The nymph looked at the group of wizards, and the flying blue cat. She let out a sigh.
"I guess I should start explaining everything. The reason he acts the way he does. The reason he is trapped here. The reason he is hated and feared here. Well... He's cursed."
"What do you mean, cursed?"
"Did he tell you that he was attacked when he was younger? Similar to how you were attacked, Gray."
Gray nodded and looked down at his arm.
"Well, while you had someone to help get that poison out of you..."
"No one was there for him..."
Erza finished, after she realized where Clover was going with this story. Clover nods her head.
"Yeah... he always was out near that lake. Him, his father, and every once in a while, Taku. Taku is a wonderer, but he was often with Natsu and his father. Well, that is until Natsu's dad left him."
The wizards exchanged glances. They knew oh too well who she spoke of. Igneel, the dragon that raised Natsu, disappeared on him when Natsu was nothing more than a mere child.
"Taku told Natsu that he would be back soon. He went to find Natsu's dad. That was his first mistake."
Clover paused and sat next to one of the lilies. She runs her hand down the leaves and lets out a sigh.
"What... what happened?"
Clover looked down. Happy had made his way to her and was at her feet. His little body was slightly shaken, worried about what he'll hear next.
"Well, he was a child. He had a terrible time listening to instructions."
So nothing changed. The others thought as they thought to all the incidents where Natsu failed to follow simple instructions.
"Well, he left the safety of his home. He never went into the darker area of the woods. Only Taku and Ig... his father, were allowed to travel through that forest. They both forbid him from entering. He left when Taku was gone for three days. For three days, he was alone. He was only trying to find his family, and took a risk. Risk don't come without a consequence."
She took another pause. She knew that she should pick her words wisely.
"He went into the part of those woods he was forbidden to go into. He hated being alone at that time. We should have had someone with him. We should have known better than to leave him alone."
She clenched her fists, as if she blamed herself. She blinked back tears she was fighting. She stared right at Gray.
"He... He was attacked."
The wizards and the cat knew that he was attacked. Natsu told them himself.
"He was attacked by a demon known as Akumu."
"Akumu?"
"Yes. She is known as the Mother of Demons."
"Mother of Demons? Is she like Zeref?"
Clover tilted her head.
"Zeref? I've heard that name before... I think from Taku... but no, I don't think that Zeref and Akumu have anything in common. For one thing, Zeref is human, Akumu is an actual Demon."
Clover walks over and places a hand on Gray's shoulder.
"You know best what pain he went through. You were attacked by her son, Corvus, weren't you."
Gray flinched at the name.
"Yes, he did attack me."
"Did he speak to you?"
Gray nodded his head. Clover hummed to herself. She handed a cup to him.
"Do you mind if you drink this?"
"Why? What is it?"
"It's medicine."
"Is it that stuff you gave Natsu? The drink he didn't seem to like?"
"Yes. You will only have to take it once. It deals with Corvus and Akumu's curse. You heard his voice. Natsu... he hears hers."
She paused once more. Gray realized she wasn't going to continue until he took the medicine. The second the liquid hit his tongue, Gray realized why Natsu hated it. It was awful. Gray felt as if he was going to throw up but he forced himself to swallow the foul tasting medicine. After a moment, his head felt clear. He didn't tell the others, but his head was killing him. He felt more relaxed at that moment. He looked at her.
"What did you give me?"
"Technically, a type of poison. Don't worry. You'll be fine. There is a neutralizer for the poison in there. The poison is what helps get those demons out of your head. Or, try to."
She frowns and looks upset. She let out a sigh before moving on with her tale.
"Natsu hears Akumu's voice. Unlike you, he can never get rid of her voice. He-"
"Why not? Why can't he get rid of her voice?"
"Well... as I said, she attacked him when he was no more than a child. He wasn't as strong as he is now, or how you are. Her influence kinda took him over. He gave in to her. You fought Corvus's influence and that took so much out of you. You are not at full strength. He was scared, lost, and alone. She tricked him. When she attacked him, she put her own poison in his body. That caused him to... well... Natsu died when he was kid."
"WHAT!?"
"Oh wait. Sorry. Humans and Monsters have different meanings. He's not really "dead" but part of his soul is gone. Which explains why he only mimics certain emotion. He can't express himself like me and you. He only has negative emotions, unfortunately. He has more anger, rage, and more violence to him."
Now this was something the group couldn't wrap their head around. Natsu didn't show any violent behavior at all. Except for when he attacked Lucy. Erza wasn't going to take that part of the story.
"If that was true, why didn't we see these emotions? We were with him for a few hours and he was pretty calm."
