It's been a while, hasn't it? Well for everyone wondering, I am still alive. Life's had me down for a little while, but I'm back, so hopefully updates will come a little quicker from now on. Anyway, this chapter is a little rushed, but I hope you all enjoy it anyway.

Also, I do not own Fairy Tail.

Chapter 10: Long Nights on Galuna Island

So how many demons have you created?

1362.

Really?

No, not really. I honestly do not know. It isn't like I counted.

Why'd you make so many anyway? While exploring Galuna Island along with Gray, Erza, Happy, Lucy(and Horologium), Natsu had grown bored and so had decided to ask his mental companion about Deliora, which led to the current conversation.

Various reasons. Some because I wanted to, some were created specifically to destroy things, and some were just to see if I could.

All of those are basically the same thing… hold on a second. Natsu stopped walking as he heard rumbling nearby. He focused his magic power into the fingertips of his right hand until a flame lit above each of them. When the giant rat known as Angelica made its presence known, Natsu was already launching his attack. "Fire Dragon's Blasting Claw!"

With that taken care of, the dragon slayer continued on his way, ignoring the stares of his companions. Now then, what was I saying again?

Don't worry about it. You're close to the temple, so focus on your mission. Natsu stopped in front of the temple, waiting for the others to catch.

"Hey Natsu," Gray called out. "Did you know this place was here?"

"Yep," Natsu replied casually. "I've been here before."

"When?"

The dragon slayer waved a hand dismissively. "Not important. Let's get to exploring."

"Wow, it's spacious."

"It's really old too."

"I wonder when it was built."

While the others were admiring the temple, Natsu decided to cut straight to the point. As he raised his foot to shatter the floor, he heard a familiar voice in his head.

You know, there are probably stairs.

Yeah, but this way's much easier.

Maybe so, but… Before Zeref could finish his sentence, Natsu destroyed the floor with a stomp.

"What the heck happened?!" Lucy exclaimed as they fell.

"It seems the floor gave out," Erza said, now in her Heaven's Wheel armor. She grabbed Lucy in one arm, and Natsu noticed that she was holding Gray in the other. He also saw a look of alarm cross the armored mage's face when she turned to catch him.

Before the dragon slayer could ask why, he felt his back slam into something very cold, and very hard.

I tried to warn you, Zeref said in a taunting tone. You were standing directly above Deliora. Whatever, Natsu thought.

You complain about me never helping you, and the one time I try to be helpful, you ignore me.

You know, you're just adding insult to injury at this point. I know. It's one of my favorite things to do. Shut up, Zeref.

Natsu quickly jumped off of the frozen demon, landing beside his stunned comrades.

"Man that's cold," the fire mage complained. "Even for me."

"What is that thing?" Lucy asked, ignoring Natsu completely.

"Deliora," Gray replied under his breath. "Impossible! How can Deliora be here?!"

"What is it?" Erza asked calmly.

She's taking this pretty well, Natsu thought. Well she did just fight Lullaby. She probably thinks this demon is as weak as he was. The dark mage broke into an evil laugh.

Umm, Zeref, you're not planning to revive Deliora, are you? Now why would I do that? Because you're an asshole who likes making life difficult for me. Oh yeah. I am, aren't I?

The dark mage fell silent after that, making Natsu anxious. Zeref? You didn't answer the question. Answer me Zeref. This isn't funny!

"Got any 7s?"

"Go fish. Got any 3s?"

"Ooh, I want some fish. Give me some fish Natsu!"

"There aren't any fish. It's just a card game."

Happy threw his cards into the air and crossed his arms. "I want some fish!"

Natsu sighed. Maybe he should've asked Lucy to play instead.

While Natsu had been distracted by his conversation with Zeref, the rest of the group had decided to wait for the moon to come out to see what would happen. Luckily, the teen knew this would happen, and brought various games to pass the time.

"Lucy! Natsu won't share his fish with me."

"I told you, there isn't any…" Natsu cut off as a purple light came through the ceiling, engulfing the frozen Deliora. He began gathering up his cards as the other members of Team Natsu stared at the light.

"Is that moonlight?" Gray asked in amazement.

"I don't know," Erza admitted. "Whatever it is, we should investigate."

Gray nodded. "It's shining on Deliora. It can't be a coincidence." The ice mage sprinted to the stairs with Erza not far behind.

