Earthland-2, Tower of Heaven, X784: Natsu

Simon's Darkness Magic swirled away, revealing a gloomy, circular room with freaky runes. In the center was a massive lacrima, while Siegrain lounged in a creepy throne and the latest Zalty model stood beside him. Erza and Shou rushed in a moment later. "Siegrain!" Erza roared. Wow. She sounds kinda like a dragon herself, Natsu thought. "This is the end!"

"Is it?" Siegrain chuckled and waved his hand over a creepy chess board thing. Two magic circles appeared over it, a weird magic square forming between them. "This is Etherion," he explained, gesturing at the symbols. "As far as the council knows, the infamous Fairy Tail has taken over my Tower of Seals, and you're using it to revive Zeref." His mad grin widened. "You fiends," he quipped, wagging a finger at them. "Etherion will strike the Tower in seven minutes." All four Fairy Tail wizards gasped. "The end won't be what you think it is, Scarlet."

"Quick, let me out!" Jellal called from Shou's deck. Simon gaped. Siegrain's smile vanished.

"What were you doing hiding in Shou's card, anyway?" Natsu grumbled. Then he grinned. "Never mind. This way, you can't hog all the fighting with Meteor. I'm all fired up!" He pounded his fists together while Shou released Jellal.

"The famous Salamander," Zalty drawled, rubbing her hands. "Yes, yes, I'm keeping him."

"Not now, Daphne," Siegrain hissed. Natsu's jaw dropped, but no one else reacted. Wait, everyone else knew? Natsu wondered, but that concern vanished when Sieg rose from his stupid throne. "Jellal, you need to leave," Siegrain insisted, one fist trembling. "You don't have any magic left."

"Go to Grim," Jellal snarled, "brother." He swallowed enormous gulps of air, but Natsu could sense that he wasn't getting much energy from the effort. "I swear, neither of you is going to enslave anyone ever again, even if I have to tear myself apart for the power!"

"Jellal," Erza whispered. Natsu could hear the terror in her voice, and he paled. Erza's not supposed to be afraid, he thought.

Siegrain glared at the five wizards. "Six minutes. Fight or run." His smile, sharp and broken, returned. "Not that it matters."

Something in Natsu snapped, and the rage lit Igneel's fire inside him. Wild power roared through his body, and he launched himself at the disgusting mirror image of his guild mate and mentor. "He's your brother, you jerk!"

Daphne-Zalty-whoever leaped between Natsu and Siegrain. Doesn't matter. Siegrain ought to be Erza's anyway. He turned his most ferocious smile on the Zalty puppet – I'm calling you Zaltoo, he decided – and smashed her face with his fist. Her nose snapped, turning into a flat gooey mess on her face. The goo was a weird blue-white stuff instead of blood, but it hardly mattered. That felt good.

Her nose popped back into place, and she smiled back, taking in a deep breath. Fake Dragon Roar? Let's see how you do against the real thing! Natsu leaped back. "Fire Dragon – ROAR!" he shouted, bringing up his hands and doing his thing. Zaltoo unleashed a beam of blue-tinged white light. The twin roars exploded against one another. Zaltoo's beam won, and the explosion threw Natsu back several feet. Nuts. That wasn't supposed to happen. A quick glance over his shoulder told Natsu that Shou and Simon were protecting Jellal; the prodigy was drawing a magic circle on the floor with a burnt piece of stick.

They took his chalk? Natsu's outrage burned hotter at that for some reason. Of course they did. Jellal's scary with chalk. It didn't matter – his rage would not be denied. A quick check-in with Erza showed her holding her own against Siegrain, so he gave Zaltoo his undivided attention. "Burning Iron Fist!" he chanted, flying at the puppet with all his might. She half-dodged, his blow glancing off her shoulder, but that was enough to send his enemy sprawling.

The battle continued like this for several minutes. Natsu knew this, because that creep Siegrain had to announce it every time Etherion got closer to firing. "Five minutes to Etherion." Dodge, punch, blast. "Four minutes to Etherion." Kick, elbow, block. "Three minutes to Etherion," he mocked. Natsu ground his teeth at the two minute mark. Man, I want to knock his teeth in, he thought, but Erza was pushing Siegrain back, and Zaltoo was still fighting.

"Simon, get Shou and Jellal out of here!" Erza cried a second later.

"No," Jellal insisted. "We're safe. We have to be. Daphne may not be here, but that's Siegrain's real body. His soul's in it." The star mage frowned. "And he's a coward." Siegrain turned to look at Jellal, eyes bugging out like Gray's when he loses his clothes, and Erza smacked him in the chest with Perdition. Natsu couldn't help chuckling a bit while he tried to axe-kick Zaltoo in the wing.

"Etherion won't kill us," Siegrain admitted, grunting as he fell back, "but if you knew why, you would run anyway. One minute to my ultimate victory!"

