Huh? Where am I? Why is it so dark? So cold.
"Ah!" Natsu jolted from the bed. When he looked around he noticed he was in his own house. "Huh?" He looked on the sofa to find Gray who was still asleep.
Natsu got out of bed and heard a clatter in the kitchen, "Good you're awake." Erza appeared in what appeared to be a chef outfit.
"Uhh. What are you doing?" He was lost for words.
"Making breakfast. What do you think?" This time it was Lucy's voice.
"Why in my house?" Natsu was puzzled by the sight.
Lucy smiled, "Well now you know how I feel."
"But wh- "
"Natsuuu!" A blue cat came hurtling towards and into his arms.
"What's going on?" He could see their troubled faces while trying to act normal and yet, something felt odd.
"Nothing. Why does something have to be going on all the time? We're making breakfast." Lucy ran back into the kitchen.
Lucy's evasive movement alarmed him, "Erza. What's going on?"
"Exactly what Lucy said. We went to check on you and make sure the two of you hadn't started fighting. But you were both fast asleep. It's only been a few hours. You both looked tired though so we left you." She smiled as she engulfed herself in making the food.
So cold.
"Huh?" There was a voice, it sounded like a child.
Erza went back into the kitchen with Lucy and continued making breakfast. It smelt odd so Natsu went to check it out.
"What are you guys making?" He couldn't see what was in the pot. The set up looked more like they were making dinner than breakfast, but food was food and Erza did like to go over the top sometimes.
"Boiled eggs and toast." Lucy happily went along with what she was doing.
"R-really?" It didn't smell that way.
So dark.
There was another voice. This time it sounded like a woman's.
Natsu walked over to the sofa to see Gray who was still sleeping. Something didn't feel right. That smell. It smelled rotten and yet his friends said nothing of it. He looked down at Gray. Something was wrong. He looked sick. No. He was silent. Completely silent.
"Gray?" Natsu shook him. There was no response. "Gray!" No response. He wasn't breathing. His heart had stopped. Dead.
"Natsu breakfast is ready!" Erza called in.
"You guys what the hell!" Natsu ran in.
You did this.
He saw nothing but horror. Lucy and Erza smiled at him.
You did this.
"What's wrong Natsu?" Lucy approached him. Every step she took she became more and more pale, eventually she was face to face with him. Her eyes were sullen and her lips blue. 'Now sit down breakfast is ready.'
You did this.
A voice hissed at him as it echoed around the room.
Natsu looked around trying to find the source, he noticed Erza was also looking like a corpse. Eventually, he looked at the table where his apparent breakfast was. Horrified, he saw maggots squirming around a head in the middle of the table. The head was rotten flesh with pieces of what looked like a cat skull peering through. And blue tufts of fur.
"Now eat!" Lucy cheered behind him. Or what was left of her rotten, decrepit corpse.
It's your fault. All yours.
Natsu fell into a fit of panic. He became so frightened he just froze staring into what was left of Happy's right eye. The eye moved. It fixated onto the pink haired boy.
You killed us.
Natsu murmured in his sleep.
"Natsu!" Erza shook him.
Natsu jerked upwards in his bed covered in sweat and was completely out of it, "W-where?"
"You're at home. Gray said you guys talked and then you passed out." Lucy stumbled in the room amazed to see her best friend awake. "You guys were gone for a while so we went looking for you. We tried here first and that's when Gray explained what happened."
Natsu was in a daze however, and the two girls quickly realized that he wasn't paying any attention.
"Natsu." Erza grabbed his arm. "Calm down. You're okay." He was shaking.
Lucy went into the kitchen and got him a glass of water. He was shaking so much however that she had to give it to him herself. Not to mention that he was still waking up.
After a few moments he calmed down and started composing himself. Once he did the first place he looked at was the sofa. Gray was there asleep, he could see him breathing. He was exhausted, probably from using his magic to keep Natsu's fever in check. He really owed him for this, for everything, he owed all of them.
"Where's Happy?" Despite the water, his throat was dry causing his voice to be not more than a whisper.
