Disclaimers: All Fairy Tail Characters Belong To Hiro Mashima. All Forgotten Realms Concepts and Characters Belong to Wizards of the Coast, LLC. The concept of the Soulbond has been modified from the video game Drakan, a property of Surreal Software . Kai Dragneel belongs to me.

Chapter 4: The Thing About Devil Slayer Magic

Natsu woke up to a feeling of complete peace with the world. He felt fingers running through his hair softly and smiled as he remembered the events of the previous night.

"Hmmm. Good morning, love.", he turned on his side to look at Gray who had apparently been watching him sleep.

"Good morning.", Gray replied and moved closer to kiss his mate. They were both smiling at each other like idiots, feeling happy and warm and with zero desire to get up yet.

"Do you want to go ahead and tell me what happened yesterday at Sabertooth?", Gray asked lazily as he kept playing with Natsu's hair.

"Ok. First of all Sting and Rogue definitely like each other but neither one of them will make a move."

"Somehow, I don't think that was what made you upset.", Gray observed.

"No, actually it did because Sting is being an idiot."

"Let them be, they'll figure it out on their own."

"Fine.", Natsu sighed, "Anyway, I talked to Sting about what happened with Kai and he was really sorry. He apologized and said that he owed Kai a great debt that he would try to repay."

"Ok, still not hearing what actually upset you."

"Fine, but you're not going to like it."

"I figured as much, but you know you can tell me anything.", Gray assured him.

"I went to see Rufus.", Natsu began but Gray's fingers tightened in his hair in a slight pull as he quickly interrupted.

"Ok, I lied. What did you go see him for?", he growled.

"Relax, actually I have you to thank. If it wasn't for how much you dislike each other I doubt he would have helped me."

"Please tell me you didn't let him touch you."

"About that -", Natsu grinned.

"Natsu! That's not funny!"

"You are so easy to rile up, Ice Princess. He just touched my head."

Gray relaxed a small amount, "And why did he do that exactly?"

"Well if you stopped being jealous I would tell you."

Gray glared at him "I am not being jealous!"

"Whatever you say, Snowflake. I described Zeref to Reedus and he drew me a picture. I showed the picture to Rufus and he used it to look through my memories. I wanted to see if he could find Zeref in there. And he did, he found him one more time. When I was little he went to see Igneel and they were fighting about something although he was not able to tell me what."

"So you saw Zeref when you were little and Igneel knew him?", Gray repeated making sure he had understood.

"Yes, but that's not the weird part. Apparently my memories have been altered."

"What do you mean altered, you mean changed?", Gray asked confused about what Natsu was telling him.

"No, I guess you could say they have been locked away. Rufus could see nothing before Igneel took me in and the weirdest part is that I think Igneel was the one who did it."

"Why do you think that?"

"I talked to Sting and Rogue and they still have their memories from before and they said that their dragons told them that they had altered their memories against Igneel's wishes. That's why they thought they had killed their dragons."

"So you think what?"

"Rufus thinks that there is something in my memories that someone doesn't want me to remember.", Natsu shrugged, "But I mean I was little what could I possibly have known or seen that would make Igneel do that?"

"And you're sure it was Igneel?"

"I'm not sure of anything, but it makes the most sense."

"I'm sorry, love. I can't imagine what that must feel like.", Gray lay on his back and snuggled Natsu on his chest.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you about my plans to see Rufus."

"It's ok, I get it. I understand why you felt the need to do it but in the future remember that you can trust me."

Natsu's stomach rumbled loudly.

"We should get up and get breakfast, we worked up quite the appetite last night", Gray grinned at him.

"I guess we have to get up sometime.", Natsu said sadly.

"Hey, do you know what your dad wants to talk to me about?"

"Sort of. I asked him to come back to Magnolia with us and he wants to make sure it's what you want as well. He doesn't want to come between us."

"That's considerate of him. Why would he think I wouldn't want him to?", Natsu said puzzled.

"You really are a Flame-Brain.", Gray said fondly, "He feels guilty about all the things that happened with you at Tartaros."

"Oh, that.", Natsu sighed, "I don't really want to talk about that."

He got up from the bed and set about finding his clothing from the previous evening and packing it away in his pack. He pulled out a change of clothes and put it on.

"You're going to have to talk to him eventually, avoiding problems only makes them worse."

Natsu scratched the back of his head and shrugged, "I guess."

