Natsu stared out into the kingdom that he was to destroy, he held nothing personal against them but he was just paid to do so, and he wasn't one to argue with whoever his employers may be. He unsheathed his sword and a swirl of black magic and blood red flames swirled around the blade. "Forgive me... I will make this fast as possible for you all" he said sadly. He swung his sword down and the swirling magic went rushing towards the city, forming a large canyon as it went. The second it collided with the gate there was a huge explosion, the black magic killing any living thing it touched, and the flames melting the walls with ease. The trees around him started to spontaneously combust, even though he was miles away. 'Guess I overdid it this time huh?' He looked at the still burning kingdom one last time before turning around and slowly walking away to who knows where.
200 years later:
His life was still pretty much the same, people would hire him to do things for them, not normally destroying entire kingdoms but taking out small groups of bandits or dark mages were his main source of income. He sat down in his small house, wondering why he felt an emptiness in his life, he was probably one of the strongest mages in existence, and had all the money he would ever need from hundreds of years working as a mercenary. He never spent more than he needed to, he didn't see the point in having fancy clothing that cost thousands of jewels when his simple trench coat is less expensive and would last way longer anyway.
Some would say he would never have anything to worry about and that his life was perfect but why did he feel as if he was missing something?
He just finished wiping out a small group of bandits who killed a local family, was requested that all but the leader to be brought into prison while the leader was to be brought to the town square for a public execution, which he did. Natsu didn't enjoy killing, well he didn't really enjoy anything. Besides hunger he didn't really feel anything, which was one of the main reasons he felt empty on the inside, everywhere he looked he saw romance, happiness, sadness, anger, regret, people laughing with their own friends. No matter what happened to him he never once felt anything like that which made him feel...well he doesn't know.
50 years later.
He was hired by some villages to investigate a Zeref cult, who kidnapped children and were forcing them to build something. He flew over the ocean for miles and miles until he saw some kind of tower in the make. Seeing the pain and suffering from the children and even adults sparked something inside him that he never felt before. Anger. Sadness. He felt sorry for everyone there but he didn't even know why. He decided that since it's his first time feeling emotions he should further investigate and see why he was feeling such things.
He would have to sneak in somehow, but he decided with his amount of muscle the cult guards would try to kill him since he would be able to put up a fight. 'Dammit, if I do this I'll be stuck as a little kid until I grow back... Ah well it's a small price to pay I guess'. His body started glowing and a black aura surrounded him. As it faded he was in the body of an eight year old. He used his sword and sliced up his coat and re-quipped it away. He flew down to the bottom of the tower and threw dirt and grime all around him and snuck to the side of a couple of children who were working and began to imitate their actions.
After a few weeks he began to feel more and more anger at the Zeref worshippers and was about ready to take action when he heard a lot of commotion happening nearby. He rushed over as fast as he could and was shocked to see an old man just sacrifice himself for a young girl. Thoughts began racing in his head, he was in a constant wonder of why someone would give their own life to protect another's. The mages prepared a second wave of magic but it seemed that the girl awakened a magic of her own. They fired their magic and she prepared to block but Natsu knew she was way too inexperienced to come out unscathed. He rushed over and pushed the girl out of the way and took the full blunt of the attack. 'Why am I doing this? Why do I want to protect someone I don't even know? Doesn't matter, let's burn these fuckers!'
Everyone expected the child to be vaporized, but instead he only had a few small black streaks on his face from the smoke and a ticked off look on his face. He pulled out a Katana from no where and flicked it out of the sheath. It was a pure black blade with with red engravings of a dragon wrapped along it with a black hilt with red lace. He slowly began walking forward, half heartedly cutting the magic and dissipating it. When he was about 10 feet away from the closest Mage he sprung forward and decapitated him in the blink of an eye, and was quickly dashing from Mage to Mage either stabbing their heart or slitting their throat or occasionally taking the extra couple of seconds to dismember one and leave him to bleed out. Once he cleared the room he cut the shackles off of the slaves. The girl he just saved ran up to him and stared at him in complete amazement. "Will you help us fight? If you lead us I know we can win!" Natsu stared at the girl with wonder 'How can a youngster who's been through so much still smile so beautifully?' He responded "This isn't my time to shine young one, but yours" She thought 'Arnt we the same age? Wait a minute what does he mean' "what do you mean my time to shine? Arnt you going to help fight?" "I have something I must do, but I can see it in your eyes, you have the determination of a thousand warriors. I know you can lead these people to victory" she smiled up at him "will I ever see you again?" He handed her his sword "If fate allows it, Then we will meet again. Wield that sword with respect for the blade, it has the blood of Dragons embedded into it" Erza was puzzled at what the man said but was happy at the though of having a memento of him.
