Hello my loyal fans! NeoShadows back with a big chapter!
I'm not kidding. This bastard took me a whole week of ignoring my school work to finish once I got over writers block for this chapter. And it's probably my longest one yet. Full of action, some humor, and romance. And ending for a this arc before heading to the next. After the upcoming arc dubbed as 'The Phantom Parade' we'll head on over to the S-class exams where some big changes will happen.
Three months! Three months of waiting patiently and the sometimes heart wrenching plea to continue and update fast. I feel bad, but I have a family to take care of. Don't get me wrong, I'm a writer and I'm going to become one someday. This is me testing my growing skills for the future to see if I have what it take to writer my own stuff. I will never abandon a story without a very good reason. Then that would mean I have no chance of writing my own book, which I try to make time to write while writing this.
To the new and the old fans, thanks for waiting. Here's a long chapter as a gift from me to you.
Enjoy.
Disclaimer: I don't own the rights to Fairy Tail. Hiro Mashima does.
I ain't got time to write a manga as cool as Fairy Tail. My family comes first. Though I do get tired of my baby sister giving me a bloody lip with that damn bottle of hers. That girl has one hell of a swinging arm.
Chapter 11: A Reason to Forgive.
(Back at Fairy Tail)
"Gray-sama! Are you alright!?"
Gray sighed, wincing slightly as Juvia fretted over him. He wasn't that injured. Just a few scratches and cuts. Nothing to worry about.
"Son of a bitch!" Gray howled in pain, cradling his right arm against his chest, glaring weakly at Lucy who looked back at him with deadpanned eye's. Her finger having just poked his ice blue like burns crawling up his arms.
"Does it hurt?" she asked plainly with a raised brow.
"N-No. It's just a bruise." Gray weakly grinned.
". . . . . Poke."
"Mother Fuc-"
Erza quickly proceeded to cover Wendy's young, virgin ears from the foul language exiting the ice mage's mouth as the sky Dragon Slayer went to work on healing Gray's wounds. She sighed watching on as Juvia glared at Lucy, the Stellar Spirit mage not caring as she tried to help Gray who was shouting out in pain.
When Gray had stumbled into the guild he wasn't too injured. Just a couple of minor wounds from some intense looking training she guessed he was working. But it was the odd frost bite like burns over parts of his body that seemed to be causing him pain. That was new to Erza. She had never seen those types of burns before. Well, she did, and they were courtesy of Knightwalker. And Knightwalker confirmed that they were almost similar to her Blue Crimson spells from her Ten Commandments.
She had been wondering where he had gone. At least that answered one of her questions. Erza bit her lip thinking back to where Natsu might be.
Asking Gray where he might be hadn't revealed any answers. Just like the master, he had kept silent. Which only meant that he might of known where the Dragon Slayer could have been. For some reason, everyone who might of remotely had a clue to where Natsu may have been seemed to keep it a secret for their own good.
That didn't make any sense. Why would it better to keep away from Natsu of all people? He could be reckless sure, but that was Fairy Tail. They had all caused reckless destruction from time to time. I didn't make sense to stay away from him.
Erza shook her head tiredly. Secrets were being kept from not just her, but everyone in the guild. And they seemed to be centered around Natsu.
"I'm so bored." Knightwalker pouted, sitting beside the bar with the others as they worried over the ice alchemist, the blue Exceed always following around Natsu agreeing with her from his spot on her head.
"Aye! Besides watching as Gray cries like a baby over some baby scratches, there's nothing to do."
"Shut it, Happy! Don't think you'll go around telling Natsu about this either!" Gray shouted back annoyed at the blue cat.
"Goddammit Gray! At least keep your clothes on while we're bandaging you up!" Lucy shouted in embarrassment, suddenly seeing a little too much of her friends 'dignity'.
"How the hell does that keep happening!?"
Knightwalker sighed, patting Happy on the head. "I wonder where Natsu might be?" the pony tailed scarlet mused, wishing the rose haired mage was there to amuse her.
"He might be out training like Gray was." Happy shrugged, munching on a new fish Mira had just given him. "I just wished he told me before he left. I was flying around half of Magnolia looking for him before coming to the guild. Hopefully he'll come back just like Gray did."
"He better not." Knightwalker lightly growled. "I don't want to see him stumbling back a beaten mess from whatever he was up to. I want to go out to dinner tonight, and I can't have my date looking a mess."
"You're going to ask him out!?" Happy gaped in shock.
"Correct." Knightwalker smirked. "And I'm not taking no for an answer."
"What about Erza? I don't think she'll like that."
"Please." she scoffed, not noticing a shadow over here with glowing red eye's, "Like that old bag could stop me from having what I want."
"Who you calling old bag, Knightwalker?" Erza growled menacingly, catching her twin by surprise as she looked back at her with wide cat like eye's in surprise.
". . . . . Mercy?" Knightwalker sweated nervously.
"I'm sorry, we're all out of mercy."
Just as the guild hall was ready to break out into another wild brawl, the doors to the guild flew open loudly to reveal four of the missing mage's they had been searching for, tiredly stumbling forth inside with more then training wounds over their body.
"Natsu!" Happy shouted in panic, seeing his pseudo father visibly struggle to walk with dried blood, gashes, bruises, and grime all over him. He looked he had gotten out of a fight with a mob of mages. And he didn't even have the usual triumphant grin was always plastered on his face after a fight. Something was wrong.
The entire guild moved forward to help their injured nakama, the sight of some of the strongest currently in the guild too wounded to even make a few steps into the guild shocking them to the core.
Team Natsu quickly bolted from their seats to catch the fire Dragon Slayer who collapsed alongside Gajeel and Freed, dropping the critically injured Bickslow with them. Erza and Knightwalker quickly caught Natsu in their arms, worry clearly written all over their face seeing his battered state. Lucy went off to help Team Phantom Gear with Gajeel seeing as the two scarlet's already went for Natsu, Gray couldn't help without his arms flaring up with frostbite, Juvia keeping the ice mage down forcibly. The Strauss siblings went along with helping the two members of the Thunder God Tribe along with Evergreen, being careful with Bickslow seeing the alarming amount off blood leading from a stab wound in his chest.
Moving through the crowd surrounding the injured mages, Makarov stopped right in front of Gajeel who was being supported by Jet and Droy. He frowned, already knowing what their conditions meant.
"So, he failed?" Makarov sighed.
Gajeel chuckled, fighting through the weakness in his eye's as he looked up at the master. "I guess you could say that. We resolved his magic problem to a more stabled state, but we still have to solve his other problem before he loses control again."
"I see." the master frowned before being brought out of his thoughts by the new member of their guild.
"What the hell happened!?" Knightwalker loudly yelled, the sight of seeing Natsu greatly upsetting. She moved her eye's towards the short master and the iron Dragon Slayer with anger clear in her eye's.
"You two." she growled, quickly being held back from Erza from bringing harm to the two mages. "What happened to Natsu!? Why does he look he was nearly torn apart!?"
"Master?" Levy questioned softly, her eye's tearing up from the sight of Gajeel.
"Mira-san! Can you go get me a few rags and bandages to patch up and clean Bickslow-san's wounds? I have to stop the bleeding quickly before he turns critical!" Wendy shouted as she tried to use her healing magic to fix the deep stab luckily missing his organs.
Happy sniffed, hugging tightly onto Natsu's bloodied, torn up waistcoat. He looked even worse then he did after the mess with Oracion Seis.
Natsu sighed at all the voices ringing inside his head. He really wasn't in the mood for all this crap. After everything he just went through, he needed a long rest, a good warm meal, a bath, and them more sleep. The Fiore dream.
Trying to keep his feet from buckling over as he tried to support himself up, Natsu loudly cleared his throat to catch everyone's attention.
"It's not their fault." he said firmly, fighting back from the discomfort in his wobbly legs. "If it's anyone's fault, it's mine." he admitted ashamedly.
Erza frowned at the guilt in Natsu's voice, "What are you talking about Natsu? And this time tell me, no." she shook her, gesturing to the entire guild. "Tell us what's going on. You've seemed different since you came back from Edolas."
Gajeel scoffed, resting against the bar as his guild mates worked on bandaging his injuries.
"Good luck getting the idiot to tell you the truth." the iron Dragon Slayer chuckled. "He's stubborn as a bull."
Natsu looked down with guilt, "I kinda went ape shit back in Edolas while I was fighting Faust, giving away ten years of my life from the transformation I used to cripple Doroma Animu." he laughed awkwardly.
"Never mind. He's a sadist."
"WHAT!?" both Erza and Knightwalker shouted in anger before turning their eye's to the flinching Dragon Slayer.
Natsu sighed, nodding his at the two angry scarlet's. "Yeah, I gave away ten years of my life and nearly died back in Edolas okay!" he shouted loudly for everyone to hear. "But who cares? I ended up saving everyone and stopped Faust. Does it really matter that I gave away ten measly years of my life?"
The second those words had left his mouth, a loud smacked resounded off the walls of the guild, everyone watching with shocked expressions as Natsu was slapped with enough force to send to the other side of the guild where he laid in pile of broken stools and tables.
Erza stood furiously, her hand stretched out from striking the fire mage, her body shaking from suppressed anger.
"What the hell are you saying!? What do you mean it was only ten measly years of your own life!?" she shouted, tears threatening to spill from her eye's.
"You're saying that you don't care that you gave away years of your life that you could of spent with your nakama just for some stupid fight!? Are you really so stupid Natsu?!" she cried angrily.
"Don't forget about the going ape shit into some beast that would burn down Magnolia at any moment crap either." Gajeel helpfully added.
Natsu winced, "Thanks a lot. Really."
"Don't mention."
". . . . . I don't like you."
"Feelings mutual."
"Alright, will someone mind telling me what's going on?" Lucy frowned. She still wasn't getting what they were saying. How could someone just give away years of their life anyway.
And so Natsu began to tell them the story of what happened back when he was fighting Doroma Animu with Gajeel explaining the effects of eating his own fire. To say they were horrified with the end results was saying that Happy didn't like fish. It was unbelievable. They had no idea that eating their own magic was so harmful. Though it really shouldn't of surprised them that it ended up being Natsu of all people that had broken the forbidden taboo. The fire Dragon Slayer was known to do almost anything to protect his friends.
Erza was still furious with Natsu, though her anger had dwindled a bit after she had heard him loose control of himself after he thought she and Knightwalker had died. In a way it was her own fault. If she hadn't been so blinded back there the she wouldn't of been caught within Faust's attack.
But that still didn't excuse the selfish, reckless act of eating his own flames for a power boost.
"After we finally knocked some common sense into the idiot, we came up with a drastic training technique almost similar to mine, not using true dragon magic." Gajeel explained, now feeling a bit better to stand on his own. He was still hurting, but his wounds were already bandaged and patched up. All that was left was some time to rest and they'd all be as good as new.
"Basically it was designed to use an old ancient artifact known as Urami, to help unleash all the pent up magic growing unstable within his magical container."
Lucy frowned, the name peaking her interest, "Urami? I think I've read about that artifact before." she mused in thought.
"Really Lu-chan?" Levy looked to the side to see the spirit mage thinking.
"Yeah." she nodded as she thought back, "Though the item was also known as Neutral Enlightenment. It's actually a really depressing spell and artifact judging from its origin. It was meant to enlighten the mage's mind to a more free state."
"What do you mean depressing?" Natsu asked curiously, sitting by Knightwalker as she finished the last of his bandages.
"It's depressing because the mage who made it gave his life just so people could attain peace." Lucy frowned, "The mage's name was known Zeke Gagetsu, a mage who could make anything out of Nothing magic. From the book I read about ancient mage's, he was once a wondering young mage, only 10 years old when he had set foot on the road. The book detailed his life as young mage who spent his time teaching others to seek peace and love, always helping others in need without anything in return."
"That sounds hard to believe." Natsu grumbled, just remembering the dark bastard made him sick.
"When he was twelve, Zeke stopped in a distant town from Magnolia, Era, back when the magic council wasn't around. That's where he met another mage under the command of the king back then named Eileen Hikari, a magic knight. It was actually a really good love story now that I think back on." Lucy smiled, "They met when they were young, Zeke being saved from a wild mob of bandits by the knight, who wound up hurt from the clash, leaving Zeke with no choice, but to fight back even though it went against his oath to peace. He ended up saving her life, creating a bond between them that eventually grew into something more as the years went by, Zeke stopping by Era every few weeks just to talk to Eileen. They fell in love when Zeke was eighteen, Eileen being five years older then him when a big fight in the kingdom forced him to leave behind his peaceful teachings to fight for his love. But unfortunately, nothing was fine after that." she frowned sadly.
"The Nothing magic that he used eventually grew to make him emotionless, the fight that saved Eileen's life breaking the last emotions he had for the world making him what people called a being of nothing. He wasn't the same after that. He spent the rest of his time seeking peace and an end to war, spending less time with Eileen as the time went by. Eventually, Eileen tried bringing him out of his void of nothing, hoping to bring back the boy she had fallen in love with. But nothing worked. They had a falling out that scarred them, greatly angering Zeke for the first time since losing his emotions. In the end, Eileen brought his emotions back, but at the cost of him hating her forever for ruining is perfect state of peace. Years went by and the two never spoke again. It wasn't till Zeke created the artifact Enlightenment that Eileen ever saw him again. Not much was known after that other then many monks trying to use the item to reach nirvana, many of them failing at the cost of their life."
"That's a really sad story." Mira sniffed, the story easily moving her to tears.
"Men don't make women cry!"
"I'm not a man!" Lucy shouted back at Elfman, "I'm a girl, and I didn't mean to make Mira-chan cry!"
Sighing after hearing the story of the hooded man with the scythe, Natsu still didn't see why he had ever gone dark such a dark world. To think he even bad mouthed the way he did things.
"The item was meant to seek peace of mind." Lucy stated, looking back Gajeel with confusion in her eye's, "So why did Natsu need to use it? I don't think he's after Enlightenment."
"He's not suppose to find enlightenment." Gajeel explained while agreeing with the blonde, "It's suppose to help him get over a grudge he has for a certain person in mind that could actually bring him to the point of killing them out of hate. It's his trigger point that can cause him to lose control of his magic and hurt others. That's why we're using Urami. To get over his grudge."
Now Erza was interested. Of all the people she had known, Natsu was the last person she would of suspected to hold such a powerful grudge against anyone.
"You can actually hate someone?" Gray rose a brow curiously towards the fire mage.
Natsu scowled, not wanting to talk about it.
"It's none of your business." he said harshly, gripping his raggy pants angrily from remembering Jellal's laughing face. "This is my problem and I'm going to get over it on my own." he practically growled, catching the eye of Erza. He flinched before shaking his head from the sudden images bombarding his mind of her death, something that didn't go unnoticed by the Titania.