They grabbed the rest of their belongings, checked out and looked for a place to eat a late breakfast.

o-o

Lyon watched his houseguest of the past two months pack away his meager belongings in a knapsack.

"Are you sure you want to do this?", Lyon asked with a hint of sadness in his voice. In the time that Silver had been staying with Lyon he had grown very fond of the Devil Slayer. "You could always join Lamia Scale, you know. We'd all love to have you. Even the old hag."

"I know, but I have to do this. I've already wasted too much time. I have a lot of things I need to atone for.", Silver said honestly, "To all three of them and in all honesty I have no idea how long I'm going to be around. I also have a mission I need to complete. E.N.D is still out there and I'm the only one who can take him out."

"Besides ", Silver grinned wolfishly, " I'm going to be your inside man at Fairy Tail, remember?. We'll have you together with Juvia before you know it!"

Lyon snorted. "I suppose if both you and Gray are there I'll have more excuses to come visit."

"That's the spirit!", Silver said. He paused in his packing to look at his new son figure, "How come you didn't join Fairy Tail in the first place?"

"When I was trying to surpass Ur by destroying Deliora, a lot of mages left Lamia Scale to join me. I felt like I owed it to them to return with them. Besides I don't think Gray would have accepted me back then even though he was the one who suggested I join a guild in the first place.", Lyon replied, "Lamia Scale was the right choice for me, I don't regret it."

"It's just, it's been such a long time since I had anyone I could think of as family.", Lyon said seriously, "And Gray does so much stupid shit that I find myself constantly worried I'm going to lose him too. Now that you're leaving to join him I feel like I'm being left behind."

Silver wrapped the ice mage in a large bear hug. "We're not leaving you behind, stupid. We're just a train ride away and you don't need an excuse to come visit. You're always welcome to crash at my place, wherever that may be."

He released Lyon and ruffled the mage's perfect hair knowing full well he had spent a long time getting it just right. Amused by Lyon's irritated glare Silver grinned and said, "Now that I've given you something else to worry about I'm going to go to the guild and wait for the boys. See you in a bit."

He grabbed his belongings and made his way to the front door. He put his hand on the doorknob and stopped. He turned around and said, "Thank you. You didn't need to take me in and you certainly didn't need to listen to me. I won't forget it."

He walked out without waiting for an answer and made his way to Lamia Scale. When he arrived Natsu and Gray were already there, sitting very close to each other at a table with Jura. They were having a discussion on the current state of the Fairy Tail Guild as well as Makarov's possible whereabouts. Apparently the old mage had taken off without telling anyone where he was headed, immediately after claiming that Fairy Tail was disbanded. Everyone was beginning to become concerned after receiving no word for months, but no one seemed to know where he could have gone. Jura started to tell them about the Wizard Saint's efforts to reform the Magic Council.

He placed his knapsack in a corner where it wouldn't be in the way and headed over to the table.

"Good morning boys, everything go alright last night?", Silver grinned mischievously as he took a seat at the table across from Natsu. In response to his question two very red faced Fairy Tail mages glared at him causing the Ice Devil Slayer to chuckle.

He noticed Natsu kept giving him somewhat nervous looks and he decided to put him out of his misery.

"Come on,", he said to the Fire Dragon Slayer, "Let's go for a walk."

He saw Gray squeeze his lover's hand to reassure him and smiled. Natsu stood up regaining some of his usual confidence and they walked outside. They walked to the the town's riverwalk and found a bench where they could sit and talk while gazing at the river. They sat in uneasy silence for awhile as Silver tried to figure out how to start.

"I wronged you in so many ways.", Silver began awkwardly, "I kind of don't know where to start."

"You don't really have to say anything. It's all over, there's no need to revisit any of it. We won the battle and now we move on."

"You're wrong about that.", Silver said, "You are the most important person in the world to my son and I almost took you away from him. I can never really forgive myself for that."

"As I understand it, there was nothing you could have done about it.", Natsu said tensely, "I know better than anyone that Tiamat always got what she wanted in the end. As for the other stuff, I couldn't have expected you to know."

"Do you want to talk about it?", Silver asked gently, " From the little I've heard about what happened to you, it might help."

"I'm done talking about it.", Natsu said firmly, "My father taught me to look to the future and that is what I'm doing. There is only pain in looking back and it sure as hell won't change anything that happened."

