You want angst?
YEA!
You want Gray?
YEA!
You want longer chapter?
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FINE! GEEZ! BEING GREEDY HUH! :D
Jesse: Well, there is gonna be more background story about Natsu and Zeref (and Acnologia), but Im gonna say like one or two things only about their parents since they dont play really big role in this, well his father kinda plays role with Acnologia but thats for later.
ef07: No Zervis aint right off of the bat, they are gonna have to work until their relationship get romantic, and with Natsu and Acnologia playing as matchmakers...yea its gonna take like half of the story :D
RyuuFuyuuScarlet: Ofc, this IS a LIGHT Gratsu story! :D Youre welcome :D
LadyFire-Azula: Thanks for the idea! :D
Otherwise, thank you all for your praises and support! It really means a lot to me, each time new follow or favourite or review appears, you dont know just how much it means to me T.T
Well, Here is your chapter, hope you enjoy it! :D
His head hurt like if someone hit it with a metal wracking ball when he finally came to, and the panic shouts from both, his brother and his soon to be girlfriend that echoed through the hall made his already bad headache even worse.
"I'm fine" he said with a little harsher voice than he previously intended to and sat up, causing both of them to shut up and look at him with relieved looks on their faces.
"You're awake!" Zeref and Mavis shouted in unison, and Natsu held his head in his hands to calm the pain at least a little bit.
This was one of the times he wished he wouldn't have such a good hearing.
"Please, stop yelling, my head already awfully hurts" plus he was tired too, kinda exhausted actually, but there was way too much trouble ahead for him to go rest just yet, so he had to solve that first.
"So, what made you stay?" Natsu asked, not so sure about this, and he was reluctant to fight Fairy Tail for one rushed decision of a little girl. He planned to give her back as soon as possible, because without her the guild for sure would come here and look for her.
"Well,…let's say I want to get to know this Zeref, without the curse, a little more…" she confessed shyly, looking at the ground with faint pink painting her cheeks from embarrassment, while playing with her hands to distract herself.
"And if you decide he is not your liking? Am I supposed to fight Fairy Tail, which will come looking for you here, just because you can't decide?" he needed to assure himself, he was in delicate situation here and couldn't risk much, especially when his brother was involved. He was already through a lot, he didn't need his ex-girlfriend to send him mixed signals too. That's why Natsu needed her to decide now.
But Mavis looked confused at his question.
"Why would we fight them? We can just tell them the truth!" she announced, but as soon as the words left her mouth she jumped back a little when Natsu stood up from his sitting position on the floor, where he collapsed earlier, with inhuman speed. When she looked at him to see what caused such reaction, she was surprised to not see him just angry, but completely enraged.
"No! We mustn't!" he shouted and looked straight into Mavis's eyes, sighting and calming down fast when he saw a glimpse of fear in her eyes. He ran one of his hands through his salmon hair and thought on how to crush her hopes gently.
"We can't, even if they believed us, Fairy Tail wouldn't make it from all the troubles it already got, along with this one. Just imagine it, the black mage Zeref, 400 year old legend about death itself, is now part of Fairy Tail? Do you want to ruin the guild you sacrificed so much for? You can't just break old legends and 400 year old hatred by simply saying it was different. And I'm pretty sure that the Magic Council wouldn't take it well either, and as sure as hell, I ain't going back there. Not now, not ever!" he finished in louder voice than he started, being out of breath and gasping for air, his face red from anger and he could see Mavis on the verge of tears.
"But-"
"No buts" a deeper voice gently interrupted her, and glancing at her side she saw Zeref with serious expression on his face.
"But-" she tried again, hoping at least the dark mage would be on her side in this one. Fairy Tail would understand, Magic Council for sure too, and barely their guild members knew his appearance, why would normal people know it? They could just say he was named Zeref cause of some tragedy or whatever!
This time no one interrupted her, but her voice betrayed her when he looked at her and shook his head in disapprovement.
