Ch 10: The Sad Truth
In the basement of Rising Tide:
"If I could only get these cuffs off of me we would be out of here in a matter of seconds." said Natsu as he tried to break the cuffs against the wall of his cell.
"You'd still have to deal with those chains that are draining you Natsu." she said with a slight smile, since Natsu was still trying to escape even after being here for more than three years.
"I'll worry about that problem once I get there." replied Natsu as he continued to try and break his cuffs.
"Natsu can I ask you a question?" she asked slightly nervous.
"Shoot, it's not like I have anywhere else to be." he replied while giving her one of his usual grins and then going back to trying to break his cuffs.
"Did you ever think about having a family of your own?" she asked as Natsu stopped smash his cuffs and thought about it for a few moments.
"I already have one, Fairy Tail is the best family I could have ever asked for." replied Natsu once again giving her his usual grin.
"That's not what I was talking about, I meant do you want to get married someday and have a kid or maybe even kids with someone?" she explained with a slight blush, as she watched Natsu ponder this question as if his life depended on it.
"Definitely." was his simple reply before he went back to smashing his cuffs against the wall.
"That's it, your response is only definitely?" she asked as she raised one of her eyebrows at the dragon slayer.
"Yep, did you want me to go into more detail?" he asked back as he stopped trying to break himself free.
"I would really like it if you gave more than just a one word reply." she said with a warm smile.
"Well I would have to say that I have always wanted to have a family of my own that I can come home to and tell them about what adventure I had just come back from. Just like Igneel did with me, but I would make sure that I was always there for them whenever they needed me. I know that Igneel didn't have a choice about it, but it is definitely something that I would never put my family through." said Natsu with a sad smile.
"You didn't say how many kids you would like to have." she stated as she continued to smile at how confident Natsu was about not leaving his family once he had them.
"As many as my future wife would allow." replied Natsu with a little grin.
"That is not a usual answer." she pointed out still smiling at him.
"I would have said ten because I want a really large family. But Erza and Mira said that asking that of a woman is too much, especially since I wouldn't have to experience the pains of child birth. Oh and they decided to let me know what that would feel like by beating me up after I told them that." said Natsu with a bigger grin as he remember the fond memory that seemed to be a life time ago.
"They were right about it being too much to ask of a woman, but I can see why you would want a large family. I was alone for a while in my past and that is not something that I would ever want my own child to feel while they are growing up." she replied as she admired his happy expression.
"When Igneel left me I was completely lost, but luckily Gramps found me and brought me back to Fairy Tail. Where it felt like I gained a whole new family that had tones of brothers and sister to mess around with, which is something that I would like to let my own kids experience." he said now having a smile instead of his grin.
"You could just have one kid and then just take them to Fairy Tail." she stated with a grin.
"I could but what if there is no one close to their age, which could easily happen. But if we have a few kids that won't ever be a problem since they can always be with each other even if we have to go somewhere else for a while." replied Natsu.
"We?" she asked with a huge blush.
"Oh I didn't mean it that way, I meant that me and my future wife." said Natsu now having his own slight blush as he turned away from her.
"I was only joking Natsu, but it definitely would be the most unique story of a couple ever getting together. I bet we would be the only ones that could say they fell in love with each other while being tortured every day." she said with a sad smile, knowing that the likelihood of either of them getting out was slim.
"It would, which is why I need to make sure that we both get out of here." said Natsu not even thinking about what he just said and went back to trying to break his cuffs.
"How are you still so happy and positive after being in a place like this for almost four years?" she asked quietly, forgetting that Natsu was a dragon slayer and could easily hear her.
"Because I have to save you like I promised I would, and hopefully my friends will come and get us anytime now." said Natsu while he continued to try and break his cuffs, but was only scratching them.
"I forgot that you could still hear that even with you making all of that noise." she stated while shaking her head.
"That's the tenth time that you've done that, at least this one wasn't about how good I look while sweating." replied Natsu as he gave her a quick grin as he continued to try and break free.
"Shut up Natsu, you said that you would forget about that." she said in a slightly embarrassed tone.
"HAHAHAHA I did but you're so cute when you're embarrassed. So what was with the questions about having a family?" asked Natsu as he still tried to remove his cuffs.
"Just something that popped into my head recently Natsu." she replied with a smile while putting a hand on her stomach. Wondering if she will ever have the courage to tell him what they did to him after he passed out that one time and how because of it she got another reason to keep on surviving in this hell hole. She was determined to survive if not for herself then for their kid that she was determined to protect just like Natsu was trying to do to her. So that Natsu could have the family that he always wanted once they got through this.
"You think of some of the weirdest things." said Natsu while chuckling to himself.
Inside of a cave in a remote mountain range:
"If only I knew about it sooner, I would have tried to get out of there even if it killed me." Salamander thought as he sat up with a frown. Angry that the few hours that he did get of sleep were only constant reminders of his biggest failure in life, one that he could never make up for. So he would do the only logical thing to do and that was make sure that no one else would ever have to go through what they did.
"Why didn't I tell you about my feelings for you sooner?" asked Salamander as he looked at the sun that was setting in the distance.
"Well you can't change the past, isn't that right Fujimoto?" asked Salamander as he turned around to look at the man that was chained to the ceiling of the cave and hanging over a fire while also wearing magic suppressing cuffs.
"Just kill me already." begged Fujimoto whose feet where severely burned because of him not being able to keep his legs up for as long as he was being dangled there.
"Now why would I do that Fujimoto, I had to endure four years of things that would make this look like child's play. I would actually leave you hooked up to that magic draining device but we learned that you are not strong enough to be left hooked up to it for more than one day." stated Salamander with a grin as he increased the intensity of the fire and watched Fujimoto try to keep his feet out of it.
