What's up everyone? NeoShadows here with a new chapter of The Story of a Dragon, a Knight, and a Fairy Hunter.
To tell you the truth, I was actually planning on releasing this chapter as a double chapter release, but after seeing how A Time Before Fairy Tales didn't receive that much reviews after releasing two chapters in one day, I decided to just upload this chapter and finish the next one and upload that some other time. Don't worry though, I'm already 3,000 words in. And to let you all in as to why that's significant I don't release major story chapters unless they are above 10,000 words, it's my thing you know?
Oh, I'm also almost done with two humor based harem fics I've been working on. Purely humor as my attempt to build on my humor based writing. So wait awhile till I release them onto the internet.
And remember to review! Lazy bastards. I don't know whether to be proud I'm not the only lazy one out their or. . . . I don't know how to feel after that. Huh? All I feel is proudness.
Weird.
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Fairy Tail. They belong to Hiro Mashima. My hero.
I just thought of something. Do any of you pay attention to people on the internet when they warn you to not search blah and blah for the good of your innocence? Cause I'm pretty sure that's in the rules of the internet.
*Shudders* So much tentacles and girls, I should of listened.
Chapter 9: Double Edged Memories.
(Early morning, Deep within Magnolia's forest)
Cracking his neck which was feeling stiff from his night of sleeplessness, Natsu stretched his limbs to get ready for his first steps to his training. Right now, the fire Dragon Slayer was deep within Magnolia's forest, so deep that he was surprised that he had never found found the spot before. He was sure that he had explored every corner of the forest back when he was a kid looking for Igneel. So it came as a big surprise to Natsu when he had woken up to find himself lying in the middle of a large clearing. And now that he found this new cool spot he wouldn't even know how to come back if he wanted to train for himself.
The area he was in was a combination of a forest and a lake with a waterfall. Large rocks were spread out everywhere and bushes marked the area. The usual tree sprouted out from the ground with a couple of fallen logs spread around. The place seemed like a great training spot. If only he knew how he got there.
Those bastards had broke into his own home and kidnapped him when he had finally fallen asleep! Not a damn warning was given out as they had knocked him out in his sleep and proceeded to drag him out of his own home! Oh, and he knew they dragged him. The skid marks on his back and clothes were proof enough of how they kidnapped him. Even worse was the fact that they didn't even bring Happy with them. Poor little guy, he was probably worried where he went.
That or he went off flying for some fish to share with Carla and Pantherlily.
"So, mind telling me why you guy's are here?" Natsu sighed as he eyed the last two people he thought he would see while he trained with Gajeel to control his unstable magic.
Said unexpected guests were the one and only Freed and Bickslow.
Chewing on a couple of bolts and metal tiles he had grabbed before leaving his home, Gajeel sent his fellow Dragon Slayer what sounded like an obvious grunt before gulping down his snack. He stood back up dusting his clothes before pointing to Freed who seemed to be working on Runes around the area.
"The reason why both Freed and Bickslow are here is because I had asked the master to allow them to help me with controlling your berserk ass." he answered only to get a look of confusion from Natsu.
"Control me?" Natsu frowned confusingly as he looked back at Freed finishing the last of his runes and a grinning Bickslow. "Why would you need help controlling me? I'm perfectly fine right now. Sure, I was pissed at gramps for not taking action for what happened in Oshibana and Hargeon, but I'm fine now. I'm in complete control of magic right now." he scoffed to the side.
Gajeel nodded, "That's right. Right now you're in control. But I can't say you will be for long after we start with your training." he shook his head as Natsu grumbled to himself in annoyance.
Training this, training that. What exactly was his training? Both Gajeel and Makarov had been pushing for his training since coming back from Edolas and learning how exactly he had survived his solo clash with Doroma Animu. Apparently it was suppose to help him come to terms with his source of anger that made his flames so powerful.
Master Makarov had explained to him that his emotions greatly affected the strength of his flames due to his Dragon Slayer magic, his Flames of Emotion as he also liked to call it. It was how he was always able to come out on top of others no matter the situation. His rage was his most powerful weapon when combined with his fire, making him almost unstoppable. But, it was also said rage that had lately become a double edged sword.
Without Natsu even knowing it he'd been summoning incredibly strong flames around him whenever he had become angry. That was due to his anger, surprisingly being his strongest emotion tied to his mage. With his magic becoming incredibly potent and powerful his bodies magical container was unable to contain it all, causing it to become unstable.
Left out of control, Natsu would have to fear his own flames. Not for his well being, but for the friends around him. His flames would leak out of his body and burn the closing thing near him. Including his own friends. Almost like Gildart's own magic, Crash, only without the control.
Clenching his fists Natsu tried to suppress the sudden anger building up inside of him at his weakness to control his self. He had never found it this hard to control his anger before. The thought that he could transform into the same rampaging beast that had wrecked everything in sight in his fight with Faust both frightened and angered him. Igneel would be disappointed in him.
". . . What's the training." Natsu ground out, looking down with his hair shadowing his face. The sooner they started, the sooner he could stop fearing the safety of his friends from him.
"Freed, activate the Jutsu Shiki!" Purple runes lite up all around the area surrounding all four mages, trapping them within the writings barrier that spread a good mile and a half from where they standing, keeping all others out. Nodding thanks at the green haired mage, Gajeel turned his attention back to the puzzled fire mage before explaining, "In order for you to stabilize all that out of control magic bottled up inside of you, you have to release it all. That means going from full magic to zero. It's going to suck, with all the magic you're going to be losing you might end up sick after words until you're body replenishes the what you lost. And for you to lose it all, that means you're going to have to unleash everything that's bottled up, throwing around you're strongest spells at it's full potential." his slightly narrowed as his mouth became a thin line, "That means your spells are going to have to be meant to kill."
"What?!" Natsu shouted in shock as he looked at his friends in disbelief, "You can't be serious!? If that's all that it takes, then you guy's could of just let me go off on my own! You guy's can't be here if I'm going just going to go berserk and burn everything in sight into ash! I might kill you!"
Natsu's fire magic had the same properties as a dragon's breath. They could reduce anything it touches into nothing but fine ash in the wind. Knowing that, and the fact that his guild frowned upon killing, Natsu had always brought down the intensity of his fire magic enough that it would only badly burn his victims. He never raised up the heat in a fight, he only cared about beating them up not erasing them from the face of the planet.
What they were saying was just too much. He could melt metal with his hands alone without calling on a spell. Natsu didn't want to know what his Karyu no Hoko could do to a friends skin at it's full power. It was enough to make almost second guess the training he was about to go through.
"Their has to be some other way to start my training! You all know how dangerous my flames can be. You all don't have to be here if that's really the only way to control my magic." Natsu growled.
"You're right, flamebrain." Gajeel agreed, "But you won't be awake when you go berserk. Don't tell me you really thought it was as simple as that?" he scoffed at the thought, "You're going to be in a deep trance for the rest of the time as your body is consumed by the flames of your deepest emotion, anger and hate. I'm actually surprised that such a good guy such as yourself is full of so much anger." The idiot was the last person Gajeel would of taken as the angry type. But it did make sense considering fire was his natural affinity.
