Natsu was lying on his back at the entrance of the temple, his feet propped up on some rubble. He was supposed to be keeping watch, but had gotten bored about an hour ago and was now trying to puff out perfect smoke rings. Happy, apt to his name, was joyfully trying to fly through the rings before they dissipated. It wasn't long before he grew tired of the game.
"Lucy!" he whined "are you almost done in there? I'm bored!"
"Almost, I think I've almost found it." Her voice echoed out of the dark.
"That's what she said an hour ago, how long does it take to find one stupid book?" He muttered to Happy, not realizing that the sound carried across the stone walls.
"I heard that!" Lucy hollered and Happy snickered at Natsu's scowl.
Inside the temple, Lucy sifted through the vines trying to uncover the ancient writings engraved in the stone. She held the torch Natsu had given her up in order to see better, sweat from the heat dripping down her face.
"Turn right at the statue of the dragon…..wait, no" She pulled out the translator book Levy had let her borrow. She was about to give up and call Crux again, when she found the translation "Ah,…..Left at the statue of the dragon. The book of legend sits beneath the gaze of the dark lord."
Gaze of the dark Lord huh? Lucy followed the directions and looked around. She stopped dead in her tracks as the flickering light of the torch fell on a familiar face. A larger than life mural of the dark wizard Zeref stared down at her with cold, unforgiving eyes. She gulped, fighting the urge to turn and run out of his sight, when an alter covered in dust at his feet captured her eye. She ran to it and opened the simple wooden box that lay at its center.
"The book of legend." She breathed in triumph as she lifted an enormous old leather book from the box. Natsu really wouldn't mind waiting a little bit longer. She thought to herself and glanced back through the tunnel.
Lucy propped the torch up so that she could see and brushed the dust off the book with her hands. Turning to the last entry, she sat down on the cold floor and begin to read.
The following is an account of the events spanning from the years X327 - X390 in the kingdom of Fiore
Unrest and tension between the dragons and the humans was at an all-time high. While the Flame King of the dragons and the king of the humans had struck an uneasy treaty of peace many years before, the young on both sides grew restless and war was in the air.
Among the dragons there was a feeling of superiority over the humans, and many felt confined by the boarders the flame kings treaty held them to. It was the Kings own son, the dragon prince Eldur, who rallied his supporters and led the first attack on the humans. Seven dragons in total, lay siege to the village of Magnolia for a single night. When the sun rose in the morning, there were no survivors.
Disgusted by his own sons actions, the flame king banished Eldur. And for a short time, there was peace again. But while Eldur was in his exile, he met the black wizard Zeref. Hate consumed his heart and he begged the dark lord to grant him the power to destroy all humanity. Zeref agreed and turned Eldur into a monster, a demon/dragon capable of immeasurable destruction. From that day forth, he was no longer called Eldur, prince of the dragons; but END, destroyer of all.
The black wizard created more demons from his magic books, each more terrifying than the last, but none could match the blood shed by END. He was, in everyone's eyes, unstoppable.
The flame king felt guilty for all the lives lost at the hands of his son, so he asked the human king to give him a single child to be a signal of hope for the future. The human king gave up his own daughter, the beautiful princess Acnologia. The flame king raised her as his own and taught her what no other human had ever learned-the secrets of dragon magic. She was raised with one sole purpose, to kill the dragon END and those who followed him. She became the first dragon slayer.
Acnologia and END both slaughtered hundreds of the opposite's kind. They met for the first and last time on the Island Tenrou, the home of a small, newly formed wizard guild. The battle lasted for three days, until the young wizard and master of the island guild, Mavis Vermillian, was caught in the cross-fire. Reports say END didn't hesitate as he mercilessly burned her alive.
Unbeknownst to END and Acnologia, the wizard had been a favorite of the fairy's that lived on the island. Angry with grief, the fairy's used their tails (which held their power) to curse the dragon and the princess. They were both turned into the very thing they hated, Acnologia became a dragon, forgetting her life as a human completely, while END…..
