Rise of the Salamander

It had finally happened, after all of the enemies he faced, all the beatings he withstood, beatings he handed out, never had he thought it would be to one of his Nakama, one of his guild members. Laxus, Laxus Dreyar,grandson of the Fairy Tail guild master, Makarov Dreyar. Laxus had attacked Fairy Tail and he had started a war with the members of the guild to try and take the leadership for his own.

Finally defeating Laxus' allies, Natsu was standing face to face with the man who had betrayed his trust, attacked his friends. He was also the man that Natsu vowed to defeat, it may be difficult to attack the man who was once a part of the guild, someone who he looked up to for his immense strength when in battles, someone he strove to be like, an idol of strength, someone he could gauge his progress off.

Standing in front of the man, he started feeling his emotions running rampart, he could feel his magic spiking while he struggled to keep on top of the emotions. Being a fire mage made it hard enough his emotions in, but having Dragon Slayer magic like him, and his magic being directly linked to his emotions, he knew he was fighting a losing battle.

"Laxus, you have gone too far this time!" Natsu shouted to him, tired of just standing there glaring at him, "Ha-ha, Natsu!, I half expected you to run away like the rest of those cowards, well... try to run at least" he said while chuckling and pointing to the corner of the room where he had piled the unconscious bodies of his guild members that tried to attack the mad Lightning Dragon Slayer.

Looking at the pile he could feel his magic spiking even further, embers dropping out of his mouth, while flickers of flame started breathing new life over his body, smoke and ash being released with every breath. He saw something in that pile of guild members that made his heart stop, he saw his fellow Dragon Slayer, Gajeel, lying amongst the group of mages, bloody and beaten.

Suddenly he let loose a ferocious roar as his flames burst into life, but the usually vibrant orange flames he inherited from his foster father, Igneel, King of the Fire Dragons, and the teacher of his Fire Dragon Slayer abilities, instead the flames were an abyss black, the only thing visible through the flames were his rage covered eyes, and his overgrown canine teeth. Noticing himself, the change in his magic, he started remembering something that Igneel once told him.

Flashback

"Natsu, my boy, you must calm yourself, you must get a hold of your anger" Igneel told him, noticing he was getting angry at his failed attempt at conjuring a fireball during his training. "If you do not control your anger, you will be consumed by it" "Emotions run deep in our magic, we cannot allow ourselves to become over run wiith anger, if we do, we may hurt the very people we love most in this world" Igneel reminded him.

Knowing that he would never want to hurt anyone he claimed as family or friend, he started concentrating on cooling himself down, never forgetting to keep check of his anger.

Flashback End

But now it was too late, he had seen his guild members fight each other, friends beaten bloody, and now a fellow dragon senselessly beaten, he no longer cared about restraint, he no longer cared about being the good guy of the guild, he only cared about destroying the one that hurt his family, such is the way of the Dragon.

And with those thoughts, he charged at Laxus "Fire Dragon's Iron Fist" he yelled as his fist was encased in flames and he sunk it right into Laxus' stomach, Natsu not fully under control of his Dragon Instincts to enact vengeance, he grabbed Laxus by the head threw him right into the roof and took a deep breath "Fire Dragon's Roar!" he bellowed as a pillar of flame erupted from his mouth devouring the body of Laxus, and sending him through the roof , the flames rising ever higher and wider as he pumped more power into the attack.

Back at the guild the injured were being cared for, Makarov was sitting on the balcony watching the city, thinking over the events today, until he saw the pillar of black flames rising from the cathedral, 'Natsu?'he thought to himself, not recognising the power or the colour of those flames, but knowing the magic very well.

Finally letting up on the breath attack, Natsu watched as Laxus' scorched body came cashing back down to earth at neck break speeds. Landing on the roof Laxus, rolled a little before hitting base of the chimney, he was still confused, surprised and fearful, confused at the colour of flames that Natsu was using, surprised at the strength of Natsu's attack, but fearful of what Natsu was going to do next.

Finally reaching the roof, Natsu was greeted with a battered and burnt Laxus, unsteadily standing on the roof, attempting to get his footing as to at least attempt to defend himself. Natsu chuckled at the idea of him thinking he could defend himself from him when he did all that damage in two attacks, so he started slowly walking over to Laxus, soaking in the moment as he watched the person that his primal instincts are screaming at him to decimate him on the spot, telling him to deliver the final attack, telling him to end his life.

Back at the guild, it was now empty except for the seriously injured and the people caring for them, the rest of the guild that were able tto move were in the streets around the cathedral watching the fight, in both awe at the fact Natsu was single handedly defeating one of the strongest mages in Fairy Tail, and in fear that this Natsu is not the same, cheerful, happy, care-free Natsu, but a feral, destructive, dangerous Natsu.

Stalking over to his prey, Natsu spared a glance to the guild members all standing around the building, seeing them all bandaged up, wincing in pain at every movement only hardened his resolve and rose his anger. Letting loose a ferocious roar, he burst into flames once again and charged Laxus, this time with the aim to end it, "Secret Dragon Slayer Art..." he yelled as he neared, the shock in every ones eyes, the fear in Laxus' "... Abyss Flames Form: Blazing Black Phoenix Edge" he screamed as he let loose a torrent of black flames from both arms and sent them hurtling towards Laxus. Exploding on contact with Laxus, they sent him flying, he had luckily put up his arms in defense of the attack, but unluckily for him, Natsu was not yet done, appearing above him in a display of in-human speed, he swung his arms down, "Fire Dragon's Wing Slash" letting loose another batch of explosive flames, sending him back down to the roof.