"Please just kill me." begged Fujimoto.
"You are surprisingly weak Fujimoto, it's only been two days and you are already begging for me to kill you." said Salamander as he got rid of the fire.
"I already know that you are going to kill me." replied Fujimoto as he hung there and enjoyed the lack of the fire that was there for the last seven hours.
"True, but I always knew that those bastards at Rising Tide where planning on killing me after they had their fun and broke me. But that didn't stop me from trying to get out of there." stated Salamander as he unhooked Fujimoto suddenly, causing him to drop onto his severely burned feet and causing the man to scream out in pain.
"Are you ready for some of the things that I learned from them during my long visit?" asked Salamander while standing over Fujimoto with a sinister grin.
"Why haven't you asked me anything yet?" asked Fujimoto hoping to distract Salamander so that the pain he knew he would eventually be feeling would take longer to actually come.
"Simple Fujimoto, because I know that in probably less than a day you'll be telling me everything that you can remember just to get a few seconds of no pain. I myself was tempted to start giving out information after just the first month of imprisonment at Rising Tide, but luckily for me the part of me that is dragon wouldn't let me possibly bring pain to those that I still considered family. But you don't have that part do you Fujimoto?" asked Salamander as he pinned Fujimoto against a wall of the cave and then staked him to it with iron rods curtesy of Gajeel's magic. Causing the man to scream out in pain as his shoulders and calves just had rods stabbed through them.
"I think we should start out with lighting for the first hour, then some quick healing because I can't have you dying on me just yet. Then we'll move on to the poison that I am really starting to like, it is probably my weakest element in power. But just a little of it causes more pain than most mages can handle, not to mention that it is constantly weakening you as time goes on." said Salamander as he cracked his knuckles and neck. Fujimoto just let out a small whimper, knowing that he was soon going to be in more pain than he could handle. But unfortunately Salamander wasn't going to let him have a simple death like he wished for.
At Fairy Tail:
"Judging from all the happy faces I can only assume that Natsu will be joining all of us any minute now." said Gildarts sarcastically as most of the guild gathered for a mandatory meeting.
"Your jokes aren't needed Gildarts." said Makarov as he glared at his ace.
"Sorry Makarov, I was just hoping to lighten the mood before I decided to tell you that I called it that your mission would end horribly." replied Gildarts with a drunken grin, which surprised no one since he pretty much was drunk all of the time now.
"Yes you did Gidarts, apparently there was a lot more to this situation then we ever could have known about. And that is one of the reasons that I called this meeting, the other reason is because I can no longer keep some of the other guilds at bay anymore. They want answers just as much as we do since Natsu has helped them numerous of times in his past and they want to return the favor now and help him out." said Makarov with a faint smile.
"Master I don't want to say this, but I have to agree with the Salamander about Natsu being dead. I mean look at what he did to us, Natsu would have never done any of that." pointed out Grey with a frown.
"Grey it's thanks to Natsu still being in there that we are all still standing here today. We know that he has death magic since he was able to actually kill Jackal once and for all since they have that weird device that brings him back even after he blows himself up." said Meredy with a serious expression.
"What's girl Natsu even doing here, aren't you supposed to be on the run with the rest of your guild?" asked Gildarts with a goofy grin since Meredy had the same hair color as Natsu.
"My old guild disbanded, and I am no longer classified as a dark mage. So I joined Fairy Tail knowing that you guys would still be going after Natsu, and I want to help since he knows where Ultear is." said Meredy as she glared at Gildarts who only continued to grin back at her.
"I thought that she died during the eclipse gate fiasco?" asked Lucy.
"That's what I thought until Natsu mentioned that she might have information that he could use." replied Meredy with a frown. Worried at what Natsu might do to Ultear to get that information, since it was proven earlier that so far the only line he wasn't willing to cross was murdering people who were not dark mages. But that didn't help Meredy at all since Ultear was still might be classified as a dark mage.
"Maybe he was just using that to get to you." suggested Levy.
"Nope Salamander never lied during that whole time with us." stated Gajeel with a frown.
"How the hell could you know that?" asked Cana, since Natsu was pretty much a completely different person now.
"I can because this new Salamander still has a lot of the same traits as the old Salamander that used to be a member here. But now he just so happens to have let his dragon side out all of the time, meaning that nothing will stop him from achieving his goals." explained Gajeel.
"You dragon slayers need to give all of us an explanation about what's going on. But before that I need to settle this little discussion about Ultear, and yes she is still alive she is unfortunately an old lady now." said Grey with a frown.
"How do you know that Grey?" asked Meredy with pleading eyes locked on him.
"Because I saw her as we were heading back to Fairy Tail after the Grand Magic Games all those years agon." answered Grey with his head down.
"Then why didn't you tell me, you knew how much she meant to me?" asked Meredy now glaring daggers at the ice mage.
"Because you told us about the letter she left you and I could tell that she wanted to be left alone and it was better that you thought that she was dead." replied Grey looking at Meredy with a sad face.
"Good now we know there is an old dark mage for Salamander to kill after he gets information out of her." stated Gildarts, causing Meredy and Grey to look at the man with shocked expressions. Both of them knew that was a possibility but didn't think someone would actually say it so casually like Gildarts just did.
"Dad could you please just go back to drinking." hissed Cana after hitting him a few times, which did nothing to the crash mage.
"Sure thing Honey, but I just don't want to let anyone have false hope like they did before the last mission." said Gildarts before he started to chug straight from a new bottle.
