Omega level manga spoilers ahead.
E.N.D. Rises: Natsu's Return
Chapter 10:
Lost Memory
When Natsu was taken away for treatment, Zeref told the remaining Fairy Tail mages of his past with Mavis. Her spirit appeared itself and confirmed it all. As they waited for Natsu's treatment to be over, she stayed by Zeref's side despite the fact he couldn't hear or see her.
"Zeref... my beloved..." Mavis gently whispered "I wish I could have helped you back then! I wish I had heeded your warning!"
Zeref sighed. He could feel someone next to him but there was no one sitting there. Just the ghost of his former love as she cried for forgiveness. He'd caused so much pain and misery and yet Mavis fell in love with him. She was the first person in those 300 years that had understood him.
"So... that's how Fairy Heart was created," said Erza "By performing the ultimate contradiction, your curses clashed and you took Master Mavis's life,"
"Yes... She was the first life in hundreds of years that I regretted taking," Zeref said "Her magic power, the Curse of Contradictions and Hades' attempts to revive her... it all adds up to be Fairy Heart,"
"So whoever was behind the facility... resurrected Natsu since he was the only one with a limitless magic container to hold Fairy Heart's power," said Gray "They'll try to get both by coming to Magnolia, right?"
"Yes... Mavis's body isn't safe here anymore. She needs to be moved before they attack and so does Natsu as soon as he's recovered," Zeref continued "If anybody were to get their hands on Fairy Heart... good intentions or bad... we'd all pay with our lives,"
Everything fell silent in the hospital room. They were all formulating plans to stop this. But there was one surefire way to prevent anyone from ever obtaining Fairy Heart. Zeref got to his feet and walked out. He needed to talk to Makarov if he were to do this. Mavis followed as she too had come to the same conclusion...
When Natsu opened his eyes, he moaned and sat up. A group of people stared at him and he jumped back in fright. He wrapped his arms around his narrow frame as he shivered. Natsu didn't say a thing as he didn't remember any words. He was back to being that scared person he was when he was first resurrected. Once again, everything was new.
"Hey, Natsu, how you feeling?" Lucy asked as she sat on the side of the bed.
He crawled backwards away from her and hit the floor with a thud but ignored it and crawled into the corner. They all stared at him with sadness on their faces and Lisanna approached him. She tucked her skirt back and knelt down beside him.
"Your name is Natsu Dragneel and you've had a hard life that's led to this situation. Your mind is broken and we don't know how to fix it. You're probably very confused but rest assured, we'll help you. We'll always help you," she said with a sweet smile on her face.
Natsu looked at her for a moment before opening his mouth.
"Nat-su... Drag-neel?" he said, steadily thinking over each syllable as he spoke "My... na-me is... Na-tsu... Drag-neel?"
"Yes, it is. Very good, Natsu. I'm sure you'll be talking again soon," Lisanna encouraged "And you've got a big brother named Zeref Dragneel,"
"Ze-Zer-Zeref-Zer-ef... Zef- Zef... Drag-neel?" Natsu quietly whispered "My big broth-ther is... Zer-ef Drag-neel,"
They managed to coax him back onto the bed and he sat cross-legged as he ate hospital jelly. For the most part, they taught him their names and words such as "yes" and "no". He happily mimicked them but there was a sinking feeling in the room as to the extent of his memory. For how long could he now remember?
12 hours, as it turned out. If something happened to him at 9 a.m. then he'd forget about it by 9 p.m. with the exception of if he continuously thought about it throughout those 12 hours. For this reason every hour on the hour, Natsu would sit down and read through a list of important things to remember. And after a week had passed since his treatment, that's what he did.
Number 1: my name is Natsu Dragneel and I'm 18-years-old, physically speaking. Number 2: I can only trust the members of Fairy Tail unconditionally. Number 3: I have both anterograde and retrograde amnesia, meaning I can't recall past memories or hold onto new ones for longer than 12 hours.
He closed the little book on the table, leaned back and stretched his arms above his head. It was harder to keep memories in the mornings since he would have lost all memory from the day before by then. According to the tally kept in the front of his little black book, it had been seven days since he'd sustained his head injury. Disheveled, tears came to Natsu's eyes and he cried into his hands. Lisanna sat down beside him and gently rested his head on her shoulder to comfort him. There had been nothing left to do at the hospital so he'd been released into Fairy Tail's care. As for Zeref, he'd disappeared and so had Makarov.
"Alright!" Erza declared across the guild hall "It's been seven days, Zeref and Master have disappeared and Natsu can't remember a thing. The facility will be attacking soon. Without the Master or Zeref, Lumen Histoire is up for the grabs and Natsu doesn't remember how to fight,"
"Zeref and Gramps are probably moving Master Mavis to a safer location," Gray interjected "And since Brain destroyed the facility, what threat so they still hold?"
"You guys found Natsu wondering around all the way in *Minstrel but the facility Lisanna and Zeref were taken to was in West Fiore," Levy interrupted "I... I think there are more than one facility buildings across Ishgar with a countless amount of manpower,"
Everyone continued their "discussion" on the facility threat and Natsu slipped away. He snuck out back to be alone and opened his little black book. Other than his list of important things to remember were seven entries describing his day. The handwriting wasn't his, though. Lisanna had written them while he had dictated what to put although he didn't remember that.
