Pride here! I know it's been a long time, and I have no excuses for not updating my other fics, but I want to start afresh, so here I am with a new fic! Also, just to clarify, I will not be updating my other fics. I might rewrite "Devil's Halo". I won't delete the other fics, so that they serve as reminders that I should never ever write such a crappy fic ever again. Right, enough of my rambling, now on to the story.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Fairy Tail or any of its characters.
Narrator's Perspective
'Thoughts'
"Speech"
"Attacks/Raised Voices"
Settings- Place and Time
Truth Behind Lies
a Fairy Tail original fanfiction
Narrator's Perspective
'Thoughts'
"Speech"
"Attacks/Raised Voices"
Settings- Place and Time
Memories
Chapter 1 – Fragments
July X784, Railway to Clover Town
Natsu Dragneel was frustrated. His clothes had been torn up to shreds some time ago, and his body was decorated with various cuts and lacerations. He glanced down and saw a deep gash running down the calf of his leg. He was exhausted and running out of magic.
'Damn, this guy just had to come and ruin my day, didn't he?'
His lungs were burning from the inside, screaming for air and his body felt like it was on fire, demanding magical power. He felt a small opening to a source of magical energy within himself. Desperately, he reached out, only to fail, and this further stoked the flames of frustration within him, causing them to grow.
However, all of his injuries and exhaustion were nothing compared to the disappointment he felt inside. No, disappointment wouldn't be the right word for that. Natsu Dragneel felt despair. Igneel did not raise him for nothing. He was not a fire dragon-slayer for nothing. He was not called "The Salamander" for nothing. Above all, he was not a mage of Fairy Tail for nothing, if he could not defeat this annoying dark guild member, who was probably an A-Class mage at best.
No, Natsu Dragneel decided. No, he would not lose to the likes of Erigor, storm mail or not.
'He can shroud himself in that armour all he likes, I'm gonna rip that off him no matter what!'
'But first of all, I gotta reach for that magic within me. I shouldn't have wasted my magic on those small fries earlier, but oh well. It's too late for that now.'
As though to interrupt his thoughts on purpose, Erigor attacked Natsu again.
"Emera Baram!"
"Too bad little flame, your last lesson was that Fire can never hope to defeat wind! No one can survive my Emera Baram, it's an attack that can cut everything up into small pieces! Nothing shall remain! Perish!"
When the attack ended and the dust and debris had settled, Erigor saw to his shock, that Natsu's body was still intact.
"Hmm, not bad for a fly…"
That was the last straw for Natsu. His mind was a cluttered mess, clouded by rage and fury. In his desperation, he did not notice his magic container extend a thin tendril of his remaining magical energy towards the alternative source of magic present in his body. The little tendril snaked itself, inching its way desperately towards its last hope.
All Natsu saw was red. All around him, the rails were red, the leaves floating around his opponent and himself were red, Erigor was red, and the cat was – the red cat was saying something to him…
Natsu saw his red Happy mouth something that seemed like he was telling Natsu to leave the battle to…TO GRAY?!
'HELL NO!'
Not happening. Absolutely not. There was no way he was going to lose to that stripper. No way the son of Igneel was going to give up on his fight and let Gray, of all people, finish it for him!
The tendril reached its objective. It began to swell, and become thicker. The magical energy started to flow copiously into the dragon slayer's once-empty primary magical container. Natsu felt the magical power surge through his body, and decided to let all hell loose.
"RAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!"
The flames raged around him, burning so hot that even ice would be instantly turned to steam if it were to come into contact with the flames. The wind surrounding Erigor began to flow towards a region of lower air pressure, which happened to be the region around Natsu.
Erigor was left baffled at how his Storm Mail had been ripped off him so easily, and realized with horror, the true power of a dragon slayer. Despite all his injuries and exhaustion from the battles before, the puny fly before him still had so much power left!
'NO! NO! NONONONONO! THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING!'
The two combatants, in the heat of battle coupled with exhaustion and lack of energy, failed to notice the faint tint of black surrounding Natsu's flames.
In Natsu's mind
'You want to defeat him, do you not? Release me, and I shall grant you the power you need', a mysterious voice beckoned.
'Who are you? Go away! I don't need your help to defeat him!', Natsu yelled back, still blinded by rage.
'True. You can defeat him on your own, but I want to stretch my arms and legs for a bit too. I've been cooped up in here for far too long.'
'No. And you still haven't answered my question, who are you?!'
'To put it simply, I am you. Everything you see, I see. Everything you smell, I smell, and everything you feel, I feel too. This is my body as much as it's yours. Except that I've been in here for a bit longer than you have. I am the original owner of this body. You were created by my mind due to…an incident. I'd rather not talk about it now.'
'Are you strong?! If I let you out, you gotta fight me after this! Wait no, it would be better if you helped me beat Erza afte–'
Natsu's thoughts were interrupted by a sudden surge of visions and thoughts running through his head.
X420, Phoenixia, Capital of Ishgal
The Capital of Phoenixia was bustling with people of all ages and occupations. In the very centre of the city, there was a large building. The headquarters of the Unified Mage Council. The Unified Mage Council was an organization that ruled over the humans at the time and protected them. It was the olden-day equivalent of a government.