"But we're your friends Natsu." Lucy frowned, "Doesn't that mean anything?"
"Not when it comes to something I can deal with on my own." he shot back up, quickly thanking Knightwalker for patching him up while Wendy was still healing Bickslow.
"Where do you think you're going, Natsu?" Erza asked sternly as Natsu made his way out of the guild.
"Home. I need time to think on my own. Sorry, Happy." Natsu apologized to the sad blue Exceed who floated in the air where he sat. It was obvious from his tone that he wanted to be alone.
"So you're not going to tell us why you're so angry even though we're your friends?" Erza said coldly, gripping her gauntlet clad hand in frustration, "Even though we could help?"
"Help?" Natsu paused outside the door, his eye's wide with anger.
"Did you see what I did to Gajeel, Freed, and Bickslow!? I nearly killed them if they hadn't stopped me! Do you really think you can all help me when I don't even care about hurting any of you when I lose control!? Forget it! I rather do this by myself!" he shouted before running out the guild.
"Natsu, wait!" Happy yelled out to his friend, moving to fly after him if it wasn't for the master.
Makarov looked up at the Exceed with stern eye's as they all watched the fire Dragon Slayer disappear off into the setting sun.
"Let him go. When anger consumes us, it's best to be left alone for awhile before any of us ever seek help. Anger can be troublesome thing. Sometimes we just need time to stew on the matter before we can ever let go of the grudge that eventually takes over." patting the small blue cat, Makarov moved to help attend to the injured mages.
"Now let's take Bickslow off to the hospital. While I don't think little of Wendy's skill in healing magic, the wound he had suffered looks like it would need more then magic. The rest of you idiots don't look like you'll need anything close to surgery, so relax and take some rest for now. We'll sort all this out in the morning."
The guild was still worried over the unusually sensitive pink haired mage, but listened to the master. As much as they wanted to know what was eating at Natsu's mind they needed to help out their friends first. Besides, knowing the fire mage he'd fix whatever was going on eventually.
Erza didn't budge. She knew Natsu too well to understand the importance of his grudge. He wasn't the type to feel hatred to anyone. Even his enemies he forgave. And those he didn't he beat up till they weren't a problem anymore. It just didn't make any sense. Who could be capable of causing such seething dark anger to manifest within Natsu's heart?
She wanted nothing more then to help Natsu with his hatred, but approaching him when he was like this wasn't such a good idea. He was too angry to listen to even her words it seemed.
Erza sighed, massaging her aching head at the problem at hand. Why wasn't anything dealing with Natsu ever simple?
Moving to the others with the injured the scarlet haired knight seemed to miss the presence of her Edolas counterpart inside the guild.
Natsu grit his teeth, doing his best to keep from exploding into another fit of scorching rage, but when the lives and safety of your friends weighed heavily on your mind from the threat of yourself rendering them all to ash, you tend struggle to hold yourself back.
Walking along the river bank running alongside a bridge he had often found Lucy walking by, Natsu let out a heavy sigh, his mind clouded with the day's events.
Well, that was all a train busting bust. The thought of nearly killing his guild mates didn't help either. How the hell was he suppose to control his anger when the moment he stepped over the line he'd go berserk, transforming into that blood lusting demon again? There definitely was no way in hell Natsu was going to go through all that again. Didn't matter what Gajeel or the master said, he wasn't taking another chance of hurting his friends.
"Dammit it all!" he lightly shouted, sending a pebble flying off into riverbank. Natsu pulled his hair in frustration, a tick mark bulging angrily, "Why does everything have to be so hard?! At least when I ate Etherion I didn't have to worry about losing control! I was just passed out for a couple of days! Why can't this be as easy as that!?"
If it wasn't for Freed quickly activating the rune seals on his back from gaining access to his magic the riverside would have been up in flames from his scorching tantrum.
Ready to tear off a chunk of earth from under his feet in anger and throw it off into the waters by him, Natsu was stopped from his destructive tantrum by a familiar voice cutting through his senses.
"Something on your mind, Natsu?" the voice said amusingly.
Forgetting his anger as he turned his neck back to find the scarlet pony tailed mage in her skull black T-shirt and short jeans, Natsu couldn't help but be surprised at the sight of Knightwalker.
"Erza? What are you doing here?" Natsu frowned as he calmed down.
Knightwalker shrugged her eye's moving towards the beautiful setting sun on the horizon of the river.
"Just thought I'd come to see how you were doing. You left the guild rather frustrated, worrying most of the guild with the sudden change of attitude you've been going through lately."
Natsu bit his cheek. Okay, maybe he had dropped the ball a little awhile back when it came to telling them all of his mistake in Edolas. Getting angry with all of them for wanting to help him control his new unstable power also didn't help. He sighed, taking a seat near the edge of the waters beside him, his eye's creased up in frustration from the heavy burden weighing on his conscious.
A dead silence clouded the two mages, neither saying a word till Knightwalker choose to break the silence.
"Does this have something to do with Scarlet?"
Seeing the Dragon Slayer's shoulder stiffen Knightwalker let a small knowing smirk escape her lips.
Knightwalker wasn't blind. She could practically feel the tension in the air when they had explained the source for his sudden change in behavior was due to his grudge. He was gripping his dirtied raggy pants in restrained fury the whole time, the anger that had consumed him still in his system and only growing as they talked about it. She was sure if it wasn't for Freed's rune magic that the guild would have been up in flames from the intensity of his anger.
And the look Natsu had in his eye's when he had laid eye's on Erza wasn't easy to not notice with her well trained eye's. That was the look of fear, sadness, and crushing guilt. All well hidden behind his anger. Knightwalker was sure even her counterpart had seen through all the anger he had been displaying and seen the guilt written all over his face.
The only question was why? Why did he wear such a look of heavy guilt? What exactly happened to the grinning Dragon Slayer to cause such grief?
Knightwalker sighed, "You can't suppress it you know." she said firmly, memories of when she had been a captain in Edolas surfacing, "It isn't healthy. Holding back how you truly feel. It only ends up twisting you into something you don't want to become."
Natsu dug his fingers into the dirt. It was too late for that. He was already twisted into a monster. What did it matter if he shut his feeling from his guild? At this point it better if he left the guild to save them from his wild state.
"What's with that look of self-loathing?" Knightwalker softly chuckled seeing his eye's darken in anger. "It isn't like you to be so angry. It's completely opposite of the man of hope that had freed me from my own darkness.
Eye's slightly softening towards the red headed women sitting beside him, Natsu couldn't stay mad for long. It was odd. How she could calm his brooding mood. Just like Erza. The thought made Natsu smile a bit.
They weren't so different it seemed.
Natsu heavily sighed. No matter how much he tried to hide away his problems his friends wouldn't budge. He was pretty sure they would of pestered him non-stop till he yelled out the reason for his grudge if he stayed back at the guild. Guess this was how they felt when they had problems. Natsu smirked a bit at that. Guess he was just as annoying as they were too.
". . . I'm sorry."
"Hmm?" Knightwalker hummed.
"I said I'm sorry." Natsu bitterly smiled. "Sorry that I was shouting at everyone for wanting to help me. I know it wasn't the right thing to do, but I was still angry about what had happened in and outside of my mind. The monster inside of me didn't listen to all your voices, it only shouted back in anger."
He was sorry about that? Knightwalker smiled softly at the rose haired mage, looking down sadly at the way he had treated his nakama moments ago. What an idiot.
"You don't have to apologize to me, it's the others who're more worried then I am. Especially Scarlet." she chuckled remembering the look of worry behind her calm demeanor, "She's even more worried about you then I am. But that's just because I don't think something as small learning to control your new power would be too hard for someone like you. I wholeheartedly believe you'll be able to control the dragon inside." she smirked.
"You do?" said Natsu slightly stunned, "How? I mean I lost control the last two times and nearly killed Bickslow. Who knows what I'd do next the next time I lose control of temper?" he muttered depressingly before a sharp slap to his head made him shout out in pain.
"Ow! What the hell was that for!?"
Knightwalker huffed as she looked away from the teary Dragon Slayer.
"Tch, what happened to you? I know you're afraid of hurting your friends again, but I was under the impression that you were a strong mage who wasn't afraid of anything. Guess I was wrong." she sighed as she checked for dirt in her nails, smirking inwardly when she saw Natsu open his mouth to shout back.
Natsu quickly closed his mouth, frowning deeply. This was usually the part where he would shout back that he wasn't afraid of anything, but for some strange reason he couldn't do it. He grit his teeth angry at himself for suddenly being so weak.
This wasn't like him. If Igneel ever saw him in such a state he would scoff and shake his head in disappointment.
But could anyone really blame him for feeling cautious of going into that mad state again after hurting and nearly killing their friends? Just thinking back to how close he had come to killing them all made Natsu's gut wrench into a painful knot. All because he couldn't control his anger against Jellal.
Jellal.
Natsu openly snarled in memory of the blue haired bastard. It was all his fault he had become this out of control demon in the first place. Digging his fingers into the dirt Natsu couldn't help but growl thinking back to their fight inside his mind.
Knightwalker frowned in worry watching Natsu seethe in deep anger, his body shaking in fury in whatever memory was playing within his mind. To think he could ever posses such a hateful loathing look on his face. It was completely opposite of his sunny, dumb attitude.
She didn't like it. The man who had saved her life and brought her with him to start anew wasn't like this. Full of hate and self-loathing, it was nothing like the man who had captured her heart with a goofy grin.
To caught up in his anger for Heavenly Body mage Natsu didn't notice the pair of arms coming over his neck till he was pulled into Knightwalker's body, his eye's broken from their anger to look in confusion of Erza's twin.
"Let it go. Whatever is troubling you to cause you so much anger, just let it go. All it will do is feed the demon inside of you till you lose control of your emotions again." Knightwalker said softly as she hugged the Dragon Slayer from behind, her face beside the crook of his neck.
Natsu's brow furrowed together, his body trying desperately to fight back against the wave of boiling emotions, doing his best not show off the hostility he felt from the memories playing inside of him.
"You don't understand. That bastard. . . that bastard tried to kill her! He used her like she was just some play thing! And just as worse, he made her cry. CRY! How?" he couldn't take it anymore. The memories refused to stop now that they were in motion. The memory of losing Erza because he was too weak to do anything still as fresh the pain he felt during those heart wrenching moments she had sacrificed herself. And the day's events only piling onto his burden, starting to finally break away at his emotions.
"How!? How the hell do you let something like that go! How do get over the fact you were too weak to protect someone who meant the world to you go!? HOW!?"
The earth cracked and broke apart as Natsu smashed his fist through ground in anger and confusion, his body practically trembling with raw emotions he tried to hold back in fear of losing control again.
Dammit, dammit, dammit! This wasn't like him at all! He was stronger then this. Way strong! How else would he of protected his nakama if he was weak? How else was he going to one day surpass Erza if he was weak? How else would he find Igneel if he was weak? Of all the things he had done, why was this the one thing that was breaking him down into a pathetic mess? Nothing made any sense!
WHY DID HE HAVE TO BE SO WEAK!?
"Snap out of it!"
SMACK
Not even realizing that Knightwalker had released him from her hug Natsu was unprepared for the hard, stinging slap to the left side of his cheek to send him falling to the side of the river where he felt the rush of cold water engulf him. Quickly rising back up from the water Natsu gasped for fresh air as wiped his mouth from spitting out some water that had went into his mouth, only to freeze.
Knightwalker stood before the river belt with her right hand outstretched from smacking his face, her eye's teary from having had to slap someone she had seen in such high respect and shaking from the anger she felt at the sight she saw.
"What the hell's the matter with you!? Huh!?" she shouted, shaking her head as Natsu continued to stay still, the sight of seeing her tears having the same affect as seeing Erza tears.
"I don't know what you're talking about and I don't know who 'he' is, but I know it's pathetic if you can't even get over the past! Because that's what it is, the past! Get over it!"
She was sick of seeing him like this. Knightwalker had enough. If Erza had seen him like this she was sure she would of done the same. If only a bit more rougher with her swords. But she knew that she wouldn't of wanted to see him in such a sorry sight. They both loved him too much to bear to watch him struggle with his emotions.
"Titania got over it, didn't she? And if she did, then it was for good reason. You must of gotten over it too until now! Otherwise none of them of been so surprised with your change of attitude. You're dwelling too much into the past, let it go! Because if you can't. . . because if you can't. . ." the scarlet haired women gripped her shoulder's, hugging herself as she tried to stop the tears streaming down her face from the pain she was feeling as she struggled to end the sentence.
"Because if you can't, then I can't consider someone as weak and pathetic as you as my nakama!"
Natsu's heart stopped, his face frozen in shock as water dripped down his face, trembling from the words that had cut right through his heart. Knightwalker's tears rolled down her face as her face scrunched up in pain, the very words she had said having had hurt just as much as they hurt the pink haired Dragon Slayer. They both stared at each other till Knightwalker couldn't take the look he had on his face anymore. She shook away the tears before turning away from the man who had given her another chance at life, glancing back at him one last time before running off.
Snapping out of his shock Natsu felt himself consumed by his emotions, an unbearable pain suddenly taking him in as he fell to his knee's before tears slid down his cheeks.
Why?
"D-Dammit!"
Waves of water blew up violently in the wake of his anger as he punched the shallow riverbanks stream, flames flowing from his arm powering his fist. Showered by the waves Natsu tried to grit back the pain and sorrow eating away at him only to fail as he continued to unleash his anger onto the riverbank.
Why? Why was he suddenly so weak! This wasn't like him! And now he had lost one of his nakama because he was so weak and pathetic. That hurt him worse then anything else. That one of his own friends couldn't stand to see him look so weak. He couldn't protect them like this. He wasn't worth being a candidate for the S-class exams. And he didn't even deserve having nakama if he couldn't even protect them from himself.
He was weak.
"WHY THE HELL AM I SO PATHETIC!"
"You're not weak."
'What the hell?' A large, cold metallic hand suddenly found itself holding back the fire mage's destructive fist, a powerful aura bringing his senses back from his breakdown. The presence felt all too familiar as Natsu turned around to find Fairy Tail's ace behind his soaked, bandaged form.
Gildarts looked down at his fallen friend with a hint of pride in his eye's that confused the Dragon Slayer. Why would he look at him like that? Wasn't he disappointed with the way he was acting? How he was suddenly losing control of his emotions? Why did he look almost proud that he was breaking down into a violent rampage again?
Letting go of Natsu's fist as it dropped to the stream with a splash Gildarts patted the rose haired boy on the back as he grinned a small grin of pride.
"You're learning your fear."
Standing back up Natsu looked back at the Crash mage in confusion.
"I'm learning my fear? But I'm not afraid!" he shouted back in anger before looking down, shutting his eye's as he shook in anger at himself.
