hey guys, Its Rambles here bringing you a new story, A Burning Demon! The name is subject to change, so if after reading you have a suggestion for a name or pairing, leave it in a review. And I'm sorry that I haven't been updating guys, I don't have a schedule and I only write when I feel in the mood for writting. And lately I've had a lot of college work as well as looking for work. I'm hoping to get to updating the rest of my stories sometime within the next few months. Especially Dragons Clan and An Alternate Dragon Slayer, I know you guys have been waiting a while for those. So Hopefully they'll be updated soon.
Anyway enough of me rambling, lets get on with the story!
A Burning Demon
Description: The guild had watched as Natsu gave his life to save them from an attack on Magnolia. They had watched as he'd been obliterated from the face of earthland by an attack too powerful for him to stop. there was no chance he could have survived that attack. But when Fairy Tail is called by the Alliance, they meet a new enemy, who the hell is this mysterious Pyro, and why does he seem so… familiar? Pairing Undecided!
Chapter 1: Nightmare
Magnolia had started the day peacefully, the sun had been shining and the birds singing, but what had started as a peaceful day for the people of Magnolia had turned into a day of horror that would leave a gaping hole in the hearts of the wizards that made up the wizard guild Fairy Tail.
The first sign of trouble was the rumbling, a loud, inconsistent rumbling had approached the town. No one could pinpoint where it was coming from, but they knew that it wasn't natural.
Then they saw it.
The giant demon, approaching the town, intending to destroy it.
The citizens panicked, all of them running in every direction, wanting to be anywhere but Magnolia.
The panic was broken up as a ball of fire suddenly struck the demon in the face, from the fire emerged a young man with salmon pink hair and onyx black eyes. He was grinning from ear to ear as his scaly scarf and vest billowed in the wind. He then covered his foot in crimson flames before kicking off the demon, revealing the figure to be Natsu Dragneel, the fire dragon slayer.
"Okay you giant bastard, I'm all fired up now!" Natsu shouted, grinning as he lit his hands on fire, ready to fight.
"Ice-make: Lance!" A voice shouted as several lances of ice appeared and struck the demons chest, revealing Gray Fullbuster, a famous Ice-make wizard, and often known for losing his clothes at the worst times, proven by the fact that his shirt was missing as he stood facing the demon. "Natsu!" Gray shouted "Don't just go running off, unless you really do have a deathwish!" Gray called at the fire dragon slayer.
Natsu just grunted "I'll do as you please you damn stripper!" Natsu called back, glaring at Gray.
"Boys!" A stern voice called, making Natsu and Gray focus on what was happening.
Just in time to see Gray get smacked away by a giant claw.
"Gray!" A woman's voice called as a redhead appeared, brandishing a sword. She wore Heart Crux armour and a blue skirt, and her glare was directed at the demon, revealing her to be none other than Erza Scarlet.
"Natsu!" Erza shouted, turning to Natsu "Keep it busy while I check on Gray!" She said, going over to where Gray had landed.
"Okay!" Natsu said as he inhaled, before throwing his head forward "FIRE DRAGONS ROAR!" He shouted, unleashing a vortex of flames towards the demon, before running as fast as he could.
As the roar struck the demon roared, before lashing out with its claws it just missed Natsu, who jumped up and began running up the demons arm. As he got close to the demons face he began to gather flames around his arms.
"FIRE DRAGONS WING ATTACK!" He shouted, throwing his arms in wide arcs, covering the demons head in flames.
The demon thrashed around, throwing Natsu off who used his flames to slow his fall, landing lightly on the ground.
"You bastard" Natsu growled, looking very serious "I'm the only one who gets to hurt Gray!" He yelled, making everyone nearby sweatdrop at the fire dragon slayer's strange way of thinking.
"Requip!" Erza shouted as she was covered in a golden light and when it faded she was in her flame empress armour, she charged at the demon, cutting along it leg as the demon roared, getting frustrated by the three wizards.
As Erza finished her charge the demon suddenly grabbed hold of her, its giant hand crushing her armour. Erza screamed as the demon slowly crushed her, before she was dropping to the ground. She was confused, she could still feel the demons hand around her body, but it wasn't crushing her. When she looked up, she got her answer.