"Don't worry he's right here." Lucy assured him pointing to the bottom of the bed, which showed a sleeping blue ball of fur.
Suddenly Natsu began to recall the weird dream he had, along with the memory of his death, the thought made him nauseous, "I think I'm gonna be sick." He jumped out of bed and ran to the bathroom.
Erza went into the kitchen to make some herbal tea, while Lucy comforted Natsu who had his head over the toilet.
"I'm guessing the idiot's awake then." Gray joined Erza in the kitchen. "Man I wish he would have given me a warning."
Erza chuckled at the thought of Gray panicking about how to deal with a sick person on his own, "Yeah. Lucy's keeping him in check." She was a little disheartened. Natsu was always so strong. But she couldn't forget how terrified he looked when he woke up moments before.
After a while Natsu wearily joined them, with Lucy trailing in behind him worried he would topple over.
"You feeling any better?" Erza figured it was a dumb question, but it was one he'd still answer. Right now she just wanted to hear him talk.
Being sick so much seemed to damage his vocal chords enough to make it hard to talk. Nonetheless he managed to give a slight smile. "Yeah, kinda."
Lucy looked at him in concern, "You should probably lie down for a while. You didn't sleep that long. Even when you were, I wouldn't say you were having the best of sleeps."
He coughed, "Sure. Sorry." He hated that he made them worry like this, he felt so pathetic and helpless.
Erza continued making tea for herself, Gray and Lucy. While Natsu staggered back to bed and fell asleep almost instantly.
"Is he going to be okay?" Gray looked over to him.
'Well it's Natsu we're talking about. It may take some time and we already knew that getting his memories back wouldn't be a walk in the park. He'll be okay eventually.' Lucy took a sip of her tea.
Erza stirred her tea, "The nightmares aren't new. But it seems he's remembering them now. We just have to keep an eye on him."
"You fuckers get off me!" Resha screamed at the group of men who crowded around her.
"Aww. What's wrong sweetheart. Is my cock too big for ya?!" The other men jeered in the background.
Two men shoved her to the ground, "Heh. Is that-?" One of the men walked over to the lifeless boy that lay next to her, he was laughing.
"Don't you fucking dare!" She yelled while making an attempt to stand. She was shoved back to the ground however, receiving a face full of dirt and her son's blood.
"Don't I dare what? This?" The soldier lifted up the child's pale, dead face before smashing it against the cold hard floor. "You're just a pathetic whore. I'm sure you've got plenty knocking around." The man laughed, while his subordinates heckled behind him. "I'll admit though. I'm a little embarrassed."
"Keep going fucker. I'll rip out you're god damn tongue." She hissed.
He roared with laughter dropping the boys head. "No cat is getting my tongue wench." He walked over to her and grabbed her chin. "What you gonna do you filthy little bitch?" He grinned showing his yellow, rotten teeth.
She spat in his face, "Fuck you." This resulted in him kicking her. She sat there for a while looking down at the ground while the men laughed.
"Oh but you already did that. You see men! This pathetic little doll face whore is the one who killed our King!" He continued to laugh. "You all know what we do to traitors!"
A man behind him spoke up, "Even the pretty ones. I bet she'd be a good fuck!" The men around him roared with laughter.
"Oh she was. But sadly," He shook his head in a mocking shame, "Sadly you lot don't get to find that out. Not today. Not today." He drew his sword. "You won't be getting to see her pretty little cunt boys." Some of the men showed faces of disappointment while mouthing words like, 'what a waste' and 'damn shame' while shaking their heads.
She began to laugh. "I thought my dearest husband could hit better than that."
He lowered his sword, "Oh I can. You know that." He snorted. "Now that I think about it. Don't I have two?" He looked around the darkness, "Zeref? Don't tell me he's alive and that brat died. I thought Natsu was the better one."
"Well he wasn't screamin daddy sir." One of the soldiers piped up behind him.
He turned around, "Good. If he died then I don't 'ave any kids."
Resha looked up at the man she once called her love, "what the fuck happened to you?"
