**I don't own Fairy Tail. I don't own the characters. Hiro Mashima owns it all.
So anyway, I'm posting chapter 2 of this today. Next chapter I post will probably be on NaMiZa. Though Natsu x Brandish is also pretty high on the priority list.
Anyway, here's chapter 2**
"Fight, begin!"
"I'm all fired up!" Natsu grinned as Erza requipped to her flame empress armor. She leapt forward quickly, her blade cutting at the dragon slayer, who dodged easily.
"Fire Dragon's Roar!" He shot his breath attack at her, which she dodged just at the last moment, coming in again with a slice aimed for his left side. This time he caught the sword between his palms and redirected it to the left, moving around to the right while wrapping his foot in fire and swinging it in a fast arc to connect with the redhead's back.
"Ooof!" She staggered forward a few paces, then turned her guard up.
"You'll never be fast enough to hit me with that armor," Natsu taunted, grinning.
"We'll see about that!" Erza rushed forward, aiming blow after blow at the dragon slayer. He dodged every one of them easily, though they were so fast that many guild members couldn't even fully follow the motions.
"Fine, I'll just force you to requip to something else then." Natsu grinned mischievously. "Fire Dragon's sword horn!"
The attack hit and, to Erza's surprise, shattered her flame empress armor. Was it even possible for a fire attack to shatter her fire resistant armor in a single hit?
She quickly requipped to her clear heart clothing. With that, she would certainly be fast enough to land a hit on the dragon slayer. "You've really gotten a lot stronger," she said, smiling. "But let's see how you do against my fastest attacks."
Taking a deep breath, she focused all of her energy into the strike, pivoting her right foot in preparation for the attack. She had to go faster. Too fast for him to move in time. Too fast for him to counter.
Her mental preparation complete, the red-haired mage closed the distance in the blink of an eye, her sword slicing in at his chest. She felt it stop, but too early. It shouldn't have connected with anything yet.
Then she realized that the blade was between the dragon slayer's palms. With a sudden motion, he broke the sword in half, letting the half that was in his palms fall to the ground. Then, faster than she could retaliate, he thrust his fire-covered hand out like a claw into her chest, making contact and knocking her back 50 feet. She gasped in pain as she hit the ground.
"Alright Natsu, I concede the fight." She said as she got back up. Erza wasn't the kind of person to give up in a fight that really mattered, but she knew when she'd lost a guild sparring contest. It was clear that Natsu was now much stronger than she was.
~~~A few days later~~~
"Hey Natsu, how about you go a few rounds with the old man!"
Gildarts was back. Erza looked up with a smile as he came in. The older mage doubtless had hundreds of things he would've liked to say to Natsu, but he knew the best way to lift his spirits. By declaring that he wanted to fight Natsu, Gildarts had acknowledged him as a worthy opponent.
"Alright!" The dragon slayer grinned. "I'm all fired up! Where do we fight?"
"As far from the guild as possible!" Erza cut in. "I'd hate to see the repair bill if the guild became collateral damage in your fight."
"Hehe." Gildarts and Natsu both rubbed the back of their heads.
Soon the entire guild was out, about a half mile from the guild in the forest, watching as the two powerful mages prepared to battle.
"Crash!" Gildarts started, aiming a powerful attack at Natsu.
"Fire Dragon's Talon!" Natsu intercepted the attack with his own, taking no damage from it.
"I see I don't have to hold back," Gildarts said, and the rest of the guild backed away nervously.
Erza watched as Gildarts released his full magic power, a sight rarely seen by guild members. Around her, people cowered in terror, but she just smiled. Gildarts had just truly acknowledge Natsu as a worthy opponent.
But then she looked at Natsu. His eyes were no longer the eyes of a dragon slayer engaged in a friendly magic duel, but something else entirely. With a bestial scream he leapt forward, leading with a fire dragon king's demolition fist that fully countered Gildarts' initial attack and knocked the surprised mage into the ground. His arms coated in fire and changed to resemble dragons' limbs, complete with scales and talons, and he landed punch after punch on the mage, tearing at his skin as all Gildarts could do was block.
"Natsu!" Erza called loudly. "That's enough!" She could feel the heat from his body – so intense that it was beginning to melt the clothes off of the guild members. But he didn't seem to hear. His dragon claws were tearing into Gildarts' sides mercilessly. "Natsu!" she screamed, almost crying. She tried to run in, but the heat was too intense.
Just then she saw Wendy, her clothes fully melted off now, approaching the dragon slayer through the heat. She knelt down by him and put her arms around him, whispering something to him.
Suddenly, unbelievably, the air around them cooled off, leaving the entire guild in their underwear. Natsu's eyes returned to normal slowly, as he whimpered "Wendy?" Then they widened in shock. He looked at Gildarts, who was laying there with deep lacerations on each side, blood pooling on the ground around him. "Oh fuck… What did I do?"
Without another word, he jumped up and fled from the scene. Wendy healed Gildarts as much as she could, and Erza saw him whisper something to her. She nodded, and ran quickly after Natsu.
Gildarts slowly got up, making his way back over to the guild, all of whom were still in shock.