"Soooooo, you're telling me we're going to be fighting off Natsu while he's taking a nap?" Bickslow uttered slowly before turning towards his stoic friend Freed, ". . . . .Are you fucking kidding me!"
"Fucking kidding me! Fucking kidding me~!" his dolls sang, repeating their masters last words.
"I'd advise you not to scream in my ear, Bickslow." Freed sighed as he cleaned out his ear from the Siege mage's shouting, "While I too am not as happy about fighting our friend seriously, we have no choice if we want to help him control himself."
"Forget that! I don't care about fighting him, I could do that whenever I want by calling him a dumb-ass!"
"Oi! Who the hell are you calling a jackass, you freaky bastard?!"
"I said dumbass! Now shut up, the big boy's are talking!" Bickslow shouted back at the ticked off mage before turning back to his friend, "What I'm talking about is the fact that he could burn off an arm with his breath alone! I don't think my babies can stand that kind of heat." he whined as he and his dolls cried waterfall tears.
"Stop your babying." Gajeel yawned before slamming both his palms flowing azure sparks on the ground in front of him, "Tetsuryu Seikei-hin: Korigan Tsume(Iron Dragon's Molding: Hard Working Claws)!" Twisting his palms in a pulling motion from the earth, Gajeel rose up five large poles of shining silver around him. His fingers then morphed into gleaming iron claws that shined in the light before they blurred in front in well calculated motions around the iron he brought up. Done slashing at the iron, Gajeel snapped his claws before iron shattered in gleaming slices, revealing five of dolls similar to Bickslow's.
"Here." he grinned as he tossed one of the dolls towards Bickslow. Struggling to pick up the heavy iron totem doll, Bickslow sent a confused look at Gajeel, "Knowing how strong Natsu's flames are going to be, I took the time to work on making you dolls made out of my own iron. That way they'll be more resistant and be able to stand against the heat."
"Took the time?" Natsu snickered as the Siege mage cuddled his new dolls, "It only took you a few seconds! How is that taking your time? Don't flatter yourself."
Gajeel felt his eye twitch. "Oooh, I'm so going to enjoy kicking you ass while you're knocked out." he grinned evilly.
Ignoring the evil look Gajeel was sending him, Natsu looked back to Freed, "Mind telling me why you and Bickslow are here? Iron dork is trying to be all mysterious and the tongue sticking bastard is busy gushing over his new toy's."
"Certainly." Freed nodded before explaining what he knew, "From what Gajeel-san had briefed me and Bickslow in we will both be containing you within the rules of my Dark Ecriture's Jutsu Shiki for the remainder of your slumber or trance as Gajeel-san called it. Apparently both of us along with Gajeel-san are the best at keeping a rampaging beast from coming loose. With the rules of my spells barrier and Bickslow's Figure Eye's we'll be able to take control of you if you start to active your Dragon Rage."
"Dragon Rage?" Natsu frowned, "What's that?"
"It's the state when you morph into that out of control dragon from Edolas." Gajeel explained before the next moment he found himself staring down into the mad eye's of Natsu.
"Y-You didn't mention that I'd be turning into that thing again!" Natsu stuttered in barely suppressed rage. As far away as they were from Magnolia, Natsu was sure that if he had turned back into that monster that he would tear a path of destruction towards his guild. He'd seen the war zone of a battlefield he had caused while in his dragon state. He didn't want to see that happen to Magnolia.
"That's only if you go nuts inside of your mind!" Gajeel shouted back. "I know what I'm doing, so shut your damn mouth for once! You won't straight out morph into a dragon again as long as you don't lose it while your in the Corridor of the Heart."
Calming down, Natsu frowned at the new word, "Corridor of the Heart? What's that?"
"I don't know." Gajeel shrugged while cleaning his ear with his pinky as Natsu's jaw dropped, "All master told me was that it was a structure created from your memories deep inside your heart."
"How the hell don't you know?! Didn't you say you had to go through the same shit as me since you ate your own iron?"
"When the hell did I ever say that I took the same training as you?" Gajeel shook his head, "Unlike you, I had a dragon help me with controlling my magic when I went berserk. Kanashimi(Sorrow) works similar to the spell Metalicana used on me when I was a kid, but in different way's considering I never achieved Dragon Force. Although Kanashimi isn't the name of the artifact we're going to be using on you, it's just one of its many names given by the monks who had created the thing. The thing has four spells to it's name, what they are I don't even know, but they're suppose to be tied with something called The Corridor of the Heart from what master Makarov told."
"So that's what that thing is for?" eying the odd object in Gajeel's hands, Natsu was curious why they even needed that thing if all he had to was spam his spells at their fullest. The artifact was a a blue clear orb with odd ruby line like runes running around it's shape. Other then the weird eye mark made out of what Natsu guessed was mirrors, it looked like a harmless looking ball. "What's it going to do to me?" he asked as he gazed at the orb.
"It's going to help you find the source of your power and whats making you go ballistic. When you were desperate enough to eat your own fire while fighting Doroma Animu a certain memory must of surfaced that caused you to perform the ultimate taboo as a trigger." setting the orb down, Gajeel instructed Natsu to sit down in a meditative state before continuing with his explanation, "That memory is the source of your anger. You have to face whatever grudge or hate the memory brought up to control your magic back into it's normal state. But, while you're dragged into the deepest corners of your mind, all the emotions you will begin to feel will play puppet master with your body. Once you begin fighting whatever it is that's pissing you off so much we'll have to prepare our selves when you go ape shit. The anger will wash over your body and tear apart the closest thing near you. That's why I brought out Freed and Bickslow with me instead of the master or Gildarts." he gestured to the two Thunder God Tribe mage's, "They're strong, strong enough not to completely ruin you when they fight back. If Gildarts fought you we'd risk the possibility that he'd have to get a bit serious to take you on and I can't promise that the battle wouldn't be felt from Fairy Tail. We can't be raising suspicion."
Natsu grit his teeth not liking what he was hearing. He had no idea how out of control he had gone when he had last lost it. From what he had seen from his bedside window in the hospital in Edolas, he had torn up the outside walls of the royal city. Smoke still wavered from its ruins and he could make out the faintest of flames still burning weakly from his dragon states fire magic.
But it was his only choice for that to never happen again. Natsu could only place his trust in his nakama that they could keep his subdued as he ventured within his mind.
"So, when are we starting?" Natsu sighed hoping he could go through the first step of his training as quick as possible.
"Right now."
"Wha-"
"Tetsuryukon(Iron Dragon's Club)!"
Black steel was the last thing Natsu saw before his consciousness lost him to the darkness.
Watching as the iron Dragon Slayer set Natsu up straight in a lotus position, Freed couldn't help but frown at the mage's rough handling of the pink haired mage.
"Was that really necessary?" he asked stoicly as Gajeel laid the blue orb on Natsu's lap.
