(Fairy Tail Guildhall)

Mavis woke up feeling strange. When she opened her eyes, she noticed that she was in one of the prison cells in the Guilds basement. Her arms were chained above her head and her feet didn't touch the floor so she was basically hanging from them.

But that wasn't the strangest feeling. It was her magic power. Or rather, her lack of magic power. Since she first awakened, she could feel a much larger amount of power flowing through her than before, courtesy of Fairy Heart. Now it felt just like it was before she had Fairy Heart in her body. That could only mean one thing. "It's gone." She whispered out in shock.

"So you noticed." A new voice said. Mavis looked and saw E.N.D. walking into the cell. "Lilith also had the power to extract magic. With her and Irene working together we were able to take out Fairy Heart ahead of schedule." He explained with a devilish grin.

"If you have what you want, then why am I still alive." Mavis asked as the Demon walked closer to her.

"Your perceptive, aren't you?" He said as he knelt down to get to eye level. "The truth is we still need something from you. You are the master strategist of Fairy Tail, right?"

She nodded slowly.

"Good. Now listen very carefully. You're going to use that big brain of yours to tell me exactly when and how Fairy Tail will strike and how to defeat them."

"Do you honestly think I would do that?" She asked.

E.N.D. got annoyed so he put his hand around her neck and heated it. Mavis began to cry as her flesh chard and boiled. "I'd think about my options if I were you." He said, tightening his grip on her neck. "You're not a ghost anymore. You're in a Human body now. With a very Human ability to die."

Mavis spat in his face. "Go to Hell." She whimpered through the pain.

He wipped the spit off his face and smiled at her. "Hell? Where do you think I come from?" He asked as he walked towards the door. "Lucky for you I have to go. But I'm leaving you in very capable hands."

Then a new figure towards the cell and walked in. It was a resurrected Kyoka. E.N.D. walked up to her before leaving the cell. "I want that information. Don't stop until she's broken."

Once he walked out, Kyoka extended her claws into whips and coated them with electricity. Then she amplified Mavis' sense of pain and began. From the hallways, E.N.D. could hear Mavis' screams fill the air.

(Era)

The royal guards were trying to stay calm as much as possible. But with the entire country being invaded, it wasn't easy. It was also hard to adjust now that Universe One had relocated the Magic Council's Headquarters.

They were all on the look out when one of them saw a figure flying towards them. Once the figure landed, it was revealed to be E.N.D. His horns and red eyes put the soldiers on edge. One of them got so nervous that he fired his weapon. The other soldiers joined in blasting the Demon, but he never so much as flinched. Eventually, they all stopped firing and one soldier got closer with his weapon still raised. "Wh-What is your business here?" He stuttered out.

E.N.D. smiled innocently at him. "Isn't it obvious?" The Demon asked as he knelt down and put his hands behind his head. "I surrender."

(With Fairy Tail)

The Dragons continued to fly away from the Guildhall. Never once did they stop and explain how it was possible for them to be alive. Not even when Gajeel, Wendy, Sting, and Rouge pestered them about it. They were determined to get as far away from E.N.D. as possible. Eventually, Gray stood up on Igneel's back and walked up his body. He positioned himself right next to Igneel's ear. "WOULD YOU STOP ALREADY!"

Igneel winced at the volume with which Gray screamed. Igneel looked back with a glare. "You little!-"

Grandeeney flew up next to him before he could burn Gray alive. "He's right Igneel. We're far enough now. Besides, we've kept them all waiting long enough."

Igneel snorted before he agreed and the Dragons all landed on the ground. Once grounded, the Fairy Tail mages climbed off the Dragon's backs. The Dragon's then turned back and saw their adoptive children looking like they would explode with questions.

"How are you here?!" Sting screamed.

Weisslogia was the first to go. "You have Igneel here to thank for that." He said extending his wing towards Igneel as if to point at him.

Everyone's eyes then went to Igneel to expand on it. "The story is more complicated than that." He said looking down at the Guilds. "Tell me, what do you know about E.N.D. and Natsu so far?"

"We know that Zeref and Natsu are brothers and they lived 400 ago until Natsu and their parents died. Then Zeref brought Natsu back to life as a Demon and gave him to you. And you took him through the Eclipse Gate and came to this time." Gray said before asking some questions of his own. "But Atlas Flame said that you fought E.N.D., not raise him. And if Natsu was brought back as a Demon then why have we always known the Human side of him?"

Igneel thought back for a moment before answering. "We have to go back to the beginning to understand. You see, in the beginning of the Dragon War, I chose to school Humans in the art of Dragon Slayer Magic. One of these Humans, was a man named Ryuu Dragneel."