"Gildarts is right about us not having any false hope." stated Makarov, which resulted in the guild all having shocked expressions on their faces.
"Now let me explain, yes Salamander is not the Natsu that we all knew and loved. But he's still in there like Meredy and Gajeel said, which means that we have to come up with a new strategy of how to bring him back out of the darkness that he's currently walking in." explained Makarov with a determined look on his face.
"Gramps are you really sure that's a good idea?" asked Laxus with a frown.
"How could you say that Laxus, Natsu is a part of Fairy Tail and we never give up on family." said Lisanna as she glared at him.
"I know that Lisanna but look at what happened to us the last time we tried to bring him back. I also know that if this was the other way around at all Natsu wouldn't be resting until he brought one of us back, but the situation is different since it's Natsu." replied Laxus as his frown became even more pronounced.
"How so Laxus?" asked Lisanna as she continued to glare at the man who seemed like he didn't want to help Natsu. Even after Natsu was one of the main people that brought Laxus out of his own darkness all those years ago.
"Because of him being a dragon slayer and what happened to him at Rising Tide." said Wendy in an angry tone that most of the guild didn't even know she had.
"I think you three might need to fill in the rest of the guild about this whole dragon slayer business." said Makarov as the rest of the guild nodded in agreement.
"Well like I told you when we thought we had him captured, we are extremely lucky that Salamander is somehow able to focus all of his rage and anger just at dark mages. Also it's a complete miracle that he can actually talk with any of us at all, most of the time we become completely overtaken by the grief and destroy whatever is in front of us." explained Gajeel with frown as he pulled Levy closer to him. Making sure that she was still there with him and completely fine.
"I think you left some stuff out Gajeel." state Lucy, who couldn't help but have a faint smile as she looked at Gajeel holding Levy that way.
"He forgot to mention that Subject 8 was Natsu's mate and he had to watch her die while he could do nothing." said Laxus as his magic flared up and caused the people around him to back off. All of the members not wanting to accidentally get shocked by his lightning as he tried to control his anger and magic.
"Not only that but I figured out that she was somehow pregnant with his child, making what Natsu is doing now completely remarkable." included Wendy as she wiped away a few tears that escaped from her eyes.
"You can't be serious." stated Gajeel as he looked at Wendy, wanting to confirm what she just said.
"I really wish I wasn't Gajeel, and we can eliminate Lamia Scale from the list of possible guilds that she could have come from." said Wendy with a frown.
"Salamander is one strong son of a bitch." said Gajeel as he shook his head and continued to hold Levy.
"Would you care to explain Gajeel?" asked Levy as she looked up at him, while enjoying how he was holding her right now even though they were still in the guild. One of the places that for some reason Gajeel didn't like showing much affection for her even though they were together.
"Sure Shrimp, for a dragon or slayer to see either one of those things should have made them a crazed killing machine. But even after seeing both of them Salamander is still only killing dark mages, meaning that he has more will power and determination than most actuall dragons do." explained Gajeel.
"I think it should be said that I won't be helping you guys at all if you are trying to stop him." declared Wendy, shocking everyone with her determined look.
"That goes for me and Levy too." said Gajeel without even asking Levy about the decision.
"Sorry Gramps but I am also with them on this, and I have a feeling that you know why we're doing this." said Laxus as he looked at his grandfather.
"Yes I do Laxus and thank you for calling that retreat last time." replied Makarov which shocked everyone else but Erza who unfortunately had to go up against Wendy last time.
"What the hell is going on, I thought that you three would be the ones wanting to get him back the most?" shouted Grey as he glared at the three dragon slayers.
"We do Stripper, but we also know that if we go with you guys it will most likely turn out worse for everyone involved. And because of that we are going to be going after Salamander on our own, which will allow us to handle it better than you guys who can never truly understand what he lost." growled Gajeel, who wanted nothing more than to attack Grey and beat him until he had to stay in the infirmary for a month.
"Natsu lost his wife and kid, I know that's terrible but how in the world does that mean you guys can't help us out?" asked Grey, who wasn't going to stop until he got his answers.
"It's a dragon slayer thing." growled Laxus as little lightning bolts actually speed around his body.
"That's not good enough of an answer." shouted Grey.
"Grey if you guys happened to fight Natsu again then there is a really good chance that we would start fighting with him. Is that what you wanted to hear, and since we know that you guys are probably going to get into a fight with him we've decided to not be there because we don't want to tear this guild apart more than it already is." shouted Wendy as she glared at Grey.
"What the hell are you talking about, why would you guys side with Natsu?" asked Grey now completely confused.
"Because it's a dragon slayer thing Grey, and we would be compelled to help him out on his mission for revenge on those that destroyed his world. I almost started to help him last time, which is why we all left when we did because if we hadn't then you all would have been up against four dragon slayers." explained Laxus after calming down a bit.
"That's ridiculous, can't you guys fight it?" asked Grey as he looked at the three.
"To a certain extent we can, we wouldn't do anything that we normally wouldn't do. For example we wouldn't start killing dark mages with him, well at least I wouldn't." said Wendy as she quickly glanced at Gajeel and Laxus who remained quite.
"I still don't really get this." stated Lucy with a confused look.
"The best way that I can explain it is that now that we know what he went through a part of me is telling me that I have to help him. I guess you would call it my inner dragon, it's telling me to help him so that none of us would have to go through what he did. And it is also telling me to do this so that he can die in peace knowing that he avenged his mate and hatchling." elaborated Wendy with a frown.
"I still don't believe that you three would turn against us." said Lucy as she looked at the three of them.
