Back with the next chapter!
"Speaking"
""thinking""
On with the story
The next day
With the battle over and the enemy successfully driven away from the island, Fairy Tail could fully focus on treating their wounded and fixing their remaining issues. Makarov managed to get his hands on a lacrima brought by Mest and let the Council know what he thought of them and their idea of nuking the island. With the threat of Grimoire Heart resolved and Zeref disappearing from the island, the Council backed down from their decision.
Makarov allowed Grimoire Heart to peacefully leave the island.
Ultear and Meredy leaved the island on a boat provided by Gray
Azuma left the island with a new goal of life, as this isn't the last time, we will see of this man
Fairy Tail's Base camp
"drink it" Natsu told to the injured as they drink his handmade potions
"damn this thing taste nasty" Gajeel said after finished drinking his potion
"don't you have something that doesn't taste bitter?" Elfman asked Natsu who was bandaging Lucy's hand
"don't whine, the sweet one is only for light injuries, while the bitter ones for heavy ones" Natsu told them as he rubbed an ointment to Lucy's back
At Grimoire Heart
Hades stared at his bandaged hand and frowned. He was currently sitting in the throne room of the ship, which was put back together by Rustyrose and his magic. Kain and Rustyrose sat together with him, their injuries also patched up. Their mood was sour to say the least.
Rusty sighed and clutched his face with his hand. "We were so close! So close to the Grand Magic World! Zeref was right in front of us!"
Hades said nothing. His head was too busy to pay attention to his underlings.
"It is because of people like you that I have turned out like this."
The Kin snapped to their feet in an instant, as a strange voice spoke out from the shadows. Hades slowly looked up, not surprised at all.
"It is your evil thoughts and intents that have summoned Acnologia upon this land."
As soon as the voice's owner stepped out of the shadows, Kain and Rusty dropped to their knees in shock and horror. Hades felt his eyes widen in shock, as he slowly stood up from his seat.
The voice belonged to none other than Zeref, who was slowly strolling towards them, his step carefree and relaxed.
"Zeref!" exclaimed the elder. "The Black Wizard himself! But...how...why are you on my ship?!"
Zeref arched an eyebrow. "To leave this island, obviously. I have spent years in solitude on that island, but it appears that I am once again forced to interact with humans." he explained, putting a lot of pressure on the second half of the sentence.
Hades' hands were shaking. "The Black Wizard...right in front of my eyes..." he then smiled like a madman and turned to his underlings. "Quick, the keys! Bring me the keys!"
Kain could only raise his head a little. "We...can't move." he grunted, with Rustyrose nodding weakly beside him.
"There will be no need for keys of any sort." stated Zeref loudly. "I am awake. I have never been asleep."
Hades' face dropped. "What?"
"Tell me something." began Zeref. "I am by all means in no place to judge you, but many people lost their lives in your pursuit of the keys, am I right? People paid the ultimate price just so you could get your hands on those. It really makes me sad...and angry. Those keys have always been a myth, a legend created and spread by third-rate Zeref worshippers, who never gave a second thought to do some proper research on the person they devoted their lives to."
Hades punched his throne, its armrest falling off. "No! I did my research! The keys are necessary to awaken your true magic! Your true form! What you are right now is just-"
"I really hate repeating myself." Zeref's voice echoed dangerously, wind suddenly appearing inside the closed ship
"The keys are an old fable. They were never real to begin with. I have been awake all this time. The person standing before you is the real Black Wizard Zeref." said the man once again.
Hades was lost for words. "But...how is this possible? I saw you being tricked and defeated by my underling! Someone of your caliber would never have fallen for such a childish trick!"
"The person who was bested by that woman was not the person who is standing before you at this very moment." explained Zeref. "Back then that truly was my real power. But, as you can tell, that is no longer the case."
The ship began to creak, cracks appearing in the walls and floor. Zeref's magic was enormous, but stable. It created an illusion of filling the room like a balloon, putting constant pressure, but keeping it on a non-aggressive level.
"Despite your age you look no older than my youngest underling..." whispered Hades. "How?"
Zeref smiled sadly. "Would you like to learn the secret of my immortality, you poor fool?"
