Chapter 1: 6 months on

The sun was starting to rise in the sky of Magnolia, shining the town. Those who were partying till the dawn took this as the sign to go home, disappearing into the shadows.

In the center of Magnolia, near Magnolia Square, the sun's shine was peeking through the curtains of a flat. Underneath the window, a mage was sleeping. From the outside, he looked as though he was sleeping peacefully. But in reality, he was in pain, and was having a nightmare. Many of his past friends and foes were taunting him in the nightmare.

"You will soon be joining us"

"No! I will never! I will never become what you all have become!"

"Oh really?" sniggered the friends and foes in the nightmare. "How can you say that when you already have?"

He looked down at his arms. They were cracking, and started to turn into dust.

"no! No! NOOOOOOO!"

He screamed as the cracks spread throughout his body, finally reaching his face. The cracks split his face apart.

"ARRRRRRRRRRRG-"

"AAAAAAAAAAH!"

He woke up screaming. He looked around the room, and tried to calm down. A few minutes later, he was able to calm his breathing. He pushed his hair out of his face so he could see the room clearly.

The mage in question was Natsu Dragneel.

"For god's sake…. I really need to stop having those nightmares", he mumbled to himself. As he said that, he looked down at his right arm. It was covered in white bandages, as though he was trying to cover something. He sighed, and got out of bed.

He took his clothes off and headed into the shower. There were battle scars everywhere on his body, except on his back. He never backed away from a fight, nor ran from it.

After a few minutes, he got out and dried himself, changing into his normal clothes.

Looking at the front, he walked out of the door, walking towards the guild building of Fairy Tail.

- 10 minutes later -

Natsu was walking nearer to the guild building, lost in his thoughts. His nightmares were getting worse, and he was feeling physical pain. He was getting worried about it.

Can it be… no, I don't want to believe it. But the signs are all there… I guess I can't keep lying to myself anymore. I'm…

"Oi!"

A shout from behind broke Natsu's thoughts. He looked behind, and saw a blonde haired celestial mage running towards him.

"I said hi and you ignored me!"

"Sorry Lucy. Was lost in my thoughts. Morning"

"Morning. How are you?"

"Meh. You?" Natsu said while kissing Lucy on the cheek. Lucy blushed.

"Still not used to it, are you?" Natsu smirked with his traditional smile.

"Stop teasing me like that!" said Lucy, her face turning red. "You know well why!"

"I know I know, sorry" Natsu smirked.

"You're turning more into Vincent, you know that right?" Lucy smirked back. Natsu pouted hearing that.

"I'm not turning into that emo guy!"

"Thanks" murmured someone behind them. They looked back; Vincent was walking up to them, with Mirajane following suit.

"Oh boy" Natsu sweat dropped. Ever since Natsu came back, the Dark Dragon Slayer, had trained him, beating the Fire Dragon Slayer to a pup at times.

"Seems like I need to train you a little bit harder today" said Vincent, cracking his knuckles and smiling devilishly. Natsu looked at him scared.

I'm dead meat.

"Now now Vince, don't beat him too much", said Mirajane. Lucy felt a shiver down her spine. In the six months, Mirajane was becoming more of her former self. Although her appearance hasn't changed, her personality was more turning like her old fighting self.

They really are the devil couple, Lucy thought.

Suddenly, they heard a massive explosion. The four mages looked ahead; it came from the Guild.

"We better get there quick"

"They're starting a brawl without me?! Come on!" screamed Natsu. Before they knew, Natsu ran towards the guild.

"Uh oh" said Vincent.

"I think Laxus is going to need to think about damages expenses now" said Mirajane. Lucy laughed at that statement. As he said that, they heard a second explosion in the direction where the guild was.

They started running towards the guild.

- At the guild building -

Fairy Tail was busy as ever. But all the mages were staying away from the guild at that moment, as Gray and Gajeel started an all out brawl. Gajeel was supposed to be training Gray to bring him into shape; Gray preferred to just beat Gajeel to show who was stronger. They exchanged blow after blow, their attacks causing sonic booms that were blowing the nearby mages away, inflicting damage to the building. Lucy, Mirajane and Vincent walked through the guild-building door.

"Oh no"

"You two! STOP!"

Vincent's shout caused the two to stop fighting. They both looked towards Vincent and shouted, "WHAT?!"

"Stop fighting! You're destroying the guild!"

"Hey, I didn't start this!" shouted Gajeel. "This ice idiot tried to attack me from behind!"

"I did not!" Gray shouted back. "I don't need to attack you from behind to beat your ass!"

"Why you!"

"Bring it you iron idiot!"

"That's it! I'm gonna beat your ass!"

"You two, STOP!"

"Fire Dragon's Roar!"

Suddenly, an attack threw Gray off the ground. Natsu had joined the brawl.

"Bring it you assholes! I'm all fired up!"

"NATSU!" shouted Vincent, but he knew it wouldn't do anything. The three started a big brawl, where Elfman, Freed, Bigslow, Wendy, Jellal and Jean joined in.

"Oh… dear" said Vincent. Mirajane came up to him.

"You're not going to stop it?"

"You want me to die? I rather live a few more years", said Vincent sweat dropping. Mirajane laughed at that statement. Lucy sighed.

"He's never going to change, is he?"

"Nope" said Vincent. "But that's the flame breath you fell in love with"

Lucy's face went bright red. She looked down on the floor, embarrassed. But she looked up at Vincent.

"Yep, that's the idiot I fell in love with. My Natsu" Lucy looked upon the brawl, seeing her boyfriend beating Gray. Vincent smiled.

"What the-"

They heard a voice behind them. Laxus was walking into the guild.

"I guess you'll need to start thinking of expenses to fix this, guild master?" said Vincent with a sarcastic tone. Laxus facepalmed.

"I can understand now why Gramps wanted to retire"

Everyone laughed. At that moment, Lucy felt, everything was content.

"EVERYONE! BIG NEWS!" someone shouted as he ran into the guild.

It was Jet.

"What's wrong?" asked Laxus. The brawl stopped as well, waiting to hear from Jet.

"The… the Magic Council…. ERA'... ERA's destroyed!"