"Sorry Lucy but we would if another fight broke out with Natsu and we were there." replied Wendy as she looked away from her.
"I don't believe you Wendy." stated Lucy.
"You should Lucy because Wendy did it last time and I was the one that had to fight her." said Erza with a huge frown and looked like she hadn't gotten any rest for the past two days.
"And in doing so Master still has his magic." growled Wendy as she glared at Erza.
"And thank you for that Wendy." replied Erza with a faint smile that vanished as soon as it came.
"Wait a minute Master almost lost his magic?" asked Cana in disbelief.
"HAHAHAHAHA oh that would have been something, I bet most of you would have blindly charged out to try and make Natsu pay for doing that." chuckled Gildarts after downing who knows what number of bottle of booze it was for the day.
"Gildarts that's enough out of you, and he didn't do it and he won't take anyone else's magic either." said Makarov as he glared at Gildarts.
"How can you be so sure about that Master?" asked Lisanna with a very concerned look on her face since she didn't want Natsu doing that to anyone in Fairy Tail.
"Because the Chairman thankfully said that after our last encounter with Natsu that he could only do that to dark mages. And the last thing Natsu wants to be is the thing that he's decided to hunt down and kill." answered Makarov while having a slight frown on his face.
"So what are we going to do since none of the dragon slayers are going to help us in trying to bring back Natsu?" asked Lucy.
"We won't be doing nothing Lucy, we just won't be doing it without any of you for your own safety. Since we know that it will most likely end in a fight if you guys do confront him." said Wendy as she glared at her.
"No it won't!" argued Lucy.
"Maybe not for you bunny girl but others aren't going to be able to hold back after what you guys forced him to do. Isn't that right Stripper and Titania?" asked Gageel with a smirk.
"Dam right I'm going to fight that flame brain, look what he did to his family. Not to mention Warren still hasn't recovered yet, and now I also learned that idiot almost took Master's magic." replied Grey angrily.
"You all did that to yourselves, and Warren should have told Gramps it was too risky. Especially after what happened to Cobra, and what happened to the rest of Crime Sorciere?" asked Laxus as noticed that he hadn't seen the rest of Meredy's old guild.
"Jellal fled like a coward and the rest don't want anything to do with us." replied Erza with a frown.
"Can't really blame them." stated Laxus while shaking his head.
"Okay I am sick and tired of you guys saying we did this to ourselves, you sound just like Salamander when he kept calming that he didn't want to do this. But guess what he did, and being a dragon slayer isn't a good enough excuse for what he did." said Grey, which instantly caused the other three dragon slayers to growl at him.
"Grey shut your god damn mouth before I beat you harder than Natsu ever has." said Laxus through clenched teeth.
"I think I might join in on that." growled Gajeel.
"And I'll just sit back and enjoy the show, oh and afterwards I won't heal you at all." stated Wendy as she glared at Grey.
"Alright calm down everyone." said Makarov.
"Sorry Master but I can't be the only one that thinks this way." stated Grey.
"Yes Grey, which is why we aren't going to associate with you morons as you go and get yourself killed." growled Laxus.
"Grey just try and think about the worst pain you've ever felt. Now imagine feeling that every second for the rest of your life, because that is exactly what Natsu is going through right now. And it's the reason that most dragons and slayers go crazy, but then again Natsu might literally not feel pain anymore after being tortured for four years." said Wendy hoping that she might get them to slightly understand what's going on better.
"That still doesn't excuse him for doing all of this." said Grey now in a calmer tone.
"Grey, think if you had to experience losing your parents and Ur over and over again." said Lucy, who now felt even worse about what Natsu was going through.
"I don't think I could handle that." replied Grey quietly with a frown.
"But Natsu is somehow." said Lucy with a slight smile at Natsu still overcoming insurmountable odds.
"Not only that Grey, but he constantly warned you all exactly what would happen if you tried to stop him. But you didn't listen to him and he did exactly what he said he would, actually he didn't take away Erza's magic like he threatened. And he also didn't take away Gramps, which is why we are still putting the blame of what happened to you guys on all of you." stated Laxus as he looked at the members Natsu easily took down during their last confrontation.
"They're right about this Grey; he gave us more than enough warning but we all thought that he wouldn't go through with it. Mainly because we didn't know what he is still going through, this brings me to the big question for you three. Is there any way of fixing him of this, or at least lessening the pain that he's feeling?" asked Makarov as he looked at the dragon slayers.
"Sorry but I am still learning about this stuff since a dragon didn't raise me." replied Laxus.
"My old man only warned me to never let it happen to me, and made sure that I knew to fight until my last breath to prevent it from happening. And I can only assume that Salamander was told the same thing by Igneel, which is only making this that much harder on him." replied Gajeel with a frown.
"The only way for it to end is for Natsu to die, at least that is what Grandine told me about this subject." answered Wendy as she almost started to cry, as the rest of the guild got quieter since everything seemed to get worse for them just from hearing this.
"Are you sure that there isn't any other way Wendy?" asked Makarov with a hopeful expression.
"There could be but I don't know of any sure fire ways to fix this Master." replied Wendy with a frown.
"So you know of some slim chances?" asked Makarov who was willing to grab onto anything that he could.
"Yes but they are extremely low, I would have to say that they are one in a million." answered Wendy.
"Wendy please just tell us what they are." begged Lucy.
"One is that if he can find him another mate, but that would require him to be one of the few that can actually have multiple mates. And if you couldn't guess that is extremely rare for us, meaning that you really shouldn't put much hope into it. The other one that has a slim chance of working is for Natsu believing that he's accomplished his goal of killing all dark mages, so he could finally be at peace since he's avenged his mate." explained Wendy as she looked at the disappointed faces of the rest of the guild.
