Chapter 4: That was Quick
"Well, it goes along with one of the ways we can disappear. Natsu and the Celestial Spirit King took those things from us, and the day we either choose to die or we are near death, they will tell us our name."
"And what will that do?" Mira prodes.
"It'll return our memories, and we will pass on, never to return."
"So why don't these rules apply to Natsu?" Lucy is the next to intrude, and irritation begins to spread through the spirit at their eagerness.
"Because, young key holder, he never passed on in the first place. He stayed in the spirit realm for 70 years before convincing the King to make the keys."
"So Natsu died. We all lived and died. But he... what? You said he didn't pass on, what does that mean?"
"Natsu understands the process better than me," Wise admits with a shrug, "but yes, you all lived and died. But when someone dies they, well some spirits went to Limbo. Those who went to Limbo can then choose to pass on and go to the world of the spirits, but since Limbo became the Celestial Spirit Realm people now go straight to what you may call their next journey in the afterlife or heaven."
"Interesting." Makarov says with a nod of his head. "So what I'm understanding is that Natsu died but never passed on so he remembers his previous life and has the ability to help other spirits pass on, is that correct?"
"Yes, more or less." Wise confirms.
"Then-"
"MASTER MAKAROV!" A civilian bursts through the door, interrupting Cana's drunken question (which was probably a good thing). Getting over the initial shock, they notice the terror-stricken face the person holds.
"What is it?" Makarov tries to remain calm, but a lump of fear fills a pit in his stomach. The person doesn't answer, however, for a voice booms throughout Magnolia.
"Fairy Tail Mages," it speaks, and all the members-plus Wise-rush out of the guild doors. Mages dressed in black cloaks are standing on top of multiple buildings, prepared to cause havoc. When the Fairy Tail mages step out it seems to be their cue and immediately a fire spawns on a building and the mages disperse. How did they get here so fast!? Makarov fumes at the sight, but soon his eyes find a group of five approaching the guild hall. All walking down the street, smiles of triumph plastered on their faces. "we have come to take the key which you have for the spirit 'Draco'." The person leading the group enhances his voice with magic. Red eyes sending chills down their spines.
"Go!" Makarov shouts and many members immediately race into the mess of civilians and the odd dark mage and Juvia gets to work on putting out the fire.
"Draco!?" Wise shouts, jumping to the front of the group, wings slightly unwrapped. And then they see, in all his glory and power, a certain pinkette standing beside the dark haired spokesman.
"Hey guys." Natsu gives a half-hearted smile, but his eyes plead for forgiveness.
"WE'RE HERE!" A voice shouts from nowhere, and suddenly beside Wise appears a familiar fox spirit. And one-by-one many other similar spirits appear around the two. Lucifer-the one Team Natsu had seen earlier-appears at the head of the group.
"Are we late?" A wolf humanoid asks. He curls his hands into fists, straining against the wraps covering them.
"N-no..." Lucy hesitantly answers, awed at the sudden appearance of the group.
"Great! Finally I can let off some steam." Another speaks, and this one is covered in lava and flames, with heated, metallic branches of wings floating just off his forearm.
"Are you ready, Draco?" The voice echos from another cloaked spirit. White, angel wings spread out behind him.
"The Spirit King is gonna be so mad at us..." A person shining a white blue, with short hair and two antlers, speaks up. Voice almost too quiet to hear.
"Aw, cheer up, Constellation!" Clamping a hand down on her shoulder is a smaller girl. Pale skinned, with a sword on her left side, wearing battle armour but still showing a fair amount of skin.
"We must do this, for Draco." One says as it steps beside Lucifer, wearing a blue dress which flutters at the slightest movement. Brushing a blue strand from her face she stares at the next person who speaks.
"Now now, Bristol. I never thought you'd be the one to begin a battle!" Everyone turns their gaze to her, and the gasp that floats through the air says; snakes. Half of the woman's body is that of a golden snake, ending with purple tipped tail. All boys swoon at her uncovered top, breasts barely covered by two of the many snakes that make up her hair.
"Now is not the time. Bristol, Medusa." Stepping between the two is a centaur. The centaur seems older with long green hair and a beard, wearing accessories of all kinds. It's purple face more animalistic than human because of its black nose and long pointed ears.
"Oak, there's nothing you can do to stop them." The lava-child grins mischievously, yellow eyes literally set ablaze.
"Phire-" The winged and cloaked male starts, but it's too late.
"I guess if you think some petty fight is more important than Natsu, neither of you will get him." With the damage done, other spirits slowly back away from the named 'Phire'. And the two females march up to him. Shadows cast over their faces, sparks where their eyes should be.
"What was that, Phire?" Bristol's voice is demonic, contradicting her angelic figure. And Medusa's snakes go around her head, purple heads hissing in fury as she lifts her own hand, sharp purple nails aimed at his throat.
"What do we have here? Is this all of them, Draco?" The voice snaps the spirits out of their anger and fear while it alerts the Fairy Tail guys to clean up the nose bleeds.
"Do you have to ask?" Natsu rolls his eyes at the man, which makes his vein twitch in anger.