"It was better to catch him by surprise. The more aware the caster is off what's going on, the more things can get bumpy when he starts to lose control." Cracking his knuckles as he backed away from his fellow dragon mage, Gajeel gestured both Freed and Bickslow to back away. What was going to happen next was going to be utter chaos.
Blue sparks slowly rose from the orb on Natsu's lap, lazily at first, growing stronger and wilder with every passing second before all three Fairy Tail mages were nearly blown off their feet as a roaring eruption of azure magic rose up from the knocked out fire mage. They shielded their eyes at the roar of magic flashing wildly around Natsu, not believing the force it produced as it rose high up into the sky like a shining beacon.
"What the hell is going on?!" Bickslow shouted in the roar of magic nearly overwhelming them all.
Gajeel grunted as he tried to keep his feet on the ground, having to resort to using his magic to pin his feet into the dirt, "This is all the magic energy stored inside Urami! It's amplifying Salamander's magic so that he can go all out! All we have to do right now is wait till it all calms down." he explained as he watched the blue sparks fade into a dark ruby color.
"Then what?" Freed shouted as he readied his rapier.
"We wait till shit goes down." In the roar of all the magic illuminating the forest they could faintly make out the strange flame like ancient text crawling up the rose haired mage's body, burning a dark blood red.
All in all, shit was going to go down pretty soon.
(Unknown)
"Where the hell am I?" groaning as he rubbed his aching forehead with a quick curse to kill the iron headed idiot who hit him, Natsu blearily opened his eye's to total darkness.
It was literally complete darkness. Nothing but a black abyss greeted the Dragon Slayer as he found himself floating in a blank, dark world full of nothingness. He was surprised he was even able to see himself in all the blackness surrounding him.
Was this his mind? If it was, then that meant Gray was right. It was nothing but an empty void of nothing. Dammit! That frozen bastard. It was probably his fault that his mind was like this!
"Not much of a thinker, are ya kid?"
Natsu's eye's widened in alarm suddenly hearing an amusing voice taunt him. Struggling to move around in the darkness, Natsu followed the direction of the voice hoping to find an exit out of the dreary dark void he was stuck in.
"Oi! What the hell you say, you stupid voice!?" No way was he going to take that from some cocky sounding. . . . voice.
"Deaf too? My, my, my. Aren't you a piece of work." The voice laughed. Natsu could almost swear that it was grinning too.
'It's coming from all around me.' The voice wasn't coming from one direction. It was almost like an echo. It was bouncing around from all corners of the void. Natsu frowned. Where the hell was he? No matter how dumb he may have been his mind wouldn't be so lifeless. Something was going on and he a sneaking suspicion that it had to do with whatever spell Gajeel had placed on him.
The Voice hummed in thought as it watched the rose haired boy look all around him with calculating eye's. Well, wasn't that a surprise. An idiot the boy may of seemed, but it looked like he had a brain inside that head of his.
Crossing his arms as he aimlessly floated around the void, Natsu looked up, or what he guessed was up, with a quirked brow. He might as well try to get some answers from the annoying voice. "Oi, bastard." he called out to the Voice, "What the hell's going on? And why can't I see you? You afraid or something?" he grinned wolfishly.
Laughter roared all around Natsu as the Voice tried to calm itself down. Oh, so we had a fighter in the midst? This was definitely going to be more entertaining then the last dull mage who had used its artifact. Monks were never really fun.
"What's so funny!?" Natsu shouted feeling annoyed with the disembodied entity.
Calming back down, Natsu could only imagine the the amused grin on the Voice's face as it spoke down to him, "Nothing. It's just, when you usually have to deal with peace loving holy men who have sworn an oath of none violence for hundreds of years, I tend to enjoy myself when an idiot such as yourself stumbles upon my favorite toy."
"I didn't stumble upon your 'toy' and I'm not an idiot." Natsu scoffed as he tried to glare at the Voice, "Gramp's made me have to go under Gajeel's training to control my magic and the screw headed bastard placed me under this thing."
"Oh?" the Voice sounded curious, "So, you don't seek Enlightenment?"
Natsu frowned in thought. "Enlightenment? Hmm, . . . nah, not really." he shook his head with a grin, "Why would I want to instantly know the meaning of life and love? Isn't it better to find out that kind of stuff with your friends and nakama?" he grinned widely.
The Voice was stunned into silence at the honest answer. If Natsu could see it's face he would've of seen the look of complete shock written on it's face.
Once again, the Voice roared in amused laughter as it didn't even try to hide it's amusement.
In all it's years of guarding it's spell from ignorant fools seeking the short cut to complete awareness, it had never heard such an answer before. It was even more shocked the idiot even knew what the word meant.
"You're one of a kind, kid." The Voice chuckled before the next thing Natsu knew a bright white ray of light blinded him.
Slowly opening his eye's back up, Natsu was surprised to suddenly find a pure white cathedral door with gothic glass staining appear out of nowhere a few feet away from him.
The Voice smirked, "Go on. From what I can tell you want to come to terms with something that has been gnawing at your heart for a while now. The first step to cleansing that dark grudge lies within this door in front of you. But," the Voice grinned mischievously, "you have to reach the door first. Think you can reach it?"
"Of course!" Natsu grinned back as his hands lite up with fire magic, "Don't take a Fairy Tail mage lightly!"
Flames roared to life as Natsu began shooting off towards the white door with his hands acting like thrusters that spewed large flames out from his palms.
It was almost too easy. If things were going to be as easy as right now, then he'd be done before lunch time. And here he thought this whole training crap was going to be difficult.
The rising black spike begged to differ.
Weaving through the arcing string of darkness, Natsu grit his teeth as he tried to escape the spiking tendril, "Don't tell me you thought it was that easy?" the Voice scoffed as Natsu found even more spikes of nothing rise up from the abyss to chase after him, "You're more fucking interesting then the last monk that entered my domain, I'll give you that, but that doesn't mean I'm just going to let you waltz through here without testing you a bit."
Twisting out of a loop of arcing tendrils that tried to pierce his back, Natsu tried glaring at the Voice, raising his right palm forward a moment later as more of the annoying nothing gathered into a ridged mouthed wave tearing towards him.
He swiped the fire clad hand at the black wave causing a line of explosions to rip apart the wave back into nothingness. Turning back to the direction of the doorway, Natsu nearly dropped his jaw in disbelief. Was it him, or did the doorway look closer a few moments ago?
"Your eye's aren't fooling ya." The Voice admitted as it snickered, "Again, don't tell me you thought it was that easy? In order to get through the door, you got to chase after it. But watch out," it roared with laughter, "if the razor sharp tendrils of darkness don't get you, then it will."
"Fuck off!" Natsu roared at the Voice, snarling as ghoul looking faces of darkness rose up to capture him within their hold. They spiraled around the Dragon Slayer, hoping to crush him. But with a quick flare of fire magic they were reduced into ash.
That didn't stop the rest of it's friends to attack Natsu though.
