Found Minds, Lost Minds

Selene let loose another Moon Dragon's Roar, which END managed to dodge (causing the roar to blow the peak off a distant mountain instead), before the demon came at her, generating another whip made of fire. Selene managed to avoid it, but it wrapped around one of her back legs, which allowed END to pull himself back up, with a fire generated fist, which he slammed into her gut.

The Moon Dragon was unable to roar with such a strike, and instead just let out a slight croak, coughing up a few drops of blood in the process. END then let go of the whip, and beat his wings to stay afloat.

"Demon scum!" Selene said, as her tail suddenly came up, knocking END away. She quickly followed up by sharply inhaling, and releasing her dragon's roar again. END's response was to release his own breath attack. The two attacks collided with a massive burst of energy and cloud of dust, which Selene quickly dove through, and head-butted END, sending him crashing into the side of a mountain. The Moon Dragon quickly followed up by holding up her head, and gathering a massive orb of energy over her mouth.

"Lunar Rain!" With that, the orb released multiple streaks of energy that rained down over END, who just held up his arms. The attack devastated the mountain side, as Selene fell back to a safer distance. When the dust cleared, it didn't show any trace of the Etherious, but Selene wasn't stupid enough to call that a victory.

Sure enough, a streak of fire shot through the night sky, curving around and aiming at Selene, who just enough to turn around, as END shot by, raking his own claws across her face. Selene hissed in pain as she moved back, putting her claw to her wound, and bring it out. Even though the wounds were small, the sight of it, her blood, made the dragon's stomach churn.

"You infernal…," she hissed, looking over END. She then spun her claws together, creating a disc of white energy.

"Disc of the Crescent Moon!" With that, she launched the disc at END, however, as he came at her, the disc shattered against him. Managing to veer out of the way of his attack, it was quickly becoming apparent to Selene that overpowering him wasn't going to be practical at this point. But Selene never claimed to be the most "physically" powerful of the Five Dragon Gods….

Noticing END coming back around for another strike, Selene fired her dragon's roar again, which the demon managed to dodge, but Selene had a backup plan. Just as the two were about to collide, Selene dove under END. The demon quickly held up his arms, as Selene opened her maw, and fired it at point-blank.

For a moment, it looked like Selene had actually done some real damage, as the smoking form of the Etherious fell, and crashed into the ground. However, it quickly became apparent that wasn't the case, as END pulled himself out of the ground, covered in the same black rock that he had defended himself with earlier. The one thing that Selene seemed to have done was break his wing. But that proved a rather short lived "victory", as the wing quickly righted itself, and END stripped his rock armor off of himself, to which Selene narrowed her eyes.

"You can only regenerate or defend yourself so many times," she said, as she inhaled, "And I will never let up." With that, she released her dragon's roar yet again, but this time, the beam split into several other beams, which bore down on END. END worked to dodge each of them, but eventually one struck him, causing him to fall back to the ground. Selene then quickly followed up by punching him into the ground with her magic-enhanced fist. Selene let herself smile, but needless to say, it didn't last.

Suddenly a brutal shock of pain went up Selene's arm, as she recoiled back, holding her hand, screaming into the sky. She looked down to notice that END had broken her hand, and even seared off some scales. She didn't get enough time to savor it though, as suddenly, she got uppercut by END's fist, as she was knocked back to the ground.

END just let out a roar as he suddenly started to convulse, before the fire on his chest suddenly burst out. The fire quickly took the shape of several massive dragon-heads, which charged towards Selene. Forced to cancel her earlier attack, Moon Dragon managed to avoid the first couple of heads, but then the third caught her from behind, as did the others. END let out another roar, as the heads all exploded in a massive burst of fire. Smoke trailed Selene, as she plummeted to the ground. As she pulled herself back up, she panted.

"This power," she mused, "Where did this all come from?" She sensed none of it when she first meant him; it was like it had all come literally out of nowhere. She looked up to see END convulsing again, as Selene could see more glowing red markings appear across his body, and she could've sworn he was getting bigger.

(I)

Lucy stirred, as she forced her eyes open. Rubbing her eyes, then her head, Lucy looked around, noticing they were back in the forest apparently. Her legs must've fallen asleep considering how numb they felt.

"Lucy!" The blonde's attention was drawn by the sound of Gray's voice, as she looked over to see him hurrying up to her, a concerned look on her face.

"Gray?" Lucy asked, "I had this really crazy dream. We were fighting the Moon Dragon, and then we got sent to an alternate world and…" She paused as she noticed something.

"Why is it so drafty?" she asked. Gray just coughed as he looked away, and Lucy looked down, and noticed she was naked.

