Another story! I guess I'll just be doing a whole bunch of X-Overs right now. I was kinda working this idea through my mind and wrote what I thought. This just a prologue and if received well, I will continue, if not, I'll still continue. Onto the prologue!
"What is this?!"
"I'm sensing an incredible amount psions being released!"
"Surely no one would just aimlessly release psions into the world for no reason!"
"It's even strategic class or above!"
The sounds of rushing feet streamed out of the mansion to the source of the psion release. Some of the party had collapsed to the mental strain massive amounts of psions could induce. The group was followed by the rarely troubled mistress of the mansion. However, today her beauty was marred with a frown. She didn't understand why someone would now decide to act against her. Surely as the head of such a prestigious family, she was bound to have enemies, but every fiend was unknown to release psions of this scale. She had to see who or even what it was and assess their threat level. For the future of the Yotsuba clan.
As the group came upon the garden they saw, a strange apparition. The entire grounds had been covered in smoke and dust, while the ground itself lay ruined and broken - it's priceless beauty destroyed by a glowing, volcanic crater. Someone in the group casted an essential movement type sequence, dispelling the dust and smoke. Another cast an oscillation type to reduce the temperature of the crater. The glow dimmed to a cool gray. The billowing dust revealed a person that appeared to be kneeling, their gaze facing the sky. He was still as if without the perception of time passing. Maya took the time to study the boy. He was young, but the way he held himself, as well as his aura - they were all wrong: his hunched figure; haunted eyes; even the way of his breathing - they all gave him this degree of maturity that someone that young should have never needed to reach. The second thing she realised was that he was a magician. The psions were being emitted from him if anything. However they didn't feel natural, almost like they weren't psions, but something more ancient, but at the same time beast-like, almost draconic. 'But that would be impossible! Dragons were a myth from even before the conceptualisation of ancient magic!'
She was interrupted when the boy finally moved. He opened his mouth and inhaled, his psion levels spiking. The group watched as magic circles appeared above the boys mouth. He released the inhaled air mixed with his psions. The result was spontaneous. Even air grew as hot as a furnace. The released magic took the form of a gigantic pillar of golden flames. It reached into the upper limits of the sky and left no darknesses in the area. Maya's personal guard and maid flash casted a shield to protect the group. Maya widened her eyes in shock. Right before her was someone who had demonstrated a magic even she had never witnessed before. She mulled over the situation in her head. The benefits far outweighed the complications of explaining this event. The benefits of bringing him into the Yotsuba family.
The day afterward…
"He still hasn't said anything. Has he?"
"No, he hasn't, but apparently he's been through a lot according to Mistress Yotsuba,"
The two voices lay outside of his room. All he remembered was waking up in this room. The room was luxurious with expensive curtains and carpets. Also, most of the furniture was antique. The bed, four-poster, was covered with luscious silk sheets the color of the deepest red. But the room was too lush, it had been made to impress rather than to house. He had not left his room so he didn't know what the rest of building would look like. He opted to stay in the room. He opted because he couldn't remember anything. Any new information would most likely ruin his train of thought. Multiple times people had attempted to get him to talk, but if he were to do so he feared he would never find out his past. The temperature steadily increased as he grew more and more frustrated. He knew something had happened, although he had been credited as a dumbass, his memory was something he was more than confident in, when it came to things that mattered.
As the heat began to build in the room, it was cooled down almost instantaneously as a woman walked through the door. Her dark tresses fell from her head as though a deep purple waterfall, her purple eyes lightly covered by her bangs. Her smile was a slight twitching of the lips. She wore simple red dress, however it left little to the imagination, the neckline was low enough to expose devious amounts of her cleavage and a split in her dress let him see her long, milky-white legs. She was alluring to say the least, with a mature sex appeal that could drive any man crazy. He was unfazed, although the way she held herself and her smile, it reminded him of someone. Someone that seemed almost worlds away.
"I see you're doing better than yesterday. I believe you were out for quite a long time."
He stared at her blankly, his mind gripping at the tails of his running memories but they evaded him. Maya mistook his blank stare as a sign that he was paying attention to her.
"I know you might be a little confused, waking up with no memories in a place you can't recall ever going to."
He snorted. His first sign of communication. Even if the snort was in disdain, I mean a little confused was a far stretch.