"I just don't want to hurt anyone anymore! I don't wan to lose control again and kill one of my friends this time! And I don't want to lose my friends because of how weak I am! I'm-"
"Afraid." Gildarts nodded firmly as he crossed his arms over his chest. Natsu shook his head, glaring back at the older mage before he cut him off with a glare of his own.
"Don't deny it." he said seriously. "No matter what you tell yourself you're afraid. You fear hurting your friends and family. You fear losing control over your new powers. And you're afraid of losing those close to you because you're afraid. But there is nothing wrong with that." he smiled gently as he ruffled the boy's head, getting an annoyed growl out of Natsu before he stepped away.
". . . . Why are you even here?" Natsu asked warily as he looked at the sheepish orange haired man in suspicion. The guy had literately popped out of nowhere.
Gildarts laughed in embarrassment as he looked away. Truth was that he just wanted to spy on the drama. What could he say? He was bored. The man pouted childishly. He was left out of the action too. Yes, the fact that he tended to lose control over magic from time to time did make sense that he couldn't really join in keeping Natsu in line while he was training was mentioned and that the chaos brought up from their fight would catch peoples attention. But he still wanted something to do while he was in Magnolia.
Not that flirting with the towns women wasn't an option. They couldn't get enough of the Crash mage. Gildarts smirked to himself. Yeah, he was awesome. And that caught the ladies attention no matter what town he visited.
But this was more important. Knowing the apparent Dragon Child since he was reckless kid which still hadn't changed much Gildarts knew that Natsu needed someone to guide him into the right direction. He practically considered himself a father figure to all of Fairy Tail's children just like Master Makarov saw them as his own grandchildren. It was up to them to help their children with whatever they were struggling with.
And it seemed that he had caught Natsu at just the right time as he was starting to understand his own troubled emotions. And a very important one at that.
Fear.
Natsu was the love fighting idiot with a brain that made goldfish seem smart. No offense to the boy, but he could be an idiot. Especially when it came to love and such. Gildarts shook his head at the thought in bafflement. The Crash mage couldn't even understand how Natsu could be so oblivious to the two scarlet twined mages who were clearly head over heels for him. It still surprised him that Erza was even in love with Natsu. If they ever did get together and did the deed, the kids born from those two would send the guild into shambles.
Natsu was many things. But one thing he refused to admit was that he too could be scared. That had an once of fear in him. He was too proud to admit it. And it was that little thing that was holding him back from becoming as strong as him and the other S-class members in the guild.
With a sigh Gildarts looked back at Natsu with fatherly eye's as he spoke.
"Don't feel ashamed of it. Fear is natural for all of us. Even as hard it's sounds since I'm such a manly man I can be afraid." he chuckled, getting a sweatdrop from Natsu before he coughed into his fist, "Well, yeah. But you shouldn't be afraid of being afraid."
"But I told you I'm not afraid!" Natsu argued stubbornly.
Gildarts rose a brow curiously, "Then what are you? What's keeping you from finishing your training?"
At that Natsu quickly shut his mouth as he looked away in shame.
He wasn't afraid! But. . . what was he? Natsu gripped his fists tightly in frustration. He was weak, but he wasn't afraid!
"Fine. If you're so brave, then fight me. Here and now."
Natsu's head shot up so fast that he was he had nearly gave himself whiplash as he met Gildarts serious eye's in shock. Was he for real?
Gildarts nodded, completely serious, "If you're not afraid, if you honestly believe you can learn to control your unstable magic power without the training and getting over your hate, then fight me with those fists without an once of fear in them. I'm dead serious." he said as he uncrossed his arms to stand imposingly over him.
"Don't fuck with me!" Natsu roared angrily, "We can't fight here! What if we hurt someone or break something!"
"You're worried about causing destruction?" Gildarts chuckled before sighing sadly as he moved his arm, catching Natsu's attention as sirens rang in his head.
"Fine. I'll start."
No sooner had those words left his mouth did Natsu feel a blinding white pain shot out from his stomach from the wicked punch to his gut. A gale was blown up, dispersing the water around the two mages as Natsu was sent rocketing off his feet a few yards from Gildarts outstretched fist. Gildarts cape flapped from the force of the impact as he watched the Dragon Slayer break through a little bridge over the riverbank, crumbling it into chunks before skidding on his back on the shallow bank.
Natsu coughed up spit from the hit, gingerly holding his recovering stomach, a bruise already starting to form from the blow, his eye's weakly glaring at the no-nonsense look on Gildarts face who stared back at him unflinchingly at what he had just done.
Monster. That was the first thing that came to Natsu's mind after taking the hit. He almost forgot how strong the old man was. No way in hell was he going to get hit again.
Is what he thought before being sent crashing into the streets by a hard kick to the gut again. Thankfully the streets were empty seeing as it had turned into night without them noticing. Or else they would of borne witness to enraged look over Natsu's face as he snarled angrily at the S-class mage, a trickle of blood running down his chin.
"What the hell's your problem!" Natsu shouted, boiling with rage before his eye's widened, quickly dodging the falling fist. The ground was crushed by the falling blow, completely breaking the ground into blocked debris that showered Natsu.
Dodging a swing to his face, Natsu decided to fight to keep from getting anymore hurt. You couldn't run away from someone like Gildarts. It was like running away from a colossal demon. There was no chance of escape.
"Karyu no Tekken(Fire Dragon's Iron Fist)!" with a loud roar of anger Natsu swung flaming fist into Gildarts, only to miss and have his arm caught in a lock by the veteran mage's arm.
"Come on! Put some real heart into it!" swinging him around over his head like windmill, Gildarts tossed the sickly green faced mage away into a closed fruit cart.
He shrugged at the damage. Who was dumb enough to leave their merchandise out at night anyways?
Quickly standing back off from his crash while ignoring the sting to his back, Natsu came back swinging his flame clad fists into the orange haired bastard.
Each blow was blocked without Gildarts having to move from his spot. A left kick to his kidneys. Blocked. An uppercut to his chin. Blocked. A sweep kick over his legs. Blocked. And a dozen flamed barrages to his chest. Blocked. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't land a clean hit.
A punch to his cheek nearly stumbled Natsu onto his back before he shrugged it off for an aimed spin kick to Gildarts side. The Crash mage deflected the attempt with a wave of his arm, sending Natsu spinning back on his leg before coming back with both his fists cocked back like pistons, ready to fire. Moving back his own fists Gildarts met Natsu's attack full on as their double sided punches struck, kicking up a strong wind that blew their hair back. A jolt of pain ran up both the Dragon Slayer's arms, but refused to back down from the stalemate. Both continued to put in more strength to overpower the other, but with Gildarts insane strength, there was no contest.
Sent back skidding, Natsu tried coming back with a feint, ready to drill Gildarts face only to drop on his hands and start spinning around on his palms. Fire coated his legs as they sent a wave of spiraling fire to wash over the Crash mage.
Gildarts smirked, his outstretched arm glowing with wispy white magic. He wasn't a magic canceler for nothing.
The magic fire broke apart like toy blocks, revealing the surprised fire mage standing on his hands before being kicked under the top of his skull.
"Come on, Natsu. I know you can do way better then this. Whatever happened to surpassing me? As well as Laxus, Mirajane, and Erza." Catching him by his white dragon scaled scarf stained with some blood, Gildarts looked back at Natsu with some disappointment, "You can't protect your nakama with this level of strength forever. As long as you refuse to face your fears, you won't be able to even keep your friends from leaving you."
"Because if you can't, then I can't consider someone as weak and pathetic as you as my nakama!"
Red clouded Natsu's eye's as anger overflowed from him. Flames coated his body in a shroud of dragon flames, as he glared hatefully at the man holding him up, his glare causing Gildarts to sigh sadly at the sight.
"You don't know what you're talking about!" ready to unleash a Karyu no Hoko point-blank in Gildarts face, Natsu was stopped by a fist to his face, sending him falling back before being yanked by his scarf and sent skidding back into the ruined riverbank.
"That's another thing." Gildarts said as he cracked his neck, taking his time in reaching Natsu, "You got to control your hate. I'm glad you found it, really. No one's perfect and we all feel it at some point. But it's taking over you. You've got to let go of that hate against Jellal."
Fixing his jaw from the painful kick while away some blood, Natsu glared back at Gildarts, "How? How do you know his name!" he shouted loudly.
"Master told me everything." he shrugged before standing over the Dragon Slayer. "I know that's why you've been acting so strange lately. Why you aren't even enjoying our fight."
"He hurt Erza. I get it. He nearly killed her in his possessed state. But she forgave him, even after he had killed one of her friends. So why can't you? After all. . ."
He smiled knowingly, his eye's proud and full of respect as his next words nearly had Natsu dead in shock.
"You do love her, don't you?"
'WHAT!?' Sputtering with an embarrassed blush on his face Natsu tried to deny the S-class mage's claim as he waved his arms around.
"LIES! Who told you that dumb lie! It was Gray, wasn't it! I'm going to kick that Ice dicks ass into an early grave for spreading such lies!" he shouted, waving his fist threateningly, only causing Gildarts to laugh.
He wiped his eye's as he smirked down at the fumbling fire mage, "Now that's the Natsu I know! And don't deny it! These eye's can spot love a mile away!" he grinned proudly.
"LIER! A filthy old man like you can't even get a girl to look at you without laughing her ass of at the disaster kami had created!"
"Why you little punk!"
Rapping the Dragon boy on his head with the back of his fist, Gildarts huffed before glancing back at the teary eyed Natsu who still couldn't erase the blush on his face.
"Don't play dumb." he sighed through his nose as he grinned widely, nearly wiping a tear away in pride seeing the small pink haired boy always chasing him around for fights grow before him. "You shouldn't even be embarrassed about it. Erza's a wonderful girl in need of someone to love and protect her. I'm sure she even feels the same."
Natsu sighed. Love? He didn't even understand that crap. But, at the same time he didn't have anything else to say back to the Crash mage. His feelings for Erza were confusing.
"What does it matter." slowly getting back up on one knee, Natsu looked down sadly as he closed his eye's. "And it's none of your business. In fact," he suddenly grinned wolfishly, surprising Gildarts who noticed he had began to sweat from the heat of the night.
He paused at that before his eye's widened. The nights in Magnolia were never hot.
"YOU WON'T REMEMBER NONE OF THIS WHEN I KNOCK YOUR ASS OUT!" Flames surrounded Natsu's hands, gathering together into dense torrent like blades. He grinned, catching Gildarts by surprised before delivering his finishing move.
"Mesturyu Ogi: Guren Bakuenjin(Dragon Slayer's Secret Art's: Crimson Lotus, Exploding Flame Blade)!"
Spinning around his arms, a sphere of scorching flames engulfed the Crash mage in the wake of Natsu's spiraling explosion. The torrent like flame blades generating mini detonations within the deadly spell capable of bringing down dragons. The water around them was turned to steam from the spell, the flames spiraling within its shallow water hotter then natural fire.
Falling back on his feet from the exploding sphere that continued to strike Gildarts, Natsu nearly fell back on his knee's, all the magic he had been using today draining him, leaving him with nothing after using his strongest close range spell. The Dragon Slayer couldn't help but grin happily as a bit of his old self began to come back.
After all these years, he had done it. He landed a hard hit on Gildarts. One that he definitely wouldn't brush off. Maybe he really was undermining himself.
The thought was sadly banished when the flames were torn away by a burst of colossal magical power tearing away at his spell like ribbons like it was nothing. Natsu began to sweat in the presence of the immense magical aura bursting from Gildarts slightly smoking face, his expression etched in a stone cold frown. The ground under his feet was torn up, breaking apart into dust as a gale of whipping wind surrounded him, his magic power skyrocketing in a silver-white beacon that could be felt all across of Magnolia.
"That actually stung." Gildarts smirked in the wake of his magic power, his hair blown up as he gingerly touched the small patch of burned skin on the left side of his face.
"But that still isn't close to enough of even knocking me out. Though a bit of your old self was put into that attack, so I'm not surprised that you managed to burn me."
'H-How?' Natsu felt like he was being crushed by an unseen force in the presence of Gildarts. It was ridiculous. Was he really that strong that he could break apart one of his strongest spells with ease?
"You're strong, Natsu." Gildarts smiled softly before looking back at him with a hardened expression.
"But you have yet to reach the summit of true power in the magical world. You have only walked the path, not even knowing where that path is taking you. If you want to protect your friends, and your guild, then there is one last thing you must acquire. Know it."
A blinding light shone from the Crash, stumbling Natsu back from the wave of wind produced as Gildarts began to unleash his magical energy for the world to see, crushing the ground into nothing.
"You say you aren't afraid? Then don't back down from your training. A fearless man would never back down. So if you really think you're fearless, then strike me down with those fearless fists."
He wasn't weak. Natsu grit his teeth angrily as he shielded his face from the buffet of debris and wind smacking into him from Gildarts aura. Fear had nothing to do with why he didn't want to go through his training again. And he wasn't backing down! He just loved his nakama too much to risk hurting them! He wasn't-
"Because if you can't, then I can't consider someone as weak and pathetic as you as my nakama!"
Natsu's eye's snapped wide open as the words rang painfully in his head like a gong, nearly bringing him to his knee's before shouting out in anger, running off towards the malestorm of magic with a raging fist.
"I'M NOT AFRAID!"
But he was.
Skidding to a complete stop Natsu froze in front of Gildarts, the man's simple dilating of his eye sending fear running down his body in trembling waves. He felt his breath leave him as a cold sweat washed over him, his own eye's dilated in shaken fear that was powerful enough to want make him scream. He tried to grit his teeth to hold it back, but only failed as his mouth was left open, trembling like his entire body.
This was Gildarts. The true Gildarts. The Ace of Fairy Tail. The strongest man in the guild besides the old man. The man who had played around him whenever he demanded a fight when he came back from a mission. The one he and Lissana had looked up to almost like a father. The man who's true magical power erupting from under him like some volcano, was Gildarts.
And he was afraid. Natsu was truly afraid.
Falling onto his hand's and knee's as Gildarts began to call of his magical aura, Natsu shook in fear, finally admitting it to himself as he back downed.
"I-I'm. . . afraid." he said with a shaking voice, "Alright! I'm afraid!"
He knew was. Natsu couldn't deny it. He had known since finding out that he had been losing control of his magic. He had known when the master and Gajeel explained it to him. He had known once he saw Jellal's cruel grin back in his mind.
And he had known he was afraid when Knightwalker said she didn't want to be friends with a scared mage like him. He had always known.
"I'm afraid of losing control! I'm afraid of hurting my friends! And I'm afraid of losing my friends because I'm afraid! I'm. . . scared." he cried, sniffing back the tears of the pain he felt.
"Wonderful."
