I'm back! And ready with a new chapter!
Before we get down to reading to our hearts content, I would like to bring up some important message on behalf of my fellow writers, Shedauwz and Roxas.97. It seems to me people are ignoring Roxas's story, Venomous Reality because of its pairing. Come on people! Give the story a review before judging it. It's actually pretty good, not to mention it's 50,000 words long so far. Give it a shot and leave a review for heavens sake. It's not reviewing that ends up making us feel like we aren't doing a good job and abandon our stories. Try and help keep a good author from leaving a story unfinished.
So give the story a go once you're all done reading and reviewing. It would mean a lot in more ways then one.
Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Fairy Tail, it belongs to Hiro Mashima.
I love chicken. There! I said it! I'm not afraid to admit it! Now gimme the chicken you promised me, you Kentucky Fried Chicken sponsoring bastards! I won't fall to threats against my life to sell my soul online!
But offer me chicken and I'll even do that annoying Baby, Baby song. I ain't afraid to sell my soul for some chicken.
. . . . . Don't judge me dammit.
Chapter 10: Listen to your Heart.
Bickslow grunted as he ducked under a wave of lashing flames before commanding his dolls to form a shield in front of him. The dolls blocked a powerful stream of flames bringing a sigh of relief to the Siege mage, nearly buckling under the intensity of the heat slowly pushing him back.
This wasn't how he had pictured his day to go. He was more or less expecting to go on a mission with his team for some carrying around money. Maybe even see if he could get a date with a chick while he was at it. You know, a nice peaceful day. Nothing chaotic for once.
He should of known better. Being a Fairy Tail mage practically entitled nothing was ever peaceful.
The flames faded away revealing the glowing deep red eye's of everyone's favorite fire Dragon Slayer glowing with uncontrollable rage. His body was crouched like a beast, his mouth snarling with flames escaping out from his teeth and Bickslow could even catch what he believed were scales crawling around the bottom of his hands. The very ground under the Dragon Slayer was melted into fine mud from the fire bathing his entire body, his fingers clawing into the dirt with clawed nails.
Things were more or less heating up. It hadn't even been fifteen minutes and already Bickslow was struggling to control the fire mage. He panted as the temperature in the area was raised up in desert like weather with Natsu's presence alone.
So this was Natsu when he payed no attention towards human life. It was almost terrifying how powerful he was when the restraints were off.
A black glint caught Bickslow's eye warning him to duck as the next second multiple glowing emerald lances shot in succession straight towards Natsu from behind him.
"Tetsuryuso: Kishin(Iron Dragon's Lance: Demon Logs)!"
Natsu swiped his clawed hands sending a wall of flames to wash away the iron pikes into incineration, grinning madly the next second as his other hand swiftly blocked the rapier of Freed from his side. He blocked a rapid assault from the dark writing mage as Freed struggled to land a blow onto the possessed mage. Ducking under a swipe towards his neck, Natsu slashed at the green haired man's midsection only to have him jump back. He snorted before blowing flames from his mouth to chase after the man. Freed grimaced feeling the intensity of the magic before writing runes in front of him with the use of his sword just as the spell reached him.
"Yami no Ekurityuru: Kyozetsu(Dark Ecriture: Reflect)!"
A set of purple runes in a line flew out of the blade of the rapier interceding Natsu's dragon roar before sending it flying back in broken lines of fire. Natsu roared at the reflected attack causing a shock wave produced from the roar to tear apart the flames along with everything else in his vicinity. The three Fairy Tail mages shielded their faces in the wake of the shock wave as they were pelted with chunks of earth.
Gajeel suddenly gasped in pain as he found his side sliced by sharp claws before his face was kicked in by the merciless talon feet of Natsu. He was sent flying into the water of the small waterfall, quickly catching himself. He grimaced as blood flowed from his wound before calling on some steel scales to patch up the four lined wound. Who knew Natsu could be so ruthless?
Quickly catching his breath, Gajeel stood back up just as Natsu blurred right in front of him to slash at him wildly with his clawed hands. He returned the favor as both Dragon Slayers met in clawed melee combat. They clashed claws of steel and fire in a break neck speeds, sending sparks flying in the process. Natsu aimed for uppercut only for Gajeel to swipe away at the attack, raising up his knee a moment later to send the fire mage falling back. He caught himself quickly by his hands before using the momentum to blow flames from his feet in Gajeel's face. The iron Dragon Slayer grit his teeth not having enough time to move away as he was flooded by the red hot magic jets.
The flames bathed mage in scolding fire only for him to blow it away as if it were smoke. He revealed himself to be covered head to toe in iron black scales that shined in the afternoon sun as smoke drifted off his body from the flames. He grinned wolfishly at the growling possessed Natsu who seemed to be ticked off at seeing the iron mage in one piece. The sight brought him to slammed both his arms to the ground sending two blazing arcs flying at Gajeel.
Gajeel swiped his arms at the the arcs causing the air pressure produced from his iron hand to fly in a line. The swipe vanished the attack into little embers before Gajeel was forced onto the defensive as Natsu once again appeared out of nowhere behind him. A flaming fist aimed towards his chest only for the iron mage to raise up his hands to block the blow. Natsu licked his lips cruelly bringing Gajeel's eye's to widen as he watched flames sprout out from the end of his elbow. The jets of fire created more pressure to press against his defending arms that made him grit his teeth in frustration.
"Dammit!" he cursed as he ended up losing the struggle and was sent off his feet. He flew off expecting to land on his back only for the fire mage to blur above his airborne form to crush him with a hammer fist to his stomach.
Bickslow frowned as Gajeel cracked the ground under him with his fall from the blow he had just taken, the earth actually breaking into a small crater from the strength a split second later.
This was crazy. Just how strong was Natsu? He had never seen him take out a mage so fast before. And not a weak mage that they had fought in groups. From the looks of it even Gajeel's iron scales weren't able to stand up against the last hit. The iron Dragon Slayer was left panting in pain as Natsu went off after Freed next as they weaved around each other in a mix of claw strikes and blade swipes.
Gajeel wasn't kidding when he said Natsu was going to go all out. Bickslow clutched his right arm tightly as he felt the burn he had suffered when the pink haired mage had first attacked blister. He was lucky he hadn't been caught in one of his roar based spells. The Siege mage would have been screwed.
"Bickslow!" Freed shouted as he ducked a kick to his head from Natsu, "Don't stand around like an idiot! Help out over here!" he grimaced as Natsu missed his head with his claws to only scratch his cheek.
"You heard him babies!" Bickslow grinned as he pointed to the out of control mage. "Let's stop messing around and bring the pain!"
"Bring the pain! Bring the pain!" the dolls chanted before blinking in and out all over the fire mage as Freed jumped away from the incoming spell.
"Mattan Fomeshon(End Formation)!"
Blast after blast of green magic pelted Natsu as the iron totem dolls phased all around him so that he wouldn't be able to hit back. The spell annoyed Natsu before he couldn't take it anymore and clapped his hands together to engulf himself in a large explosion that blew the dolls back.
Calming down the flames Natsu summoned two spiraling balls of fire onto the palms of his hand before throwing them towards both Freed and Bickslow. They dodged the blazing balls just as they blew up in embers and began weaving through the next ones being shot at him. Side stepping another ball of combustion, Freed aimed several well aimed slashes towards Natsu's person. He frowned as the fire mage dodged each strike of his rapier only to be suckered punched by Bickslow who caught him by surprise. The sucker punched most of pissed of the already anger possessed mage as the two soon found themselves nearly blown back from the mighty roar escaping Natsu's mouth.
"Oh you angry huh?" Bickslow smirked before running towards the enraged pink head, his dolls flying around him wildly in a axis, "Dai Norio Senso Odori(Tome Man War Dance)!"
The attack smacked Natsu around with every blow as the dolls hit him from every corner of his body before Bickslow sweep kicked his legs off the ground. Aiming the dolls at the fallen mage Bickslow commanded his babies to shoot down Natsu that he wouldn't get back up. Smoke blew up from the gauntlet fire digging Natsu into the dirt as his body bled from the magic like bullets. If he could talk properly he would probably be cursing out the doll users name.
Backing away as he canceled the attack, Bickslow fell in step with Freed and Gajeel who had just gotten back up from his stomach nearly dented. All three gathered themselves together as they watched Natsu slowly rise back up, closing his wounds with a quick burst of fire.
