It was a pleasant day, Layla and Igneel were certainly having a good one. They had just completed a good, yet hard training session outside of the guild hall. Now they were sitting on a grassy hill, looking over the lake. Capricorn stood over them, not even breathing hard, but looking distracted out over the lake.
"Tell me," He asked, not looking back. They both could tell that there was something bothering him. "What's the date today, and the year is seven hundred seventy seven, correct?"
Layla looked at her twin with a confused look, while Igneel just looked back and shrugged while responding. "Ya and it's July seventh, the Day of the Hero's Triumph." Igneel brushed a strand of blonde hair out of his eyes.
"Why don't you know this?" Layla asked curiously, tilting her head. "You're always on top of stuff like this, people ask you for this kind of stuff." Her bright pink hair blew in the wind lightly, getting in her face.
"Because today is a very special day, not only because of the holiday, but because of another reason." With that he turned and made his way to the guild hall, calling, "Follow me."
The twins looked at each other, both confused at Capricorn's behavior. But got up and followed nevertheless. Their fatigue forgotten and their excitement ignited.
As they entered the chaotic guild they instantly spotted Capricorn talking with their mother and Leo, who their mother must've summoned, and before they could reach him Capricorn was already walking back, Leo in toe. But they both brushed past, Leo giving them a smile, put his key in Layla's hand, and told them to follow. They did, both still very confused.
As they ran after the two celestial spirits they saw people getting ready for the Hero's Triumph parade. Finally both the spirits stopped, right outside of the Conquering Hero's shrine.
"Now, we're about to show you something that a friend of ours asked us to. You can't run." With that oh, so happy note, Leo walked inside, Capricorn following.
Both twins sat there for a bit, wondering what, 'You can't run' meant, they were Dragneel's, Dragneel's didn't run from anything, well, except a few things. They both ran inside, their excitement overcoming any foreboding.
Once inside Igneel looked around and realized that they were the only ones inside the shrine. Which was odd, considering the day. But they soon joined Leo and Capricorn at the main part of the shrine, a huge painting, taking up an entire wall. It was beautifully crafted, hundreds of years old, and depicting a battle. There was a giant dragon, bathed in fire and with horns of gold, fighting head on into a shadow.
In the shadow was a man with a book at his feet, open. And a giant black dragon with blue markings, standing behind him.
At the flaming dragons feet was a blonde, shining bright as the sun with ten keys surrounding her. A redhead, surrounded by numerous swords. A black haired man with strange markings on his arm, shirtless, and surrounded by beautiful ice, sharp and deadly. A blue haired girl surrounded by wind with a white Exceed flying over head. A man made of metal and shadows, a black Exceed, that was bigger than a normal men standing behind him, sword at the ready. A woman, part of a wave. The group of people went on and on, ranging from giants to snakes. But one of the main points of the painting was the center of the flaming dragon. A man with pink hair and an elegant white scarf around his neck, stood in the middle of the dragon, at its heart, surrounded by fire and lightning. He was mimicking the dragon, or most likely the dragon was mimicking the man. Behind the man was a blue Exceed, wings spread.
Underneath the people bathed in light were bodies of people, things, that obviously belonged on the dark side, but could not, for they were defeated.
But one of the most interesting things were the ghosts, images of people stood behind the crowd of light. They were faded and not completely there. There was a man with a metal jaw. A women with a clock surrounding her. A man surrounded by ice, a cross obvious. A woman surrounded by ice, a fallen demon at her feet. A couple embracing, dancing, both blonde and dressed eloquently, piles of gold cast aside disdainfully. A blonde with a black cloak on, a broken set of doors behind her. A man in uniform with glasses, tall and proud. A women with a blue fish tail, water spilling all around. A blue haired man with a marking over his eye, shrouded in heavy cloaks, staff by his side. An old man, small but standing over a city with legs. A small blonde women, floating above the other humans. And most importantly six dragons in the skies or on the ground, each graceful and terrifying, surrounded by either fire, wind, metal, light or dark.
The painting was a representation of the final battle with the Dark Mage and the Dragon of Chaos and it never failed to take away Layla's and Igneel's breath away. It was old and faded, but still breathtaking. It always had a special effect on them because they were said to be direct descendants of the Dragon Hero and the Princess of Gates.
