Even The Dragon King Has Feelings

by Don Cheadle

Natsu gave his everything to defeat Zeref and Acnologia, pushing himself even when he had nothing left, drawing from tomorrow's strength even when it had been tapped dry. In the following peace, the new Dragon King is left exhausted and in pain. Now the members of Fairy Tail find out that they don't know their strongest mage as well as they thought. (Depressed Mature Natsu / AU)

12. Twelve

(Last chapter didn't do so well, so here is long hectic chapter instead. Review please, and for the love of god some of you need to work on your grammar.)

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For a mage, one who wields the supernatural power of magic, Natsu loathed the use of 'tricks'.

Manipulation of reality and all it contained, mind control and illusions, battlefield removal and sealing, immortality and regeneration, all of those things and many more only served to interrupt the flow of a fight.

Flight, force fields, attack reflection, manipulating the elements, etc, those were things he didn't mind. A savvy warrior used all of the tools in their toolkit after all.

But going back in time to kill past him?

Rewriting the 'story' and 'narrative' so that he never existed?

Vibrating to a higher dimension to avoid taking damage?

Sending him to a world of void outside of reality?

Manipulating concepts to affect the flow of the universe?

Inserting an entire alternative timeline directly into his brain?

Sticking him in a never ending time loop?

Creating infinite finite space as an invisible force field that nullifies any attacks?

Those merely served to piss him off.

Because none of them ever worked.

Everyone and their mother had some overly complex strategy or plan- until they got decked in the face.

There was a point when an opponent stopped using their entire arsenal effectively and just threw random bullshit at him to avoid throwing hands.

This 'Mistress of Time and Space' had crossed said threshold an hour ago.

He had made the decision to get the combat oriented missions done first, they paid the most on average and he could get them done in very little time.

What had been the first job on the chopping block?

Neutralize and/or capture the 'Mistress of Time and Space'.

A powerful mage wielding control of space and time that had come to Fiore looking to expand her slave trading empire native to the island of Caelum.

Tracking her down wasn't too hard, given she left a trail of pillaged and destroyed small towns in her wake as she traveled further inland from the border of the still in ruins Bosco Kingdom.

She was supposedly a big deal, feared and dreaded by many.

But to Natsu, this mage was just another in a long list of enemies who had appeared from absolutely nowhere, conveniently showing up only after the last world ending threat had been taken care of.

Even if there wasn't a massive bounty on her, he still would have probably tracked her down and neutralized her given the whole slave empire thing.

He swore there was just a factory somewhere churning out the most boring headache inducing evil mages, each one worse than the last.

This didn't mean she wasn't a strong mage, she most definitely was.

But it was nigh-impossible to tell through the deluge of what Natsu just called 'hax' that she had been hurling at him one after another.

From what he could tell, the spells weren't actually hers, rather techniques of her past opponents frozen in time and whisked away into an alternate space.

They were stored there, ready to be resummoned and unfrozen any time she wanted. To say she was beyond unpredictable was an understatement.

"You're still alive? Man, you're a treat to knock around!" a shrill female voice echoed throughout the craggy untempered canyon, forcing Natsu to finally pay attention to it.

Natsu gave a few slow blinks and sat up in the middle of a massive smoldering crater, formed by his opponent's latest attack.

A dozen meters above stood the jagged edges of the steaming cavity, obscuring the ever so vast barren caldera that lay beyond.

And atop that a rustic asperous butte was naturally constructed, which in turn was stood upon by the 'Mistress of Time and Space'.

She was a slim woman of average height, her skin tan and figure shapely. Dark forest green hair was restrained behind her head in a ponytail, which allowed the mischief of her sly features and cunning amber eyes to glow freely.

Her apparel was specifically tailored to accentuate her sex appeal. A short black leather jacket with royal purple trimmings was unbuttoned enough to reveal her cleavage and midriff, tight brown pants left nothing to the imagination, and as always, high heels.

There were probably tons of finer details, but Natsu wasn't interested enough to notice. There wasn't anything all that interesting about her besides her strength.

Upon seeing the fire mage eye her for a brief moment, the woman let out a sultry laugh, her figure shifting against the backdrop of the drab night sky.

"Like what you see?" she heckled with a wink, the seductive lethal energy that seeped from her toxic enough to make an entire forest of flora wilt into destitute brown slush.

"Truth be told, I'm not into guys," the woman flipped her ponytail over her shoulder, her smirk suggestive as she leaned down at the waist, hugging her arms beneath her bust, "But for you I might make an exception."

Natsu really wasn't listening.

Dragging himself to his feet, the dragon slayer lazily brushed the dirt and dust that clung to his pants.

Upon realizing his precious scarf was not in its rightful place draped around his neck, Natsu glanced around the steaming crater for any sign of it.