The damn idiot was one hell of a juggernaut. No matter how hard they hit back he still got back up without any hesitation. And it looked like he was just warming up.
Cleaning some blood that had escaped his mouth from the hard blow to the stomach that he was going to return with a vengeance, Gajeel looked back to the equally sweating members of the Thunder God Tribe, "Let's put this idiot down enough for him to stop his rampaging for awhile. I'm getting sick of him puking out his flames to grill us like we were some smoked fish." he smirked.
"As long as we don't critically injure him." Freed agreed firmly.
Bickslow snorted while blowing on his burned arm, "Why should we hold back when he nearly burned my arm off!? I swear the bastard did that on purpose for the dumbass comment from earlier!"
"Don't worry." Gajeel reassured Freed as Natsu roared angrily at them, "He won't feel anything at all. All we're trying to do is keep him from escaping and wrecking havoc on Magnolia while he tries to cope with his anger. It's not like we're trying to kill him."
"Right!" the Siege mage grinned as he gathered his dolls to spin around in a pentagon formation. "We shouldn't feel sorry for what we do to Natsu. We should feel sorry for not being able to keep ourselves from getting hurt by our rampaging friend."
Freed sighed as his nakama began to build up their individual spells. They were right. For the good of their friend they couldn't afford to worry for his safety when he was trying to kill them. If either one of them wound up dead then they would only cause great grief to Natsu.
"Fine." Freed nodded as he built up magic within his rapier, "For the sake of our friend I won't hold back!" he shouted firmly before all three unleashed their spells.
"Barion Fomeshon(Baryon Formation)!"
"Tetsuryu no Hoko(Iron Dragon's Roar)!"
"Yami no Ekurityuru: Haretsu(Dark Ecriture: Rupture)!"
Three separate spells tore apart the earth before the red eyed Natsu, one a beam of spiraling green magic, the second a buzz screw like tornado of gray razor sharp shrapnel steel, and the last a bursting wave of purple magic. All Natsu could do was snarl before he was enveloped within the explosion of the combined spells.
(Back at Fairy Tail)
"Where the hell did that idiot go?" Knightwalker pouted as she sat around the guild with Erza eating cakes to pass the time now that Natsu was nowhere in sight. She bit into her blueberry cake roughly still upset with the fact she couldn't see her beloved today after what she had heard from the flying blue cat.
She was hoping to drag Natsu around the town for a little sightseeing today. Even if her scarlet twined protested to the idea she was somehow hoping to sneak pass the knight and kidnap the rose haired boy if she had to. She did once and she was sure she could do it again.
Unfortunately that wasn't going to happen any time soon now that she had found out that Natsu had disappeared this morning to who knows where. Happy didn't even seem to know where he might of gone off to. Knightwalker sighed in slight depression at the thought on not seeing his cheerful face when she had walked into the guild this morning. It felt like she had woken up to a sunless morning.
Erza shook her head at the gloomy cloud that seemed to form over her Edolas self, trying her best to sip her tea without falling into depression along with Knightwalker.
While she too was slightly ticked off with Natsu vanishing off into thin air without even telling Happy where he might of wandered off to, Erza gave the Dragon Slayer the benefit of the doubt. Wherever he might of went off to, it must have been for good reason if he decided not to tell anyone. She'd just have to wait till he came back before she get him to tell him where he went.
Even if it meant she had to use force to get him to spill the beans.
Looking around the guild hall Erza found that Natsu wasn't the only missing from the group. It looked like Gray was even missing too. Not to mention Gajeel, Freed, and Bickslow. Gildarts was most likely with the master seeing as they had both left to talk in his office over something important. If she didn't know any better, both Natsu and Gray were most likely fighting somewhere in private in fear of her wrath. Erza had to sweatdrop at the thought. She wasn't that bad, was she?
Though that wouldn't explain why Juvia was imitating Knightwalker as she sat beside them with her own rain cloud over her. If they had really been fighting then Juvia would have been following Gray and watching the two fight. The girl always knew where Gray was so this was actually a bit surprising.
"So you don't know where Gray is either, Juvia?" Erza asked the water mage curiously.
Juvia nodded sadly, blowing her nose in a tissue courtesy of the ex-fairy hunter, "No, Juvia looked everywhere for her Gray-sama, but I couldn't find him anywhere. Maybe Juvia upset Gray-sama. He probably doesn't want to see Juvia's face ever again!" she sobbed as tears streamed down her face in waterfalls, Knightwalker patting the blue haired women consolingly.
When did those two start to get along? It kinda made sense considering they both had 'love rivals'.
"It's alright Juvai-chan. Our idiot lovers will be back soon enough. We just have to wait for them to come back." Knightwalker said soothingly.
Erza stared flatly at Knightwalker, ". . . Lovers? Since when?"
"Why do you always have to burst my bubble Erza? Can't you let me enjoy myself?" Knightwalker pouted.
Sniffing back her tears, Juvia smiled at the redheaded woman in a ponytail, "Thank you Knightwalker-chan. Juvia appreciates the kind words. Juvia just wishes Juvia knew where Gray-sama may of wen to." she frowned thinking why he may of left, "The last Juvia saw Gray-sama was when he had left for the guild hall early in the morning for something. Juvia would of followed, but Juvia had to return home to take a morning bath."
"Early in the morning, huh?" Erza hummed in thought before gazing up the guild's hall where the master's office was, "Maybe the master knows where he might be. Master Makarov always arrives to the guild earlier before everyone else. He might even know where Natsu could of gone off to."
"Aren't you a water mage?" Lucy frowned in confusion, having joined the the three female mages, "Couldn't you just, I don't know, wash yourself?"
"And that's why you're a disgrace to all blondes." Happy chirped from on top of Erza's head seeing as Natsu wasn't around to entertain him. "You know you make it way too easy on yourself. Having big 'jugs' as Natsu would say doesn't help your image either." he grinned as Juvia glared at her 'rival'.
"Shut it you damn cat!" Lucy shouted causing Happy to cower behind the scarlet knight.
"Lucy's scary! Save me Erza!"
Lucy grumbled to herself, the words 'cat' and 'stupid' unsurprisingly leaving her mouth. Knightwalker laughed quietly to herself at the scene. Looked like this wasn't the first something like this happened with the two. It was actually pretty entertaining is had to say so herself.
Patting Happy's head, Erza looked towards the masters office just as he opened the door to leave along with Gildarts. She nodded to herself before excusing herself from the table as she made her way towards the master. It was about time she found out was going with Natsu.
It hadn't escaped the scarlet haired knight that whatever was concerning Natsu that the master most likely knew. He was wiser then anyone within in the guild ever could be. If anything was wrong with his children he would be the first one to know without anyone finding out. Although he seemed to respect his children's space, deciding to leave them to solve their own troubles themselves. He believed them capable mages, knowing with all his heart that they had the strength to overcome their problems.
But right now she needed the master to spill the beans on what was going on with Natsu. If not for her sake of concern then for all of his friends. He shouldn't be going through whatever he was dealing by himself. He had friends after all. That was why they were their. To help.
Discussing something with the Crash mage, Makarov suddenly stopped as he heard the firm footsteps of the Titania draw near them. He sighed, closing his eye's already knowing what the scarlet knight might of wanted. It was to be expected considering Natsu hadn't showed up to the guild today.
"Yes Erza? What do you want?" he smiled up Erza as he waved Gildarts away.
Watching as Gildarts bid a see ya to the master, Erza straightened up as she addressed Makarov.
"Master, I was wondering, do you know where Natsu might be?" she asked with a small frown of concern, "Normally I wouldn't be asking seeing as he's a capable mage despite his childish attitude, but lately since our arrival back from Edolas I've noticed something on his mind. I was just wondering if you knew where he went or at least knew what was wrong with him."
The master hummed as he thought over the question, stroking his beard in deep thought before realizing he didn't even have one. He frowned at that. He should really grown a beard when he had the time. Sold wise man right off the bat. And the ladies always dug the beard. He giggled perversely at the thought forgetting the fact Erza was standing behind him with a small sweat drop now on her head.
Now if only he could find some spell or potion to grow one. Then he'd have the chicks begging on their knee's at his rugged handsomenes-
Erza coughed into her fist bringing the master out of his day dreaming, blushing in embarrassment having been caught thinking of such things again. The scarlet haired knight ignored what just happened in favor of what she was asking as she repeated the question again to Makarov.