Natsu had cut the demons hand off.
Natsu was stood, his back towards Erza, her flame empress sword held in his hands as the demon roared in pain.
Natsu looked absolutely furious as his grip on the sword tightened. He didn't know why he'd picked up the sword, but a voice in his head had told him what to do, how to use it properly.
And now he'd defend his nakama.
With a few quick slashes he cut apart the demons hand holding Erza, freeing the redhead. She dropped to the ground, her armour broken, along with what felt like several of her ribs. She was in no condition to fight.
"Erza!" Natsu said, turning towards her "Take Gray and get back to the guild hall, I'm gonna kill this demon!" He said, growling at the end of his sentence, his rage showing.
"Natsu…" Erza said, having never seen this side of Natsu before
"Go!" he shouted, before ducking as the demon tried to attack him again, he roared as he ran along, cutting the demons arm with his sword. As he cut the demon it raised its giant foot, attempting to stomp him.
Natsu quickly swung the sword upwards as the demon brought its foot down. It cut the flesh and he quickly rolled away to avoid being crushed.
Natsu had no idea where this skill with a blade came from, but he went with it. That voice in the back of his head guided his swings as he used it to cut the demon once again.
This time however he wasn't quick enough to dodge the demon is it used its massive hand to grab Natsu, having regrown the one Natsu had cut off.
Natsu screamed in pain as the hand held him, before enveloping his body in flames, making them burn hotter and hotter until the demon dropped him. Natsu landed on the ground, still covered in flames he stared the demon down.
"By the flames in my left hand and the flames in my right! Put em together and what have ya got?!" He shouted as the flames that covered his body began to form over his hands, creating two giant fireballs.
"FIRE DRAGONS BRILLIANT FLAME!" He shouted as he combined the two fireballs and threw the giant one at the demon.
The demon was wrapped in flames as it screamed. But as the flames faded it revealed that, aside from a few scorch marks on its body, it was relatively unharmed.
"God dammit" Natsu growled. He could hear the shouts of his guild mates behind him, they were approaching, fast.
"Stay back!" he shouted, turning around for a split second to warn his comrades.
That second was all it took for the demon to grab him, launching him through the air.
Natsu soared through the air for a few seconds, before gravity kicked and he landed with a thud at the feet of his comrades, coughing up blood as he did.
"NATSU!" Lisanna shouted, seeing her childhood friend crashing into the ground, she quickly raced towards Natsu, but stopped when his hand shot out.
"Stay. Back" Natsu said, his voice low as he slowly got to his feet, his right leg was screaming in pain, and he was sure that at least half of his ribs were broken, but that wasn't important. Saving his friends was.
"Okay you giant fucking asshole" Natsu said as his flames began to gather once more. "Lets do this" He growled, Natsu was at his utter limit. His body screamed in pain and his magic reserves were running low. But he had to do this. No matter how badly he got hurt, he'd protect his friends.
"Natsu don't be stupid!" Cana shouted "You can't fight it on your own!" She added, not wanting to lose Natsu.
"There's no way any of you are fighting this thing!" Natsu exclaimed
"Natsu" Gray said, who was being held up by Macao as he spoke "Don't be fucking stupid Natsu, there's no way your gonna win" Gray added, trying to stop natsu from throwing his life away.
"Don't you think i fucking know that!" Natsu said as he pushed his flames in front of him, using them to block the demons fist as it attempted to squash him. "Of course I can't beat this thing! But it doesn't matter if I die, what matters is that you guys live!" Natsu roared, pushing the demon back as his flames intensified.
"I'm going to burn away the darkness that harms my friends! No matter what!"! he added as he ran forward, punching the demon as hard as he could he made the demon drop onto one of its knees.
"Natsu! You can't do this! Don't leave us!" Mirajane shouted, showing how much she cared for the dragon slayer despite how much she teased him.
"I'm not leaving" Natsu said, "I'm still going to be at Fairy Tail. I've still got to find Igneel. There's so many more jobs to take. But I won't be there physically" Natsu said as he let out a roar, engulfing the demon in fire he strolled towards the demon, raising his left arm into the air. Forming the Fairy Tail salute.