". . . What?" Natsu looked up in confusion as Gildarts smiled down at him.
"There's nothing wrong with being afraid or scared. It's what makes us all human. Same as having hate. No one can blame you for having these emotions. Though the courage to back down from from someone who's stronger then you is rare in people like you. It takes a real man to think about his life instead of carelessly throwing it in."
Gildarts closed his eye's in content, the last of his magic receding back into his body.
"Fear is not evil. It is to know your weakness. If you know your weakness, then people can become strong and gentle. How you get over that fear is up to you. And when you do, then you'll be able to openly admit you're scared, that you hate someone, and that you love someone." his eye's twinkled as he smirked down at Natsu, "I know you don't hate Jellal. At one point, you may have. But when you had seen him again, your fear of him hurting Erza again dug up your hate. That's what love does. It makes us overprotective of the one's we love."
"And how would you know?" Natsu mumbled as he wiped away his tears, getting a grin out of the magic canceler.
"Believe it or not, I was in love once. And I know what it does to man too. Unfortunately that one true love left me, my work always getting in the way of our relationship. I can see love because I've felt love like that before." he admitted solemnly.
"If you don't want to admit it, then that's fine." Gildarts chuckled as he turned away, moving to head home before glancing back at the tired fire mage. After all that Natsu's been through in one day he didn't blame him for being so exhausted.
"Go home. Sleep on what I've told you and look deep within yourself. Who knows? Maybe you'll finally be S-class material after learning about your fear and hate." Walking away Gildarts knew Natsu would make the right choice tomorrow. All he needed was a push in the right direction.
"I believe in you. And I hope the next time we fight you'll be more yourself. Because believe it or not, I don't want to lose to you either."
Disappearing off into the breezy night, Natsu was left with a new resolve as Gildarts left.
It was time to stop doing everything by himself. If he did everything on his own, even if those things endangered the one's he loved, then he become closed off for their safety. And that was something Natsu didn't want.
He loved his nakama. Loved them more then his own life. They were his reason to keep going strong to find Igneel. Because they believed he would one day find him. Even when he didn't. It was because of them that he had opened up his heart to friends in the first place. They had become his family and he had become theirs. Through it all, through the pain, the sadness, the smiles, the grief, the laughter, the worry, and the happy, they had been there.
"What the hell's wrong with me?" Natsu said softly as he let himself fall on his back in the middle of the wreckage of his fight. He looked up at the stars illuminating the dark sky with a feint smile, noticing something that was obvious to the entire world, except for his dumb self.
The stars. No matter how bright and deadly, with their burning cores and fiery bodies, were never alone. Because they were always surrounded by other stars. Even weaker ones. They were always clustered together, like a guild.
Natsu grinned wistfully in the middle of crumbled riverbank as the water returned to flow around his beaten body. His eye's grew heavy as he couldn't help but fall asleep under the beautiful sky lite night.
Just like the stars, he wasn't alone. And he never would be.
(The next day, mid-morning.)
. . .atsu. Natsu!"
Natsu frowned, pulling the sheets over his head to block out the noise. Couldn't they see he was tired? He needed sleep dammit! After getting thrown around like a rag doll by Gildarts he deserved some R and R.
"Wake up, you lazy ass!"
Gray? Oh, he was so dead when he woke up. He'd fried his ass later though. Dreamland was a calling.
"Maybe some fish would wake him up? It always works on me!"
"That's because you're a cat."
"And you're a girl. I still don't see the difference."
Shut up! Why couldn't they let him sleep? He wanted some rest! That's all! What was so bad about that? Why couldn't Lucy and Happy understand?
"Leave the poor man alone. He deserves some rest after all that happened the other day. If what you say about the man, Gildarts, was true, and the insane magic power that I felt the other day from Fairy Hills was anything to go by, then I'm not surprised that we found him in such a state. Even Scarlet was worried."
Finally! Someone who understood his needs!
. . . Wait. Knightwalker?
Groggily opening his eye's, Natsu sat back up from the comfy bed he was sleeping on, finally noticing that he was in Lucy's bed meaning he was in Lucy's house. Huh, they must of found him near the bridge knocked out after fighting Gildarts. Seeing as the bridge he was fighting in was close to Lucy's house, they must of brought him here.
They must of went out to see what was causing all the noise last night, not to mention the colossal source of magical power in one place was a dead give away. Gildarts must of woken up the entire town last night. Crazy old bastard.
Fighting back a yawn, Natsu was unprepared for the twin tackling missiles made up of Happy and Knightwalker to push him back down onto the bed.
"NATSU!"
"Oww! Dammit! I'm still sore here!" he groaned as he found himself cuddled within Erza's chest while Happy hugged his back, both bawling like children as they hugged the living life out of him.
"I was so worried!"Knightwalker cried, seeming to forget the fact that Natsu needed to breath.
"I should of never left you last night! I'm so sorry! If I had of known you would have been attacked by that dirty bastard, then I would of never left your side!"
"Um, guy's? I think he might need to breathe." Lucy stressed as she watched Natsu's face turn blue, getting a laugh out of the ice alchemist next to her.
"Hah! Don't hold anything back you two! Give him all the love he needs!" Gray cackled.
'Damn you, Gray.' Natsu thought, slowly feeling his soul leave his body before Knightwalker held him at arms length.
"I'm sorry."
Natsu frowned, noticing some tears gather around the corners of her eye's. Her hair shadowed her face as her arms slightly trembled.
"What's wrong, Erza? You didn't do anything wrong." he smiled, only for her to shake her head before looking up at his face, causing a nail to go through his heart seeing tears.
"But I did." Knightwalker sniffed, fighting back the guilt she felt for leaving him with such painful words.
"I should of never of said those things back there before leaving you all by yourself when you needed someone the most. I should of never said that I would no longer consider you my nakama, my first nakama if you were weak and pathetic. Because I don't care!" she cried into his shoulder's, gripping his arms tightly as he hugged her to his chest.
"You could be the weakest dumbass on the planet, and I wouldn't care! I just. . . don't want to lose my first friend over something stupid when I didn't even know what I was thinking!"
". . . . Heh. Is that it?" Natsu sighed before laying his forehead against Knightwalker's, closing his eye's in a small moment of content.
"I don't care about any of that. I'm just glad I hadn't lost someone important in my life again because of my weakness. As long as you're here, and everyone else is here, by my side, then I'll never be weak and pathetic. So you don't have to apologize. I should be the one saying sorry for getting angry at you over my own fear."
Knightwalker couldn't help but smile as a tear ran down her face. This was the man she had fallen for. The real Natsu. The one who had saved her from herself and opened up her closed heart to the voices of the world.
Lucy smiled at the touching scene. She was sad to admit it, but she was still scared of the ex-Fairy Hunter even when she had become a member of Fairy Tail. She did try to kill her by dropping her off from a tower to go splat on the streets of Edolas with a dark grin. She couldn't help it.
But now, seeing her cry in worry of her friend, Lucy was glad that she was just being silly worrying about her. Knightwalker was just a girl. Just like her. One that could cry and feel emotional just like her. And she cared about her nakama. Just like the rest of them.
"I think they liiiiiike each other!"
And of course leave it to Happy to break the mood.
Knightwalker blushed shyly as Natsu rubbed the back of his head in confusion, still the lovable dense idiot they all loved. Of course he liked Knightwalker. Just as much as he did Erza. He suddenly blushed though thinking back to his fight with Gildarts when he had talked to him about the beautiful scarlet knight.
Damn old bastard. If the old man found about him also having confused feelings Knightwalker he would never let him live it down. Gildarts would probably shout out to the guild he liked two deadly scarlets.
"I see, you're awake, Natsu."
Speak of the devil.
Walking into the room with her arms crossed over her armored chest Erza looked stoic as she nodded at Natsu. From the look in her eye's she didn't seem to be happy. Natsu sighed at that.
He didn't blame her for being upset with him. With all that he had happened the other day and the way he was acting, he was surprised she hadn't sent him flying out the wall with one of her backhands by now. That only made it worse. She wasn't happy and he was the one at fault.
Moving closer to Lucy's bed, Erza gave her twin a look that she seemed to understand before she gave the Dragon Slayer one last big hug and got off the bed. If those two were listening to each other, then he was in for it now.
"If you all wouldn't mind, me and Natsu have a few things to discuss over. I trust that this isn't a problem?" Erza said sternly, getting the message across as all three mages left the room with Happy trailing behind, mumbling something about a buffet of fish.
Closing the door to the room as they all left Erza turned back towards Natsu who had gotten out of the bed, bowing on his knee's while muttering 'I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.', getting a raised brow out of the knight.
"What are you doing?" she chuckled behind her gauntlet fist as Natsu stopped.
"Eh? You mean. . . you're not going to hurt me?" he said hopefully with sparkling eye's.
Before being slapped in the cheek hard enough to send him slamming against the wall of Lucy's room.
"That's for your rude behavior the other day." Erza said flatly as Natsu rolled around the floor in pain, crying out in from the red mark on his cheek.
Ignoring the stinging sensation on the left side of his face Natsu got back up only for Erza to gesture to sit beside her on Lucy's bed. He raised an eyebrow in confusion, getting a roll of her eye's.
"Just sit. I won't hurt you. . . anymore." she smiled sincerely with a sliver of humor.
Natsu sighed in relief, surprised that he hadn't noticed Erza requip into her white blouse and blue skirt as he sat down next to her. He smiled at that. Natsu always did like Erza when she wasn't in armor. She was more open this way.
Laying her hands flat on her lap Erza seemed to struggle with what she was going to say. But something in Natsu's gut told him that he already knew what she wanted to say. After all, she wasn't an S-class mage for nothing. She should have been able to find the cause of his anger and hate seeing as she knew the only person to of ever brought such emotions to the Dragon Slayer.
"Yesterday, Gajeel had said that it was a grudge that was causing you to lose control. It was the reason why you were so angry back at the guild and why you seemed so out of it." Erza bit her lip, gripping her blue skirt as she tried to continue.
"Tell me, is it because of. . . Jellal?" She asked softly as she looked down.
Natsu had a small frown on his face as he closed his eye's. So, she did know. Of course she did. Just the thought of the azure man made Natsu want to openly grit his teeth in anger. He sighed deeply doing his best to hold back the boiling emotions. No. He was done with that now. After fighting with Gildarts he had come to an understanding.
But even still, for reasons that Natsu still couldn't explain, the thought of Jellal caused some sour feelings to rise up.
". . . Yeah. I guess you could say that." he smiled sadly as craned his head to the side, seeing Erza only tighten her grip on her skirt even more.
"Why?" It was dumb question. She knew that. But she couldn't help it. It just popped out.
He knew that. She was hurting inside. Because of Jellal. No, he shook his head. This time it wasn't just Jellal, it was him too. They were both causing Erza pain again.
Erza loved Jellal. And it filled Natsu's chest with an empty pain, one that made him fell nothing, yet still fell like his heart was being torn to shreds. Why, he didn't know. But knowing that little fact filled him with pain.
And yet, he smiled. If she could be happy, with whoever could fill her heart with love instead of pain, despite who they were, then he would be fine with that. Natsu knew that with all his heart. Because here smile and happiness meant the world to him. He would do anything, even defy the entire Fiore council, to protect that happiness.
Because he, whether he truly understood it himself, loved her.
"You know, when I was brought within inside of my heart, where all my feeling were kept locked up away from the world, instead of it being filled with light and the picture of the guild like I thought, I found a dark, evil swamp, filled with rotten trees, pitch black clouds, and a blood red sky with a black moon." he said with a sad tone, the memory of his heart causing it to ache.
Looking back up Erza was confused at what she was hearing. "But that doesn't sound anything like you. What type of magic twists your heart into something like that?" she frowned, only for Natsu to shake his head with a scowl.
"The magic didn't twist anything, it showed what I was really feeling." he looked down at his hand, the memory of the hatred they held yesterday still fresh as day, "Hate."
"I know I said I considered Jellal a member of Fairy Tail, but, deep down inside, I always hated the guy. I couldn't help it. He was the only bastard to of ever made you cry, to of made you shake with fear, to give up before it was all over!"
Erza flinched as Natsu suddenly brought his fist down onto the beds frame, shaking it as he left an indent on the frame in the shape of his fist.
"I never wanted to see you like that again." Natsu said softly as he looked away. "Just the memory of seeing your tears upsets me. I know it's stupid, but I don't ever want to see Erza like that again."
Though Natsu couldn't see it, a small smile made its way to Erza's lips.
Fool. It sounded more like he was talking to himself now.
"It's not stupid." Erza said gently, laying her hand over his shaking fist. "Caring for your friends isn't stupid, it never is. And I understand how you feel." Erza smiled as she reached for Natsu's face, moving him to face her. She looked on gently into her eye's. She would never admit it out loud, but his confused face was always cute, no matter how old he got.
"I don't ever want to see Natsu look so scared ever again."
Natsu's eye's widened before his confused face slowly turned into a tiny, sad grin.
"But, don't you care about the fact that I hate Jellal?" he asked with a deadpanned expression, getting a sweatdrop from the scarlet knight at his blunt question. What a way to break the moment.
Erza sighed.
"At one point, I may of felt sad that you saw Jellal in such a hateful light. The way he is now, he's just a victim of another plot to resurrect Zeref, just like me. I'm sure if you had met him before he was taken over by the ghost of Zeref, you two would of gotten along just fine."
"But I understand your feelings. After all, I hated Jellal most of my life." Hated was a strong word. More like despised, wanted to gut his insides with every blade in her collection, cut him into nice fine cubes of evil bastard on a toothpicks, and grill those chunks with Natsu's flame breath while feeding them to some wild animal. But that was the past. A violent past of deadly emotions for the azure mage.
"Even now," she gripped her shoulders as past memories came back to play in her head, "The feelings of the past haven't completed vanished. The pain he had caused me has never left. My heart was scarred by that man, and I had hated the weakness he had brought me. So, I won't blame you for hating him, or having a grudge against him. In a way, you and I are the same." she looked softly towards the Dragon Slayer with a hint of blush on her face, her eye's tearing up from the memories and emotions in her head, "We both fear being weak, not being able to protect our friends, and we're both dumb enough to try and give up our lives to save them."
In a way, they both were alike. Natsu smiled as he lifted his hands up to Erza's face to wipe away the tears threatening to spill out. Both of them loved their nakama to no end. And they would do almost anything to protect them.
And in those glistening eye's of emotions, the sight gripping his heart painfully, Natsu was finally coming to understand the feeling he was feeling for the scarlet knight. Behind all that armor she had adorned was a scared woman afraid to open her heart up again. Too afraid to show her true emotions again after having them shattered by the one she loved most.