"Oh! You wanted to know where Natsu may be?" Makarov smiled, nodding his head in realization. Erza smiled hopefully glad that the master might know where the fire Dragon Slayer was before his next words stopped anything thought of finding Natsu.
"Sorry, but I can't tell you where he is right now. It wouldn't be safe." he frowned.
"What!?" Erza nearly shouted as the only thing running through her head right now was that he could be in danger. "What do you mean it wouldn't be safe? Is Natsu in danger right now?! Where is he!?" she couldn't help but shout catching the attention of some of the guild.
Makarov sighed. He should of lied. But knowing Erza as well as he did, she would of caught on to his lie eventually. It was better to just keep what Natsu had told him a secret. He couldn't make up some lie when his nakama were worrying about him, but he could refuse to tell them.
"I can't tell you." he answered firmly, "And he isn't in danger." At least he hoped he wasn't. The training he was going through was intense in both mental and physical aspects. He was fighting it out inside his mind and was being beaten still outside of his body. Their was no telling how he would wind up after he was done.
But Makarov had faith in Natsu. The boy had survived worst with a grin on his face. He would surely make it out the same.
Seeing Erza seem to struggle with wanting to shout at the him to tell her where Natsu was, Makarov smiled reassuringly to calm down the S-rank mage. "Now calm down Erza. It isn't like his life he is in danger or anything as serious as that. He just seemed to want to have some time to find himself."
"Time to find himself?" Erza frowned.
Makarov nodded. It wasn't a total lie. Technically he was finding himself. He was also lost in some deep rage and being held back with violence, but that was a different matter all together.
"Yes, as hard as it is to believe it Natsu went off to have some private time to think for himself. It seems after your little trip to Edolas the boy had came back with some. . . mixed feelings you could say." he nodded in thought, "He just needs some time to think. I think it's only fair that we all give him some privacy for once and leave him be. A man needs time to think after all." he grinned as he chuckled.
"But-" she asked only to be met with Makarov's stern gaze.
"Leave him be, Erza. Sometimes we need to be left alone with our problems before we can ever bring them into light to our friends." he said firmly.
Erza couldn't help but scowl at the master's answer, but sighed in the end as she accepted it. She couldn't fight the master's orders and he seemed to know what he was doing.
As much as she wanted to plead for Makarov to tell where Natsu had gone off to, Erza was just going to have to trust his judgment for now. If he had faith in Natsu then so did she.
Seeing as Erza had accepted his answer and made her way back to her table, Makarov turned back to his office with a frown of his own.
He hadn't failed to notice someone missing from the guild. And now it seemed his mind wasn't playing tricks on him earlier when he was discussing the matter of Natsu's training in early morning with the others.
Makarov could only hope Gray knew what he was doing.
Standing behind a couple of trees as slight tremors shook the earth from a safe distance of the wall of runes floating in the air, Gray frowned, narrowing his eye's as a tower of flames blew up deep within the forest. His hair was blown back from the ongoing struggle of mages holding back whatever roaring beast they were fighting, the sounds of explosions and spells flying drumming inside his ear.
So this was where they all were. Gray still couldn't believe. He grit his teeth as his face was shadowed by his hair, his fingers digging deeply into the wood of the tree he was behind.
When the ice mage had walked into the guild early today he was hoping to catch Natsu by surprise to pay him back for the fight in the guild hall the other day. The bastard had it coming to him considering he had wound up tasting not only Erza's hard fist, but her Edolas twin fist too. He had his ass handed to him twice as hard then usual. A few bruises and a blow to Natsu's ego was only fair seeing as he had gotten off lightly.
The only problem was that he wasn't expecting to stumble onto the master talking to Gajeel, Bickslow, and Freed about Natsu's training. He also wasn't planning on finding out the reason why the flame headed idiot couldn't take any mission requests was due to turning into some mini dragon like salamander back in Edolas and losing control of his magic. Yeah, he probably wasn't suppose to hear any of that.
To think, the idiot actually gave away years off his life just so he could defeat a pile of magical bolts! It was one of the dumbest things he had ever heard! Gray knew Natsu was an idiot, but this was beyond his level of stupidity. Knowing the idiot as well as he did, Gray could tell he didn't give a damn for nearly killing himself pulling off something as risky as eating his own magic. It was Etherion all over again, only on a much more dangerous scale.
If Gray had heard right, then Natsu was at risk of turning into that thing again. This time though, their wouldn't be a giant mechanical dragon to keep his rage blinded self entertained. He would have all of Magnolia to play with. And Natsu wasn't a gentle player. The out of control pyro would burn the city to the ground.
"Dammit Natsu." leaves fell to ground as the ice alchemist punched the tree in anger. Gray still couldn't believe the idiot had hid his condition from is own friends and nakama.
As grudgingly as he hated to admit it, the idiot had always been there for them whenever they were in trouble. He had even helped him back on Galuna island.
So why couldn't Natsu let them help him out? Did he think they weren't strong enough?
The cocky bastard. Gray punched the tree once more in anger, nearly toppling over as he broke through the bark deeply.
Natsu was always coming back stronger then ever after every hurdle that was thrown his way. Erza was already S-class and she was still continuing to grow more powerful. Hell, even Lucy was gaining some experience from them. It was only a matter of time before she could fight at their level evenly.
So why was he still behind? He should have been just as strong as Natsu. Yet the raven haired mage was still behind him. It didn't make any sense!
"This is bullshit!" Gray finally snapped, roaring in anger before slamming the back of his fist into the tree. Frost covered the fist, flash freezing the wooden lumber and everything around it into jutted icy crystal. The frozen trees creaked, cracks slowly crawling up their icy form only to shatter instantly a moment later into find snowy dust.
Grinding his teeth openly now, Gray couldn't help but be pissed as that wasn't the worse of it all. No, what was worse was the fact that even when he could hold his own against Natsu and his flames even when he was an ice mage that they hadn't even thought of asking him to help out. That's what pissed him off more then all.
It was an insult to him as Natsu's rival. Gray knew how to fight him. He could beat him without magic. He could even read his movements when he got too into their fight. So why didn't think to of called on him to help them control Natsu when he was like this?
Another flare of fire tore over the trees as an explosion rang out in Gray's ears, only pissing the exhibitionist off even more.
There was no doubt that Natsu would come back stronger after this. He hated to admit it, but the fire Dragon Slayer might even become on par with Erza once he had attained control. He could even become S-class material with his new power.
Gray was being left behind. Watching their backs as his friends all moved on to become stronger on their own.
"I won't let that happen." Gray scowled, letting his ice magic crawl up his hands. "If the matchstick is training to become stronger, then I can't just sit by as he passes me by." he smirked before turning away from the wall of runes in front of him.
Taking one last look behind him before making his way into another part of the forest, Gray couldn't help but grin challengingly at where he knew Natsu was going berserk.
"Ya hear that, Natsu? I'm not going to stand by as you pass me by. If you don't work hard enough in your training, it's my back you'll be seeing this time around."
As if answering him a loud earth bellowing roar rustled the forest trees bringing an amused scoff from Gray. He turned back towards his destination, intent on not letting the others leave him behind.
(Corridor of the Heart.)
Natsu vs. Jellal/Zeke
Moving back as multiple shots of golden beams headed straight at him, Natsu blew up a line of explosions to incinerate the heavenly magic, ducking under a kick to his head a moment later from Jellal. He snarled, dodging the bullet quick blows to his body from the glowing mage with difficult, sidestepping a large blast of magic from his closed fist that carved a line of destruction into the blood red swamp. Natsu's eye's suddenly widened as he felt a nick cut into his cheek, blood seeping out of the wound before he moved his head to the side, the crescent mooned blade of Zeke missing by a hair's breath. Seeing an opening, Jellal utilized his Heavenly Body magic to blur out of sight, ramming into the rose haired mage's spine a second later.
Natsu gasped in pain, feeling a bruise start to form on his spinal cord from the powerful blow. He grit his teeth making his way back up only to resort to trying to weave through the razor sharp scythe from Zeke. Multiple nicks and an occasional laceration cut into Natsu from the precised swings of Zeke's favored weapon, the two moving around each other in almost a dance of water and oil. Flaring up his body with a quick burst of fire magic, Natsu aimed a swiping kick towards the hooded man's chest, his feet coated with clawed flames. Zeke smirked, swiping away the melee attack only to widen his eye's as Natsu dropped on his palm before spinning rapidly on his skull, whipping lashing flames at him with the intent to burn him. The flames spread around in a spiral pattern that Zeke couldn't evade, resulting in taking the minimal damage of the flames as he raised his arms up to block.