Mavis didn't understand why they rather kept it secret than telling the truth and get help. She saw hurt in their eyes, she knew this kind of isolation hurt both of them, as both boys had to leave the things that were most precious to them.
But Zeref knew very well why…
…he hadn't told Mavis yet…
.
.
…the darker side of their past.
The one where they were used as laboratory rats for previous Council…
The one where Natsu saw and suffered something a child shouldn't even be aware of…
The time when Natsu had to do something a 7 year old child should have never done, even if it was for his family's sake…
…and that's why Zeref went against Mavis even though he didn't want to…
…because he wasn't the one who suffered the most at that time, Natsu was. And he still felt immensely guilty about that fact…
…he was the elder brother…
…he should have been the one protecting Natsu...
…and yet, it was always Natsu who saved him.
That's why he let Natsu decide this, because he was the one suffering, and Zeref couldn't possibly put him through that nightmare ever again, even if the chances were low.
Mavis pouted and was angry, cause of the stupid stubbornness of the two brothers. She curled her hands into fists and stomped away into the large castle halls, leaving the two alone in complete silence.
Natsu didn't like that their relationship was starting off with an argument over him, but what was he supposed to do? He couldn't go back, he had nowhere to go back.
He was the demon that was indirectly responsible for Erza's slavery, for Gray's parent's death, for Ur's death!
Hell, he was responsible for Mavis death, and for his brother curse.
If he just didn't die that day…
…or maybe…
.
.
.
…if he just wasn't born at all…
He went towards the window and harshly opened it, feeling that he was in the mood to break any second into cries. He needed to sort out his thoughts, and he couldn't do that here with seeing the hurt in his brother's expression. Jumping out, landing safely onto the phoenix enormous body that flew by from somewhere just in time, he flew away, leaving Zeref all alone in the room.
Zeref just stood at the same place the whole time, feeling guilty that he just denied Mavis, and yet feeling guilty that he couldn't help his brother in any way.
After all, this wasn't about Zeref anymore, this was about Natsu putting up trust in people again, and no one could force him to do that.
Makarov was confused and didn't know what to do for the first time in his entire life.
He desperately believed Natsu had a plan, considering Fairy Heart wasn't fired yet and no war announcements came from Alvarez. But just what kind of plan? And why he didn't say anything?
Or…
Could it be that Natsu became weapon for Zeref that was even greater than Lumen Histoire? Considering it couldn't be controlled…Being E.N.D. and all, maybe the Natsu he knew was long gone, or just playing a part in this cruel game of Zeref's.
Maybe he was possessed since the beginning, or he was a real damned demon that just used them until Makarov told someone about it?
Then again, wouldn't it make more sense if he stole it while no one from the guild knew about it? It would surely cause distrust and could buy Zeref some time.
He buried his head in his hand, sitting alone on a chair in his lonely office, which was filled with opened books all over the ground and incredible mess everywhere.
This kind of thinking got him a serious headache, and he was way too old for this by now.
In any way, he needed to confront Natsu and take First Master back, before Zeref decided to change his mind.
He sighted.
It was time for Fairy Tail to battle on of it's own.
The guild was silent since Natsu's depart. No one dared to utter a single word, unless they wanted to order something at the bar. The lack of the dragon slayer's happy mood and his loud voice devastated them all, knowing they won't hear it ever again.
Jet and Droy just sat alone at the table in silence the whole time, because Levy was sent on secret mission in the Council from the Master.
Cana was drinking with random people just a single cup of beer whole day.
Romeo couldn't believe it and locked himself in his room with Macao and Wakaba constantly trying to get him out.
Master shut himself up in the second floor in his office and had yet to leave the tiny room.
And Team Natsu?
Saying they were devastated was pretty weak word.
Gray didn't show up at the guild since his argument with Master, which no one knew what it was about as Master refused to speak about it every time they asked him and no one dared to approach the ice-mages house.
