A\N: Having internet troubles, which explains the wait for this chapter. The actual actions begins in the next chapter, after all this, so apologies if you find this boring. I am using my friends internet to get this chapter up, so my updates may be sporadic, but I do have several chapters ahead nearly finished.
1. Pairings are not important in this, and Naruto will not be with Mira or Erza. Sorry, but I'm not going to be having a focus on pairings. There may be slight references to romance, but this isn't the focus. I reserve the right to change my mind.
2. Chapter length will be 2000 words plus. I always aim for more, but sometimes it will be only around 2000.
Only fools lingered on a battlefield that couldn't be conquered. Naruto happened to be one of those fools, he would have preferred to blame it on outsider influences on his personality, but in the end it was all down to pride that had landed him here. His pride and anger had led him into letting his guard down, he had underestimated and overestimated Iwan Dreyar, and this was the result.
The one working hand that he possessed glided over his scalp, searching for the thick blonde spikes that no longer graced the mostly smooth skin. Fingertips gingerly traced raw raised scars. His hair was gone. His dominant hand nothing more than a stump of thick white bandages, secured in a sling. He knew the hand was there, he could feel it, it was just so thickly bandaged that it looked like a blob in place of it.
He had woken up two days earlier, no one had spoken to him at all, and his patience was waning at an alarming speed. Bound in a bed, his own body refusing to work with him, enchained by his own physical limitations to a bed. Healing burns on his chest were suffocated under thick wads of fresh gauze several times daily, healing at a sluggish pace, his arm itching underneath the bandages irritated him more than he had ever thought possible.
Trapped in a world of silence, of which only he seemed to mind, he glared as yet another grim faced medic strode into the white washed four walls that hid him from the outside world.
"I'm right here, you know," he snapped as once again the man just checked the chart hanging on the end of the bed. Naruto had failed to succeed in peeking at it despite several attempts since he regained consciousness. He couldn't get enough mobility to stretch out and grab it, the most he could do was sit up, propped by pillows, and move one arm that felt a little heavy.
Nothing once again. Swearing under his breath, something that prompted only a raised eyebrow by the man, who by now was scribbling an annotation to Naruto's chart.
Patient possesses full access to expletive memory bank. He thought that was maybe what the man was writing, he hoped so, then the next one to enter his room would find themself getting a glimpse into how intact his memory of some choice swear words were. He couldn't stand being stuck in the whitewashed room, the stench of disinfectant cloying and headache inducing. There was not a single window, not another patient as far as he could tell, and any attempts to charge himself with his power simply made him have to replace a high pitched scream of pain with a mere admission of pain, a grunt.
Pain couldn't kill you, showing weakness did. His stomach growled, the ravenous vulcan that was his stomach, demanding food. Naruto Uzumaki, defeated by his own stomach, it was a classic situation for him. He craved something that wasn't reminiscent of some memorable stale field rations - which he hadn't known could expire - that he had consumed years ago. The dug-out latrine ditches had been popular that night. Naruto hadn't been particularly popular that night for inadvertently giving his entire squad the ailment known as 'the runs'.
As if by magic, both his wishes were answered, and there hadn't even been a shooting star. The male placed the chart down, turned to Naruto, raised an eyebrow and curved his lips into an amused smile. "Your meal will be here shortly, Commander," he informed Naruto in a pleasant rumble of a voice. "I am Chief Medic, you gave us all quite a fright, Commander." He paused, pupils dilating a little, lost in some memory, then suddenly shaking his head, a small noise of depreciation. "We thought you were beyond our help, so imagine our surprise when you survived the journey here, and go on to survive the night. It wasn't our expertise that kept you alive, you've got an interesting ability, although I'm sure we helped in no small way."
"Awesome, wait, did you say Commander?" Naruto had been so distracted by the promise of food, that he had overlooked how he was addressed. "I'm not a Commander anymore. I haven't been for a long time, not for years." He frowned as suspicion dawned on him, he had been outside of Era, and he recognised the symbol adorning the medic, he had once worn it himself.
Slightly abashed, the man chuckled. "My apologies, I treated you once before, you probably don't remember, you weren't exactly aware at the time," he peered into Naruto's face, frowning as Naruto seemed to deflate. "I am Chief Medic of the Rune Knights, Commander. I was only a junior when I treated you after the tragedy that claimed the lives of your men-" he broke off when he noticed the dark gaze that Naruto was directing at him. "You've been recalled."
He didn't react, not a flinch, nor verbalising his feelings as those words sent a punch to his gut. He suddenly didn't feel so hungry anymore, a sour taste rising into his mouth. Why was everything revolving around something that was in the past? His eyes closed and he pressed his back right into the pillows that propped him up. "No." He stated firmly. He had resigned, the paperwork had been sent in, he had been declared mentally unfit for duty, his psyche too scarred for him to be permitted anything but a desk job. He'd walked out that same day. Still on medical leave, he'd taken the remainder of that time to resign, and hadn't looked back.