The man laughed again, "War my sweet. You happened. You and your god damn revolution. I bet you were fuckin what-ser-face too." He lifted his sword to her neck. "Now my dearest. Any last words?"
She lowered her head and smiled. The men were startled, but before they could do anything they were set ablaze. Then the screams began. "Darkness will only be blinded by light." A dragon appeared. It was her dragon. The fire dragon King.
Resha grabbed a knife on the floor and walked over to her former love. She didn't want magic to kill him. She wanted a reflection of his heart to. A cold, metal, sharp object. She stabbed him, but as a reaction he grabbed her hair. They stumbled around for a while before she lunged the knife into his face. In a fit of her anger and panic the knife went back and forth into his face until he stopped moving. She grabbed Natsu's cold bloodied body and got on the dragons back. Then in the smoke. Disappeared.
Natsu woke up. It was strange. That was probably the first time in weeks that he'd managed to sleep peacefully.
"You feeling any better?" Wendy was next to the bed holding a cup of tea. "Here you'll probably want this." She handed it to him.
Natsu sipped some of the tea, "Yeah and thanks." He assumed that he was feeling better because of her. "Thanks Wendy." He smiled.
"I'm glad you're awake." Erza walked in holding the diary. "Levy might have found something."
Gray and Lucy walked in behind her. "You don't have to come if you're still not feeling well." Lucy walked straight to him.
"Actually I'm feeling fine thanks to Wendy. And I guess you guys too." He felt guilty for having made them worry so much.
"Well I didn't do much." Wendy spoke nervously.
"Well if you're feeling okay then get ready. I'll explain everything on the train." Natsu and Wendy looked at Erza blankly.
"T-train." The two dragon slayers spoke in unison.
"Don't worry it's only 4 hours." Happy mocked as he saw their reactions.
Natsu had disdain written all over his face, "A-awesome."
"You're lucky I haven't eaten yet. But I think I can taste the tea." Natsu splayed himself resting his head on the window. Wendy was next to him with her head rested on his arm.
"Man you're pathetic." Gray growled at him.
"Erza you said you'd explain. What did Levy find?" Lucy asked.
"She managed to translate all the book. The girl is actually Natsu's mother." She hesitated with her words know this would be a delicate matter. Yet, through his sickness Natsu gave her an unsurprised look.
With his look of approval she continued, "The diary obviously goes into a lot of detail. But it does stop. Either she died after the last entry or she simply lost it. It's hard to tell. But one thing we did find is the possible area of where that last entry was written." She hesitated again. It was likely that they were about the venture into the area of where Natsu died. "There's a vast rural landscape South-East of Fiore."
Gray looked at her, "So what about it?"
Erza nibbled at her strawberry cake, "According to Levy there's nothing but woodland and grasslands that extend for mile. However, somewhere within that woodland there is an entrance to something underground."
"Underground? Like what, a mine?" Lucy pondered.
Erza continued, "If Levy's hunch is right. Then it'll be a city."
"A city?" Carla muttered.
"Ehhh!" The two jumped out of their seats astonished.
Erza overlooked their reaction, "The city of Istabella."
They walked around the woodlands for what felt like hours.
"Hey! Do we even know where to go?" Lucy collapsed onto a rock and rubbed her feet. "Can we rest a bit?" She didn't really care if the answer was no. She was resting.
"I think we should. It's pointless walking around like this." Erza peered around, "We'll only get lost. Besides the sun is starting to set and I don't think we should wander around at night." She sat on the rock next to Lucy.
"I think we're already lost." Gray mumbled.
"Whose fault is that?" Natsu muttered, only to result in a murderous glare from Erza. The one whom they'd been following. "I'll go get some wood." He wanted to evade any beating from her today.
Gray coughed nervously and avoided eye contact before she killed him. "I think I'll go too."
"I'll start sorting some food." She began unpacking some things so they could have a meal.
Wendy lay face down on the floor, "I think my feet are going to fall off."
Lucy groaned, "I think mine already fell off."
Carla sat next to her, "Oh get a grip you two. Some walking never does any harm."