"WHERE ARE MY CLOTHES?!" She screamed, trying to cover herself, before she paused again, "Wait a minute…" She looked further down past her waist, and saw only a snake-tail.

"WHERE ARE MY LEGS?!" Gray's answer was to manifest a slab of ice, which showed Lucy's reflection, and what she saw sent a shiver down her (now elongated) spine. Her arms, shoulders, and back were covered in light yellow scales, and from the waist down was a snake-tail. But somehow, that wasn't what frightened Lucy the most, no, it was her eyes; her normally brown eyes were now an amber color, and were dark and slitted, like those of a snake. Though her face was the same, Lucy didn't recognize the thing in the mirror.

"What… what am I?" she asked softly. Her attention was suddenly seized by the sound of Wendy screaming, as she glanced over to see that Wendy now had the paws, ears, tail, eyes, and whiskers of a cat. It would've been cute if not for how wrong it seemed.

"Why am I a cat?" Wendy moaned, "Nya!" She covered her mouth, surprised to hear that. To compound matters slightly, Lucy then saw two, monstrous cats the size of wyverns leaning up, one blue, and the other white.

"I'm so big!" the blue one said, "How can I eat fish like this?"

"You wake up a monster and that's how you react?" the white one asked 'Do you think with anything other than your stomach?" That just left the weird looking spider-woman, with red hair, who just stared numbly at her altered body. It didn't take long for Lucy to deduce what was going on.

"What happened to us?" Erza asked, her mandibles making an odd clicking sound.

"You've all been transformed into yokai by the Spiritual Arts of Selene's servants," a voice said. One Lucy wasn't familiar with, but one Wendy was familiar with, and that Erza was very familiar with. They turned to see Irene floating over them, a stern look on her face.

"Irene?" Wendy asked, confused (though she wasn't the only one).

"Mother?" Erza asked slowly, at an utter loss. Irene looked at her daughter as a look of concern fell over her face, as she floated down.

"I know this is quite a shock for you, Erza," she said, as she cupped her face, "I will answer everything later, but you'll have to trust me for the moment." Erza looked at her for a time, before looking away. While Irene was talking, Lucy looked around, noticing that Fairy Tail wasn't alone. Rather, she saw a number of women dressed in white, including Faris and Touka, gathered around one woman dressed more ornately, and wrapped in bandages. But what really caught Lucy's eyes were the tied up forms off to the side; it was more women, dressed in kimonos, with defeated looks on their faces; amongst them were, three familiar faces. All three of the Moonlit Beauty Goddesses looked badly beaten, including Mimi (which Lucy didn't take much satisfaction with).

"What do you remember?" Gray asked.

"The last thing I remember was being beaten by that big woman who worked for Selene," Lucy said, rubbing her head, "But after that, it's just a blur. I remember being a dark, damp place, and being really hungry, with this really intense heat…" When she said "heat" that was when a thought came to her, as it seemed to for the rest of the group.

"Where's Natsu?" Happy asked, as he stepped forward, having to avoid stepping on Wendy in the process. Everyone was silent, as Gray nervously looked away; in fact, everyone, even Irene looked uncomfortable by the question.

"Answer us, Gray," Erza said sternly, as she crawled forward (privately somewhat disturbed she had taken to these extra legs so easily), "Where is he?" Gray remained silent, but before anyone could ask again, there was the sound of explosion in the distance. The group looked over to see a familiar form soaring through the sky, silhouetted by the moon.

"Is that Selene?" Wendy asked. That was when they also saw what looked like a ball of fire jetting through the sky around Selene, who kept trying to snap her jaws at it. It wasn't hard to deduce who that was.

"Is that… Natsu she's fighting?" Carla asked.

"Not Natsu," Irene answered slowly, "Not anymore."

"What does that mean?" Erza asked. Irene just turned to them slowly, a grim look on her face.

"END has returned." Those words sat heavy in the air, as they all stared at Irene for that.

"That's… that's impossible," Lucy said, "I rewrote the Book of END! It disappeared!"

"Natsu Dragneel was never, at any point in his second life, not a demon. It is an integral part of his being," Irene explained, "Even if it went dormant, it never truly went away." She then looked towards where the dragon and the demon were clashing.

"And now, END has made his way back to the surface again," she said, "And enhanced by the Suspiria of Elentir, he's more powerful than ever." The thought of all that made Lucy's blood run cold (hopefully that wasn't because she was cold-blooded now), as she considered all that information. She almost died trying to rewrite Natsu's entire existence, and severing him from his demonic nature. And now, he was back?

"Come on then!" Lucy said, as she leaned up, "We've got to go him! We've got to snap him out of it!"

"Aye sir!" Happy declared.