"That is actually easy to explain. He was "trained" to be like that. He learned fear. We had no other choice. He had it, but even as a child, he didn't fear that much. Taku took it upon himself to teach Natsu fear so we could control him. It hurt Taku and the Black Airs more than you think. Natsu was trained to ignore all emotions he feels, no matter how hard it was or how much he damaged his own mind. It had to be done to keep him and others safe. The Monsters here are not really suppose to "attack" him, but some try to get him to leave through... not nice ways."
"That boy... from the village... he said something... what did he mean when he said that Natsu would finish the rest of them off?"
"You meet Agama right? And his daughter? You didn't meet Agama's mate because... Oh don't hate him. Natsu didn't mean to hurt her. He didn't mean to lose control. He didn't mean to kill her!"
"WAIT, WHAT?!"
"Aria, Agama's mate, Kashi's mother... she got to close to his flames. He lost control. He killed her. He didn't mean to. He doesn't even remember doing it because she was the one telling him what to do. When she talks to him, it's not him in control. That medicine I gave you, was to prevent you from hearing Corvus's voice. You were lucky. Natsu got the poison out of you before it had time to go through your body. Natsu on the other hand, was not so lucky. The poison killed him, but yet, he was still alive. He was a puppet for the demon, and nothing more. He didn't even recognize his friends and family."
The nymph started to tear up. Happy flew up to her eye level before hugging her. Clover was a little surprised, but didn't resist. She hugged the blue cat back. After she recollected herself she continued.
"He didn't even recognize his friends and family. He saw us the way Akumu sees us. We were able to stop him, but not before he wounded many monsters and as I said, killed Aria."
"Wait, wait a moment. You said he was a child. How did he manage to kill a full grown changeling?"
"His flames. He doesn't use his magic unless he is with one of the phoenixes that can neutralize his flames. His fire... it used to be a beautiful golden color... after the incident... his flames turned black. Now, his fire is sort of a mixture of black fire and golden flames. We aren't sure, but if his flames go back to full black, we won't get him back."
"How would we know if the curse is effecting him?"
"Well, little kitten, you can see it. You can see the curse taking him over. It kinda looks like black swirls and lines crawling up his arm. It will slowly spread to the rest of his body."
The news was a bit unsettling.
"Is there anyway to help him?"
Clover bows her head and shakes it.
"No Monster here knows how to cure this curse. We've only been able to slow it. Nothing more. We know that in the end, we may have to take... to take... to take his life... but I won't. He is my friend, even if he doesn't see me that way at times. I know him, he doesn't want to hurt anyone. I wish I could help him."
"What if... what if we could?"
Clover looks over at Lucy. She tilts her head, curious as to what the young wizard meant.
"We come from a guild of wizards. Our master may have a cure or know of one, or ever someone that could help him. The only problem is that he is stuck here. I saw that myself."
"It may be true that he is stuck here, but that can be helped. Come, follow me."
Although the others got many of the answers to the questions they had, they still had a few left. One of the biggest ones was how this all happened in the first place. They follow the only person that was actually giving them answers and she handed Gray a gem that had been strung.
"This will help him get out of her grasp. More or less. He is trapped here for he and Akumu are connected. This is her land and she keeps all her children here. Natsu is held by the curse to stay here. This may be enough to get him out. There, you are on your own. That is all I can tell you."
Erza gave her a soft smile.
"You have done enough. Thank you."
Clover smiles back at her. She dips her head. She tells them where to find Natsu and the Black Airs. They head off. As soon as they are out of sight, she frowns.
"I did what you told me to do. Was it enough for you?"
Taku walks out from the shadows.
"You did well. Although, I don't recall telling you to give them that warning."
"They didn't see it as a warning. After all, they think they can help him. I wish we didn't have to do this..."
"It was gonna happen sooner or later."
"Was that really the last time?"
Taku says nothing. Clover tears up and says a silent prayer for her friend.
~With the Black Airs~
Aki was pacing back and forth. Touran the golem girl was watching her friend pace. Joba, the little onion monster was on her shoulder.
"Aki, please settle down."
"I can't, Touran! This was too quick! The last time he lost it was not even a moon ago! We're losing him! And you know what Taku said."
The golem looked at her diawolf distressed friend. He was too loyal to his family, even the family he had made. Natsu was like a brother to him. They used to be best friends until the incident. He had to be the tough one and be rude to Natsu to make him scared of him so they could use fear to keep him under control. Natsu knows that Aki would never hurt him enough to kill him, but Natsu had a close experience that was enough to know that Aki could kill him. James, the Frankenstein family member, walked over to the young Diawolf and pat his head. Normally, he would snap at him, but instead, he let James try to comfort him. He did have a weak stop for head scratches. Only his family knows that and he plans to keep it that way. Mamii was talking to Natsu and all Natsu could do was nod his head. She let out a sigh and headed over to the others.
"Well, it's been a while, Taku said that it wouldn't be too long."