Light poured down over them. The air started to taste different, reminding Natsu of the faint tang of a thunderstorm. It was lighter and smoother, like the difference between milk chocolate and dark, but it also burned a little more, like hot candy. Man, this stuff is making me hungry, he mused. That's when the light crystal turned on over Natus's head. "Is that your best dragon roar, Zaltoo? I've met scarier torches!"

"An obvious ploy," Zaltoo smirked, "but I'll indulge you. I win either way!" She breathed in, and Natsu braced himself.

"Jellal, get out of here!" Erza cried, an overhand smash missing Siegrain by a full inch.

Jellal drew faster. "I'm not leaving you! Simon can take Shou if–"

Natsu lost the rest in the explosion of Zaltoo's roar. He opened his mouth and swallowed the explosive beam. Weird lights popped up around Zaltoo's eyes, but Natsu didn't have time to figure out what they were, because eating Wally's block-bullet had nothing on this. He howled and ran around the throne room, waving at his mouth and trying to curse out Zaltoo. Nothing coherent came out, though, because his tongue was numb.

Erza and Siegrain stopped fighting in mid-swing, both of them gaping at Natsu as he flailed. Simon slapped his forehead while Shou sweat-dropped. Jellal finished his magic circle, shouted something, then looked up, eyes bulging at the scene. Then Simon's magic lashed out and grabbed the other two boys, and light consumed the world an instant later.

With everyone blinded, Natsu had a moment to digest. Once the sting goes away, it's actually pretty tasty, he decided. Kinda like getting shot with a cinnamon roll. Power surged through him, though rather than the usual blaze beneath his skin, it was like someone had rolled a thunderstorm into a wire-thin surge of liquid ethernano and injected it into his veins.

His sight came back first, though Siegrain had shielded his eyes. The room with all the creepy stonework had been replaced by more lacrima than Natsu had ever seen in his life. It was suffused with so much power Natsu could smell it, like the mix of ozone and wet grass after a Laxus-sized storm. "Fools, all of you," Siegrain chuckled. "The Cult of Zeref thought to use all that power to resurrect a man who still lives." Natsu blinked while Erza gasped. "The Council fired its ultimate weapon right next to a major city, out of fear that the man who isn't dead will be brought back to life." Jellal's double leered at Erza. "And you. Coming here to save your boyfriend from a man who'd do anything to protect him. Technically, I don't need a sacrifice to use my S-System, but it does have its advantages – and I've waited eight long years to be rid of you!"

"Who's not dead?" Natsu asked. Everyone's sight had clearly been restored, because they all turned and looked at him with wide eyes. "Besides us, I mean."

"Zeref," Erza whispered, and suddenly the "not-dead-guy" thing wasn't so funny any more. "He's saying that the Dark Wizard Zeref is still alive. All those years of misery, for nothing?"

"Yes, yes," Zaltoo replied, shrugging. "That's what happens when a bunch of mostly magic-less morons worship the greatest wizard who ever lived."

Siegrain laughed, his smile crooked and sharp. "Wait until you find out where he is." He stopped laughing all at once, Meteor exploding around him. His Wizard Saint coat exploded away and disintegrated, revealing a tight, reinforced battle suit. "Oops. My mistake." He glared at Erza. "You won't live long enough to learn." Siegrain turned into a blur, too fast for even Natsu's senses to track, and he pummeled Erza with such speed and power that she screamed and flailed in the air in spite of her Purgatory Armor.

"Oh," Zaltoo added, "did we mention, Jellal's stolen energy was powering a Thought Projection in Era?" She flared her wings out again, eyeing Natsu and licking her lips. "A Thought Projection we no longer need. Yes, yes, yes, yes! Siegrain gets Titania, Salamander, but you are all mine!" She flew at Natsu, the Dragon Slayer barely able to fend off a vicious barrage of claw slashes. The Grim? Is she chowing down on Jellal's magic too? A quick sniff corrected him. Aw, crap – she got some power from the lacrima blast thing. She laughed again. "My victory will mean the rebirth of dragon-kind! Yes! Yes!"

With a gentle pop, Simon, Jellal, and Shou returned. Jellal slapped his magic circle – wait, how is that thing even still there? Natsu wondered – and a massive jet of fire erupted from it.

And what a fire! The blinding golden flame smelled like deep-roasted steak soaked in desert pepper sauce. Just a whiff of the stuff had Natsu salivating. "Thought so," the Starburst muttered. "Natsu! Show them what a Fairy Tail Dragon Slayer can do!"