"HAHAHAHAHA looks like you are going to have to find a girl that wants to date a mass dark mage killer. Or are you going to start killing dark mages to bring Natsu back Makarov?" asked Gildarts with a big smirk on his face.
"We will not be killing anyone Gildarts, and even if we could find someone that likes Natsu. It doesn't mean that she'll be his mate, if my understanding of this whole mate thing is correct." said Makarov as he looked over at Wendy who nodded in agreement.
"There could be another way right?" asked Levy.
"Possibly but I have no idea how you would go about finding out a new cure or how you plan to test it." replied Wendy.
"So what are we going to do Master?" asked Erza, hoping that he had a solution to this terrible situation.
"I think we should go back to trying to figuring out everything that happened to him, while also looking for a new solution to a slayer losing their mate. And we will do this until we've talked to all of the other guilds, because like I said earlier they've wanted to help for a while now. I didn't want to involve them at first, but after what we just went through I think that we could use all the help that we can get." answered Makarov with a thoughtful expression.
"Alright, more people that will think Natsu only needs to be beaten to bring him back. We might need to get a bigger infirmary if you aren't careful Makarov." said Gildarts with a grin, but was ignored by most of the guild.
"Are we going to still try and figure out who Subject 8 is?" asked Lucy while looking at Makarov then the dragon slayers.
"I think we should, because otherwise we won't have a clear picture of what happened to the both of them." replied Makarov with a frown.
"Salamander went to long lengths to hide her true identity, so I would suggest that we leave it at what we already know." said Gajeel, with the other two dragon slayers nodding their heads in agreement.
"But what about her family and friends, they deserve to know what happened to her." stated Lucy.
"I can only assume that they don't care about her or have already assumed the worse. So there is no reason to possibly make it worse for them by giving out the info that her final moments were in that hell hole." said Laxus.
"It isn't our place to withhold that information from them Laxus, so we will still try and find out the Identity of her." said Makarov.
"You're right Gramps, I would say that decision goes to Natsu and he's chosen to try and keep her name unassociated with Rising Tide completely. And I can see why he's doing that, no one want's that place being thought of when someone thinks about you or says your name." argued Laxus.
"That may be true Laxus, and we can discuss about it once we figure out who Subject 8 is." replied Makarov.
"Master you said something about the other guilds wanting to help, what did you mean by that?" asked Erza with a frown since she believed that this should remain Fairy Tail business only.
"Most of the other guilds will be sending representatives here in a few days where we'll fill them in on what's happening and what they can do to help." replied Makarov as he noticed her face almost becoming a scowl at hearing this.
"Master this is Fairy Tail business and should stay that way." declared Grey.
"I have to agree with him on that Master." said Erza.
"Unfortunately this isn't really Fairy Tail business since Natsu is no longer a member as the Chairman pointed out. And everyone that is coming are Natsu's friends that only want to help just like the rest of us, so how is it fair to tell them off like you want to Grey?" asked Makarov as he looked at him waiting for an answer, which he knew that Grey couldn't give him.
"Fine, but I can already tell that this is going to be hectic and also extremely boring for those that know what's going on right now." said Grey with a frown.
"Then you don't have to be here right away Grey. You can show up later in the evening when we will hopefully be coming up with new plans." stated Makarov.
"I already have the best plan possible everyone. Let's just let Natsu keep doing what he's been doing for the last month. I mean we weren't doing shit when he was being tortured by them so why the hell are we doing something now. Especially when the other dragons slayers have made it perfectly clear that he needs to be doing this or he'll become crazier than he already is." said Gildarts as he got up from the bar.
"We are doing this now Gildarts because we actually know that Natsu is in trouble." stated Makarov.
"Cut the crap Makarov, you knew that he was in trouble when he left without so much as a note to even Happy. You just don't want to admit that we all should have been searching for him years ago and now feel guilty about the results of that decision. Because I know for sure that I regret listening to you when I came back and found out that he went missing." replied Gildarts as he made his way to the exit. Makarov didn't have a response for this since he did in fact feel guilty about all of this happening under his watch.
"That was probably my second biggest mistake in my life and I know that I will feel guilty about it until the day I die." said Gildarts before leaving the guild that was completely silent because of his comment.
Small village in the middle of nowhere two days later:
An elderly lady could be seeing going about her morning routine like normal. She stopped by the open air market and converses with some of the merchants there as she buys the necessities for the day at a lower price than most since she is a regular. As she walks through the town she is occasionally stopped by someone only to be asked for her advice on all sorts of thing. But it sometimes was just for a friendly chat about what's going on in the village or maybe just mindless conversations about almost anything.
It is now ten in the morning when the elderly lady is finally returning to her home, which is actually outside of the small village so that she can be by herself. Since she really didn't want to cause anyone else any trouble and actually enjoyed the solitude that her location provided for her. But it would seem that today she wasn't going to be getting that peace and quiet she wanted.
As she reached for the knob she noticed that her lock had been completely melted away and was now a flat piece of metal on the ground. Dreading that this day would eventually come she slipped out a knife that she always had on her and crept into her small home. As she slowly made her way in, she noticed right away that nothing seemed to be disturbed at all or missing. This confused her since she expected the whole place to be trashed if they came looking for answers, and if that wasn't the cause for someone breaking into her house. She thought that some of her possessions would be stolen at least.
"It's about time you returned." said someone in a cloak as they came out of her study.
"Who the hell are you?" she asked as she pointed her knife at the intruder.