Weaving through more of the sharp tendrils, Natsu had to improvise between using his hands as jets and vanishing the darkness with his flames. Burning down a towering pike in front of his way, Natsu nearly choked seeing the door distance itself farther away from him. That damn bastard just loved making things difficult.
A line of jawed spikes jutted out of the abyss from both sides of Natsu surprising him before they snapped at him like a wild animal. He sweated as the jaws chased after him, increasing the intensity of his flames to escape the nothing. If that wasn't bad enough, three more sets of jaws made of nothing erupted out of the darkness like wild dogs. They looped through each other as they tried to avoid the flames flowing from behind the rose haired mage, regenerating the parts that couldn't escape the flaming trail.
This was insane! It was like he was stuck inside some dark nightmare. No matter how many times he out ran the darkness it kept coming back. Even worse was the fact that no matter how close he came to reaching the white door it continued to escape his grasp. It was almost as if it had a mind of is own. The closer he came, the farther it backed away from him.
How the hell was this suppose to help him control his unstable magic?! All it was doing was pissing him off!
Sensing a large build up of magic from behind him, Natsu quickly veered off to his right side just a beam of purplish-black magic shot by him. He cursed as he bent his neck back a bit to watch as the snapping jaws opened their mouth to charge more magic.
"You want a piece of me, you stupid darkness!?" Natsu shouted angrily before coating his entire body with fire. Watching as they were about to fire off their combined shots of magic, Natsu began to rapidly spin himself till he resembled nothing but a flaming drill.
"Mesturyu Ogi: Guren Rasenkenkaku(Dragon Slayer's Secret Art: Crimson Lotus, Spiraling Sword Horn)!"
Shooting off towards the three jaws of nothing in incredible speeds, Natsu met their conjoined beams of magic head on, easily piercing through the magic before vanishing into embers right in front of the jaws.
"Keizoku-en(Continuation Flame)," In blinding speeds, multiple holes blew up all around the black jaws in succession with flames crawling around the manipulated nothingness. If the Voice wasn't impressed before it was certainly impressed now.
Not stopping his spin, Natsu made quick work of the darkness before flying off as it blew up a moment later, the holes drilling through the jaws erupting with large flames, ":Bakugo Neji(Detonation Screw)!"
"Nice!" it chuckled as it watched Natsu fly off like a bullet towards the door. He was getting closer from what it could tell. "But," it snapped its fingers, causing the entire void to rumble as a towering pillar of black ooze rose up in front of the door. "I did say to watch out for it!" it shouted it with an almost mad tone.
The pillar soon began to take shape before it molded its self into a deformed monster. It had round saucer like eye's, a gaping mouth watering with black muck, four ooze like arms and a head that looked like it didn't even have a neck. It's body constantly jiggled, meaning it was made out of the black substance that was chasing after him.
"Beware of the darkness, dragon boy." the voice said stoicly as the being of black ooze raised up two of its arms at the speeding mage, "No matter how far you run, you can't escape it."
Natsu smirked. Whoever said he was running away?
Ducking under the powerful swinging arm, Natsu tore up through its body before getting enough distance above it to fall back and drill through it's ugly head. The being froze, it's mouth trembling at the pain it felt. It was helpless as the next thing it knew it erupted into a geyser of dragon flames.
Nothing stood in his way any longer as Natsu speed off towards the exit. With the eruption of his fire magic completely wiping out the monster it seemed that the tendrils of nothing finally got the picture.
You messed with the dragon and you got burned.
Natsu's flames dispersed as he stopped his constant spinning reaching the door. He held his head feeling dizzy from overusing his spell. Man, was that a ride. Natsu held his cheeks just thinking about the thought. Never compare spells to rides, it was never a pleasant thought.
"Safe!" he smirked in victory before pulling the hinges of the door open. Blinding light greeted the fire mage as he stepped through the radiant door, grinning slightly knowing he was coming closer to finishing the first step to training.
Silence filled the void before the Voice roared with laughter at what it had just saw.
"I think I'm going to enjoy myself this time. Natsu Dragneel, lets see what your memories have in store for you."
(Unknown)
"What is this place?" Natsu frowned in confusingly as he finally made it through the mysterious door. After making his way through he found himself standing in a long white hallway that seemed to stretch on forever, its designing looking like it was belonging inside the cathedral back in Magnolia. Stain glassed windows ran along the multiple doors of the hall with white plant vases placed on the sides. Bright light shined through the windows, bathing the hall in a warm, content light.
The place actually brought a small smile to Natsu's face as he closed his eye's in content. After finding himself in a dark void of nothing this place was a welcoming scene.
"Nice place, isn't it?" A voice right above him grinned.
"You!" puffing his cheeks to comical proportions, Natsu wasted no time with grilling the bastard who had sent those annoying spikes and monsters made of nothing into a tender crisp. Flames flooded from his mouth as he roared a large stream of dragon fire at the person above him. The hall glowed an orange-red tint as Natsu continued to bathe the bastard till nothing was left but flickering flames in its place.
He grinned in satisfaction before his senses screamed at him to move out of the way.
"Kuro Akatsuki(Black Dawn)."
Jumping back, Natsu was glad he had moved away in time to move away from the sparking black baseball sized orb that had shot at his back. The ground blew up in sphere of black sparking magic, spinning in place as it decimated the floor into fine dust.
The spell finally faded away, revealing the floor in fine shape. That was strange. He was sure he had seen chunks flying when the spell hit. Was this part of the spell?
"Nice reflexes." the voice hummed in thought.
Natsu growled, "Where the hell are you?" he seethed.
The voice grinned, "Look up."
Turning to look above, Natsu found a hooded figure standing on the ceiling. The figure wore a black midnight cloak with a skeletal looking zipper running down it. He wore black steel toed boots with what looked like small knives hanging from its sides. He also wore baggy black pants with silver chains wrapping along his sides and gloves that has steel plates. Natsu couldn't see the man's face too clearly, but he could guess he shaggy raven hair that spiked at the bottom with a scar running down chin. But what caught Natsu's attention more then all was the odd scythe tied to his back. The blade sickle of the scythe resembled a curved fanged moon with holes running along its blade. A chain was also attached to it's handle that went towards his shoulder where it circled around in a bundle.
"Yo." the man or teen from the sound of his young voice greeted nonchalantly with a salute, "What's up?"
Natsu gave the guy a deadpanned stare.
"You, you dark ass."
"Now that's not very nice, my ass is tan. Of course you'll never know, I sorta like my women as women. You know?" he chided with a smirk.
"I'm really starting to not like you."
"Meh, you're really the first person who had the utter gall to say something as rude as that. I really don't know if I should kill you or buy you a beer."
"I thought we were in my mind. I don't remember selling beer in here."
"Tch." the hooded figure scoffed, "Kill joy."
Natsu ignored the weird man choosing to look at towards the doors stretching through the endless hall. "So, where am I now?" he asked the man.
The specter shook his finger chidingly, "First of all, when meeting someone new you should introduce your self's to each other. It's common curtsy."
