IMPORTANT A/N: So hey…hope all has been well. Now before you kill me allow me to state what is going on. I had no intention of continuing this story because of future flaws with this idea. So I decided to leave it incomplete till I better understood what to do. The flaws will become evident this chapter but I feel bad because so many of you wanted me to continue this, so allow all the flaws to be brought to light. I'll make it a game for every flaw pointed out to me, I'll post a chapter or create a chapter of a new story of your choice. No matter the topic I will post at least one chapter about it. More details will be posted onto my profile. I hope Fanfic doesn't have a max inbox amount.
'Thoughts'
"Talking"
Normal
"Spells"
Disclaimer: I don't own Fairy Tail all rights go to their respective owners.
Erza sat there unmoving, unable to move. Her body was frozen in place, the words just now spoken by this previously unknown man reverberated within the confines of her head. END the single word sent shivers down her spine. Her vision began to shake along with her whole body. The fear itself was unintentional for even she didn't understand the reason for this overwhelming fear. For why would such a single name cause so much fear? The answer to that question was then unknown.
Taking a deep breath Erza calmed herself as she refocused on Natsu's world.
The world was fueled by flames of its surrounding with blood-curdling screams of the dying soldiers. With each passing life, the world grew louder and more rampant. Erza felt disgusted as she was forced to all of their screams. This isn't the world she dreamed of, why did people have to die for what they believed? It wasn't right, war wasn't the right answer. Through this, all though Natsu continued to just stare at this man who he called Mard. He had blocked out all the screams having a long time ago learned how to turn a deaf ear to it all.
Mard knew Natsu's patience so he quickly recollected his thoughts before continuing, "Lord Natsu, you have been requested to visit Lord- "
Before he could continue Natsu cut him off with an indifferent tone, "Where?" the question was simple, the reason for it would not be understood by Mard though.
EN- I mean Natsu cutting Mard off was nothing abnormal so Mard answered his question that was more of an order, "The Heartfilia Clan, as for when as soon as possible."
Natsu nodded his head before he made a shooing motion with his hand dismissing Mard. The action was as good as a verbal order. Mard bowed to Natsu before he vanished much like he had appeared.
Natsu returned his gaze to the warring sides still acting as a deterrence between them and innocent lives. He had also taken note of Erza being awake throughout the whole discussion. Her being awake was the reason he tried to hide his connection to Zeref. He was the Black Mage of her time and if she learned the truth she likely wouldn't speak to him again. He couldn't accept her seeing him as a monster, so he would do anything within his power to make sure she never learned the truth. How long will this dream truly last though? How long till something slipped?
"Who is END?" Erza spoke what had been running through her mind the whole time that Mard had been there.
Hearing her question made Natsu visibly shake for a moment as both his eyes widened in surprise. This was very quickly suppressed though not lasting more than a few breaths. What was he supposed to say? He couldn't just some out and say that he was a world renowned killer and also a demon at that. Stating this truth was the exact thing Natsu currently feared most. In frustration, he grabs locks of hair in both hands causing pain to both Erza and himself.
"Natsu?" Erza's voice was soft and quiet as she was shaken from his way of responding. She had never seen him like this before, he was always in such control of his emotions but after her question, he had been driven to the edge even greater than when he was awakened by the ongoing war. Even more so the emotion he was experiencing seemed to be a form of fear, the fear of loss. Erza was still too young to understand the meaning of this all though.
"A mistake. Just leave it at that." He seemed to almost be pleading to her as he told her to leave it. In his heart he had been, the whole world had seen him as a monster and the one person who hadn't was one step closer.
"Okay," she stated trying to calm his uneasy heart, "I will always be on your side, even if the world turns against you. Kind of stuck with you." She continued making a smile as she finished. The words may have seemed superficial but, it didn't matter what he did she really was stuck with him; their bodies were connected as one.
His words of stating his hands being covered in the blood of innocents began to make her sense to her. It would be a lie for her to say that this hadn't hurt her view of him.
Hearing her words brought a single tear to his eye as he calmed his rampaging heart. During this time of him being distracted the war had begun moving towards a village that didn't want to be involved in their battles. Steeling his face of all emotions he covered his fists in pitch black flames as he seemingly vanished from where he once stood to appear in front of the soldiers about to hurt innocents.
"Who do you think you are?" They questioned arrogantly not putting this kid who looked less than a decade old in their eyes.
"Who I'm I? No one important," the moment he finished speaking the soldiers were surrounded by a circle of black flames unable to escape. These flames seemed to not only burn whatever they touched but turn them into complete nothingness. They had also given off no form of light no matter how much they burned.
One of the soldiers recognized the flames as he stared at the kid his previously arrogant face now filled with fear. "You're…h-him…," the never got to finish his sentence as his whole body was covered in the flames. The words he tried to speak had turned into nothing but screams of pain.
His actions shocked Erza one moment he was fighting against his emotions of fear as he pleads for her to not look into the name END. In the next moment though he had acted mercilessly against a soldier. She may have seen the deaths of those around her when her village was burned to the ground but she was in no way use to the view. Natsu seemed to be fighting on the side of justice for protecting the village but was killing truly the only answer? The war so far along that neither side about law or morals?
After Natsu had followed suit with the other soldiers nearby to the village he waved his hand causing the black flames to vanish. Taking a deep breath, he sat down the ground but was ready to act at any moment.
"Did you truly need to kill them?" Erza questioned her voice holding a hint of anger. It didn't matter if you fought on the side of justice, killing made you just as bad as them. The words he had spoken previously reverberating in her mind, 'My hands are already soaked in the blood of innocents; I may never be able to change that but I will try to atone for the mistakes.' He had long become attune to the scent of blood and the view of killing. That didn't mean she had to accept it without a fight.
"What if I hadn't acted, they would have killed innocents," Natsu replied having already expected this response from her.
"Still you didn't have to kill them." She wanted to yell but knew it would awaken the others in her cell which wouldn't help he in this situation.
"In times of war if you leave one life alive you never know what could occur. Taking one life now can save multiple in the future. I could have simply knocked them unconscious but that is pardoning one's actions at the cost of more lives in the future." Natsu could never understand why people thought pardoning's one's actions were a viable choice but he knew he wouldn't make the same mistake as them.
"Then there shouldn't be war."
"I wish there wasn't. I wish that there wasn't any war but the world doesn't follow this thought process. So long as two sides disagree there will always be war." As Natsu spoke he continued to watch the battle through the flames neither side showing any form of hesitation or mercy towards their enemies. During these times of life and death battles, hesitation or mercy were the difference between the survivors and dead.
"We will just have to change the world then." Her thoughts were naïve but when you are a child you can have such thoughts.
Natsu didn't reply to her as they sat in their respective places in silence. As the minutes passed Erza grew tired after the adrenaline ran through her body. Natsu noticed this as his eyes too had begun to close despite the bright flames in front of him. Quickly reacting he stands up and runs back to where he to the lake he was once at when the night had started. As Natsu laid down in the pile of leaves they both gave into the feelings of sleep both their worlds having gone dark.
Looks like the flaws will actually appear next chapter as I begin to do a time skip around Erza's time in the Tower of Heaven as that is how they had done Erza's past in the anime. Natsu's story is unknown so I get to create that on my own so yay. Anyway, the game has officially started so have fun and it will be active for all of my stories.
-Shiro