"Alright!" Natsu cheered as he stood. "We finally get to the good part." He then ran after his friends, scooping up Happy and Lucy along the way.

"Put me down," Lucy said. "I can run on my own."

Meanwhile Happy had the opposite reactions. "Faster my mighty steed! Carry me faster!"

Natsu bit back on a retort when he saw the first few steps fall away. That's odd, he thought. Didn't happen last time. Either way, it was easy enough to jump it, which he did.

Unfortunately, at that point the entire staircase fell away.

"What the heck is that?" Lucy yelled.

"It looks like a giant hole," Happy responded.

"I see that! I meant what caused it?"

Natsu gazed into the hole, searching for any signs of movement. He knew one person who had magic capable of such things, but why would she be after him? He would find out soon enough, as he spotted a mask man with green hair looking up at him as he fell, though he knew that was a disguise.

The dragon slayer landed nimbly on the rubble of the staircase, setting his friends down before continuing forward to stand in front of the masked man.

"Oh my," the man spoke. "Seems I've caught a few extras." He looked past Natsu, to Happy and Lucy. "You two best be on your way." Before they could respond the staircase began to repair itself, carrying them back toward the top of the temple.

"What do you want?" Natsu asked once they were alone.

The man placed a hand over his mask. "That's a complicated question," he said. "I want a lot of things; money, power…" He removed his mask and stared directly into Natsu's eyes. "Specifically, the power to travel through time."

The dragon slayer's eyes widened in surprise, causing the unmasked man to smirk.

"That's right; I know you're a time-traveler."

"Is that so?" Natsu asked. Lying about it probably wouldn't work. Might as well go along with her. "Cause I know your secret as well, Ultear."

A bright light engulfed the man, and when it cleared the magic councilwoman Ultear Milkovich stood in his place. "I figured you might," she spoke happily. "Does that mean you're from the future?"

"So what if I am?" Natsu asked.

"If you are from the future, tell me how you traveled to the past."

"Sorry, that's a secret."

Ultear's smile faltered a bit, before returning in a slightly more psychotic fashion. "I figured you'd say something like that. Though I do have ways of getting you to talk."

Natsu heard a noise from above him, and jumped back before a rock landed in the spot he had been standing moments before.

"You have figured out a lot," the fire mage taunted. "What makes you think I'm a time-traveler anyway?"

"Simple," Ultear answered. "I can feel it all around you."

"What?"

"You have a unique aura around you. It's similar to my Arc of Time magic, but also quite different."

"Huh," Natsu commented. Guess that's pretty definitive. "So how long have you known?"

"Well I've been aware of that aura of yours for a year," Ultear responded. "But I've only recently known that it was you I was looking for.

"Hey wait a minute, is that why you gave me all that debt?"

"Yes," Ultear said honestly. "I never actually intended you to pay it off."

"So what, you get rid of my debt if I teach you how to time-travel?"

"Basically. So what's it gonna be, Salamander?"

"I'm still going with no," Natsu said flippantly. "Got anything better to offer?"

The smile on the woman's face fell once again, before she burst into laughter. "Seriously?" she asked. "Why are you being so difficult?"

"Because it's fun," Natsu said. And because if I told you about Zeref you'd probably try to track him down, he added in his head. What's so bad about that? You'd kill her if she ever found you. Zeref was quiet for a moment. …What's so bad about that? Oh my goodness.

The dragon slayer broke from his thoughts as he saw a teal orb floating in front of the time magic user.

"If you insist on being difficult," Ultear said with a dangerous edge to her voice. "I may just have to do this the hard way."

Natsu settled into a fighter stance. "Is that so? Word of advice Ultear; never give me the option to fight, because that's the one I'm always gonna choose."

"Have it your way then." Ultear waved her arm, and her orb began speeding towards the dragon slayer.

The orb split into seven orbs mid-flight. Natsu leapt over the approaching attack, gathering his magic power into his hands at the same time. He aimed one hand at the orbs, which were now circling back towards him, and the other hand at his opponent. He fired at Ultear first, and when she dodged the attack he fired at the crystal balls, disintegrating all of them.

Natsu was already gathering his power again when he landed, but Ultear was standing up straight, appearing to be nonthreatening.