They were brought back to Earthland when Leo spoke, "Alright, ready to see someone very special? Good."
Not giving them time to respond he snatched the key from Layla's hand and thrust it straight into the mural. Right into the open book at the foot of the 'Reaper of Mankind' or the 'Dark Mage' as he was called.
Layla and Igneel simultaneously gasped, around a thousand year old mural was just partially destroyed. "It's ok, I have permission." Leo spoke as he turned his key.
It was silent for a second before the entire temple shone, so bright everybody had to close their eyes. When the light disappeared the entire temple looked brand new. The pillars and floors were so clean they could see them reflecting each other. The mural now in sharp detail and new details. The Dragon Hero had fire spurting out of his head, in the shape of two horns, markings that ran along his body, and a set of wings coming from his back. One of the Princess of Gate's keys were shattered, behind each key was a picture of a spirit, some looking awfully familiar, there were some silver keys floating farther away spirits behind them, along with an armored man faint behind the Princess of Gates, brandishing a giant sword and a giant mustache. Where Leo had thrust his key in was now fixed and it now read E.N.D on the pages.
But one of the most noticeable changes was the stairwell in the floor, not the mural floor, the actual floor.
Igneel and Layla were surprised as Leo pushed them towards the stairwell saying, "I said you can't run." The twins gulped.
There was a flash, along with a lingering "I'll leave this to you." As Capricorn disappeared.
Leo finally got them on the stairs and a few steps down. "You can't go back now!" He was right, when they looked back all they saw was a blank wall. So they started their descent.
Below, someone sniffed the air, he could smell three people. He had felt the rune break, it's mission complete. He gave a huge smile, so the day had come.
Igneel, Layla, and Leo all finally made it to the bottom. It had been a long way down.
Now they stood in a huge room, so big that they wouldn't be surprised if the whole of Magnolia could fit in here.
"Woah." Igneel said, amazed and out of breath.
The small trio walked to the closest wall, the only wall they could see in the dark room. It looked like a shrine. There were sections running from the floor to the ceiling. Each decorated with a giant, beautiful painting of someone, along with decorations that must be related them in some way. Each had a small shrine at the bottom.
As they approached one of them Igneel and Layla both sensed a presence at the same time, their instincts kicking in. They got back to back, Igneel's fist lighting on fire, and Layla whipping out Capricorn's key and summoning him.
They heard a chuckle that they couldn't tell where it came from. Igneel and Layla circled each other, eyes peeled. Igneel noticed, that for some reason, Leo and Capricorn were completely relaxed, actually they were nodding at nothing, looking like they were having a mental conversation.
"That's right!" a voice boomed, inches from his face. He and his twin spun, Igneel throwing a flaming punch and Layla sending a deadly kick.
Both attacks were stopped and the twins were pushed back.
Along with a laugh the figure stood up straight, "Those are my great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, or something like that, grandkids!"
Both the twins went slack jawed.
"So you're over a thousand years old, our ancestor, a Fairy Tail member, and you're the Hero of the Legends." Layla asked while Igneel just stood there, trying to process what he had been told.
"Yep!" The figure, now known as Natsu, confirmed. Now that they could see him, they saw how odd he looked.
He had a set of dragon wings coming from his back, as well as a set of demonic looking wings just underneath them, scales casing most of his body, a bandage covering most of his right arm, with a red Fairy tail guild mark just above it. He also had a golden set of horns sprouting from his hair, curving around the back of his head , running along his jaw line and ended a bit past his chin. At the base of the horns, his hair was black, not pink like the rest of it. He wore something similar to sweatpants and a vest that was black and had golden trimming.
"Now that that is out of the way, would you like to visit the guild hall?" Leo spoke up, clapping his hands together and smiling as if this wasn't extraordinary at all. "Oh by the way, Natsu and I have known each other for a very long time."
Natsu nodded and threw an arm around Loke, "Yep! When I first met him he was passing off as a regular human, called himself Loke. But that's a story for another day. Come on!"
Natsu started to march towards the giant set of stairs. Loke right beside him, still with his arm around his shoulder, talking quietly about what Natsu has missed. Leaving the descendants to quickly gather their thoughts and rush after the immortal pair.
Natsu gazed in wonder at the guild hall. It had changed since he had last saw it, but that was to be expected in the time frame that he had been absent.