"Fine." Natsu sighed wanting to get this whole thing over with, "My name's Natsu Dragneel. Fire Dragon Slayer and mage of Fairy Tail. Now who the hell are you?"
The man chuckled as he dropped from the ceiling to land in front of the fire mage with a graceful bow, "I am known by many names, The New Shadow, The Dark Juggernaut, The Fanged Gentlemen, The Bringer of Dark Memories, and The Mime of the Shadows. But, you may call me Zeke Gagetsu." Zeke grinned widely.
"Zeke, huh?" Natsu nodded before gesturing to one of the doors at his side, "Cool, now mind telling me where I am? I'm tired of people juggling the answer to my questions."
Zeke nodded with a careless shrug. At least they wouldn't be beating around the bush anymore now that he passed his test.
Moving his hands over one of the doors, the scythe wielding man began to explain, "First of all, the place you just came out of, the dark, creepy void of nothingness was called The Origin. Whether people like you who bathe in the warm, comforting light like it or not, everything comes from darkness. Even the purest of things came from a dark, twisted beginning."
"That's a lie!" Natsu shouted in outrage, not liking how he was nonchalantly talking about the light like was once a sick evil, "How can light be bad?!"
"I never said that." sighed Zeke before nodding in thought a second later, "But, in a way, yeah, light can be evil." he grinned only to be pushed against one of the doors by a pissed Dragon Slayer.
"Temper, temper." he laughed.
Natsu had enough with the chilled back mage. Ever since he had heard the guy's annoying voice in the void he could this sense of cold neutrality from him. And it raised the hairs on the back of his neck. It was like he was bordering the line of good and evil. He didn't know whether or not to trust the mysterious man in his mind. One wrong step with him and he could be finding himself stuck in some nightmare.
"You're really annoying me." Natsu hissed in anger as he found himself flowing with flames all around him. "People like you really piss me off. I don't know whether or not to trust you and if I am dumb enough to trust you, you stab me in the back! Don't talk crap about the light that Fairy Tail bathes in! Even if we coat ourselves in more light then others it doesn't matter! That's our guild! If you can't change for the better, then you're better off dead!" he roared as his skin began to crawl with dragon scales.
"Kyohi(Denial)." Zeke smiled in a thin line as he rejected the rose haired boy in a black pulse of magic that threw him off.
Dusting himself as he gazed down at the grimacing boy, Zeke laid down his unique scythe across Natsu's neck as he looked back at him. Natsu froze at the feeling of the blade pressed against his jugular as the hooded mage tsked.
"Aren't you the sensitive type. So full of anger. No wonder you're a fire mage, it suits you." he taunted, "Stop being such a drama queen. You didn't even let me finish the rest of your question." he sighed, ignoring the weak glare from Natsu as his magic held him down. He crossed his arms as he turned away from the mage, "As I was saying, the void you were in was The Origin. Blah,blah, blah, birth place of everything breathing and moving, including you." he glanced back, mildly surprised as he watched Natsu fight through his gravity spell.
'Hmph, one of a kind indeed.'
"The place, or world, you're in now is known as The Station of Memories. An endless hall, pathway, corridor, whatever you people want to call it that harbors every thing that has made you, you."
'Memories, huh?' Natsu thought as he picked himself back up from the odd spell. Whatever hit him must of finally wore off since he could stand back up right.
Was this suppose to help him find out the cause for his unusual anger and rage? Gajeel did say that it was a certain memory that brought him into the brink of desperation. Maybe he was suppose to use these doors to find the memory. But what was he suppose to do then? He couldn't just erase it. That would probably be impossible.
Maybe the jerk with the scythe knew what he was suppose to do. What other reason was there for him to be here while he tried to control his magic? He couldn't be some kind of guide. If he was, he was a pretty crappy one for trying to kill him.
Watching as he picked himself up, Zeke looked back at one of the doors with a content smile that slightly surprised Natsu. He didn't even know the guy could smile like a normal human being.
"Tell me, Natsu. Do you know what a memory is?"
"What?"
Zeke shook his head with an amused grin. "I don't mean the scientific definition of storing and processing information into a brain like an encoding. I'm talking about those moments, those memories, whether big or small, that can sometimes bring a tear to your eye in remembrance. Those moments that define you and make you into who you are, the person your family and friends love and trust with all their heart. The very things that even cause you grief and anguish to you even when you try to fight them. Do you know what your memories are to you?" he smiled towards Natsu.
"My memories?" Natsu said softly as he rested his hand towards his heart, suddenly fining himself deeply confused/
Why was he having a hard time coming up with an answer? He should of known the answer to that. But, for some weird reason he couldn't remember the answer to the question. It was like his head went blank at the what the other mage was saying.
'What do my memories mean to me?' he gripped his head in frustration as Zeke shook his head in pity.
"Don't worry." he said softly before raising his palm straight at Natsu's chest. "You'll remember soon enough."
"Kyohi(Denial)."
Natsu didn't even fight back against the spell as he was sent through the door he behind, passing by it as if it was a mirage. His mind was too stumped by the question to even alarm him to what happened.
As the dragon mage went through the door without any struggle Zeke laid back into one of the doors with wide grin on his face.
"Question is, will you be ready for the third part of your test once you clear that lead head of yours."
(Unknown Memory)
"Wow! It's huge! Is this really a guild?"
'T-This place! This memory, I remember it.' Natsu thought in stunned silence as he snapped back out from his trance like state to an all too familiar scene.
A boy wearing a red long sleeved coat in light brown cargo pants with a white bag on his back stared in wonder of the tall building in front of him. The boy had spiky pink hair with onyx black eye's and a white scaled scarf around his neck. He stood by another familiar face with an odd smiling faced staff at his side. It was Master Makarov and the boy standing next to him was none other then himself, just as he was when he first joined the guild.
'Is this. . . a memory?' Natsu wondered as he stood by the sides of the scene. He looked curiously at his hands noticing they had become see through, almost like he was an illusion. Like he was a ghost to everyone in the memory he was in.
'This was when I had first joined Fairy Tail.' he smiled as he watched Makarov explain the meaning of the guilds name.
"Yes. Fairy Tail." Makarov nodded as little Natsu listened to his every word, "Do fairies have tails? Nobody even knows if they exist in the first place. That's it's an eternal mystery. An eternal adventure. That's the meaning behind the name." he smiled as Natsu continued to stare at the building in awe.
"I don't really get it, but awesome!" little Natsu grinned with starry eye's.
Natsu chuckled, "I can't believe I was so amazed at seeing the guild the first time. But seeing as I never really had even seen one before till Master found me, I can see why I was all giddy." he grinned.
"So, this is a guild full of mages?" A familiar voice muttered beside him.
Turning to his left to find the hooded scythe wielding mage beside him, Natsu tried to hide his surprise at seeing him in his memory. "What are you doing here?" he asked confusingly.
Zeke shrugged. "Meh, I was going to become bored waiting for you finish looking through your memories. So, I decided to join you down memory lane." he grinned.
