Barry stood there, his long hair blew to the side as the wind picked it up. Snow blew all around them, and his fist was clenched tighter than ever. His eyes couldn't turn away from the two he had finally seen in person.

Sting and Rogue

Two dragon slayers

That's when Barry learned a dark secret Acnologia had buried deep within his mind.

It was true that he hated dragons

But for some reason, he hated dragon slayers even more. His blood boiled as he took in their features and his eyes began twitching. This hatred was different then when he had seen the wyverns, for some reason, this hatred seemed more personal. His body wasn't going out of control, but it was taking a lot of his willpower not to gut the two of them right then and there.

His mind flashed back to their fight in the ravines of time. That's when his rage paused, and the gears began to turn.

Something was very odd about that fight. He remembered it, but at the same time, it was like he wasn't there. It wasn't like the memory with Irene, he had felt like he was there, but not this time.

He also remembered his supposed death.

He roared into the starry sky that was his domain in a fit of insane rage. The son of Igneel stood there with the power of six other dragon slayers imbued into one arm. His white scarf had popped out as magic surged through the fire dragon slayers' body. As Acnologia roared out in rage, he heard Natsu say something strangely calm.

"You can't end this on your own anymore, can you?" He asked. To anyone else it would seem like Acnologia wasn't listening. He had heard every word.

'What is this fool blabbering on about? Of course, I can end this! Why would I desire to end what I have been spending centuries striving to achieve! The dragon slayers will all perish, and I will be the last of my kind in Ishgar! That's when my goal shall finally be realized!' Acnologia thought. He attempted to raise his right arm to begin the fight again.

He couldn't move.

"I…why can't I move?"

Acnologia strained his neck to look up at Natsu, who had leaped into the air with a multi-coloured fire spewing out from his fist. Magic didn't normally mix like that, even when dual elements were wielded. No, this was something different. Acnologia began to slowly realize that there was something off about the whole ordeal.

"Natsu!"

"Hit him with-"

"Everything we got!"

"Only you can do this!"

"It's up to you!"

"Natsu!"

"Leave it to me!" Natsu yelled in mid-air. Acnologia tried everything to break free, but he simply couldn't. Was his body restrained? How was that even possible? Even if it was, why would that affect his very soul?

His soul.

He was beginning to see how he wasn't quite as invulnerable as he normally was.

This wasn't a battle of magic power, this was a test of will. A battle between souls, between willpower. It was his willpower against theirs.

Even attacking altogether, none of them could hope to match his iron will. Their attacks bounced off of him like nothing, and every attack he delivered was nearly fatal.

Yet they kept on going, even with ruptured bones and organs. They broke out of time crystals because they heard their friends cry out for them. That should've been impossible, none of them should've been capable of that.

It was because this was a battle of souls. Not of bodies, not of abilities, but philosophies and willpower.

Originally none of them could compare.

But all of their wills gathered at a single point.

That thought scared him.

For the first time in centuries, he felt genuine fear.

Natsu clenched his fist, and the fire formed a giant fist around his arm. He saw it now, this was the power of all their willpower to fight gathered into a single attack. That he would be forced to take head-on if he didn't do something fast.

He tried to raise his left arm to block the attack, hoping he'd be able to move again and fight.

Then he remembered the absence of said arm. He was reckless during his fight with the fire dragon king, cocky, and arrogant, and he let that bastard take his left arm.

Acnologia looked back up into the fist of fire, and his vision swirled as it struck him head-on. It was unbearable, unlike any pain he had ever felt before. This was more than a mere magical attack, this was his doom. His body was launched through the ravines of time like a ragdoll as the attack exploded in a very fiery fashion. The shockwave tore apart crystals for miles around them, and Acnologia broke through crystal after crystal.

'Is this it for me?' He wondered. He felt his will begin to shatter. He felt his urge to fight on slowly fade away for the first time since the dragon king festival.

In that moment of unbearable pain and suffering. In that moment of having his very soul and willpower personified shattered, he felt oddly at peace. The world around him slowly became white, he looked up and gritted his teeth as anger showered him once again. The peace had left him, it always did.