Natsu gave a big laugh as he stood in front of Fairy Tail. He now adorned a black cloak with a hood and a Fairy Tail symbol it's right shoulder.
He suddenly had it when the twins finally caught up.
He had tucked his wings in so that they wrapped around his back, making him look normal, despite the odd looking horns that poked out from under the hood slightly. He had a huge smile on his face.
Before anyone could move they heard a childish voice. "So you've come out of your cave finally, I want to see your improvements."
They all turned to see the ghost of Mavis float over. She still looked the same as when Natsu had last saw her. "Sup Mavis!" Natsu smiled, waving a scaled hand.
The twins stared as Natsu and Mavis, the first guild master, talked casually.
"Come on guys!" Natsu yelled as they finished up talking about his "den."
Natsu could already tell how many people/beings were in the guild hall by merely sense of smell.
He slammed the doors open so hard they both cracked, which wasn't uncommon.
Every Fairy Tail member inside turned to see a strange sight. Someone who none of them knew, the first master floating closely behind him, the famous twins behind them, and then Leo behind both of them.
They were more confused with the red guild mark on the stranger's cloak, and the horns but that's more common than a member of the guild that the master, who had been there his whole life, didn't know.
"Who are you?" the current master, Yuri Dreyar, spoke from his place on the second floor. He had spoken for the entire guild.
"I'm Natsu! I'm a member of Fairy Tail!"
Mavis floated in front of Natsu. "He was a member since before any of your grandparents were born." This drew gasps from several members. including a redhead with a tattoo over his eye and armor clad chest, the Dragneel twin's mother, a blue haired men who was currently half nude, a blond haired man behind the bar, a women with a mask on who had white hair poking out, among others.
"He knew joined when the fourth master ruled, he defeated the second master, he is the hero of legend, the demon E.N.D., the last curse user, a dragon slayer and he inherited the immortality when he defeated his brother. His brother also created demons, ruled an empire, was cursed by a god, and was the one who accidentally killed me."
There was silence after Mavis's brief explanation. She turned back towards Natsu and spoke so quietly only he could hear. "I figured that a brief explanation was best, now we just need to answer the questions that will surely follow. You'll also find that history has repeated itself."
Natsu nodded in agreement.
An hour later they had made a huge dent into the seemingly infinite questions of the guild before it quickly changed gears with the influence of a brunette with a metal arm, a bottle of booze, and too much party spirit.
Natsu woke up, a piece of meat stuck on one of his horns, some feet in his face, Igneel and Layla sprawled over him, and half a table on his arm.
He sat up, careful to not disturb the two on him.
He looked around, reminded of simpler days. Days before E.N.D., before Zeref, before Tartaros, when it was him, Lucy, and Happy.
It made him feel extremely nostalgic and made him ache inside with the wanting of the old days.
He quickly slipped out from under the twins, grabbed his cloak and strode out the door.
Layla lifted her head and watched as Natsu walked out the door, cloak flapping in the wind. Layla tried to stand up and follow but was stopped by a pressure on her leg, it was HighJinx, yes that was her real name. She was another descendant of two of the lesser known Heroes of Legend.
She wore a medieval style helmet because of her powers. She could steal souls and control them with direct eye contact. She had short white hair that poked out whenever it could. She wore a baggy brown shirt with armor plated shoulders and arms. She also wore blue jeans with armor plates in strategic places. It was an odd outfit but she somehow pulled it off.
Layla was trying to get out without waking anyone up, she failed. Jinx, her nickname, sat up. "Where you going?"
Layla put a finger over her mouth, shushing her. She knew Natsu was a dragonslayer, and being a dragonslayer included great hearing and senses.
Jinx could see Natsu turn a corner. Understanding what Layla wanted to do.
She nodded, got up, and followed. Wanting to see more of the mythical hero.
They slowly made their way to the shrine, going past the giant mural, and down the spiral stairs.
When they finally got down the stairs they instantly saw Natsu, kneeling in front of a shrine that had a mural of a woman who looked exactly like Layla's mother.
He looked deep in thought, sitting there, looking at the thousands of papers and mementos on the wall and next to the table.
They both recognized the papers, they were job requests! How they had been down here for so long was a puzzle to them.