"That was pretty good," Ultear said. "Maybe challenging me wasn't as colossal a mistake as I thought."

"Well you're about to see just how stupid it was to accept my challenge," Natsu said in response.

"If this were a trash-talking contest, you'd win hands down." Ultear's hand shot forward and Natsu dodged to the side as an orb sped past his head. As he prepared to attack, the fire mage heard something approaching from above, behind, and both sides. It was then that he realized that the orb had been multiplying out of his line of site while he and Ultear talked, and that one orb had been a distraction to make sure he didn't notice the real attack until it was too late.

It worked to perfection. Natsu was slammed on all sides by the orbs, sending him crashing to the ground.

"But this is a fight," Ultear continued. "And I never lose those."

"There's a first time for everything," Natsu said as he rose to his feet.

The Arc of Time mage didn't respond, instead throwing her orb into the air once again. Natsu simply watched as the orbs multiplied around him once again.

"You know," Ultear said. "These bubbles all represent possible futures, Parallel Worlds. Why don't you take a look around and see what's in store for you?"

"I don't need to," the pinkette replied. "I've already seen it, remember?"

As the orbs moved to converge on him, Natsu also made his move. Flames shot out from his back, rocketing him forward. Once he was in the air, fire came from his feet as well, increasing his speed further.

"Fire Dragon's Rocket Launch!" As he shouted this, his magic circle shield formed in front of him to deflect any orbs from the front. Natsu smirked at his setup; He could outrun any orbs that were behind him, and his shield would destroy any that came at him from the front. Of course, he couldn't keep this up forever, but he didn't need to. If he could just make it to Ultear…

Luckily, the woman was too surprised by his strategy to move out of the way. Natsu delivered a rocket-powered punch to the woman's chest, sending her flying as fast as he was. As he heard the orbs behind him crashing to the ground, the dragon slayer grabbed onto Ultear's shirt and extinguished the flames propelling him forward.

With flames alight on his fist, the dragon slayer delivered another devastating punch to his opponent's sternum, sending her crashing into, and through, the wall.

"Well that was a fun ten seconds," Natsu commented. "I'd better go see how the others are doing."

Natsu moved to the side once again as a part of the ceiling tried to crush him again. "Oh come on! Really?" The pink-haired teen turned towards the destroyed wall to see Ultear emerging from it with a hole in the chest area of her robe and a murderous expression on her face.

It was an odd thing to notice, but Natsu took note of the fact that either Ultear wasn't wearing a bra, or his attacks had burned it away. Her breasts were almost completely on display, but the woman was too livid to notice, and Natsu figured he was in too much danger to really pay much attention to them.

"That's it," Ultear roared. "Screw the hard way, I'll do this the easy way!" As she raised her hand the ceiling began collapsing around Natsu. After a couple seconds of dodging, the dragon slayer heard a loud crashing sound, and realized with horror that three of the walls had just collapsed. Unsurprisingly, the wall near Ultear had instead been repaired.

With nothing to support it, the entire temple, save the small section above Ultear, came crashing down.

Well that's not fair at all, Natsu thought as he stared up helplessly.

It was dark. So dark that Natsu couldn't see a thing. He should probably create a flame or something. Escape would probably be a good idea also, but his body hurt. Moving seemed like more effort than it was worth at the moment. Guess that's what happens when someone drops a temple on you. Talk about overreaction. Even I think that was overkill. I know, right? Crazy bitch.

Natsu felt the rocks near him begin to move, and eventually realized that the temple was being repaired. After enough of the rubble had been stripped away, he sat up. Ultear was still standing in the same spot.

"Do you understand now?" She asked him. "You can't win."

"Yeah right," Natsu said, struggling to get back to his feet. "That didn't hurt at all."

Ultear laughed. "So you wouldn't mind if I did it again then?"

Natsu smiled back at her. "Go ahead. See if I care." Despite his tough talk, the dragon slayer knew he was in trouble. Getting back to his feet had taken considerable effort, and he knew he couldn't survive another collapse.

They both paused as they heard footsteps. Another flash of light engulfed Ultear, and Zalty stood in her place once more.

"Zalty."

Looking up to the steps, Natsu saw the man that he knew as Lyon. The left half of his shirt was missing, and he had a few scrapes along his torso. Natsu wondered if that was from a fight with Gray, or being caught in the collapsing temple.