"I appreciate the effort but all of this is unnecessary, I forgive you for anything you think you did to me.", Natsu said evenly while staring straight ahead at the river, "The way I see it there's only one thing you have to apologize for and that's hurting Gray. You do that again and we will have a problem. He's my mate and I will stop at nothing to keep him and Kai safe. If you're ok with that then I welcome you into our lives with open arms but if you're not I suggest you stay here with Lyon."

"Fair enough.", Silver said, "I am sorry for hurting Gray, sometimes it feels that it's all I've ever done. I wish I had known that he had survived.

"I'm glad Gray has you again. As for me, I'll admit I'm struggling with this a bit. I wish I had gotten my father back too, but I'll get over it. I find it strangely ironic that I spent years looking for my father and lost him whereas Gray never looked for you and still somehow managed to find you ", Natsu said with some frustration.

"I'm very sorry about your father and I would never attempt to take his place, but it you ever need me, you are my family now too, Natsu. So even if you don't think it's necessary I intend to make it up to all three of you."

Natsu looked at Silver for a long time, then he suddenly smiled, "I might have to take you up on that someday."

Silver went to put his arms around the boy and then stopped himself as he remembered that Gray had mentioned Natsu had issues with being touched as a result of his capture. Natsu gave him a small smile, "I'm mostly ok now as long as I can see it coming."

He allowed himself to be embraced by Silver and tried to keep his body relaxed. Silver patted him on the back. "You make him very happy, thank you."

"He does much more for me than I could ever do for him.", Natsu replied truthfully and after gazing at the river for a few more minutes he stood up. "We should head back, it's a long walk back to Magnolia."

"We're walking?", Silver asked with surprise.

"Yeah, it's not that far and I get motion sick on the train."

Silver looked at him with amusement and Natsu scoffed , "Yeah yeah, I know it's lame. It's the one downside of being a dragon slayer."

They walked back to Lamia Scale in comfortable silence.

o-o

Gray and Lyon were talking at a table. Lyon was filling Gray in on what had happened with Silver for the last two months. They had tried to heal him with no success but it seems that he had a high level of regeneration and with time the wounds had healed themselves.

"Makes sense.", Gray said, "All the slayers that I know have high regenerative abilities. Look at Natsu and Laxus."

"As for the rest, he had a lot of nightmares in the beginning but hasn't for awhile.", Lyon reported, "he's a really cool guy. You're lucky."

"I know", Gray smiled. He did consider himself lucky at the moment. He had managed to survive Tartaros with his family intact. Lyon had come out in one piece, his father was still alive and Natsu and Kai had managed to survive against almost impossible odds. He and Natsu had finally mated, their son would soon be born and his father was coming back to Magnolia with them. As far as he was concerned everything was coming up roses for him. Sure they might have Zeref and E.N.D to deal with in the not too distant future but they would train hard to get stronger and when the time came they would take them on and somehow figure out a way to come out victorious like they always did. He wondered briefly where this optimism was coming from, it was very unlike him.

"Gray?", Lyon stared at his brother intently, "What the hell is wrong with your face?"

"What are you talking about?". Gray asked nervously. He tried to find a mirror in the guild hall to see what Lyon was referring to. Lyon dissolved into hysterics as he watched his brother scramble over to Sherry to ask her for a mirror .

Gray stopped and finally realized that Lyon was referring to his smile. "Jerk.", he muttered but he smiled good naturedly. He sat back down as Sherry looked at them fondly.

"Lyon, did Silver ever talk to you about his magic?", Gray asked, "It feels like every time I ask him about it he avoids the subject."

"Not really.", Lyon said, "He didn't seem very interested in discussing his time with Tartaros. We mostly talked about the times before he died."

Natsu and Silver entered the guild then and they dropped the subject. Natsu made his way over to Gray and Lyon.

"Time to go Ice Princess, are you ready?"

Gray nodded and went to get their packs. They said their goodbyes to the members of Lamia Scale and along with Silver, headed back to Magnolia.

"So what's the deal with your magic?", Natsu asked, "How come I'm not able to melt your ice like I can melt Gray's?"

"I imagine it has to do with the source of the ice.", Silver responded.

"I wanted to talk to you about that.", Gray said taking the opportunity that Natsu had inadvertently created for him. "I want to learn how to use your magic. I think it could be very powerful when combined with my ice-make magic."

"Devil Slaying magic is indeed very powerful and I would like to teach it to you but there are a few things you have to understand before you decide whether you want to learn it or not."

