It was hard to get people to listen to him. They listen when he fights, when he is being stupid but never at any other time. That's why the others think he's an idiot. The only one that doesn't is Lucy, and then there is times when she seems to question it.
After some fights with the spriggan, two of them and somehow they were able to defeat them, and coming out heavily wounded, Natsu started to think. Some of the things they said struck a chord in him. As the group continued onwards to meet the Spriggan in combat, the pieces of a horrible puzzle came together. Finally, everything made sense. He couldn't believe it.
"We can't use the weapon..." He muttered to himself. A few heads turned but they shook it off an continued on their way. "We can't use the weapon." Natsu told them, starting to stray behind the group.
"Why not? Has the flame brain got scared?" Gray asked, stopping and looking at him.
"No." Natsu said. "We can't use it. If I do... Something bad is going to happen, to all of us. I'd rather not endanger you."
"Oh come on, nothing that bad could happen right?" Gray said, waving a hand to lead everyone onwards. Natsu sighed as he trudged behind them. He couldn't tell them the truth now. They would hate him even more than they did now.
They met Zeref even earlier than they thought they would. Mavis's spirit guided them through the kingdom towards him, sensing a power ahead. She had many plans for what to do if they came across another spriggan. In fact she was the only reason all of the guild members were still alive. Her guidance saved them. When they saw Zeref she was shocked. She hadn't thought of any plans for this turn of events.
"Hello, everyone. Mavis. Natsu." Zeref said. Natsu avoided looking at him, feeling his gaze was straight at him. When he finally dared to look up, Zeref was staring at Mavis. "Though I can't see you, I know you're there Mavis. Do you think you could stop my army?" He asked her, holding onto the book of END.
Mavis stayed silent, not wishing to speak with him. She knew about his plans and didn't want to hear more. She glared at him, taking a quick glance at Natsu. She too had figured it out.
"Well if you aren't going to speak, or do anything for that matter, I may as well give you this." Zeref said, loosening his grip on the book and tossing it at them. Gray had started already running for it only to be cut off by Natsu, catching it and making sure it stayed shut. Zeref smirked, proud of his younger sibling for figuring it out. While the guild was preoccupied with Natsu and Gray, he disappeared away.
"What the hell?! Why did you stop me from taking the book?!" Gray shouted at Natsu, teeth bared at him.
"Because you'd destroy it! And I can't let that happen! Igneel told me not to get it destroyed!" He retaliated, butting heads with him but keeping the book out of Gray's grasp. They had made it back to the guild, exchanging not glares as Natsu kept a tight hold on the book, almost as tight as Lucy's grip when she got a new book or was hiding her novel from him.
"Just calm down guys. We need to decide what we are going to do with the book." Lucy said, splitting the two apart. Gray turned away, crossing his arms. She held her hands out, gesturing for Natsu to give her the book. He gulped and hesitantly passing it to her. She placed it on the most central table.
"We need to be logical about this. We don't know what may happen if we destroy or open it." Lucy said, observing the cover. A few points were thrown about, leading to one of Fairy Tail's biggest arguments but since many were able to see how serious the situation was, they were somehow able to not brawl. She glanced to the side, at Natsu. He was being silent. If anything, withdrawn.
"Guys... Please listen to me. Don't open it. Or destroy it. Just... Hide it somewhere." Natsu said, causing a silence in the room.
"What's the matter? Don't you want to beat E.N.D and Zeref? Are you on their side now?" Gray asked him, the situation obviously starting to get him on edge. His friend was acting strange, very unlike himself.
"No! I'm not on his side! I don't plan to ever join it!" Natsu said, his voice raising and his hand slammed on top of a table. "But let's just hide the god damn thing! It will be safer for everyone!" He said. But once again, he was ignored by Gray, and everyone. Lucy bit her lip.
"Maybe we shouldn-" she started to get interrupted by Gray picking up the book. Gray give Natsu a small glance before opening the cover. Unexpectedly nothing happened. He casually flicked the first page, seeing there was no danger. When the yellowed page softly landed on the cover, the area started to get hotter and hotter.
"What the?" Was the only thing Gray could manage before an explosion blew them away, coming from the book. Various screams rang out from young and old. Once the bright light from the explosion had disappeared, smoke filled the hall.
The silence in the guild hall was stunning. Lucy couldn't remember which way was which, the smoke from the explosion was too thick. She coughed. She felt around her, trying to find someone, anyone. Her hand grabbed an ankle, an ankle of someone standing up. It was shaking.
"W...who is it...?" She asked very quietly, barely audible. She choked again from the smoke. It took a few moments but a laugh pierced the area. This solved the mystery of why the leg was shaking. But who was it? The smoke finally started to clear and Lucy's eyes widened. It was Natsu. Once the smoke had seemed to have disappeared, Natsu looked at them all, strewn about on the floor.
"God all of you are idiots!" He said through his laughing. "And I'm the stupid one. I figured it out ages ago, trying to warn you about this but did you listen to me? No! Like always, you never listen to me!" He called out to them.
"N...Natsu...what happened?" Lucy asked, throat starting to clear with the fresher air. Natsu looked down at her and she knew something had changed in him just from his eyes. They were colder, harder. They flashed with sympathy.