"What is the meaning of this?"

"Forgive me Reitei," 'Zalty' said. "This man is rather tough. I needed something big to finish him off."

"It seems even that didn't work," Lyon remarked. "Stand back, I'll take care of him myself."

Natsu chuckled. This guy may have been his equal the first time around, but he was far stronger now. Then again, he wasn't in the best shape at the moment.

"What's so funny?" Lyon asked.

Rather than answer, Natsu leapt towards him, flames igniting on his feet to give him a boost. Lyon sidestepped, and Natsu kept going up the stairs.

"Running away?" Lyon called after him.

"Tactical Retreat," Natsu yelled back. He kept going, all the way until he reached the top. Once there, the dragon slayer jumped off, landing in a nearby tree. He then immediately lost his balance and came crashing to the ground.

"Nice entrance."

"Shut up." Natsu rose back to his feet with an assist from a tree. "Watcha doin' way out here?"

"Trying not to be killed." Gray looked back at the magically rebuilt temple. "What happened back there?"

"A crazy bitch tried to kill me."

"That doesn't really explain anything."

"She used her magic to make the temple fall on me," Natsu explained, as though talking to a small child. "Then she used her magic to fix it."

"So that's what happened. You look like you're about to pass out.

"Now that you mention it, I am pretty tired." Natsu stood up straight. "But I'm fine."

"No you aren't," Gray said. "Let's head back."

"No way," Natsu complained. "We should go back and finish this."

The shirtless man stared at his comrade as if he'd said something incredibly stupid. "The only thing that would get finished is you. And why'd you come down here if you still wanted to fight?"

"To get you," the pinkette replied. "You're not gonna get me to fight your battles for you."

The ice mage smiled. "Like I need your help." He began walking back to the village. "Just come on. The enemy's not going anywhere. They can wait until tomorrow."

"Fine," Natsu said as he fell into step beside him. "While we're there you can put a damn shirt on."

"Bite me."

"Gray, where are the others?"

"Some people went to attack the village, so Erza and Lucy went back to stop them."

Oh yeah, Natsu thought. They're gonna blow up the village. "Faster Seabiscuit," Natsu shouted. "We need to hurry."

"Shut up," Gray said. "I'm already carrying your heavy ass."

"I'll give you a treat if you go faster," Natsu said with a grin.

Gray sighed. "I should've left you where you fell." The ice mage looked up as something caught his eye. "Am I imagining things, or do you see a giant flying rat too?"

"No I see it to," Natsu said.

Because of the darkness and distance, the duo could barely see that the rat was carrying a bucket. It was only from memory that Natsu remembered that three people were riding atop the rat.

"Quick, Gray, shoot it…" Natsu cut off when he saw a winged creature approaching the giant rat. He recognized the creature as Erza when her sword shined in the moonlight. "Nevermind, Erza's got it."

The rat squealed before falling from the sky. The bucket and its contents fell as well, turning the forest below into a wasteland.

"Wow," Gray said. "That stuff was dangerous."

"No kidding," Natsu said in response. "Glad it didn't land over here."

"You should be," Gray commented. "If it did, I was gonna use you as a human shield."

"That's cold man."

"What'd you expect? I am an ice mage."

"We're back, now get your heavy ass off me."

Gray passed through the village gates, casually jumping over the pit trap at the entrance.

"Who put that there?" he asked, dropping Natsu in the process.

"Ow! Asshole."

Lucy scratched her head in embarrassment. "Sorry. That was for the bad guys."

"Who would fall for such an obvious trap?" Gray asked.

Natsu growled from his place on the ground. "People get distracted sometimes."

The blonde looked down at the dragon slayer. "See Gray, I told you we should've gone back to help him."

"He's fine," Gray replied. "Isn't that right Natsu?"

"Fuckin' dandy," Natsu said sarcastically.

"What did that guy want with you anyway?" Lucy asked the pinkette.

"It's a long story. I'll tell you later."

"Is Erza back yet?" Gray asked. "We saw her take down that flying rat."

"Yeah," Lucy said. "She's with the prisoners."

"Prisoners?" Gray repeated.