"I'll see you guys again someday" Natsu said before his flames gathered again, ignoring the pain he watched as the demon climbed to its feet, its huge red eyes staring at Natsu, who stared back with his onyx black eyes.
Energy began to build around the demon as it prepared to use some kind of spell. Natsu assumed his stance as he saw the demon preparing its attack.
"Fire dragon slayer secret art!" He said, getting ready.
The demon roared, firing out a beam of magical energy from its mouth, aimed straight at Natsu.
"CRIMSON LOTUS EXPLODING FLAME EDGE!" Natsu shouted as he swung his arms in a circular motion, and a spiraling vortex of fire shot out, clashing with the demons roar, the two beams of magic clashed for a moment, the power behind each momentarily equal.
But then the attacks exploded.
The clash of power proved too unstable, and as such they exploded in an overload of magic energy. the explosion rocked Magnolia, wiping out the entire block of the town where Natsu and the demon had been fighting. The explosion caused a massive light to fill the area, the Fairy Tail mages all had to shield their eyes until it faded.
But as they saw the destruction, the gathered wizards were all filled with dread.
There was no sign of Natsu.
He'd been obliterated.
He was gone. Natsu, the light of Fairy Tail, was gone.
"NATSU!" Erza shouted as she suddenly shot up from where she'd been asleep. Looking around she saw the familiar walls of her room in Fairy Hills. She panted, still frightened by her vivid dream.
She could recite what happened off by heart, she'd had that dream so many times. A memory of that day. Everyone knew about her nightmares, others had them too. But Erza often had nightmares that continued from this one ended, vivid images of Natsu, his onyx black eyes lifeless as he stared at her, saying nothing, just staring.
Erza shuddered and had to remind herself that she was awake.
"Natsu" Erza said quietly as she lay back down "Why did you leave us? You said you'd never leave"
The next day Erza walked into the guild, pushing open the heavy wooden doors she looked at the guild.
It had been 3 years since Natsu's death and the members who'd been there still hadn't gotten over it. Everyone was different. Gray had stopped stripping, Elfman had stopped preaching about manliness. Romeo had changed a lot as well. The only thing of Natsu's that had been recovered from the blast site was his scarf, and Romeo wore it around his neck everywhere, refusing to take it off.
But the biggest change was in Lisanna.
She hardly ever came to the guild anymore, she had taken Natsu's death the hardest, and refused to accept that he was gone. She would chase down any rumoured sightings of a dragon or dragon slayers, hoping that one of them would lead her to Natsu.
But she never succeeded.
Lisanna never gave up hope, and had stopped telling the guild when she went off chasing down a rumour, she didn't want to get anyones hopes up.
Though some change had been for the better.
On one of Lisanna's rumour chases, she'd stopped an evil man named Bora the provenance and had saved many young females from slavery, during which she'd also brought back two new members.
Once was an attractive blonde named Lucy Heartfilia, she used celestial spirit magic and in many ways reminded people of Natsu, she seemed like the type of woman who would have made a great team with Natsu, had he still been alive.
The other was a young man who seemed to fit in very well. He was laid back with short blonde hair and a black jacket over a pair of jeans. Across his shoulder was a large spear. His green eyes had a certain look about them, a mischievous fire that hadn't been seen since Natsu's death. His name was Matsuo, and he seemed to be the change Fairy Tail needed to get back to how it used to be.
"Hey Erza" Lucy said as Erza walked in. Erza smiled as she saw Lucy.
"Good morning Lucy" Erza said "Have you seen Gray this morning?" Erza asked, wondering where the Ice wizard was, as she hadn't seen him that day.
Lucy shook her head, she hadn't heard from the ice mage either.
"He said he was going down to the park" Matsuo said as she smiled at Erza. Erza paused for a moment, remembering what was in the park, before smiling at Matsuo.
"Thank you Matsuo" Erza said as she walked out of the doors and towards the park in the middle of Magnolia.
When she got there she spotted Gray pretty quickly, he was stood at the bottom of a tall statue that was in the middle of the park. Erza had to fight back tears as she looked at the statue.