"Don't be too hard on the boy," he told Erza. "He didn't know what he was doing…"
"Oh, and Mira," he flipped the girl a casual grin. "I wouldn't suggest using Satan Soul around Natsu anytime soon."
"Gildarts," Erza said quietly. "We need to talk."
Gildarts just nodded, then headed off back to the guild.
~~~Natsu~~~
"I see I don't have to hold back." Suddenly Gildarts disappeared, and in his place was a massively powerful demon, leering at him.
"So you haven't learned enough about pain yet?" The demon laughed, holding a long whip laced with sharp metal blades in its right hand. "Allow me to teach you more."
With a scream Natsu leapt at him, entering fire dragon king mode and using the demolition fist without a second thought. The attack connected, much to his surprise, knocking the demon to the ground. If he were on earthland he would've backed off, letting his opponent regain his feet, but through the last few years of pain and scarring he'd learned you couldn't let demons get back up. He used the new technique he'd learned, turning his arms to dragons arms, and beating the creature before him.
"Natsu…" Suddenly he heard a soothing voice and felt warm arms around him. He stopped, confused. He knew that voice, and the touch. "Wendy?" Suddenly his eyes focused in again, and he saw his good friend, mentor, and secondary father figure on the ground. His flesh was torn and ripped on his sides, and some of his organs were showing through the wounds. "Oh fuck… What did I do?"
He fled from the scene, afraid of who he was. Of what he was becoming. He knew if he'd been allowed to continue he would've killed the old man. If Wendy hadn't brought him back to his senses, Fairy Tail would be down one more mage… and he'd be facing the magic council.
As he sobbed, not far away in the forest, he smelled Wendy approaching.
"Stay back," he cried out. "I don't want to hurt you."
"You won't Natsu," Wendy said.
"How can you believe that? You saw what I did to Gildarts!"
"Because I know you, Natsu. What you did to Gildarts was instinct. It was a reflex that you learned over the last 6 years. You didn't lose it like that when you fought Erza."
"Yeah, but I didn't have to fight full power against Erza," Natsu replied, remembering how he'd been able to get the redhead to concede with relative ease.
"And that's helpful, Natsu," Wendy said, continuing to move closer. "It's good to know that this won't happen unless it's someone you have to go all out against."
"I'm turning into a real monster, Wendy."
~~~Wendy~~~
It tore her heart to hear him say that. To see her rock in such a vulnerable position. When she was finally close enough, she pulled the other dragon slayer to her, cradling his head in her lap.
"Natsu…" she whispered softly. "You're not a monster. You never will be…"
She was a little confused by the emotions flooding her right now. She'd always thought of Natsu as a brother, but right now… she wanted him to be more than a brother. She wanted him to be hers. To be only hers, in a way that nobody else could have him. Her heart ached for the dragon slayer and all the pain he'd gone through. The pain that he was still going through.
His stricken whimpers slowly faded, and she looked down to see that he'd fallen asleep. Her eyes were drawn to his muscular chest, and she traced some of the deep scars that now defined his figure. With a wave of sorrow she realized that many of these scars went much deeper than his skin. Much deeper than any in the guild could know.
It wasn't until Natsu's eyes opened nearly 10 minutes later and he stared up at her, his face turning a deep shade of red, that she realized she was still naked. "Look away, idiot!" she yelled, blushing furiously. With a gulp he did as she demanded, handing her his vest to help cover up.
~~~At the guild~~~
"I have an idea of how we might be able to figure out more, but I don't really know if it'll work," Gildarts said to Erza.
"Well, why don't you tell me, and we can give it a try?" Erza replied.
"It involves Mirajane," Gildarts said. "Which is why I don't know if it will work. But she should know for sure."
Erza nodded and went out into the guild hall. People had pretty much fully recovered from what had happened. Those who were close to Natsu before were still visibly worried and upset, but everyone else seemed back to normal.
"Mira, come back here for a few minutes. I need to talk to you," she told the silver-haired mage.
Mira nodded and came to the back room with Gildarts and Erza.
"Mira," Gildarts said. "Is it possible for us to communicate directly with the souls you possess?"
"You mean, like talk to Halphas or Sitri? Yes." Mirajane replied.
"And if we did talk to them, would they be willing to help us?"
Mirajane thought about that for a few minutes. "I think so." She said. "The souls I've taken over are attuned to me – to my emotions, needs, desires, and wants. So there's a good chance that they would be as helpful as they can be, in their own way of course."
Erza nodded. "Well, right now that's the best we can hope for. Could you call out Sitri for us then?"
Mirajane looked from one to the other. "This is about Natsu, isn't it?"
Erza nodded her confirmation.
Mirajane sighed. "Alright, I can do this for Natsu…" A moment later, Sitri stood before them.
"Sitri…" Gildarts began. "You know why Mirajane called you out?"
"Of course," the demoness smirked.
"So, we have some questions about one of our… One of Mira's comrades."
"And you think a demon can help you why?"
"Well… He's kind of been through hell."
Sitri rolled her eyes. "You humans don't even know what hell is."
"No, we don't." Gildarts replied. "But he does," he added meaningfully.