The trundling of wheels caught his attention, meal time had arrived.
"Clearly I've distressed you, once you've eaten, I'll see about getting a sedative, it will hamper your healing if you are, er, unhappy." The man said, clearly unnerved at the unexpected fierce and negative reaction from Naruto.
Naruto growled, clenching his one mobile hand into a fist, slamming it against the mattress of his bed. "Unhappy...right. There is an understatement, Chief. They can't do this to me, dammit. I'm a licensed Guild mage."
The man offered a sympathetic smile. "I advised against it, Commander. It may only be temporary, in times of upheaval like this, with the Council newly reformed, they need good men like you."
Scoffing, he jerked his head to the side. "Men like me, Chief, aren't what they need. Me, I'm a Fairy Tail mage, we don't like the Council, and they don't like us."
Magnolia was welcomed into a new day with grey skies, a chill wind, and sheets of rain. It was no surprise that the inhabitants had forgone any unneccessary ventures out, remaining in the comfort of their own homes, several independent shopkeepers following the trend, and remaining closed. The boatmen remained away from the water, making Magnolia seem empty, without having them out in the water.
A carriage sped through the cobbled street. Halting only outside of Fairy Tail Guild, people braving the rain, wandered out from their homes to see what was going on. Stepping out from the carriage, a armoured figure, proudly adorned with the colours and symbol of the Council stepped in. He was an impressive figure. Tall and a solid block of muscle, serious eyes staring straight ahead, right into the Fairy Tail members who were exiting the Guild and standing crammed together, a show of unity.
"Captain Nawaki Millemain, Third Rune Knight Squad, here to deliver message to Wizard Saint Dreyar."
When his eyes had first opened, the light hard hurt them, as if he had spent years in darkness. He had blinked slowly, struggling to adjust the bright light. It had taken a while, but his eyes had remained open, burning from the exposure to light. Naruto had unwisely found himself nearly toppling from the bed, aggravating his injuries, now that he thought about it, he'd been quite aggressive. Oh, that probably explained why the staff had been maintaining silence. Funny how he'd forgotten that. Disorientated and in more pain than he had ever been in his life, he found himself thinking about Fairy Tail - that was all he thought about.
His perchance for lengthy missions had caused him to miss a lot. He still felt lower than dirt for not being there when Phantom Lord had destroyed the Guild. The phantom fist plunging into his gut when he had arrived to find his home in the midst of substantial repairs. Initially he had began to fill his lungs in preparation of yelling at Natsu and the others, sure that it had been a fight gone terribly out of control, but then felt sick with guilt that he hadn't been there when the kids of the Guild led the charge. He was never there when it counted.
He had avoided Levy, Jet and Droy ever since.
He'd been brooding back then, just as he was lying in a bed brooding now. He'd try to bypass the brooding in bed, instead brooding out of bed, but as his now very vocal personal medic acidly informed him, none too impressed. "We didn't spend hours trying to keep you alive, for you to kill yourself with even more stupidity." He'd preferred the man when he had chuckled too much; something that at the time had driven him to gritting his teeth, which had miraculously escaped anything more damaging than chips.
His pride had taken a beaten, one that could be compared to what Natsu would look like, after challenging and fighting all of the Wizard Saints at once. The fact was, seven years ago, Naruto could have been one of them. If he'd gone as he'd been going seven years ago, Naruto could've been on the Council instead of that traitorous bastard with the blue hair.
Being back in a bed, was just like what had prompted his decision to leave the rank of Commander, and shelter himself from the memories. He had made new ones, and found himself at peace, or as at peace as his guilt would ever allow him to be, while proudly wearing the mark of Fairy Tail. However, despite how much happier he found himself, soaking in the warmth and youthful glee that even the most ancient member of Fairy Tail carried and passed about, he had never allowed himself to really be himself.
The Naruto Uzumaki of seven years ago would never have ended up defeated like this.
That confrontation with Iwan should have gone in a different direction.
Fire scorched his skin.
Burning flames of white, outlined in blue, and oddly pretty in appearance from the one horrified glance he spared them. His eyebrows were singed, his stomach covered in a dancing blanket of those strangely pretty flames. He was coughing up globlets of blood as well. It didn't slow him down too much; no more than all of Erza Scarlet's armour and weaponary collection piled on top of him would. The smokey barrier surrounding him was being infiltrated with more new arrivals. Naruto ripped the burning shirt off, thankful that he wasn't the one on fire yet.
The fire may only be restricted to burning the discarded scraps of which had once been his shirt, but the damage had been done, superficially at least to Naruto. Iwan Dreyar truly was Makarov's son, he was as difficult as Makarov could be at times. Naruto furled his brow, fending off attacks on autopilot, he was pushing the pain of his injuries into a hidden dimension. He had to fight through them. He was embarrassed really in letting this get to that point. He was Naruto Uzumaki, a consumnate survivor. He probably wasn't the strongest around, but he was certainly the one who would survive, he wasn't afraid to get things done.