Aki whimpered. The mummy looked over at him.
"Aki?"
"I don't want to never see him again, Mamii! He is part of this family, right? He may have attacked people, but that isn't his fault. We can't do it, I can't do it!"
"Aki, this is for the best. We know we won't see him again, but at least it won't be because of us. Those humans... they have the strength to do it. The strength we do not have."
Aki whimpers again. Natsu saw the look on his old friend's face. He tilted his head and was confused by the reactions he was seeing. They seemed sad, but why? Weren't they going to isolate him again? Why were they not doing anything? Natsu didn't have the answers and he knew he wasn't going to get them, so he kept quiet. He just buried his face into his knees and stayed still. He still wasn't sure what to do. Some time passed and Natsu felt someone wrap their arms around his body. He didn't move.
"Natsu, my friend. I'm sorry for everything. Can you forgive me?"
Aki... He would know the voice of his best friend as a child. He started to shake a little when he first heard him say his name. He quickly relaxed when he didn't feel threatened. He looks at the young Diawolf and nods his head. He forced a smile onto his face to comfort his friend. He knew that Aki and the others did that and it made the others repeat it. Natsu knew he didn't like seeing his friend frown. He felt a small sense of guilt. Aki stared at Natsu's force smile. It filled him with more sadness but Natsu didn't need to know that so he just faked a smile back.
"I... I'll miss you Natsu. Please know that."
"I don't understand."
"I know, but I know that this is our last time seeing each other and I wanted you to know that I am sorry and I'll miss you. You were like family and all I did to my family is push them away."
Natsu mimicked the hug back to Aki to try and comfort him, as well as pat his head. It did make Aki feel a bit better, but not by much. Aki left Natsu and Natsu realized that he was alone. The Black Airs were gone. Natsu looked around before he heard someone approach from behind. He quickly turned around ready to attack whoever it was. He relaxed when he saw that it was the young wizards he helped.
"Natsu! There you are!"
Happy flies over and hugs him. Natsu looks down at the cat, curious at his behavior, yet not really showing it.
"Why are you guys here? You should be with Clover."
"We are getting you out of here."
"I can't leave. Lu... Lucy saw that I can't."
"True I did, but Clover gave us something that can get you out so we can help you."
Natsu stared at Lucy, unsure what to do. Lucy grabbed his hand and practically dragged him. It didn't take long before they reached the border and stopped. Gray took the gem out of his pocket(He somehow still had pants. XD) and gave it to Lucy.
"This will get you out of here. Hopefully."
Natsu was still hesitant. He has always lived in a place where people could watch him... where would he go? What would he do? He knew that he could still lose control, but who knows when that would. Lucy, while Natsu was still silent, but the gem around him. He looked down as he felt his body warm up a bit. He felt funny, and he didn't know how to explain it. He looked at Lucy as she started to fade from his vision and he slipped into unconsciousness. Lucy caught him as he fell forward.
"Was that supposed to happen?"
"I don't know... Erza, what should we do?"
"Hmmm. Maybe see if it worked..."
Lucy knew she wouldn't be able to get Natsu out easily so she let Gray take him and they got out no problem. Natsu wasn't trapped anymore. However, he wasn't awake. Gray had to carry him for a while, before he gave him to Erza for the second part of the trip. They knew after a while that they were lost. They probably shouldn't have left everything at Natsu's camp, especially the map. Happy was so tired that he almost missed the farm to his right. He flew over and saw that there was an elderly couple working in the fields. He flew to them.
"Excuse me. Do you know where we are? We are trying to find a train station to get home."
"Oh my. I'm sorry dearie, but a town isn't anywhere near here. You would be walking for quite some time... and with what you have, you wouldn't last long..."
The woman commented. She looked at the young wizards and told them to wait for a moment. Sometime later she came back with supplies, a wagon, and a horse.
"Take Rider here and head South. You don't have to worry about getting him back. He is an old horse, but he will get you to where you need to go. He knows his way back too. Just let him off his reigns and tell him home and he'll come back."
The group thanked the women and went on their way. Erza took the reigns and Gray sat next to her. Lucy was watching over Natsu.
Please wake up Natsu. I hope you are okay.
?'s POV
He left? How? I didn't give him permission to leave. Someone must have helped him. Hmmm. They think they can get away from me, but no. They have just doomed themselves. I am coming, my son. My dearest Natsu. I will find you.
A/N: So... Natsu is cursed. :) This was planned from the start. More or less. I just took the curse a little bit differently from the original plan. I decided to leave him with just the darker emotions a human has so... yeah. Original, more emotion and understanding of emotions. Current, less emotions, more anger and little to no understanding of human emotions. Anyway, I hope this clears up literally everything about Natsu here. Anyway, see ya in the next chapter.
~Zolf
Posted: 10/11/2020