"I never expected a man of all people to last so long against me." she mused, straightened her back.

Natsu was busy overturning scorched boulders and kicking over piles of ash.

Her cheshire grin only widened as she sung, her song deadly and poisonous, "You're a lucky guy, y'know? I would've killed most men if they got in my way, and if you were a girl, well let's just say that's an entirely different conversation."

Natsu nudged a pile of rocks aside with a foot, relieved to see the tasseled end of his scarf sticking from the earth.

"I'm in a good mood today, so I think I might keep you around, pretty sure my girls back home will love a new addition-" she stopped mid sentence to narrow her eyes, "Hey jackass, are you even listening to me!?"

Natsu, back turned to her, finished curling his scaled scarf around his shoulders and stifled a yawn.

Hurling a glance behind him, he squinted up at her, "Huh?"

The woman's brows came together as she hissed, "Did you even hear what I said to you boy?"

"Dunno, it was probably some woman thing about not being the center of my world."

"Oh you chauvinistic sonuvabitch! Does your idiotic mind have even the slightest clue as to whom you are speaking to?"

Natsu blinked, "Nah, not really."

Her face lost its smug smoothness as she snapped irritably, all sense of composure yanked from beneath her feet.

"I am Ishtar Horae you buffoon! Space and time are mine to command!" 'Ishtar' introduced herself, "Can you not see the magnificence of the goddess that stands before you?!"

The dragon slayer offered a meaningless shrug as he swiveled to face her, "Just told ya lady, never heard of you. I swear, yer wheels are spinning but I'm pretty sure the hamsters dead."

Ishtar scoffed, her voice molesting the canyon with its echoes, "Of course a simpleton like you wouldn't. I have no need for recognition from a lowly man. Still, it would be unwise to underestimate me."

"Underestimate you? Ain't sure that's possible."

"Silence! The only reason you are still alive is because your bullheaded stubbornness amuses me, so I advise you to watch your tone!" Ishtar spat, bristling. The air churned as her potent magical energy stirred, squeezing the oxygen from the atmosphere greedily.

The fire mage gave a lofty sigh, massaging the bridge of his nose with a few unconsciously trembling fingers.

Natsu really wasn't in the mood for this.

"Can we just get back to fightin' already?" he blurted finally.

Ishtar threw her head back in a conceding laugh, "So quick to die are we?"

"Holy shit lady, do I really have to bust out some crayons to explain it ya?" Natsu couldn't help but snap, tapping his foot as his youthful impatience made a return, stating emphatically,

"I don't care. You don't interest me in the slightest, understand?"

"I don't care who was mean to you as a kid so that now you go around killing people, I don't care why you do what you do, what your motives are, any of it," came Natsu's indifferent grunt, "Cause all you are is 15 million jewel piggy bank that I gotta break. We clear?"

A menacing forest glow growled around Ishtar's form as she bared her teeth, "Crystal."

She suddenly raised her arms, summoning an ethereal symbol of a clock behind her, bolts of magical yellow sparkling around its moving hand.

Clouds stopped drifting and the dulcet breeze stopped flowing as she began to chant, "Ego kalo ischyrós polemochareís apó o to parelthón!"

As the clock's shimmering hand passed each of its twelve dials, it left behind an incomprehensible rune, each one glaring with hues of marvelous green incandesce.

The clock's hand came to an abrupt start, stilled motion only settled for but a moment before it stuttered back and forth, like the movement of a toddler. Finally, it began to spin in cog-like gradations, smooth and maddening, in the opposite direction.

A dozen reams of swirling green and yellow burst from the crater's messy barriers, the colors meshing and kissing before they gathered into shapes.

Rushes of blurry white mist blew past Natsu, who felt the air still as intrinsic components of the universe were altered on a whim. Despite the lack of vision, twelve familiar scents, twelve familiar magical signatures told the dragon slayer everything he needed to know.

As the commotion settled, the intangible clock behind Ishtar dispersed, who watched smugly as her new pawns came into form.

The wind shivered as the dozen figures emerged from their gifted cocoons, the painted layer of swirling temporal emerald that had plucked them from beyond slithering away.

Natsu's eyes widened in stunned recognition as his breath hitched.

As above him stood, The Spriggan Twelve.

Ajeel Raml, Neinhart, Wall Eehto, Jacob Lessio, Bloodman, Invel Yura, Larcade Dragneel, Brandish, Dimaria Yesta, God Serena, Irene Belserion, and August.

The most fearsome unit of the vast Alvarez Empire, which had been supposedly disassembled a month ago after the war's end, was now back at full strength.

They had been the toughest battle his guild had ever faced, requiring sacrifice after sacrifice to prevail over opponents they normally would never be able to.

And here they were, despite more than half of its members being deceased, standing above him.