"It's disturbing hearing that come out of you looking like that," Gray said with a sweat drop, as he and Lucy turned to run that direction (the fact that Lucy felt so comfortable slithering disturbed her), along with the rest of the girls.

"That would be very unwise," Irene interjected, getting them to stop.

"What're you talking about?" Erza asked, frowning back at her mother (as best she could with her contorted face).

"We snapped him out of it last time," Lucy said, "Tell her Gray!" Gray, however, looked away, frowning slightly.

"Gray?" Wendy asked, surprised by her friend's reaction.

"You don't understand," Irene explained solemnly, "It was the sight of you like this that set him off."

"We did this?" Lucy asked, confused.

"More like you specifically," Irene answered, looking at Lucy, "Seeing you in this state, it broke his heart." Lucy tried to understand, but she was still left more confused than anything else by this information.

"Very well then, let me show you," Irene said, as she waved her hand, manifesting a image beside her, "Perhaps then you'll understand…"

(I)

By this point, much of the mountainside was on fire. Were the circumstances different, Selene would be annoyed by her home being ravaged like this. Granted these weren't normal circumstances…

Gathering her talons together Selene created two massive set of light-claws, before she launched at END. However, the Etherious simply swung his fire enhanced fist, shattering the energy, before flapping his wings, and diving at Selene. The Moon Dragon generated a shield of energy, reinforcing it several times. It seemed to slow END on the first one, but he still quickly still shattered all of them; however, it did give Selene a chance to get out the way. She then dove at END, her jaws gaping; the demon had just enough time to catch the maw, but slightly less time to notice the glow in the back of her throat. END managed to let go in time and drop down, but the attack still gazed him, as he was sent hurtling into the side of the mountain.

"It seems what little remained of your mind is now ashes as well," Selene commented, as she spat out what remained of the demon's vile taste. As she watched the demon pull himself out of the rubble, Selene was now sure that he was getting larger; he had doubled in height, and was noticeably more muscular, but not excessively so, as well as two more horns coming out of the back of his jaw. Also, it may have been an optical illusion (not that dragons were particularly susceptible to those), but Selene could've sworn his jaw was starting to jut out slightly. And that wasn't mention the glowing red markings that were now all over his body (save his hands and feet somehow).

"Perhaps the projection was wrong," Selene muttered, "Perhaps this isn't your true form after all." Naturally, END didn't answer her as he seemed to crack his entire body, before looking up at Selene.

"You're a tenacious little thing," the dragon growled, getting ready to continue the fight. END then waved his hands, as the fire started to gather around him, before it came down into END's hands, into a single small orb. Considering how even a lowly human could've guessed what that could do, Selene quickly flew back to put some distance between her and the demon. Of course, END wasn't intent on just letting her go like that. With a roar, he flapped his wings, and charged after Selene.

As they were flying, Selene reared back, and released her dragon's roar again, but END easily evaded that. Selene then swung it, causing the beam to arc, and while it blew through a number of mountains on the range, it still missed the primary target. And unfortunately, this was a particularly bad time for Selene's aim to be slipping.

With another roar, END threw his orb of condensed fire in Selene's direction. The Moon Dragon actually saw it coming, and was able to dodge it, to which it collided into the mountain. The ensuing explosion lit up the entire night, and when it faded, Selene saw that the entire mountain had been blown apart.

By the gods of old, Selene thought, awestruck by such power, her eyes wide. It was quickly becoming dreadfully apparent to her why Acnologia seemed to fear this being as he did. Irene said that Etherious were artificially created, but if that was true, then just what kind of magic existed in Elentir. With that, a new sensation came to Selene as she thought about that: interest.

"Perhaps I underestimated Earthland," she said, as her gaze turned back to END, who was flying towards her. As he generated another whip of fire, which Selene easily evaded, she swung her head, striking END, and sending him tumbling into a mountain.

"When I'm finally through with you," she said, looming over the demon, "I'll go to Earthland. I'll take it over one land at a time, and harness the powers that seem to exist there." END crawled as he pulled himself out of the rubble, glaring at the dragon.

"Including the power you seem to wield," the dragon continued, a sinister smiling spreading across her jaws. END just let out a defiant roar at her.

"I don't care that you can't understand me anymore," Selene said, before diving down towards the demon, "I'll crush you here, and your power will be mine!" END responded in kind.

Note: Only a few developments this chapter, but the biggest one seems to be t hat Happy and the girls have got their senses back, though not their normal shapes yet. But while they've found their minds, it appears Natsu's is all but gone.

Aside from that, Selene and END's fight is gradually increasing in scale. It can only get worse from here.

Please leave a comment.

Also, I still encourage other writers to tackle the Natsu and yokai Lucy concept. (you thought I was bluffing last chapter did you?)