Natsu shot flames from his feet and blasted through the ceiling and watched from a distance as the small girl led a rebellion in their fight for freedom.
10 years later.
Erza was on a mission along with Grey and Lucy (Grey recruited her) she had overheard a dark Mage talking about Lullaby and eventually figured out that they were planning on using it against the guild masters. Erza had a magic pump connected to her arm and was racing there as fast as she possibly could. When they finally got there, they saw the horrible true form of lullaby. He was giant and seemed to be made of wood and had glowing purple eyes and a monstrous face. She requipped her Heavens wheel armor on and began summoning as many swords as he could, while Grey was launching as many Ice Lances as possible while Lucy did jack shit. Their attacks startled lullaby, but he quickly regained his foothold and went on the offensive, Erza shielded her body while Grey grabbed Lucy and dodged swipe after swipe that Lullaby threw at them. Erza was losing strength fast and in between attacks she grabbed her favorite sword and sliced Lullabies arm as it came down, and to her surprise he howled in pain and the whole cut was emitting smoke
'Looks like you saved me again, Hero' Erza looked down at the blade and smiled before launching herself at lullaby. She prepared to slash at his face and end this once and for all, but lullaby was able to grab her with his good hand and slam her on the ground over and over. Erza tried to grab her sword, but if felt like she just kissed a freight train and couldn't even move. Lullaby raised his giant fist up and swung it down to finish the job. 'Simon, Wally, Sho, Milliana...I'm sorry I couldn't save you.' With tears in her eyes she accepted what she knew was to come and closed her eyes. She felt the wind of Lullaby's fist, and a loud smack but no pain. Maybe she died instantly? No she still felt the pain when lullaby kept smashing her on the ground, what the hell happened? She opened her eyes and saw a hooded figure holding up Lullaby's fist with one hand, and blood red flames circle around his fist slowly and began to wrap around Lullaby's arm.
Lullaby jerked back in pain and was frightened at the mans sudden entrance. A Loud and hard to understand voice came from Lullaby "You! Mard Geer told us you were dead!? Why are you protecting puny humans?" The man didn't respond, and instead held his hand out to his side and Erzas sword flung into his open palm. The man looked up and the Demon and smiled "Sorry old friend, but this is where your story ends!" (That was a terrible book pun) He shot flames from his feet and Did a wide slash against Lullaby's chest. At first nothing happened, then hundreds of red magic circles appeared on lullaby and exploded simultaneously leaving nothing but a massive crater.
Even the guild masters were at complete awe at the mysterious mages strengths, but that awe quickly turned to anger when they realized their hall was destroyed. Makrovs face paled when he realized his mages where caught in their death glare, which meant he would be included among them all. He did what any honorable wizard would do, he ran as fast as he possibly could. Grey grabbed Lucy who somehow passed out and followed behind their master.
Natsu was clueless to as why they were running, but knew the red head was with them so he picked her up bridal style and followed behind all the way to the train station. He laid Erza down carefully on the seat and was about to exit the train until it started moving, and his face turned a light shade of green and he flopped down on the couch right beside her clutching his stomach.
"Master, who the hell is this guy? And how is he so damn strong? That look on his face made it seem like Lullaby was child's play compared to him." Makrov looked over at Grey "We will just have to ask him when he wakes, I too would like to know his story. He possibly could give Gildarts a run for his money in strength."