Everyone was a bit shocked when they heard that surname but they let Igneel continue. "Ryuu and I became good friends. In fact, when most of the Dragon Slayers started killing the very same Dragons who wanted to help them, Ryuu helped to defend me against them. Ryuu also had a wife and two sons. I think you can guess their names."

"Natsu and Zeref Dragneel." Erza finished.

"Correct. Years later, Ryuu and his family were slaughtered in the Dragon's War. Zeref was the only surviving member of the attack."

Some people actually felt a little bad for Zeref after hearing that. Everyone in Fairy Tail were no strangers to lost loved ones.

"Zeref had always had a fascination with life and death. So when his family died, he worked tirelessly to find a way to bend the laws of nature and be reunited with his family. He built creations known as the Eclipse Gate and the R-System but both were unsuccessful at the time for the massive amount of magic that would have to be used. Zeref only continued working, but he never thought about the consequences of his actions. For you see, every magic in the world has a taboo that will result in disaster if broken. By creating those two machines to cheat life and death, he broke one of those sacred rules. So Zeref became cursed. As long as he existed in this world, he'd be incapable of anything but taking life." Igneel explained.

Then Grandeeney took over. "Zeref became so desperate to die and stop taking life, that he created Demons, hoping one would have the strength to kill him."

"He was unsuccessful in making a Demon strong enough for many years until he found the solution. His Demons were made from pure Ethernano, but if he constructed a Demon from a Human body, that Demon would be able to use a combination of Curse and Magic power that would be far stronger than the two could ever be apart." Metalicana added.

Lucy gasped. "Don't tell me he used..." She was to horrified to finish the sentence.

"He used the body of his own brother and breathed life into it once again. And thus, the Demon E.N.D. was born." Skiadrum said, finishing the thought.

"How could he do that? To his own brother." Gray said with his blood boiling.

"Because in a sense he was able to revive Natsu as well. You see, Natsu's Human personality merged with E.N.D. It caused him to differ from Zeref's other Demons in several ways." Weisslogia informed.

"Ways like what?" Gajeel asked.

"He developed free will. Zeref couldn't get him to obey a single order. So he sought me out to help as a friend." Igneel said earning a few confused looks.

"Friend?" Wendy asked confused.

"Zeref met me one day while he was gathering herbs by sheer coincidence. When I realized that Zeref was Ryuu's son, I felt inclined to help him. But he lead me to believe that Natsu was a random Human. I didn't know about his Demonic half or even that he was related to Zeref." Igneel said. "I raised Natsu for many years after that. Fed him, taught him, trained him as a Dragon Slayer, but there was always something strange about Natsu. Back then, he had to very separate sides to his personality. One, the Natsu we know now, was a gentle and adventurous soul. While the other was easily provoked and would destroy as much as possible for fun."

"And that was E.N.D." Gray finished.

"That's right. One day I questioned Natsu about it and he revealed exactly what he was to me. I realized then that Zeref didn't care about Natsu learning or being well behaved. He wanted me to teach Natsu magic. He tricked me into raising a weapon." Igneel still got angry just thinking about it.

"What did you do next?" Lucy asked.

"Once Natsu told me what he was, my immediate thought was... to kill him." Igneel admitted. "But God help me I couldn't bring myself to it. Not when I was such a close friend of his father's. So, in a way, I kidnapped Natsu from Zeref and stole the book of E.N.D. as well. Then I sealed away the Demonic half of Natsu within that book and wiped his memory of Zeref, Demons, all of it."

"But how are you here now?" Rouge asked.

"We didn't just seal our souls within you Dragon Slayers. We embedded a much larger portion within the book of E.N.D. as well. That way, if the seal was ever undone, we would be here to help stop E.N.D. But to be honest we all hoped it would never come to this." Igneel finished.

"Does that mean your here to stay this time?" Wendy asked, a bit afraid o the answer.

Grandeeney just smiled at her foster daughter. "That's right. I promise I won't leave you again."

Wendy cried a few tears of joy before throwing herself on Grandeeney's snout and hugging it.

"That still leaves one question though." Erza said. "I thought the seal on the book of E.N.D. couldn't be undone as long as magic was present in the world. How did Zeref undo it?"

"When our souls left the book we got a good look." Metalicana said. "It was in your Guilds basement with a bunch of crystals surrounding the book."

"Mavis' crystal?" Gray asked Erza.

"It makes sense. If the crystal could contain something as strong as Fairy Heart, why not Igneel's seal?" She said.

"You can seal him again right?" Lucy asked.

"No."

That freaked everyone out. The minute they saw the Dragons they thought they'd be able to help get Natsu back. Now they were saying that even they weren't able to do it.

"Why not?" Wendy called out.

