Chapter 26
All over the continent guild worked to try and destroy the faces but to no avail, they seemed to be completely resistant to all kinds of magic. Just outside Magnolia, Gray and Natsu were still arguing over the book of E.N.D
"give me the book Gray" Natsu demanded
"the faces have activated this is our only chance to destroy E.N.D, don't you see that" Gray said
"my dad told me to get the book and I will" Natsu got ready to fight
"it's useless once all your precious magic is gone the seal that binds Master E.N.D will be broken and he will be free" Mard Geer said from his crater
"NO WAY IN HELL THAT WILL HAPPEN" Natsu shouted
The ground shook as the black dragon fell to the earth and everyone present looked on in shock and disbelief, "it-it's Acnologia" Gray said not believing his eyes
Everything was still as the dragon seemed dead and Igneel stood over the black dragon, "hope is not lost, do not give up humans" Igneel roared
As the mages trying to destroy the faces were just about to give up the white towers were brought down in an instant. Winged creatures flew at unmatched speeds right through the faces as if they weren't even there. All across Ishgar the mighty roar of the dragons could be heard as they effortlessly destroyed the faces.
"my kin are free at last" Igneel said, "we soar through the skies once again"
Everyone let out cries of victory as the celebrated, "ok fess up where you been?" Natsu asked his father, "and where are the other dragons"
"all the dragons were inside their respective dragon slyer children" Igneel confessed, "we used magic to allow our spirits and power to lay dormant inside you"
"so that's what those heart palpitations were, your powers were awakening" Rouge put together
"yes we did this to stop you dragon slayers from turning in to dragons and becoming like Acnologia" Igneel told them, "and secondly…."
Before Igneel could continue Acnologia shot up and took off to the skies, with Igneel right on his tail, "wait dad what was the second reason?" Natsu asked as his father flew off
"we'll finish this later just get that book" Igneel told his son
"what book does he want?" Sting wondered
"it's the one Gray's holding" Kalex told them
"yeah and he still needs to hand it over" Natsu turned towards Gray
"no way, I promised my dad that I would destroy E.N.D, no matter what it took" Gray stood ready to fight
The two friends waited for the other to strike when the book of E.N.D vanished from Gray's hand, "what the, where did it go?" Gray asked confused
"YOU GOTTA BE KIDDIN ME" Natsu shouted
"I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING" Gray shouted back
"thank you for taking care of my book" everyone looked over to the source of the voice
A black haired young man wearing robes made his way on to the scene, holding the demonic book, everyone, including the demon, looked on in shock and fear at this new arrival.
"it's quite important to me" the black wizard said
"Zeref" Natsu muttered
"that was a valiant effort, Mard Geer" Zeref spoke casually as he walked past the demon, "you came so close to reviving E.N.D, now rest"
"Lord Zeref" Mard Geer reached out to his creator, "I only wanted to fulfil my promise to you"
"sadly you have failed" Zeref snapped his fingers and Mard Geer disappeared in to a book which was burnt to ash
"didn't you create him?" Gray asked the black wizard
"yes but what I create I destroy as well" Zeref answered
"how about I destroy you" Kalex appeared next to Zeref and punched him right in the face
"if only you could" Zeref said as he sent Kalex flying, the black wizard looked up to the two dragons fighting, "I wonder will Acnologia change history again or will there be a miracle, not even I know the answer"
"what the hell are you talking about?" Natsu asked
"I am just interested to see how you will survive this new era of darkness" Zeref told Natsu, "if you can at all"
Zeref turned his back on the mages and walked away, book in hand, before he completely vanished without a trace. Meanwhile in the skies above, Acnologia was gaining the upper hand as he forced Igneel to the ground.
"son" Igneel said telepathically, "I will give you an explanation while I still can"
"what are you talking about dad?" Natsu looked around for the voice
"I told you there were two reasons the dragons lived inside you, number one was to stop any physical transformation" Igneel told Natsu as the boy sprinted off to find his father, "and second was so we could fix our mistakes, we dragons brought Acnologia in to this world and we needed to be the ones to destroy him"
"NO DAD WE CAN DO IT TOGETHER" Natsu shouted as he ran towards the two dragons
"no Natsu he's too strong, stay away" Igneel warned his son, "that's an order"
"I don't give a shit" Natsu said as he kept running to his father, "I'm not going to lose you again"
Igneel pushed Acnologia off of him and the two took to the skies once again. Natsu looked up as the two dragons charged towards each other for the final blow of this fight. Igneel managed to bit Acnologia's entire left arm off but the black dragon ripped right through the dragon king's torso. Natsu watched in horror as his father fell to the ground; all the memories that they shared flashed before his eye, learning magic together, learning to read and write, flying on his dad's back, learning to cook by himself and even when Igneel left him.
Acnologia circled around and delivered one last roar to the falling dragon as Natsu ran towards his father. The sun started to rise as Natsu let loose an endless stream of tears. All the other mages found their way to him just as the dragons landed.