It was still confusing. These emotions that filled his heart to the brim at the sight of Erza. Her strength, her confidence, her experience, her will, her straightforwardness, and her love of the guild. She was the one person he couldn't lose to. Because he wanted to stand on even ground with her. To be able to walk with her as an equal that could protect her, that she could relay on instead of protecting.
"Heh, I guess you're right." Natsu grinned brightly, getting a smile out Erza. "We're both idiots. We really got to learn to stop pushing our selves too much. I mean, who else would take care of the guild if you were gone? And who would keep the guild as Fiore's strongest guild without me? Whether we like it or not the guild needs us. All of us." he laughed softly before sighing as he thought back to Jellal.
"A lot of things happened back in my head, Erza. And they all made me mad. I was consumed with rage, and I didn't like the feeling that was eating away at me. I don't know if I'm able to fully forgive Jellal yet, but I'll try, for you."
The anger, the rage, the hate, was still there. Natsu wasn't going to lie to himself any longer. Even the fear he had felt during the Tower of Paradise was still there too. And those feelings would never go away. Not until he had some closure with the ex-saint. Until then, Natsu wouldn't be afraid to show those emotions any longer. Because it was those emotions that had made him stronger.
A warm sensation wrapped around Erza as she suddenly found herself embraced by the rose haired mage, her eye's closing in content at the warmth she was basked in by his mere touch.
Even if she couldn't admit it out loud, Erza couldn't deny it any longer. She loved him. She loved Natsu Dragneel with all her heart. The only man to of ever stripped her of her armor and to reveal her soul to the world. The one who could burn through all her insecurities with a plain old grin that made her break out into a grin of her own. Who made her feel safe to be herself, despite how stubborn she could be. No man had ever made her feel this way before.
He meant the world to her. Just like she meant the world to him. He had given her a second chance after all, even when she thought she was dead to the world within Etherion. It didn't matter to Natsu that she had been broken down onto a cellular level within magical energy, that wasn't enough for him to just accept the fact that she had died. No, he wouldn't have that. He wouldn't let her give up her own life for him, or anyone else.
Natsu defied logic. Basically cracked its face with a big grin while laughing and dancing in victory. Doing the impossible he had found her in that endless, infinite mass of magical energy and brought her back whole into the living. With nothing but his bare hands and heart.
"I won't run away anymore." Natsu told himself sternly, "I'm going to finish this, today. I'm going to settle what I started with Jellal and move on. Just like you. Because I can't stay anchored to the past, all it would do is take me away from what's in front of me. Like you." he stupidly grinned.
Erza felt her cheeks blush, "Idiot."
"Ah, but that's why I need you. To keep me in line and help me learn from my mistakes."
"Which you never seem to learn from." Erza deadpanned as she looked up at Natsu who looked away in embarrassment. He could of swore she was burning holes through his skull with the stare on her face.
"I can't help it! Learning was never my best subject." Natsu mumbled.
"Learning isn't a subject, it's common knowledge even a Vulcan is capable of using."
"Oi! That's insulting to both me and the Vulcan! No, wait, it's only insulting to me!"
Erza laughed as Natsu huffed in anger, seeing the strict Requip mage laughing so carefree making Natsu smile happily.
He was going to finish this today. So that they all could continue moving forward. He wasn't going to be tied down to those bitter emotions any longer.
Looking out to the window to the side Natsu grinned, ready for what was in store.
"Are you sure about this, Natsu? I mean its only been a day since coming back from the depths of your heart." Makarov said weakly, already knowing that he wouldn't be able to talk Dragon Slayer out of what he was about to do.
Natsu nodded determinedly, sitting lotus style as he stared at the short powerful man in front of him.
"I got to end this, now. If I don't, then I'll only lose more control of my magic." he looked down at his hands, flexing them as flames flickered around the tips, "Last night, I fought Gildarts. With my magic. I didn't notice it till later, but I shouldn't of been able to use my flames with Freed's runes on my body. That can only mean that I didn't really stabilize my magic. I can't get my my magic under control and beat my hatred later." Natsu clutched his fist tightly, the flames dancing around his fingertips flowing away into embers as he stared back at the master sternly.
"I have to do both in one go! No waiting and no running away. Besides," he grinned wolfishly, getting a small smile out of Makarov, "I've got a score to settle with that dark hooded freak with the scythe."
'So, he fought Gildarts. I'm not surprised he's come back to his senses. The boy did always need a good bonk on the head to get that brain of his working.' He wasn't going to hear the end of this from the magic council. Already people were gossiping about the scary beam of light shooting high into the sky and the insane magical pressure surrounding the mess from last night. At least one of his brats learned an important lesson out of it.
Makarov still couldn't help but sigh as he looked around the area. They were back to field Natsu was taken to for his training. And it was a disaster. Thank god they had taken him out deep into Magnolia's forest. If Freed's runs didn't do their magic, then the whole town would be screaming for the hills.
Though Makarov was impressed with how Gajeel, Freed, and Bickslow handled the enraged beast that was Natsu. While they had been injured from the fight, they were alive. Anything in the way of an enraged dragon was always erased from existence. No one walked away from a fight from one of the fabled beasts. Natsu wasn't one, but he was trained to fight them. An enraged Dragon Slayer was just the same as a dragon.
"I understand." The boy needed to finish what he started back in his heart. He was finally back to normal. Natsu would still get angry over the little things, but that was him. "But would you mind telling my why you had insisted that none of our guild mates get involved? While I am confident that I'd be able to keep you under control if you do fall back into your rage, don't you think your friends would want to help, or at least offer some support?"
Natsu shook his head, scratching his head with a laugh, "Nah, I don't want to trouble them with this. Because I'm not going to need anyone keeping me from destroying Magnolia. I'm finishing this. Now. And if do end up fighting, then it's probably going to be with Zeke."
Oh how he couldn't wait to drill that dark smug bastards face in with a Karyu no Tekken.
"That doesn't really answer the question, now does it Natsu?"
Natsu sighed, "Fine. I just don't want them worrying over me. They looked so happy when I woke up this morning my old self that I didn't want to ruin their moods with me having to go back into my heart. Except Gray, that skinny dipping son of a bitch."
"Not to mention that they just got excited over some dumb flier Lucy was handed to by some stranger on the street while she went shopping for some groceries." he grumbled, not noticing the look of curiosity on the master's face.
"A flier?" he asked, rubbing his chin as his interest was peaked.
The Fire Dragon Slayer nodded as he moved to take out a colorful paper, "Yeah, it suppose to be some magical circus carnival that has been traveling around Fiore for a while. The Phantom Parade. It's suppose to stop by Magnolia around this week and anyone with a flier can get a twenty-five percent discount if they bring more then five friends." handing the flier to the master, Natstu scratched his cheek, "Like I said, they were really excited about it. Especially Knightwalker. Turns out she's never been to a carnival, or a circus before."
Makarov studied the flier as he thought back to the recent troubles spreading around the country. He'd never heard of The Phantom Parade before. Were they a new traveling circus? And it looked like they set up carnivals too. The flier was decorated with some circus themed attractions, some of which he'd never seen before. Firework mages? That was definitely a new one. Though it did look like fun.
But something about it all seemed to poke at his senses, telling him other wise. Recently several towns had been attacked by some unknown group of dark mages. And the reports detailing the towns nearly burned to the ground weren't anything to take lightly.
For now though he wouldn't worry about it. It was just a traveling group of clowns and performers. But the second he found something fishy about the group he was taking action. Makarov couldn't afford looking over the simplest detail.
Hopefully his suspicions were wrong, "That sounds nice, Natsu. Your team could use a break like this after all that you've been through. I'm pretty sure the rest of the guild would love to go too." he smiled as he handed back the advertisement.
Natsu nodded with a grin before going back to business, "Once we're done here we can start talking about going. So let's get this over with. Sooner we start, the sooner we can finish."
"Alright Natsu." Makarov chuckled. Requiping Urami into his laid out hand Makarov tossed the blue orb towards Natsu who caught in his hand before laying it onto his lap.
"Once the magic in the orb activates I won't be able to do anything else. It's all up to you what happens next. And just in case something goes wrong," without even noticing that the master had thrown him something Natsu caught the odd crystal pendant flying at him. He frowned in confusion as he looked it over. Seemed like a regular old pendant, only more elegant then others. It was made entirely out of crystal so it did make it unique. A bright sun and a crescent moon was etched onto the pendants surface, the moon reminding Natsu of the odd scythe he'd seen Zeke use.
"You'll have that to back you up." Makarov said as he began to explain, "The item is known as the only key to break an individual free from the power of the magic within Urami. Its history is unknown, but it is said that it ties together with the true heart of the item. And seeing as it worked once I'm sure it will work again."
"Alright Gramp's." pocketing the pendant in his trousers Natsu closed his eye's as he got ready to drop off into his heart once again.
"Hit me."
Makarov closed his eye's, smiling as Natsu expected him to knock him out with a strong hit. The boy didn't need to fall asleep with a hit to activate the spell. The Titan mage had better ways of putting others to sleep.
"A dream is a but a fickle reality, endless and boundless to eternity, a world of true peace and conflict, so slumber into the place that your dreams thrive and arrive," a light tint of golden light enveloped Makarov's hands as he chanted, his left hand stretched out towards Natsu as a clear bubble of magic began to form. Tiny rainbow like lights flickered inside the bubble before the orb grew to the size of a basketball.
"Free fall into the distance, Yumenoshizuku(Dream Drop)."
A snap of his fingers and the see trough bubble flew straight at Natsu, bursting like a real bubble into tiny little lights that danced around his face. Natsu didn't even have time to come up with a thought before his body shut down, falling into a warm slumber and into the darkness.
Calling off his magic Makarov fixed his hat before taking a seat on a nearby tree trunk. Using his requip magic once more the old mage brought out a fresh mug of beer before taking a sip of the refreshing beverage.
"You're all lucky I didn't decide to create more orb from the spell to take you all out. But considering you were all worrying about your friend I'll allow it." he smirked at the five presences hiding out in the bushes close by.
The bushes were silent for a moment before rustling as five heads popped out from hiding.
Erza sighed as she bowed her head in shame.
"I'm sorry, Master. If you must, hit me." she said as she turned her head to be hit.
Smack!
"Ow! I said the master, not you!"
"Oh calm down, Scarlet. That was just a love tap."
"I'll show you a love tap!"
Lucy sighed at the wrestling scarlets as they kicked up a dust cloud during their fighting. Honestly, they acted like twin sisters most of the time.
Moving out of their hiding spot Gray walked over to the master just as the orb in Natsu's lap began to shine. He frowned already knowing what was going on.
"You really think he's ready?" he asked as he sat down next to the short man.
"That is all up to him. I can't decide if he's ready, or not. Like I said, it's all up to him now." Makarov answered as he continued to drink his booze.
Looking back at the slumbering Dragon Slayer, Gray smirked.
"Yeah, guess you're right. But it does help that we brought along Wendy just in case the idiot needs some help."
A strong gust of wind suddenly blew back everyone's hair as the blue orb continued to shine, the odd red marking etched in like designs beginning to crawl up Natsu's skin.
"From here on out, this is Natsu's battle." Makarov said before Natsu's body was coated by wispy white magic like flames.
(Corridor of the Heart)
A sigh left the dark hooded man as the world around him wavered from a land of hated corruption and into a brighter setting then before. No longer was there a dark swamp beneath his feet, but a field of grass in an open forest like area. The site of a big town was visible on the distance and the dark clouds vanished into wisps of fluffy white clouds on a sunny day. A nice riverbank stretched along side him deeper into the land and fish could be seen jumping out of the water.
Dammit. That flame breathing bastard was getting over his hatred. Normally he'd be impressed, but after that dirty trick his pals had played during his failed test he was hoping he'd come back bull rushing it again. Zeke gripped his scythe in anger just thinking back on his little reunion.
"Is their a problem, Zeke-san?"
The hooded man scoffed at his companion next to him, "I'm an entity of Nothing. I don't have problems."
Jellal stared at him for a while before nodding his head and turning towards the clear sky above them.
"Whatever you say." he smirked just as a ball of flames fell from the sky.
The ground shook violently as the fireball crashed into the land with a thunder like roar, kicking up a large dirt cloud that blinded the two mages from what was behind the bellowing smokescreen.
Zeke sighed as he reached for his crescent scythe, "Looks like our guest has arrived."
"Guest? Last time I checked this was my heart!" Flames blew back the dirt cloud, revealing Natsu's grinning face as fire danced around his steaming body.
"What an annoying pest." Zeke grinned darkly before twirling his weapon around, "You know you have a talent of pissing off the wrong type of people. It's going to get you killed one of these days, like today."
"If that was true, then I'd of been dead a long time ago." Moving his over his head, Natsu caught the axle kick to his skull as the image of Jellal blurred to reveal him already on the move.
"Not this time!" Natsu yelled before swinging the azure man into a tree trunk.
Smacking into the bark with a shout, Jellal grunted in pain before his eye's widened seeing Natsu come roaring towards him with a flaming fist. He closed his eye's, ready to take the hit before feeling a gust of hot air blow back his blue locks of hair.
He should have been hit by the flaming strike. Devoured by the dragon flames bathing Natsu's fist. But he wasn't. Why?
Slowly opening his eye's, Jellal noticed Natsu's fist, roaring with flames, stop an inch away from meeting contact with his face. And instead of a look of anger on the fire mage's face, he was greeted with a grin.
"Thought I'd hit ya, didn't ya" Natsu chuckled, getting a silent nod out of Jellal who was too shocked to move.
"Well, I'm not going to." The flames around his fist dispersed, turning into an open hand that confused Jellal.
"What the hell kind of trick is this?" Jellal sneered.
"No trick." Natsu shook his head, "I'm just offering a friend a hand." he grinned.
"Friend?" Jellal laughed cruelly, looking back up at Natsu with disgust, "Why would you call someone like me a friend, or a nakama? You're just like Erza. Naive!" he shouted, moving to blast the Dragon Slayer away with a beam of golden magic.
The golden beam of magic missed, grazing Natsu's side as he stepped to the side, dodging Jellal from planting both his feet into his chest, "Now that's no way to speak to someone, young man." Natsu chided, moving again to dodge a few blows from the fast mage.
"Shut your mouth!" going for another spell to blow the annoying pink head away Jellal was suddenly stopped by Natsu who had gotten behind him to trip over his legs. He fell flat on his back, quickly jumping back up before a hard fist to his left side of his face sent him flying off his feet into the bark of another tree.
Wiping off the small trickle of blood from his mouth, Jellal weakly sneered back at Natsu, "What the hell's your problem? Didn't you hate me before? From what I remember you tried to kill me on the few occasions that we met!"