"It does to my feet." Happy responded.
"But, you've been either flying or lay on Natsu's head for most of it!" Lucy complained.
"Aye!" Happy got a fish from his bag and began gnawing on it, completely missing Lucy's point.
After some time, Natsu and Gray were back with some wood and the group set up camp for the night.
"So where exactly should we look? This place is huge." Lucy asked.
"It's underground, so we could just dig. Hey you could ask Virgo!" Natsu looked over at an unamused Lucy.
"Don't be stupid. We can't just dig, we don't know how far down it is and I don't fancy falling. Besides what if we dig but never find the entrance once we're down there. How do we get out?" She replied.
"Happy and Carla could fly us back up." Natsu stated blankly.
"Yeah right." The two exceeds grumbled in response.
"So where do we look?" Wendy pondered, "Did Levy say anything about where this entrance might be?"
"Unfortunately we couldn't find anything. But there must be something here." Erza contemplated.
"Well I'm getting some sleep. I'm sure we'll find something tomorrow." Gray lay down, having already stripped giving Lucy a sense of Deja-vu.
"Sounds like a good idea." Natsu yawned and fell asleep within minutes.
The next morning Erza, Wendy and Carla were the first ones awake. Natsu soon joined them although he spent some time trying to actually get up. His head was still on the floor.
"Is there something wrong Natsu-san?" Wendy looked at him.
He didn't respond.
Erza approached him, "Natsu I can accept you still being asleep. But, now you're just lazy. If you're awake then quite dawdling and get up."
He wasn't paying any attention to them. He was listening to something. Something in the ground.
"What is it?" Carla asked.
"I can hear water?" Natsu continued to listen. "I guess I was too tired to notice last night." Wendy soon joined him putting her ear to the floor.
"Can you hear anything Wendy?" Erza asked.
"Yeah. It's faint but, it sounds like a stream." She lifted her head.
"Eh? What's going on?" Gray soon got up. Shortly followed by Lucy and Happy.
"We think there's a stream below us. If there is that might be our entrance." Wendy replied.
"So we could follow the sound and maybe get to an entrance. The water had to get in somehow." Lucy asked.
Gray looked around, "But where? This place is massive!"
"I think Levy mentioned something about mountains at the far north section. We could check there." Erza exclaimed.
"And how far is that exactly?" Lucy dreaded what the answer would be.
"I don't think it's that far because I think I can see them." Natsu looked up.
Gray sighed, "If you can see them and we can't, I'll take that as pretty far."
Wendy and Lucy groaned at the thought. Their feet still hurt from yesterday. "Oh God please don't be far." Lucy mumbled.
After a couple of hours the group finally reached the mountains.
"See there was a stream here. And a waterfall." Happy shouted. Lucy and Wendy lay on the floor as soon as they could.
"That's it. I'm not taking any jobs for a while." She protested.
"What about your rent. It's not like we're getting paid for this." Natsu looked at her knowing full well what answer she would give him, "Don't think I'm getting you the money from my jobs either. I still have food to get." He only got an annoyed, yet expected groan as a response.
"Come on you two get up we haven't finished what we're supposed to be doing." Carla shouted at the two girls spread out on the floor.
Erza investigated the area, "Maybe we should see where the stream leads?"
Natsu walked to the side of the waterfall and looked at it for a while before jumping in the water.
"Oi Natsu, what are you doing!?" Gray shouted at him, "This isn't time to be screwing around!" He got no response. Natsu ducked his head underwater and began swimming beneath the waterfall. Suddenly he was gone.
Without further discussion the others soon followed him, having realized that Natsu must have found the entrance, but as per usual decided to only act and not tell them.
"Great now my clothes are all wet." Lucy rinsed out her hair.
"Would you like these ones mistress?" Virgo appeared with clothes for Lucy and Wendy. Erza ex-quipped, while Gray used Natsu as a personal dryer.
"Thank you Virgo-san." They took they clothes and quickly dressed, having seen that their teammates had already sorted themselves.