Erza haven't even touched her cake from the second Mirajane put it on the table right before her, but no one was sure if she even payed enough attention to notice it. Sometimes sje crashed into random wooden pillars in their guild as she was with her mind completely in the clouds.
Lucy was the only one who wasn't broken. Sure, she looked worried, but not broken. She believed in Natsu the most and was expecting him to barge through the large guild doors every second with his proud grin and defeated Zeref over his shoulder.
That's why she always stayed at the same table since the guild opening to it's closing hours, and they wondered if she even slept sometimes, but the bags under her eyes told them the answer.
Suddenly, amids the silence, a loud steps from the floor above them could be heard, catching everyone attention and looking up at the source.
From the shadows, a small figure, which they haven't seen in a while started appearing, making the tension in the already think and silenced guild grow.
"Listen brats!" the Master yelled after climbing carefully –and with some trouble- up at the fence of second floor, looking down at all the expectant faces which were practically screaming at him questions about what to do. "I know how you all feel, considering latest events…" he glanced at Lucy, who was looking at him like he's going to say that they finally found the real Natsu.
…well, she wasn't exactly wrong.
"…but, we must not let it get to us, we are Fairy Tail, a guild that so far surpassed every obstacle that has been thrown at us…" mostly thanks to Natsu, but he couldn't say that, not now "…and so we will deal with this like we've always dealt with troubles before." He took a deep breath.
"We are going to Alvarez to get back our First Master and if possible, capture Natsu Dragneel."
He finished, waiting for everyone's reaction, but no one looked him in the eye.
…because no one truly wished to go…
…no one wished to see their illusions broken…
…no one wanted to see Natsu as their enemy.
Seeing the guild's lack of motivation, Makarov sighted once again, he knew that Natsu was the guild's heart, but he hoped that would be also the reason why they would want to get him back.
But then, Lucy stood up, barely able to stand straight as her head started spinning from such rushed action after almost three sleepless days and nights with not many bites of food. But even so, she still managed to climb onto the table she always sat at and shout out loudly.
"That's right! We gonna get back our Master and Natsu, and then kick his ass for leaving us out of his plans! C'mon, get your heads up! This guild was here even before Natsu joined, and when I entered it was so full of life even while Natsu was on a job with me, and destroyed half of Hargeon, so we can get through this!" she knew her words weren't much encouraging, as she wasn't exactly cheering type of a person, Natsu always was the one with the strong words, but as she saw the usual spark getting back into her guildmates eyes, she couldn't be happier that she at least tried.
A loud "Yeah!" and "We gonna kick their asses!" could be heard across the whole guild, while a kind of party started, without breaking tables as the trouble duo was missing, but still enough beer got spilled everywhere, and the competitions with Cana that some people in good mood started were good for getting the mood up.
Makarov was proud of his children, and already called for a ship to be prepared, while Erza stood up too, finally back to earth as they saw the many plates of eaten cake, and announced that she was going to get Gray.
No one dared to stop her, as well as no one dared to go with her, since no one wanted to see the ice mage in his bad mood cause they saw how it turned out in his and Natsu's fights every time one of them was seriously pissed off, and it wasn't nice. They all agreed that they will meet up at the port in an hour, hopefully with calmed down Gray as Erza was always able to knock some sense into the guy, and prepared their best techniques and strategies on how to get to Alvarez without getting much attention and possibly meet Natsu before anyone else.
Everyone was either cheering now or hurrying home, In Master's case preparing the ship and getting some things from the guild that he wouldn't be happy to be lost in his absence. Wendy even ran towards Romeo home to tell him that they were going, but as soon as she arrived she found out that indeed, he wanted to join, but from all the staying at home away from sun, he got sick, and so Macao and Wakaba was taking care of him.
She knew she wouldn't be much of an use in real battle, and decided that she will stay here with them, if something possibly got worse. Macao thanked her, knowing that he was exhausted from running here and there with wet towels and ice, completely aware that his fire magic couldn't help his son at all.