It was a statue of Natsu, forming the Fairy Tail salute. At the bottom of the statue was a plaque which read.
"Here lies Natsu Dragneel, a brave wizard who gave his life to protect those he cares about, he will forever be remembered for his heroic actions"
Erza walked up to Gray and stood beside him, he didn't acknowledge her, didn't say a word. They didn't need to. They both knew what the other was thinking. They both felt the guilt, and made themselves remember that guilt when they looked at this statue.
"It's been almost 3 years" Gray said finally, breaking the silence "And all I can think about is what I last said to him" Gray paused, holding back the tears "I called him a fucking idiot" He paused "The last words Natsu ever heard from me was calling him a fucking idiot" Gray trailed off and didn't continue, knowing that bringing up Natsu was a touchy subject, especially around Erza. But he just had to get that off his chest.
"It never gets any easier" Erza said, looking towards the statue's face, as if trying to communicate with the statue "Every day is just blank without you. Fairy Tail won't ever be the same, sure with Matsuo its almost like your back, but its not the same Natsu" Erza said, wanting to drop to her knees and cry, but knew that she had to be strong, for Natsu.
"Sometimes its okay to cry" Erza jumped and looked to her left to see Matsuo stood next to her, looking at the statue. "I think thats what Natsu would've said if he were here" He added. "You don't have to say anything, sometimes the less words said, the easier it is to convey the emotion. An old friend of mine taught me that." He looked towards the sky for a moment, smiling, before he extended a hand to Erza, who looked around for a moment, realising that somewhen during her talk to Natsu's statue that she'd sat down.
Taking Matsuo's hand she wearily climbed to her feet, before noticing Gray and Lucy stood behind Matsuo.
"Come on Erza, Master has a job for us" he said before putting an arm around her shoulder in a comforting way. As they began to walk away Erza looked back at the statue, and for a moment it looked like Natsu was smiling at her, telling her to move on.
Soon enough the 4 of them returned to the guild hall where they were informed of the job by Makerov, they were to go and meet up with 3 other guilds to assist them in taking out a very powerful dark guild.
After getting the details of the job they all set out, getting onto a train heading to the nearest town. During the train ride Erza noticed Matsuo looking a little queasy, but thought nothing of it. After getting off the train they got a carriage that took them to the house buried deep in the Worth Woodsea, and just so happened to be owned by Blue Pegasus, one of the guilds they were meeting up with.
When they arrived there introductions were quick. Blue Pegasus sent The Trimens and, to Erza's horror, Ichiya. From Lamia Scale there was Jura Lyon and Sherry. And surprisingly, Cait Shelter sent just one wizard, a young girl by the name of Wendy.
After everyone greeted each other it was time to get to business. One of the trimens used archive magic, his name was Hibiki and he gave a long talk about the various members of the guild that they were taking out. It was quite a surprise to find out that the dark guild was comprised of only 7 members including their leader.
The talk wasn't very interesting until they got onto the very last member of the guild.
"And then we have this mystery, known only as Pyro" Hibiki said as his magic showed a cloaked man, you couldn't see any unique features about him because of the cloak. "Even compared to the other members, we know next to nothing about him. No idea who he is, or his connection to the guild, or even his magic. All we can guess is that it has something to do fire" He finished.
Erza and Matsuo frowned as Hibiki had spoken about Pyro. Neither of them liked unknowns, and with Pyro they had no idea what they were up against, other than he had something to do with fire. Erza hadn't used her flame empress armour since Natsu's death, she hadn't even had it repaired, so she had no armour good for fighting him if she went up against him.
Unknown to the alliance a group of 7 people were stood on a cliff overlooking the Worth Woodsea, these were the Oración Seis, The 7 of them were ready to attack the alliance of legal guilds.
"I can hear all of them" Cobra said, smirking as his snake Cubellios rested on his shoulder
"I wonder if they're fast, even if they are I'll still outrun them" Racer gloated
"Who cares about that, who knows how much money we'll get out of this?" Hoteye asked, sounding excited
"Money is a concern for only lowly humans, not an angel like myself" Angel said, showing her superiority complex as one of the 7 slept on a carpet, the other two had yet to speak up.