"If I told you there was a way I could restore your memories, what would you do?"
His eyes widened. His solution to all his frustrations lay in front of him. But, he knew there was more to it than that, he knew she would be the type to want something in return. Logically no stranger suddenly offers to restore all your memories at no cost. He swallowed.
"What's the catch?"
"He speaks!" Maya appeared surprised, "Yes, there is a catch. I only want you to join my family as well as allow us to run some tests on you. You seem to be unique in this world."
Something about that sentence struck a chord within him. She said that he was unique to this world. He ignored it and decided that the point at hand was to regain his memories.
"So how would I regain my memories?"
"If you would come outside with me, I'll explain as we go to where you'll regain your memories."
He turned around and got off the bed, he dressed quickly in what looked to be an open jacket as well as a pair of black baggy pants. There was a suit nearby, but he was never one to dress up fancy. He realised that was another thing he remembered. He ran a hand through his distinctly salmon hair warming up his hands to fix it in place. He finally wrapped a white-scaled scarf around his neck.
"You know I never got your name? Mine's Natsu Dragneel."
"Maya Yotsuba, it's a pleasure to finally know the name of our guest."
"Is that the man found in the crater yesterday?"
"I thought he would never leave his room."
"I wonder what Mistress is doing with him?"
There were quiet murmurs, not unheard by Natsu, that were spoken by the staff working around what appeared to be a mansion. There were mainly maids and butlers, but it looked like there was also an occasional bodyguard - strangely enough they all looked very similar, a girl with short purple hair and a braid on the left side of her face.
"I see that you have noticed our bodyguards, they're all based on an original called Honami, each and everyone is a clone."
Natsu was only half paying attention. He still couldn't figure out why she would want him in her family. To his knowledge they were still practically strangers.
"I wanted you in my family because I feel like we have a lot in common, as well as the fact that I have a nephew and niece that would benefit from an older brother figure."
Satisfied with that answer Natsu moved on to the next question on his mind.
"So how exactly will I regain my memories?"
"I was wondering when that topic would be brought up. You see the process is that we'll attach you to a machine that will allow us read your thoughts and memories in a discernible form. This way we can find what's preventing you from remembering."
While she had explained the two walked into a completely different part of the mansion. The walls were made of a bright shining metals the floor was polished to reflect and the corridor was lit with white fluorescent lights suspended above them by iron frames. They finally arrived at what seemed to be a testing facility. As Natsu and Maya walked he noticed a boy lying on a metal bed while attached to a machine. A woman was sitting next to him with a similar device attached to her head. She had the same features as Maya, including her purple hair and eyes. He guessed that she was Maya's sister and mother to the nephew and niece that Maya had talked about.
At long last, Maya and Natsu found themselves in front of a room.
"We're here."
Maya lead Natsu inside of the room. It was an almost exact copy of the room he had saw earlier. Metal bed in the centre of the room, with a machine next to it. The only thing missing was the occupants of the other room. Maya asked Natsu to take off his jacket, and lie on the bed. People in lab coats almost immediately melted from the walls and proceeded with setting up the equipment for the surgery. The people didn't even require a gesture or a call, their jobs were to set up the equipment for the patient and that was it. They worked flawlessly like pre-programmed robots. When they finished the again melted away.(A/n: When I say melted here it doesn't mean literal melt.). Maya lowered herself onto the chair next to the bed. Natsu, now lying on the bed, had a visor on his head, it enclosed around his head and eyes.
"Ummm… So, Maya what now? I can't see what's going on so..."
"We'll now need to put you to sleep so that we can proceed with confidence that there wouldn't be any disturbance while we're looking."
"Okay."
Maya eased a syringe into Natsu's arm, he didn't wince or show signs of pain. As Natsu fell asleep, Maya took the time to study him. His upper torso was well developed sporting a full set of toned abs; defined pectorals; bulging biceps; and a broad back. The thing struck Maya the most was that his entire body was littered with scars, the biggest being extending from his right shoulder to his hip in a diagonal slash. There were also countless smaller scars. She could tell that only combat could wreak such havoc on a body, however the scarring gave a roughened appeal that complimented the definition on his body. They weren't ugly in any way.
Maya shook herself out of her thoughts. She placed a matching visor over her eyes and leaned back on the chair.