Zeke grinned maliciously, flames burned hotly onto the the sleeves of his cloak leaving him without anything to protect his arms. Bright red blisters covered the skin of his forearms only causing the hooded man to laugh madly before dashing forward towards the fire mage.
Black-blue tinted crescent blades flew out of the scythe, ripping tides in the swampy battlefield in their pursuit for blood. Natsu blew back the blades into nothing with swipe of his palm, flames erupting out of his hands to consume the magic into fading embers in the air. If the bastard wanted to come at him then he had to start bringing his game in. Natsu wasn't playing any games this time.
A golden streak flew all over the two mages, bringing their attention to Jellal who was sending beam after beam of falling magic spheres from the blood red skies above them. Chunks of swampy earth sludge was kicked up from the crashing orbs, cornering both Natsu and Zeke into one spot, shielding their faces from the onslaught of the heavens.
"Stop running and fight me already, Jellal!" Natsu roared, blowing a long stream of red hot magic at the flying blue haired man. Jellal easily evaded the flaming roar, smirking smugly down at Natsu with superiority clear in his face. Like he would fall for something like that.
Watching with stunned silence as said rose haired boy vanished into thin air, Jellal would have to make a mental note not to underestimate his opponent again. Especially since the fire mage reappeared above his head with a large ball of flaring flames above his head.
"Karyu no Koen(Fire Dragon's Brilliant Flame)!" bringing down his hands onto the Heavenly Body mage, Natsu slammed a giant explosive ball of fire right into Jellal's face. Flames erupted in midair as if a some large bomb was sent off, sending Jellal falling back to the earth burns covering half of his face, the pain bringing him to gasp in pain.
Zeke smirked, tending to his own wounds with amusement. The boy sure wasn't kidding when he said he was done playing around with them. It looked like Natsu was aiming to kill Jellal. What blinding rage. Zeke could only wonder how the mage's protecting his body were fairing on the outside.
Not done with his assault, Natsu flew straight down after Jellal with his flames working as jets to give him speed. He speed up in a bullet fast rush to ram his blazing his head into Jellal's stomach, the ex-holy saint choking on his own breath from from the blow. He was sent crashing into the swamp bellow with a thunder like crash as black thunder rang out from the black clouds overhead.
"Getsumen Odori(Lunar Dance)!" jumping back as Natsu came at him with a flaming hammer fist that blew back the spot he was just in, Zeke didn't waste a second as he came back with flashing swipes from his scythe, its blade lined with pale blue magic, intent on cutting him into pieces. Natsu grunted, dodging, weaving, and sidestepping the deadly grim weapon as it not only was fast, but sent pale blue blades out its edge with every missed swing. Meaning he had to be careful how he avoided the scythe in fear of it its blades catching him at an angle. Zeke slashed right, then left, brought up his blade for a chopping strike before letting it fall, swiped Natsu's leg's only fail as he jumped over, swung it in a complete 180 horizontal, and ended his bladed dance with 360 spin of his scythe that released a bladed ring around him that nearly sliced Natsu from his midsection if he hadn't dropped flat on his stomach.
"Nice try!" Natsu smirked as he laid on all fours, erupting in a blaze a second later before rocketing off his feet bash his head into Zeke's body. Zeke bit his lip seeing he couldn't dodge the spell, he was too close. "Karyu no Kenkaku(Fire Dragon's Sword Horn)!" Zeke's eye's nearly popped out of his head as felt his organs hit directly by the flaming spear tackle, coughing out blood when a burst of fire blew out his back without stabbing through him. He was sent flying off his feet from the spell, landing on his back in pain while hacking a mix of saliva and blood from his system.
Cleaning some blood that had trickled from from his lip with his fist, Natsu panted, grinning the whole time as he watched Zeke struggle to get back up from the last blow he had dealt him. "You're going to have to do better then that. I've faced darker bastards then you. And one of them is laying passed out a few feet away from us." Natsu weakly chuckled.
Things weren't as hard as they seemed to be before. Once Natsu finished with these two creeps he could finish the last of his training. Then he'd be a step closer to controlling his magic.
'You are absolutely incredible. You really are.'
"What the hell!?" Natsu sharply gasped as a familiar voice stabbed through his mind. Falling onto his knee's from odd intense pain smashing through his thoughts, Natsu could only grit his teeth in the sudden strange turn of events going on.
"E-Erza?" he panted as an eerie scene Natsu was all too familiar with played in his head.
The tower was falling. The R System. The Tower of Heaven. Dozens of flashing pale blue lights lite up the night as they shot off the lacrima tower in a frenzy of unstable magic energy. And in the middle of it all were two Fairy Tail mages, Natsu and Erza.
Natsu was forced to watch in horror as the tower began to fall apart, Erza cursing in hopelessness at the situation they were stuck in. She grit her teeth before her eye's caught site of himself, laid out on the blue crystal floor, passed out from eating Etherion. It was then that Natsu caught a spark of hope to lite up Erza's eye's as she turned back to the lacrima floating by them. Fear crossed Natsu's heart watching the scarlet knight gingerly touched the lacrima, grunting feeling it still accept her with a grim smile on her face.
"E-Erza! D-Don't!" Natsu shouted in pained panic as the memory continued to play, forgetting the fight entirely as buried feelings resurfaced once again.
'This is our only chance of stopping Etherion, I'm sorry.'
"Please, don't do it! I-I'll do anything!" he angrily shouted, the small, sad, beautiful smile on Erza's face already telling him she had made up her mind a long time ago.
'You don't have to worry about a thing. I'll stop it for sure.'
The memory was still fresh as day in Natsu's mind. The horrible memory that brought him on the verge of tears just thinking back to that one moment when he was helpless as a close friend who meant the world to him sacrificed her own life for him. The moment when Erza had actually died for all of them with a smile on her face.
"Stop it, stop it, stop it!" Natsu roared in grief feeling what was playing inside his head had only happened moments ago. He clutched his head in pain, falling onto all fours from the painful scene that had some strange effect to bring him to his knees as if he had been hit with a powerful spell dead-on.
'Natsu, I leave the others to you. I'll always be right beside you all.'
Those tears. That happy smile as she accepted death with open arms for their sakes. And the heart wrenching pain that followed like a lightning strike straight to his heart. Natsu had been completely broken.
Jellal scoffed at the broken mess in front of him, shaking in both pain and grief with tears streaking down Natsu's dirty cheeks. The sight sickened him, he swiped his closed fist with his ring finger and middle finger extended, sending a golden drill like blast to tear apart Natsu.
"Ten no Rasen(Heavenly Spiral)!"
Natsu didn't even feel the spell hit, the spell grinding into his abdomen like a drill that rendered his waistcoat into blood stained rags. He was sent flying off into a rotten tree only to be intercepted by a grinning Zeke who swung his leg horizontally to kick him away like a soccer ball.
Zeke sighed, watching the Dragon Slayer fall limply without any sign of getting back, still lost in mental grief playing back inside his memories. "What a sorry sight. And I thought he was stronger then this." he scoffed to the side, licking some blood from his lip from an earlier blow. "Natsu has a hell of a punch though. But I expected him to be stronger then this. I haven't even gone all out yet." he pouted.
"What did you do to him?" Jellal asked curiously, having never seen the pink haired mage like this before. The sight actually stunned him. "Was it some kind of spell?"
Zeke shrugged, cracking his stiff neck. "Nope! It's his own damn fault. I did say memories were a double edged sword. Right now he's caught up on the other end. It was only a matter of time before his memories caught up with him to cause him pain and sorrow."
Jellal smirked, gazing back at the traumatized mage with the smallest hint of sadness before his body glowed with magic. "What a sight. Though I think it's time to end this." he sighed, floating back high in the air to end the fight with one last spell.
"Whatever." Zeke yawned. "End it if you must."
Seven magical seals spread around, arranging in a constellation like cluster in the form the big dipper, each glowing with golden sparking magic as Jellal laid both his hands on top of each other, the top hand only having the index and middle fingers spread out. The spell was comparable to an actual meteor and it's devastating force was enough to wipe out the strongest mage.
Frozen stiff, Natsu was helpless as the heavens began to rain down upon him, just like in his memories.
"Shichiseiken, Guran Shario(Seven-Star Sword, Grand Chariot)!"