Lucy turned the page, trying to read more, but it had been torn out. She was annoyed that she couldn't finish the story, and realized how important it was to her guild. Lucy felt sad, thinking about the soft blond haired ghost she knew. Mavis had never told them how she died, and it seemed impolite to ask, and now Lucy didn't blame her for not bringing it up. She shuddered as she thought about burning alive.
Outside Natsu was tossing a ball of fire between his hands, trying to keep it under control as it flew back and forth faster and faster. Happy watched the fireball, his eyes darting with it until something caught his attention up in the sky.
"Um, Natsu?"
"Not now Happy," The fire mage brushed him off "I'm on a roll"
"Err, Natsu!" Happy said again, this time not hiding the fear in his voice.
"What?" Natsu barked, then he followed Happy's gaze. Unlike the small cat, a grin spread across his face. "Finally, things are getting interesting."
The airship descended from the sky to hover just above head height. Natsu ignited his fists, waiting for the occupants emerge. He was ready and itching for a good fight.
Something sharp pricked him in the neck. He slapped his hand up and brought away a small blue dart that had punctured his skin.
"Aw, come one." He mumbled, dropping to his knees and his vision going blurry. "That's no fair."
"Natsu!" Happy cried out, trying to support is weight as Natsu fell into unconsciousness. A horned figure emerged from the craft, barking orders.
"Grab him." Kyouka said. (if you aren't up on the manga, she and the others are really scary/evil demons of Zerefs.)
Franmalth did as he was told, laughing happily at Natsus pathetic form. Happy tried to stop them, but a third demon slammed him against a wall.
"Hmmm, I wonder how many pieces you'd divide into if I blew you up?" Jackal smirked at the blue cat as he struggled to get out from his grasp.
"Leave him Jackal, we have better thing to do" Kyouka order, and he dropped Happy. As swiftly as they'd come, the demons reboarded their ship with the addition of Natsu.
Lucy skidded out of the tunnel just in time to see the airships doors close and to catch a glimpse of pink hair on the wrong side of the door. Thinking fast she grabbed Happy.
"Happy, can you take me up there?" She asked. Happy nodded with determination and picked her up. They flew after the air ship. When they were close enough, Lucy reached out and grabbed a hold of the side of the ship. Happy let go and flew next to her, while they both took special care to stay close to the ship and away from any windows so that the demons didn't know that they were there. They hung there for almost half an hour, until the airship started to slow, finally reaching its destination. Lucy's eyes flew wide as she realized where they were.
"It's Tenrou, Happy we're back on Tenrou!" She told him. "You have to go back to the guild and tell them what's going on."
"But, what about Natsu….." He protested
"I'll do what I can, but we both know we can't take on all these demons by ourselves. We need Erza and the rest of the guild to help."
Without further delay, happy left, flying as fast as his wings could carry him.
There was a clatter as the Demons disembarked. One of them was carrying the sleeping Natsu over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Lucy followed them, making sure to stay a good distance back. They entered a clearing that had strange runes drawn into the ground and a giant black bolder on one side. Lucy nearly screamed as she realized it wasn't a bolder, but an enormous black dragon secured to the earth with golden chains.
Acnologia.
They set Natsu down in a chair on the other side of the field. His head drooped down to his chest. Kyouka grew impatient waiting for him to wake up, and threw a bucket of water on him. Natsu jerked away and looked at them all groggily.
"Ah, Brother, you're awake."
"I'm not your brother." He said making a face. He tried to move his hands but found they were secured to the chair by golden chains that also seemed to sap his fire power.
"Oh bless, He really doesn't remember who he is, does he?"
"Eh? Remember what?"
Kyouka sighed and leaned in close to him. "Look Eldur, we're doing this to try and help you."
From her hiding spot in so nearby bushes, Lucy felt her blood run cold. Eldur. That was the name of the dragon who started the war, the one who was allies with Zeref, the one who had killed Mavis.