"Well... Since you are here I'll spare your lives for now." He said, keeping eye contact.
"What do you mean? Natsu what is on with you today?" Erza asked, concerned.
"What? Can't you tell? I thought the signs were obvious enough, saying I, the so-called dumbass, managed to figure it out." He said. "I mean didn't anyone find it funny how Zeref was always there when I was? That he turned his conversations towards me?"
Lucy's hands covered her mouth. It couldn't be possible could it?
"But now you've mentioned it. Joining my big brother sounds like a good option. I was originally planning on sticking with you guys and destroying him the next time I saw him but now I think joining him will be a better idea."
"You can't be serious Natsu." Lucy said, pulling herself up with the aid of a wrecked table.
"I'm completely serious. I'm surprised you couldn't figure it out, considering how much smarter you are than the rest of these humans." Gesturing to the guild. "I guess I overestimated you... It's such a shame, you would of been useful to me." He said. Lucy's mouth quivered. She couldn't believe this. This couldn't be Natsu. It had to be-... It was Natsu. This was what he was warning them about. She held her head, processing the information.
"N...no...it can't be..." She muttered.
"Hmm..." Natsu thought, looking her up and down. "How about this? Come with me Lucy. Let's bring the team back, just us two. I'm sure you don't want me to me to leave you again." He suggested, grabbing her hands. He could see her uncertainty in her eyes. He needed something to convince her. "I could get Zeref to fix Aquarius's key."
"H...how? I...I didn't tell...anyone..."
"Anyone with common sense could tell. I saw the broken key, how distant you were from the rest of us, how that when me, Gajeel, Gray and Juvia found you, you were wearing something that resembled Aquarius, let alone the same tattoo that she had. Any idiot could figure that out." Lucy looked away, tears close to falling down her already pale face.
"Lucy! Why didn't you tell us!" A voice called out.
"We could of helped you through it!" Erza said, trying to reach her friend.
"Aside from them." Natsu muttered under his breath.
"I didn't want to make anyone feel worse. Everyone had already lost so much. Gray his dad twice, Erza was tortured again. I didn't want to add on to it." Lucy said, looking at her feet. Natsu and Lucy's hands were still holding each other's.
"Are you sure that's the reason Lucy? Wasn't it because of the resentment? Why didn't they notice you were in pain? Why didn't they ask? Didn't they care about you? Am I right Lucy?" He asked her, leaning in to her ear.
"N...Natsu...no..."
"Maybe you didn't feel strong enough. Everyone around you is so strong aren't they? If you told anyone, you wouldn't be strong, right?"
"Stop... Stop it!" She said, removing a hand from Natsu's and holding to her head.
"You knew they wouldn't be able to help you. You are the only celestial wizard here. If you come with me, I'm sure Zeref could fix you're key and bring back your mother's friend." Natsu said, pulling back from her ear. "That is if you want to return. We can make you strong Lucy, more than these Humans can." Lucy walked backwards, shaking her head.
"Stop it... Stop playing with my mind!" She cried out, trying to get her thoughts in order.
"I won't blame you if you don't come, why would you trust me? You didn't trust me about your key after all." Natsu said, looking away from them.
"I...I..." Was all Lucy could stutter out. The other guild members were in shock. What happened to him?
"But man, I thought it would be hard leaving you guys but it seems I was wrong! This is far too easy!" He said with a laugh.
"What? But... Aren't we you-" Erza started, she was so confused.
"Your friends? Pfft. No. The only ones here I would categorise as friends are Lucy and Happy. You guys...the constant bullying and fights and complaints. I pretended to shrug them off but they really hit me deep. This guild is meant to be all about friendship right? But all you've gave me is a hard time! That is until Lucy came along." He said, stepping over some people who were unable to get up.
"You never even believed me about Igneel! It took you seven years to believe me and that was after Gajeel and Wendy arrived. Seven years of everyone denying the existence of the only family figure I could remember? It does things to you. It made me question Igneel's existence. Isn't that messed up?" Natsu complained, the pain in his voice was clear to be heard.
Lucy had looked away, she couldn't bare it. Her friend had been changed to something she could barely recognise.
"Are...are you coming Lucy?" He asked her, holding a hand out. She glanced up, recognising the gesture far too well. Her head dropped and she turned away. The hurt was obvious in Natsu's eyes. "Happy?" The blue exceed didn't even make a noise, he stayed hidden behind the ruins of a chair.
"W...wow. I see how it is. I suppose this is goodbye." He said, turning away from them. He started towards the exit. "Goodbye Fairy Tail... Lucy..." He said, taking one last glance at her before walking out the guild hall, light shimmering on his shoulder, moving upwards. Soon, his trademark red guildmark was gone. Lucy turned back around and started to run after him.
"Natsu! Please! Please you can't go!" She called to him, tripping over and rolling. She pushed herself up only to collapse onto her knees. "Don't leave me all alone again..." She muttered.
"You made your choice, and this is mine. Goodbye Lucy." He said, walking further and further away into the darkness. He stopped and turned. "Tell Gray if he wants to fight, he knows where to find me." He said before disappearing into the night.
Lucy fell onto her side and curled up into a ball.
"Please don't go..." She whispered, tears dripping into a puddle on the pavement.