Seven condensed blasts of magical energy rained down from above Jellal, striking the earth around Natsu before glowing in a constellation pattern, exploding simultaneously in a shower of earth.
The fate of the fire Dragon Slayer unknown.
(Outside Natsu's body)
"Fucking shit!" Gajeel grunted, being steadily pushed back from his bladed lock with the enraged possessed Natsu. The rose haired mage's hands had been steadily morphed with blood red scales originating from his palms till they completely took over the human cells of his arm all the way to his shoulder to resemble dragon appendages, midnight black claws gleaming in the sun. The scales didn't seem to stop there, spreading over his entire body into a human salamander like form, the neck up to his head being the only spot free of the magical mutation. Natsu's eye's still glowed a deep red through the transformation, the only difference being that slits had appeared in the middle of his narrow dragon like eye's.
Fighting back against the clashing obsidian like blade growing out both Natsu's claws, Gajeel swore in frustration, sparks flowing off the their deadlock from grind of the countering swords. The two Dragon Slayers continued to attempt to break each others hold on their weapon, Natsu seeming to have enough with the useless struggle, breaking away one of his clawed blades before thrusting it like a javelin straight into Gajeel's chest with a toothy grin. The blade struck only to meet the steel scales of Gajeel's iron skin, the iron Dragon Slayer grinning back with a ruthless headbutt into Natsu's skull, his own iron like cells breaking the rose haired boy's skin on his forehead. Blood trickled down Natsu's head, temporarily blinding him to the green haired man with multiple scratches, bruises, and burns, coming at him from his left, his rapier raised high in the air in a downward slash.
"Yami no Ekurityuru: Itami( Dark Ecriture: Pain)!" Freed roared, slashing a purple line making up of runes into Natsu's side, the dark writing etching itself into the mage's scales. Pain coursed through Natsu's nerves as he roared in fury, aiming his sharp claws into Freed.
Freed only managed to step at a hairs notice, part of his maroon red coat tearing off from his chest with drops of blood flying out from the tearing claws. He ducked under roundhouse kick, making sure to evade the tail growing out of Natsu's tailbone that came swinging back with flame burning brightly from the tip, raising his chipped sword to strike down the overhead slash from the fire mage's dragon blade all while sweating from the intense heat surrounding him. Natsu's presence alone had become capable to heat up the air he breathed, stinging all their skin like acid by just getting in arms reach of him.
Natsu roared, blowing back Freed's hair from the intensity of his scream before puffing his cheeks with flames, small embers escaping his lips as he sucked in a lungful of air. Freed's eye's widened in alarm before jumping back, quickly running out of the Dragon Slayer's line of fire.
Flames carved a trenching blaze of orange-red fire through the battlefield, incinerating everything in its path with flames that could melt the strongest metal. Trees were reduced to ash and grass was turned into nothing, leaving Bickslow to stare in stunned silence at the destruction Natsu's spell had brought.
This was the happy go-lucky Natsu they had been friends with? This was a monster. Bickslow felt terrible seeing Natsu of all people in the that light, but the half of his medieval helmet visor from a claw strike to his eye's begged to differ. He was lucky his eye's weren't ripped out, only grazing the corner skin of his left eye.
Of all people, Natsu was the last person he would of suspected of using such a sick, brutal attack. Sure, he could burn people till their was nothing left, but he had never had the heart to maim anyone before. The Natsu standing before them with a sick, draconian grin didn't seem to share the same heart. He was ruthless, brutal, wild, bloodthirsty, and destructive to everything around him. He had no care for the well being of the mage's he was currently fighting that were suppose to be his friends, instead seeing them as prey in his own game.
Clutching the what felt like a deep wound to his side from the blades sprouting out of his nails, Bickslow could only try to wrap some cloth he had teared off from his clothes tightly against the gash as he watched on Freed and Gajeel keep Natsu at bay.
Running off in a red streak, Natsu landed a blazing right hook into Freed's abdomen, engulfing the rune mage in a fireball that blew him back in a flaming trench. A glint of black steel caught the salamander like mage, warning him of the buzz saw rapidly spinning towards. Gajeel's attempt to of using his Tetsuryu no Tategami So(Iron Dragon's Saw Mane) failed as Natsu blew a stream of flames to reduce him to ash. The rotation of iron spiked hair was able to cut through the flames, minimizing the damage, but still blowing him away. Gajeel fell back on his back a smoking mess, his iron scales glowing a bright red from the flamethrower coming out of Natsu's mouth. He was too injured from the last attack to stop the possessed fire mage as he could only watch as he made a mad dash towards the injured Bickslow.
"D-Dammit! I don't think we can take much more of this." Gajeel whispered hoarsely, panting from the intense pain, steam wavering from his scales.
Bickslow grimaced watching Natsu make his way towards him, sighing as he took of what was left of his visor off to stare back at the fire mage with eye's full of regret.
"Sorry, Natsu. But I can't hold back any longer." the Siege said weakly, raising his right hand to extend his index and pinky finger towards his steel dolls, his iris glowing with a faint hint of magic.
"Tamashi Shiji: Go Koto Taka(Soul Siege: Five Soaring Hawks)!" Green lime colored spectral flames lite up the five totem dolls floating before Bickslow, morphing into hawk headed flames that engulfed his dolls. They cawed proudly before shooting straight off towards Natsu in blinding speeds, blowing back a gust as their beaks extended to form a sharp point to pierce through the fire mage. Natsu was too slow to avoid the spell, the magic form hawks hit dead-on, stabbing into his scales before pushing him back into a burnt tree as they continued to soar like rockets. Pinned straight up against the bark from the spell, Natsu was helpless as the next thing he knew, an explosion blew up from the hawks, engulfing him within the ghostly flamed sphere.
Panting from the exhaustion of magic, Bickslow weakly made his way off the tree he was leaning on and began to walk towards the burning Salamander.
"You won't be able to eat those flames, you know?" he weakly smiled, wincing slightly from his side wound and burns, "Those magic flames are made up of the dead souls of my dolls. Their a special type of flame even you won't be able to eat. Those souls are still alive, and you can't eat living magic."
Watching as the flames down and his dolls came back to fly around him, Bickslow was glad to see the Dragon Slayer in one piece. Battered, grimy, and bleeding with his transformation still up, but alive and breathing. Glad that he had stopped the rampaging mage, Bickslow was about to walk away back towards the soot covered Freed before his eye's widened, pain filling his mind from the black obsidian sword stabbing through the side of his chest.
Bickslow's eye's rolled to the back of his head, sliding back against Natsu's bladed fingers as blood flowed freely from his mouth.
"Bickslow!" Freed yelled in both despair and anger. The dark writing mage's eye's were dilated with rage as he suddenly found himself dashing towards his friend, his anger only growing watching Natsu scoff before flinging away the Siege mage carelessly like a rag doll.
Raising his rapier which glowed with dark purple runes that he was ready to slash at his chest with to stand up against the rage possessed Natsu, Freed was stunned as multiple flame like claws tore through the earth around him and aimed towards him. Dodging through the reaching flames while making his way towards Natsu with the intent to drive his sword through him, the green haired mage was caught off guard as one of the claws drove their fist into his stomach, jutting out of the ground before him. He fell back to the ground, panting from the loss of air before he found himselff being bombarded by the the assault of flaming fists. Freed closed his eye's, only hoping Bickslow had survived.
This fight was dragging on too long. Struggling to pick himself back up, Gajeel fought through the pain, watching by as Freed erupted in a pillar of fire with slanted eye's. They were getting thrown around like rag dolls by a dragon juggernaut with scorching magic at his disposal. No matter how hard they hit back, Natsu just walked it off and continued to rampage.
He hadn't completely turned into that beast from Edolas yet. Natsu was still in the process of slowly morphing into that thing, and from the looks of the the scales crawling up his neck to leave patches of dark red skin on his face, his transformation was almost complete.
Gajeel couldn't let that happen. A dragon was unstoppable. Their power was unmeasurable. They could level landscapes with their breath alone. Dragon Rage may of not been been the full power of an actual dragon, but its destructive potential was as close to an actual dragon's rage. And as much as Freed's runes had been helpful in keeping Natsu in, they would shatter from the immense magic output flowing off of Natsu, unable to cage the rampaging beast heading for its next destination.
Magnolia.
"Guess I have to end the training." Gajeel sighed as he began to build up magic power within in his right hand. Looking back towards the flaming pillar devouring Freed, the iron mage nodded his head, "Hold him back, Freed. Keep him distracted for as long as you can. Don't be afraid if you have to go full out against him."