Arriving at the port in one hour was a bad idea, and they all knew that by now, everyone that spent more time on the celebration were running late and was a bit drunk too, but now, two hours after the actual meeting, people still waited for the two people, Erza and Gray.
Where were they? If they were having a making out session in his house or if it really was that hard even for Erza to calm him down no one knew, and they already started making bets at Cana about what happened that they were taking so long.
But, when Erza finally emerged from the crowd at the port, they were surprised to see her alone with simple opened envelope clenched in her hand.
And of course, a big carriage with all kinds of things she towed right behind her too, and no one figured out how the hell did she manage to drag that across half the town single-handedly while having to get through all the people around, even in the smallest streets that she was sure to cross.
But no one questioned with one simple answer in their minds…"She's Erza…"
Everyone stared at her, waiting for explanation on why is she alone after three hours of waiting.
But she just shook her head and stopped in middle of the guild crowd that was waiting for an answer. "He won't come" was all she said and handled Master the letter.
He wasn't sure at first, but after seeing her serious expression and her nod, he started reading quietly, so no one would hear him.
"I'm sorry Gramps,
but I got a promise to fulfill.
Gray Fullbuster"
Simple and short, but even those few words from Gray made him worried that something bad was about to happen to Natsu before he even reached him.
He hurried everyone onto the ship and tried to depart as soon as possible, hoping he won't be too late.
He was walking through a thick forest near the shore, sure that no one would come after him here. He called off his phoenix and just wandered around without really paying attention to his direction, just wanting to be covered by the shadow of the trees.
He wanted to apologize to Mavis that he was so harsh on her, but he couldn't go back, as well as his brother couldn't. They weren't ones for using fake names, and he was sure that the whole ordeal about him and Zeref was already spread across the whole Fiore.
She has got to decide, just as he had to.
He went home after his secret meeting with the dark mage, carefully holding the book of E.N.D. with him, still not understanding Zeref at all.
Tartaros said that the seal on that book was one that couldn't be opened, so they made out a plan about erasing the magic from the whole word. Igneel told him to not destroy the book at any chance, but to not open it either.
If you opened it, it was said that the most evil demon would come out, was Zeref having him for a fool? Natsu was sometimes dumb and oblivious, but not this much, he knew the legends about 400 year old mage that was creating demons with E.N.D. as a masterpiece. Seeing how Tartaros and Zeref acted, this demon couldn't be much different. Why they tried so desperately to revive him anyway? Mard Geer said something about Memento Mori being a tactic he devised against Zeref, that their goal was to kill off Zeref, there was already enough of them without E.N.D., why wouldn't they do it alone? How were they so sure that this demon wouldn't just kill them off all and then go after Zeref alone?
Zeref without hesitation destroyed Mard Geer's book, so why they still believed in something like companionship? True, few of them sacrificed their power for their goal, but that was just insane, who would give up a life for something like that?
He just tossed the book into the depths of his wardrobe and didn't care about it, as long as Zeref didn't have it, it was good. He could give it to Gray, but Igneel told him to not destroy it, which Gray would surely do.
But Igneel wasn't here anymore to take the book, what did he want with it anyway? Why were everyone interested in this pack of tied up together papers?
He fell onto his hammock comfortably, hands folded behind his head, he didn't like thinking, it made his head hurt, and after the sleepless nights he was having because of the dark mage, he wasn't even in the mood.
He rolled on his side, facing the window, and closed his eyes, he wanted to rest.
It took a whole week for his curiosity to finally kick in, and take the book from the wardrobe. Gray said it was a fire demon, so Natsu shouldn't have any problem to be beating it up, and he wanted to know at least something of his past, cause the dreams suddenly stopped since the book arrived and he was getting frustrated that he wasn't given any more clues.
Or maybe Zeref just toyed with him so he would open the book.
He made sure no one was home at the time, as Happy was busy fishing with Wendy, Gajeel, Lily and Charle. He took the book and put it on his table, sitting at the small coach that was beside it. Natsu was looking at it for half an hour for sure, but finally he couldn't take it anymore because he was getting stiff from the sitting on one place all the time.