Having received a nod, Zeref told him the story. "Over 400 years I have seen countless battles and deaths. They started to become something...daily, for me. Like breathing. But one day, I was shown just how valuable life truly was. That was also the day I became cursed. From that day, the more precious I find human life to be, the more of it I steal. To stop killing people, I must forget the weight that is a human life."
"Are you saying you are constantly battling the weight of human lives?" asked Hades.
Zeref nodded. "That is correct. That is why my magic never works as I want it to. I can never control it. But, if I forget the weight of life...now that is a different matter."
Hades started to choke, his hands mindlessly going towards his throat, as if that would help him breathe properly. Zeref's eyes changed color from black to red, his hair being gently raised by his magic. His face, although stoic and seemingly emotionless, hid a vast ocean of anger underneath. An ocean Hades has just realised he was staring at.
"You are guilty of many crimes, Precht." he said quietly. "You are guilty of taking innocent lives in my name, of making me forget how precious human life is, of calling Acnologia onto this island, but most importantly...for being the reason this era has come to an end."
"Acnologia?! What are you talking about?!" choked out Hades.
"When exactly did I say you are permitted to speak?" Zeref's voice was cold and merciless. It pierced right through Hades' heart. making the elder terrified to the point he was incapable of further speech. "For the things I have mentioned, you shall be punished. I am going to steal from you, Precht. I am going to steal the most valuable thing a human can offer, something you have been stealing ever since you took a step towards darkness. Your life."
Hades extended his hand and tried to speak out one last time, asking Zeref to give him just one more moment to ask just one more question but could not as the old man falls
Zeref closed his eyes and breathed out, as Hades' lifeless corpse fell off the throne. Magic stopped putting pressure on the room, colours returning to their original state. He started to say a small prayer for all of the people who died in pursuit of his keys, but soon stopped after hearing a sound. A sound that never failed to send a chill down his spine.
Zeref turned to the window and frowned gently. "Here he comes." he announced in a whisper.
Back at the base camp
Gajeel who was in the middle of eating some of Natsu's herb stew, heard something off from a distance as he thought he was hearing things.
he slowly stood up and frowned, as his hearing picked up the sound once again.
Natsu who was in the forest, picking up some herbs, drop the basket he was carrying and started clutching his head hard
""this sound!...this sound!""
He screamed in his mind as he sees the image of Zeref and a black demon before it all was replaced with a dark giant shadow in the shape of a monster and it was roaring at him
"You hearing that?" Laxus asked to Gajeel who nodded
"Yeah. It sounds like..."
"A dragon!" finished Wendy.
Lisanna looked at her funny. "A dragon? Are you sure?"
"It is." Gajeel said "but it ain't friendly, it's.."
"Hostile." finished Laxus.
"That's because it is."
Gildarts ran into the camp with Cana and Lucy behind him
"Right now. it doesn't matter where or how, split up if you have to. Just run."
"Gildarts." Makarov called out as he came walking in
"Is that who I think it is?"
The man nodded slowly. Makarov closed his eyes and exhaled through his nose, before roaring on top of his lungs. "All of you, leave the island! No matter what or how, do as I say! Run away from here as far as you can! Don't look back, just-"
ROOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRR!
Makarov was interrupted by a deafening roar that came from behind the clouds above them.
Just when everyone looked up in the sky, a dragon as black as death descended upon the island, spiking at it like a meteor.
Just before it could smash into it, it spread its wings and stopped just above the land, the wind created by its wings knocking everyone to the ground, trees bending from it.
The Dragon of Chaos, Acnologia has descended
"W...what is this...thing?" choked out Lucy in terror.
"I heard that Dragons are extinct but this one…" Gray said
"...This one sure as hell ain't extinct." Laxus ended his words
"It's the very same dragon I've met on my Quest last month." stated Gildarts and walked up in front of everyone. "I know what it's capable of. All of you leave this island immediately, I'll do something about it. I know how it moves, so-"
"No."
Makarov's voice was stern and loud. He threw his shirt aside and began to increase his size to match that of the dragon, who has just landed on the island, its weight causing it to shake. "You will all run away from here, right now. None of you is allowed to challenge this beast. That is an order. Run. Don't look back. Keep moving forward."
"Like hell we're gonna leave you!" roared Gray with Juvia on his back. "We will fight!"