"I need more…more blood…more destruction…more tears…I will destroy everything…to attain…everything. Everything I've ever wanted…lies in destruction…so I can finally have my-"

"You can't have everything." Natsu interrupted. Normally such a phrase wouldn't have even struck a chord within Acnologia's mind, yet in that moment of weakness, it stuck with him. His eyes widened in mild surprise.

"Which is why you should treasure what you do have. Don't be greedy, in my case as long as I have my friends, I don't need anything else."

Acnologia's mind began to shatter. His will had been beaten down, his philosophy challenged. In that moment of weakness, those few simple words were enough to send chords of doubt throughout his shattered mind. His will was fading away into nothingness.

Everything he had done, was it all for nothing? Every dragon he killed in search of revenge, all the power he attained and all the legends he formed around himself over the centuries, were they all truly meaningless.

Yes.

They always were, because it wasn't the blood and destruction he was seeking. It was what came after.

It was what had spurred him onto a path or eternal destruction in the first place.

His wish, that was all he ever wanted.

He had gotten too greedy, too ambitious, too arrogant, and now he was paying the price for it.

As his soul shattered, he stared at the dragon slayers without hatred, for the first time in centuries.

A tear fell from his eye as he realized how different his life could've been.

"I see." Was all he said before his soul fully shattered, but his voice carried on. This person, who could carry the will of those around him, the son of a dragon king, and the one who delivered the finishing blow.

"You are indeed worthy of being king," Acnologia said. As his soul vanished, he felt comforting darkness overwhelm him.

He was only ever a king in power alone.

He was never a true king, to begin with.

He was a doctor who tried to bring back his loved ones through the promises of ancient text. A normal person betrayed by his comrades and left to die in war, and a person who had seen atrocities unlike any other.

To stop it he became the atrocity.

All to see them both one more time.

Barry gripped his head in pain.

'...what was that?... Acnologia had someone he wanted to see? A family? The battle was the dragon slayers' willpower personified fighting each other? What the fuck is all this bullshit I'm hearing!?'

That did leave the question as to why he hated dragon slayers.

However, that one memory was the only thing keeping him from gutting Sting and Roguelike the Wyverns he met beforehand.

Because somewhere deep down, he knew they were different than the dragon slayers from the war.

Even if they were both complete pricks during the beginning of the grand magic games.

Barry struggled within his mind. Sting and Rogue were both left with their turmoil upon seeing the source of the disturbance in person.

"No fucking way, but, no, is that him!?"

"Sting, it…it can't be true right? This has gotta be some kind of sick joke right!?" Rogue yelled angrily.

"I-I don't know, he's standing right fucking there Rogue!"

"He died Sting! We both saw it with our own eyes, Natsu killed that monster in the ravines of time!"

"Then how would you explain it asshole!?"

"Gentlemen, calm yourselves, what's the matter? I've personally never seen this man before, yet it seems you two know…him...his magic seems oddly familiar to me." A woman wearing an ocean blue dress asked them.

"Forgive me m' lady, but, this guy he…dear god I don't even want to say it," Sting said, a bead of sweat fell from his forehead.

"Then allow me. Minerva, this man looks identical to the humanoid form of Acnologia. He smells the same, and his magic feels the same as well." Rogue said. Sting looked back to Acnologia, who was clutching his head and looking down for some reason.

'At least he's distracted.' Sting thought.

"What!? That's insane, are you both certain of this!?" Minerva asked, her eyes widened in shock and she looked back to the savage-looking man in slight fear of what he might do once he snapped out of whatever turmoil he was experiencing.

"We would never joke about this m'lady. We should either retreat now or attack while he's distracted. This won't be a fight we can win easily…or win at all without serious backup." Rogue said.

"Is that guy Acnologia? I thought he would've ripped us to shreds by now." The green-haired lightning mage asked.

"If my memory serves me correctly then this sort of behaviour is certainly abnormal for the Black Dragon. I still can't believe we're still standing around trying to figure out what to do while he's distracted."

"Amen to that Rufus. Hey! Would you idiots quit yammering so we can regroup!? Hate to yell at ya Sting, but if this guy's the Acnologia, then none of us stand a chance in hell against him!"

Sting looked back at his guild, and then to Acnologia. The lightning mage was right.