Growling he had foregone his magic and was settling in for a good brawl. He was furious, he wanted to hurt Iwan, he had brought up unhappy memories, and Naruto Uzumaki didn't want to remember them. "Demon Soul Takeover: Kurama!" He screamed as his body transformed, he hadn't used this form, he had never used this form like this, but he had the memories of how to utilise it.
Red slit eyes stared as he twisted his body around, glaring into the frozen mages, the lackeys of Iwan Dreyar.
They came at him, those that had gotten over their fear, but it was for nothing. Naruto could send them flying with just a flick of a tail, smashing against whatever was in the way of the trajectory. Time and time again, he felt something piercing the shroud of magical energy, but it didn't hurt, so he didn't care. The esctasy of anger and desire to hurt, was brought forth, and in control of his actions. He wanted Iwan.
Everything blurred at that point.
It seemed like only seconds when he found himself standing with only willpower, staring at a body that was painted with blood. It was his body. He saw Iwan, and he tried to run forwards, after the man. He could, only falling face first on the ground, right beside the hideout. Iwan was fleeing. Supported by his elbows, he tried to drag himself closer, he couldn't let Iwan get away. He couldn't let him win! He could hear the pounding of armoured boots, just as he forced himself up, biting his cracked lips to quell the screams of agony that threatened to burst out.
He was moving closer. He extended the one hand that would move, focusing as he tried to bring forth one last attack.
Then awareness departed as an explosion of fire, debris and pain rocked his body, and he knew nothing more, but a desire to get Iwan.
Standing by the door, as grim faced as ever, Guran Doma, a man that Naruto both simultaneously hated and admired stood. "Isn't this below the Chairman of the Magic Council? Visiting a disgraced ex-Knight, and member of Fairy Tail Guild." He couldn't help but try and goad reaction from the man, he had always been in the shadows, a legend amongst the higher ranking members of the Knights' and here he was in his hospital room.
The elderly man didn't deign to respond in kind. He just stared at Naruto, not moving at all, staring at Naruto and taking his measure. "I would not use the word disgraced in describing you, Commander Uzumaki, you are a member of my ranks, and I say you have a duty to take up." he spoke in an even tone, nothing given away, he just kept staring at Naruto.
"A duty you've forced on me," Naruto protested, furiously. "Do you lack honour? My arm shows my allegiance to Fairy Tail. I am not a Council stooge...not any longer. I won't bow down because you tell me to do so. Don't you get it? I'm a member of Fairy Tail."
"What of the blood of your men? The men whose blood has seeped into the earth, mingling with your own shed blood. In life you called then brothers, and in death, they remain your brothers. Do they not deserve justice to quell their cries for those who killed them to be brought to trial? Will you Naruto Uzumaki deny them what you could give them? One final gift." Guran Doma had known exactly what vulnerabilities to stab into, he spoke in the same even tempered voice, but the inflection of disgust was there.
"They..they would understand, " he shouted, hesitant. His unbandaged hand trembling violently. Tremors wracking his entire body. "I tried. I did everything I could for them. They know. They understand."
"Yet you still failed them, didn't you?"
The Chief Medic stepped forwards, having somehow gone unnoticed by Naruto. "Chairman, you are out of line. I cannot have my patient under undue stress, please, desist."
"I won't fail now," Naruto finally stated. His body still, blue eyes of steel staring straight ahead.
The Councillor's lips curled into a satisfied smirk. "Welcome back, Commander Uzumaki. Recover quickly, your new duties will require you to be in top form. You will be my blade, Commander. In order to regain the trust that we have lost; we will strike down each and every Dark Guild, they will have no where to run, to hide, for you will find and eliminate any threat." He nodded, his gaze never faltering.
Naruto was being given untold resources, a licence to eliminate with impunity all the smears to the happy lives of the citizens. Yet, what it would require of him was leaving the one place that he felt human at. Could he really leave Fairy Tail? He tried to reason that he didn't have much of a choice, did he? "I will require leave to settle my affairs in Magnolia, Guran."
The eyes of the elderly man didn't narrow at the informal address. "It is already taken care of, Captain Millemain has dealt with everything, your personal effects will be brought to Era, and your home has been signed over to me. I am not a cruel man, young man. You understand what is at stake, why I must do what I must, why I must use you?" He told Naruto without missing a beat.
"What is one man." Naruto answered, a bitter undertone. He was being given a lot of resources and power, but he wasn't important, what he was going to be doing was important, and Guran Doma needed a renegade that he could reign in - Naruto Uzumaki was the perfect choice.
Guran smiled. "Exactly, Commander, exactly."
Naruto swallowed as the man went on and began to outline his privilages and manpower. He had been played like a finely tuned instrument, by a skilled musician. Naruto didn't know if he was doing the right thing, not when it felt so wrong.