The Unified Mage Council (UMC) was also the embodiment of the humans, the force that united them all against the Dragons in the Great Dragon War. So far, the Dragons seemed to have an edge, narrow as it may be, over the humans. However, the situation would soon be overturned, or so the people believed. They were given new hope by the new Dragon Slayer program which was run by the government.
"Hey, did you hear, the Council has a facility on the outskirts of Phoenixia?" says an excited villager to the fruit-seller.
"Yes, yes! I also heard that they are going to use the facility to create special mages who can kill dragons!" was the enthusiastic reply.
"Really? That's amazing! Only the mages of the Council have been able to fight the dragons, it would be amazing if there were more capable mages in our society!"
"I agree with you. But, I wonder where they are going to get their mages from… Hey! D'you think we could try to take part in the program and become dragon killers?"
"Now, now don't get ahead of yourself, Galatea my dear. We don't even know if it works yet, what if the program fails, or if there are side effects to the methods used? And, my dear, it's dragon slayers, not dragon killers…" the villager trails away, trying and failing to stifle her giggles.
"*sighs* I guess you're right. Hmph. I knew they're called dragon slayers, I was just…just…"
"Just what, Galatea? *chuckles*"
"Oh shut up"
X420, Draven residence, Phoenixia, Ishgal
"MOMMY! MOMMY!"
A small boy of no more than 6 years old, dressed in a simple brown sleeveless shirt and grey shorts scurried into his house, his tiny body twitching in excitement. His eyes were black in colour, or as the Draven's neighbours fondly described them – darker than black. Young Ryde Draven had short, naturally spiky pink hair that were slightly long, reaching to his shoulders.
"What is it, Ryde?"
His mother was a an average-sized woman that most people would consider attractive. She had pink hair just like her son, but it was longer, reaching past her shoulders, to her back. Her eyes were a mesmerizing hazel-colour. She lifted her quill from the article she was writing for the Phoenix Daily, and tore her eyes off it to find out just what had gotten her cute little child all excited.
"Look, mommy! I caught a biiiigg fishy!" exclaimed the little boy, waving his prized catch in the air.
"Oh look, my little boy's becoming such a responsible little man just like his father!" the mother replied with a warm smile, ruffling her son's hair affectionately.
"Mommy, let's cook this and eat it together with daddy!"
"Okay, dear, now calm down, mommy will cook you that fish for dinner, okay?"
"Promise?"
"Promise."
"Pinky promise?"
"Oh, no young man. You are not going to smear that mud and fish all over me. Now go in and wash up, you're all filthy and dirty. Shoo!"
Little Ryde complied to his mother's instructions, leaving the fish on the kitchen table, scampering off to the bathroom to clean up.
KNOCK
KNOCK KNOCK
The woman opened the door to see five men dressed in the navy blue robes of the UMC's Magic Army.
"Sylvia Draven?"
"Yes, that's me. May I know what it is that you want? My husband is not at home right now, but I will try to be of help" she spoke with a polite smile.
"Yes, we are well aware that Lord Zeref Draven is on a mission for the UMC right now. Is Master Ryde Draven at home?"
July X784, Railway to Clover Town
"Fire Dragon's Sword Horn!"
The dragon slayer's fist slammed into Erigor's middle, breaking a few ribs and causing part of his lungs to collapse. Erigor slammed into the rails and gasped for breath before abruptly falling unconscious.
Seeing the sight of his fallen enemy, Natsu snapped back to his senses. He puzzled for a while, wondering what happened within that short span of time that he blacked out. He remembered seeing many images that made no sense.
'Two women talking…'
'A pink-haired woman…'
'A small pink-haired boy…was that his long-lost brother or something?'
'Those weirdly-dressed soldiers…'
"Natshuuuu! You beat them!" came the cheerful voice of Happy, his best buddy, son and partner, which so happened to be a flying cat. Nothing weird about that. Nope, not at all.
"HA! What did you say about me not being able to defeat Erigor, Happy?!"
"Uhhh I don't remember…cats have bad memory"
"Weren't you saying that I couldn't beat Erigor and that I should leave it to Erza or something?!"
"Your memory is worse than a cat's…"
"NATSU!" came the voice of a concerned Erza Scarlet.
"Yo, Erza! I beat him!"
"I'm so glad you're alright!" she said, slamming his head into the breastplate of her armour, causing poor Natsu to struggle to hold on to consciousness.
"Heh, flame brain. Look, you're all beat up. Couldn't even beat a simple opponent?" came the teasing voice of Gray Fullbuster, resident ice mage of Fairy Tail.
"Shut it, ice princess! Like you could do any better!"
"Wanna go at it? Flame-brain!"
"Natsu…Gray… No fighting on my watch," the boys' fight was stopped by Erza's calm and deliberately sweet voice which carried the threat of death-by-head-bonking between the lines.
"*sigh* Yet another normal day in the life of a Fairy Tail mage," Lucy Heartfilia groaned.
"Aye!"
I will try to make this story have minimal romance, and nope it's not going to be a NaLu fic. My apologies to the NaLu fans out there for disappointing you, but I just don't ship NaLu.
Do read and review. Feel free to voice any burning questions about the story, and I will answer if I feel that it will not ruin the air of suspense that I'm trying to establish.
Yours truly, Pride.