Hey everyone it's Natsu here
Hope you liked the last chapter. This one is going to be interesting to say the least. Connor will be tested here today. New chapter cookie fresh from the oven.
Ch 37: Fading
"Crimson dragon roar!" Connor shouted for the 20th time today as he released the familiar stream of crimson fire. He panted heavily and fell to the ground on his knees. He had been feeling his body and magic only get weaker as his dark magic only grew. He thought maybe if he just kept using his crimson magic it would overpower his apocalypse. So far it only proved to make things worse by draining him. He shouted and slammed a fist into the ground as he began to sob "why..." he muttered to himself as his tears fell. Just another pile of shit for him to wade through.
He let out a sigh and stopped his tears "stop crying…" he whispered to himself as he reignited his fist in crimson flames and began to use a nearby tree as a punching bag, setting it ablaze as he roared, a voice nagging in the back of his mind to just give up and let the darkness win. He was done trying to control it, he was going to snuff it out completely this time. "Crimson dragon's blazing fist!" he roared as he burned the tree to ash.
XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX
Mountains of Fiore
Alistair sat in the center of the cave in which he and his horsemen had taken up residence in for the time being. Well less of a cave and more of a system of tunnels which he had carved out himself, one cave he found to be a strong source of magic energy due the walls of it being lined with raw lacrima crystals, and made it his meditation spot. It was almost restorative and felt quite good to the young prince of dragons. He released a breath "yes Death? What is it?" he asked his second in command and favorite trophy.
"If my master allows it, I would like some questions answered" She replied.
"Bold as always, so be it" he stood to face her and stared directly into her pale golden eyes.
Death winced and felt herself shrivel up when he looked at her with those piercing blue eyes, they had this way of just boring into your essence and picking away at your weaknesses until you were just a fragment of your former self, she had seen him do it to many people and even though she feared nothing, she was death after all, she always feared how he could do that people. She gulped and let out a quick breath "The young lord, your brother, why are you hunting him again?" she began with a question she asked many times, it often helped to ease into other questions
"You are very lucky I like you so much or you would be a bloodstain on the floor for asking me this question for the twentieth time" Alistair said with a sick smile then he sighed "we, notice how I said we?" he asked and she nodded in response "we hunt him because my father wants him back. Satisfied?"
"why does your father want him if he is weaker than you?" She asked
Alistair sighed, he thoroughly despised this question "Believe it or not, dragons do not live forever, anyone who tells you otherwise is an imbecile. Especially dragons who were once human" he began to explain "He is the king of dragons, and what does a king need?"
"A kingdom?"
"Yes that, but almost as importantly, he needs an heir, someone to rule in his place, to be quite frank I think that's the only reason he decided to train my brother and I at all, but that's beside the point. He wants someone to take his throne when he is dead. Connor is the heir my father wants, he believes Connor has a power in him that I don't something that makes him worthy of the title king of dragons"
"but neither of you are dragons my lord" Death pointed out
Alistair smirked that sinister smirk he wore whenever he was ready to destroy something "Do you know how my father became a dragon my dear?" he asked her and she shook her head. He chuckled and continued "He bathed in the blood of every dragon he killed, he used his magic a little too much and all that put together brought him into his dragon form"
"Then how do you become a dragon? The dragons aren't here anymore and your father has yet to show you where they are"
Alistair removed the robes he wore, leaving him in a pair of simple black jeans and a black shirt. His arms however were not so simple, they had what appeared to be black scales covering his arms up to his elbows "It appears that the dragon slayers back home were enough for a partial transformation, a new generation is beginning my dear" He said as he admired the thick scales covering his body parts "and I will spearhead the bringing of this new age" He chuckled and looked Death directly in her eyes, piercing her very being and causing her to shudder then he spoke, calmly but with a hint of insanity "Now, I told you why we hunt my brother, well the reason I hunt him is much different. I'm going to tear him down and destroy all he cares for, until all that's left is the darkness deep within him and when he has hit his limits and reached his full potential, then and only then is when I will crush him, take the power he holds and ascend past my father's power then kill him and take his place"
Death gulped and began to shake, the question she had been meaning to ask him was now long forgotten. The scales were a big enough shock but his plan, it was pure insanity no one could kill Acnologia, the only one who could ever have a chance would be another dragon but even then it was near impossible. "My lord, do you truly plan on killing your father? You understand what happens to us if you die don't you?"
"That is why you are helping me isn't it? I created you to be my servants, my horsemen who would bring in my next age. Enough questions, ready the other horsemen, we strike tonight" he put his cloak back on and sat back on the floor to continue his meditation "Tonight little brother, your essence will be mine.."
XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX
Later that evening
The guild was frantic as more and more requests for more wizards came flooding in, eventually the job board was forsaken in favor for communication lacrima. The reason for such a high amount of jobs was the sudden influx of unknown and never before seen creatures terrorizing Fiore. Fortunately there were also creatures that they did know like the capra demon, chimaera and hellhound due to the information Connor had given them a long while ago and while that helped many guilds still struggled to fight off all of these creatures they struggled to fight the ones that Connor had yet to identify.
Team Natsu was currently trying to think of a way to get Connor back into the action due to him not yet arriving. They had seen his magic, more specifically his roar, blasting into the sky from his home in the woods but the crimson dragon himself emerge from his hiding hole.
"Maybe we should just try to talk to him. Explain the situation and let him make his own choice. I'm pretty sure he's still shaken up" Lucy offered.
"I agree with Lucy, we shouldn't force him into anything" Wendy agreed
Natsu just grunted from his seat as he watched his fellow guild mates still rush around the guild to get their jobs and help the people of Fiore
"It's an emergency, Connor would understand with the circumstances. We don't have time to talk about it" Gray argued
Erza nodded in agreement "Gray is right, Connor will understand"
"We can't just force him into something like this. You saw what happened to him" Lucy argued right back.
"We can if people could end up losing their lives" Gray retorted.
Natsu sighed and decided very quickly to take matters into his own hands. He got up with Happy at his side and they left the guild hall to find Natsu's crimson cousin.
XxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxX
"C-Crimson dragon... Roar..." Connor practically whispered, now almost drained of energy and magic. The only result from his last spell was a few crimson embers which ejected from his gullet. He coughed and fell to the ground with a heavy groan of exhaustion "I hate my life..." he muttered to himself as he struggled to stand again.
"Give it up already Connor, you're losing it dumbass.." A voice that sounded like his own taunted him from just on top of him.
Connor looked up and saw himself, although instead of his normal bloody red eyes he had the same piercing blue eyes as his brother and he wore a wicked smile.
"Fu-fu…" Connor managed to mutter before his dark self shushed him
"what a naughty mouth Connor, Mom would be so disappointed in you" Dark Connor teased him
That only served to piss Connor off even further. He stood and glared at his dark self which only returned his angered look with a satisfied and almost maniacal grin. Connor then attacked his other self with a fist of pure crimson rage only to have his fist caught and engulfed in the black and blue swirling energy of the apocalypse dragon while his double laughed and forced him to his knees. "look at you! Trying so hard to fight back! It's useless Connor! This is the real you!" The dark version cackled as Connor continued to fight back against his fate.
"shut up! I'll never be like you!" Connor roared as he slammed his free fist into his double's face and the copy disappeared into a puff of darkness, accompanied by an insane man's giggle. Connor fell to his knees with a heavy breath and an even heavier mind "I can't be like you… not again…"
"Hey cus!? You alright!?" Natsu's voice called through the trees.
"We need your help at the guild Connor!" Happy shouted.
Before Connor could reply, he fell to the floor, drained and ready to lay there and die. Natsu left the thickness of the brush and rushed to Connor's side, got him back to his feet and while Happy held him upright, force fed him some fire. Connor's breathing steadied and he managed to stand on his own two legs. "I'm fine you guys, really I am" He muttered as he took a deep breath and calmed his shaking body.
"I don't have to be smart to know that's a lie Connor" Natsu said with a worrying frown.
"Then I'll be fine, is that better?" Connor said with a sigh "what is it you guys needed help with?"
"We're pretty sure your brother is attacking Fiore with a bunch of monsters" Happy began urgently explain "we need your help to beat him"
Connor grit his teeth and held back a frightened shudder at the mention of his brother "what do you mean my help? I'll be useless against him, I'm too scared"
Natsu frowned and slapped his crimson cousin "so stop being so scared, you said you would fight with him with us and that's what you're doing so get a hold of yourself Cus and let's go kick his butt"
Connor touched his cheek which was now a bright red with Natsu's palm mark and stared at him for a moment before looking away and gritting his teeth and clenching his fists to hold back all the shudders of fear running through him now "Fine… You're right Natsu. I can't be afraid anymore.." He said, thinking about that illusion of his evil double, there was no running from that destiny, there was no fighting that power, all that was left was to accept this fate he had been given "Let's go save Fiore" he said as he drew his blade and began his first steps to battle.
Hey everyone, it's Natsu here
This was actually really hard to figure out. I wanted an inner conflict for Connor and yes i know the whole evil double illusion thing has been done a lot of times but it was my solution. Anyway I need to ask all of you something really important. We're nearing the end of this story and I need to know if you all want a sequel. Please PM me or something to let me know alright? Til next time guys