He grabbed the first part of the cover, and with heavy exhalation he opened it.
He gasped when brilliant white light suddenly surrounded the book suddenly as the cover page touched his table, and he had to close his eyes with one hand before them to make sure he didn't go blind. When he finally felt like there was nothing more he opened his eyes and noticed the two fire magic circles above and below him.
He tried to move away, logically. But he found out that he couldn't move out of the two circles reach. He tried to bang the invisible wall with his fist and get out, but to no avail.
For a while he thought that there wasn't any demon at all and this was just a death trap, but as his head started hurting as many images about him and Zeref plus some people he didn't recognize yet filled his mind.
His nails were growing longer, but still in human shape, he felt like his right side was going to burn as orange shining torch marks started appearing all the way from his face down to his feet. He felt something grow out of the side of his head just above his ear and his sandals tore apart under the sudden pressure.
His brain, his body, everything hurt, it was like he was being stabbed with thousands of needles all over, he was breathing heavily, occasionally holding his breath when the pain was just too much, and the worst was his back. Something what shouldn't be there was moving and wanted out, and he let out a pained cry as it tore through his skin, sputtering blood over the floor leaving Natsu gasping for air and falling to his knees as he saw just dark for a second.
He looked at his hands, knowing what he will see but still scared.
He remembered, and he wasn't sure if that was a good thing…
He remembered his life 400 year ago, his parents, his brother…
…even Acnologia was there, when he was still human.
He remembered his death and his revival, but the worst of all…
…he remembered that he indeed murdered someone. That he lost way too much, that he was hunted with his brother for his power, that he was responsible by just his presence for way too many deaths…
"No…no…." he started backing down until his back made loud impact with wall, tears falling wildly from his eyes. "No…" he buried his head in his hands, silently crying.
He lived because of his brother's sacrifice, he was having a happy life while his brother was suffering alone, for 400 years no less.
And the reason why they weren't together…why Zeref erased his memory in the first place…was his fault too.
He was a disgusting demon indeed.
He did decide that he would open the book that time, even if he had to battle the demon to his death, and then he decided that even if he was going against the whole world, he will stay at his brother's side forever.
Even if it meant abandoning everything he ever loved, he was going to stay by his side, and follow him even to the depths of hell, if needed to.
Snapping out of his daydreams, Natsu noticed it was already dark, and decided to head back home, but after a while of walking he noticed rustling of the leafs that was way too loud for a forest animal.
"Who's there?!" he yelled into nothing, preparing himself for a fight.
He didn't expect half of Fairy Tail guild emerge from the bushes thought. He was at a loss of words, and could just watch them with wide eyes and opened mouth as they were coming closer to him.
But he still had enough sense to back away when they got too close.
"Natsu…" Oh shit, that was Gramps…
He kind of forgot that he took Lumen Histoire…hehe…whoops.
Don't kill me please? Won't work…okay he was officially screwed here. He gulped and started sweating, aware of what exactly Makarov's rage consisted of.
But, he couldn't let himself be defeated here, he concentrated on their stance, looking if someone was looking for fight, preparing himself for fast dodge or counterattack.
"I'm very disappointed in you my child,…" oh great, this was the last thing Natsu needed.
"Just get on with it."
"Did you not believe in your family enough to tell us your plans? Did you not believed that we shall back you up?" Makarov looked at him with enraged expression and Natsu gasped, out of all the accusations he expected to come from his mouth, he didn't think that they would still believe in him. He smiled a little, tears forming in his eyes, but he couldn't let them see. Looking behind Gramps he saw half of the guild members looking at him with hurt expression, but they looked like they also believed in him and was waiting for his confession.
And for a second there, he wanted to tell them everything, he wanted to keep going on jobs with everyone, but reminding of his burned house, and Gray's words…
"Demons like that don't exist"
He couldn't. He closed his mouth again, and changed his expression into serious one. He almost lost his act there, Gramps was really good at seeing into people's hearts.
