Seems like last chapter might have spread some confusion amongst some of you. Do not worry, this chapter I will make an attempt at clearing everything up to the best of my abilities. Well... At least about Natsu's situation. I hope to make a quick transition into the GMG (I haven't been watching the anime recently so I don't know how it ends yet, and I do not read the manga either). Alright, here goes my attempt.
"Mira..." The fire mage whispered, feeling his body being crushed by the soft skin of a silver-haired woman.
"We'll go look for the others." Macao informed both of them.
"We thought you all died." Mirajane cried over him.
"Good thing we didn't, was close though." Natsu laughed quietly.
"It's been so long, too long since I held you." Natsu pulled her down to the soft sand when he heard that.
"What's happened to you, I mean look at you. By the looks of it, you might as well be dead! How are you still breathing?" She scanned his body.
"I asked myself the same question just now. And ehm... I'm not really sure myself what happened. But I know someone else can probably answer that question." He chuckled.
"What I know is that I was stuck for a long time inside of this place." Natsu pointed at his own head, recieving a questioning look from the woman before him.
"I'll tell you all about it later." He grinned.
"Fine, let's catch up on lost time." She seductively whispered before she jumped him.
"Woah, can't we keep the lovey-dovey stuff for later?" A lightning mage noticed their intimate moment.
"Laxus?!" Natsu immediatly jumped up in surprise.
"Laxus has rejoined the guild, he's helped us out quite a bit actually." Mirajane exlained Laxus' presence.
"Oh, right. Sorry, I guess we owe you." He brought his hand to his head, looking down.
"You have the right to be jumpy. I really have caused a lot of trouble and I was a power-lusting beast, when I heard that the guild was going through a tough time I wanted to try and make up for what I did to them. I couldn't believe Mirajane when she told me you'd been defeated, after all, you're stronger than me." Natsu detected the slight hint to arrogance in that last part.
"But I've changed, a lot." He finished.
"Yeah, I can tell." The fire mage commented.
"Anyways, we've found a lot of the others already. They weren't far, but they all seem a lot younger than us. It's like they haven't aged." Laxus' words shocked them both.
"They haven't ... aged? Then why does Natsu look like he could fall apart any moment?" Mirajane immediatly asked concerned.
"I don't know, maybe they do." Laxus replied, raising his shoulders.
"No, we don't." They heard the answer come sooner than they expected. Erza, followed by the remaining participants of the S-class trials and S-class mages, neared them.
"Woah, what've you been doing? You look like you've just sat in once place for years and not moved an inch!" Gray pointed at Natsu.
"That's exactly what you've all been doing." Mavis Vemillion, first guild master of Fairy Tail, joined the conversation. They all slowly turned their heads to meet the spirit and it's childish appearance.
"... EEEEH!" It took a moment to sink, but as soon as they realized who it was and what she just said they were all extremely flustered.
"Allow me to explain what happened. Right as Acnologia's attack was about to land, seven years ago, I managed to gather enough magic energy for Fairy Sphere. This is the third spell belonging to Fairy Tail in existance and is purely defensive. It made everything inside the sphere static, unchangable. You were incapable of being harmed, or grow up, for that matter. However, I don't know why it is that Natsu appears like he does now. I was incapable of dispelling the sphere before now." She explained them all.
"So, we missed out on seven years?" Erza asked, Mavis nodded.
"Wait a minute, Natsu's body was still those black flames, right?" Gray asked around, recieving a nod from Natsu and a couple fellow guild mates.
"You're right, that might explain why." Erza stated, recieving some questioning looks as well.
"Until now, we've thought of your flaming bodies similar to take overs. However, now I believe they are more like my ex-quip magic. You don't fuse your body with the flames or anything of the sort, instead, you replace your body with the flaming one and keep your own body in a seperate space. At least, that's what I believe. That would explain why your body did age, because it wasn't in the sphere." Erza shared her hypothesis.
"That would make sense. So, Natsu, what exactly did happen to you during these years and right before the Sphere acitvated?" Makarov turned towards the fire mage once more.
"Well... You all remember those black flames, they weren't mine." This immediatly aroused some suspision.