"Whatever." Natsu grumbled before remembering what the man had just said, "Wait, you've never seen a guild before?"
"No, not really." he yawned as he watched the little Natsu run into the guild, dragging the funny looking short old man with him. "Like I said before, my artifact has only been used by monks seeing peace of mind and enlightenment. The occasional bandit would find my spell, or a maybe a mage, but that's about it." he looked back at Natsu with slightly narrowed eye's, "Mage's have no reason to dabble in my magic. It was meant for unlocking the secrets of this world and reaching nirvana. And not many have left my domain whole. I detest ignorance and those who only seek my knowledge without a solid reason. Becoming one with the universe isn't good enough for me to leave any alive."
"So you've actually killed people who have used this thing?" Natsu frowned, thinking of all the poor souls who have died by his hand. "That's not right." he scowled with clenched fists.
"What's not right is the reason why people seek shortcuts to their problems." Zeke rebutted, "And you'll join them too if you don't wise up sooner or later. Stupidity kills, immaturity shuns, ignorance sins, and cockiness downfalls. Even though you don't seek Enlightenment, you seek peace of mind at the anger you hold towards one individual who has caused you pain. Maybe not directly, but indirectly by someone you care for with all your heart."
The scene before the two wavered into static before it flashed forward to little Natsu meeting his first friend, or rival in his case.
"What's your problem? I don't like your look." A small shirtless boy with spiky black hair frowned as he looked at the pink haired kid standing in front of him.
"Gray, your clothes."
"Not again!" Gray jumped in surprise as his head went back and forth in search of his clothes.
"Pfft. You're just some freak." Natsu scoffed boredly as he turned away from the glaring stripper. Man did Fairy Tail have some weird people.
"Who you calling a freak, squinty eye's!" Gray hissed as he butted heads with an equally glaring Natsu.
"I'm talking about you, droopy eyed pervert!"
"Pink haired monkey!"
"Shirtless weirdo!"
Not a second later a cloud of dust rose up as the two young mage's broke out into a fight in the middle of the guild hall. The guild members laughing and cheering on the two as they watched the fight play out.
"As children we are ignorant to the world we are born into. Blissfully unaware that it holds more to it then light and even darkness." Zeke spoke stoicly as he watched the memory along with Natsu. "But that's alright. We eventually grow with experience. Not good experience, but sorrowful ones. These fun moments that we wished to last forever can only be persevered within our hearts. Reality is cruel and only through pain can people grow into decent human beings."
"You certainly don't seem the type for looking into the lighter side." Natsu sighed, trying to enjoy his memory with Mr. Dark-out-look beside him. "Did you always think this way?"
"More or less." Zeke shrugged. "Like I said, only through pain can people grow. You must suffer before you can ever be happy."
"That's enough!" A girl with scarlet red hair done in a braid down to her waist wearing an armor plate over her white dress ordered. She separated the two from each other with a small scowl.
Natsu growled as he looked back at the girl who had just interupted his fight. Who was she to tell him what to do?
"You think I'm going to quit!?" Natsu shouted at the girl.
He regretted the next second as he was sent crashing against the guilds wall in a cracked crater along with the black haired kid too.
Natsu winced watching his younger self fall back from the blow with few bumps on his head. Man did he remember that. It was the first he had learned to watch his mouth around Erza. You always had to watch what you said around her in fear of her sending you flying with a strong backhand.
He didn't feel bad for Gray though. Bastard deserved it for starting the fight.
Turning back to Natsu and Gray, Erza sent the two a sharp look, "No fighting. Got it?" she said sternly.
"R-Right." Gray stuttered in fear.
"S-Scary. . . Strong." Natsu cringed as he held his sore head. It was almost as if he had been reprimanded by Igneel. That red haired girl was really strong.
Erza raised a brow curiously now noticing the new face to the guild she had never seen before. She hummed in thought as she looked him over. "What's your name?" she asked as Natsu looked back at her.
Natsu pouted angrily at the girl before looking away to his side, ". . . Natsu." he grumbled getting a small smile out of the firm girl.
"Natsu, huh?" Erza smiled, "Listen. Everyone who comes to Fairy Tail is like family. And this is our house. A family's house is not a place to fight. Do you understand?" she looked back softly.
'No, I don't understand.' Natsu thought with a gentle grin as he watched his memory self look down in confusion with an embarrassed blush. 'But you taught me all about what it meant to be a Fairy Tail mage along with everyone else. Even that damn stripper Gray. You guy's opened me up to nakama and family.'
"Whatever." he scoffed with a embarrassed look on his face.
Erza could only grin. "I am Erza by the way. Nice to meet you."
"Erza's scary." Natsu whispered in slight fear getting Gray to nod.
"See?" he whispered back.
Looking back at each other they both grinned suddenly scowling as they looked away from each other.
"See? It's these memories that build you up into who you are today." Zeke explained as multiple memories began to play before their eye's like a clip show. "Happy, sad, painful, and pleasant. No matter the memory they become a part of who you are as a person. But it's not always a good thing. Memories are the sharpest double edged swords. They can have a negative effect even on the purest of humans."
"But their who we are." Natsu said softly as he re-watched his entire life play back before his eye's. He almost forgotten some of the things he was seeing again. And he couldn't help but tear up a bit at some of the things he was witnessing all over again.
The memories of his time with Igneel. The day he left and was left all alone once again. Meeting Master Makarov in the forests near Magnolia. Being brought into the guild. Becoming friends with Erza, Gray, Lissana, Mirajane, Elfman, Cana, and everyone else. Finding Happy in the forest and raising him with Lissana. Going on missions and learning how to fight alongside nakama. Losing Lissana to death even though it wasn't real. Growing through the pain alongside his friends and growing stronger through it all. Searching for his father from all the leads he had heard during his missions. Meeting Lucy and bringing her back to Fairy Tail. Even the freshest memory of meeting Knightwalker and bringing her back to the guild after opening her up to nakamas. And all the memories after that. They all played back through his mind clearer then day.
And it was through that he was starting to feel his head clear up from the sudden blankness he suffered from Zeke's question.
With new eye's Natsu looked back at the dark entity with his fists clenched firmly at his side, the memories playing back behind him speeding up in almost a blur causing his pink locks of hair to flap wildly around him.
"My memories are my friends. My nakama. Their my heart and my sole reason for living besides finding Igneel." he answered with clear conviction before closing his eye's. The memories suddenly paused as they began to break apart into rainbow like ribbons that slowly flowed back where they came from, into Natsu's mind and heart as the world darkened.
Zeke was actually stunned at the unusual display. In all his time of guiding those who had come far enough to learn the answer to his question he had never seen the fragments of who they were flow back into their heart. He only thought that they would return back into his head. He never imagined that they would be stored inside their heart.
"They mean the world to me, and I'll always treasure even the small fleeting moments I've enjoyed with all my nakama, my family! That's why I won't let you call light evil! To call light evil is to call my friends evil! Because their my light!" Natsu roared as he blew away the darkness creeping around him from the loss of scene with his fire. Everything was burned away until only the white hallway was left.