"Everyone fall back now! Get to a safe distance! I'll call down Christina to pick everyone up! We all know it's handled Acnologia before!" Sting yelled before pressing his earpiece. They all began running away, but Barry barely noticed.

"Ichiya, can ya hear me!?" Sting yelled as he ran at the back of the group.

"I can master Sting! What seems to be the issue!? Why is Sabertooth retreating before even confronting this individual?"

"It's not good! This isn't any ordinary guy, it's Acnologia! We don't know how he's alive but Rogue and I are both sure it's him! Get Christina down here ASAP so we can fall back! Sabretooth doesn't stand a chance against him alone!" Sting yelled. Ichiya turned the wheel on Christina and gave a mock salute.

"Understood Sting. We shall land at the head of your group for immediate pickup! I'll inform Crime Sorcière as well!" Ichiya said before pressing his earpiece.

"This is Jellal."

"Ah, sir Jellal! I've called to inform you that none other than Acnologia has been sighted by Sabertooth just now! He's a tall, dark-skinned man with tribal tattoos over his body-"

"What? How can that be possible?" Jellal interrupted.

"I do not know myself, but I trust the keen senses of Dragonslayers any day! He seems to be experiencing some kind of mental struggle, so I'm evacuating Sabertooth to a safe distance while I can."

"A wise decision to make if that truly was Acnologia. Is Neinhart around?"

"Not that we know of, but good thinking Jellal! However, he should be locked away with Invel in Alvarez after they both attempted to start another war under emperor Ajeel's rule. I would recommend boarding Christina as well! Where we can at least gain some kind of control over the situation before it escalates!"

"I think we'll do just that. Thank you Ichiya. Listen up Crime Sorcière-"

"We know already you dimwit, you weren't exactly quiet about it y' know." A man with spiky maroon hair and a scar over one eye mocked with a grin. Jellal frowned, he hated when Erik did that.

Erik was joking and putting on a calm façade, but after hearing that, he was more nervous than anyone. Facing that monster in the ravines of time was the toughest fight of his life. Not to mention the fact that he couldn't hear his soul, which only served to unnerve him, even more, when he thought about the Black Dragon.

They waited for a few moments, and Christina came into view in the sky. It shot down to the ground, and Jellal pushed into the crowd of mages already occupying it.

"Geez, what's the occupancy load on this ship!?" A man with a yellow Mohawk yelled out as he stuck his pointy nose through the crowd of people.

"Suck it up, Sawyer. You're just mad because there's no space to move."

"At least I move once in a while you lazy brat!"

"Lazy!?"

"Don't tell me you aren't Sorano! I swear the only reason people never noticed before was because Macbeth beats everyone in sleeping!"

"Hey."

"You know it's true."

"...fine carry on."

"Would you all shut up already? My ears can only take so much of this noise."

"Don't you use sound magic now Erik!? Oh yeah!"

"Yeah, but at least that's the sound I want to hear!"

"Quiet down, I'm going to speak with Ichiya," Jellal ordered. They still bickered but only a little more quietly. Jellal sometimes wondered who the real master of the guild was.

Then he remembered they were hardly like any official guild and shrugged it off.

Jellal walked up to Ichiya, who was talking with Sting, Rogue, and Minerva by the ship's wheel. Hibiki was next to them, and he displayed a large screen for everyone to see. It was a live feed of Acnologia's human form down below.

"Listen up everyone! We don't know how, but Acnologia has somehow come back from the dead! We don't know if someone brought him back to life or if it's some kind of imposter! What we do know is that his magic is real, and is more powerful than everyone here combined!" Ichiya yelled into the crowd.

"Shit, that's Acnologia!?"

"Wasn't he a dragon?"

"He has a human form dumbass!"

"Why?"

"I don't fucking know! You think I read up a dragon encyclopedia!?"

"Didn't he almost destroy the whole country the last time he appeared?"

"He did! I don't know how the fuck Fiore recovered from being blown to fucking pieces by Eternal flare in less than a fucking year!"

"Quiet everyone! We are currently forming a plan of attack so he doesn't vacate the kingdom!" Ichiya yelled.

"Wait a fucking minute here! If he was just fucking leaving Fiore why not just, oh I don't know, let him leave!?"