Lucy shuffled around trying to put her boots on, "Natsu it'd be great if you'd told us before jumping straight in." she protested.
He wasn't really paying any attention as he walked over to what seemed to be a cliff edge. "Holy crap! There really is a city down here!"
They were all amazed at the sight. From where they stood the group could see the remnants of the entire city. Despite its age, the location of the ancient city has helped keep some of its form. There appeared to be life still here, with fireflies fluttering around, providing the group's main light source, as well as some gaps in the celling. Most of the buildings were falling apart and coated in vines and moss. It was like something from a dream. But then there was what lay in the middle.
"I-is that-" Lucy was astonished by the sight. There was a rotten giant corpse in the middle of the city. A dragon's corpse.
Natsu looked at it for a while, "they really were just spirits." He mumbled to himself.
"Did you say something?" Erza glanced over noticing his solemn expression.
Natsu looked over the edge of the cliff, "nothing."
Happy flew over, "I think I found some stairs that can take us down."
"Then let's head down." Erza began walking. 'I wonder what happened here though. It looks like it was a big city." She pondered, four-hundred years ago was filled with war, so almost anything could have been the cause.
"Wendy do you think you could use your magic on that dragon." Carla asked.
She frowned, "Sorry, I've already searched. There's no spirits here."
Lucy looked around, "Does it have to be a dragon?" it was a long shot. But she'd noticed when actually walking around the city, there were a lot of human corpses here too.
Wendy felt guilty, "I don't know. I've never tried a human before. But even if I could. I think human spirits are weaker, I can't sense any. Sorry."
"It's okay. I don't know about dragons but I guess four-hundred years is a long time for a human. It was worth asking." Lucy gave her a reassuring smile.
"Why did we come here again?" Natsu began to feel on edge. Erza never said it, but he knew. He knew he died here. He didn't need to read the diary for that. He'd remembered that much. "I still don't get was we're actually supposed to be looking for."
"Anything that looks out of place." Erza was evasive with her answer.
He began to get annoyed with her, with all of them, there was a plan and they all seemed to know it, he felt out of the loop. They kept trying to prevent him from shutting himself out, but it was backfiring. He felt alone.
She continued to walk, acting like she didn't know anything. But, judging from her movements, as Natsu suspected she knew exactly where to go.
Gray could see Natsu was running on a short fuse, "What exactly would look out of place? Have you really seen where we are?" Deep down even he didn't really understand what all this searching was for, or what they we're even looking for. He could see Erza was hiding something.
She sighed knowing full well she was pushing her luck with Natsu, "The book spoke about a house."
"What about it?" Lucy asked slightly confused by Erza's vagueness.
"There is an afterword of sorts." She began to explain.
In the Far East befell a dreadful beast, this is where they were.
Together once, but no more, they'll become of mythical lore,
A sin will be born before the new dawn.
In this city of Istabella.
For one day, it who knows all came to their door,
he knocked twice and a mother answered.
Her children scurried away, but it who knows all
had already seen them at their door.
The being was two and as beings do
they greeted themselves. 'I am actually one,
but you will be gone.' They said,
for you will only meet my one.'
The mother closed her door, but the door was no more.
The boys hid, and as mothers did,
she pretended she was alone. She knew she had to atone,
for her sin.
'Go back from where you came!' She shouted
she was far from tame, but one smiled
'I don't want you.' One spoke as she riled.
'I want them' one pointed, as it knows all,
and saw the boy hiding behind the door
One grabbed the youngest, one grabbed the eldest
and they split their ways. After so many days,
the boys were together, after what was forever,
but the boys were no longer boys, but neither were they men.
"It took a while, but Levy saw why the book was encrypted in such a way. One side was a children's tale. While the other was a poetic reality." Erza explained.
Natsu looked at her blankly, "I still don't get it." He remembered a lot of that night. He remembered running. He remembered the fall. Not someone knocking on his door and taking him and Zeref away. She didn't say it but it was obvious what this cryptic tale was about.
"I didn't think you would. Like I said, it's poetically written, so most of it might be hypothetical. But, either way, after some research it led us to here." She paused.
