Lost Bonds

by Kalameet the Black Dragon

Four hundreds years ago, the dragon civil war started and changed the world as it was in many ways, from this age came monsters and demons as Acnologia, Zeref, E.N.D and even more. No one now know what happened back there except for a small group of people that not only knows their story, but also what happened to them before. NatsuxAcnologia Fem Acnologia.

1. Chapter 1

Ok, I don't know if I'm insane or what: three stories…THREE FUCKING STORIES!? I think I'm aiming to suicide. Well that said, this is a new story a little different from my other one, I hope you will enjoy it, also I won't update this story regularly, just when I feel like it, so here we go… (If I won't post anything after this…that means I'm dead).

P.S. for those who have already read this chapter: I decided to upload again this chapter because I noticed that the time line that I imaged was wrong so I had to change some dates, but don't worry, the timeline of the second chapter is correct it was only this one that was wrong but now not anymore, so sorry but I'm stupid.

-Troubled beginning-

7th-July-X357

"This will work!" A young man with short dark hair and eyes of the same colour dressed with a high-collared and tan robes with gold trim and a white flowing toga draped around his torso said aloud frustrated. But who could blame him, after all it's been decades since he started his experiments on the life and death, all this only to do one single thing: reviving his little brother. The name of this person was Zeref Dragneel, once known as a genius among the students of Mildian's Magic Academy, but now known as the dark mage Zeref: creator of demons and murder of thousands of innocent people.

However, the truth is often different from what people say and this isn't an exception: before he became the dark mage, even before he went to Mildian Magic Academy, he lived peacefully with his family, his mother, his father and his little brother, Natsu. At that time, he didn't even image that he would became a wizard, he just wanted to live peacefully with his family. Still his dream ended the same day that his life ended: that day looked like any other, the sky was clear and everything looked like always Zeref and Natsu were happily play together, everything was so perfect and it was then that it appeared: a dragon. A mastodontic creature with unbreakable scales as skin, wings that surpass the size of a house and jaws adorned by sharp teeth that could break anything and from which came out flames that burn everything on their path. That monster unleashed torrents of fire on the entire city, destroy everything and killing everyone. Even his family died because of that dragon and he…he was the only survivor. From that day on he promised to himself that no matter what, he would revive his little brother, this lead him to become a magician, this lead him to study the life and death, this lead to his cursed existence and to where he was.

Ever since Natsu died he had preserved his body so that one day he would finally revive him and that day was today, he had finally completed his research and this time he would fulfil his promise. He was inside a large cave all around were bookshelves full of tome on the magic, shelves with glass containers, ampoules and other things, finally, in the centre of that place was a container with the shape of an egg made of a strange substance similar solidified resin and inside it there was a strange substance similar to water and the body of a small child about four years old with spiky pink hair and both his eyes closed.

Zeref looked at the little boy with a mix of sadness, expectation and happiness, he then he directed his magic power toward the 'egg' immediately the liquid inside it started to react and soon steam started to come out from it obscuring his view. He then shielded his face with one of his hand and waited to see if this time his attempt to resurrect his brother would be another failure or if he would finally be able to complete his goal. He then remained there not moving of an inch, scared of know what was the result, sure he was immortal and had all the time he wanted, but still he desired with all what was left of his human heart to revive his little brother, because so, he would also be able to finally die.

Ever since he was cursed with the curse of contradiction, he found himself unable to appreciate the life around him, otherwise the curse would kill it and slowly he started to ignore the life and desired to die. This continued for years, but at the same time the goal of reviving Nastu remained and it was then that he found the 'solution' to both his goal: he would revive Natsu but as something that would be able to kill him. During the last years he continued to study the secrets of life and death but he also worked hard to create a new kind of begin that would be able to kill him: the Etherious, or, as people call them, demons; and if he succeeded to revive his little brother he would have also created his final master piece, the most powerful etherious that he had never created: E.N.D., Etherious Natsu Dragneel.

Finally, the steam started to dissipate and soon it revealed the figure of an unconscious little boy with pink hair with dark markings all over his body and small demoniac claws instead of hands. Zeref stared at the small figure with tears in his eyes, even if he was tried to delete all his emotions, he still had some and now he could barely contain his joy: joy for begin finally able to see his little brother alive and to have created what will put an end to his sufferance. He then rushed toward the small child and hugged him tightly and noticed that now he looked completely normal: his demoniac claws were now little hand and the dark marks had disappeared as well and a book with the letter E.N.D. on its cover was resting on the ground near him. The dark mage then took the said book and put it in the folds of his dress, before he focused again on his little brother.

"Natsu…finally…" He muttered with his tears now free. He continued to hug for five more minutes and a part of him didn't want to let him go, but he knew that if he would stay near him, he wouldn't kill him and much worse, he might kill him with his curse; because even if he was an etherious he still was partially human and he didn't want him to die again. The dark mage then broke the hug and looked one last time at the sleeping face of Natsu: he seemed so innocent and defenceless, no one would say the he was the most powerful demon that he had created and it has to be so because, he intended to let him experience human life and then when he would be powerful enough, he would kill him.

