to black smoke that tainted the bright white "room" he seemed to be trapped in. Natsu tried to ignite his fists once more, but it seemed as if all his magic power was gone. He looked in the direction of the brightest part of the light in horror.
"W-What?" He stammered.
"I said 'don't be afraid,' but it seems as if you've made me angry, child of mine!" The voice boomed.
"C-Child? I-Igneel?!" Natsu questioned eagerly.
"No." The voice replied. "Your actual father. The one who spawned you. The one who you were stolen from."
"S-Stolen? Oi! You're not making sense! I don't have any dad except Igneel!" Natsu countered in outrage.
"Really…?" The voice growled. "If I'm not your father, then I have no reason to keep you alive."
"What are you-"
"Say goodbye to your life, boy." The voice cackled menacingly. "Perhaps you should learn to think before you act."
"Wh-"
Suddenly, the light around Natsu turned from white to a menacing scarlet and ebony fire like none Natsu had ever faced before. It was at least 3000 times hotter than Zancrow's fire, and though it had been so distant moments before, it was now closing in on Natsu faster than a speeding bullet.
"IT BURNS!" Natsu cried in agony before the fire even touched him. "STOP IT!"
"You should've had more respect for your father, boy…" The voice cackled. "Oh, and stay clear of the keys." The voice added before fading into the fiery abyss.
"W-Wait…! K-Keys?" Natsu grunted, growing weaker by the second. "Dammit…"
The fire hit him with from all sides with what could rival the force of a freight train, engulfing him in a sea of raging flames. He struggled to escape, to try and eat the fire, to try to do anything at all, but these flames proved to be too much for the Dragon Slayer to handle. Within a minute of being engulfed in the fire's iron grasp, his eyes fluttered to a close and his fight left him completely.
Unlike all those other times when he refused to give in, this time, Natsu Dragneel knew for certain that he was going to die.
"Natsu….?" Someone cooed.
Natsu opened his eyes and came face to face with a thick, pitch black blanket of nothingness. His body was suspended in the middle of the darkness. Natsu couldn't see the voice that had called him, but he really wished it would put a light on.
Wait… light?
It was then that he remembered the freaky thing that just happened and realized that although he felt weak, he could feel no burning sensation from being charred.
I must be dead…. He thought, looking at his non-scarred arms. I wonder if dead people eat… "AHHH! Do dead people eat?!" He shouted aloud, beginning to panic. No sooner than he had closed his mouth, a sharp pained ripped through his body, causing him to grunt in pain. "Ah… shit." He grunted, suddenly feeling dizzy.
"Natsu? Natsu!" The voice called much less soothingly. He recognized this sound. It was the sound of Lucy.
"Luce… is that you?" He asked the voice.
"Oh my gosh he won't open his eyes!" The voice of Lucy cried.
"Lucy calm down!" Another voice, which sounded like Elfman, shouted. "He's man! He just got knocked out, that's all."
"What?! What's going on?!" Natsu asked, looking around the black abyss. "Where are you guys?!" However, he turned his neck too quickly, causing another sharp pain to rip through his body.
"His heart is beating too fast!" Lucy's voice shouted. It was becoming more panicky by the second.
"Lucy w-what? Where are you-?!"
"Flamebrain! Wake up!" A new voice that had to be Gray's shouted harshly.
"I'm awake, dammit!" Natsu yelled back in outrage.
"Gray, how hard did you-"
"Natshu…"
"O-Oi just leave him alone."
"He'll be fine, he's just unconscious."
"B-But his heart beat!"
"He's been out for more than thirty minutes!"
"Gray! You will feel my wrath!"
"AHH!"
"Damn, did it get hot in here?"
The voices of his guild mate's bickering flooded into the darkness, paying no mind to Natsu's angry rebuttals. What the hell is going on? Natsu thought in wonder. "Where are you guys? What the hell did Gray do?! AND WHY… CAN'T… I… SEE?!" He shouted in a frustrated rage, spewing fire from his mouth.
As soon as the fire left his mouth, the darkness surrounding him dissipated into the ever so familiar walls of his guild, accompanied by the shocked faces of his guild mates.
"Yo!" Natsu grinned.
An awkward silence was the only reply to his greeting, for every eye in the guild was staring at him. Actually, they weren't staring at him. They were staring at the blonde girl lying on the ground in front of him.
"Eh? L-Lucy! There you are!" He smiled, looking down at her. "But, why are you on the floor?"
Lucy sat up silently, giving him a menacing glare. Her face was completely red, and Natsu could tell it had been burned.
Wait… burned?