"HAHAHAHA do you really want to be pointing that at me?" asked the intruder that she could now definitely tell was a male by his figure and voice.
"Yes, since I still don't know who you are. And I do know how to use it even though I look old." she replied.
"You aren't supposed to be that old, I'd actually guess that you would still have a great body if you didn't use Last Ages all of those years ago." said the stranger as he took a seat in her living room as if he was an old friend of hers.
"I have no idea what you're talking about." denied the woman now feeling extremely nervous about this stranger.
"Sure you do Zalty, which I think you might actually look really good as an old man." he replied while grinning at her, which only made her more cautious of him.
"Okay who the hell are you?" she asked no longer caring that he might be there to kill her.
"You know that really hurts Ultear, I came here to say hi and get some information and possibly a small partnership." responded the stranger as his grin got bigger.
"I have no idea who you are since you have your magic completely hidden. And I won't agree to anything until I know who you are and what it is that you want." stated Ultear as she glared at the man that somehow knew all about her past. More than most people actually would, which made her wonder who this stranger was.
"I wouldn't expect anything less from you Ultear, and even if you did feel my magic it wouldn't help you at all in identifying me." stated the stranger as he picked up a book and started to thumb through it. This allowed Ultear to see his outfit that was under his cloak, but she couldn't recall ever seeing it before but happened to realize that it was mainly red and black making him look even more threatening than before.
"I wouldn't be too sure about that, so why don't you let be the judge of that." stated Ultear, hoping that he would oblige her curiosity and allow her to get a better understanding of him.
"Okay but you have to agree to stay here and at least talk with me afterwards." he replied while setting the book down on her coffee table.
"I promise, so let me see." she said while taking a seat in the other chair.
"Here goes noting." replied the stranger as he stopped hiding his magical presence. Ultear instantly regretted getting this stranger to do this, it was one of the strongest magical presences that she had ever felt before, but that wasn't what caused her to regret this decision. It was because of all the pain and sorrow that she could feel coming from it, while also giving off the signatures of numerous different types of magic that were all powerful in their own right. But the one that was unmistakable and caused her to feel fear to her core was the presence of death magic that felt awfully similar to that of Zeref's.
"Like I said Ultear, it wouldn't help feeling my magic. If anything it is most likely leading you down the wrong path of who I might actually be." replied the Stranger who was once again hiding his presence.
"You have death magic." stated Ultear.
"Yes I do Ultear." he replied with a faint grin.
"And you also have a few more that are incredibly powerful." stated Ultear as she tried to figure out what exactly was going on.
"Very observant of you Ultear, most of the mages that have felt my magic while I wasn't hiding any of them become too afraid to talk or even detect anything other than the death magic. But you were always the crafty one that was always trying to come up with explanations and solutions." he said while leaning back into the chair.
"Most mages would spend their entire lives just trying to get one of those magic types you have." said Ultear in complete disbelief at the man in her living room.
"That they would Ultear, especially since all of the types of magic that I have are slayer." stated the Stranger as Ultear's eyes widened in disbelief.
"That's not possible the only people that I know who have done something even close to that are from Fairy Tail." stated Ultear as she looked at him and saw his grin get even bigger as she mentioned Fairy Tail.
"Oh my lord, you can't be him." stated Ultear in complete shock as she finally put everything together. And she figured out that Natsu Dragneel, now known as Salamander was sitting in her living room probably just returning from getting rid of a dark guild in the area permanently.
"I knew you would eventually figure it out Ultear." said Salamander with a little chuckle.
"I read all of the articles about you recently, but was hoping that they weren't true." replied Ultear with a frown.
"All of them are true Ultear, and as you could probably guess the Council is keeping a lot of it still under wraps for various reasons." he stated as he started to play with different types of magic on each of his fingers.
"I've never been good with these kinds of things Natsu." said Ultear nervously.
"No problem Ultear since I don't need any of that stuff, oh and its Salamander now." stated Salamander as he put some of his fire inside of his ice that it couldn't melt. It formed a small ice sculpture which looked like a little flame that contained some of his fire magic inside its center.
"So I guess we should get down to business then Salamander, unless you've come to kill me like all of those other dark mages." said Ultear with a smile.
"You are definitely one of a kind Ultear, and if you didn't know you are no longer a dark mage thanks to the current chairman and your old guild. So it means that you're completely safe with me as long as you don't try anything funny, which I really don't think you are dumb enough to even attempt something that foolish." said Salamander as he placed the frozen flame he made onto Ultear's coffee table.
"A lot of good being declared an independent mage will do for me since I'm an old lady now. And does this have anything to do with you taking down one of the Council members for being a dark mage?" asked Ultear as she rolled her eyes at being an old lady way before she ever should have.
"It does Ultear, but I wasn't asking for it. Personally I was looking forward to hunting down Jellal's new team of dark mages that he got after your departure from his guild. I would have to say that it happened because of Fairy Tail and Crime Sorciere trying to prevent me from getting Fujimoto and the new Chairman realizing the old ways weren't working." answered Salamander as he continued to play with is magic.
"The article did say that it was Fujimoto, but why were they trying to stop you?" asked Ultear, who could understand Natsu's desire to get revenge on those that ruined his life.
"Man do I really wish you were with them before they did all of that, you would have convinced them that nothing was going to stop me from getting what I wanted. And to answer your question Ultear they were trying to bring me back to Fairy Tail while also preventing me from killing anymore dark mages." answered Salamander as he placed another ice sculpture onto the coffee table that contained lightning this time.