He then clothed him and then left his laboratory inside that cave, heading for a city or a village, still he had an idea about where he could live a good life, before the time came in which he would kill him. Luckily, he had learned how to teleport during his cursed life, otherwise it would have taken day before he would reach the place where Natsu would live: it was a city of medium size for an age in which dragons could fly freely and destroy everything they wanted, so considering the amount of population there the dark mage thought that it would be safer than an isolated village, still, because of this amount of people, he must remain to the borders of the city, otherwise he would risk to be recognised or worse, he could lose control and kill who knows how many innocents and today there was a particularly high number of guards around. Immediately he understood that going inside the city was out of option, he then looked around, hoping to find a place where he could leave Natsu and he found it: it was an old large building with walls made of stone bricks with a few windows, a ceiling made of wooden beams and with the top of a fireplace on his right side, around it there were a pair of other building, though these ones seemed more like tool cutters and were much smaller in size compared to the main building, and even some cultivated fields and a well near them, moreover, near the entrance was a written that recited: 'orphanage Diligitis'. He then looked around again and noticed that a small group of three guards was heading toward his direction; knowing that he didn't have time to waste, he walked toward the entrance of the building that he saw before and put Natsu right in front of the door, he then looked one last time at the peaceful face of his little brother and a sad smile made its way on his face.

"Until next time we meet, farewell Natsu." He then quickly disappeared, leaving nothing of his passage and hoping that the guards hadn't saw him. Hopefully, it seemed that they didn't saw him, still when they arrived in front of the door, they remained surprised to see a sleeping baby around four years old alone there. One of the three guards then knocked and then waited for an answer, which came after only a pair of minutes as the sounds of footsteps that were slowly approaching and soon the door in front of them opened, revealing a woman around forty with long flowing light purple hair that reached her knees, eyes of the same colour and a kind smile that could reassure anyone. She was wearing a pair of glasses with oval lenses, a long dark dress with narrow sleeves and a long skirt that went down to her feet, where she was wearing a pair of fabric shoes. She then looked first at the two guards in front of her and didn't seem surprised by them, but when she lowered her gaze and noticed the small baby that was resting there and this earned a gasp of surprise.

"Is the princess here?" One of the three guards asked.

Still the woman didn't answer immediately and instead took the small child in her arms, making sure not to wake him up and noticing that there was a name written on a small sheet of paper: Natsu Dragneel. She then continued to look at the boy, hoping to find some more detail.

"Is the princess here?" The same guard of before asked but more insistently than before.

"Yes, she is back with the other." The woman replied, still eyeing the child in her harms, trying to find more details about him, but failing, maybe she would ask him directly later, but for now she would let him sleep.

"Then if you don't mind we will go and bring her back." Again, the guard continued, trying to enter in the building but before he could, the woman stopped him.

"It won't be necessary; I will take care of it." She answered firmly, clearly not intending to let them go inside and causing the man to took a step back, the aura around her was scary and no one could blame him for his reaction.

"Y-yes…but please do it quickly, we don't have much time." He muttered returning to his companion. Immediately the woman closed the door and looked again at the one that she was holding in her arms, she was currently inside a large room with the ceiling supported by beams, the walls were made of stone bricks and had one window on the left of the door, it was divided in four by some small wooden sticks and had its glasses, slightly dirty and cracked in some points. As for the rest of the room: it was rather bare, with only a chest under the window and an old chair together with a small table on the other side of the room. The woman than shifted his gaze from the child in her arms to another door in front of her and after walking across another pair of room she found herself in what looked like the dormitory, or so it could be said since it was a large room with only one window on its left side, a number of bed that was around fifty with nothing much, just a pair of small table, a chest and a basin put in one corner of the place. She then placed Natsu on one bed, before exiting from the room with a small smile. Hoping that the new arrived wouldn't cause too much trouble like the other child that lived there did and that he could get along with them, but right she would have to deal with another problem, she then walked toward the courtyard on the back of the building with a semi-exasperated expression.

8th-July-X357

"Nnnh…" A light groan echoed in the same large room where the precedent day Natsu was left sleeping, but right now there was only one inside that place. Still he didn't really notice it, to say the truth he didn't know even where he was, the only thing that was sure that he was actually comfortable and he was ok with it.

"'yawn'…mmmh…" He murmured looking around with eyes half open and his mind still struggling to escape from the grip of the sleep.

"Where am I?" He asked to himself, his brain finally starting to woke up and work, but his face still had a sleeping expression, showing that he still wasn't completely awake. However, every second that passed, made his thoughts clearer and lucid. Still he was a child and currently he had a single question in his mind: how did he ended there? He didn't remember anything before he woke up, just his name: Natsu Dragneel. He then noticed a door on one side of the room where he was, it was slightly opened and it could be seen a ray of light coming from the fissure between the door and the wall; he then walked toward it: attracted from the good smell that he was smelling, which caused his stomach to grumble and he quickly brought his hands on it, trying to suppress the noise it was making. He continued to advance toward the door and soon he started to hear a sound coming from the room which it was connected: it was the sound of laughs and voices.

When he finally reached the door he slowly opened it and looked at the new place: it was at least twice the size of the room where he woke up for what concerned width and length, but it was of the same height. In its centre was a long wooden table with benches of the same material on both sides and both of them were children, they were about ten, some around his age, other around ten or so, still all of them had happy expression on their faces and many of them were laughing, while other, simply smiling. On the left side of the room was a large fireplace with a pot which contained probably the meal and from what he was smelling it was quite alluring, in front of it was a woman with long light purple hair, wearing a dark long dress with narrow sleeves, both her hands were covered by a cloth, probably to protect them from the heat. Near the fireplace was another table, this one higher than the one in centre and it also was formed by thicker beams and had various kitchen items over it, like a knife, a dipper and even a rolling pin; most of them were made of wooden or stone, only the blade of the knife and the pot in the fireplace were made of metal. He then continued to stare at the group of people in front of him, uncertain on what to do, but he didn't have the chance to choose, because his stomach grumbled again, only this time it was much louder than the other times and this caused the children and the woman to look at him, finally noticing his presence.