Natsu tuned out their conversation as he rose to his feet. He already knew the outcome, and it didn't matter if they stopped the Moon Drip anyway. All that mattered was defeating Lyon and Ultear. "Whatever," he said. "I'm going to bed. Wake me up when it's ass-kicking time."

The dragon slayer walked slowly back to the hotel they had been staying at before collapsing on the floor of their room and falling asleep immediately.

All too soon the dragon slayer was being shaken awake.

"Five more minutes," he said as he rolled over.

"We don't have five minutes to waste," Gray said. "If we wait any longer, they're gonna release Deliora."

"That's not so bad," Natsu commented.

"If he gets released, we're making you deal with him."

"I can live with that." Natsu jolted awake as he heard evil laughter in his head. "On second thought, we can't let that ice melt."

Moving was a lot easier than it had been the day before. How long have I been asleep anyway? Basically an entire day. Really? Guess I'd better get moving before you revive Deliora. There was no response, not that Natsu expected one.

"So," Lucy said as they walked to the temple. "Are we gonna come up with a plan or just run in like a bunch of morons."

"Bunch of morons," Natsu repeated.

"We basically already have a plan," Gray said. "I'm going to fight Lyon again; Natsu's probably going after the woman he fought yesterday. So you and Erza just need to make sure the Moon Drip Ritual fails."

"Woman?" Happy questioned. "Wasn't that a man, Natsu?"

"She was in disguise," Natsu said to his blue friend. "Hey Erza, how come you aren't saying anything?"

The rest of the group turned toward the redhead.

"I was just thinking," said redhead spoke. "If one of them can collapse the temple, it probably isn't a good idea for us to enter it."

"Well I mean we could blow it up first," Natsu said. "Not like we care about anything inside of it."

"But won't they just fix it anyway?" Lucy asked.

"Then we blow it up again!"

"…You just want to blow something up, don't you?"

"So what? It helps us complete our job too, so what's the prob…" Natsu suddenly stopped. "…lem."

"Is something wrong?" Erza asked.

The dragon slayer grinned. "Nope, no problem at all."

"Is your lady-friend here?" Gray asked.

"Yeah," Natsu replied. "You guys keep going. I've got this."

"Are you sure?" Lucy asked. "That didn't really work out for you last time."

"Yes I'm sure, now leave."

The blonde scowled. "Fine. No need to be rude."

"Be careful Natsu," Erza said before turning to leave.

"Good luck guys," Happy called out as the others went ahead.

"I meant for you to leave too, but whatever." The dragon slayer turned away from his cat companion. "You can come out at any time, Ultear."

"Didn't want to interrupt anything," the woman said as she emerged from behind a nearby tree.

"Yeah yeah," the teen said. "We gonna do this or what?"

"You know," Ultear said. "We don't have to fight."

"I know, but you're giving me the option, and you already know how that's gonna go."

The woman sighed. "Did I do something to you in the future or something?"

"Huh?" Natsu stopped to think. "Well, we fought a couple times and your guild tried to destroy mine."

"So is this you holding a grudge?"

"No," the pinkette replied. "I'm over all of that. If anything I'd be pissed about you trying to kill me yesterday."

Ultear growled in frustration. "So then why won't you tell me?"

"'Cause it's a secret."

"Why is it a secret?"

The dragon slayer's face turned serious. "Because it's dangerous."

"So what?" the young woman asked. "Why would you care that I'm doing something dangerous?"

"You helped us a couple times too," Natsu said. "You were actually pretty nice once you stopped being evil. Then you…" he paused. "Not important. Point is, I'd rather you not get yourself killed."

Ultear stared at the young man, surprise evident in her eyes. "You…" She started laughing. "If you knew me in the future, then you know I can't accept that. I've waited my whole life for a chance like this, I won't stop just because you want me too."

"What are you guys talking about?" Happy asked, reminding Natsu of his presence.

"Long story," the fire mage replied. "I'll tell you about it later." He turned his attention to Ultear. "And yeah, I figured as much. Guess we're fighting again?"

"I guess so." The time mage placed her right fist into her left hand. "Ice-Make…"

"What?" Natsu yelled in disbelief. But as he saw frost emanating from her hands, he realized that the woman really was about to use an Ice-Make spell.

"Rozen Krone!" Ice exploded from the ground in the shape of giant roses, launching the dragon slayer into the air.