But not this time, he won't let himself be swallowed by his kindness. Not anymore.
He didn't deserve it.
And for a second he dared to forget that fact.
"It's not about believing in you or not, I'm not doing this for Fairy Tail, I'm doing this for myself…" Natsu raised his hand towards them, which started transforming as well as the rest of his body into his Ethelious form, much to bewilderment of the guild members and Makarov. "…I already told my team, that I ain't going back, I'm E.N.D. and Zeref's younger brother dammit! I don't want go with you! This is my choice, I will stay by Zeref's side even if he decided to wage a war against Fiore again!"
They gasped at seeing horns and wings popping out of his body, his eyes turning from emerald green to bright red as his pupils turned to one of demon's, or even dragon's. The scorching marks covering his right side adding to his scary appearance and his serious and battle face he always showed towards his enemies that threatened the guild making them freeze at the spot.
"Then I have no choice…" Makarov said, while putting his hands before him, casting a bright yellow light in between them.
"It is Fairy Tail tradition to count into three before casting this spell, so prepare yourself, Natsu!" he shouted as the magical energy began swirling towards him, causing the ground to shake and creating high pressure around him.
"One…" all members looked at him completely shocked, but they couldn't move from their spot yet as they still haven't recovered from the information about Natsu being a real Zeref's demon. But they also couldn't believe that he would actually use that!
"Two…" but Natsu just looked at him apathetically, heightening his head as if to look down upon them, seeing the magic as something low.
Well he would be shown soon enough was what Makarov thought.
"Three!" he shouted, an enormous magic circle appearing above their heads while the sky was filled with yellow light and the tension started rising incredibly.
"Fairy…Law!" he said while putting his hands together, cutting through the built up tension and relieving all the magic power that gathered in the meantime at that place, aiming straight at Natsu that just stood there proudly like if he was going to hit him with a firefly.
The light shone upon them all and they had to cover their eyes, imagining about the things that could have happened to Natsu with that Magic casted on him.
And when the light started disappearing, they could see a figure which was in Natsu's exact heigh standing right before them.
But they were all surprised when he was unscatched.
"Wha-…but I-! Makarov wanted to protest, he did everything right, even if he didn't think about Natsu as enemy, it still should affect at least his magic power, but he has seen no change in that either.
"My curse…"Natsu started, while his horns started glowing in yellow like light. "…is that I can absorb any magic thrown at me and use it as my own"
Makarov eyes widened, realizing what trouble he got himself into as Natsu copied his actions from before and yellow light started to appear in between his hands, with insane magic power swirling around him.
This could probably drain them all without even having to think about them as enemies, which was scary, and he suddenly found out how big of a mistake he just made.
"Fairy….-" Natsu started saying, but was interrupted when something –or rather someone- tackled him onto the ground.
"Nooooooo!" They heard a girl voice call, and wondered if Natsu found a girlfriend while being in Alvarez, but couldn't believe their eyes as they saw Mavis standing before them in material body.
What the actual hell?
"First Master…" Makarov muttered under his breath, unable to believe her presence.
And that she just stopped Natsu like it was nothing.
The two of them stood up and started arguing.
"What the hell are you doing here?! You ain't supposed to wander so far from castle alone!" Natsu yelled, aware that his brother will be added up to the list of people that wants to kill him these days.
The reason being again Mavis…this girl is gonna be the END of him…
…haha, got that? END!
.
.
…oh god…he was making up jokes in his own mind, he was in it way too deep now wasn't he?
"We were worried about you! You left in the morning and now the sun has already started setting! Do you know how long it took for me to find you you dumbass?!" she yelled at him, punching his head with her tiny fists at an incredible speed, yet with almost no strength at all.
"Can't you see that I'm in middle of something here?!"
She stopped her actions and looked around, seeing Fairy Tail she grinned and waved her hand.