Darkness blew back the pillar of flames, revealing Freed in a dark colored armor resembling a knight, black lightning surging off his fists, his eye's pitch black with a dim white light.
"Yami no Ekurityuru: Zetsuei(Dark Ecriture: Absolute Shadow)."
Blurring from sight, the now armored Freed blinked out from thin air right besides Natsu, an orb of azure lightning sparking madly, emptiness clear in his eye's.
"Zettai Shogekiha(Absolute Shock Wave)!" he roared, slamming the lighting spell into Natsu's abdomen, enveloping him within an orb of sparking magic. A soundless roar of pain left Natsu's mouth, his eye's shaking in from the intensity of the spell shocking his nerves.
Raising his plated knee for strike to his chin, Freed sent the Salamander flying off his feet, jabbing his elbow into his abdomen once again to smack him away into a tree, snapping it in half. Glancing back towards Gajeel, the dark knight nodded his head firmly, "I have no reason to hold back. As far as I care this isn't Natsu. This isn't the man who would never lay a hand against his nakama, let alone stab them through the chest." looking back towards the weakly standing beast that was once his nakama, Freed felt no remorse as he glared back with dull eye's of light, "I will release Natsu from his rage. I'll hold him off as long as I have too. As a pupil of Laxus, I will not fall before this beast!" he shouted determinately, holding up a bladed gauntlet of sparks.
(Corridor of the Heart.)
Natsu vs. Jellal/Zeke
'. . . . . .'
Those tears.
'. . . . . .'
Why? Why was she crying?
'. . . . . .'
She was suppose to be strong. Like a knight. A measuring stick for his potential and role model of a mage. She was his light. She was the only one who could soothe his rage.
'. . . . . .'
So why was she crying? Who could bring her voice to shake with such sadness and fear? Who could cause her such pain? Who was the bastard that dare brought those tears?
'. . . . . .'
". . . . . Erza. . ."
HE did that to her. He was the one who made her live in fear of her life and safety of her nakama. He was the one who had tormented her into wearing armor over her heart in fear of love. He was the one to take her from him to take her life for his own purpose. And must importantly of all, HE WAS THE ONE TO MAKE ERZA CRY!
"Y-You bastard." weakly picking himself up with shaking arms, Natsu glared up in complete anger at the blue haired Heavenly Body mage standing before him, his eye's completely devoid of emotion.
Jellal raised a curious brow at what he was seeing, smirking at the sheer will Natsu's was displaying. "Just like in the Tower of Heaven, you won't stay down, will you?" he sighed, actually impressed with the rose haired boy, "Give up. You won't win. You can barely stand, and neither Erza or Simon are here to save you from my magic. So just give up."
Watching from the sides with calculating eye's, Zeke waited curiously to see what happened next. This was more interesting then the last monk who had visited him. And that bastard was hella strong! But this was just too good. Drama always brought entertainment to Zeke.
Raising his foot up to stomp onto Natsu's skull, Jellal was surprised when the dragon mage caught his stomping foot firmly in his hands. Jellal quickly jumped far away from Natsu as flames erupted out from Natsu's battered body, lashing wildly at anything that got near him.
Stone bold eye's looked back at Jellal with fierce rage, the flames surrounding him forming an aura of magic in show of power.
"I won't ever forgive you." Natsu whispered hoarsely, struggling to hold himself back as he glared at Jellal, "You're the reason why Erza always cries! You're the soul reason for her tears! I swore to never let another tear fall from her strong eye's!" the flames took on the form of a roaring dragon, releasing a powerful roar that blew back everyone's hair as Natsu roared to the dark red heavens, "I SWORE!"
Jellal scoffed, crossing his hands above his head as he gathered magic for a spell Natsu was all too familiar with.
"If you really want to go on, then I'll have no choice to but to eliminate you now." the shadows under their feet began to draw towards Jellal, forming a small black orb with tiny lights resembling the normal night sky. Jellal smirked cruelly as the ball began to slowly expand in size before it grew to tower over his form. "This time, no one will be playing shield for you. Prepared to fall before my Heavenly Bodied Magic!"
". . . . Do you really think I haven't prepared for something like this to happen again?"
Jellal frowned. "What?"
Raising his hands up above his own head, Natsu clawed his hands as flames began to flow up in between his palms, forming a flaring ball of spiraling fire that whipped with flames. It grew in size until it matched Jellal's own spell, resembling a mini sun that glowed brightly all around them.
"I still remember that Simon gave his own life to protect Erza and me. But it was mostly for Erza. And he wouldn't of had to do that if she wasn't protecting me. I. . .can't even put into words the anger I felt for myself for being so weak that I needed someone to give their life's to save me." Natsu's eye's were shadowed as his voice cracked, a small tear leaving his eye as he replayed the memory. "Ever since then, I've been working on becoming stronger, so something as tragic as that will never happen again!" he glared back, the giant ball of fire shrinking down till it fit in between his palms.
"Never again will someone give their life to save mine! That's why I made this spell, so no one has to die to live!" Natsu roared.
"Really?" Jellal chuckled, grinning as he prepared to launch his spell. "Well then, let's see if it has the power to even save your own life first!"
Zeke smirked. "Well, this is going to be interesting."
"Tentai Mahou: Altairis(Heavenly Magic: Dark Paradise)!" Jellal shouted, throwing the mass of heavy, crushing gravity to carve a trench towards Natsu. The sphere of magic shattered everything in its path of destruction, looking as if a piece the sky had come to devour him.
Clapping his hands over the small ball of lashing fire, Natsu formed a jaw with his hands, releasing a giant fireball in the shape of a dragon like head to fire off from his thrusting palms. "Mesturyu Ogi: Guren Eltanin(Dragon Slayer's Secret Art: Crimson Lotus, The Zenith Star;Dragon's Head Impact)!"
A collision of dense flames and dense gravity blew up in between the mages, waves of swamp and even earth flying from the impact of the deadly spells. Both mages fought to overpower the others dense mass of magic, the force kicking up a powerful gale of wind blowing away everything in between them, the very space stinging their skin from the tearing gust. Zeke was really impressed. These mages knew how to fight. It even seemed that they had developed their magic to the point of being able to kill. Although it saddened Zeke a bit. Magic was never meant to be used to kill. It was meant for helping others, to bring joy, and to bring light.
But even in his time long ago, magic was still being exploited for people's own use. Be it good or deadly.
Jellal struggled to push back Natsu's giant fireball, his Altairis spell creaking from the density mass matching of Natsu's flames.
"I-Impossible!" Jellal panted, the fierce struggle draining him of his magic energy and his stamina. "How is Altairis being stopped by your weak flames!?"
"Don't underestimate my flames. Or else you'll get burned alive." Natsu smirked, fighting through the odd feeling he was starting to sense from his head.
An explosion. A detonation of pure magic energy. Flashing the world into blinding light, the two large spheres of heavenly magic and fire dragon slayer magic blew up in an eruption of consuming light. Shielding himself from the powerful explosion in a pillar of black-blue magic, Zeke grinned at the spectacle he was witnessing. It was like watching a cluster of bomb lacrima all go off at once. The result was chilling yet amazing in its own beauty.
The two mages were lost within their own magical explosion, their fate lost within the destruction till they rolled out out in a smoking mess of burns and flames. Even Natsu wasn't safe from the fire created through the mix of their magic, being of a different property that he couldn't consume through normal means.
Zeke sighed, it looked like they had both passed out. That really was shame. Strolling his way towards the pink haired boy, Zeke paused as he reached his spot before the bleeding and dirtied Dragon Slayer. As much as he entertained him, the point of this test to overcome his anger. And it looked like he failed.
"Sorry kid." Zeke said solemnly, raising his crescent scythe in preparation to behead the dragon mage. "But you lost. Maybe in your next life you'll be able learn to overcome your rage."
A feeling of sudden numbness washed over Zeke's body, stunning him as his eye's widened in shock from the foreign yet familiar feeling. His scythe stopped its beheading, dropping to his side, his body completely frozen as a voice echoed inside the dark, twisted world.
'I'm sorry, but I can't let you do that, Zeke-kun.'
"Y-You bitch!" Zeke snarled furiously, a beam of pure white light dispersing the dark clouds over their heads, falling down in front of the beaten Dragon Slayer. The hooded man quickly jumped back from the beam as if he was almost struck with acid, hissing in deep loathing, watching with mad eye's as a figure stepped out of the pillar of light.
