Once upon a time

I used to romanticize

Used to be somebody, never mind

Don't miss it that much now

I think it's sinking in

Days that I wonder where I've been

He stood on the hill, staring down at the ravaged scenery before him. Houses looking like empty shells, blacked from the fire. Fire still clung to a few trees and buildings that still had not yet been consumed. This town wasn't as lucky as the last one, there were no survivors from this town.

He was known for his fire, when some saw him they thought he had come to be their savior, how wrong they were. If it had been how it once was, then maybe he would have saved them. But that was long ago, it was during a time of happiness and carefree thoughts. He no longer missed the joy in people's eyes when he defeated the 'bad guys'.

When he heard the sound of the grass crunching he didn't turn around to see who had come for him, he didn't need to, he already knew.

"Come my son, you did a good job with this town. We will soon be done destroying this terrible world and rebuilding a new on from the ashes."

Looking at the town one more time he turned around and began to walk down the hill with his companion. He couldn't get rid of the nagging feeling that he had been to this town before. When they reached the bottom of the hill, he could hear the clock tower as it finally crashed to the ground, nothing could stand against his flames.

Apologizes, I'm not myself but I can guarantee

That when I get back, you won't believe

That you knew me well

He hadn't felt right ever since he had joined Zeref and left her behind. But he had to. If he wanted to keep her safe, he would have to make sacrifices. And if those sacrifices changed him, hardened him, made him capable of wiping out entire cities, made him a part of the dark, inhuman, but he didn't care, because she was worth.

Zeref had promised him her safety in their cleansing, and if that meant he had to be Zeref's puppet then that was the price. He had changed since he had last seen her.

"We will be reaching our finale destination soon, the rest of our army should be there as well" Zeref said "And before you ask, yes the girl will be safe. Now stop worrying and follow instructions. Your guild mates must have missed you, they haven't seen you for months, why don't you give them a warm welcome."

Don't want to think about it

I'm fuckin' tired of getting sick about it

Now stand back up and be a man about it

And fight for something, fight for something, fight for something, oh

As he weaved through the streets, he felt almost at home. He needed to find his targets. A few he contemplated warning about what was to come. While he had changed, he was not possessed by some evil demon that many seemed to think, he was the same person, just changed for the sake of protecting her. But he was tired of worrying about others. Turning the next corner he found him. Before he could attack the man turned around and his eyes softened just for a second for hardening again.

"You basterd!" he cried running at him as he threw what looked to be ice shards at him "Lucy's been worried sick!"

Side stepping the shards, he heard them shatter but kept his eyes locked on the man.

"And this is what you've been doing! You betrayed us, you betrayed her!" the man cried again before launching an ice spear at him.

This man was beginning to get on his nerves with this ranting. Raising his hand, he simply waved it and flames erupted from it, melting the spear before it could even get close.

"What's this talk of betrayal?" He asked "If anything I'm the one in the right" Sending a wave of flames at the man he cried "I did this for her! You wouldn't understand what it means to protect someone when all you're doing right now is spouting hot steam."

Adding more flames to his assault he could see the ice barrier the man had foolishly put up was beginning to melt rapidly. "I took action, and sometimes to protect those you love, you gotta accept sacrifices! Apparently you've never tried to protect someone you love!"

His fire finally reached the man and sent him flying into a nearby wall engulfed in his flames. Walking over to him he saw the man was breathing, but shallowly, he didn't have much time. He was about to turn around when he heard the man cough.

"You're…you're….you're not Natsu" the man coughed out.

Turning back towards the man he kicked him hard in the gut before staring down at him. "I'm fucking sick of people saying that. I hate to tell you this ice boy, but I am the Natsu you knew, just changed. No demon possession of any kind. Now then" he snarled as he began to kick the man in the side "be a man and stand back up!"

"Come on, there must be someone your fighting for?" he taunted "If you don't, then how did you even manage to live this long?"

The man merely glared at him.

"Tch" he said "Come on, fight for something, fight for something, fight for something" he snarled as he kicked the man in the side with each word until he noticed the man was no longer breathing.

Ceasing his kicks, he walked away. The target Gray Fullbuster was dead; he remembered when he was told the man's name. It had given him a feeling of warmth and could feel memories trying to bubble up. He didn't remember what this man had been to him, but he had no regrets towards what he just did.

Don't you move

Can't you stay where you are, just for now

I could be your perfect disaster

You could my ever after

He was getting worried. He hadn't seen her yet. She couldn't be dead, Zeref had promised her protection. Turning the corner he saw a group of Zeref's men surrounding what appeared to be a single person. He wasn't going to bother with checking for sure, he was turning around when he heard a voice that shook him to the core.