Now Zeke was impressed. Shelling his face from the wild mass of flames producing from the dragon mage in front of him, Zeke couldn't help but grin at the power he was witnessing. Such destructive potential. If the boy was a dark mage then the entire world would be screwed.
'His mind is weak now. It's time for him to find out how even memories can break a man into darkness.'
"Then it's time find out what your light can do stand against your own hate." Zeke grinned madly before snapping his fingers in the air.
The world before them bled into into a dark red sky with black cloud floating above them in a split second as Zeke cackled in amusement. The ground under them turned into a swampy field of dark roots, sharp torn up boulders, and rotten logs. Everything looked twisted as if he was trapped within a nightmare. Even The Origin looked better compared to this new world Zeke had brought him to. This place smelled nothing but dark, twisted magic.
Zeke spread his arms out at the scene he had brought Natsu in with neutral smile. "Welcome to The Corridor of the Heart. Currently though, it's been twisted by a rather nasty memory that has brought you into a mad rage within your heart. Bringing what was once suppose to be a beautiful scene of light into this barren swamp of grudging hate."
"So," Natsu said as his eye's looked back and forth around the new world he had been sent to. "this is the third step to controlling my magic? And let me guess," he glared at the bowing hooded man, flames still flowing around his body, "I have to kick your ass to finish this part before finally finishing this dumb training. I don't have a problem with that. In fact," he cracked his knuckles menacingly with a dark glint in his eye. "I'm going to enjoy this."
Oh was he going to enjoy this. From what he could tell this place was meant to be a battlefield. That was fine with Natsu if Zeke wanted to fight. Since he had met the dark aloof bastard he wanted to punch his lights out. And now it looked like he had the chance to beat him to a bloody pulp.
It didn't seem to be that way though as Zeke shook his index finger at the rose haired mage with a teasing grin. And for some reason it didn't pump up Natsu at the prospect of a fight.
"Not exactly. You are correct, you will be fighting me. But some one else is going to join us from the outside world!" he laughed bringing Natsu's eye's to widen.
"Come out and play, Jellal!" Zeke shouted before snapping his fingers once again.
A shining beam of golden light pierced through the dark clouds stunning Natsu before the beam crashed in between the two mages with thunderous force. Smoke rose up from the blast in a plume that clouded the figure inside, bringing the feeling of his heart being gripped tightly to Natsu.
Standing within the smoke, was a blue haired man with spiky hair. He had brown eye's and a strange reddish tattoo on the side of his eye. He wore a form of a close-fitting dark outfit, with a leather-like material composing of gloves and boots and covering his shoulders and the upper part of his legs, provided with sets of three holes each, possibly for aerodynamics, and decorated by groups of three thin lines over the arms and legs, with a double set adorning the chest. He also wore a pendant reminiscent of the Ten Holy Mages.
The man with the blue hair was none other then Jellal Fernandes, an ally and once enemy to Natsu.
"J-Jellal?" Natsu stuttered as he shook in shock at seeing him within his mind. He was literally the last person he had thought of to seen in here.
Flexing his fingers in slight awe, Jellal looked back at the dragon mage briefly with a cold look in his eye, "Natsu. . ." he whispered stoicly before disappearing in a glow of magic.
"Ryusei(Meteor)."
No sooner had those words drifted into Natsu's ear's did he find himself knocked around in a blinding barrage of kicks and punches by the blue haired mage.
'What the hell's going on!?' Natsu felt blood fly out his mouth as Jellal slammed his fist under his chin, sending him falling back before the fast mage reappeared behind him to ram his elbow into his spine. He coughed in pain, cringing from the powerful blow as he fall back on his knees.
"Ten no Hari(Heavenly Beams)!"
"Dammit." Natsu coughed, watching as Jellal sent yellow streaking beams of magic towards him. Picking himself back up Natsu coated his both of his hands with fire before raising them back behind his back, "Karyu no Yokugeki(Fire Dragon's Wing Attack)!"
He brought back his hands towards the beams just as they were closing in to their target to send two streams of burning hot flames. They collided head on, disrupting each others magic to blow up in a violent boom.
Natsu smirked, glad that he had countered the beams before his senses told him move back.
"Tsuki o Zanshu(Beheading Moon)." A slicing line of black tinted magic went right through where Natsu's neck would have been as he jumped to the side to avoid the deadly crescent mooned scythe. The Dragon Slayer growled angrily at Zeke who stood right by Jellal, smirking at the look sent his way.
"What? I did say you were right. It's just that your friend Jellal here is going to help me out. After all," he grinned, "you do hate the guy, right?"
"Shut up! I'm not fighting Jellal! He's one of my nakama!" Natsu shouted furiously. Even if he had once fought the guy and beaten him to bloody pulp, he didn't want to fight him again. He was his friend. And he wasn't going to fight him in a place like this.
Zeke seemed almost confused. "What are you talking about? I saw those memories inside your head too. He caused you great anger. He hurt someone close to you who you couldn't stand seeing cry. Why are you calling someone like that a friend?"
"Because he ended up losing his memory of what he did! He regrets what he did to Erza and he wanted to make up for it! That's why I consider him as a nakama of Fairy Tail!"
"And if he got back his memory?"
"W-What?" Natsu froze as Zeke spoke stoicly.
"Let me tell you a little something of this spell, Natsu. I created this thing using my all. Every bit of magic in this body was put into this thing that I had ended up dying with my soul and spirit infused within. I reached a total understanding of everything through the fusion of magic, the life force of the world. The simple, odd looking ball crosses the line of reality. If I wanted to I could bring in someone from outside of here into here through magic." he gestured to the cooly gazing meteor mage, "The man you know as Jellal here is not a fake. Meaning he had really attacked you with the intent to kill. He knows what he's doing and it doesn't look like he considers you as a friend either." he grinned.
"You're lying!" Natsu shouted in fury only to frown as Jellal roared in laughter.
"Still as naïve as when we had last met." Jellal smirked, narrowing his eye's in disgust at the rose haired mage. "Don't mention that weak, fool minded man that I use to be. Remembering all that he had did and said while I was recovering from the memory loss only brings me fury. To think you actually considered me as a nakama." he held his side in laughter at the thought, not noticing the look of pure anger in Natsu's dilated eye's.
"What a joke! Now that my memory is back I can clearly remember what an annoying pest you are! Just like Erza. Both naïve fools who can only blab on about useless things such as her love!"
"What the hell is wrong with you, Jellal!" Natsu grit his teeth doing his best to control himself at the man in front of him. Old feeling were slowly rising up as Natsu could feel the veins in his neck throb from the strain of holding his anger back. For the sake of not wanting to hurt his friend, Natsu was fighting the urge to pound that annoying smirk of his face.
"This isn't you! Remember Erza? Remember the tears you brought to her eye's because of that possessed mind of yours?"
Jellal hummed in thought. "Now that you mention it, I do. But," he disappeared in an after image of himself.