Natsu's eyes widened in terror as soon as he realized what had just happened. He had either a: Karyuu no houkou'ed or b: Karyuu no tekken'ed her face. Either way, he was about to have to answer to a hell of an ass whooping.
"L-Lucy…" Natsu began cautiously. "I have no idea what's going on. I was in a chamber of light and a sea of fire and then like a lightless abyss and there were voices…!"
His so called explanation only got him confused looks from his guild mates, a smirk from Gray and an eye raise from Lucy. This wasn't going well.
"Natsu…" Lucy growled. "If you hadn't just been knocked out-"
"Correction: knocked the fuck out!" Gajeel interrupted from somewhere in the crowd.
Snickers rang out from the group, though the loudest were stemming from Happy, Laxus, Gray and Gajeel.
Lucy shot the crowd a glare before continuing. "-by Gray, I'd call out Aquarius and Loki to beat your ass."
"I'm sorry…" Natsu grumbled, trying to ignore the wish to punch Gajeel and the rest in the face.
"But damn Natsu." Laxus smirked, walking out of the crowd. "Gray is obviously stronger than you, especially since he knocked you out like that."
"What?!" Natsu growled. "He cheated! I don't even know what just happened!"
"Give up, you candle lit bastard. I knocked you out." Gray taunted him.
"You did not; I was obviously teleported to a room of light!" Natsu countered.
"And you were hearing voices, meaning you were dreaming." Gajeel added.
"I- but… wha-" The pink haired boy couldn't keep up with this argument.
"Damn Gray, he's still kind of disoriented." Gajeel snickered. "How hard did you hit the bastard?"
"Hard enough to knock out a good half of what little brain he had." Laxus answered with a smirk.
"O-Oi!" Natsu protested.
The guild howled at his expense, much to the Fire Dragon Slayer's displeasure. Before long, everyone had went on about their business, no longer caring about the Dragon Slayer's incident. Natsu trudged over to a guild table to sulk, with Lucy, Erza, Wendy, Happy and Carla in tow. Elsewhere, Gray and Gajeel began arguing, and Juvia and Pantherlily supported their respective partner from the sidelines.
"Cheer up, Natsu. You can't beat Gray all the time." Lucy said, patting the defeated Dragon Slayer on the head.
"B-But Lucy… I'm telling you I was transported somewhere!" Natsu whined. "Happy, at least you believe me, right?" He looked to his Exceed friend with big, pleading eyes.
"Aye. Of course Natsu." Happy replied with a smile.
"Happy~!" The boy sniffed, happy that someone was on his side.
"Of course I was being sarcastic." Happy added under his breath, putting his paw over his mouth mischievously.
"O-Oi! You cat bastard! No more fish for you!" Natsu yelled angrily.
"Natsu is being mean~!" Happy cried, flying over to where Wendy and Carla were sitting.
"Oh quit crying Ha-" Carla began, but paused before she could finish her sentence. Her eyes widened in shock, much to the confusion of the male cat and Wendy.
"Carla, what's wrong?" Happy asked. He waived his paw in front of her face, but her eyes did not flinch an inch. "Carla…?"
"Eh? Oh. Um. Nothing. Sorry." She replied once she'd snapped out of her daze, quite obviously shaken and flustered.
"Carla, did you see something?" Wendy asked.
"N-No. It had to be just my imagination, not a vision." Carla replied.
"Eh? It seemed like it spooked you." Happy said. He put his hand on her shoulder in support. "Don't worry Carla, it'll be alright."
"Y-yeah," Carla agreed, still unsettled.
But the image Carla saw was one that was absolutely horrifying. It was peaceful in the guild, until a violet and onyx colored vortex, teeming with malicious magic power, surfaced without warning in the center of the guild. Wicked cackles and tortured screams leaked out into the once still air. She could see Happy hanging on to the entrance by the tip of his nails, just seconds from falling into the vortex. He was crying out to her to come rescue him, but when she reached in to grab him, a black ray shot out from the portal, completely engulfing the doomed blue cat. Something was emerging from the light. Something big. A monster. Then, she snapped out of it.
It was the most terrifying thing she had ever imagined, and she prayed that it would stay that way. Simply a figment of her imagination.
Af1-chan: Uh… yeah. I don't know what to say to that. Please review and let me know what you think. I don't know when I'll be updating again, but reviews could certainly speed up the process :p And as I said previously, at first the nightmares will be sort of humorous, but they'll gradually get more nightmare-nightmare like, if that makes sense. That's far off from now, so no need to worry.
Happy: … I don't like what you did to me.
Af1-chan: And I don't care.
Happy: …. Review for the modderlowd…