"Like what?", Natsu asked curiously.

"Well from what I understand Dragon Slayers are enchanted by their dragons or inserted with a lacrima, whereas God Slayers can be taught a few different ways. The first step to learn Devil Slaying magic requires you to summon a devil from the Nine Hells and take him into your body. On your death they will be returned to the world from whence they came."

"Hold up. Are you saying there is a devil inside of you right now?", Natsu stopped and grabbed Silver's arm.

"Yes, he's lived inside me for seventeen years.", Silver said, "His name is Meritos."

"There are different types of devil slayers and the summoning ritual is different for each element. I chose an Ice Devil.", Silver said calmly.

Natsu looked at Gray and saw his fascination with the topic. He seemed to have no problem with what Silver was saying.

"No, hell no.", Natsu said out loud.

Gray looked at his mate, "What's the matter, Flame Breath?"

"What do you mean what's the matter?", Natsu said, "There is no way you're doing that."

"You can't make decisions for me.", Gray said beginning to get angry. Sure, the idea sounded a little scary but his dad had been doing it for seventeen years and he was fine and it would make him more powerful. "It's just a powerup Natsu."

"It's not a just a powerup, you idiot. Laxus giving me my lightning attribute is a powerup. This is accepting a complete other being inside you."

Silver watched the couple argue. This is why he had not mentioned anything earlier but it was something that they would have to figure out on their own.

"You have a complete other being inside you right now.", Gray pointed out.

"I'm not even going to dignify that with an answer.", Natsu was becoming furious. How dare he equate what had happened to him with this.

"You're being irrational."

"I would be very careful with what I say right now if I were you.", Natsu snarled.

"It's just another way to get stronger, it will help me protect you and Kai and everyone else. Why can't you see that? We can even fight E.N.D with it."

"At what cost? What if you can't control it, what then? It sounds like it's irreversible."

They both looked at Silver, waiting for his answer. "It's not irreversible but it's a bitch to get the devil out. They are not going to want to return to their world. It's not very pleasant from what I understand."

"See? It's not irreversible.", Gray said smugly.

"Is that really all you heard?", Natsu screamed in frustration. "I did not sign up to be mated to a devil. I love YOU, I always have. I want YOU. Are you really willing to mess up everything for a powerup? Did last night mean nothing to you?"

Natsu waited for Gray's reply but the ice mage only stood there staring at him, too shocked by Natsu's outburst to be able to say anything.

"You know what? Don't answer that." He took a deep breath to try to calm himself down. He didn't want Gray to see how much his silence had hurt him. "I'll see you later."

He cast Fire Dragon Claw and ignited his feet in flames. He jet propelled himself towards Magnolia and Gray and Silver could do nothing but watch him leave.

"Well, you screwed that up well and proper.", Silver snapped at his son. He was a little peeved at how Gray had treated his mate.

"He's overreacting.", Gray grumbled.

"He's not, he brought up some valid concerns that you don't seem to want to consider.", SIlver said seriously, "Not to mention you were rude and condescending. What the hell were you thinking equating his rape and pregnancy to this? I can't imagine any of that is easy to deal with on a daily basis and he didn't choose any of it. This is a choice. "

"Shit, I didn't mean it like that.", Gray said finally realizing his mistake.

"Look, I won't lie. I was lucky, the devil that I summoned is very reasonable and I am also already dead. As far as I knew I had no family. Our situations are completely different. Realistically you have no idea who you are going to summon. The old man that taught me this told me some horror stories about summonings gone wrong. I will be happy to teach you my magic but I will not do so if Natsu is not on board. I said I would not come between you two and I meant it."

A/N This is one of those few chapter where I actually knew the name before writing it :). Now we start seeing Silver trying to be a little more parental as he sees Gray make stupid decisions and you learned something about devil slaying magic.

This is where the wiki becomes useful. As more Forgotten Realms elements come into play it gives you one space where you can look at stuff. Every chapter summary will have links to spells or elements. wiki/Chapter_04:_The_Thing_About_Devil_Slayer_Magic.

Thank you to SilverWhiteDragon, Eclipsing_Paradise, animecrazy127 and deinspanjer for telling me what you thought about the last chapter. The sound of crickets can be nerve wracking especially for a chapter that was as difficult for me to write as that one was.

As always I really appreciate hearing from you. Tell me what you like, what you don't like. It helps me improve the characters and the storyline as the story !