They both let out a small gasp as a small light blue light flew by their faces. It went close behind Natsu, just hovering there.
Slowly, other lights flickered into existence behind Natsu. Starting with a couple, but quickly growing into the thousands. They kept popping up, soon filling the entire cavern. There was thousands of different colors, each one unique, ice blues, star light yellows, steely silvers, but only behind Natsu.
Layla was out of breath, stunned into silence by the sight. Jinx, however was flailing her arm, trying to grab onto Layla. She finally grabbed her arm and a pulse of magic was shared between them. They did a small unison raid, one that let them share magic with each other.
Suddenly Layla could see what the small balls of lights were. They were spirits! Not celestial spirits, but spirits of people, beings, that had passed on from this life. There were two spirits right behind Natsu, a spirit of a women they recognized from the mural that Natsu was sitting at. The other was a blue exceed with a small white pack. The woman wore a beautiful white dress that went down to her ankles. All the spirits were dressed in white actually.
The Exceed was sitting on the woman's shoulders and the women gently set a hand on Natsu's shoulder, slowly the others behind her copied her, placing their hands on the shoulder of the person in front of them.
Natsu didn't react at first. But slowly, a small sad smile spread on his face. He lifted his hand and rested it on the woman's hand.
There was silence, a peaceful silence. Layla and Jinx just watched the couple. They could see the matching wedding rings.
They could feel fear, anxiety, loneliness, depression, sadness, helplessness, and the weight of thousands of years of those emotions lifting in a single shared moment between two people whose love extended past death itself. They could feel the love and gratitude practically radiating from the crowd of ghosts, it was overwhelming.
The mood dampened slightly, taking a more serious note.
Layla and Jinx jumped when the ghost of Mavis flew past them.
Mavis quickly flew to the crowd. At the same time the crowd parted.
A man came walking down the corridor of people. They couldn't see him at first, they couldn't see past the thousands of people block their view.
Natsu still had his back turned as the man walked up. When he reached the Woman and the exceed the living pair could finally see the man. He had black hair and a black robe on, a white sash across his shoulder.
He bowed to the blonde woman and the exceed before speaking, or moving his mouth because no words came out.
Evidently the two heard him, they nodded and stepped to the side, but she didn't remove her hand from Natsu's shoulder.
The black haired man stood there for a second, hesitant to do anything. But that's when Mavis arrived. She bounded into him, enveloping him in a big hug.
Seeing as they were ghosts, they just kinda tumbled in the air, doing flips and slowly getting farther away.
Before they could get too far they untangled themselves and floated in front of Natsu.
Mavis grabbed the other spirits hand and placed it on Natsu's unoccupied shoulder.
The black haired ghost started to speak again, but again silent. Natsu seemed to understand however, he was nodding and silently speaking back.
Mavis floated over to the pair of living mages. They separated and Layla went back to only being able to see colored dots. She noticed that the dot in front of Natsu, the black haired man, was the only pure black dot and the only one with a white outline.
Mavis landed in front of Jinx and Layla just as Jinx grabbed her shoulder, making the spirits become people again. "This is a rare sight for anyone to see. You two are lucky."
The two nodded, still incapable of speech.
"Do you know who these people are?" Mavis continued without waiting of an answer. "They are the people that Natsu effected, in a good way. He made an impact in every single one of these people's lives. Even the people who from which you two are descended from. Natsu and Lucy, the blonde woman who is behind Natsu, are your direct ancestors, Layla. Your's, Jinx, are the two right there." She pointed to a pair that was close to the front. One was a tall man with dark blue hair, a mark taking up the majority of his face, and glowing green eyes. He wore a white tux with little Tiki style dolls on his shoulders and down both arms. Above his head were six flying children, each in simple white pants and white, short-sleeved button up shirt. By his side he had an arm around a woman.
The woman had beautiful white hair that framed her face and went just a bit past her chin level in the back. She wore a white dress that went to her ankles, but had black animal prints, randomly strewn about. It seemed a bit odd, but there were odder clothes. One small man had a picture of a giant on his back.
Lucy had gate keys at the very bottom of hers.
It took a moment for Layla to realize that Mavis was speaking again. "After the great conflict was over. Natsu had become the most powerful person in the world, but not without a price. His demon side, E.N.D. had been awoken previously and it's power added to Natsu's own. But this brought out more evil tendencies and darker thoughts from Natsu.