He then started to feel uneasy about all the attention he was receiving and was about to turn around and go back to the bed he was sleeping, when a voice stopped him.

"Finally you woke up. I was starting to fear that you would remain asleep still for a long time, well now that you're not asleep anymore, I think you should eat." She said with a divine smile that was able to calm himself, but he still remained uncertain on what to do and again he didn't have the chance to answer, because his belly begged again for some food. Earning a blush of embarrassment from the said child, a giggle from the woman and some laughs from the other children.

Slowly Natsu walked toward the table and sat on the first free place that he found, ending to sit near a boy of around his age, with dark hair and purple eyes, he was wearing a simple brown shirt with long sleeves, a pair of gray pants and shoes of the same colour as his top. He was looking at him with a genuine smile on his face and a glint of curiosity in his eyes.

"Here. I hope that it is of your liking." The woman said placing a wooden bowl in front of him, all this while maintaining the same reassuring smile of before. However, the attention of the pink, or salmon, haired child immediately shifted on the food right under his nose and he started to droll, earning a chuckle from the same person that served him the object of his attention.

"Now we can eat: itadakimasu." She called out before all the other children mimicked her, all except Natsu, who, upon hearing the words that allowed him to satisfy his hunger started to swallow his portion and before the other could finish their food, Natsu had already emptied his bowl and wanted more and was about to ask for a bis, before the child that was sitting next to him, stopped him. At first Natsu thought that he was doing it only to irritate him and looked at him with anger growing inside him. But then he gestured to the pink haired child toward the bowl that was used to cook their meal and after a few moments of staring and trying to figure out what he meant and then he finally understood: there was nothing more to eat. So, even if he was still hungry, he decided not to ask for more, not wanting to be rude to someone who already offered him a good meal and didn't asked anything in return. So he sat there in silence, luckily his belly decided to stay silent, for now.

'I hope that it won't annoy for a while.' He thought looking around and seeing that even the others had almost finished to eat, which only made him sigh in relief, since the view of them eating was making him only hungrier. Soon all of them left the table and ran toward a door to his right and just as they opened, the ray of the sun hit his eyes, forcing him to shield them, but it didn't last long and soon he could see clearly: in front of him was a large open field covered by some grass and with a small well on its centre and what looked like cultivated fields on its left. He saw the other child run and play every kind of play that came to their young mind: from chasing each other to hiding, by trying to build little structure with the earth to throwing some of it.

"'sigh' I hope they won't cause too much mess." A tired voice said. He then looked around and saw the same woman that had prepared the meal clearing the table from all cutlery and bowls that were still on the table. Natsu remained there, uncertain on what to do: he didn't know anyone there, neither he remembered anything before of waking up in a bed in the next room.

"Ehm…excuse me, why was I sleeping in the bed in the next room?" He asked to the woman.

"Because I found you asleep in front of our door, but I'm sorry I can't say you much more." She answered with a genuine grief; she loved each one of the child of her orphanage as if they were her own child and even if this one had arrived here just a few hours ago, she loved him as much as the others. So her inability not to help him was something that really grieved her.

"I see…thanks for everything." He said after a little pause, he had hoped that this kind lady would be able to give him more information about how he ended up there but unfortunately he was proven wrong, still he wasn't angry with her, how could he, the only thing she did was help him and it wasn't his fault if she didn't know about him, so he decided to simply go out and see what would happen.

When he exited from the building he observed what the child were doing and found that all of them had divided into small groups of three or four people and each one was playing a different game from the others. He continued to look at them and then he started to feel alone, all of them had someone which they could rely on while he didn't; yes, probably at first they were in a similar situation to the one he is into but this didn't help him to erase what he was feeling. He then continued to walk around, before he decided to sit near the well and started to space out with his mind: why did they left him, that was something he didn't know and maybe it was better so, because maybe if he knew the reason why he had been abandoned it would hurt him more. He then sighed in defeat and leaned his back on the stone bricks of the well. He remained there, his eyes closed and his mind refusing to think about anything, already full of questions that he could answer to. It was then that something unexpected happened.

"Hey you there!" A voice almost yelled. He then opened his eyes and looked around, until his eyes caught an image that was in complete contrast with the environment around: she had long blue hair, adorned with some expensive red hair firm, light blue eyes full of joy and curiosity, light skin and a naive smile that didn't show any malice. She was wearing a white dress with a long skirt with golden edges and adorned by red floral designs, she also had a pair of refined shoes of white with red decorations, which was quite unusual. His brain then put all these details together and after a first impression of amazement, he deduced that she wasn't a girl from that place.

"Hi, my name is Ruri. What's yours?" She asked with the same excitement and joy of before, but this time stretching a hand toward him. He then looked again at her and then at her hand, before extending his and accepting her handshake.

"N-Natsu…" He replied a little hesitantly, not expecting such thing to happen which caused him to be slightly surprised.

"Natsu eh? That's a pretty name and it suits you with those hairs!" She exclaimed and even if it was hard to believe she was even more excited than before, causing said child to be even more confused. At this point he didn't really know what to do and if she started to make questions about him…well that might be a problem. However, his attention quickly shifted to someone that seemed to be running toward them, quickly reducing the distance.

"Ruri…you have to…hide…" He said panting from the sprint that he just did. Natsu was confused of what was going on so he looked at the said child and saw her eyes widening in surprise, before frenetically looking around and then starting to run toward a small wood. At this turn of the events he was even more confused, why was she running away and why the other boy run to say that she had to hide. Wanting to have some answer he stopped to look at the point where the girl had disappeared and looked at the other child, it was then that he noticed that he was the same person that was sitting next to him while they were eating. He was around four like him, he had dark hair, almost black and dark brown eyes; he was as height as him and looked like he had just made the run of his life: sweet pouring down from his face and heavy breath.

