Master Dragneel: Those 7 Long Years
Chapter 1: An Unexpected Decision
Fairy Tail Guild Hall, Magnolia, Fiore Year December 1st, X784
It was a pleasant winter afternoon in Magnolia, there was no snow on the ground yet and the sun was out. The Fairy Tail guild hall was its regular rambunctious self, yet there was no guild brawl happening. The noise was a clamor of mages attempting to get to the job board. The only one who were confused with the reason for the ruckus were the new-comers Lucy, Wendy, and Charla.
"What's with all the rush for jobs today? Are people trying to get extra money for holiday shopping?" asked an always curious Lucy.
"It is nice to see those ruffians not fighting one-another for petty reasons today" said Charla.
"You'll find out tomorrow guys. Just be patient".
"Mirajane, do you know what this is about? Does this have anything with what the master has to announce tomorrow?" asked Lucy.
"Yep, you'll all find out tomorrow." came the reply from Mirajane.
The Next Day at Noon
"Listen up everyone. The master has an announcement for all of you." spoke Titania, Queen of the Fairies. Otherwise known as Erza Scarlet.
On stage with Master Makarov, were the S Class mages of Fairy Glidarts, Erza Scarlet and Mirajane Strauss.
"Alright everyone, the time has come! Today I will be announcing the participants of the S Class trials that will take place on our holy ground Tenrou Island. Strength, courage, passion. Those are the things that I looked for in this years' S Class potentials." was the beginning of the speech from Makarov.
"So this is why the rest of the guys were scrambling for jobs yesterday. They wanted to be picked for the trials." Whispered Lucy to Wendy.
"Yeah. I wonder what its' going to be like!" exclaimed an excited Wendy.
"The S Class potentials are: Cana Alberona! Gray Fullbuster! Elfman Strauss! Juvia Lockser! Levy Mcgarden! Freed Justine! Max Alors! and finally, Mest Gryder! Congratulations to you all. You have one week to choose a partner and be at Port Hargeon for our departure. If you are late, then you will be disqualified." finished Makarov as he listed the candidates.
"Oh and I know what you all must be thinking, what about Natsu, where is he and why isn't he a part of the trials. Well let me tell you something unexpected and surprising. Natsu came to me yesterday and asked to not be chosen for the trials this year. I was just as shocked as all of you are right now. He said that it was something important and that we would all find out today as to why he is not taking part in the trials." explained Master Makarov.
"What could be so important that flame-brain choose to miss out on the trials?" asked a dejected Gray, that Natsu hadn't been chosen because of him being weak but because he didn't want to take part in the first place.
It was at that moment that the doors to the guild hall opened, and the chilly air of that December afternoon came rushing in. In the doorway in his black vest, white pants, and scarf was none other than Natsu Dragneel himself. He wasn't alone however. There was someone with him. A woman. This woman was not like any other. She was a total knockout. She had Makarov, Gildarts, Wakaba and Macao, all fainting from nosebleeds. All the other men had their jaws on the floor with amazement of her beauty. Even the girls eyed her with jealousy. It was non-other than Ultear Milkovich.
Gray was shocked at how similar she looked to Ur.
"Hey gramps! How ya doing?" asked a jubilant Natsu.
"N-Na-Natsu who is this?" asked Makarov struggling to regain his composure.
"Oh, this is my mate. This is Ultear Milkovich." replied Natsu while wrapping his arms around her.
This caused Wendy to squeal with joy and Gajeel to crack a smile. Everyone else was confused to their reactions and questioned it.
"You guys, for a dragon or in this case a dragon-slayer, finding your mate means the one you love and the one you want to spend the rest of your life with. If the dragon has mated their mate, that means that all other potential partners are not even thought about. The love between a dragon and their mate is final. Nothing could separate the two of them. This is the first thing that our dragons taught us about. Its so wonderful that Natsu-nii found his mate!" explained an ecstatic Wendy.
"What the squirt forgot to explain is the darker side of dragon-slayer mating cause its not all about the love that a dragon or dragon-slayer has for their potential mate. If they haven't expressed their love for their mate, and their mate is in love with someone else or is at the very least not interested in them, then the dragon-slayer will not be able to stop loving that person. They would have to go through the pain of watching their mate go through life with someone else rather than with them. That however pulls them into a deep depression. And now that the two are mated, means that the chick has her soul linked with Salamander. So if he dies, she dies, and if it happens the other way around, then Salamander won't die right away, but he would take actions trying to kill himself." added-on Gajeel.
Everyone was shocked at the explanation from the two dragon-slayers. The girls thought this was romantic, while guys were sympathetic to the male dragon-slayers as this meant only one woman for them.