Sitri stared at him. "You mean he's literally been through hell?"
"For 6 years," Erza confirmed.
"And he survived?" Sitri's eyes widened. "Impressive. I want to meet this person."
"Not right now you don't," Gildarts said with a little bit of a smirk.
"No… I suppose not." Sitri eyed him. "I take it those wounds are the reason you're talking to me?"
"Yes," Gildarts said. "Anything you can tell us would be helpful."
"One thing I can tell you – you're lucky he stopped while you were alive."
"I know." Gildarts said. "I could see that in his eyes. I want to know why."
"Well, that's easy." Sitri said. "You know why it's called hell, don't you? Even the demons would do anything to get out."
Erza shuddered at the proclamation, but looked at the demoness. "So why?"
Sitri smirked. "You really don't know anything, do you? Alright. I'll educate you for free this time, but only because I know Mirajane really cares about this person. Next time, there will be a price."
"The first thing you should know is that demons in hell don't die. The best that you can do is banish them to a different level."
"Now the way that you do that is the same way that you would go about killing someone on this plane. You beat them until they lose all their energy and life force, and they're reincarnated, so to speak, at a different level of hell. Even the fastest demons won't get back to the upper levels for 3 or 4 days. And if you don't send them back, more will keep coming."
"You should also know that there's no space for mistakes in hell. Especially as you reach the upper levels where the most powerful demons live. If you stay on the bottom levels, you can fight the low level demons all day, but they'll keep getting back to you so fast you'll get worn down quickly. Your only chance is to fight on the upper levels, but then you'll be fighting demons on my level or higher."
She smirked. "We don't have a lot of the emotions you humans do. So in a battle with one of us, you hesitate, you lose. And it's not just a little duel where you can come back and do better the next time. You lose as a human in hell, you're dead."
Erza and Gildarts looked at each other, pain in their eyes. No wonder Natsu's instincts had kicked in when faced with the full power of Gildarts' magic. For six years he'd been living in a constant state of kill or be killed, where his opponents were as unmerciful as they could be.
"Of course, some of the demons might not kill you right away… they would torture you for a while first." She said. "Especially if you're a really powerful human, there's a good chance that they would keep you alive for a while just to watch you squirm."
Suddenly Sitri disappeared, and Mira was back to her human self. "I'm sorry," she said. "But I can hear everything that's going on… between that and how quickly Sitri drains my magic power, I couldn't hold the take over anymore."
"No need to be sorry about it," Erza said with a smile. "I think we learned what we need to know."
"Perhaps more than we need to know…" Gildarts said quietly, pain evident in his eyes.
The same feeling was reflected in Erza's heart as she spoke. "I know Natsu probably wouldn't want us to know… but in this guild each member's burden is everyone's burden. The least we can do is help him bear it in any way that we can."
"It's interesting how he responded to Wendy," Mirajane said thoughtfully. "I wonder if there's something to that."
Erza smiled. "I hope so. It could just be the key to helping him get a handle on this thing," she responded.
"It's likely it has to do with her being there when he left and when he came back," Gildarts said thoughtfully. "It probably strengthens the connection between them and allows her to get through to him when nobody else can…"
"You mean he's in love with her?" Mira giggled.
"I don't know if I'd go that far," Gildarts said. "But certainly there's a connection there."
Erza smiled. "No denying that," she said.
~~~Wendy~~~
"Thanks for everything, Wendy," Natsu said. They were back in the younger dragon slayer's apartment now. Wendy was sitting on the couch, fully clothed again, and Natsu's head was resting on her lap.
"It's nothing you wouldn't have done for me," Wendy said, her fingers resting on his cheek.
"Mmm.." Natsu closed his eyes. "But you were there for me when I came back… You were willing to risk your body to stop me before I went to far… You don't know how much that means to me Wendy. You're so strong…" He mumbled, his breath becoming more even as he started to drift off again. "I wish I could be as strong as you, Wendy…"
Tears came to her eyes as sleep claimed him. "Idiot," she whispered to his sleeping form. "You've always been the strong one… If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have the strength to be here right now."
"He's still only sleeping for a few minutes at a time?" Wendy looked up, startled. She'd been so caught up in the moment that she hadn't noticed Carla come in.
"Yeah," she smiled softly down at the dragon slayer. "Though he is going as long as 10 minutes occasionally now."
"Wow, a whole 10 minutes? He'll be back to normal in no time at this rate!" The sarcasm was evident in Carla's voice.
"He's had to learn to sleep like this over 6 years, Carla. We can't expect it to change back overnight."
"I know," Carla said. "And believe me, I'm not trying to belittle you or him. I know I don't show it often, Wendy, but it hurts me too to see him like this…"
"I know," Wendy smiled at the exceed. "I've gotten pretty good at reading you over the years we've been together Carla."
"I suppose it would be shocking if you hadn't," Carla replied with a short laugh.
Just then Natsu's eyes snapped open again, and for a moment that unfamiliar look of fear came over his features. But as his eyes found Wendy he seemed to relax again, resting against her.
"Stay with me?" He whispered, his eyes pleading with her.
Wendy could only nod as she choked back tears.