"Hey, what's going on?" He asked, causing the other to rise his head and look at him, he then continued to pant for a little more, before standing straight. He was then about to answer, when some footsteps behind them, together with a voice that Natsu never hear before, stopped him from speaking.

"Where is the princess?" A tall man clads in an iron armor asked, he was wearing a heavy pectoral that shielded his torso and belly, his arms were covered up until his elbow by heavy metal gloves while the rest of the arms was endowed by a ring mesh, his legs on the other hand were in a similar situation, the only difference was that there his armor covered them completely. Only the head was exposed, showing the face of a man around fifty bald and with short light beard that covered the lower part of his face, one of his eyes was close and over it was a scar that run from his upper lip up to his forehead, his other one instead was of the same colour of the stone, showing a firm will and decision, but he didn't show any feelings of arrogance or superiority, as if he was putting himself in par with them. Still Natsu was a little scared by two things of that man: first his imposing form, to him he looked like a giant that could easily smash him and the fact that he was clearly angry with someone.

"I said: where-is-the-princess?" He repeated again, this time showing some signs that he was running out of patience, like the continuous rise and fall of his right food or the fact that both his eyes were starting to twitch. Instantly he looked at the other child near him, hoping to understand something of that situation, but he found that he literally sweeting bullets and seemed ready to run as if his life depended by it, which he was starting to think was the case, or was about to melt because of the fear. The man continued to stare at the dark haired child with a gaze that seemed to be able to pierce his mind and see what he was thinking. Not knowing what to do, Natsu continued to remain there still and stare at the scene that was taking place there.

"My, my, has something happened?" A calm and happy voice suddenly broke the tension. Immediately the three of them turned their gaze to look at the same woman that had cooked the meal that Natsu was able to eat before.

"Excuse me for the intrusion miss Rose, but the princess has disappeared and I think that he knows where she is." The armored man replied calmly.

"'sigh'…I apologize for the problem that we cause to you." She said bowing and looking straight at the dark haired child and at Natsu and causing both of them to look at both the bald man and at her.

"It's not your fault, I just desire to return back with the princess."

At these words Rose looked at the dark haired boy, who on the other hand started to panic but didn't say anything: he knew that he was cornered, but still something inside him didn't want to surrender and continued to resist. The situation seemed to have reached a dead end, in which no one seemed willingly to budge from their position. But everything ended when Rose let out a heavy sigh, catching the attention of the rest of the group there and breaking the tension in the air. She then looked one last time at the dark haired child before shaking her head with a small smile on her face.

"I think that you should let her remain here for a small while, after all it seems like no one here is willingly to reveal where she is…" She started, emphasizing the last words and causing the child to gulp.

"…therefore, would you mind to remain here for a while before returning to the castle?" She ended and looked at the man, who looked again at the dark haired child with a gaze that would be able to make everyone surrender to him, but despite the fear clear on his face the child didn't say a word and instead bit his lips.

"'sigh'…knowing this kid and the princess, this won't bring me to anything…I will accept your offer, but we will have to leave after lunch his majesty, has requested personally his daughter to come." He answered, showing that there would not be anything that would save the said person to come.

"I understand, Haru, go and advise the princess." Miss Rose said, looking at the said child, who nodded vigorously with his head.

"And take Natsu with you, I'm sure you will get along." She added stopping him and gesturing toward the other child with pink hair. She had noticed that he didn't seem to be very sociable and hoped that he would became friend with Haru and the princess, after all, thanks to her personality, she was able to be friend with practically everyone. Haru then gestured to Natsu to follow and after a moment of surprise mixed with hesitation he decided to go with him. After they were enough distant from the other, the dark haired boy finally spoke.

"Sorry if Ruri disturbed you." He said calmly, causing Natsu not to understand what he meant but then he remembered that he had called that blue haired girl with that name and then he understood that Ruri was the name of princess.

"Don't worry, actually I was only surprised, but she didn't cause any problem to me." He replied with a sheepish smile. To say the truth, he was actually happy that someone decided to talk with him.

"I'm glad to hear it. Ruri always act so with everyone and sometimes she can be a little…how can I say it…out of place, yes I think that's the right answer." He called out, but Natsu didn't have the time reply that a third voice interrupted them.

"You know that you shouldn't talk bad about other people, especially if they can easily make you regret your own words." Someone from below them said. They then looked up and noticed the same blue haired child of before sitting calmly on a branch of a tree with her legs dangling.

"I didn't say anything wrong and you should have chosen a better place to hide."

"Hey, I remained near so that if you needed my help I would be able to save you."

"Yeah, yeah, that said: Natsu this is Ruri, Ruri this Natsu." He presented quickly the two, before the said girl jumped down from where she was sitting and landing perfectly in front of the other two.

"Nice to meet you Natsu." She replied smiling and extending her hand toward the said pink haired child.

"Same for me." He replied cheerfully, smiling back and taking her hand with his own.

"Well now we have until lunch to play so any idea on what to do?" Haru asked and causing the other two to start to think about it.

"Why not a run: the last one that will arrive at the orphanage will have to do one thing that the winner will decide." Ruri proposed; despite what many could thought about her begin a princess, she never acted as such: she loved to play with others and always cared for them, she also was extremely curious and sometimes this trait of her could be a little annoying. But in the end she was a splendid person and when she will become queen, or, as Haru always said, if she would become, she will be a splendid ruler.

"Seems interesting. I accept your challenge." Natsu said cheerfully a wide tooth grin on his face and his eyes filled with excitement.