"After he killed Acnologia he started the transformation into a dragon, as the old Dragon Slayers could do, only if they used too much Dragon Slaying magic. Because of that, several problems arouse.
"There were more complicated matters that would take too long to explain.
After he realized that he was never to age again, and after he sorted the other complications out, he started preparing. With his new found power he started learning new magic." She paused as she turned and looked back at the brothers, who were still conversing silently.
"First he learned, and perfected the Arc of Time, it was easy, seeing as how he got the best lessons from an old friend. After that he made this room, forever keeping it timeless, never to decay or rot unless his own power source is completely diminished. He started learning more, Ice-Make, Celestial spirit magic, requip, giant magic, light magic, and many others.
"He did this as a tribute to those he was starting to outlive. Only he had immortality, no others and they all passed away much too quickly. He had spent as much time with them as possible. He had gone far beyond just a loving husband or a caring friend. He did so much for them, but he could not stop death, without pissing a god off. After all, death slowly found each and everyone of his friends and loved ones. Lucy was killed by her old age, Happy died protecting his family, Erza was killed protecting the ones she loved, Gray was assassinated in his sleep by an old enemy, Juvia died on a rampage against those that had killed her husband, Wendy died to a sickness, Gajeel died a hero, saving and stopping an evil force, Levy died in grief, Makarov died with old age. They all had long and happy lives, each one started a family and the legacy continued. Each one of those people are here today.
"You see the terrible curse of immortality. Yet, Natsu has survived it all," she laughed, "not without raging, blowing up, or eradicating the things that took those people from him." She sighed as the two mages remembered something. Mavis had been around for all of that, she was still here, happy and content in watching the guild grow, day by day. Yet knowing that one day it might not be the same people, for they moved on and she could not.
"As a tribute, Natsu learned each one of their magics, everyone in this room, Natsu knows their magic, and which person had inspired that tribute. He knows every single magic out there, he has found the One Magic. He knows everything you can about anything. You have a lot of free time in a few thousand years of solitude. In his spare time, he trains with each individual magic, he learned how to paint, simply to paint those pictures on the walls, he read, he thought, he discovered."
Layla looked past Mavis to Natsu, where she held so much more respect for him in her heart. He had been through so much only to go into solitude, at least it seemed he had the spirits of his old friends to keep him company.
Mavis continued and they both listened carefully. "But that kind of power, the immortality, the knowledge, caught a god's eye. The same god which had give the original curse of contradictory to Zeref. He had made a deal with Natsu. If Natsu got rid of all the evil on Earthland for even a second he would lift the curse and let Natsu died like he so wanted. But there was a catch, there always is. The spirit of Zeref was his messenger, the only way to communicate between Natsu and Ankhseram. Whenever Zeref came, this multitude came with him. But Natsu can not look upon the faces of those he loves, besides Zeref, or else they will all disappear, Zeref included, forever. Natsu would not be able to tell Zeref that he was done. For only when Zeref told Ankhseram that Natsu was done, he would lift the curse."
Layla felt awful, as did Jinx. Jinx tightened her grip on Layla's shoulder out of frustration. Layla simply looked to Natsu again, her Dragneel anger growing. He could not look at those he loved, but he knew they were there. An evil fate.
Mavis observed them, understanding their anger completely. She too was stuck between life and death, unable to move on. But she knew Natsu needed a constant companion in his immortal life, he kept Fairy's Heart down here after all. She knew that the celestial spirits would get moved around and she knew that he didn't want to selfishly keep some keys down with him while they could be usefull above ground. She also knew that he would set her free once he had been set free, because his heart could not stand the thought of someone being immortal, forever alone, only to watch those that you grow a bond with die.
"But do not worry, for Natsu has a plan which no one else knows, not even I do." At that same moment, the crowd of ghost's flashed brightly and vanished. Natsu stood and turned to look at them.
For a moment, Layla and Jinx saw every emotion that the old, raven colored eyes held. But it was quickly replaced by the happy glint that usually was there.
"All right! Sorry you had to see that, business calls sometimes." He clapped his hands, acting like he had just closed a big business deal with a tough customer. "Now, when is your next Grand Magic Games!"