"Seems like something Fairy Tail would do, but I don't think I would have even been able to convince them to not try. You know how they are when they get an idea; nothing stops them from completing their goal. But I am honestly surprised that Crime Sorciere helped them with that since you weren't doing anything wrong." stated Ultear with a grin as she watched Natsu lay another sculpture on the coffee table.
"I think it might have been Jellal just trying to impress Erza or maybe he didn't like how during our last visit I completely manhandled all of them. Oh and I guess I am the one person that actually stopped Fairy Tail, which makes me believe that I might have been the one causing them to get that reputation before." he said while he continued to make more ice sculptures.
"You very well could be Salamander, how are Jellal and Meredy?" asked Ultear with a small smile as she thought of her adoptive daughter.
"Meredy is a fine young woman that unfortunately still thinks the old Natsu is still in here. She was shocked to learn that you were still alive and well Ultear, which makes me wonder why you are hiding from her. As for Jellal he finally showed everyone else what I have always known about him, which is that he's nothing more than a coward that is willing to use anyone to get what he wants." said Salamander as he used a harsher tone when talking about Jellal.
"So you learned about the exact spell I used on him to manipulate him?" asked Ultear with a frown.
"I did and a whole lot more, which is shocking since I didn't know that dark guilds had so much information about forbidden magic. That I also find odd since some of those spells and magic types would be really helpful if they were used the way they were initially intended to." said Salamander as he placed another ice sculpture that contained poison this time.
"Only if mages would do that Salamander, but we both know that life isn't perfect. But that doesn't explain why you are calling Jellal a coward, he was always confident in his own abilities." stated Ultear with a questioning look on her face.
"That was only when he knew he was the strongest or smartest person there. But when he wasn't either of those two things, he hightailed it out of there before I could have some more fun with him since he's still a dark mage. Oh and he just sat back and watched me take away the magic of Sorano and Richard when all he had to do was let me have Fujimoto." replied Salamander.
"I heard rumors that you were capable of that, and I can honestly say I am not happy to hear that you did that to them. But they should have known better than to get in between a dragon and its prey, especially if it's pissed off like I can only imagine you were in such a situation." said Ultear with a frown.
"You seem to really understand more about dragon slayers than most Ultear, and I didn't want to do it either. But they still didn't give me Fujimoto after I constantly warned them what would happen if they didn't comply to my demands." stated Salamander as he put an ice sculpture that contained black wind onto the coffee table. That was now having a small collection on it, which was slowly starting to have all of his different types of magic contained in them.
"That is because we used to be enemies Salamander, and you should always know your enemy before you fight them. Also Hades was very interested in getting his own dragon slayer but never got the chance, so why don't we get to business like I suggested a while ago before we got sidetracked." said Ultear with a smirk.
"Sorry about that Ultear, I really don't get many conversations that are this fulfilling or intelligent. They usually are just stupid taunts that are followed by screams of pain that turn into them begging for their lives. Or they are just annoying conversations like my ones with Fairy Tail." he said while putting another ice sculpture down.
"I've actually enjoyed this so far as well Salamander. Since I too don't get many visitors that know about my past and can talk with me about these things." she said still smirking at him.
"Okay Ultear, the first thing I wanted to talk to you about is something that I know you are capable of guessing." stated Salamander with a creepy grin.
"Would that have to do with everything that I might still know about dark guilds and corrupt members in the government?" asked Ultear with a sly grin.
"That it would Ultear; since you know what I want I now am wondering if you are willing to give out that intel. Because I would really like it if you did, it didn't go well for Jellal when I asked him this exact thing a while ago." stated Salamander now having a completely serious expression on his face.
"You are probably mad that I am no longer a dark mage since it makes your moves nowhere near as frightening." said Ultear as she studied him.
"Yes and no Ultear, you are right that I can no longer kill you or take away your magic. But that doesn't mean I couldn't do all sorts of other terrible things and make sure that it wouldn't be traced back to me. I could even threaten to pay Meredy a visit, or possibly set her up to be declared a dark mage again. But I am really hoping that we can both be reasonable about this and proceed without any of that unpleasant business." responded Salamander, which caused Ultear's mouth to drop open at the things that he just said.
"What happened to you, the old Natsu would have never even thought of such dark things." stated Ultear now remembering who it was that was in her living room.
"You know what happened Ultear, or at least parts of it. I lost everything that I ever cared about in that place over the four years that I was held there. And because of that I now know how things actually work in this crazy world, so what is your answer?" he said with a frown as he looked directly in her eyes, which finally caused her to realize that his eyes are now red.
"I'll tell you everything that I know Salamander, since it might be the last thing that I can do to hopefully make this a better country. But can you promise me to not harm Meredy no matter what happens in the future?" asked Ultear hopefully.
"I will as long as she never becomes a dark mage, if that does happen then she's as good as dead." stated Salamander with a straight face.
"Thank you Salamander, so what was the other reason that you wanted to talk to me about some sort of partnership?" asked Ultear with a smile.
"Oh yes I was going to ask you this after you told me all that you know, but it doesn't really matter when I propose this to you. So what would you say to becoming an active mage again that gives me information about any dark guilds that you happen to run into? Oh and also what Fairy Tail is up to since we both know that it is only a matter of time until they try and stop me again." he said with a smirk that creeped Ultear out a little.
"I'd say that you might be blind since I can't do any of that with my age and lack of magical power." stated Ultear wondering what he was up to.
"That is something that I can reverse Ultear, you'll be back to how you were before you cast Last Ages. Actually you'll probably be stronger, but I will only do this if we have an agreement." replied Salamander as he placed another ice sculpture onto her coffee table.
"It isn't possible, I've looked into it for a full year so agreeing to it would be pointless since you couldn't deliver on your promise." stated Ultear.