"You think just because I don't have any more magic, that I can't beat your asses, just try me!"

"Lucy" he whispered before charging towards the men. He couldn't wrap his head around this situation. Zeref had promised Lucy's protection, that no one would so much as lay a finger on her. But here she was being cornered by a bunch of goons.

When he reached the goons, he jumped up and engulfed his foot in flames before he slammed it into the side of one the goons head. This successfully sent all of them flying.

When he looked back up he saw Lucy staring at him with both a relieved, but questioning look. He hadn't seen her face in so long. He just wanted time to freeze at this moment, so he could keep reliving his joy of finally finding her.

"Natsu" she said before running at him wrapping her arms around him in a hug. He was taken aback for a second before he wrapped his arms around her waist.

"Hey Lucy" he said to her "I missed you."

"I missed you too you idiot, but what took you so long to get back? You said three to four days at most!"

"I know, but I ran into trouble on my way back."

"Trouble that keeps you for months?"

"It was Zeref."

"Zeref?! Does that mean you've been with him this entire time!?" Lucy exclaimed, yanking away from him.

"Lucy it isn't what you're thinking" he said trying to calm her down.

"So you were with him this entire time! Why Natsu?!"

"I'm sorry, but Zeref was trying to force me to come with him and when I refused he threatened to kill you guys, I had no other choice!"

"You had a choice! You could have told him no and then we could have fought him together!"

"I was completely wrecked after my fight with him, he's stronger than he looks."

"You're stupid, you know that, right?" Lucy sighed.

"Yeah, I know."

"God you're a mess Natsu" Lucy sighed "What am I going to do with you?"

"Sorry Lucy, this was the only way to keep you safe."

"How so? I would have been fine if you had stayed!"

"No you wouldn't have been, Zeref would have killed me the next time we fought and then he would proceed to wipe out the whole world. When I joined with Zeref I made him promise me that you wouldn't die, it was my best option to keeping you safe!"

"So this is all about keeping me safe?!"

"Yes it is, I can't let you die like future Lucy did, you mean too much to me!"

"Natsu" she said again before hesitantly walking towards him again and hugging him once again. "I'm still angry at you, I hope you know."

"Yeah, I figured" he said wrapping his arms back around her.

Nobody told ya this is gonna fold ya

We go marching in like toy soldiers

To have and hold ya over sold ya

They're marching like toy soldiers

He couldn't be happier, Lucy was safe and they were back together. They would survive this and live in the new world together.

Looking down at her he smiled and said "We'll get through this together don't you wo-"He stopped, what he was looking at was wrong. Lucy looked like she had slumped against his chest. "Hey Lucy" he said watching as she didn't reply. He felt his blood run cold when he felt something wet and sticky run down his arms. Pulling her away from him, what he saw made his heart freeze. There was a gaping hole in her chest and a single trickle of blood ran from her mouth.

Natsu couldn't breathe, this couldn't be happening, Lucy was supposed to be fine when this ended. He could feel the tears as they ran down his face.

"I'm sorry son" came an impassive voice.

Looking up with his fangs bared he saw Zeref standing in front of him "You promised Lucy would be fine!" he snarled.

"Yes, I did, didn't I? Well I thought she would be killed in the battle, but it seemed that you got to her before that could happen" he replied.

"You mean you planned to kill Lucy all along!"

"Well yes, I couldn't have weak scum like her in the new world. She would have tried to stop me, and I couldn't have that."

"You monster! You promised!"

"Oh shut it, I was kind enough to let you keep the memories of her, as well as letting you believe that she would live through this entire cleansing! Now come then, we have a new world to rebuild, and you wouldn't want to miss that, would you?" Zeref asked.

Once upon a time

This place was beautiful and mine

But now it's just a bottom line

Barely comes to mind

But ever after was mine

Once again he stood on a hill, looking down on a town he knew well as it burned. The only thing that was with him was a fresh grave. He could feel snippets of memories from this town appearing in the back of his mind. This town had once been beautiful and his home. But now it was an empty husk, the end of an era. His happiness was gone now, buried beside him. Maybe she had been right, that if he had stayed everything would have been fine, but maybe not.

He would never be Natsu Dragneel again. Now he was simply END, the demon that had helped Zeref reach his dream, and nothing more.

I'll be your disaster, ever after

So fire away

Goodbye

A/N: So they first week of May has been deemed angst week, unfortunately I only was able to do one prompt, the bonus day. So anyway, here's some terribly written angst.