"True, but he called Lullaby 'old friend', how do we know he's not a dark Mage at all" Makrov frowned "Your right Grey, but he saved us. We shouldn't assume he's dark right away, let's give him the benefit of the doubt" "Yes master"
After a few hours they arrived in Magnolia, Makrov dragged a passed out Natsu out of the train while Grey carried Erza who was still passed out. After a minute Natsu woke up, and immediately checked for the sword which was strapped to his waist. Grey was the first to break the silence. "So, wanna tell me why you took Erzas sword ?" Natsu looked down at Grey and took off his hood, revealing the top half of his face for the first time. His hair was a bit longer than Grey's, except it was pink which kinda threw off his whole serious badass vibe. Natsu felt the sword with his hand again at the mention of it to make sure it was still there and looked back at Grey. "It's an All Slayer Sword, and the only known one in existence, I didn't need it to kill Lullaby, but I just didn't have to use as much magic to do so. I'm not much of a morning person so I was kinda feeling lazy" Makrov and Greys sweat dropped "It was the middle of the night!" They said in sync. "Oh yeah huh, I guess I was just lazy then." Makrov let out a small laugh and continued walking towards the guild. "That doesn't explain why you took it, plus how did you know that Erzas sword was a so called 'Slayer Sword'?" Grey finally asked "Cause it was mine"
When they arrived at the guild Makrov convinced Natsu to stay for a drink or two as repayment for saving his children from lullaby. He ordered a fire shot, which a young white haired beauty delivered him. Lisanna leaned over the bar counter "You look familiar, have we met before?" Natsu gulped down his shot and looked up at her expressionless "No" Lisanna pouted "You seem awfully familiar, and I never forget a face" She poured him another shot but dropped the subject. Natsu stared at the glass and back up at Lisanna who was now gossiping with a drunken Mage. 'Lousy service for a bar, can't even light a god damn shot' he pulled a candle from a stand and put the flame on the glass lighting it, then poured the flaming liquid down his throat.
"We both know you didn't invite me here just for a drink, what do you really want shorty?" Makrov spat out his drink at him being called 'shorty' and glared at the man "Very well BOY, I'll just cut to the chase err um what was your name again?" Natsu kept looking at the bar and asked "which one?" Makrov frowned in confusion "what do you mean which one? How many names do you have son?" "A few, most common one is Salamander." Makrov spat out his drink again "Your the Salamander! The one who's been wiping out dark guilds!" "Not just dark guilds, I'll do anything really, I was once paid to help clean and old woman's home and read to her until she died, and I've aided wars ect. I'm a Jack of all trades mercenary pretty much." 'There haven't been any wars in Fiore, is he a Foreigner perhaps?' Makrovs interest was growing by the second. "Well what would you like me to call you?" "Natsu, Natsu Dragneel" "Well Mr. Dragneel, do you happen to be in a guild?" 'I guess technically I'm not in Tartarus, so I guess no' "No" "How would you like to join FairyTail then?"
"Why? I have the money I need, and I do fine finding work on my own. What would joining a guild do for me?" Makrov took a swig of his ale and set it down. "A family. I see the emptiness in your eyes son, try us out for a bit. You don't like it you can always leave." The thought of having a family seemed impossible to Natsu, he knew he had one once, he occasionally had flashbacks of before he died, he was happy then, had his own children, A wife who was the only that could scare him. He remembered the pain of when his best friend killed them all, and he was left to helplessly watch them be slaughtered. Then he was killed. The pain never left him of watching that, even though he couldn't remember much of them, their names let alone it still pained his heart, something his brother was never able to figure out after he revived them with Etherion.
He wasn't sure if he wanted a family now, he didn't want even more pain than he felt but the thought of one seemed intriguing. "Alright old man, I'll try it." "Excellent, Lisanna bring the stamp over here." She walked over to the two of them with the stamp. "Which color and where do you want it?" She asked as cutely as possible Natsu removed his trench coat and pulled up his right sleeve. "Here, and red" Lisanna spent a little more time than needed, unknowingly admiring his muscles and placed the guild stamp on Natsus arm. Mira noticed the blush on Lisanna's face and grew red with anger "OI! Newbie! You making a move on my baby sister? Someone your strength isn't worthy to even look at her! I outta teach you a lesson!" Lisanna started panicking "Mira-neechan, please stop!" Natsu put his trench coat back on and handed Makrov the sword.
"Teach me a lesson? Arnt we in the same guild now? Or do you want to pick on people to make yourself feel better?" "I'm not picking on anyone, I need to show you what happens when you flirt with my sister!" Natsu dropped his shoulders "alright, the dance floor is yours Sensei." "TAKE OVER, SATAN SOUL!" (Need I explain what she looks like? You all know that already right? Good.) "Oooooo a demon, this might be fun after all." "I'll make you eat those words! DARK NEBULA!" Mira shot a large black ball of magic at Natsu, who just stood there. Once her attack was close enough Natsu incinerated the magic with his hands, so fast that hardly anyone saw the flames.