Didn't know she could do that, Natsu thought as he gathered magic power into both hands. "Fire Dragon's Brilliant Flame!"

Ultear sidestepped the fireball before jumping into the air to meet the dragon slayer.

She's just full of surprises today, he thought as he caught a punch thrown by his opponent. Keeping hold of her fist, Natsu threw Ultear back to the ground.

"I see you've got a few new tricks," Natsu said as he touched down.

"Seems I never told you about my Ice-Make magic," Ultear said in reply. "I'm glad I didn't. That look on your face was priceless."

"I'd imagine so." The pinkette smiled. "You made a similar one before I put you through that wall."

"That was a fluke," the Arc of Time mage growled. "You surprised me with your speed once, but I promise it won't happen again."

Natsu responded by throwing a punch at the woman, which she dodged. She then threw a kick that sailed over her opponents head as he swept her other leg out from under her.

The time mage balanced herself on one hand and spun around to deliver a kick to the pinkette's jaw. While he was stunned, Ultear followed up with an ice-covered fist to Natsu's face, sending him skipping along the ground like a stone.

Natsu flipped back to his feet and took a deep breath. "Fire Dragon's Roar!" The attack collided with a giant ice-rose, obscuring his vision with the resultant steam. The dragon slayer prepared to fire another attack when he heard a voice from above.

"I'll end this right now!" Natsu looked up to see Ultear high above him, her figure being partially obscured by a block of ice. The block started to grow, until it was larger than a house.

"What is with you trying to crush me woman?" Natsu yelled as he ran out of the way. In response, Ultear rewound time for the giant block, until it was a small ice cube once again. She then kicked the ice cube at the dragon slayer, moving it forward in time until it was a giant block of ice again at the same time.

Natsu turned around when he felt the ice approaching. "Ok seriously, this isn't fair." The fire mage focused as much power into his fist as he could and met the block head on. "Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!"

The ice shattered on impact, allowing Natsu to see the crystal balls floating in the air behind it.

"Flash forward!" Ultear yelled, and the balls moved forward to assault her opponent.

Before Natsu could move, he felt himself being pulled to the side at high speed. "I got your back Natsu."

"Thanks Happy," the pink-haired teen replied. "Guess I owe you one."

"You can catch me a fish when we get back to Magnolia," the cat said happily.

"Sure thing buddy, but you should get back now. You're kinda in the danger zone here."

The cat flew around him proudly. "I'll be fine. I'm a mage too, ya know." He flew higher as a ball of ice passed through the spot where he had just been. "Hey! Watch where you're aiming lady!"

Ultear took her casting pose once again. "Ice-Make: Rozen Crone!"

"Happy fly us up."

"Aye sir!"

The exceed grabbed onto his adoptive parent, but the two were assaulted by frozen flowers before he could take to the air. The attack did send the two flying, however, just in different directions.

"She's stronger than I thought,"Natsu said to himself as he hit the ground.

"Why thank you," the fire mage heard a voice from above him reply. He already knew who it was, but looked up anyway to find Ultear staring down at him. The air was forced from the dragon slayer's lungs as the woman's fist slammed into his stomach.

"Feel like talking now?" The woman asked her stunned opponent.

The dragon slayer gasped for air. "You could've asked that… without punching me!"

Ultear smiled. "Yeah, but this way's more fun."

The dragon slayer leapt to his feet and lunged at the time mage with a flaming fist. The woman blocked it with an ice-covered hand.

"I'll take that as a no then," Ultear commented.

Natsu responded by throwing a punch with his other hand, which Ultear responded to with a punch of her own. The force of the blows sent both of them tumbling to a sitting position.

"Just give up," Ultear said through deep breaths. "You have to be getting tired by now."

"I could do this all night," Natsu replied. "Maybe you're the one who should quit."

"Last I checked, I was winning."

"No way. I'm clearly ahead."

Ultear's next words caught the dragon slayer completely by surprise. "Are you in love with me?"

Natsu froze. "What?"

The time mage smirked at the reaction. "Is that a yes or a no?"

"No. I'm just trying to stop you from getting yourself killed."

"What makes you so sure I'd die?"

"Zeref basically told me he'd kill you so…" Natsu realized his mistake as soon as he'd said it, but by then it was too late.