A women with curly long light golden hair stepped from out the light. She wore a long white dress that showed off her impressive figure and bust with frilly lined straps, her dress skirt teasingly ending close to her knee's by a few inches, two sword scabbards with crosses on the hilt hung from her hips by crossing belts over her waist. She was barefooted, golden chains wrapping around the top of her ankles, and her shoulders were protected by pure white winged armor. A beautiful necklace of a fanged moon and a brilliant sun was around her neck, the sight actually stopping Zeke's mad rage, turning to glare instead.
The blonde haired women looked young as he did, about in her mid-twenties. She had golden eye's with no pupils, looking softy towards the angered neutral mage. Her face heart shaped with a cute nose, a scar running down her left eye.
"Eileen." Zeke glowered, gritting his teeth in fury at the women he hadn't seen for nearly two hundred years. "What the hell are you doing here!?"
Eileen frowned sadly, biting down on her lip at the venom in the man's voice. After so many years, he still held the same loathing for her.
"You know why I'm here." she said softly, turning her head to look down at Natsu's passed out form.
Zeke scowled. "So, someone outside actually had the utter gall to use the sealing spell Kibo no Kagi(Key of Hope). Those bastards. How did they know the one and only way of escaping my artifact without my permission?" he growled, grinding his boot into the ground in anger.
"How did they even get their filthy hands on your pendant anyways?"
"I don't know." Eileen shook her head, her eye's looking back at Zeke with a hint of smile on her face. "But you know what happens next. Although, it is good to see you again, Zeke-kun." she said happily, tilting her head to the side with closed eye's.
"The feelings not mutual." Zeke spat, Eileen sighing sadly at the anger he still possessed. "And what makes you think I'm just going to let you take him out of his failed test? You know the rules, if I deem you unworthy of reaching Enlightenment, you die. End of story. That's how it works!"
"But that's not right!" Eileen shouted back angrily, tears threatening to spill out her eye's. "You can see the light within this mage too! He's purer then any monk you've ever met that opposed violence. You shouldn't kill such an innocent person!"
"Innocent?" Zeke scoffed, gesturing to the dark world they were within. "Have you seen his Corridor of the Heart? It's been twisted by his grudge against this moron." he pointed behind himself towards the slowly standing Jellal, his eye's struggling to stay open. "Trust me, like all human beings, he has darkness within his heart. There is no such things as innocence." he said stoicly.
"That's not true. And I'll prove it to you." laying her hands onto Natsu's head before Zeke could even move to interfere her, Eileen went to work on sending the fire mage back into reality, the lower part of his body breaking down into grid like light as he began to exit the darkness.
"He'll be back to conquer his hate. I know he will and this time he'll know what to do." she smiled softly, her eye's turning towards Jellal who surprisingly had a look of regret upon his face. "Right?"
Jellal nodded solemnly, his eye's no longer clouded by evil. "Yes. He will. But for now, I'll return back into my original body which is still locked up in Era." fading away in a projection like buzz of static, the Heavenly Body mage nodded off towards both the entity's. "Till you call on me again. Thank you." he said with a small smile.
"You even brought someone from the outside world who he had hated to help out? You don't hold back, do you?" she bitterly smiled.
"No, I don't." Zeke growled, flashing out of sight in a dark light, reappearing over the blonde haired women with a snarl and his sickle ready to cut her head off. "Just as you're about to find out!"
"I'm sorry."
"Wha-" the image of the green eyed beauty disappeared in an afterimage of herself before Zeke's eye's, too stunned by the speed to even defend himself from the giant two sided hammer with sun like patterns ramming into his side. If his body was real, he was pretty sure his bones would have been shattered in an instant.
Falling back as the last of Natsu vanished into golden wisps of magic light, Eileen smiled sadly before the now un-hooded Zeke.
His face revealed the dark brown eye's of his original body, showing off a scar similar to the one on Eileen's face, only on running down his right eye. He had spiky shaggy black hair, one side straight, the other poking out in wild spikes. He was also young, a bit younger then Eileen, probably around 18 to 20 years old.
Eileen smiled happily seeing the face that had once brightened up her own world. Even through the look of complete hate in his eye's, she could still see the good Zeke had once worn on his sleeve.
"Y-You want to fight, huh?" Zeke panted from the painful blow, wiping some blood that had escaped his mouth with his sleeve. "Well then, bring it! We'll settle what we couldn't settle nearly a century ago right here before it fades away back into its original state!"
"Fine." Eileen said determinately, settling her pure white hammer against her shoulder even though it weighed a ton. "But this time, I'll make you see the error of your way's!"
Both beings of light and darkness glared at each other, not saying a word, only dashing towards each other with their weapons raised to beat some sense in the other, and to simply rid the annoyance from his sight.
(Back Outside Natsu's body)
Pillars of holy light with crossed tips blew out from Natsu's body, circling him within divine brilliance like a cage as Gajeel pulled back his silver-white glowing fist, a crystal clear pendant laid on his fore palm.
Natsu roared in blinding pain, the blood red scales crawling away from his body, slowly returning him back to normal with the exception of a couple of bruises and cuts. Falling back on his backside, Gajeel sighed in relief, sweating from the intense heat around him.
It was done. Thank god Urami came along with the pendant artifact Suzu(Soothe) just in case they needed to end the spell early. Without it, Gajeel hated to say, but they would have been royally screwed.
Freed smiled weakly in relief, slumped against a burnt tree with Bickslow beside him, thankfully alive after the blade close to his organs. It was over. For now. Freed was just glad that Natsu was returning back to the carefree and reckless idiot that they all knew. He just wished that he hadn't gone completely out of control. The dark writing mage was definitely going to need little Wendy to look over their wounds, especially Bickslow. It was a miracle he had survived.
He smirked, "Even out of control, you don't have the heart to kill your nakama." Freed tiredly chuckled.
As the pillar of light died away into nothing, Natsu was left to fall onto his knee's, blinking through tired, blurry eye's, trying to get a grip on reality.
"W-Where the h-hell am I?" he gasped suddenly feeling like his body was tossed around by spiked hammers in a pinball game.
Chuckling weakly at the disoriented fire mage, Gajeel cleaned his bleeding lip as he answered with a tired grin, "You're back to the real world, lead head." he chuckled, stumbling into a coughing fit a moment later.
"You alright?" Natsu cringed, trying to move up to help his fellow Dragon Slayer. Falling back from the mental and physical trauma he had just suffered, Natsu could only try to crawl, sweating from the intense pain he was suffering.
Freed pushed himself off the tree bark with some effort, having suffered the same amount of damage as his nakama. He was lucky his magic allowed him to reflect some of the more dangerous spells or else he would have been too hurt to even stand straight. Glancing back at his friend Bickslow who he had patched up a bit with some runes with a mental reminder to take him straight to Wendy, Freed steadily made his way towards both Dragon Slayers.
"Don't strain yourself, Natsu." Freed advised, stopping by the panting Natsu. Looking up at the rune mage with bleary eye's, Natsu was surprised by the number of wounds covering his body. His whole outfit looked like it had been shred by some wild animal. It took the fire mage a second to realize that he was the wild animal that had tore through the tired and battered mage's.
Guilt struck the Dragon Slayer hard, the sight of Bickslow laying against a tree with his visor torn off, dried blood from a stab wound through his chest and burns covering over his exposed skin only worsening the feeling of having nearly killed his friends.
'I. . . . I did this. Didn't I.' their was no doubt about it. He had lost control again and this time his friends had suffered for it. Tears pricked Natsu's eye's that he refused to let loose. This was all his fault. He couldn't control himself properly this time. He was truly a wild animal.
"Don't blame yourself, Salamander." finally gathering the strength to stand back up, Gajeel grunted, turning his eye's towards the grief stricken Natsu. He could faintly smell the hint of tears coming off him, scoffing at what it meant.
"We weren't completely prepared for what your berserk self was capable of. That was our bad and we suffered for it, big time." he bitterly chuckled, holding his right arm from a couple of lacerations made by Natsu's clawed blade. Standing in front of Natsu who's head was bowed, Gajeel gave a weak kick to one of his arms, causing him to collapse onto his stomach.
Gajeel shook his head at the sight. "Get up. We can always try again some other time, only we're going to be more prepared next time around."