Simon and Shou hammered Zaltoo while Natsu dove at the tremendous flame, shoving it into his mouth with both hands. Every bite made him feel more powerful, more alive, than anything he'd ever known. Muscles bulged. Scales formed along his skin. Nails became deadly claws. An explosion of raw dragon fire burst to life around him, the Dragon Slayer unable to hold it in. The remaining flames of Jellal's spell merged with the aura and Zaltoo's fake Dragon Roar. Igneel himself seemed to echo around Natsu like a memory brought to life. "Okay, Jellal, job's done," Simon insisted. "You need to leave until your magic's back."

Jellal's jaw twitched. "Please, Jellal," Erza whispered. The star mage sighed and nodded, and Simon wrapped Jellal's form in fluid shadows. When the darkness receded, Jellal was gone. "Natsu," Titania called. "We need to switch opponents."

"What?" Natsu blurted, stopping in mid-punch while Zaltoo braced herself. "I can take this robot-zombie-thing!"

Erza blocked another barrage of Siegrain's magic, this one the same creepy shadows-and-blood-runes that Zalty used when she was being extra creepy. "That's not it. I hate Siegrain, but...he's still Jellal's brother."

Oh. Crap. Natsu concentrated, and the world slowed down. Siegrain was still ridiculously fast, but at least he wasn't a blur any more. Everyone else was moving in super-slo-mo, like when Romeo would play with movie settings. I bet Erza could take him, even with all that magic Siggy stole, but the jerk has Jellal's face. I don't get much about romantic stuff, but it's gotta be extra hard beating on your boyfriend's twin. His grin returned. Me? I've wanted to plant my fist in that face for seven years.

Time resumed something resembling its normal course, Natsu launching himself at Siegrain in an explosion of power a lot like Fukuro's rocket pack. "Hey, Siggy!" Siegrain turned in perfect synch with Salamander's leap for his face to fly right into the Dragon Slayer's punch. "I'm all fired up!"

"Come back here – AAAH!" Zaltoo screamed as Erza ripped a wing off of her with Perdition.

"I am your opponent," Erza hissed.

"You idiots!" Siegrain barked, trading high-speed punches with Natsu. Yeah, try and out-pummel me, you – ow, ow, ow! The Salamander reeled as Siegrain's speed overwhelmed even this new dragon force. Ooo, Dragon Force, I like that, he thought, even through the pummeling. "We've already won! I've already transmitted more than a billion Edeas to my allies, the Council has collapsed, the Satellite Square is in ruins, and we have all the Zeref Keys! Your only hope is to flee, yet still you fight?"

Natsu directed his newfound power into his aura. Siegrain flew back, flames trailing from his fancy armor. "If you're so sure you're gonna win," Dragneel snarled, breath crackling like flames, "why are you trying to convince us to run?"

Siegrain glared at him, and Natsu couldn't help grinning back. "Fine. I admit it. For once, you're right." He made that weird gesture Jellal used sometimes, hands meeting in front of him, two fingers up, five down – oh crap, that's – "Be judged by the Seven Stars! GRAND CHARIOT!" Natsu raced at the Wizard Saint, but the spell came down too fast. "Die."

I'm pretty sure that if I wasn't so dragon-y right now, I would be dead, Natsu decided, his only movement twitching in a lacrima crater. Everything hurts. Siegrain walked to the crater's edge, glaring down his nose at the Slayer. "You would have been no match for me even without Jellal's power. With it? You weren't even work." He casually blocked another barrage from Simon and Shou, not even looking at them as he turned toward Erza. Titania, of course, had already smashed Zaltoo into robot zombie paste. "At last. I hope Daphne's dragon-catcher didn't cost you too much power, Scarlet. I want to savor thi–"

Natsu shot up and punched the creep in the gut. He followed up with a Fire Dragon Roar, sending the Councilor sprawling across the crystal floor. "Oi! We're not done yet, Siggy." Natsu smiled again, ignoring the bruised mass that made up his flesh.

Crouched on the smooth lacrima, Siegrain stared in furious, shuddering disbelief at the grinning Dragon Slayer. "I felt that." He clawed at the air, a sphere of dark power forming above his palm. Natsu stumbled, an all-too-familiar nausea pooling in his gut. Motion sickness? Zen, it's even worse than that – I can feel the anger in his spell...no, the hate...it's screeching, a charnel stench, crawling over my skin, down my throat, like a spider army – All at once, Siegrain stood, hands crossed over his head. Natsu dropped to his knees. "I. Said. Die. ALTAIRIS!"

Unable to move, much less fight, Natsu could only stare with sick fury at the massive, hungry sphere as it flew at him. Then Erza was in front of him, Perdition held up like a shield, and Natsu couldn't even scream.

The explosion threw lacrima all around them, table-sized shards of the crystal consumed by the spell and vanishing, while even larger pieces flew into the columns, or past them to fall to the sea. "Erza," Natsu gasped, but she was hardly even bruised, standing before him with Perdition slack in her hand. Duh. Should've known she'd be okay. The crawling horror having vanished, Natsu stood and walked towards Erza.