"So it was Zeref who sent you back then?" Ultear asked with a smile.

"Umm, no."

"You're a terrible liar," Ultear said. "This doesn't change much actually. I'm trying to awaken Zeref anyway. Figured you would know that."

"This time Zeref's already awake," Natsu said. "If you keep chasing after him, it won't end well for you." It might. You never know. Shut up Zeref. You just want to kill her.

Ultear chuckled. "You may be right about that. After all, I could barely defeat you."

"You didn't defeat me at all!" Natsu exclaimed.

The woman held up her hands in a placating manner. "Ok fine, we'll call this a draw then."

"Does that mean you're giving up?" the dragon slayer asked.

Ultear rose to her feet. "No, just taking some time to reevaluate things. This was a dumb idea anyway."

"Yeah," Natsu agreed. "I mean, even if you won, that still wouldn't have made me tell you anything."

"And yet you told me even though I didn't win," the young woman replied. "Though that was just luck really. I didn't actually plan this out you know. I didn't expect you to be here. When I saw you, it seemed like a good opportunity, so I took it."

Ultear turned around and began walking away. "I wouldn't let my guard down if I were you though. You're gonna see me again real soon."

"Looking forward to it," Natsu said sarcastically. With that taken care of, the dragon slayer walked over to his blue companion. "You ok Happy?"

"Yeah I'm fine," the cat said. "So did you win?"

Natsu smiled proudly. "Yeah, I won."

As Natsu and Happy made their way to the temple, they were surprised to see their friends walking towards them.

"Did you guys win?" Natsu asked.

"Define 'win'," Lucy replied.

Natsu raised an eyebrow.

"We stopped the Moon Drip ritual," Erza informed him. "But somehow the ice broke anyway. Then the demon vanished."

"Vanished how?" The dragon slayer asked.

"We don't know," Lucy said. "He was just gone."

Zeref? Yes it was me. Why? Don't worry. If I were going to destroy a city or something, I wouldn't need Deliora. I'd just do it myself. That doesn't answer my question. Zeref? Answer me dammit!

"Hey Natsu," Gray called out, breaking the pinkette from his thoughts. "What happened with your fight?"

"I sent her packing. What happened with that Lyon guy?"

"Same thing."

"So we're all done here?" Natsu asked.

"Not yet," Erza said. "We weren't here to pick fights, remember? Our job was to save the villagers who were turned into demons."

"Oh yeah," Natsu said to himself. "With the Moon Drip gone, I can…" The dragon slayer looked up at the sky, gathering flames into his hand.

Erza grabbed his hand before he could attack the moon. "Not yet Natsu. We should talk to the villagers first."

Gray and Lucy stared at the two curiously.

"Did we miss something?" Lucy asked.

"Yeah," Gray added. "What are you guys talking about?"

"We'll explain back at the village," Erza replied. "Now let's go."

"Even if we walked straight toward the ruins, we wound up in front of the village gate. We just cannot get close to those ruins."

Gray and Lucy stared at the villagers in shock, while Natsu and Erza watched them calmly.

"We kept quiet because you wouldn't believe such a story," one villager said.

"But it's true," another chimed in. "We tried to go to the ruins many times."

"But none of the villagers were able to get there," added another.

"As I thought," Erza said. "Alright Natsu, it's time."

"Alright," Natsu cheered. "About time I get to destroy something."

"Do you think you can do it on your own?" Titania asked the hyperactive teen.

"Yeah I got this." The dragon turned to his cat companion. "Happy, take me as high as you can."

"Aye sir!"

"What's he doing?" Lucy asked.

"Destroying the moon," was the reply.

As they watched the dragon slayer ascend, Gray couldn't help but feel that this was a dumb idea.

"Erza," he said. "I don't think this is going to work."

"Just watch," she said calmly. "It'll work."

Once they were high enough in the air, Natsu brought his hands together, forming a large fireball. "Fire Dragon's Brilliant Flame!" He threw the ball of flame upwards at the moon, and everyone watched with bated breath as it flew higher.

Then there was an explosion, and cracks seemed to appear along the moon.

"What the hell?" Gray exclaimed.

"Is he really gonna destroy the moon?" Lucy asked.

"Not like that he isn't," Erza said. She then yelled up to the fire mage. "Natsu, be serious!"