"you're really back Grandeeney" Wendy was on the verge of tears as she looked up at her mother
"yes we have returned and Acnologia has been repelled" the sky dragon said, "you did well destroying that face"
"thanks but Carla did most the hard work" Wendy said as she wiped tears from her eyes
Gajeel looked up at his father without saying a word, "so that's Metalicana" Lilly said as he looked up at the dragon
"so that's your dad" Levy looked at the dragon in wonder
"you still look like you just swallowed rust" the iron dragon spoke up
"SAME TO YOU" Gajeel shouted
All the dragon slayer talked with their parents until the topic of how they were still alive came up, "in truth we have been dead for many years" Grandeeney revealed, "many years ago Acnologia tore our spirits from our bodies and so we had to reside within you"
"so you mean?" Wendy asked
"yes now we have left your bodies we cannot return" the shadow dragon answered
"Igneel could not defeat Acnologia but he fought from the very edge of death" the iron dragon said, "when you speak of this day remember that fact, none among us has his strength or his courage or even his love for humanity"
The dragon slayers looked over to the dead dragon's body and the mage crying in front of it. Natsu knelt on the ground as his tears flowed, "I failed you dad so I can't hold it against you for leaving but I had so many questions and things I wanted to tell you" Natsu could barely get the words out, "please stay, I searched for so long, I've learnt to write and I can cook my own food and I have made the best friends so dad, PLEASE DON'T GO!"
"we have only told you a fraction of what we wanted but our time here is up" the sky dragon announced
"what?, you're leaving again?" Wendy asked
"the path ahead is dangerous but I know you are strong enough to walk it" the sky dragon told her daughter
"no I can't, not without you" Wendy looked down as tears fell from her face
"let's send them off with a smile kid" Gajeel made Wendy look up
The dragons set off in to the sky as their bodies began to disappear, "PLEASE DON'T LEAVE!" Wendy shouted after her mother
"I will always love you Wendy" the sky dragon said before vanishing
"you should get that face checked out" the iron dragon said before he left this world
"WAY TO RUIN THE MOMENT YOU RUST BUCKET" Gajeel shouted as he wiped a tear from his eyes
"thanks for everything, Weisslogia" Sting told his father
"rest well, Skiadrum" Rouge bid farewell to his father as the two dragons vanished
The body of Igneel started to disappear as Natsu continued crying, "cut out it with those water works" Natsu heard the voice of his father, "I taught you what to do when you feel like this, didn't I"
"I remember" Natsu said as he looked at the ground
"then get up and prove it" Igneel told him, "I have been with you all this time and nothing has made me more proud than seeing what you've become, I will always be in your heart, now show me the burning fire you have in you"
"I WILL WORK HARDER AND BECOME STRONGER AND I WILL TAKE DOWN ACNOLOGIA!" Natsu shouted to the sky
"that's it, look to the future that is where the power of life lies" Igneel told his son before disappearing forever
A week past and everyone got to work on rebuilding the town and getting back to normal. Bit by bit everything was getting back to normal and most of the guild members were acting like they usually would. Natsu and Happy were going through their things and packing up.
"so how much money do we have?" Natsu asked his cat
"about a 130,000 jewel" Happy told him
"so we're kinda poor" Natsu said
"we wouldn't be if someone hadn't stolen our safe" Happy said, "we had enough dough for 10 years in there"
"we'll make it work" Natsu flashed Happy a smile
"aye" Happy smiled back
Lucy made her way to her front door, "ALL RIGHT PARTY'S OVER YOU TWO" she shouted as she opened the door but, for the first time ever, she found no one in her home
Lucy noticed a letter sitting on her table, she walked over and opened it, "wow someone writes even worse than Erza" she muttered as she read on until she got to the main part, "WHAT THE HELL!"
Lucy rushed out of her house to find the two idiots who sent her the letter. She ran all around Magnolia, with tears in her eyes, but she couldn't find a single trace of the fire dragon slayer. A day after Natsu had left on his yearlong training mission, Makarov called all the members of Fairy tail together.
"what going on Gramps?" Gray asked as everyone arrived
"I need to let you brats find your own way so I am officially disbanding Fairy tail" Makarov announced to everyone
The entire guild started to argue with him but Erza came to his defence, "if this is what master wants then we must respect his wishes"
"you can't be ok with this Erza" Gray said, "and where the hell is Natsu he should be here"
"Natsu is gone he won't be back for some time" Lucy told them as she held back tears
"it doesn't matter what you say, Fairy tail is no more" Makarov walked away as the guild members looked on in shock
A few more days past and Erza received a knock on her door while she was in the middle of packing up her things. She sighed as she went to open it and found Kalex standing at her door, "what do you want?" Erza asked
"to say goodbye this might be the last time we ever see each other" Kalex said
"well goodbye" Erza said, feeling kind of sad to see him go
"and to get a million jewel" Kalex finished and that feeling left Erza
"and why would I give you a million jewel?" she asked
"our bet was that the loser gives their life to the victor and I won so give me 2 million jewel" Kalex said
Erza gritted her teeth but her honour wouldn't let her back out, "fine come in" she sighed as she invited him in
"nice place you got here, it looks much better in the day" Kalex said as he looked around
"what?" Erza asked
"nothing" Kalex kept on looking at her armours
"here's your money this better be the last thing I do for you" Erza said handing him some notes
"it won't" Kalex said as he took the money with a smile on his face
"shouldn't that have healed already" Erza noticed he still had a bandage on his forehead
"it's just taking it's time" Kalex's hand went up to the bandage as he put on a smile
"want me to take a look at it?" Erza asked kind of worried
"no it'll be fine" Kalex said nervously as he left the knights home
All the members of Fairy tail went their separate ways and within a few weeks the town of Magnolia was completely free of any Fairy tail mages.
End of chapter 26