AN: I am so sorry that this chapter took so long. My classes this semester all think that pop quizzes are the best way of ensuring that students come to class and that their prepared. Unfortunately they're right. I spend hours reading and studying chapters of four textbooks on the off chance that tomorrow will be the day that they spring a pop quiz. I've had seven already and class only started on the 17th.
Anyway, enough of my excuses. Enjoy!
"ERZA!"
Two Erzas that had been locked in combat turned in the direction from which their shared name had been shouted. Knightwalker, because it was her name called, and Titania, because it was Natsu that had yelled her name.
The pair was met with a ray of white magic barreling straight at them.
Knightwalker disengaged, leaping up onto her Legion to get a safe distance away from the impending blast. Erza thanked her lucky stars that the Jellal of Edolas had given her a pill to take which allowed her to use her magic here as naturally as she did in Earthland. She Re-Quipped into her Adamantine Armor, bringing together the two halves of the giant shield strapped to each arm. This shield had withstood a direct blast from Phantom Lord's Jupiter cannon. Even if it had shattered afterwards, it had saved her and her guild, so she had no doubts that it would save her again.
A large magical barrier sprung to life in front of her. She dug her feet into the earth as it exerted more pressure on her barrier. The magic in front of the barrier built up, and when the blast was dying down, exploded. Erza was thrown backwards into a tall pillar, which cracked and fell on top of her.
xxxNatsuErzaxxx
"ERZA!"
Natsu could only watch horrified as the king's attack connected with the girl he loved. Erza was dead. She had no access to magic while they were trapped in Edolas. She couldn't protect herself or fight off a direct blast of magic.
The light vanished. He watched as Erza was blasted backwards and slammed into a pillar that held up a balcony of the palace overlooking the courtyard. There was a mighty crack as the stone split. The tower leaned a little; then fell forward onto the Re-Quip mage lying at its base.
"ERZA! EEERRRRZZZZAAAAAA! GET UP ERZA! GET UP!"
Natsu continued to yell at her. It did him no good. The red haired mage did not move.
"You are alone now, dragon slayer. Tell me now how you plan to defeat me."
The king's condescending tone and mocking words sparked a fire deep inside Natsu. This man had just callously killed his mate, the only girl he would ever love, and now was laughing at him and his imminent defeat at his hands.
Natsu's rage and hatred fueled an inner fire. With a roar that shook the palace, Natsu transformed. Gone was the pink haired boy. In his place was a majestic dragon with rippling red, white, and yellow scales so that it looked like the dragon itself was burning.
xxxNatsuErzaxxx
The king gasped. There were vague descriptions of the feats dragon slayers were capable of in ancient records, but not one had mentioned, or even hinted, that the a wizard had the ability to become a dragon himself. He had anticipated fighting a human that could use magic, not an actually dragon.
Sweat beaded on his forehead and slid down his face. King Faust so desperately wanted to capture this magnificent creature that had enough magic to power Edolas for centuries to come, but he was not confident that he would win this fight anymore.
No one could beat a dragon. That was why he had designed Dorma Anim in the shape of a dragon. It put fear into the heart of any that would oppose him. After all, who would ever imagine that they have the power to defeat a dragon? Fear combined with its ability to nullify magic made it the perfect weapon.
But, staring down the face of a very real dragon, Faust was ready to admit that maybe he was the one without a plan. Black eyes glared murderously at him, promising his death.
xxxNatsuErzaxxx
Natsu felt like he had been consumed by an inferno. He had transformed into a dragon once before, only a little over a week ago, but it was not the same. Last time it had been a controlled transformation. Natsu had retained complete control.
This time, it was the dragon within in charge. He let out a cry of despair, anguish, and pure pain. The dragon had lost his lifetime mate.
Natsu silently screamed with him.
It seemed like years ago that Igneel had told him that he needed to become one with his inner dragon. When Natsu had sacrificed himself to the Tower of Heavens and opened his eyes to see his father, he truly thought he had died. He had cried himself hoarse, having held onto the hope that he would survive and finally be able to build up the courage to tell Erza that he loved her from the time he first saw her when she broke up his fight with Gray.
Igneel had slapped him as gently as a dragon could with his tail and told Natsu that he wasn't dead. The fire dragon had gone on to explain the dragons had been forced to flee from Acnologia and that they couldn't return until the Dragon King had been dealt with.
It took a lot of convincing for Igneel to get Natsu to believe that he had the power to kill the most feared dragon in Earthland. Igneel had explained all about Acnologia's past, a dragon slayer that had turned permanently into a dragon, and said that only a true dragon slayer, that is a wizard one hundred percent in tune with his dragon could defeat him, and that it was the job of the true dragon slayer to kill Acnologia so that the dragons could return.
If not for the promised return of the dragons, the pinkette would have never even considered facing off against the Dragon King. But he had been searching for Igneel for years, and now he had the chance to bring back not only his father, but Gradeeney and Metalicana and every other dragon that had disappeared on July 7, X777.
And so Natsu had given his word. He promised to kill Acnologia. He was given the powers of a true dragon slayer.
Igneel had cautioned him, telling him that he had to learn to control his new powers, and that required being one with his power, not just using it. He had warned him that it would be difficult, more difficult than anything he had ever done.
Natsu had thought his father had been exaggerating, honestly how hard could it be to work with the dragon within him. They already shared the same body, mind, and magic, didn't they?
But it was. Until now, faced with the death of his mate, Natsu had never even gotten this close to his dragon. Now he knew that the dragon was more than just his magic, more than just his ability to use fire, more than just his enhanced senses. The dragon was another part of him, more animalistic, stronger, and angrier. It was more than just power. The dragon felt too, deeply.