Hell back at the Tower of Heaven Natsu had, in a way, killed him. Beating him till he couldn't even lift a finger to escape the eruption of Etherion made it so that he wouldn't be able to escape. Whether he intended it, or not, Natsu had sealed Jellal's fate to die in the fall of the tower. Then there was the Oracion Seis incident. The look in the Dragon Slayers eye's was of pure hatred when he had seen him while he was in the middle of fighting Master Zero. Natsu would of scorched him into fine black dust if he had the chance then.
At the ex-holy saint's words Natsu's expression changed. He looked back stoicly at Jellal, his face unreadable before he decided to talk.
"To tell you the truth, I don't know what to say." Natsu said as he sighed. Just because he had come to terms with his hate, and had come with a way to end this test the right way, didn't mean he had truly gotten over all that had happened in the past.
"I can't say I hate you. I want to, believe me I do." he growled with a hint of anger, "It make it so easier to just hate you. Then I could just crush your skull with the bottom of my foot before reducing you into a burning corpse. But," he said weakly, moving his hands around as if to convey something, frowning when he couldn't come up with anything, "I can't. Not anymore. Because then I'd be hating the man Erza hopes to see one day." he smiled sadly.
Jellal scoffed, but if you could look into his eye, you could the pain those words had caused him.
"You can't kill me because of that woman? How pathetic." he laughed with no real humor, "Do you not understand? I'm the man who had fired off Etherion, a weapon of heaven, to resurrect the dark mage, Zeref, to control this world to my own image. I've caused the deaths of many, and I've spread fear into peoples hearts. Erza should know. She was after all the one I had betrayed and nearly killed." he said in a haunted tone.
Natsu shook his head at that, his face shadowed from the memories rising back up, "You were possessed by some false ghost of Zeref. You had no control of what the hell you were doing at the time."
"So you forgive me?" Jellal said in utter confusion.
A barely restrained look of utter rage and fury was Natsu's answer as flames flowed from his body in response to his burning emotions.
"I never said that. Because I can never bring myself to forgive you for the tears that escaped Erza's eye's that day. Nothing can erase the sadness and fear I had seen close up. For the rest of my life I don't think I'll come to forget what you had done to her, despite the fact you might one day come to terms with the past."
It was true. Nothing could erase the memories of the day he had almost lost someone near and dear to his heart. Natsu didn't feel bad about it though. He had taken on the sins of his nakama before, it wouldn't matter if he added his own sin to the list.
The true sin, after all, was averting your eye's from it. He would admit to the whole world of it. He didn't give an honest shit who frowned about it. Though no one would as it could be seen as justifiable after all that had happened.
Jellal was even more confused, "Then what? Or is this your own twisted way of getting back at me?" he glowered.
Again Natsu shook his head, "At the same time, I won't forget what you did for me while I was fighting Zero. I don't know if I would of gone out of that fight in one piece if you didn't give me your flames to achieve Dragon Force. You even took a blow mean for me. That's enough to consider you my nakama. Not because of Erza, but because I had seen the true Jellal Fernandez. The one she loved." he smiled.
"That's why I won't fight you anymore. I refuse to fight a fellow friend. And I won't rid of my hate with more violence." Natsu grinned, calling off the roaring flames bathing his body before once more extending a hand to the downed mage.
Instead of the scornful laughter he was expecting or another insult thrown at him, Natsu was surprised that instead a small smile made its way to Jellal's face.
"I wasn't expecting that. I was hoping for it, but I didn't expect you to find out that the only way to truly pass this part was to lay down your fist. After all, you do rush into things without asking questions." Jellal smirked without any malice or ill feelings.
Natsu shrugged without any care, "Why ask questions when you can usually resolve everything with a good punch in the face." though not everything had a face which made it sorta hard.
Jellal chuckled in amusement before Natsu noticed something odd.
"What the hell's going on?" he frowned in confusion, seeing wisps of light waver from Jellal's body.
So it was time, "Don't worry, the spell that was used to bring me here is finally fading away now. Look," Jellal gestured around him. The dark world that once existed was gone, no trace of it ever existing to be seen. Just a nice open field with a clear view of Magnolia town and a stream with plenty of fish.
"My part in this is done. You were never meant to fight me, just come to terms with your hatred without losing yourself to darkness. And you did a great job. On your second try."
"What's that suppose to mean?" Natsu said with half lidded eye's.
"Nothing." the azure man laughed before feeling his body really begin to fade away. Noticing Natsu had yet to drop his extended hand Jellal smiled, shaking the hand of the person Erza had chosen to believe in.
"Take care of Erza, will you? I will no longer be able to watch over her where I'm going. But I feel relief in knowing that you'll be able to do more then I ever could." he said sincerely.
"Sure, I would of done it without you asking me anyways." Natsu grinned as he could see Jellal about to disappear completely. His body became see through gold as golden wisps floated from his body.
"I'll be sure to take good care of Erza till you get out. Till then, take care."
Jellal mentally frowned, ready to open his mouth and remind the rose haired man that he wasn't going to ever be released for his crimes, that he was to be executed, but crushed the thought and decided against it. He would rather part ways without anything to resolve.
"Yeah." Jellal nodded happily with a grin, his eye's closed to hide the pain he felt that he would never see either of them again. His body in the heart of Natsu finally gave away, bursting into tiny little lights that floated up into the heavens, back where they came before leaving with a parting final good-bye.
"I hope to see you and Erza one day, not too soon though, on the other side if kami permits me. Good-bye, Natsu."
'It's over. Finally.' Natsu could feel it. His heart felt lighter now. The hate was gone, but not forgotten. Through it all he had overcome the darkness in his own heart and banished it without fighting this time. Natsu closed his eye's in a moment of peace as the wind in his world breezed past him.
Things could return to normal again. He could finally relax without fearing of losing control of his flames. His heart was at peace again and that meant he could be himself again. Everything was at peace at last.
So why did the sirens in his scream at him to move. Now.
A bell like screech warned Natsu to move his ass out of the way as he shot out of the way of a mile long black-blue tearing blade from above him. The ground was torn apart, creating a deep fissure from the falling blade where Natsu once stood, smoke bellowing from the newly created split earth.
"Oops, did I do that?" floating above the now alert Natsu, Zeke spoke dully down as he held his crescent scythe at an angle that said he had just swung at him.
"What the hell's your problem!?" Natsu shouted up angrily with a tick mark on his head, shaking his fist madly at the hooded man, "Aren't we done here? You said that I was suppose to learn to control my anger, to get over my hate! I did that and it looks like I did what you wanted me to do! So why the hell are you attacking me!"
"You are right. You were suppose to get over your little confrontation with Jellal without fighting, and you did that rather well for your second chance. I should congratulate you." leveling his blade at a suitable angle a blue hue gathered on the unique sickle before a lunar crescent was fired off from Zeke's reaping weapon.
"Congratulations! You not only passed, but you've also seemed to of done the unthinkable! You've pissed me off!"
Again Natsu moved to dodge the blade of magic, only to freeze. What the hell? Why wasn't his body listening to him? There was fucking blade coming after his head and he couldn't move!?
Zeke darkly smirked.
"Die. Koryo Shunkan(Bleak Moment)."
Natsu's vision went dark as if he was swallowed up in a world that only showed white outlines in pitch black. A spell! No wonder he was feeling as if some crazy pressure was pushing down on him. His body shook as everything went by in slow speeds, watching with sweat beading down his neck as the crescent blade was slowly coming to cut through his neck.
Was this really it? Hell no! There was no fucking way he was going to die like that! Not after getting over his hate! No way in hell. He had to go back to the others.
There was no way he was going to die!
A plume of dirt rose up from where Zeke's attack struck, shaking the earth below him as he grinned, knowing he hit his mark.
Yes, he was pissed. And that was something he couldn't let the pink haired fool get away with. He was a being of nothing. Nothing felt nothing. He wasn't suppose to feel a damn thing. But then comes this fire breathing bastard and he managed to tick him off with bringing in that bitch Eileen. Just like her, that boy angered him for other reasons.
Light? A guild bathed in nothing in light? What crap! Did those mages not understand that you couldn't have one? You needed both light and dark to come to a perfect world. Yet they selfishly took in the light and frowned upon the dark? What fucking bullshit!
Naive. That is what they were all. Thinking they could get rid of the darkness and reach peace. Lies. They would only reach a bleak and boring reality that no mad man would want.
With the end of this boy, the people on the outside would feel pain and sorrow. And they would grow from that pain. The outcome good or bad he didn't care. But they would grow and eventually become better humans in the end.
The rising of the temperature suddenly snapped Zeke out of his own thoughts as he looked down in shock, flames banishing the dirt cloud kicked up by his attack to reveal the flaring Dragon boy looking back up with a wolfish grin plastered on his face. A snarl made its way to his face before he lost control of his emotions.
"You little shit! You don't know when to just lay down and die, do you!"
Blood dripped down from the side of Natsu's head as he had taken the softened end of the blade after using his Karyu no Koen to cushion him from the spell. Wasn't the best idea, but hey, he was alive.
Rolling his shoulders around Natsu smirked as he punched his fist into his open palm, "I was hoping to kick your ass around for a bit. At least I got some emotions out of you. Better then fighting a bleak bastard. That just isn't fun."
Provoking an entity that had control of the everything around you like a god? Not a good idea.
A heavy pressure drowned Natsu and the world inside his heart as Zeke began to float down, his body wavering with eerie black-white and gray magic like smoke, his eye's void of any emotion from before.
Natsu could of sworn his entire world was being crushed by the pressure. He nearly fell on one knee from the power radiating off Zeke. He wasn't playing around anymore. He was going full out.
"I was once a sage of the world in my days, spreading love and peace to the world. Funny, with all this power I'm sure I could of changed the world into accepting my ideals. But it came at a cost. I lost my emotions for the greater good of the world I loved. And now you and that, girl, have pissed me off. I can't accept that. I'm going to break you."
One step. One step of Zeke's foot and the world vanished. No breaking apart, no sign that the world was replaced, no way of seeing how it had happened, but Natsu's world changed into nothing. A world with the earth being a mirror like clear and rippled like water with every step. Black rectangular columns rose up from the world with no resistance despite the floor being solid, rising up to the empty gray like sky only for more to rise from the ground. White cubes floated around the air with no real purpose other then to be there.
This was all created by Zeke simply landing down to touch the ground. His presence twisting everything into nothing. He pulled back his hood to reveal that his eye's had changed from there brown iris to a dull white and the white of his eye's pitch black.
"Fuck the test," Zeke said as his body began to change, multiple skeletal like zippers popping out all over his coat to laugh darkly as he glared at Natsu with nothing in his eye's, "I just want you dead."
Spiked gloves replaced his regular gloves with a zipper grinning madly in sick joy, his scythe vanishing into ribbons of black and white. His hair became shaggy and a small streak of white ran down his bangs. Even more zippers showed themselves as they could be seen on his pants and shoes. All of them laughing darkly like mouths to a dark melody.
"Let us start." Zeke blankly said, pointing his open palm towards Natsu, his gloved palm showing the grinning zipper teeth that giggled, "Chuku Kyoi: Pretas Shin'en(Hollow Wonder: Pretas Abyss)!"
A long, giant withering gray mouth like appendage shot out from the zipper's mouth, something that Natsu would only see in some twisted dream, its teeth black and chipped yet sharp like black thorns.
No way was he going to wait to see what it could do. Natsu turned his back from the mouth flushing out of Zeke's palm to run from it. His back away from the monster mouth, Natsu began dodging it as it chased him around to devour him whole. It twisted and turned, snaked around like an actual snake, and growled in hunger like it had never eaten before.
Jumping over a black column rising in front of him, Natsu gazed behind his shoulder only to stare in horror how the thing had screamed in sick joy swallowing the none living thing in one bite. It even whined in sadness noticing it wasn't living and there was a lack of blood dripping down its mouth.
What the hell kind of spell was that?
"You ever hear the stories in Eastern religions in Earthland, like Buddhism, that talked about Pretas? Sad creatures really. Punished for their sins, they can only eat human waste. And they can't quench their hunger or thirst. But give them a big mouth and they'll gladly eat anything, usually humans like yourself." Zeke explained as he watched his monster coming out of his hand chase after Natsu, "You can't out run it. It'll chase you till either you're dead, or it's dead."
"Fine then!" Natsu shouted, gathering flames into his hands before skidding to a stop. He watched as the mouth like thing came rushing towards him, its mouth open wide with its tongue flapping, saliva flying out in sorry hunger.
Like hell he was going to be eaten by some nightmare out of a child's dream. Flames spouting from his right elbow Natsu greeted the Preta mouth head on as it tried to chomp him whole only to clash its large teeth with Natsu's blazing fist.
"Karyu no Kiba Esayari(Fire Dragon's Feeding Fang)!"
Bright flames lite up the fingertips of Natsu's left hand before he jabbed them deep into what he guessed was the forehead of the thing, clawing the flamed hand viciously as he fought it off with his right fist colliding with its teeth. It began to whine in pain before its body began stretching out from Zeke's outstretched hand began to blow up like a balloon. Embers and smoke escaped the cracked gaps of its teeth before it had inflated to the point its body stretched till it couldn't take it any longer.
The mouth in Zeke's palm clicked its teeth before biting down on its teeth, chomping off its connection to the disgusting creature before it exploded. A flood of fire rushed at both mages causing Zeke to jump onto one of the floating cubes around him for safety.
Natsu was safe though as he took it to his advantage to come out flying from the sea of fire and go shooting off towards Zeke like a flaming missile.
Zeke could see the flaming spear head tackle aimed for him, jumping over the Natsu as the zippers on his back coat opened their mouths wide open, "Chuku Kyoi: Akateko no Eda(Hollow Wonder: Branches of Akateko)!"
More then two dozen of red hands reached out from the zippers to grab onto the passing Dragon Slayer, catching him within their grip before slamming him down from over Zeke's head into a floating cube.
Natsu broke through the box to land on his back, crumbling it as he gasped in pain from the fall. His eye's widened, suddenly seeing the Nothing mage come dropping down at him with cruel looking blades of all types growing from those damned zippers.
Natsu rolled over the impaling weapons, sweating before aiming a kick to Zeke's body. His weapons were still coming out of his magic mouths and it looked like he was stuck with the blades stabbing into the ground.
A flame kick later and Zeke was sent flying up, breaking through a rising column before coming to a stop.
"Chuku Kyoi: Shuryo Akki(Hollow Wonder: Hunting Ghouls)!"
Natsu grit his teeth seeing as dozens and dozens of demon like spirits rained down to him. All those pockets really had some nasty surprises to them. Demons? Seriously?
He'd hate to do it, but it looked like Natsu was going to have to use some of his Mesturyu Ogi's to fight off against Zeke.
Thank god his magic couldn't be drained here. He would have been screwed.