When he impacted with the roof, it erupted in a plume of smoke and dust, everyone on the ground eager and terrified for the smoke to clear to see the damage done to Laxus, but what they saw next terrified them to their very core. Laxus, was up right, but slightly floating of the floor, encased in black flames as he thrashed in agony, but could not go anywhere, as Natsu was holding him in a choke intent on ending him.

Seeing this the guild set into action "Natsu! Stop its enough!" they screamed scrambling to the roof to stop their friend from doing something that he would regret, but no one could get near the flames, they were simply too hot for anyone to get near. It seemed like nothing was going to stop him from killing Laxus right there, until someone walked out and said something that finally snapped him out of his rage, "Salamander, that's enough!" it was Gajeel, his fellow Dragon Slayer.

Seeing Gajeel filled him with joy that he was okay and actually looked a lot worse than he was, thanks to his Iron Scales from his Iron Dragon Slayer magic. Anger finally being replaced with joy, he finally came into realisation at what he was doing, he dropped Laxus to the ground, who just dropped gasping for air before passing out from the pain, he then looked to something that broke his heart and soul, terrified eyes, all belonging to the guild members he did this to protect, but they were terrified of him.

Seeing this he felt like the air had been knocked out of his lungs and he dropped to his knees, clawing at his head, furiously trying to erase the memory of the looks on his families faces. Finally having enough he ran off the roof of the building and just kept running, running as far into the forest as he could, to think.

After Natsu had ran off, the people who had climbed to the roof finally, went over to Laxus and carried him off and sent him to the infirmary, to be healed, while a few of the members stayed behind, mostly in deep thought on what to do with Natsu.

Gajeel being the first to snap out of the thought, and also the only one who truly knows the extent of how hard it is to keep anger down when using Dragon Slayer magic, he set off in the direct of Natsu, intending on bringing him back home, so they could talk through what happened.

- Time Skip: Later that evening -

Gajeel had tracked down Natsu within thirty minutes of setting off, he sat down next to him against a tree and sat and listened while Natsu explained everything, his anger, his new flames, Igneel's teachings, his worries about what the guild think of him. He could do nothing but listen, until he finished, in the end he just looked him in the eye and said "The only way you will know what they think of you, is if you face them" and with that he simply stood up and threw out his hand to Natsu waiting for his decision, and he finally decided to follow, he grabbed his hand, got up and walked back to the guild with his fellow Dragon Slayer.

When they had finally arrived at the guild, his worst fears had come true, everyone froze when he arrived, all looked at him with the same fear they had earlier, he walked through the hall with his head hung low as he approached his team, he watched in agony as he felt his soul burn up inside of him, his team members, the very people he would die for, back away when he got close to them.

At this, he dropped his head lower as he tried to hold back the tears, while he made his way to the Master's Office, clearly upset by the way he is being looked at.

Upon entering the office, he was hesitant to look at Makarov fearing that he may have the same feelings towards him, but instead he had a look that cut him deeper than anything ever could, his Father figure for the last seven years, had a look of pure disappointment on his face, his eyes boring holes into Natsu mind, forever taking residence in the part of the brain that would hold memories of his worst moments ever, "Natsu, what you did is totally unforgivable, not only did you cause a serious amount of damage to Laxus' body, resulting burns, life long scars, broken bones, and even some internal bleeding, you have also mentally scared not only him but most of the guild" he said, reminding Natsu of the look in his families faces.

"However... you did in fact do this with the guild's best interest in mind, so although I do not forgive you, I also do not wish to punish you" Makarov ended with a solemn tone, as he heard a gasp of relief leave Natsu's mouth.

While Natsu was discussing with Makarov upstairs, Gajeel was downstairs having a heated discussion with the guild about Natsu "I don't care if you think he went overboard, he is Nakama, he did this to protect us, do you think Laxus would have done less to him in the same situation?" he yelled, clearly angry at the audacity of the guild members trying to understand a Dragon's Rage and the trouble Natsu had gone through to end the rage as he was about to fulfil its purpose, "Gajeel, he went way too far, the dude was about to roast Laxus alive in front of our very eyes, we cannot trust him, what if he flips like that on one of us" a former member of Natsu's team said, the Ice Mage, Gray Fullbuster, "Yeah, I agree with Gray, what if he gets angry on a mission and just starts trying to kill us?" another member of his team said, Lucy, the celestial mage. "Ice breath, Bunny girl, you have no idea what is going on with Natsu, and I suggest, you stop attempting to understand and just have some trust in your guild member" Gajeel screamed back, fiercly defending his fellow Slayer, "But Gajeel, how are we meant to trust him, if he was capable of all that damage with Laxus, who is strong enough to withstand that type of attack, how would we fair against him?" the last member of Natsu's team said, Erza 'Titania' Scarlet, "Oh, so Titania, Queen of the Fairies, no longer trusts one of her fairies, pathetic, the lot of you" Gajeel scoffed, as he stormed off, away from his so called guild members.

That day, one of Fairy Tail's Fairies, lost his light, something he may never get back, something he eventually not want returned.