"Yeah alright," he called back. "This time, full power." Flames began to gather all along his arms, and he swung them both to one side of his body. "Dragon Slayer Secret Art!" His arms swung forward, releasing two maelstroms of fire towards the cracked moon. This time the purple moon shattered on impact, revealing a second moon behind it. The sky itself soon followed suit, cracking and shattering, allowing the true night sky to be seen for the first time in three years.

Lucy stared at the night sky in confusion, before turning to Erza. "Ok, what just happened?"

"The island was covered with residue from the Moon Drip," the knight explained. "It crystallized in the air, blanketing the sky. That's why the moon looked purple."

Natsu and Happy came back down as the villagers were celebrating the 'destruction of the moon'. He waited a moment to speak, giving the villagers time to realize what had happened.

"Do you guys understand now?" He asked.

"Well," one of them responded. "I'm still a little confused."

"And I'm still very confused," Lucy said as she approached them. "So how about you explain to me what's going on?"

The dragon slayer opened his mouth to speak, but Erza was first.

"This is their actual appearance. The purple moon didn't affect their appearance, only their memory. They were demons to begin with."

"For real?" Gray asked one of the villagers.

"I am still a little confused."

"They had the ability to transform into humans," Erza continued. "And came to believe that was their true form."

"But," Lucy said. "Why weren't Lyon and the others affected?"

"They're humans," Erza said simply. "It seems this memory flaw only affects demons."

"Welcome back Bobo!" Natsu suddenly called out. Everyone turned in the direction he was waving at to see another demon waving back.

"It's good to be back," the demon called Bobo responded. "Thank you, Mages."

"Are you that sailor?!" Gray asked incredulously. "But you disappeared from the ship, didn't you?"

Bobo smiled at him before vanishing from sight. The ice mage then heard a voice from above.

"I'm sorry for not being able to tell the truth back then." The demon now had wings, and was hovering in the air. "I was afraid of everyone in the village because they thought they were human. I got away from the island because I was the only one who had regained their memory.

"Boboooooooooooooooo!" The village elder flew toward his son, pulling him into a hug.

"I'm glad you're finally back to your senses, Dad."

The other villagers took to the skies as well, celebrating the return of a friend they thought they'd lost.

"There's still one thing I don't get," Gray said as he approached Natsu. "I can believe Erza was able to piece all of this together, but how'd your dumb ass figure this all out."

"Simple," the fire dragon slayer said. "I'm smarter than you."

"No you aren't."

"Then how'd I figure it out and you didn't?"

"That's what I wanna know."

"And I just told you; I'm smarter than you."

Lucy shook her head at the arguing duo and walked away. Knowing those two, they could be at it all night.

Team Natsu was up early the next morning, much to Natsu's chagrin, preparing for their departure.

"Why do we have to leave so early?" Natsu asked tiredly.

"Don't ask me," Lucy told him. "Erza's the one in charge."

"Look on the bright side Natsu," Gray said with a malicious smile. "At least you'll be able to sleep on the boat ride back."

The dragon slayer turned pale. "Boat?"

The ice mage's smile grew even wider. "Yep. It's a long way back to Hargeon after all."

Natsu lifted his pack onto his back and began to leave. "It's a good thing we're up early then. It's gonna take all day for me to swim back."

"Natsu wait!" Happy called out as he followed his friend. Gray and Lucy followed as well, if only to see if he'd actually try to swim for it. Erza approached the duo as they watched Natsu stretch.

"The villagers have offered to take us back to Hargeon Town," Erza said to the two. "We set sail in five minutes. Are you ready to go?"

"Yeah I'm all set" Lucy said. "Shouldn't someone go stop Natsu?"

"Gray'll take care of it."

"Well ok then…" Lucy said. She was pretty sure she knew what that meant.

"We'll split the reward when we get back," Erza continued. She turned to Lucy and held out a golden Celestial Spirit Key. "But you can have this now."

"Yes!" the blonde cheered. "And that makes five."

They paused when they heard a crash. Turning to the source of the noise, they saw Gray dragging along an unconscious Natsu. "You figure he'd see this coming by now," the ice mage commented.

Lucy shook her head. "One of these days you're gonna give him brain damage."

"He'd have to have a brain for that to happen."

"Whatever. Let's just go."