Flaring up his body Natsu began to rapidly spin in place till he resembled nothing more then a drill made out of flames, "Mesturyu Ogi: Guren Rasenkenkaku(Fire Dragon's Secret Art: Crimson Lotus, Spiraling Sword Horn)!"
Flying off in a mad rotation Natsu began to decimate all the scary ghouls in the air, blowing them all up like fireworks in the sky. He looped around them, piercing through as much as he could before taking it up a notch. He disappeared from sight, blurring in incredible speeds as he blinked in and out to destroy the spirits in the gray sky of nothing.
Zeke tsked, moving to the side as Natsu came drilling after him. He grazed his side with a gash already closed up from the flames of the tip. Stopping amid rotation Natsu swung his fist while still air borne at Zeke as he inspected his wound. The black haired entity raised up his arm to block the fist only to grit his teeth from the force put behind the blow. His hair was blown back from the fist before he raised up his knee to jab the Dragon Slayer in the gut as a black spike made of nothing sprouted from his knee cap. Natsu jumped back from the deadly knee stab, moving to fire a barrage of flame fists at the man.
Zeke moved his arms in sync with Natsu as he blocked the incoming blazing punches. They attacked each other in blinding speeds, their sounds of their blows connecting with one another filling the silent world around them.
Blood flew in between the blow from Zeke's spiked gloves cutting into Natsu's unprotected hands. Though bits of Zeke's gloves were being burned by the intensity of the rose hair's strong blaze, leaving red blisters.
Natsu aimed a swinging kick to Zeke's skull only to be blocked by a raised elbow. Caught in the act he puffed his cheeks with flames before blowing a stream of flames into Zeke's face. Raising his left arm up as his right was busy with blocking Natsu's leg the zippers on Zeke's arm opened up to suck in all the flames aimed towards him. The pockets burped small embers as they canceled the spell getting Natsu to growl before grinning.
"Karyu no Koen(Fire Dragon's Brilliant Flame)!" Clapping his two blazing hands together Natsu sent Zeke falling a smoking mess from the large explosive flame created by the joining of his hands that bathed them both in dragon flames.
Tricky little bastard. Zeke sighed touching the burns on the side of his face and the ones his arm. With no emotions though he couldn't feel a thing. It still irked him that the Dragon Slayer could damage him while he was in this state.
Chains erupted out of the right arms zippers like biting snakes, shooting after the dodging fire mage. They missed, piercing through a couple of columns before Zeke began to swing them all around like whips. They slashed and crumbled all the the things that came int their way as Natsu jumped over them, flying back from them with some flames to push him back as they swung like deadly jump ropes to crush him.
Zeke swung them high in the air, conjoining them them to form a giant thick trunk of steel, before dropping the heavy chains down to earth to squash Natsu into a bloody smear with their heavy weight. Of course Natsu never made it easy to hit. Moving to the side as the chains fell to shake the world around them Natsu took it as a chance to jump on the steel branches and run up to land a right hook of flames on their owner. More chains exited out from the grinning zippers to try to stab trough the pink head only for him move around them, sidestepping, dodging, and looping through them in their crazed pursuit.
The man of nothing sighed, cutting of the connection to his steel chains as they fell with a crashing thud before moving his left hand out. The zipper on his palm opened its mouth just as Natsu jumped up from his fallen chains to try and land a hit to his face.
"Chuku Kyoi: Dahag no Tsumi(Hollow Wonder: Sins of Dahag)!"
A dark purple orb of magic manifested from the gaping mouth just as the serpentine heads of three snake like monster with long necks sprung from three zippers on his sleeve. The formed a pentagon formation around the orb of magic before hissing as they fired a combined beam of blood red magic mixed in with the orb.
The result was drowning Natsu in the large beam that devoured his body as he was shot away. The spell burned his skin like acid, patches of skin were torn, and he could of sworn that if it weren't for his dragon like body that he would have been obliterated in the wake of the attack.
He fell on his back smoking from the deadly spell, coughing out in pain as blood trickled down from his wounds, nearly falling down on a knee in pain. Natsu struggled to keep his eye's wide open as he stared down the motionless black haired mage who looked at him with no emotions, just blankness.
All those spells they were insane. And he was probably just warming up. If he got serious Natsu could only wince as the damage he had already taken so far would be nothing to what Zeke could do.
"Pathetic."
"Wha-" Natsu gasped in sharp pain as a split second Zeke had planted his face into the ground, cracking it as blood stained the dull white earth. Zeke gripped his hands roughly into Natsu's skull, grinding his face into the ground without batting an eye at his ruthless methods.
Blow after blow followed next as Zeke began pulverizing the fire mage in his grasp, the echo of his hard, spike knuckled fists pounding away at the weak body filling the void around them as he was stained with splats of blood.
"Is this all you're capable of? To think you had the audacity to be able to rise some emotions out of me. A weak man like yourself? This is the power you protect your nakama, your family with? Utterly pathetic."
Natsu dry heaved as blood spurted out his clenched teeth. The ground cracked in webs with every blow drilled into his body, rocking his body with pain he desperately tried to fight off.
This guy was pissing him off with every second that he opened his damned mouth. It was like he was being beaten up by some kind of machine. Every word leaving his mouth was completely emotionless. He almost sounded bored with pummeling him within an inch of his life!
'D-Dammit! I have to move! The more I let this monster hit me, the more time I'm wasting in this place. I have to get up. I have to muster up enough power to throw him off in one go!' flames crawled over his bruised and cut up form, making Zeke pause for a moment before moving to continue his punishment of the Dragon Slayer.
Big mistake. An eruption of concentrated fire blew up from within Natsu, consuming the Nothing mage in a pillar of hellish flames that ate away at parts of his cloak. He was too close to escape the sudden eruption of fire magic as Zeke suffered the scorching consequences.
Flying out of the pillar that continued to roar Zeke flinched, the only indication that he had felt the pain of having the left part of his face burnt badly and having his left arm dangle at his side a black mess of heavy burns.
"It's not enough." Zeke said boredly, raising his heavily burned arm that dangled limply before a silver chains wrapped around the useless limb. They tightened as a few of the chains connected to the mouths around his left shoulder, acting like pulley strings that seemed to move the arm around to his will, "That power. It won't last long against stronger enemies such as myself. But what do I care? I just want you dead."
Calling off the flames that sealed off the wounds on his body Natsu glared back at the floating man, out of breath as stood back up.
"H-How were you e-ever considered a sage?" Natsu said tiredly as he panted, "All you see is black and white! That's no way anyone should see the world! There is more to life then the good and bad! Hasn't anyone ever taught you that!?"
"Be quite." creating some odd crystal like gray blades around himself Zeke began to fire them off in rapid succession as Natsu tried to weave through the gun fire of swords, "You sound just like Eileen. Maybe that's why you seem to piss me off so much? Just looking at you brings back some rather unwanted memories."
Natsu sweated through the gun fire. If only he had some flames. After an assault like that he could use some flames in his belly. If only to rejuvenate himself. Dammit, why couldn't the bastard throw around a fire spell to fill him back up?
"What's wrong with seeing the world in black and white? After all that's all there is. It's naïve idiots such as yourself and your guild that cause just as much conflict in the world as the dark mages you fight. Endless conflict. What a sad world." Zeke shook his head.
"Sad!?" Okay, now he was really getting pissed.
Using a quick Karyu no Yokugeki to blow away the streaming blades Natsu jumped off after Zeke using his flames as boosters to deliver a devastating flaming fist to his bland face.
"Karyu no Tekken(Fire Dragon's Iron Fist)!"
Zeke instantly moved his hand to catch the fist, ignoring the explosion followed up with the punch as he was bathed in dragon flames. Lightly smoking after the flames died down Zeke looked into Natsu's burning eye's with his own filled with nothing.
"The world I live in isn't sad! It's filled with love and joy! At least my own world isn't. And I won't stand by as you insult my world or the world of anybody else!" the pink haired fire mage roared as Zeke sighed.
"And what about everyone else? What about their world? You may not understand, but everything you do comes at a consequence. By doing something you believe is good for the sake of your loved ones, you're affecting the the life of another in negative way. Think about it." Zeke urged as Natsu moved back his fist to try kick to his kidneys.
"Pain and sorrow makes us grow into decent human beings. By taking away the death of another you're allowing another person to grow ignorant." he continued, moving around as he blocked every move Natsu made to knock his block off, "Didn't someone you loved die at one point? That Lissana girl, was it? You were in pain, and you felt unbearable sorrow from her death, but you overcame it and grew stronger from it. Except you truly didn't grow. You continue to live in the light, turning your back from the dark side of you that you refuse to accept. That is why you fail." sprouting a fine black cutlass blade out from his palms zipper Zeke slashed deep line into the Dragon Slayer's chest, kicking him back with a hard foot to his bloody chest, and swiping his right hand at the fallen mage as tiny little black balls with Halloween mouths and eye's flew out his grinning zippers.
"Chuku Kyoi: Roki no Itazura(Hollow Wonder: Loki's Mischief)."
Watching by as the bombs blew up in skull grinning smoke and lightning Zeke raised up his chain wrapped hand into the air above his head as little black, white, and gray dots gathered to form a heavy mass to end the fight, "It's time to end this. Talking to you is like talking to a rock. At least rocks will listen though. I wonder though, what will the last thing you see be? Your life flashing before your eye's, or your weakness to protect your friends with your own power?"
"Now begone, Fujun'na Sekai(Impure World)!" black sparks crawled around the silver-black mass as it grew to triple the size of the shaggy haired man as he heaved it high above his head.
There was no surviving this spell. It would erase the Dragon Slayer from this world, leaving his body an empty husk on the the outside, the effects of his empty body turning his body into a stone statue as an example of what happened when you couldn't handle the truth. Natsu would be wiped out of existence and that would be the end of it.
Heaving the bomb of dense nothing into the bellowing smoke with ease Zeke turned and walked away as a second later a harsh bellowing gust of wind violently ruffled his clothes from behind, a dome of black-silver consuming everything in sight. He blinked away from the scene to stand levitating over the destruction like some omniscient god watching over his devastation as the dome continued to grow and consume a mile wide radius in its wake.
It was over. He closed his eye's and waited till the spell died down before disappearing from the world inside the dead boy's heart. After all, nothing could match the power of nothing. There was no chance of survival this time.
"Kibo o Choetsu(Transcending Hope)!"
Zeke's eye's snapped wide open in alarm, 'Impossible!'
A pillar of bright golden light pierced through the center of the dome of dense magic, crackling with the most unbelievable sparks of pure holy light. It shed away the nothing wiping out everything in site, eating away at it as it purified the world of utter nothing into its original origin. Zeke shielded his face of the light as a storm nearly blew him away.
How in the seven hells did they bring her back!? Someone on the outside had to wait a few minutes to activate the spell, not to mention that they couldn't of known he was in danger. Natsu wasn't even losing control of his magic on the outside, so how they hell did she come to his aid!?
The world within Natsu's heart was returned to normal. The peaceful forest with a hillside meadow looking over Magnolia and a stream of jumping fish. And standing in the middle of the world was a woman with light golden hair kneeling in front of the shocked, bloody Dragon Slayer, a pillar of erupting light shooting skyward from underneath their feet.
"I won't let you erase this light from the world!" calling of the spell protecting them, Eileen looked up at the entity of nothing with stern eye's, "And I'm not going to let you continue down this twisted path of apathy and nothing any longer!" she yelled loudly.
Zeke scoffed, "Eileen. You're still jumping into others business when it does not concern you. Grow up." raining down a barrage of gray smoking blades with a swipe of his hand Zeke continued to look down at the golden haired beauty with an unmoving expression.
Eileen blew away the blades with a swing of the two rapiers in the scabbards of hanging near her hips, the single double swipes tearing a line of air pressure to slash at her childhood friend. He blinked away, reappearing with dozens of red hands made of ancient wood popping out the zippers of his right hand behind the two mages.
"Chuku Kyoi: Akateko no Eda, Akuma Yari(Hollow Wonder: Branches of Akateko, Devil's Spear)!" twisting tightly together the red arms formed a giant drill like spear and aimed straight through their turned backs and into their hearts. Eileen flinched, unprepared for the speed of the attack as she clenched her eye's for the pain. The sound of an explosion caught her attention as she opened her eye's to see the pink haired man she was protecting drilling his own fist into the spear of arms.
"I'm not done with you yet!" Natsu said before roaring in effort to push back the mage of nothing. Flames burst forth from his adding more power to push back the spear of arms before the wooden branches started snapping. They cracked, shattering into red splinters that showered Zeke, blinding him from the oncoming blazing right fist of Natsu that sent him spiraling into the forests ablaze.
His arm now limp and bleeding as it hung by his side a bruised mess of broken skin, Natsu turned his head back to the girl that had saved him with a cheery grin that surprised her to no end.
"Thanks for the save back there." he said gratefully, scratching his head in embarrassment, "I would have been a goner if it wasn't for you, whoever you are." Natsu smiled sheepishly.
It took a minute before Eileen snapped out of it, smiling back at the Dragon Slayer pleasantly as she sheathed her swords.
"Don't thank me, you were the one had just saved me just now. And my name is Eileen." she introduced herself with a bright smile before it disappeared. Her eye's moved to woods just as an output of gray magic flooded out of the trees.
"He's still moving?" moving her eye's back to the Dragon Slayer, Eileen was surprised to see Natsu struggled to stand still, his body trembling from all the pain that was coursing through his veins.
"Dammit! I don't know how long I can keep this up! I can't even you my right arm anymore." falling on his knee, Natsu looked up at Eileen with heavy eye's, "Do you think you can help me out a bit? I can't keep fighting by myself like this."
Eileen sadly shook her head, "The last of my magic within the pendant has begun to fade away. The first time I was summoned took a lot of my stored energy away while I was fighting Zeke. The last spell took nearly everything I had left. I'm sorry, but I would only be a burden to you in the state Zeke is at now."
Natsu punched the ground in anger, not at Eileen, but at himself. So, that was it? Even though he could spam out his strongest spells in his world he couldn't heal the wounds and the exhaustion of the fight. He couldn't even use of his own damn arms anymore.
But he wouldn't quite either. Standing back up with trembling legs Natsu forced himself to ignore all the pain he was feeling.
His nakama were waiting for him on the other side. Cheering him on. They wouldn't stop believing he could make it out of this alive. Their hope for him was just as bright as the flames he fought with.
'I won't lose. I'm going to put everything I have in this fight. Because their all waiting. And I can't betray the trust they have in me. Even if this body falls, I'll just push it back up. Because my friends are waiting!'
"That's. . . a remarkable spark you have there."
"Huh?" Natsu turned back to the golden haired women smiling beautifully in the light of his flames bathing his body.
She nodded her head with a feint blush, "That power. That strength. And that heart. It's so. . . bright." she grinned warmly, closing her eye's in the presence of the power Natsu radiated with his flames.