"You're wrong Ultear, and you didn't find the answer to your problem because you were looking at things the public can look into. I have gone through the archives of more than fifteen different dark guilds, and you have a good idea of what they most likely contained." he said with a confident grin.
"Okay Salamaner, I'll give you my answer if you tell me how it's even possible to reverse the spell." she replied as she inspected him more closely than she had before. And she could tell that he was definitely trying to hide something, because of his bandages and the fact that his hood actually had shadow magic in it to help hide his facial features.
"So you still might not accept this offer even after I tell you how I plan to return you to your previous condition?" asked Salamander with a smile.
"Yep." replied Ultear as she continued to try and take in as much detail as possible.
"HAHAHAHA man is it fun to be around someone as crafty as you Ultear. I was actually hoping that most dark mages were like you, but so far none of them have even come close to you. And I am fine with that since you wouldn't be able to do this with anyone but me, well I can think of one more person that could possibly do this but it doesn't seem like he would randomly pop up and do this for you." said Salamander still smiling at her.
"So what is it Salamander?" asked Ultear who was now really intrigued at how he planned to accomplish it.
"You'll just do the spell again but this time using my magic while only focusing on going back to your old state." answered Salamander with a huge grin on his face as he watched the look of horror spread across Ultear's face.
"That would just make you an old man then Natsu, I mean Salamander!" shouted Ultear as she glared at him.
"That is one possible outcome that I highly doubt will happen, but if it does then I can end this little crusade of mine since I won't be able to do it anymore which Fairy Tail will be thrilled about. The other more likely outcome is it working like I suspect and both of us still being able to kick ass and you'll finally be able to go back to Meredy and be the mom that she wants. I could tell that she misses you as much as I missed Igneel Ultear, which unfortunately means she will stop at nothing until she finds you since I accidentally mentioned you while she was helping them stop me." explained Salamander never losing his grin.
"How could you do that?" shouted Ultear as she glared at him.
"I did say it was an accident, and I still don't know why you're hiding from her. So don't blame the person who is trying to fix this, and all you have to do is tell me what you see and hear every now and an again." he stated as he put his last ice sculpture on her coffee table.
"Let's say that I agree to this, how am I going to explain me coming back since I am confident that Grey recognized me? Also you want me to spy on Fairy Tail which is something I really don't want to do." she stated with a frown.
"You'll tell them the truth if that is what you want; I really don't care since you're going to be the one actually interacting with them. As for spying on them, I wouldn't call it that since you are only going to be telling me what they are trying to do concerning me." replied Salamander as he played with the last ice sculpture that he made which contained his death magic and was in the shape of a skull.
"That is still spying Salamander." declared Ultear as she glared at him.
"Fine call it what you want Ultear, and if it makes you feel any better you can tell them that you are going to give me the occasional update every now and then. And before you say that it's crazy, I know that at least the dragon slayers will be completely okay with it and might even help you out. Oh and if you don't want to I will just get some other dark mages to do it for me, which would mean that Meredy will have to go through all of the heartache that I experienced while searching for Igneel." said Salamander as he got up and went into her kitchen and got something to drink. While he was doing this Ultear was debating if she should take him up on this offer, which if she was honest with herself it was really advantageous for her and not nearly as much for him.
"So what's your answer Ultear, because if it's no then you should get to telling me everything that you know like we agreed and I will be on my way since Fujimoto is waiting for me. And I would really hate to make him wait since he really needs my help otherwise he'll actually die on me before I've gotten everything out of him." said Salamander with a glass of water in his hand.
"I thought you killed him." stated Ultear stunned that the man was still alive.
"Why would I let the man that caused me four years of pure hell to have a simple death, oh and he also helped make it possible for Rising Tide to do such things for years?" asked Salamander.
"I guess that makes sense, but how long do you plan keep him alive?" asked Ultear.
"Doesn't really concern you Ultear, and you should figure out what you are going to do. Because in two days Fairy Tail is having a meeting with the other guilds and the main topic happens to be yours truly." answered Salamander while giving her a grin.
"How do you know all of this?" asked Ultear once again surprised by him and his knowledge.
"This and that, I just so happen to have the underworlds information broker in my back pocket which means I am getting a lot of information on all of the legal guilds along with some stuff that I am more interested in. Oh and you would be surprised at how many people are willing to help me out since I am accidentally avenging their loved ones. Also I still have a lot of friends outside of the guilds who owe me one, so as you can see I don't really need you to do this, but it would be nice to have someone on the inside." explained Salamander.
"Alright Salamander let's do this." said Ultear with a grin spread across her face.
"I knew I could count on you." replied Salamander as he grinned back at her.
End of Chapter
Author's Notes:
Thanks for reading this chapter and I hope you enjoyed it. So I didn't get to the other guilds discussing with each other like I originally planned to do for this chapter. But once I got the idea of adding Ultear into the mix I kind of got carried away with it and wrote the last part of the chapter. Now the next chapter is going to have the meeting between guilds and also Ultear, most likely joining Fairy Tail and their reactions to her news about Natsu. Oh and the next chapter is going to have Fairy Tail knocking off a lot of possible candidates for Subject 8, meaning that it should be easier for you to figure out who she is since she isn't a OC. Oh and I would love to hear any suggestions that you might have, also I couldn't come up with a good title for this chapter so I went with that. If you have a better one I would be glad to change it if it fits better for this chapter. Well that is enough for this author's note so I'll just say like always to feel free to leave me a review or PM and I'll try to get back to you as soon as possible.
Until the next Chapter
Digem Out!