"I don't like this." Haru muttered but then decided to go along with it and prepared himself to run as fast as he could, because he didn't have any intention of lose.

"Well then…" Ruri started and immediately the other two took their stances and prepared to run.

"Ready…"

"GO!" Nastu suddenly shouted, surprising the other two. Almost immediately Haru followed him and started to run.

"EHI THAT'S NOT FAIR!" The blue haired child replied and tried to reach the other two.

In the while, Natsu was running as fast as he could and he was feeling happy, he had found two new friends and he felt like he could entrust his own life to them. He didn't really know why he felt as such, still he trusted his instinct. Still he didn't know one thing: that all this was only the beginning of something much more great than three simple friends.

Time skip: 2 years 22th-March-X358

"She hasn't come yet." A certain pink haired child muttered frustrated. It's been two years since he arrived there and those two years had been wonderful for him: during this time his bond with both Ruri and Haru had become unbreakable. They always played with each other, or talked about what they do and what they are going to do in the future. In particular, Nastu had developed a particular affection with a certain blue haired princess, which had been encouraged by Haru, who didn't think twice to leave them alone. Unfortunately, she couldn't always come, because even if she was his friend, she was still a princess and this often forced her to remain in the castle or to attend at some ceremony and today was one of those days: her father didn't let her go out from the castle and requested her, because he had to talk with her personally. How did he know all this? Because over the years, the same guard that had scared him and Haru to the death the day that he arrived there, had become another habitual visitor (A/N please don't do jokes about this, because I know what many of you are thinking). He was the captain of the guards of the princess and his name was Cormeum and, despite his appereance, he was a kind heart person that took his duty very seriously but that also didn't mind about helping Miss Rose and the other child of the orphanage.

However, there was two things that he had noticed: first, lately the captain had started act strange, he was more reserved when he spoke and he seemed worried about something, but didn't tell them anything; the second one was the fact that even Ruri didn't come there to play with them as often as she usually did.

"NATSU! Come here, dinner is almost ready." Haru yelled from the room that was used both as a dining room and as a kitchen. On the other hand, said pink haired child was sitting with his back leaned against the well that was standing in the centre of the courtyard where all the child there played, his eyes were looking at the setting sun, which today seemed more beautiful than usual, the sun was slowly losing its bright colour, slowly turning from yellow to orange, the sky was of a beautiful deep crimson red like the blood while it slowly turned dark blue and then black, creating a perfect harmony of bright colours that slowly turned into darker ones.

"Rury would like it…" Natsu muttered, his eyes fixed on the setting disk of light and void of his normal living vivacity that characterized him.

"Yes…she would really like it…" He whispered one last time, before turning toward the place that had been his house for the last two years and walking toward the same door from which Haru called him.

"Finally, I thought that you would skip the meal." Said dark haired child said once he entered inside the room, clearly worried about how he was feeling. He also didn't like the fact that Ruri wasn't coming there as often as before, but it was obvious that Natsu suffered more than him so here he was, trying to cheer up his friend.

"Come on, don't make that face, that today there is stew!" He continued, but again, Natsu expression didn't change much, causing him to sigh in discomfort and making Natsu look at him.

"Don't worry, I'm just a little sad because Ruri didn't come." He reassured.

"I know and neither I don't like the fact that she didn't come, still seeing you making that face…" He replied, causing Natsu to scold himself for worrying his friend.

"…I mean, if you continue to do that face you will end up to look like an old man!" The dark haired child replied causing the other to look at him surprised and to smile at his attempt to help him.

"Maybe you're right, but now I am hungry and don't want to miss dinner." He concluded, walking toward the table where the stew was begin served, together with Haru, who seemed satisfied to, at least, begin able to help his friend, but, truth be told he still was feeling bad for the fact that his blue haired friend didn't show up. However, his friend and the dinner that was now waiting on the table in front of him were able to ease such feeling and just as he sat on the bench near the table, he started to droll at the sight of the stew, which combined with its smell was really appetizing and just as everyone were ready to eat, he devoured his meal in no time, earning a pair of chuckle from the others. Soon everyone had finished to eat, no one of them wanted to waste such delicious food, and just as it happened, they went to bed, desiring to have a good rest after the meal, but a certain pink haired child wanted to sleep just to wake the next day and find out that Ruri had come to play with them.

'Tomorrow is another day.' He thought, before his eyes closed and he went into the world of the dreams.

...

"Mmmmhh…" Haru muttered in his bed, he hadn't been able to sleep ever since he went to bed and this was frustrating, so he had spent the time thinking about everything which passed through his mind, hoping that he would eventually grow tired and then fell asleep. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case, so he ended up thinking by himself for who knows how much time, or so he thought. Tired of doing nothing but remain there, he decided to go out and drink some water from the well, maybe in this manner he would finally able to sleep once and for all. He then put on his shoes and cautiously walked toward the door, making sure not to wake up anyone and just as he reached the door, he slowly opened hoping that its wooden boards wouldn't creaked like every time they did and to strangely, this time luck was on his side, slowly he then closed it and headed toward the door that head in the yard where they always played and there it goes his usual luck: just when he was about to open the door he trampled one a draughty board, creating a crunch that made him froze on the place, he then slowly turned his head, praying with all himself that he didn't woke up anyone and when he saw that there was no one behind him, he let out a sigh of relief. Still he didn't move, instead he rested his back on the wall behind him before walking back toward the room where the others were sleeping. Slowly and trying not to make any sound, he again opened the door and looked at the small figures of his companions: he had lived there ever since he could remember, his father and mother had apparently died, the reason, unknown. However, before one of them died he or her, was able to bring him there.