"Soon enough Nirvana will be ours, and once it is, none of the pathetic legal guilds will be able to stand up to us" Brain said as he held a staff in one hand. The 7th figure just gazed over the Worth Woodsea.
"They're strong" He said, his long cloak billowing slightly in the wind "We'd be wise to not underestimate them, especially since they have many strong wizards with them" He added, his voice quiet and calm, unlike the others who were all excited.
Cobra scoffed as the cloaked figure spoke, turning towards him "Whats this? The mighty Pyro afraid of a couple of legal wizards" He taunted.
Pyro didn't even say anything in response, but in a flash Cubellios was suddenly covered in flames and Cobra's eyes widened in both shock and fury. However, just as soon as the flames started, they stopped. The snake writhed about in pain for a minute or so before finally settling back down.
"Are you done?" Pyro asked simply "If you'd actually listen you'd know that I have no problem with turning your little snake into grilled meat" He said, still looking over the forest "And I never said that i was afraid, just that we should be cautious" He added before turning to Brain, who just nodded, agreeing with Pyro.
Some time later the alliance of legal guilds were walking along, getting ready to start their mission. They knew that it was simple, locate the Oración Seis' base and then have the magic bomber destroy it.
However the plan was completely destroyed when Christina suddenly exploded, combusting into flames it dropped from the sky above them and crashed into the forest.
The alliance were caught unprepared as they saw the Oración Seis emerge, all barring Pyro, from what Erza could tell. Erza frantically looked around, trying to locate the cloaked figure.
It wasn't long before he showed himself, as several lines of flames shot across the area, separating the guilds from each other. Wendy was with the Fairy Tail mages, but aside that, they had been split up, and Jura had suddenly vanished.
The 4 mages all looked around as they saw A cloaked figure approaching. it was Pyro, Erza grit her teeth as he summoned her sword, Matsuo drew his spear, Lucy got her keys ready and Gray prepared to cast an ice-make spell, though he wasn't too sure how effective Ice-make magic would be against someone who controlled fire, but he had to try.
Wendy didn't want to fight, she wasn't very good at it and the cloaked man both terrified her and calmed her. She didn't quite understand, she was afraid and yet he almost seemed gentle, like he wouldn't hurt her.
"Tell me" Pyro said, his voice calm "What guild are you from?" He asked
"Why do you care?" Matsuo asked, stepping forward slightly to shield Wendy.
"I simply wish to know. Is that a crime?" Pyro asked.
"We're from Fairy Tail" Erza said, the grip on her sword tightened, and for a moment she almost wished that she had her flame empress armour. But Erza had chosen not to use it for a reason.
"Fairy Tail" Pyro said "That name, it makes me feel something I haven't felt in a long time" He said, pausing a moment before continuing "It makes me feel angry" He said, his voice still not showing any emotion.
Erza and the Fairy Tail wizards braced them as he raised a hand, revealing that his arms were covered in bandages. He clicked his finger and suddenly a magic circle appeared in the middle of them, the Fairy Tail wizards barely had time to react before the circle exploded, knocking the 5 of them down.
"I take no joy in one sided fights" Pyro said simply "But this is not my choice. Perhaps someday we shall fight properly" Pyro said as he dropped the flame barriers, revealing that the rest of the allied forces had been defeated.
Pyro walked slowly across towards the Oración Seis, his cloak swaying slightly in the wind. He stopped about halfway between the Fairy Tail group and the Oración Seis, before raising his hand and pointing at Wendy.
Wendy froze as she saw him pointing at her. She was terrified, he'd taken out most of the alliance with a single spell, so what did he want with her?
"Stand" Pyro said, and Wendy got to her feet, her body wasn't obeying her commands, it was as if Pyro controlled her like a puppet.
"Follow" He said and Wendy fell into step behind him, walking over towards the Oración Seis, she could hear the cries of Carla, and the others, telling her to stop, but she couldn't do anything, she was at the mercy of Pyro.
"Well done Pyro" brain congratulated as they stopped by the Oración Seis. Wendy was so scared, she just wanted to go home, but Brain suddenly grabbed hold of her and her vision was enveloped in a dark green light.