"Natsu is this true? Are you sure you want to take that commitment this early in life?" was the concern from Makarov.
"Yes, gramps it is. I've been with Ultear since Galuna Island. And not only with what Wendy and the metal-head said being true, but with Ultears' condition I have to be sure." said a massively grinning Natsu.
This time it was Erza who spoke. "What condition?"
"Before Ultear answers that I need to tell you some stuff about her. From right after Galuna Island we've been together, and since just after the Tower of Heaven she left the guild she was secretly a part of, Grimoire Heart. She had to leave because she realized what she wanted with Grimoire Hearts' goals were no longer necessary. It is only now that she had the courage to come to the guild hall and meet all of you." explained Natsu.
"I did some bad things with Grimoire Heart, which I hope you all can forgive me for. Mostly you Erza Scarlet. It was me who acted as Zeref and corrupted Jellal. My guild master thought if he could control Jellal to revive Zeref, we could accomplish our goals." Ultear said very timidly.
Without thinking, Erza requiped into her Purgatory armor and flew at Ultear. Natsu however, swatted Erza away as if it was nothing. This shocked Erza and everyone else.
"I thought you would be accepting of this Erza, accepting of the fact that Ultear is trying to make-up for her actions. No-one at Fairy Tail has a clean past. All of us have something that makes us cry when we remember it." exclaimed a surprisingly calm Natsu.
Natsu continued saying "Ultear has had no contact with Grimoire Heart since she left and never plans on having any contact with them ever again. What I am about to let everyone know is a very happy occasion for me, but if you can't accept that Ultear is here to stay, then I suggest you leave as I don't want you to be a part of this if you can't do that."
This put everything into perspective for everyone and Makarov interrupted Natsu to ask Ultear a question.
"My dear what color and where do you want your guild mark? If you are a mage and Natsu says you are here to say, then you should join us."
"On my back, in purple please" came the reply from the time mage.
After the guild mark was applied, Makarov asked Natsu to tell everyone why he couldn't take part in the S Class trials.
"Well like we said Ultear has a condition. The condition is: She's Pregnant!" Shouted Natsu.
For a moment everything was silent. Then Gildarts broke it.
"I can't believe my boy scored with such a hottie!" he said while hugging Natsu and crying.
This broke everyone out of their stupor. After the pandemonium settled down, everyone started to congratulate the couple.
Gajeel shared a look with Wendy and the both of them nodded.
Gajeel then cleared his throat to make another announcement that day.
"To anyone who was considering Wendy or myself as a partner, we have to make ourselves unavailable in order to help Salamander and his mate take care of the youngling. This is probably the first dragon youngling in a long time so we have to ensure its safety."
Everyone was shocked at how invested the other two dragon-slayers were in the safety of Natsu's child.
"Alright everyone lets party to celebrate the announcement of the S Class trials, the new member, the relationship of Natsu and Ultear, and the little one on the way!" screamed an extremely happy Makarov.
While everyone partied, Natsu got with his team and spoke to them.
"Hope you guys understand why I'm doing this. As a dragon-slayer, I need to make sure my mate is fine during this phase."
"We understand Natsu. I just never thought you'd be the first one of us to have kids." said a pleasant Lucy.
"Yeah man, I'm just bummed that I won't get to kick your ass to make it to S Class." said a slightly drunk Gray.
"Thanks so much for understanding. Well its time for us to go, its getting late." said Natsu.
"Aren't you going to talk to Erza?" asked a confused Lucy.
"Not right now, even though she didn't know, she attacked Ultear so I'm still pissed at her." said Natsu.
With that, Natsu got Ultear from the second floor where she was resting, picked her up and took her home.
As the two of them were busy preparing for the baby, neither of them managed to go to the guild hall before the Tenrou crew left. The S Class candidates had found their partners. Levy had Jet, Elfman had Evergreen, Cana had Lucy, Gray had Loke/Leo, Juvia had Lissana, Freed had Biksalow, Max had Droy, and Mest ended up choosing Reedus.
When Natsu and Ultear got to the guild hall everyone had already left and as was tradition every year, no one went home until the doors opened and the newly crowned S Class mage walked through the door.
Little did they know of the events taking place on Tenrou Island and who would be the one to walk through the door next.
Hey guys welcome to Master Dragneel: Those 7 Long Years! I hope you guys liked the first chapter. I've always wanted to write one of those Natsu becomes the master stories and I finally got around to writing one of them.
The upload schedule should be once a week. I can't say for sure when the next update will be, but it will be on a day between Sept. 4th – Sept. 6th. Starting Sept. 12th, most updates will happen on Wednesdays.
Once again, I hope you all enjoyed the story so far, and please let me know of anything I can do to make it better.
Thanks for stopping by, see you all next time.