"We're here because some stupid story said so. And you still haven't answered my question. What are we here for?" He looked around, "Cause all I see is rubble, some dead stupid fucking dragon and pathetic looking corpses!" Natsu had tolerated enough, he couldn't take any more of this.
The others were silent as Natsu looked Erza in the eyes, "It's a fucking joke." He smiled out of irony before storming off.
Lucy wanted to shout after him but she knew it'd be pointless having seen how angry he was, and they could all tell that his anger went beyond Erza. Despite that she still went running after him.
Erza wanted to grab him, but it was obvious that he wasn't handling this as well as they all kept thinking. It began to amaze her how he's managed to hold out this long. Until she saw that he hadn't. Erza was beginning to see that Natsu was already falling apart.
So cold. So dark.
Lucy stopped running, "Huh?" Natsu eventually stopped too.
"Hey d-did you hear anything?" Lucy trembled at the thought.
"I'm sure it was nothing." He turned around and walked back to her, "Sorry."
Lucy looked up to him, "Don't worry, we knew you wouldn't find this easy." She smiled. "Erza didn't say much more to us, than she did with you. We're not finding the thought easy either. But, she didn't mean to be so vague to annoy you. Its just- just-"
"Thanks Luce." He grinned. Suddenly he realized how close they were and quickly backed away. "W-we should get back to the others."
Completely oblivious to Natsu's actions she agreed, "This place is beginning to creep me out. I hope we're not here long." The two eventually found their way back to the rest of the group.
"Hey did you guys hear anything weird?" Wendy asked as they approached them.
"Yeah. A voice. W-where's Erza?" Natsu looked around failing to find the red head.
Gray pointed to one of the rugged houses, "She went into that house. We thought we'd wait out here for you guys to come back. Happy's in there too."
Natsu was silent, "What's in there?" Lucy asked.
"She said there might be a book in there. I'm starting to get the impression that all we're ever going to find is more books that point us to more questions than answers." Carla sighed.
"Well I'll go in with her." Lucy began walking, Wendy and Carla trailed after her.
Gray began walking in after them, only to stop and realize that Natsu remained unmoved. "You okay?"
Natsu looked down at the ashy ground, "I-I think I'll stay here." His voice had gone quiet, causing Gray realized that this must have been his house.
"I don't think it's a good idea to be alone out here." Natsu leant against a stone wall and looked at the ground. He walked back over, "Besides I don't think we all need to go in and look for one book." He sat down on a rock next to him.
After a while Natsu sat down too, "I don't know how I feel about all this."
"No one's expecting you to." He looked up at the house, "I thought you lived in a village not a city."
"I don't remember. Just- I only- Why are we here." He diverted away from what he really wanted to say. Gray knew what he was trying to say.
He sighed, "We need to defeat Zeref and help you. You seemed pretty traumatized when you woke up." He was never going to forget that. "I spent a good hour or so calming you down."
"Huh? When? Nevermind. Sorry." He remembered the dream, but not waking up from it. Just transitioning into the nightmare.
"It's okay idiot." He ruffled Natsu's hair. "Just don't scare us like that again. I heard what you said earlier." He could see some of the dragon's rotten flesh from where they were sat. It might have been four-hundred years ago, but underground the dead weren't quite just skeletons. "It's Igneel isn't it?"
Natsu shivered from the thought. The lack of response gave Gray his answer.
"I guess Grandeeney and the others are somewhere as well if that's the case. But they don't need to know. Not anymore." Gray thought about all those countless efforts Natsu made trying to find Igneel. He thought about Acnologia tearing him in half. But in reality he was here rotting away the whole time. That Igneel was no more than a spirit. The other half of this rotting corpse buried away with this city and countless other corpses.
So cold.
"Huh?" Natsu looked up.
"It's that voice again. I feel like I've heard it before." Gray stood up.
"Well that's comforting." Natsu spoke sarcastically.
Help me.
The whisper sent a shiver down Natsu's spine. It did sound familiar.