"When Mirajane and I were looking around during the second trial, we found a dark mage. He felt really powerful and had an abundance of dark magic. He didn't fight us, all he did was launch one attack. I caught the blow and somehow his magic ... infected mine. His dark energy seemed to conflict with my flames, and I couldn't use them anymore. All I could use was that dark fire. Then, it came to possess me or something. I was stuck in my own mind while something or someone had control over my body. I think when I was about to break free and regain control was when Fairy Sphere activated. That explains why it seemed to have no effect, because my body couldn't be affected by anything at the time." Natsu explained.
"What seemed to have no effect?" Makarov asked once more.
"Oh, I was able to purge it with the help of my flames." He answered shortly.
"Of your flames? You just mean your magic?" Gray spoke up.
"No, I mean my actual flames. Wait." Slowly, Natsu stood up. He seemed to be tired, but was able to collect a small amount of flames in his hand.
'Are you guys ok with this?' He soon recieved an affirmative response of his friends. The fire mage spread tiny embers of his purple, blue, red and yellow flame on the ground. To the crowds' surprise, these seemed to grow into the shape of bodies similar to those of a human.
"These are the spirits that control those flames, they have accompanied me during those seven years." Natsu pointed at each and everyone of them.
"The name's Blaze."
"Blue."
"Spark, and don't you forget it!"
"I'm Violet, pleased to meet you!" They all introduced themselves in their own way.
"So, these are ... your flames?" Elfman pointed forwards, in shock.
"Yeah, pretty cool right?" Natsu seemed kind of braggy about them, and he had the right to.
"These are the spirits behind my power, they are my strength." Hearing him say that brought a smile to their faces.
"Natsu, stop doing that, you're embarassing us!" Violet yelled quietly and quickly waved at him, trying to silence him. Natsu could only laugh at her shyness.
'C'mon, Violet. I don't see the problem, you're just scared you won't meet up to the expectations they now have of you." Spark grinned at her.
"If those expectations are anything like your face they'll meet the ground soon enough." Their foreheads met each other as Violet cursed at Spark. The guild seemed to enjoy this act, it reminded them of Gray and Natsu as they previously were.
"They seem quite lively, not what I'd expect." Makarov smiled.
"Of course, they're people, just like us." The last part made the two rivaling flames look over at him. Surprised as everyone was, they hugged him closely while sobbing.
"I think we might be interrupting a family moment." Lisanna commented.
"Don't bother, it's just those two being oversensitive again." Blue glared down at them, making many shiver.
'He's just like Erza' Was the thought crossing many minds.
"Anyways, I think it's about time to get off this island." Blaze interrupted.
"You're right, we've tried to keep the guild standing but we were a lot weaker. We're not bottom-tier but we could be doing a hell of a lot better." Mirajane informed them of the current state of the guild.
"Then we'll do our best to get Fairy Tail back to the top." Natsu raised his hand to form the Fiary Tail symbol. Copying his motion, many cheered. Once they arrived back at the guild, the first thing that happen was Natsu raiding the food supplies. He looked a lot better ater devouring a total amount of 16 fish, 2 pigs and 12 loafs of bread. Naturally, there was a huge party to celebrate their return to Fairy Tail. Near the end, Mirajane stood on stage and was about to announce something very important to them all.
"We all have the intention to raise Fiary Tail's reputation to what it used to be or better and the quickest way to do this would be ... the Grand magic games! It's an event held every year to determine the strongest guild. If we win, everyone will know Fairy Tail's back to the strength it used to have. We'll win a huge prize of 30 million jewels as well, so we can expand back to the size we used to have!" The take over mage announced. Makarov nearly fainted when he heard the large number.
"Winning this will not be easy, but I know we can do it, because we're Fairy Tail!" The mages cheered loudly, showing their enthousiasm for the upcoming event.
'The Grand magic games, sounds like fun' Natsu smirked.
Another REALLY chill chapter, a lot of talking but I hope that no one will be left with any questions now. I'm excited for the GMG, got a little plan for it regarding the teams. Guys, honestly, wtf is up with the statistics of this story? Most stories usually have more followers than favorites than reviews, and with me it's completely upside-down! When you sort on reviews looking at the stories with Natsu and Mirajane in them, I'M FREAKIN SECOND. I'm sitting there amongst stories with 300+ followers and stuff, aka 'the big boy's league' :P