Within Natsu's Mindscape
Maya appeared in what appeared to be a void, like a starless, moonless night. Standing some way away were two people, both with distinct pink shocks of hair. Maya rushed over to Natsu. The procedure only lasted as long as Natsu was asleep, although the drug lasted for twelve hours, time in the mindscape was perceived differently. As she came closer she saw that one of the Natsu's were awake. What surprised was that he had black horns extruding from his head. It noticed Maya and turned towards her. The hate and wrath in his eyes evident; he was a creature that wanted to destroy everything. Maya knew it would be dangerous if such a creature were to exist inside of a person's mind. She didn't question anything as every person's mindscape was different and unique to each person. So she believed the creature to be the form that Natsu's darkest emotions took. She wasted no time in dissipating the creature. She was assured that it would free up plenty of space for a magic calculation area, as well as helping Natsu deal with his memory problem. When the creature had dissipated, she turned her attention to the other version of Natsu. His eyes were closed as if asleep, his body standing there as if attached by strings to the ceiling. She touched him and his body fell as if the strings holding him had been cut. She lowered him down onto the voided floor, and looked upon his sleeping visage. She wasn't unfamiliar with such a situation, the only fathomable option was to wake him up. But how? Each person she had seen in a familiar event woke up from just touching them. This was new to say the least. However she saw the world begin to shatter the illusion of the void breaking to reveal billowing white light. She did the only she could think of, know that her time was short. She kissed Natsu, as the roles reversed and the world broke around her, she saw his eyes widen.
Yotsuba Testing Facility, Experimental Room 5
Maya woke with a start, the feeling of the space around her breaking was an unpleasant one. However as she woke she saw the room blackened and broken, the one-way glass window had shattered the walls had warped and melted, everything had been laid waste to. Natsu had just exited his sleep as well. He knew what had happened to the room. He had caused the damage, it was his specific brand of magic, fire dragon slayer magic. He regained his memories, but at a cost. He had relived all the horrors in his previous life: the sadness; the pain; the deaths; the suffering; all of it. He had watched his friends die again. Die to his hand. There was only one thing truly different from then and now. He longer heard the voice. The voice of the tempter. The voice that belonged to a demon. Knowing he was finally free, from his alter-ego, he almost jumped for joy. Until he saw Maya Yotsuba sitting next him. Completely naked. One word came to mind: "Pervert."
"I apologise but could you repeat that?"
Maya looked dismayed when the person she had assisted had exclaimed in a casual tone that she was a pervert. She didn't recall doing anything that might have given cause for him to say such a thing. That was until she glanced down. Her skin was completely untouched but where her clothes had been, there lay air.
"KYAAA~!"
Maya's uncharacteristic yelp brought people in lab coats rushing to the room. CADs were drawn and she was magically clothed back into her elegant red dress. The blush on her face was as red as the dress. As much as she hated it, she had a prudish nature and tended to be quite embarrassed when it came to her body, despite how much she flaunted it. She had never planned on getting married so it never occurred to her to find out about love and relationships.
"Sorry about that it's a habit I have when I see someone naked,"
Natsu's personality had completely changed, an after-effect of his memories being restored; memories did primarily made up a person. This new Natsu wore a brilliant thousand-watt smile, gone was the look of frustration in his eyes, his muscles had loosened, his physique relaxed. He stood up from the bed, stretching the newly relaxed muscles, before snapping his fingers. His hand coated themselves with auric fire. He let the fire stream over his body, coating him in the golden flames. Maya and the scientists watched as the character for four(四) etched onto his back, and underneath it the leaf character. Completed the lay burned into his skin on his spine between the scapula. As the group watched the kanji being formed, Maya noticed the room changing. Natsu was emitting a cool heat, that enveloped the room and re-melted the walls, leaving lightly glowing smooth surfaces. The room had returned to normal as if nothing had ever happened.
"I'm sorry about the mess I made earlier."
He grinned at the group as the flames receded back into his body. Maya was shocked beyond words. She never realised how important his memories must have been. Everything about Natsu had changed. He had become an unreachable visage. A dark angel.
Right now it's just a prologue, so more work will be done once I get reviews for direction. I really enjoyed writing this so my update rate might be a bit faster. Till then, peace!