It was peaceful sitting in Fairy Tail's backyard with the ocean view that stretched out for miles. Being there gave Natsu the time and silence he needed to collect his thoughts. With a sigh, he closed his eyes and leaned back against the building as he let his broken mind wander what little consciousness he still had.
"Big Brother Zef? Big Brother Ze-ef! Wake-up, Big Brother!"
Natsu shook his brother's shoulder until Zeref groaned and turned around to look at him. He smiled at his baby brother with green eyes tipped with sleep dust. Natsu smiled back at him before he sat up with a stretch of his arms over his head.
"What is it, Baby Brother?" Zeref asked.
"Papa wants us to col-coll-colle-coll-ect... collect the eggs from the hen house and Mama wants us to- to- water the 'erb garden!" Natsu explained "C'mon, Big Brother! Let's go!"
He snapped open his eyes with a cold sweat running down his forehead. His memories were still in his head... He just couldn't consciously access them. Natsu was pulled from his thoughts by the sound of rubber rolling across the ground. He looked over and saw adorable little Asuka Connell reaching for a rubber ball. The little girl picked up her toy and shyly walked over to him.
"Hi... Nat-su," she said, looking down at her blue ball "Mama said... your hurt and poorly so we can't play together anymore..."
"I'm... I'm sorry... we can't play to-together," Natsu stammered "But... my memory is broken so I don't know how to play,"
Asuka walked over to him and sat down beside him with her ball on her lap. A wide smile spread across her solemn face and she looked up at him.
"Don't worry, Nat-su! I'll teach!" she said "It's a game I in-ven-ted all on my own! And I made up the rules too!"
"That's impressive, I don't even remember what I had for dinner last night... or before," Natsu said, smiling down at her.
Asuka went into great detail on the rules of "splatball" and he listened closely to her words. He didn't understand the game but hearing words made him feel... relaxed, somehow. Or maybe it was Asuka's cutesy baby voice...
Natsu felt his eyelids growing heavier as he listened to the sounds around him. Asuka talking, the leaves as the wind blew through them, the ocean crashing on the beach, the noises from town and the mumble of voices as Fairy Tail's discussion became more heated. He'd been taught a few exercises for retaining and discovering memories while still in hospital so he rested his head back and let his mind wonder again...
What could he see? What could he hear? What was he feeling emotionally? What was he feeling physically? What was it?
An image began to form in Natsu's mind, slowly coming from the darkness that plagued him. It was... green... a worn out, pale-mint green. And it had red spikes down its back. It was limp with two pads sticking out for wings...
"Draken," Natsu whispered "I wonder what that means..."
Asuka looked up at him with confusion on her face when Erza suddenly crashed through the door. She looked down at them with a frantic look in her eyes as she panted for breath.
"Here *gasp* you are... we were *pant* worried sick!" she gasped "Asuka, your parents down *pant* want you playing out here *gasp* alone! And... Natsu! What if *gasp* the facility came *pant* and kidnapped you... again?!"
Asuka and Natsu looked at each other before smiles came to their faces and they burst out laughing. Erza escorted them back inside and they were reprimanded by the rest of the guild. In that moment, Natsu didn't care that he couldn't remember. As long as his 12 hours of memory was with Fairy Tail, he was happy. But the moment was shattered when there was a gigantic crash and they all rushed outside. On the edge of town, buildings were bursting into flames as people screamed and ran.
The sight of the fire triggered something within Natsu. Flames engulfing a town that had helped him? This had happened before... and it was on him.
"Get Natsu to safety!" Erza suddenly ordered "NOW! The rest of us, deal with the fire and facility mercenaries,"
Her entire being glowed with golden light and her basic armour was replaced with her Sea Empress Armour. Drawing her sword, she sprang into action.
Gray, Lucy, Happy and Lisanna grabbed Natsu and pulled him along to the outskirts of town. There was an abandoned train track there that they followed along the cost. If they kept heading in this direction, they'd stumble into Lamia Scale in their own hometown eventually. Preparing for a fight, Lucy summoned her Star Dress in Sagittarius Form and held her celestial bow at her side as she ran alongside them. Lisanna remained just behind but found herself having trouble Taking-Over. Her magic had been messed up since the Tartaros War ended but it had been getting better once Natsu returned. Darn it, was his current condition affecting her this way again?
"Crud," she hissed under her breath.
Lisanna held onto the scarf she had retrieved from the facility ruins and tied it around her face to hide her from the nose down. She pulled her hairbands out and her white hair fell down to the bottom of her nape. She couldn't run in her dress for long as it whipped around her knees. Nope, Lisanna needed an outfit change.
"Take-Over: Cheetah Soul!"
Her entire being glowed and in a flash of light, she was running alongside them wearing a cheetah-print outfit along with cheetah ears popping out the top of her head. Two tails grew out from her spine and out the bottom of her skirt. Lisanna's pace quickened and she took her place running beside Natsu. She looked at him and saw the same worried look in his eyes that he had had as a child...
*I've recently learned more about Earthland's geography and found out Minstrel is a country just south/southeast of Fiore. Since I said Natsu was found in a country just south of Fiore, I decided to make it Minstrel.