"Give us the key, Fairy Tail mages, and we'll leave without a fight." Before anyone else can reply, Lucy speaks up.
"This is my best friends key, I won't give it to someone who'll use it to hurt him!"
"Plus, then I'll never get to test my ice against flamebrain's celestial flames."
"Yeah!"
"You can't have it!" Fairy Tail cheers after Gray's add-on response. The double-key spirits smile at the loyalty the humans display for their fellow spirit.
"Draco." Dain says and with a sigh Natsu snaps his fingers and a blinding light flashes. The Fairy Tail mages are instantly attacked but they can't see a thing. As the light dissipates few are left standing. Gray had immediately summoned a shield which protected him and a few others from the attacked, Erza had sensed the attack and is currently blocking a member with her sword, the same could be said for Mira except she's in her demon form and holding one by the throat. Gramps hand in enlarged and he had obviously slapped a handful of members away while Lucy had been protected by a now alert Taurus.
"Seems this will be more difficult than we thought." One of the three robed mages beside the leader states but their smile is still intact. Laxus flashes beside his grandfather and crosses his arms.
"We'll take care of these scum." He states and Mira and Gajeel come up beside the second generation Dragon Slayer.
"Gihee." Gajeel chuckles and cracks his knuckles while Mira spreads out her wings.
"Take care of the Fairies." The leader says with a rather lazy wave of his had and the three step up to face the dragon slayers and demon.
"To beat a dragon slayer of my element would be the greatest honor." One of the mages says, however all of the guild members immediately look at the person in shock. Obviously they didn't understand how a slayer has an advantage when fighting someone of their own element. The only exception is when they fight another slayer of the same element, and still Dragon Slayers have always prevailed.
"Isn't that ignorant." Laxus says and scoffs. The person steps up and flashes out their hand to their side, lightning sparking around it.
"But I'm not wrong." They say and it's Gajeel's turn to chuckle. "Let's just take these guys out." The dark mage and obviously the leader of the trio says and steps forward.
"Idiots." Carla says under her breath as the six clash and it's obvious who will win. Laxus takes down the lightning mage immediately and makes a point of not even using his magic, he simply slams the person into the ground and knocks him out with the force of it.
Gajeel doesn't take his person out nearly as quickly as Laxus but he takes his time toying with his person. For all these guys sneered at others, they didn't really back it up.
Mira just stares at her opponent and neither move for some time, sizing each other up, but her fight ends much the same as Laxus', quick and easy as they fly past each other, the dark mage unsheathing a previously hidden sword. Mira undoes her takeover before it's decidedly but rather obviously over, however a cut does show itself across her shoulder, but it's not too deep and the dark mage collapses.
"Oh!" Mira exclaims and places her hand on the cut. Next Gajeel just knocks his guy out as the tries to sneak up behind the dragon slayer.
"We were worried about these guys?" Gajeel says with a scoff, but then the whole group is surrounded and they all get the vibe that these guys are stronger. One of them shoots out a powerful blast of some kind of dark blue magic and Gray makes haste in setting another more powerful shield in front of everyone.
"Well shit." Gajeel curses as he looks at the mages. You'd think they'd send out their strongest with the leader. Was this the plan all along, get them to let down their guard? Dain just cackles and Gray wipes the sweat off his face as they look at the dark mages surrounding them.
"Now you understand the situation." The smile Dain wears sends shivers down everyone's spines, and the spirits on the field share worried glances.
"He's-" Kitsune speaks up, but before he can finish, Dain does.
"Draco, spark." Once again a blinding light fills the battle field, and Natsu's red eyes are the only thing visible through it to the Fairy Tail the light precedes there are no longer humanoid creatures standing before them. But large, magical and mythical beasts, ready for battle.
On the ground is an owl-looking creature, but without wings and is more bear-like with sharp, black deadly claws. To its right it stands Lucifer who hadn't transformed as everyone else had. To Lucifer's right it a red fox that's as tall as the two beside it, red wings tucked into its side. Strange, lighter markings covering its entire body. A ways behind it stands a starlight deer, antlers arching above its head like a large, crescent moon.
To the side stands something many people cower beneath. A large, brown wolf that towers just below the guild hall. With multiple tails and spikes spiraling from its shoulder blades. Blue carvings covering its body in different designs. In the middle of the crowd is a thing that looks like a mix between a demon and a gryffin that has a demonic, pointed face with black horns protruding from the back of its skull. Dark wings partially unfolded from its size to add to its ferocity.
"Are you guys ready?" The voice echos from nearby the crowd, and they turn to see a sparkling, almost ghostly dove fluttering above the crowd with a strange green sprite with a colorful, wooden mask, riding on top of it. And that's when everyone sees the things floating above them.
A large blue snake floats above them with a size that rivals a dragon, and with spikes on its size in various places. The snake is circling a large phoenix with fire sporting from between its wing feathers, and the two feathers that come off its head.
Hovering the closest to the ground is a white pegasus, the size of a normal horse, With green bird wings protruding from its back. The pegasus looks down onto the mages below and lands, hoofs clicking on the ground.