"It almost reminds me of. . .him. Before he was consumed by his magic." she said sadly before moving to place her hand gently against Natsu's chest where his heart laid. She opened her eye's to Dragon Slayer's shocked face, the fact she wasn't hurt by his raging inferno surprising him as she hummed softly in amusement.
"My flames, there not-"
"Burning me?" she said with a giggle as he nodded.
"How?" Natsu couldn't believe it. His flames did nothing but burn anyone who got close. How was she not a grilled corpse?
"You're magic can do more then erase your enemies from existence. Just like Zeke's. All you have to do is learn to control them to follow your heart." the trees from the forest withered and died, an unseen force suddenly uprooting them from their roots to send them all flying away in the wake of another wave of nothing, revealing a frowning Zeke with an aura of silver-black crumbling the earth to dust.
"Was that all?" Zeke scoffed, wiping his left cheek of the blood running down his face as a bruise began to form.
"Just give up. You're all alone in here. There is no one to save you anymore. Accept your death peacefully." the grinning zippers giggled madly as he glared at the two eyesores, black mist seeping out from their mouths eerily.
"But he's not alone." Eileen said firmly with a smile, snapping her fingers as a second later a an enormous fireball of see through emerald flames appeared above Natsu's head.
Natsu looked up at the emerald ball of flames in confusion till they snapped open in shock.
Images were playing within the fireball. They were his memories. Every last one of them. He could see every memory within the orb playing before him, making him relive the moments in life where he had fought for his nakama. And the moments he had never seen before or even had.
They were just as worried about him as he was of them. Natsu bit his lip holding back the tears. He never meant to worry anyone. He wanted to shoulder all their problems on his shoulders so they wouldn't have to fear anything. But all this time, he was hurting them by doing everything by himself.
They were his nakama. And he was always doing whatever he could to protect the only family he had in this world. But the more Natsu risked his life for theirs, the more pain he brought them.
"She's right." Natsu smiled with goofy smile as his face was shadowed by his hair. He raised up his beaten arms above his head to reach the mass of emerald flames filled with his memories before staring back at Zeke with burning eye's of fiery intensity.
"They'll always be there. But I won't always be there for them. Not if I don't stop risking my life like an idiot. It's time I stop rushing in to things so blindly. I won't always be able to control myself, my emotions always get the better of me, but this time, when I go off into another battle that has a chance of killing me, I won't forget that my life's not just my own. It's there's!"
Zeke scowled, readying his magic to send more nightmares to finish the boy off.
"Let me show you, the power of my nakama and the light that Fairy Tail bathes in!" doing the unthinkable Natsu inhaled deeply, sucking in the fireball quadruple his size into his empty belly as it ballooned comically.
But Zeke new better. After all, this was the power he had rightfully attained before pissing off Zeke.
Moving in to stop the pink haired mage Zeke found himself stopped by Eileen locking her swords with his blade emerging from his palm.
"No!" Zeke shouted in anger, trying to move past his former friend and love to stop Natsu.
But it was too late.
Breathing in all the emerald flames till there was nothing left to float above him, Natsu gulped as he began to feel his body overflow with power. Blue colored flames arose from his body to engulf him in a new type of flames he had never felt before. They grew in height, taking over him in an inferno of dark blue flames that turned everything around him into ash.
Natsu could feel it. The change in power he was waiting for. The power to protect his nakama without risking his life for them. The power of a dragon.
A moment later the flames settled back to their original red-orange color, parting ways to reveal Natsu walking out of the inferno with his wounds healed and a confident grin glued to his face.
Eileen smiled happily, her body glowing with magic till she began to fade away in front of Zeke, "My work here is done." she sighed, looking back at Zeke one final time with a heart warming smile.
"Do the right thing, Zeke-kun."
Watching Eileen's body fade away, Zeke scoffed to the side before staring off at the healed fire mage with a thin line on his lips.
"Hmph, do you really think that will stop me? I control Nothing. I can't be beat by some little embers." his sighed boredly.
Natsu smirked, the flames over his body moving to clad him head to toe in fire.
"Don't underestimate the power of my nakama."
Rushing forward Natsu's flame body morphed into charging flames in the shape of a dragon's head opening its mouth to devour its prey.
"Shinkaryu no Ago Funsai(True Fire Dragon's Crushing Jaw)!"
Zeke sidestepped the out of control streak of flames, finding it useless to attack him in a such a sloppy rush only to click his teeth seeing the flaming dragon head make a u-turn and come back for another try. The dragon head roared shooting off like a bullet, too fast for Zeke to make a move, and rammed deep into his stomach. It's jaws bit into Zeke's sides, drawing blood before the flames dispersed, leaving Natsu with his right hand's claws digging into his gut.
The Nothing mage growled, digging his elbow into the side of the Dragon Slayers head before kicking him away with his boot.
Zeke quickly shot his hand forward while he had the chance, "Chuku Kyoi: Pretas Shin'en(Hollow Wonder: Pretas Abyss)!"
Landing back on his feet Zeke held his sides gingerly as blood seeped through his fingers as he cut loose his Preta to go wild on Natsu's ass.
"Not going to work this time." Natsu cackled like a happy idiot before moving his hands forward as little visible scales could be seen on his fingers, "Shinkaryu no Tanzo Tsume(True Fire Dragon's Forging Claw)!"
An audible click could be heard as his hands became covered in blood red scales, turning his hands to that of a dragon. His fingers grew black claws that grew large till they fused together to form an odd sword like claw from his fingertips.
Natsu wolfishly grinned watching the Preta come charging faster towards him, the blade growing on his fingertips beginning to heat up with smoke as it glowed a heated orange.
Quickly sidestepping the monster, Natsu swung his blade to the side of the thing before running through it as it continued to rush by him. The monster didn't turn, leaving it to suffer as it was sliced by a heated blade to the end of its tail.
Already knowing he had killed it by slicing it like meat till it was cut in half diagonally, Natsu went straight for Zeke who had decided to bring out a sword of his own in the form of a black bastard sword.
The two mages clashed blades, sending sparks flying off their heated collision. They quickly broke away from each other before wildly swinging their swords at each other without any proper form behind their strikes. Natsu never really fought with swords and Zeke was more use to using a scythe. But they didn't need much skill to hack each other to pieces.
Calling of their respected blades the two went straight back to using spells, aiming their fists clad in their magic to blast through their chests.
Their fists collided, sending a shock wave to ripple around them before landing their free fists into both their faces. They flew back with bloody lips, growling before rushing back once again.
Focusing the flames to his right shoulder, Natsu rammed straight into Zeke's chest with a quick burst of speed, "Shinkaryu no Basuto Eikyo(True Fire Dragon's Burst Impact)!"
Without piercing through his skin, flames shot out of Zeke's back, blowing up the back of his cloak, a bloody burnt patch of skin smoking in the wake of the spell. Gasping for air, Zeke shook off the pain before chains burst out from his zippers to whip Natsu.
"Don't fuck with me!" Zeke shouted in anger, losing his cool as he tried to slash at Natsu with his chains, "How do you know those new spells already!? You just go those new powers and already you're firing off spells you've never attempted before!"
"It's because I got these spells memorized from my time as a dragon!" Natsu shouted back as he dodged the chains, weaving through them to come close enough to Zeke and aim a right kick to his head.
Caught off guard Zeke spat blood as he staggered back before growing a dozen red arms from each side of his body from his zippers and unleashing a barrage of scarlet glowing fists.
"Chuku Kyoi: Akateko no Eda, Kami no Kajitsu(Hollow Wonder: Branches of Akateko, God's Fruit)!"
"Guren, Karyu no Ken(Crimson Lotus, Fire Dragon's Fist)!"
A barrage of gun fire like flaming fists and glowing red bursts broke in between the two mages, causing mini explosions to blow up around them. Some of the spells strayed away from their path and blew up around the hillside field, creating bellowing craters everywhere.
"Why won't you die already!?" Zeke shouted over the explosions as he began to sweat from the intensity of the flames.
"Because I can't! I have people waiting for me when I wake up! So I can't lose to some emotionless bastard like you!" Natsu roared back, increasing the speed of his fists till the resembled blurs.
Zeke was overpowered by the barrage of flaming fists, his red arms breaking apart like sticks before he was bombarded by the onslaught of blazing punches. Blown off his feet, the stream of flaming punches sent him crashing into the river where he laid a smoking mess.
He got back up gasping for air with holes smoking all over his cloak. He cursed as blood flowed down his head as he looked over his body with a weak glare.
That last spell had destroyed many of the zippers on his person. Without them he wouldn't be able to create things with his magic. Zeke punched the shallow waters, wincing as he felt his left arm throb and burn hotly.
"What's so bad about not feeling a shred of emotion?" Zeke said quietly, as tried to get back up.
Natsu sighed as he looked down at the man with pity.
"Don't you care about your friends? You've had friends before, right? How are you suppose to feel happy when you're with them when you can't feel anything?" Natsu said as he looked down.
"How else am I suppose to protect them when I'm worrying over them?" Zeke argued, surprising Natsu with the answer he got, "Yes, at one point I had friends. I loved them. But love can make you weak at any moment. When someone lays hands on your nakama, you are lost to rage. And can't think clearly about your actions. The more closer you are with your friends, the more those damned emotions get in the way. That's why it's better to cut off your ties with them to protect them."
"And how is this protecting your friends!? How is leaving them behind protecting them!? If anything you're making them sad. You're hurting them by cutting them off from your world!" Natsu shouted back in rage.
Zeke shook his head with a bitter laugh, "And look at the power in my possession. I can create anything with my magic. Anything out of Nothing. I can even create a better world for them, or their descendants. But I can't leave this plane I created with my being. I can only shape the future hopes for a better world by leading them to Enlightenment. That's how I'm protecting them. By protecting the world they all loved!"
"BULLSHIT!" Natsu barked before rushing towards Zeke with a flaming fist.
Zeke caught the fist, struggling to hold it back as Natsu shouted in his face.
"That's not protecting them! That's shunning them away! You think by giving up your life to live on as some kind of immortal to protect the future of the world they loved so much you're making them happy!? And I don't believe for a damn second that you don't have an once of emotion in that dusk of a body!" Natsu roared angrily, delivering an uppercut under Zeke's chin.
"You tried to hide it, but I saw that soft look behind those angry eye's when Eileen smiled at you! You can't deny the love in her eye's when she left! And as long as you have the memories of your friends inside that thick skull of yours, you'll never be able to ride yourself of your emotions!" aiming his fist overflowing with bright flames around Natsu shouted, "Shinkaryu no Ken o Hassha(True Fire Dragon's Firing Fist)!"
Blood spat out from Zeke's mouth as he was sent flying higher into the air with the bullet fast fire punch smashing into his chest.
'What is this' thought Zeke weakly as he began to fall back to the earth a scorched mess of bruises and burns, 'Am I losing? How can this be? I'm hundreds of years older then this brat! I can create anything out of nothing! Yet I'm losing? How? I'm a god within this world. So how is it possible to be losing to some mere mortal?'
Crashing to the ground in a crater created from impact, Zeke again struggled to get up as he noticed Natsu come closer.
Zeke grit his teeth, deciding to end it all here with another Fujun'na Sekai(Impure World) that wouldn't miss. Eileen was gone now. No one could save him.
Flames cornered Zeke in suddenly within his crater causing him to stare in confusion at the licking flames keeping him from moving out. What was going? Did the little punk think he could beat him? What arrogance.
About to suck away the flames within his dark pockets, Zeke frowned as he noticed that most of them had been torn apart in the earlier spells and was only left with broken hanging threads of metal that groaned.
"You can't beat me." Natsu said firmly as he went through the flames to stand before Zeke, his own body injured from their long fight.
"Because I'm never alone. My fist carries the heart and soul of my guild. And their just as strong as me. It's because of those emotions that I have for my nakama that I won't lose. They fuel me more then flames do. I won't lose to a dusk who had thrown away his friends to selfishly protect their world instead of the world where their all smiling and laughing together."
Zeke tried to desperately gather nothing in his hands to obliterate the pink haired man in front of him, only to fail as the particles of nothing died in his hand. He coughed up more blood before leveling another glare at the Dragon Slayer.
Picking Zeke up by the charred tatters of his black shirt now that his cloak was useless rags, Natsu leveled his own glare at the Nothing mage, causing Zeke to widen his eye's in shock at what he saw behind the Dragon mage.
All those nakama's he was babbling on and on about. They were all behind him. Smiling and grinning at the pink haired Dragon Slayer. What surprised him even more was that he could even see a giant deep red scaled dragon with scars on its body and tattered bat like wings looking down proudly at his son.
Zeke faintly smiled, unseen by Natsu as his face was shadowed by his still shaggy black hair. What caught Eileen's attention he could finally see.
Just as Natsu took a deep breath as the unseen dragon above him did so as well with hellish flames glowing at the back of their throats, Zeke thought one last thing before being drowned by flames of a true Dragon and Dragon Slayer.
'So, this is your world? No wonder you're so strong. Heh, it's so full of light. It's actually. . .not bad.'
"KARYU NO HOKO(FIRE DRAGON'S ROAR)!"
And then the world was blinded and consumed by almighty dragon flames.
I'm so tired after this. Though on a lighter note.
FUCKING AWESOME! Sweet! My story is the highest on the NatZa archive right now! Let's see.
(Pulls out second tab on Chrome to check stats, bobbing his head to Airplanes on Youtube.)
212 reviews, 348 Favs, and 329 Alerts! Thank you all so much! I can't believe I got this much Reviews, Favorites, and Alerts for one story. Back when I first started I didn't think I'd ever get this many. Really, thank you guy's and gal's for this.
Now on to the story.
This training arc is finally over. And a new one is about to start. The Phantom Parade! What will happen to our heroes in this next arc? And what was the results of the fight with Natsu and Zeke? What now?
More will be explained in the next chapter. Like Shikaryu(True Fire Dragon's). And any other questions left at the end of the chapter.
You'll have to wait a while though. Sorry. I got to get my other stories some updates too. I just hope this big chapter will satisfy you all for a while.
I'll also be busy with some legal crap during the week. Don't ask. All you need to know is that it involves large amounts of money, trucks, pain, some yelling and getting pissed off at the people on my families part while I watch on with some popcorn, and court orders.
Yeah, I'll be busy.
Oh, I've been reading over some manga lately. And I think I have a few that would great for a crossover in the summer. The summer I'll have way more free time to write and update more, so don't worry. Give me some ideas though, just in case I may of over looked a few good mangas out there.
Well, I'm tired. There was a few things I wanted to say, or type, but I'm tired. It's midnight and I need some sleep.
Remember, read and review. It's common courtesy.
Till next time, NeoShadows fading in and out.