A very pleased Ishtar brought her hands together to summon another spell, transitory strands of magic twisting along her forearms before she clapped her hands.

A bright flash rang above each of the Spriggan Twelve, turning their eyes a banausic yellow in color for a briefest of moments.

"Great heroes, I have called you from the great beyond to do my bidding!" she announced with an eye rollingly fictitious sense of honesty, as if she wasn't even really making an effort to sound convincing.

"Serve your mistress and rid the world of this fool, then you shall be returned from whence you came!" twelve sets of glowing eyes leered down upon Natsu, the authoritative sheen that commanded their minds fading to allow their personalities to return.

Natsu scowled against his will, seeing as if every single complaint he had about magic in general had been rolled up into one massive world breaking scenario.

The mind control he could understand, however stupid and disrespectful it may be. But how were they here? How was the Spriggan Twelve back with their deceased members resurrected?

"Aight, exposition dump time, tell me how?"

At the dragon slayer's demand, Ishtar's full lips curled,

"It's simple, space and time are but faucets for me to control. The Spriggan Twelve before you are not from our timeline. I've reached past the bounds of our universe to grab a version of them before they were disbanded. And well, even you should know how mind control works. Got the spell from some grandmaster clan with magical eyes or somethin'."

To Natsu, that sounded like the usual shark jumping bullshit.

He didn't bother asking why them specifically, as if he wanted strong mages to do his bidding he'd probably choose the Spriggan Twelve.

Natsu sighed through his nostrils, giving a miffed shake of his head before he beckoned her with the stiff curl of two fingers.

The dragon slayer grated out, "C'mon, let's get this over with."

He had seen good people make grievous sacrifices just to temporarily manipulate time, and here this random lady was, toying with it like a bored cat humoring a ball of yarn.

And that didn't even address the mind control, something Ishtar had also pulled from her ass to make the situation all the more tedious.

Some members of the Spriggan Twelve deserved far more respect than having their name, their image, played with just because the latest big bad didn't want to throw hands.

August was the first Spriggan to say anything, turning his head to look up at his new 'mistress', "Is there any particular way you wish for us to go about this endeavor milady?"

Natsu couldn't help but cringe at that, as despite them once being enemies, the old mage had been a reasonable and wise personality.

Even during his chaotic mental state at the time of their meeting, he could not bring himself to hate the so-called 'Wizard King'.

Now seeing him used as someone else's puppet pressed an uncomfortable reminder against his skin like a branding iron.

He did not want this fight.

And there were people here he didn't want to hurt.

There were parts of him sequestered away by hands of restraint that was curious what would happen should he draw this out. His younger self most definitely would with no hesitation.

The never ending call to test his strength to its fullest was not as strong as it once was, and it would take far more to spark a fire in his belly.

Ishtar shrugged, taking a seat on the edge of the butte with her legs crossed, "None whatsoever. Just make his death slow and painful."

August frowned tightly, yet said nothing, swiveling his eyes over the rest of his comrades thoughtfully.

"As you wish." the old mage grimaced, "Now-"

"-I'm only gonna say this once." Natsu interrupted sternly, forcibly yanking all attention back to him. He scanned the twelve, avoiding certain faces before stating,

"One chance. That's all I'm giving you to walk away."

"Do not make me do this." his timbre trembled, "Please.", the dragon slayer warned softly, turning off the flames inside him boiling a whistling kettle filled with best forgotten memories.

His answer came as a few patronizing cackles from some of the twelve's more cynical members.

"Apologies young warrior, our hand is forced." August, genuinely remorseful, responded with bushy brows furrowed, "Jacob, if you please."

Gusts of wind came tussling tunnels of dirt and dust as if in a raucous ballgame celebration, heaving blankets of smoke up from the crater's center.

Upon settling, one of the Spriggan's towering above him was missing.

A sly voice, suave in accent, behind Natsu suddenly purred, "Sorry mate, you heard the lady."

The moment the assassin unveiled himself, light having finally decided his body was worth reflecting, his fist was caught mid strike by Natsu.

"Oi, h-how the hell did ya….?" he drawled off, angular features sharpening in confusion as he tried to tug himself free.

Before the stunned Jacob could acquire as to how Natsu was able to read him like a blatantly open book, the fire mage yanked him right into an elbow that sent him flying into the crater's craggy walls, unconscious.

The blank coal of his eyes having never left the twelve mages towering over him, he gave a grim reminder, "I warned you. I warned you but you didn't listen."

The full force of his base state shook the tectonic plates beneath as it chucked fierce shockwaves across the planet, stunning all of those who stood above him.

Natsu moved before anyone else could do anything, leaving behind nothing but whippets of alarmed wind and flabbergasted light that vibrated in bewilderment as to how something could move faster than it.