"Hi!"
Natsu sweatdropped and almost fell back to the ground as Fairy Tail dumbly waved their hands back at her.
Couldn't she read the situation at least a little?
She ran towards Makarov and hugged him.
"Wha- what happened to you First?" he asked, still a bit shaken by that she could hug him and was running around here wild and alive.
"I was revived by Natsu and Zeref! Isn't it awesome? And I don't have the curse anymore too!" she bounced from one guild member to another, taking in their features and touching every bit of interesting clothes they ever got, making Natsu facepalm, knowing his act was put to ruins just by that.
She skipped Erza's armor, just to be sure.
Makarov looked suspiciously at Natsu, was that their plan all along?
"In exchange for…?" he still found it suspicious after what Natsu said.
"Nothing! Completely nothing!" she laughed, going back to Natsu's side when she was finished with inspecting every guild member and their clothes.
"Then, come back to us, we are all worried abo-"
"No" she said simply, cutting his question before he could even finish it.
"Huh?" they all looked at her in confusion, even Natsu tilted his head at her, signaling he didn't understand her actions at all.
"I'm staying" she said, pulling out her tongue childish and tugging Natsu by hand to go away, who just obliged being unable to move on his own as well as the whole guild that gathered there from their shock.
After he got scolded by Zeref that he took too long and handed him Mavis, whom was excitedly bouncing that she got to meet Fairy Tail (his brother still wanted to punish him for that, so he made the ball coming in earlier with guards everywhere so Natsu won't have the chance to escape).
Aaah hell, this time he warned them that he will go out for like two hours, just to check their scent to see if they left or not. He kinda didn't check what happened after Mavis declaration of staying with them.
But he couldn't help the smile that tugged at his lips while in his mind was sentence "Ha! Suck on that Gramps! I'm better!" playing over and over again.
But, on his way he caught a different scent, one that he wasn't sure he wanted to follow, but did anyway, because even this was part of the issue, and he had to face it sooner or later.
Following the snowy scent, he found a little campfire for one person, and sitting near the fire was one raven haired ice mage that he certainly did not want to see yet, but didn't have any other choice, as he was already noticed by the devil slayer.
"Hey" Natsu greeted, making Gray immediately jump and get into fighting position.
"Hey." Gray copied, only saying the word in much more venom like voice, making his intentions about being here very clear.
It did hurt Natsu a lot, as they were practically always bickering brothers year before, but he couldn't let that faze him now.
He knew this would happen the second he got the book into his damn house, a fight over that demon.
A fight over his life.
Gray didn't waste a second and launched attack on Natsu, starting with his Ice-Make: Freeze Lancer, making lances made of ice that once fired attack the target from different directions.
But Natsu easily dodged it by jumping lightly in the air and few feet back.
"You don't know how long I waited for this moment!" Gray shouts. "Ice-Make: Arrow!" After crafting a bow from ice, he forms multiple arrows from both of his hands, making Natsu unable to dodge this time.
But he simply lit his body on fire making the ice turn into steam once it got closer to him, creating a little fog in which he disappeared, but instead of taking the chance for surprise attack he simply jumped on one of the trees above, inspecting Gray with curious eyes.
Gray swiftly turned his head upwards, feeling heated presence in there. "Why aren't you fighting back?! You better not underestimate me! Ice-Make: Ice Cannon!" he created a cannon in his hands that shot blue beam towards the place where Natsu was, only for him to jump upwards, making a flip in the air while safely landing behind Gray and hitting him with a strong punch that made him fly through few trees.
"Tsk, take this seriously dammit!" he got up after making a harsh impact with a rock that finally stopped his flying.
Natsu gulped, he didn't want to make this serious fight, but there was no other way.
One of them had to fall, and he wasn't going to be the one.
Eyes changing into red ones, looking extremely threatening even to Gray, he changed into his Ethelious form.