Try again? After all the damage he had done to the area and on his own nakama? Natsu shook his head, gritting his teeth at the thought of going through all that again.
It wasn't just the guilt of hurting his friends that was eating away at him. Those memories Zeke showed him. They were too much. Especially the ones dealing with The Tower of Heaven. The thought of loosing Erza again tore away at his heart. Just thinking of going through those emotions again made Natsu grip the dirt tightly in his hands.
He didn't want go through the training again. Their had to be some other way to control his magic back to stability. Their just had to be.
"I-I. . . can't-"
"DON'T BE A WHIMP!" Gajeel sharply cut Natsu off, roaring in anger at what he was about to hear. The iron Dragon Slayer drove his fist roughly down on Natsu's head, his eye's wide in anger at the weak tone in his voice.
"Get over yourself, you stupid shit! Don't think of yourself so highly that you actually have the gall to think you can even kill us! You're basically calling us weak!" Gajeel gripped his fist tightly against his side, holding himself back from beating the crap out of the trembling mage.
This was the same guy who had gone on an on about the power of nakama and had beaten him during the Phantom Lord and Fairy Tail guild war? Pathetic. This guy wasn't the same Natsu who block his own dragon roar with his bare hands. He was weak piece of shit too scared to move on after one close call. He was a weakling.
Freed shook his head at the furious tone in Gajeel's voice, his eye's stoic as he looked at Natsu.
"Do not blame yourself Natsu." Freed closed his eye's, calling off the protective runes reaching a full mile and half circling them. "The beast we were fighting was not you. It was dark possession haunting your body in its weakest state. It may have had your face, but it was not you who had tried to kill us in a blind rage."
"Mr. Stiff's got a point." Gajeel nodded, ignoring the small glare Freed sent him. "The point of this training was meant for you to release all the magic power that's been building up inside of you since Edolas while you resolved the trigger of your anger. You got one out of two done with. All that's left is dealing with whatever fucked up shit is making you pissed and you're done."
"So, I'm just suppose to forget about what happened here?!" Natsu growled, shooting back up from lying helplessly to glare at both mages.
"I nearly killed you guy's! Have you seen Bickslow!? I did that to him! I could of stabbed through his heart and that would have been it! He would have been dead because of me!" he roared angrily.
"But you didn't!" Freed shouted back. "Even in that possessed state, your heart was still in their! Other wise Bickslow would be dead!" he stared back with stern eye's. "None of us blame you for what happened here. Certainly Bickslow wouldn't either. He would most likely laugh it off and make you buy him some lunch with beer." he chuckled.
"But," Natsu still argued.
"No buts." Gajeel scoffed. "A Dragon Slayer doesn't turn away from a challenge. Get over it. The sooner you done hosting your pity party for your self, the sooner we can all lick our wounds and see if we can try again tomorrow." looking towards the setting sun signify the end of the afternoon, Gajeel sighed, moving towards steadying Natsu with his help.
"Come on. The sunset is setting. It's time to head back to the guild." he ordered, Freed moving to carry Bickslow over his back.
Keeping himself quiet as they made their way out of the forest of Magnolia, Natsu couldn't help but ask one question that's been on his mind.
"What are we going to tell everyone when they see how fucked up we look?" Natsu asked with a raised eyebrow.
Gajeel shrugged. "Fess up? You can't hide your dirty little secret forever. Sooner or later they're going to catch on. Especially Titania. You can't hide jack shit from her."
"But then she'll kill me." Natsu said dryly with deadpanned eye's. "Erza's not exactly the type to leave my stupid actions unpunished."
"Yup. Don't forget about that ex-Fairy Hunter chick too. She's seems to be share Titania's personality and way of thinking. You'll have two scarlet monsters chasing after your dead ass."
"Great." Natsu sighed in defeat. "Just great. If I do tell them, I'm dead. If I don't them, I'm still dead because they're going to find out eventually, and then I'm dead. I can't win, can I?"
Freed hummed in thought. "It seems to me, telling them sooner then later will minimize the amount of punishment they'll deal out. Prolonging the news will only build up their anger, and that will mean that you'll be deader then most unfortunate mages who have crossed their paths."
"The guy's got a point." Gajeel nodded. "Better to tell everyone sooner then building up the pain. You're already fucked up as it is. They might just take it easier on you when they see how messed up you are."
Natsu grumbled to himself, already dreading going back into the guild hall.
"In the end, I'm still dead. Thanks, really. You guy's are the voice of reason." he said sarcastically.
"Don't mention it." Gajeel smirked proudly.
'That was meant to be a joke, dumb ass.' Natsu thought with a sweatdrop.
Well, he was dead. Natsu knew that for sure. He might as well start up his will while he was at it.
'I wonder if Happy will be happy with our home and a couple of dozen fish.'
The explosive fighting has ended!
For now.
With Natsu failing to understand the true purpose and solution to his grudge, the Dragon Slayer stumbled back home with a heavy heart. His anger has been found and it seems to be overwhelming to even someone as forgiving as him. How will he conquer his hate towards Jellal? Who exactly is Zeke, and who is this new strange entity within Natsu's Corridor of the Heart that can greatly anger Zeke with her sight alone?
These answers and the conclusion will all be answered next time on Dragon Bal-
*Black hooded man with shaggy black hair randomly pops out of nowhere, decking the odd blonde haired man out of his dimension with a thundering thwack.*
"Goddammit! How many times do I have to tell you to get the hell out!? This is my story announcement, not yours!"
. . . . And that's why you should never be late. Period. Weird shit tends to happen from time to time.
"Fuck you."
Not a chick, no thank you. Though I am devilishly handsome, aren't I?
*Zeke's eye twitched madly, dryly looking up at the author.*
". . . . I'm going to pretend to of not heard that. Narcissist."
Pfft. Whatever, freak.
Before things get weird, yes, Zeke is me. Kinda. He's more of an avatar really. A random little addition to the arc who had no name till I decided why the hell not? And in the end he came out as my avatar. Dark little bastard, isn't he?
"Your girlfriend was calling. Said she was going to be late working on her knee's in my auto shop. Trust me, there's going to be a lot of screwing, lubricating, sweating, grinding, and hands on work going on, if you know what I mean."
. . . . . I don't know where he gets it from. I swear. Dirty little monster, isn't he?
Anyway's, on to the story and messages.
To tell you all the truth, I was planning on making this chapter at least 20,000 words before releasing it this week. I actually had this part finished on Sunday. But seeing as I'll be really busy this week with school work and an interview for my first job, I decided to just cut off the second part that I was working on and finish around the end of the week.
I'm also still working on my harem stories. Their side projects really. And if I finish them I'll post them up with updates coming out from time to time. Gotta increase my stories a bit.
This arc so far is reaching its middle point, meaning it's half way finished. Next comes the real show. Can anyone say dark carnival circus?
"Yes, we can. We're all not dumb asses who can't even avoid getting hit by an ice cream truck in a school zone. Idiot."
I really don't like you. Which is me seeing as you're me in some twisted way.
What a world.
So, to conclude this A/N-
"What about A Time Before Fairy Tails? Haven't updated that in a while. Lazy bastard."
Shut it. Your ass is done anyways. Natsu's going to grill your ass black as night in the next chapter.
*Zeke scoffs, picking his nose rudely.*
"I'd like to see him try. I'm going to have me some well done Dragon Slayer chops when I'm done with him."
Forget him. *Sends Zeke away with a snap.*
Anyways, to conclude this Author's Note, I have read all your interesting Cross over ideas, and I like some of them. Especially the Rosario+Vampire one. I can definetly write that into a pretty decent story with a few twists.
Feed me back some ideas though. It's nice to hear what my readers are thinking. Remember, it's not just your views that keep our stories going, it's your reviews.
And I'll get on writing A Time Before Fairy Tails when I'm done this half of the arc for those of you who read it. Though it seems not many of you read it seeing as its double chapter release received the less amount of reviews then its previous chapter which out did this stories review per chapter.
*Sighs* It seriously made me feel like crap seeing as I spent a shit load of time working on them. Guess I just have to try harder next time.
Depressing thoughts aside, I also plan to fix up the previous chapters mistake in this story. To improve the story more seeing as I've grown a lot since I started a about five months back, I think. When I have the time I'll make sure to fix the mistakes.
Till then, read and review, it's common courtesy you know.
NeoShadows fading in and out.
(P.S. Remember to check out Venomous Reality. It's a good read.)