He had finally merged with his dragon. All it had taken was the death of Erza.
He no longer cared about all the pain and heartbreak the red haired wizard had caused him in the span of a week. Natsu had let his dragon's jealousy get in the way of his logic. Now that they were one his dragon could see that Erza had only been concerned about a boy she had thought her friend when they had faced Oracion Seis and Jellal had been arrested, that she was worried about his tendency to get out of control and cause damage on a larger scale than intentioned. She never once thought that he would purposefully harm innocent people, only that he would unconsciously wreak more havoc than he needed and that they would be caught in the crossfire.
Erza had died, believing that he was angry at her, that he didn't love her. He had misunderstood her, drove them apart. It was his fault that his partner was dead. What he wouldn't give to be able to fix it, to go back and tell himself to stay and listen to her instead of leaving without a trace.
Natsu wailed mournfully, rearing on back legs and using them to launch himself into the sky. He circled above the metal dragon, hovered, inhaled until his lungs felt like they would burst, and released a blazing torrent so hot he could hear the metal melting.
He would deal with the insect that had killed his mate.
And then he would find a way to join her.
xxxNatsuErzaxxx
King Faust had never been near a volcano, but he imagined this is what sitting inside one that was ready to explode might feel like. The metal around him was bending and warping under the constant stream of fire. Sweat poured off him, evaporating practically immediately, until he felt dry and the slightest movement made him feel like his skin was cracking.
When he had hatched this plan to steal magic from Earthland, he had never imagined that anything like this could happen. He had known that the wizards from Earthland would be unable to use magic in Edolas, and he had carefully selected the targets of the Anima so as to avoid picking up a dragon slayer that would be capable of fighting against him. Even though the magic a dragon slayer wielded was extraordinary, the king could not risk a magic user that he could not control.
His plans had been completely destroyed because of the damn dragon slayer. The magic the pink haired wizard utilized was nothing he had ever seen. Faust had been caught surprised by the boy's shift into a dragon form, unprepared to deal with a true dragon and not just a kid that had a dragon's powers. His Dorma Anim was supposed to easily take care of the dragon slayer. Without his magic, the boy was nothing.
But Dorma Anim's nullification magic did not work against the dragon. Or the dragon was so strong that his machine was overpowered. Either way, it was bad news for King Faust, for he was going to be reduced to ashes in seconds.
xxxNatsuErzaxxx
Prince Jellal cursed under his breath as he made his way back to the palace. After Natsu had melted the door to their shared prison, he had set off immediately for Edolas's Fairy Tail, praying that the guild had no relocated yet.
He, Natsu, and Erza very extremely strong wizards. Based on Earthland's method of ranking wizards, he thought it reasonable to put them all on the level of the Ten Wizard Saints. But even so, they would need more than three abnormally powerful wizards to defeat his father.
So he had gone back to Fairy Tail, to convince them that they needed to stand and fight, that they could not run from the Royal Army forever. Jellal had repeated Natsu's words, desperate to make them see that the guild would not survive if they did not fight for what they believed in, that the Fairy Tail of Edolas had to fight for Edolas.
Lucy Ashley had refused again. She had firmly stated that no member of Fairy Tail was going to risk the destruction of their guild in a war they could not win.
So Jellal had left, hurling a few choice insults about their cowardice behind him, and set a fast pace back to the Royal City, finally understanding what Natsu had been saying earlier when he had claimed that that was not Fairy Tail.
They would have to make do without the guild. He could only hope that Natsu and Erza were faring better than he was.
xxxNatsuErzaxxx
Jellal froze above the Royal City, eyes widened as they tried to take in the sight he was seeing.
The Royal Army flew over the city, taking care to keep a great distance away from the dragon standoff below. That was what was the most surprising to him. That his father had resorted to what was supposed to be the city's last defense, not a weapon, and that Natsu was literally a dragon now.
Seeing that Natsu had it under control, Jellal tried not to think about the fact that there was no way that his father would survive the flames the dragon slayer directed at him, Jellal could fell them from where he was standing, he scanned the battlefield for Erza, the only person he didn't see. He had thought that she would be fighting with Knightwalker, or maybe besides Natsu.
But the only red head he could find was Erza Knightwalker, standing on the head of her Legion observing the fight between her King and the enemy.
'Where is she?' he thought. 'Did she try to find the lacrima?'
No. She was near. He could sense her magic. Jellal followed the faint trace of magic and was horrified to find her crushed under part of a giant stone pillar.
He dropped to his knees besides it. "Erza! Are you alright?" The scarlet haired female did not answer. Jellal ripped a staff of his back, concentrating on using wind magic to lift the pillar off of her body and throw it away. Once that was done he hastily turned her on her back, placing an ear against her chest, praying for the thump, thump of her heartbeat.
xxxNatsuErzaxxx
Natsu let up on the flames, satisfied that he had more than terrified the king hidden inside the dragon armor. He circled overhead once, twice more, and then dived, jaws and talons ripping through softened metal and exposing the King of Edolas.
The old man looked ready to faint as he landed in front of Dorma Anim and stared him down the length of his snout. A vicious snarl split his lips and the king screamed.
'Goodbye, Faust,' Natsu thought as he roared.
He gathered air into his lungs, prepared to release his flames on the king one last time, ready to destroy the man responsible for his mate's, for Erza's, death, when Jellal screamed his name.
"NATSU! STOP!"
Yes. I did make you wait over a month and left you with an evil cliffhanger. But I'm pretty sure you all know what just happened.