"I've seen sneezes stronger than that, your gonna have to try harder sweetie" Natsu was toying with her now, he expected a challenge if she was able to take over a demon he figured she would be somewhat strong but he was proved wrong otherwise. Pure anger rushed through her veins 'that little fucker just called me weak didn't he! I'll rip his fucking throat out!' Mirajane dashed forward and started slashing at Natsu with her claws, always moving just enough for her to miss him and make her even more angry. After a minute Natsu had enough time screwing around and drove his knee into her gut, which sent her flying into the wall. "I'm about warmed up now, arnt you?"
Mira crawled out of the rubble, scratched up and her stomach was killing her. But there was no way in hell she was going to stop now. She had to put him in his place. She slowly walked towards him, a dark aura pulsing around her. Natsu in turn let out a dark red aura around him, his eyes glowing red and his canines seemed to be growing longer. Mira felt a spark of fear rising into her, she was scared when she faced that demon years ago, and the same when Elfman lost control. But that spark slowly grew into something far greater than those. She was facing a true monster she realized. She stopped the flow of her magic, and reverted to her normal form. "You win this time candle stick."
"It's not manly to beat my sister! TAKOVER BEAST SOUL" Elfman charged towards Natsu 'What the hell is up with these people? Wait a minute, it's those three from a while back, I guess he finally was able to control that thing.' Elfman threw a fast kick towards Natsus stomach, but it never connected but was instead in his hand. "Always assume your opponent is stronger than you big boy" he lifted Elfman and threw him in the air, when he didn't fall back down Natsu looked up only to see him stuck in the roof. "Need a hand Big guy?" "It's not manly to get help!" (Five minutes later) "Ok...can you get me down?"
Later that night-
Natsu was perched up in a branch in the middle of the forest, waiting for some unlucky critter to stumble by to be his dinner. 'Why the hell was I acting that way today? I was actually smiling once, I was joking around and I felt happy, why? Only time I ever felt emotions was at that zeref tower, but once I was away, my anger left. Before I was feeling emotions again, but once I left the guild and made it to the forest they vanished again. But why?'
In the infirmary-
Erza was finally waking up, mental exhaustion and physical from driving the magic vehicle took a pretty large toll on her, but she knew she'd be fine in the morning. What she wanted to know is how she survived. Lullaby should have killed her, she thought she saw a man save her, but she figured she was hallucinating. Who would willingly take a hit from a demon? And where the hell is her sword! If this was that damn cat pulling one of his pranks again shed skin him alive, see if he really does have nine lives. She groggily got out of bed, and slowly made her way to the guild hall. She opened up the door and slammed down on one of the bar stools. On que Lisanna brought her a plate of strawberry cheesecake and sat on the stool beside her. "So, the new guy is a hottie" Erza looked at Lisanna puzzled "What new guy?" "Oh, he came back with you guys from the mission, he's tall and really strong, he beat Mira-nee like it was nothing. Kinda reminds me of one of the guys that would be in your 'books'" Erza's face grew a deep blush and she stared down at her cake. "I have no idea what your talking about"
"Hey Lisanna, where is my sword at?" "Oh the new guy has it" Erza stood up from the barstool, all of the soreness and fatigue seemingly disappearing. "What is his name and where am I going to find this son of a bitch!" Lisanna felt the killer aura around her and immediately complied "hisnameisNatsuandhesintheforestpleasedontkillme!" Erza stormed out of the guild and headed off in Natsus direction.
"There it is again, I feel happy. Why is it coming back now? Am I slowly turning back to human?" Natsu quietly talked to himself, a small smile on his face but he didn't know why. 'Now that I think about it, I felt exited when I was fighting lullaby. Maybe it's something I ate? I don't know' SNAP "what the hell?" Natsu looked through the forest and saw a angry looking woman tromping through the forest. She was still far away so he couldn't get a good look at her but he figured it was none of his business so why bother. He looked back up at the stars, ready for sleep whenever it decided to take him. But this damn woman wouldn't quite down. Now he was upset, why? He doesn't know, which is starting to confuse the crap out of him. He jumped down from the tree right in front of the woman, only to see it was the same person he saved this morning, and she looked vaguely familiar from before that. Erza stared at Natsu in awe, the anger gone in an instant. " i-it's you..."