"Those who can still fight, prepare yourselves!" yelled Freed and pulled out his blade. "We shall hit it with everything we've got!"
"I told you to run!" roared Makarov, his voice loud enough to make the Dragon Slayers grimace in pain. "That is my final order as Master! You shall all run to the ship and get away from here! Are you going to disobey my orders until the very end?!"
Fairy Tail was shocked. ""Final order?!""
"Like hell we're gonna-"
Gray wanted to argue, but he was stopped by Laxus, who simply grabbed him by the collar and started to drag him towards the ship. "Enough. We're leaving. You heard him, Master's orders. Shut up and obey." he said quietly.
Gray wanted to snap on the man, but he soon felt his eyes widen in shock. Laxus was crying. He wasn't even trying to hide it - soon all could see tears flowing down his face.
Taking his tears as a sign that it truly was their only option, Fairy Tail grit her teeth in frustration and started to run, some of them sobbing. They've decided to leave Makarov by himself.
The elder smiled under his moustache and turned to the dragon, who jumped forward, almost as if trying to get to them.
Makarov clenched his fist and punched the dragon right on the jaw, before wrapping his arm under its head and securing it in a choke hold.
Acnologia roared and started to push, but Makarov did not move. He flexed his muscles so hard they were crying out in pain and continued to strangle the beast with everything he had.
"Like hell I'm letting you go through!" he growled. "Those are my kids behind me! I don't know what you came here for, but you will not take their lives! As long as I have limbs to move with, you will stay here!"
Acnologia roared as it sends the giant hurling down to the ground before pushing a claw to Makarov's chest
Makarov and Acnologia roared at each other before Makarov started laughing
""for the first time, I've acted like a true parent, I now can die without regret…." Makarov said as he closed his eyes and awaits his death
SHOOOOOOOOOOOO
Suddenly something went flying at highspeed as Makarov opens his eyes and sees Acnologia get rammed to the side by a giant fireball
"Natsu….?!" Makarov exclaimed while shrinking back to size as Natsu was in the giant fireball
Natsu roared at Acnologia who did the same to him
"ACNOLOGIA!" Natsu let out a roar like an animal as scales appeared on his skin and his hand turned into claws
Acnologia's white eyes turned red as it let out an angered roar
"you….Finally found you!" a dark deep voice was heard as Acnologia roars at Natsu
Acnologia pulled back it's claw as Natsu summoned both his armor as they went on the attack
"I FINALLY FOUND YOU! …,..,..!" Acnologia roared as it fired out a breath attack at Natsu
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Natsu and his Armors flied into the roar as he let out a demonic like roar
From a far, a giant explosion took place as it was bright as the sun and was as powerful as an earthquake
At the Dragov's residence
"it's time for their bath" Erza said while looking at the clock as started walking to her daughters room
CRASH!
Erza heard the sound of something falling as it let out a glass like shatter
She turns around the corner and sees that a picture frame had fell in the bedroom
"was it the wind?" Erza thought out loud as she went to the fallen picture frame and lifted it up
It was the picture of Natsu and herself, the day of their honey moon as both were smiling happily in it
Erza sighs as the glass got cracked from the fall as it was in the shape of a lightning like crack that separated Natsu from Erza
She then felt an omen rising as she couldn't shook it off
"Natsu…." Erza voice out as the wind was breezing through the window
Far away from her location, in the middle of the ocean. The location where Tenroujima stood.
It was no longer there, as the only thing that can be seen, was a necklace floating on top of the ocean's water before sinking into the ocean's deep
In a dark place
Natsu was floating in a void of nothingness as he couldn't move
"where…..am i?" he muttered out as he felt as if he was floating in the void for years
Natsu stopped floating as he was now standing in the middle of the void, alone
He looks around and started walking aimlessly
"where am i!?" Natsu shouted as he started running around the place, only to come back in the same place again
He stopped running as he looks around for a way out
"forget it"
A deep and dark voice spoke as footsteps were heard from behind Natsu
"this place is not something you should be escaping from"
Natsu turns around as he was face to face with himself
"who?" Natsu said as he got hostile
"that's a stupid question, isn't it?" the other Natsu asked Natsu who got confused
"I am you, to be more specific, I am your sealed past, your real self"
That's a wrap!
Bye bye