"Do not be frightened." Its voice they instantly recognize as Oak's; the centaur. "This is just our spirit forms."
"Yeah! Did we really have to come and transform?" The voice booms down to earth, but the male voice is unmistakably the one they had seen being called Phire; the lava boy Or, now in this case, the phoenix.
"Shut up, you know this is just in case Draco transforms!" The wolf barks up at them, silencing everyone.
"Wow, they all must be so powerful..." Lucy's says in awe while looking at the towering figures of the serpent, fox, and phoenix. The bird spirit and its rider, Bristol and Quadria, comment on Lucy's words.
"Kitsune's the strongest after Draco." The bird speaks first.
"The red winged fox." Quadria says as she sees Lucy's confusion.
"Wait, the most powerful spirit isn't them?" Wendy asks as she looks up at the spirits, jaw dropped.
"Nope. Are you done?" The fox growls at them and their carelessness. "Natsu's about to blow!" At this the dove turns in shock, before narrowing her eyes on Natsu's form. Just then realizing he's surrounded by a sphere of fire, which is slowly dying out making him look like an ember. The only thing seen through the flame are the red eyes on the dark figure.
"What's going on?" Erza questions, eyes narrowing onto the form of her comrade.
"He's putting him into his spirit-humanoid-form." Bristol elaborates,"Natsu, unlike us, never passed on. Therefore he never lost his original form; the form you guys know. But, since he has a spirit form he must transform into his spirit-humanoid-form first, it's a process that takes a few steps. But his spirit form is powerful enough to need it."
"What?" Lisanna asks and the Fairy Quadria rolls her eyes.
"Basically," Quadria begins to sum it up,"Natsu has three forms; human-his original, the one he lived and died in. Spirit-humanoid-form, one much like ours where he looks like a mix between a human and a dragon. And then his spirit form; where he is a dragon."
"Oh..." The guild members nod in understanding, while Quadria seems to give a triumphant look from beneath her mask at Bristol. Everyone pauses as they hear the fire give one last snap before sizzling out to reveal the enemy-turned friend.
His red-scale wings, with their long, blinding white feathers, have black claws on their bend like a bat. His head has it's yellow-scale crown, going from his forehead and his tail's bright feathers are as blinding as his wings. His sandals and shirt are ripped from the growth of red scales and his feets black claws. He looks something like a centaur, his legs covered in red scales and shaped as a dragons, sweats still intact. His chest now has large, white scales with a holy glow beneath them, more prominent than before.
"Well, Fairy Tail. Double-keys, you ready to take me on?" His gleaming red eyes show two black, dragon-slit pupils as he scans the crowd. The look he sends is full of power and sends shivers down the mages spines, but smiles grow on the spirits faces.
"Let's go!" Kitsune shouts, taking a large, arching leap towards the smirking Natsu.
"Things are gonna get really dangerous, really fast." Bristol turns to the mages who watch the fox fly through the air.
"We aren't leaving!" Mira states and the pegasus smiles as he gallops over.
"No, but your priority should be to get the townspeople out of here and-"
"Incoming!" Natsu's cheerful voice screams, and everyone turns to see the fox flying towards them. A few listen to his order and jump from the crowd. The others get pushed along as the fox flys through them.
"Oi! Dain! I'm gonna move location!" Natsu smiles, and before the other can object, spreads his wings and blasts upwards. Slamming into an unsuspecting phoenix and scaring a floating blue serpent.
"Dammit, that spirit..." Dain curses under his breath, and the dragon slayers strain their ears to listen to his last sentence;"but as long as I get his second original key, I'll have total control over him. And then his spirit form will be mine!"
Gajeel, Laxus and Wendy share a look of shock at his words, before turning to look where Natsu had blasted off to.
"Medusa! Come and pick up these mages!" Gwyneth; the demonic-gryffin-raven thing, shouts out.
"Why do we have to bring them!?" She complains, coming down to the ground where the mages see she's longer than Blue Pegasus' Christina.
"Just do it! He's giving us a chance to not let us destroy the town! Lets go!" Oak's voice orders,
"We'll take care of these guys and show them what Fairy Tail is made of!" Mira states and once again goes into her Satan Soul form.
"Let's bring him back!" Lucy pumps a fist, and Erza begins to herd them onto the snake.
"We have no time to waste!" She orders, everyone quickly slipping onto the creature.
"I'm coming too!" Makarov jumps onto Oak, and the snake takes flight after Oak, the others soon following.
Natsu stands in the middle, back towards the group as they approach and land. The mages walk parallel of Natsu, consisting of; Erza, Lucy, Gray, and of course Makarov.
"Draco, do you honestly expect to win?" The large wolf's voice booms as he enters the clearing, his paw crushing a small tree on the edge.
"I might, but it's not what I'm hoping for." At this he finally turns around, a smile plastered onto his face at the sight of his guild members and spirit friends. "You ready?"
A/N: Wow, I completely reformed the beginning of this chapter while I was supposed to be just simply editing it. Well then, I hope it's better and I hope you like it. Thank you all so much for reading this, really, I appreciate it! Til next time! See ya!