Still, he knew that he wasn't the only one with such kind of problem and Natsu was just the last one, but to his surprise, he was able to became friends with him pretty quickly, something that didn't happen with all the others child there, which happened only once before with Ruri, thought in that case it was because of the fact that she was a very insistent and stubborn person, who never leave something in half. He remained there, lost in his thought and memories for around one hour and to his satisfaction, he finally started to begin sleepy and he was about to go to bed, when he heard a strange noise above him: it seemed like the sound of a pair of wings but extremely large and made of something tough. He then looked at the ceiling but didn't understood what it was, lucky him that there was a window near there, he then started to walk toward it, hoping to be able to understand what was the source of such noise.

However…before he could reach it he felt another sound that seemed like a hiss and before he could even think of what it was, he saw a blinding light descending from the sky and then everything went on fire. As soon as the fire hit the ceiling it started to break and fall, Haru remained there where he was petrified by what was going on, he then heard a loud roar coming from above, before the building was hit by another fireball, causing other pieces from the ceiling to fall and creating an opening in it and causing Haru to fall on the ground. He then tried to get up again, his mind finally starting to register what was happening, unfortunately just as he was on his feet again he stumbled against a wall, the smoke that he was breathing was already taking effect and confusing his thoughts, still he struggled to find a way out of there, but before he could move, he heard a loud roar coming from above, immediately he looked up and saw the huge figure of a monster, his body hidden by the shadows of the night and even the light that was produced by the fire didn't help him to see what was it, but there was one thing that helped him to recognize what kind of creature was flying above him: its wing, each one was as big as half of it body, both of them were made of leather and divided into four sections. It didn't take him too much time or energy to figure out what it was: there was just one kind of creature that had wings of such size and that could breathe fire and just as he realized what it was, panic and fear started to grow inside him.

'A dragon…' He thought before coughing, the smoke was increasing and his chance of breathing and surviving lessening. In a moment of lucidity his mind was crossed by one thing.

"Dammit…" He cursed under his breath and looking around, hoping to find a way to reach the room where the other were sleeping unfortunately, he was surrounded by pieces of the ceiling and the smoke wasn't helping at all, still what really worried him was another thing: Natsu, the other child and Miss Rose all of them were sleeping and if they weren't already awake, they soon would never be again.

'I have to…help them…' He was starting to feel dizzy and the air was starting to miss, however, he didn't give up and continued to look around. Finally, he saw it: an opening, a hole in a wall close to him that could help him to reach the others. Not thinking a second time about it, he ran toward it and arrived in another room that wasn't completely engulfed in flames, hoping to be able to reach his target, but he was proved wrong, because a few seconds after he entered in the room he heard another fireball and then the ceiling over his head collapsed. He remained there petrified by the fear fire falling from above, time seemed to slow down but he wasn't able to move and then everything went black.

…

…

'cough cough…cough…' Someone coughed, trying to breath, the smoke that he had breathed was still obstructing his respiratory tract. Slowly he opened his eyes: his vision was blurry, another effect of both fire and its smoke and all its body was sore, yelling him so stay still. He then blinked a few times, clearing his vision and then looked at his body: he was wearing a simple white shirt and a pair of trousers, but both of them were partially burned or ripped, also he noticed that even his body had suffered various kind of wounds like burns and cuts of various size and had bruises on its right arm, on his right side and even on both legs.

He looked again at his body, before having a sudden deciding to try to get up: at first he sat down on the ground, his energy still at limit, then he tryed to stand on his feet, but he just as he was getting up, he fell on the ground again a coughed, frustrated he tried it again only this time he was stopped by someone.

"You should rest for now, it's a miracle that you're still alive..." A voice said from behind him, placing both his arms so that he sat on the ground, still he wasn't forcing him neither hurting, he was instead doing his best not to hurt him more than how he already was.

"…otherwise the princess won't forgive you, Natsu." Said pink haired child looked at the source of the voice and was met with the face of a certain guard's captain. At first he was confused as why he was there, but he was even more when he noticed that he also had some cuts and burns on his body, thought they were less serious than his, also his armor was damaged with some dents and blackened, like it had been exposed to the fire.

'Wait…Fire!' Suddenly Natsu felt a sharp pain on his head and instinctively brought a hand on it, image, sensations and smells flow into his head causing him to close his eyes, hoping to less the pain. Then, he remembered, the smell of smoke and of burned wood, the smell of smoke, the screams and the cry of the others. Immediately he forced his body to stand up, yelling it to obey him but again he was forced down by the same man of before.

"Natsu stop…" Coremum tried to talk with him and to made him think about what he was doing: he was weak, his body suffered many wounds and the smoke that he breathed almost killed him and it still was giving him problems to breath. But still he continued to struggle, even if it was too weak to even bother him, he still didn't want to worse his condition, he had already suffered enough.

"LET ME GO!" He screamed, eyes closed and tears welling on the edge of his eyes.

"I HAVE TO GO! I HAVE TO SAVE THEM! THEY…"

"STOP IT NATSU! THERE IS NO ONE TO SAVE ANYMORE!" The man yelled frustrated, now even him was on the verge of the tears.

"No…you can't mean…" Natsu muttered, his voice more similar to a whisper and full of one thing: grief. His vision was again blurry, only this time it was because of the tears that were now streaming down from his face, he then looked at the man in front of him, asking for an answer, but he only shook his head to say yes. At this moment, he fell on his knees, everything around him started to look like an illusion, even his body seemed not to be real, he looked again at the man in front of him and when he saw his tear, everything around him seemed to disappear. His body started to fell but was caught by the man and it was then that he started to cry: a cry of desperation, the cry of someone who had nothing and lost everything, the cry of a baby that experienced what the real world is sooner that he should has, that was the cry of Natsu Dragneel.