"Do you trust the Black Dragon of the apocalypse to be left to his own devices where we can't intervene sir? Do you want him to go out into the world, get even stronger, prepare, and come back to wipe us all out in a fit of revenge?" Jellal asked.

"...okay fair point."

"We need Fairy Tail here! We only got three dragon slayers here! Not to mention Fairy Tails the most powerful guild in the country if not the fucking world!"

"What we need is Natsu Dragneel! That guy went toe to toe with Zeref!"

As the argument flew out of control, the air turned multiple colours and a horrible sound entered everyone's ears causing them to keel over in pain. Erik relished the moment of silence and took a deep breath.

"Fuck off you idiots. Fairy Tail won't always be there to save your sorry asses. We got three slayers here, and Jellal who can summon giant meteors. So shut the fuck up and let them plan." Erik said. He tapped his arm impatiently. Jellal put a hand on his shoulder.

"Thank you, Erik."

"Didn't do it for you buddy, like I said, my ears can only take so much bullshit."

"As can mine."

Barry shook his head from the memories he had just experienced and looked around.

"Where'd they all go?" He wondered out loud. He looked around, and his ears picked up the sound of mechanical whirring. He looked up far into the sky and saw Christina.

"Did they evacuate while I was distracted? Well, I guess that makes things easier for me. Now am I still headed in the right direction?" He thought aloud before taking out his compass. He looked at it for a few moments and turned to face east, once he was sure he was facing the right direction he pocketed it.

Right as a bunch of figures dropped down from the sky. In front of the group was none other than Jellal Fernandes.

"Tell me, are you Acnologia?" Jellal asked. Barry was about to respond until his eyes landed on Erik, Sting and Rogue standing behind him. The rage bubbled back up to the surface, his veins popped.

Jellal saw it.

"Then you leave me no choice," Jellal said. He pointed his hands forward, and the ground around them all began shaking. He pointed one arm to the ground and one towards the sky. Black clouds swirled above them. Orange light and lightning began to appear in the center of the storm Jellal had conjured.

"Sema!" Jellal yelled. A giant, meteorite shrouded in orange fire fell from the sky.

"Hey, Jellal! Aren't we a bit too close to that!?" Sting yelled. Barry was wondering the same thing about those behind him.

"Worry not! I've cast a barrier over all of you and myself, he's the only target!" Jellal yelled, sure enough, Barry saw the gleam of some kind of transparent barrier around them. Barry looked up at the meteor soaring towards him.

His arm twitched.

The Barry part of himself wanted to move out of the way.

The Acnologia part of himself wanted to do something far more stupid.

Sadly it seemed that Acnologia won out that battle.

Barry pressed his feet onto the ground and pressed down. The ground crumbled under his feet, and he looked up the meteor about halfway down now.

'I can't believe I'm doing this.'

The Acnologia part of himself relished the challenge.

The Barry part of himself was a tad curious to see if he would survive it.

So, without resistance from either side from himself.

He jumped into the sky.

He reared his right fist back.

He let out a loud warcry of excitement, baring his fangs and letting them bathe in the glow of the meteor above him.

His cloak fluttered wildly behind him as he soared through the sky faster then the meteor was falling.

He was a meter away from it.

He outstretched his fist.

The Barry part of himself braced for unspeakable pain.

That part didn't expect his fist to tear through the magic rock like butter. He watched as it crumbled around his fist and was amazed as he saw his fist exit the other side of the meteor.

He had done it.

À construction worker from Earth.

Had just punched a meteor out of existence.

For the first time since arriving, he felt true excitement pulse through his veins as he flipped around and stared at the ground far below him.

He felt no fear. No anger, and no confusion.

Only excitement. He smiled with glee, which to Jellal, seemed like the smile of a mass murderer.

'It is him.' Jellal thought worryingly.

Yeah, so, about the whole Willpower thingy.

That was something I made up since Natsu Thanos punching Acnologia out of existence made no sense to me. Not sure this does either since the dragon slayers all fell out of the ravines of time after they beat him but I'll explain it more after.

Just wanted to tell you all that Barry now has his own wiki page

It won't let me paste the fucking link though so just take my word for it and look up Barry on Fairy tail fanon