"Geez you're stupid." Natsu told the demon. "My names Natsu. Get it? Nat-suuu. Hell, we've fought you guys before, did you forget already?" the demons ignored him.
"Is he really this dense?" Silver asked. "I really don't remember him being this much of an idiot."
"It's the scarf" Kyouka explained, ripping it off of Natsu's neck, despite his protests. "Igneel must have enchanted it to keep him from remembering his past."
Natsu wimped in anguish as she threw his scarf in the air and cut it up swiftly. The little pieces wafted down to the ground.
"I'll make you pay for that." He growled at them, getting angry. This seemed to be just what the demons wanted.
"Natsu, how long were you with Igneel?" He blinked at the question, surprised enough to answer.
"Since I was a little kid."
"And how long ago was that?" Natsu shrugged. He'd never really thought about it.
"A long time." He said, not liking being interrogated.
"Yes, it was a long time. Nearly four hundred years in fact." Lucy paled. 400 years? That was impossible.
But Natsu just nodded, as if this was a valid possibility. He certainly didn't know.
"oh, oh, Can I tell the story?" Sayla asked, continuing when Kyouka nodded.
"Poor, poor Igneel, The fire dragon king, had to watch as his own son- the dragon prince END murdered thousands and fought against everything he stood for. Finally, one day he'd had enough and flew to the island of Tenrou where his son and his foster daughter where battling to the death. He came, determined to end the war, determined to finally correct his mistake and rid the world of his only son. But he arrived too late. A magical spell had been cast by the fairies of the island and instead of a fearsome dragon END, he found a tiny human child in its place. Sentiment and weakness in the old dragon prevailed and he was unable to kill the child, instead taking it in and raising his son again. Except this time he was determined not to make the same mistakes….." Sayla finished dramatically.
"yeah, I still don't get it." Natsu admitted frankly. Sayla smacked her forehead in frustration.
"It was you!" She practically screamed at him. "You where the child. You are END."
"Are we gonna start this again?" Natsu said with a role of his eyes "I told you my name is Natsu…"
"Yes, Natsu" Kyouka confirmed. "Eldur Natsu Dragneel. E.N.D."
The room was silent and you could almost hear the gear in Natsu's head turning as he tried to work through what he was hearing.
"Wait, wait, wait." He said. "Are you trying to tell me…that I'm a bad guy!"
"YES!" Said every demon collectively.
Natsu laughed in their faces.
"ha ha ha," He spluttered "yeah right! Me, a bad guy! No way! Ha ha ha."
"Oh, forget this" Kyouka said annoyed "let's just start the ritual." She pulled out a ornately decorated cup and poured some foul smelling liquid into it. Then she raised the cup up to the sky and spoke some magic words. The contents of the cup glowed bright green before she brought it back down and strode purposefully toward Natsu.
"What are you….hey wait, don't" He started to protest as she grabbed his nose and pushed his head back. She forced the liquid past his lips and then held a hand over his mouth so that he was forced to swallow.
"ewww." Natsu said disgusted "That tastes worse than Romeo's yellow fire."
"Get moving, I want to perform the ritual before the sun goes down. You all know your jobs. " Kyouka ordered and the demons got busy with their tasks.
It appeared no one was paying attention to Natsu, so Lucy decided it was time to make her move. She crept up behind him and worked on the golden chains that bound him.
"Don't turn around, it's me." She whispered in his ear. "Hold on, I'll have these chains off in second." She saw him nod slightly, and then shake his head as if a fly had been bothering him. After what seem like forever, the chains fell to the floor.
"Natsu lets go." She said, but he didn't move from his seat. "Natsu?"
Suddenly Natsu spun around and grabbed her by the throat. He pulled her close and she saw that his onyx eyes were gone, replaced by a cold and merciless green. Dragon scales poked out from underneath his skin. The only time she had ever seen him like this was in his full dragon force mode.
He spoke to her in an icy voice that was so unlike the Natsu she knew.
"My name is END."