24th-March-X358

'Soft.' That's what Natsu thought while he struggled to continue to sleep: part of him saying to wake up but the other wanted the opposite. Finally, he was forced to wake up when a ray of light hit one of his eyes. Slowly he opened it and then started to get up with a loud yawn, which showed how tired he was when the last night went to…

Suddenly his thoughts stopped and so did his body, the memories of the what happened returning stronger than before. Two days ago when all of them were sleeping, a dragon had attacked their home, burning it completely and killing everything that he saw as still alive, he could still remember its roars the noise of when he shot its fireballs. Just that memory made his body shiver in fear. From what Coremum had told him, he was the only survivor, the other child died because of the fire or the smoke or were killed directly by the dragon, even Haru, his best friend, died in the building, as for Miss Rose, she was able to escape form the building with two other children, but then they died because of how much smoke they inhaled. After that he was taken to the king palace on insistence of Ruri so that he could be cured properly. However, it looked like during their analysis the doctors had found something pretty interesting inside him, which caused the king to want to talk with him personally. He then let out a heavy sigh, followed by a tear which was quickly wiped out. He was currently inside Ruri's room and was surprised by how it looked like: the ceiling was two and half metres over the floor and it was slightly sagging on the corners, making it look like some sort of dome, it was dark blue in colour with white decoration on the corner, the room was extremely large, resulting to be at least seven meters large and ten long. As for the furniture: it was composed by two large wardrobes made of dark wood, which was in contrast with the white walls behind them; still the most surprising thing about them, was their size: in fact, Natsu was pretty sure that even if Coremum entered inside one of them, there would be still space for another person and this was quite something. He also noticed the drawers on both sides of the beds and a library that surpassed the wardrobe's size and it was full of book about every kind of things: from novels of every kind to political books, from essays of story to others about geography. The wall in front of the bed was dived into three parts by two large windows that opened onto a large external balcony, while between them was a finely worked desk with some papers on its sides and some books on a shelf over it, also the wall on the left of the bed was in similar condition, but, this one was entirely formed by one single window that opened onto the same balcony as the other two. As for the other two walls of the room, both of them had some paints attached on them and were white in colour. In the end, the floor was green grass, its colour mixed perfectly with the white of the walls in the points where they met and it was partially covered by a red carpet that at touch seemed made of cloud, for how soft and comfortable it was.

Closing his eyes, he let out a deep sigh and waited. Sooner or later someone would come to bring him to the king or so they told him, so it was better of he used this time to clear his head and to rest. Still, he wasn't the kind of person that liked to remain still for too much time, so he jumped off from the bed and headed toward one of the windows, at least he wanted to see how was the outside world today. However, even if the Ruri's bedroom had stunned him, the same happened when he saw the balcony: the floor was made of white stone divided in small square sections and limited by stone fence. He also noticed that there was a bench right in the centre of the place, it was made of small wooden boards, supported by wrought iron support. However, the true that he most appreciated was the view that the balcony granted: it was over fifteen meters above the ground and he could see all the city around the palace, it was an exciting view. Still the more he looked at that scenario, the more his eyes looked around in search of one particular thing and then, he saw it: the blackened remains of his home, the place were during the past two years he had felt really at home, there he had found people who loved him and cared for him, people like Miss Rose or even Haru who understood him and always liked to play with him. But now…he was alone, all the other died, some because of the fire and others because of the smoke, still all he could feel was a great sense of emptiness and sadness. Slowly, tears started to form on the corners of his eyes, his eyes fixed on his old home and his memories of that place flashing in his head. He remained there, his arms crossed under his chin, resting on the fence of the balcony and his face fixed in a void expression.

"I'm sorry…" A voice next to him whispered. Slowly Natsu turned his head to see who was and remained surprised to see that it was none other than Ruri, but thinking more accurately about it he shouldn't be surprised that she was there, after all that was her room. Still he decided to remain silent and looked at her face: he could see her hair were still in order, but to him they seemed messier than usual and then her face and eyes, the first still had some signs of tears, showing that she was also sad about the fact, as for the others, they still were blue, but they had lost their usual vivacity and joy that always characterized them. Slowly, even her started to cry and sob.

"I'm sorry…" She whispered again, this time her voice clearly showed how broken she was and it took her everything not to fall on her knees.

"It wasn't your fault." He finally replied, his voice firm. He still was suffering for his loss, but he wasn't someone who would go around, giving the fault to the first person that come to mind and certainly he wouldn't say that it was Ruri's fault, after all she was suffering as much as him and even if she would be there…he didn't want to thought about what would have happened to her.

"But…I'm the princess…it's my duty to protect people and…I failed…" She replied, this time falling on her knees and sobbing even more than before. This time Natsu didn't know what to say and decided to do what his instinct was suggesting him: he walked toward her and gently helped her to stand up again then he looked directly into her eyes, they were full of sorrow, grief and many other emotions; he continued to stare into her eyes and slowly, the river of negative emotions inside them started to calm down, then he hugged her and soon she mimicked the gesture, other tears and sob were shared by both them but soon disappeared leaving the two of them in complete silence.

"Thanks…" Ruri muttered, she had never been so happy and grateful to have a friend that could support her.

"You're welcome." Natsu replied, again looking at her eyes.

Finally, after two good minutes of staring, he understood what he was doing and turned his head in embarrassment before breaking the hug and walking again toward the edge of the balcony a small blush forming on his face. As for Ruri, she didn't understand his gesture immediately, but her mind finally connected all pieces and caused her to have a giant blush on her face. The two continued to stay so for a while, the embarrassment of the situation slowly disappearing.