He froze when he saw past Erza, Simon standing in front of her. He, too, looked more or less unharmed, but he was gasping, and Natsu smelled tears – and then he saw in front of Simon, where most of Shou was falling over, ruined cards raining down around the broken blond.

The universe cracked above the wounded card mage. No crystal hung there, but the break looked like a crack in a mirror, jagged and random. Blood dripped from it. It smells like...Jellal? Natsu shook his head, putting the scent aside. That's who we need. Natsu stood between his friends and Siegrain, arms held out in a ready stance for claw strikes, his entire body sheathed in flame. "Simon. Jellal. Now," Natsu demanded.

Simon vanished. "Shou, hang on," Erza pleaded. The shadow mage reappeared with Jellal an instant later. Jellal cried out and rushed to Shou's side, but Natsu lost whatever the Starburst said when Siegrain laughed.

"Not the Tower leech I wanted to eliminate first," the Wizard Saint mocked, "but you have to start somewhere." More sickening darkness flowed toward his palm. "No matter. Even without Jellal's power, killing my way to Erza is–"

Natsu punctuated the murderer's sentence with a fist to his face. The Dragon Slayer knew he wanted to tell Siegrain something, but nothing formed except rage and screaming and suddenly he was faster than anything in Fiore. Siegrain darted away and fired a Starburst at Natsu, but he just flew right through it and slammed into his target's chest with Sword Horn.

All at once, Natsu remembered what he wanted to say. His fists turned into a blur of Crimson Lotus magic, pounding on Siegrain like a typhoon of flame. "Wally! Millianna! Simon! Gray! Lucy! Happy! Jellal! Erza!" Memories stabbed at Natsu's heart...

Natsu and Shou dangled from Erza's hands, each of them covered in bruises and gripped by their collars. While Erza lectured them, Shou smiled at Natsu. The young Dragon Slayer grinned back. That was a great fight, Natsu decided...

...Shou scattered his cards across the table. "I'm sorry, Natsu. I'm no good at divination. You should've asked Cana."

"I did," Natsu replied, shrugging. "She couldn't find Igneel either. Did you get anything?"

"It came out as 'look inside yourself.' I don't think that could've been more cliché if I wanted," Shou admitted. "I suck at this."

"Hey, you tried," Natsu encouraged, earning a squawk from the blond when he pulled Shou into a one-armed hug. "Thanks!"

Shou's grin returned. "What are friends for?"...

...Shou leaped over a whirling staff made of Wave Magic. "Gods, nii-san's really putting us through the wringer this time, huh, Natsu?"

With a blazing wing blast, Natsu smashed a magic sphere into Ethernano. "It's no fun if it's easy! I'm all fired up!"

"'Fired u–' that's it, you never get to make fun of Wally saying 'dandy' again!" Shou retorted, releasing a blast of metal shot pellets from one card. The flying staff disintegrated.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Natsu barked, turning on Shou. The card mage spun to face Natsu, deck swirling around him. Unfortunately, that meant both of them were ignoring Jellal's obstacle course.

Jellal, of course, wasn't ignoring them. Giant hands slammed the boys into each other, then punched them out of the training circle. A large red X appeared over each of their heads. Natsu and Shou looked at each other and laughed...

Natsu's uppercut threw Siegrain high over the Tower. "SHOU!" the Dragon Slayer screamed, rocketing over the Wizard Saint and smashing him back into the crystal floor. Cracks formed through the entire top level, the lacrima humming in an irregular cadence. Natsu dropped back to his friends' side, eye flickering to where Jellal was drawing a magic circle on Shou's chest.

"He's dead, isn't he?" Natsu whispered. Erza nodded, hands over her mouth, tears streaming down her cheeks. Simon was in even worse shape, kneeling with his fists on the floor, crying uncontrollably. Shou's cards were scattered and torn.

"Forgive me, Shou," Jellal sobbed, "but I need your help one last time. If we don't control the blast, it'll take Akane with–"

"It's okay, nii-san." All four Fairy Tail wizards looked around in amazement at the dozens of images of Shou's face, each smiling from one of the lacrima facets. The crystal tower had begun to glow and shake. "It's beautiful. I wish you could all see it. I guess you will, one day, but for now, you have to live." All the faces turned to Erza, smile growing. "I understand now. 'Always live your life to the fullest. Never think of yourself as insignificant. And never forget your friends, who love you.' Thank you, nee-san." Shou turned to the big shadow mage. "Simon, you have to go. It's time." Jellal finished his circle, and Shou's faces faded as his body sank into the tower. Siegrain's prone form vanished in a burst of white light almost identical to Daphne's dragon roar.

"Goodbye, Shou. Thank you," Simon breathed, and darkness enveloped them all.