"I also remember the feeling of being locked up against my will in a dark, cold prison!" he roared in anger before reappearing behind Natsu with his fist closed except for two fingers, "Ten Imochi(Heaven Blast)!"
Not having enough time to dodge, Natsu raised up his arms to shield himself from the spell. An orb of yellow sparking magic rammed straight into Natsu's defense with its size nearly towering over him. The force of the spell pushed him back on his feet, his feet skidding against the swampy ground as he grit his teeth feeling his arms sting painfully.
Natsu fought against the sparking ball till he couldn't take it anymore. The blast was torn apart with a mighty swing of both his arms before he growled as he ducked under a back kick to his spine. Jellal aimed both his hands in a hammer fist at Natsu's head only to miss. The Dragon Slayer spun by another right hook, kicking his leg up to block Jellal's own kick, and jumped back from a glowing swipe from his palm that blew up the ground in front of him.
Attempting another right hook, Jellal grinned catching Natsu by surprise as he blinked out of thin air and came falling back from above him with his hands raised above him.
"Ten no Ya(Heavenly Arrows)!"
Multiple sparking yellow arrows rain down from above, pelting Natsu who was unable to escape Jellal's attack. He gasped in pain as the smoke kicked up from the spell faded away, only to bite his tongue from the axle kick to the head. Not stopping there, Jellal called on his Ryusei magic to increase the speed of his kicks as he began to ruthlessly stomp all over the Dragon Slayer.
"What's wrong, Natsu?!" Jellal grinned, enjoying the grunts of pain coming off the fire mage, "Don't tell me that's all you got? To think I was beaten by a runt like you! The only reason you even won was because of that power boost you got from eating Etherion. You can't even fight me evenly without some cheap power up to help you out. How pathetic!" he shouted before swiping his palm at Natsu.
"Ten no Uchiwake(Heavenly Breakdown)!" the ground under Natsu blew up in an eruption of swampy water and dirt, blowing back the injured Dragon Slayer to fall on his back.
Jellal scoffed at the sorry sight, "Pathetic. You can't even stand back up from an attack like that? To think this was the light that Erza believed in. She was always a stupid girl. Nothing but a fleeting flame."
"S-Shut up!" Natsu gasped, weakly trying to get back with the help of his hands, "You don't even have the right to speak Erza's name!"
"Oh?" Jellal raised an eyebrow curiously, a dark look shadowing his face a second later, "I can talk about Erza as much as I want. She was my property before you and your friends came to my tower to take her from me. You and her ruined my plans for reviving Zeref. I can't forgive that."
"Letting her go off from The Tower of Heaven to live her life out to its fullest with the threat of her friends life hanging from her shoulders wasn't my most thought out plan. I should of kept her caged up within instead of giving her a life. She's become a broken tool in the end instead of a key to paradise. What a worthless life gifted." he sighed in disappointment.
"Karyu no Hoko(Fire Dragon's Roar)!"
A stream of barreling fire rushed towards Jellal who flew away from the spell with the use of his Ryusei magic. But the stream didn't stop there. The flaming roar curved back at Jellal, following him until the mage had no choice but to send multiple beams of magic to tear it apart.
A shadow rose up from above Jellal causing his eye's to widen in panic before the enraged shout of a Dragon Slayer caught him off guard, "Karyu no Koen(Fire Dragon's Brilliant Flame)!"
Jellal was engulfed in a giant flame of dragon flames as Natsu landed back in front of the explosion. He watched by with a shadowed expression as the fire raged for a few moments before it was blown away with a swing of his arm.
The spell was painful. Jellal had to catch his breath as he cringed from the burns running around his body. A bit of his specially designed suit was burned off but he other then the burns he was fine.
"What ticked you off, Natsu?" Jellal grinned with one of his eye's closed in pain.
"I'm done." the Heavenly Body mage's eye's widen in surprise as he suddenly found himself backhanded into a rotten tree, nearly snapping it in half from the force he was sent flying. Weakly getting up from the blow, Jellal was nearly blown away as flames erupted out from under Natsu, flowing wildly around him as he looked back at him with uncontrollable anger.
"You can say what you want about me, I don't care. But when you start saying such things about Erza, I won't forgive you. You're going to pay everything you've said about her!" Natsu shouted as he unleashed all the fire inside of him to gather in an aura of flames. Everything around the Dragon Slayer was devastated by the powerful incinerating aura of magic, sending everything flying in burning embers.
Zeke smirked as he watched from the sides. It looked like Natsu had forgotten about him. Oh well, that was alright. This fight was between them anyways. And it looked things were about to get serious. He could always join in whenever he wanted.
"I'm going to make it that you can never utter Erza's name ever again! I swear!" he roared furiously before tearing a large wave of magic at Jellal.
(Outside Natsu's body.)
"Get ready!" Gajeel shouted, noticing Natsu's body begin to slowly get up. All three mage's were on guard as they watched the fire mage stand back like a zombie before his head shot up to reveal glowing red eye's narrowed in a look of complete anger. His body steamed as flames flowed out of his body, alarming all three that the calm was over.
The storm was about to hit.
And done! Natsu's body is about to about to lose control of its magic and go on a rampage. Will our heroes be able to contain the enraged beast that dwells within the happy Dragon Slayer? And what about Natsu himself who is stuck inside his mind? Will he be able to control his angered state of mind in the face of Jellal who had made the very person he had sworn to never let cry? And what about Zeke? Who is this dashing, cool, and mysterious entity of nothing?
You'll have to find out on the next chapter of The Story of a Dragon, a Knight, and a Fairy Hunter!
. . . . That actually felt pretty kick-ass. I can see why the announcer of Dragon Ball Z does it all time.
Anyways, to tell you the truth, I finished this chapter the other day. I was just too busy with writing the next to post it up with Thanksgiving and all.
And some of you might be wondering why I called Zeke dashing and cool. Look in the name of his alias and you'll see why. Specifically one name will give out his true identity.
Cookie to those who guess right. You can't eat it of course. It's virtual!
Welp, I got to get some writing done before I get some shut eye. I finish the next chapter along with two other new stories and then work on the next chapter of A Time Before Fairy Tales.
Oh, before I forget! In the near future, probably near the summer, I'll be trying my hands on a crossover with Fairy Tail. With Natsu as the main protagonist of course. Who else?
. . . . No, not your mother. Who am I talking to anyways?
I'll put up a poll in future on which manga I should cross with Fairy Tail, but if you want to throw around some ideas don't be afraid to tell me in your review. I already got a few but few more won't hurt.
And on a very last side note, I've heard about xchrispx510's strive to make his story THE Naza fic along with Sheduawz. I only got one thing to say.
Bring it. I love a challenge. Especially since I currently hold the 1st place in both favorited and followed Naza story on the site. Shinji01ikari holds the title for most reviewed and longest, but it's only a matter of time before I surpass his story.
So come my fans and help me make this story great! Review and follow, it's common curtesy.
NeoShadows fading in and out.