"E-em…my father requested that to speak with you." The blue haired child said, her face turned in the opposite direction of where Natsu was, a small blush still present on it.

"A-ah…o-ok, I will come immediately…" He stuttered, steam coming out from his ears. Then he turned his head and walked toward the door, hoping to be able to eliminate the still present feeling of embarrassment. However, as soon as he reached the door, he remembered one thing: he didn't know where the king was waiting for him and even if he knows it, he didn't know how to get there.

"My-my father is waiting for you in the throne room…i-if you want I can show you w-where it is." She said, still thinking about what happened before.

"T-Thank you…" Natsu answered, even if he wanted to be alone to calm himself, he had to ask for help to Ruri. So he decided to accept it.

"W-Well then…follow me…" She ended the conversation opening the door and starting to walk toward their destination, followed by Natsu.

Time skip: 23 minutes

'Doors…' That's what Natsu was thinking and it wasn't as if someone could blame him, after all, he had spent the last twenty minutes, following Ruri everywhere and he was sure that he had walked for more than half of the entire palace before he was there. In front of him was a door larger than the other that he had seen: it was two and half meters in height and made of light wood, divided into coffer and decorated with floral motifs. He remained there, staring at it for a few moments, before Ruri walked toward it, intentioned to open it. Natsu was then about to say that he would help since it was impossible for a single child like them to open such a big door, maybe if they were two, but still he wasn't sure about it. He was about to speak, but before he could even say a word Ruri knocked. This left him surprised, causing him to mentally slap himself and shook his head for how stupid he was.

"Here we are now." She muttered while the door slowly opened by the other side, revealing a huge transparent glazing at the bottom of the room with a laboured wooden throne in front of it and on it was sitting a man around forty or more with short light bread and hair of the same colour, but more tending to gray, light green eyes that seemed to scanning every inch of his begin. His face had only a few slight wrinkles near the mouth. He was wearing striped overalls, held up by a belt at the waist under a cape, the first one was black in colour, while the other was dark gray. The figure seemed regal and cold, as if he didn't have any emotion and to say the truth he didn't know what to think of him. Still, seeing where he was and his situation, he knew that the person in front of him was none other than the king himself, so he didn't have much of choice about how to treat him. So he simply followed Ruri and stopped in front of the throne, before kneeling, earning a small grunt of satisfaction from the man in front of him.

"Natsu Dragneel, that's your name, right?" He asked with calm and moderate voice, but what surprised Natsu was his voice didn't show any arrogance.

"Yes…your majesty…" He replied after a quick glance toward Ruri, who was now standing a few meters away from him on his left.

"Hm…I see, when you were unconscious, the doctors that took care of you noticed something: it seems like you have a great magical power, which is rare thing today." He paused and shot one glance toward a man in white long robe wearing a pair of glasses which he nervously adjusted, before looking at some papers that he was holding in his hands and then nodded in the direction of the king.

"So, since your old home was destroyed, I decided to take you in and to make you train, so that your power will be able to help our current situation…" He then stopped to let Natsu assimilate what he just said and when he thought that he could continue, he spoke again.

"…that said: Natsu Dragneel, what's your answer?"

"I agree." He answered, almost immediately. However, ever since he came there he had felt strange: his mind was extremely clear and could analyse everything around him at such speed that scared even him, it was like up until now he had slept and now he was finally awake.

"Very well, then you can now go, our…"

"Father, may I could show him where is his bed room, after all our 'domestics' are busy in other works." Ruri cut off her father, earning a cold glare from him, which she replied with one that showed how firm she was.

"Very well, but after that you will come here."

"Yes, father." She answered walking toward the door, followed by Natsu. Still, the latter one noticed that now his head was starting to return to normal, losing its lucidity of before.

'sigh'

Ruri sighed just as they were enough far from the throne room: her eyes closed and her expression a bit exasperated, but she didn't stop to walk.

"Are you alright?" Natsu asked concerned.

"Hu, yes…it's just my fater, sometimes he stresses me, but it's nothing much." She replied, opening her eyes again, before stopping in front of a large white wooden door, which she immediately proceeded to open.

"This is your room." She said and then he proceeded to enter: the room itself was huge for his standard, but to a closer inspection it was a little smaller than Ruri's one, still he didn't mind about it; as for the furniture, it wasn't that different from the one that his blue haired friend was and the walls were white in colour, while the roof was gray, as for the floor: it was covered by a red carpet.

"I hope that you're ok and…I'm sorry for what happened…" She said apologetically, clearly sorry that the place that represented for both of them a house had been destroyed and that their common friend, Haru, had died. Still she was a bit happy that she wouldn't be 'alone anymore in that palace.

"No, you don't have to apologize and don't worry, I'm sure everything will go alright." He replied, causing her to smile.

"Thanks…now I have to go, see you later." She said, before closing the door and walking away, probably to his father. Natsu then sighed and let himself fall on his bed.

'Yes ì, everything will be alright…' He would never forget the two years that he passed with Haru and all the others, they were a priceless treasure. However, he wasn't going to let himself brood on what happened. No, they would want him to move forward and live his life and he sure would, after all he still had a friend with him. With that thought he closed his eyes and soon the sleep came, his face adorned by a smile.

I'm alive, yes, I'm insane, I already was, I'm exhausted…is it really necessary that I answer to this? Well, however, I don't think that the other chapters will be as long as this, also, little note: next chapter will be last chapter in the 'past', before we move to 'present' time. So look forward to it.