But he wasn't going to let simple looks get into him, his Devil-Slayer magic worked before on Mard Geer easily, E.N.D. couldn't be much different.
Oh how wrong he was.
"Ice Devil's Rage!" he shouted, aiming towards Natsu and spilling ice out of his mouth.
But he forgot what happened when they were fighting that dark guild's leader, and that it was revealed Natsu was the one, whom with his bare hand completely obliterated their combinated attacks into pure nothing.
And that's exactly what he did this time too, simply waved his hand as if to cut to beam in half, obliterating it and suddenly appearing behind Gray. How did he get there he will never know, but when he looked behind himself he could already see Natsu having a fire dragon claw around his hand ready to punch him.
And he did, causing Gray to fall back into that stupid rock again. Then, like a predator seeing his prey, Natsu walked slowly towards Gray with his ruby eyes shining brightly, and stopped few feet before him.
Gray hated to admit it, but he had hard time moving already, but managed to stand up after holding onto the damn rock, facing him with his own expression.
But it wasn't equal anymore.
And Gray realized that too, so he needed to fall back to devise a strategy later on. "Ice-Make: Floor!" Natsu always fell for that, so he froze the floor all around him, trying to skate fast away, hoping that Natsu will just fall while trying to keep up with him on his own ice.
Or better yet he could melt it.
But as he turned around, he saw Natsu simply standing there, having something similar to Gray's Zeroth bow in his hands, ready to shoot.
"Shit" Gray forgot. When he saw Igneel and Natsu fight together at Tartaros, they had similar attacks. You could say it was the complete same ones just done in different way.
If that was the fact for Dragon-Slayer magic, why couldn't it be the same for Devil-Slayer one?
Shit…shit…shit! He did have an ice bow, and could shoot from it pretty well.
If Natsu could do that too…
Hastily, he tried to change direction so Natsu would miss, but when he saw the giant fire beam aimed towards him he knew that in no way he had enough time to dodge that.
"Ice-Make: Shield!" he tried, but it was forming way too slowly and the beam approaching way too quickly, he couldn't make it, and even if he could, he was sure that it wouldn't hold on for long.
He screamed in blind pain as the fire engulfed him, burning him to the very core and for a while he thought that these were his last moments.
He did see just dark for a while, and his head was awfully spinning, telling him that he doesn't have much time until he falls unconscious, but he didn't give up.
Even though he couldn't move from his lying face to ground position, he looked up with great effort at Natsu that was coming closer to him, even kneeling right before him, right in his reach if he could move his damn body.
But he couldn't.
"Damned bastard! You're not gonna get away with this!" Gray threatened, he will come back for revenge, and one day…
…one day he will kill Natsu with his own hands!
But Natsu just moved his head closer and angled Gray's chin with right hand so they would look eye to eye.
He saw a lot of emotions in those dark, stormy eyes. Betrayal, hate, disgust.
And he knew he deserved all of it.
"Once…we were like brothers weren't we?" Natsu asked, seeing Gray sneer and he was sure that if he could he would spit on him just for saying that. "Our bond was always a strange one…You were always the most important…I had to be better than you no matter what…I had to prove that you were wrong…and yet we were as equal as two people could get."
Gray reminisced about those memories too. Their fights over the simplest things, their silly fights over building castle, their stupid arguments over who's fault it was when they knew they were both at a fault.
But he wouldn't let those leftover feelings get to him. Never again.
"But we aren't equal anymore, and with this win…"Natsu continued, letting his hand fall back at his side and standing up, turning around and leaving Gray in the ruined forest after their battle all alone "I sever that last bond." He walked away, and Gray's willpower finally gave up on him and he falled unconscious.
"One day…I will let you kill me…but not now…I still got things I want to finish."
LONG AS SHIT HUH?! ARE YOU HAPPY?! :D
THERES ANGST! THERES GRAY! THERES LONG!
:D worked damn 10 hours minimally on it and my lessons :D
well I hope you liked it! see ya in next one!
Alaeriii! :)