Igneel sighed. "Back then, E.N.D. and Natsu were the same being. But E.N.D. is now completely in control. He's too strong to seal away this time."

"Then how do we get Salamander back?" Gajeel asked.

Igneel had to look away when he answered. "I...I don't think we can."

Everyone was struck silent by this proclamation. While others, mainly those in team Natsu, refused to accept it. Also, Sting and Rouge. "Then what are we suppose to do. Kill him?"

Sting meant it as a joke but Igneel's lack of response worried them. Then, he slowly nodded his head.

"Your kidding me." Gray stated, glaring up at the Fire Dragon. "Natsu is your son and your just going to give up on him?!"

Igneel glared right back and yelled in a booming voice. "DON'T YOU DARE THINK FOR ONE SECOND THAT I ENJOY THE THOUGHT! YOU MAY BE NATSU'S FRIEND BUT I RAISED HIM! THIS DOESN'T HURT ANYONE MORE THAN IT DOES ME!"

"Igneel! Calm down!" Grandeeney scolded. Igneel looked down and saw people cowering. He then realized how much he must have scared them.

"We all care about Natsu." Grandeeney said in a much more calm voice. "But as E.N.D., he could destroy Earthland. And it's not fair to say we would be killing Natsu. He died 400 years ago and yet he is still here. It's not natural."

"You died and yet here you are." Erza challenged. "You have no place to speak."

"Then what do you suppose we do?" Metalicana asked. "If you have a solution to this problem then please share it."

He had just asked the question no one wanted to hear. They just assumed that if they fought with everything they had then things would just work themselves out. But no one had actually come up with a way to release Natsu from Zeref's control. They simply just stood awkwardly in silence.

Igneel could feel the tension picking up so he chose to change the topic. "Where do we head next. If that was your Guildhall back there than where can the others and I rest. We have been flying all day."

"I guess we could go to Era. Maybe the Magic Council can help." Wendy suggested.

"Very well child. We saw it on our way to the Guildhall. It's not far from here." She said as she stretched out a wing to let everyone on her back.

Once Fairy Tail and the rest of the Guilds were on the Dragons, they took off for Era.

(Era)

The Dragons had chosen to stay a couple miles back so that they wouldn't cause a panic. That left the rest of the Guild to walk towards the building that the Magic Council used as a meeting place. Upon seeing Levy and Mest, some of the guards recognized them and let them in the building.

While the rest of the Guild stayed inside the hallway, resting, Team Natsu walked to the meeting room. When they entered, Hyperion, Wolfheim, Warrod, Jura, and four other men that they didn't recognize were inside.

Once Warrod saw them, he stood up to get the councils attention. "If you would excuse us, I think we could use a chat with Fairy Tail." With that said, the four unknown wizard saints left the room.

"It's good to see you're okay." Erza said. "I thought you would be in horrible condition after your fight with God Serena."

"Yes well the spell that rearranged Fiore sent us back here where we could receive medical treatment." Jura explained, but he seemed to have something else on his mind that did not go unnoticed by Erza.

"Is something the matter?" She asked.

"Well, do you know about the Demon E.N.D.?"

That shocked everyone. How did the council know about E.N.D.? "Yes. He's a Demon of Zeref that has currently possessed a member of our Guild. How do you know about him?"

"We know about him because he came here a few moments before you and surrendered." Hyperion informed them.

The team all had a single thought rush through their heads as he said that. Then Gray said it out loud. "Where is he?"

(Holding Cells)

The prison was a series of floating crystals, each one containing a single individual. Once E.N.D. arrived though, the council cleared everyone out and moved them to cages for their own safety.

The team stood on a balcony that over looked the crystal room and finally, their eyes landed on E.N.D. His crystal was floating next to one of those frog creatures that served the Magic Council, who was standing on a small floating platform. "How is Zeref planning on destroying Fiore?" It asked E.N.D.

"Not telling." E.N.D. said cutely.

"Have it your way." The frog then pushed his staff inside the crystal and lightning came from it and struck E.N.D. But the Demon wasn't hurt in the least.

"Ouch. Please stop. That hurts." He said sarcastically.

The frog then took his staff out of the crystal. "I'll get you to talk yet." He said floating away.

Once he was gone, E.N.D. put a hand behind his back and, from the armor that covered his hand, a claw extended from each finger. "Are you going to stay up there all day?" He called out. There was no one else in the room. It took the group a minute to realize it but they figured out he was talking to them.

Then E.N.D. started to carve into the crystal using his claws. "Come right down." He invited.

Now please, TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK PLEASE!

By the way, I may have totally gotten the idea for the Dragons souls being in the seal because of Naruto and that scene where his father appeared.

I said please twice. That has to count for something.

So see ya next time. ;)