He would be the one on the offensive, seeking out the weaker links.

While most of them were comparable to each other in raw power, some members required more set up to reach their true potency, making them easy targets.

No coordination would ever happen between them, not while he had anything to say about it.

Before Wall could search for weaknesses or sharpen and strengthen his body with the steel and firepower of his assault mode, he was disabled by a forearm strike to the back of the neck.

Before Neinhart could call upon the evils of the past to further increase the difference in numbers, he was put down by a decisive hook to the side of his head.

Before Ajeel could gather carpets of eager sand to mold and create armies of golems and beasts or even unleash vast amounts of versatile techniques, an elbow to the gut squished all the air from his lungs and painted his vision with black.

Before the perturbed dust could finish showering the ground with its puffs, three more members of the Spriggan Twelve lay in unconscious heaps.

Complete disruption his goal, Natsu sent the rest scattering with a straight punch to the ground, turning the entire rocky plateau into a complex bewildering mess of broken brown rock and gaping crevices that stretched for miles upon miles.

If they had a chance to properly harmonize and integrate their powers, the dragon slayer knew he would have to access his higher form in order to compensate.

Even then, there were always risks, always chances, always a possibility for disaster.

Right now, he was not looking to test himself, he just wanted to get his money and go home. There were things he was going to have to deal with, that he didn't want to.

The churning kettle from before was now dangerously close to busting its lid, as his brain struggled to properly comprehend everything being thrown at him.

He was used to things moving fast, but having the entire Spriggan Twelve sicked on him was a little much for his current mental state.

Before he could leap up to meet anyone on higher ground, massive crooked pillars of earth sticking out wildly as far as the eye could see, chains of biting ice curled around his ankles.

Frozen claws sunk into his mind as Natsu felt a crystalized collar form around his neck, shimmering sprinkles of snowlight basking from it as a faint trill bolted across his spine.

While it was nowhere near as fierce and gelid as Gray's ice, the freeze that sunk into the dragon slayer's neck made up for its lack of glacial bite with a cold that seeped through his skin and into his mind.

The stalling of his ability to form coherent thoughts lasted only but a moment, for as soon as his resistance to whatever the spell tried to do to his psyche handed him back the controls, he grasped the ice collar and snapped it in half.

Had it been anyone else, Natsu would have been disabled there and then, but the way that collar sucked away at his self worth worked against it. That pool was very much dry.

Natsu couldn't do much else before a fist studded with icey diamonds smacked against his jaw. Invel took the failure of his Ice Slave spell in stride and took the chance to surround himself in non-pellucid layers of unholy corundum armor.

It stung, the sharp knuckles scraping at his skin, but the next blow was ineffective, landing against Natsu's cheek, which failed to budge.

Before Invel could develop any plan of attack, the dragon slayer shoved a palm into the front chestplate of the armored Spriggan with all the strength of his base state.

The armor shattered like thin glass, coming apart violently with a spray of bright blue teethy shards.

Invel let out a strangled gasp as he was sent hurtling back through rock wall after rock wall, the gargantuan chunks of rock that jut from the earth shuddering as one of thousands collapsed down on top of the Spriggan.

Pulling his feet free from the chains, the dragon slayer winced, breathing sharply as he held his aching head.

He had resisted the control of that collar, but it didn't make for a pleasant experience. Besides, he wasn't sure if using that much force was necessary.

The 'Winter General' was still alive, he could still hear a heartbeat, but he was probably left with a few broken ribs.

"Impressive, truly." came a tranquil male voice that practically tickled the wild dizzying terrain of the stone labyrinth Natsu had created.

The dragon slayer jerked his head upwards to see standing far above him atop a scabrous rocky pedestal was Larcade Dragneel.

This threw Natsu off track, who sucked in a breath and blinked away creeping memories.

This was the first member of the 'I don't wanna punch you' club, for lack of a better term.

He couldn't keep running from recalling things when necessary, Natsu knew that, but it seemed every relevant memory was an insanely painful one.

Larcade Dragneel, a failed attempt by his brother to recreate him, E.N.D. At the time, Zeref knew not the magnitude of what he created, the paradox of his own doing.

Natsu had seen this man cry, no, sob.

Larcade, slumped over at death's door, had broken down upon his 'father' rejecting him. The person he loved most in this world viewed him as a failure.

What had Zeref done?

What did his own flesh and blood do upon seeing that?

He had destroyed him without a second thought.

Now here he was, summoned from a universe where this had yet to happen, forced to take part in a fight that wasn't his.

His slim form halted the moon's ivory light from traveling further past him as he loomed over the dragon slayer.

"You've dispatched my comrades with ease." Larcade granted him an honest compliment, a slim bitter smile following, "Father really did create a powerful being unlike any other, didn't he Uncle?"

Natsu's mouth slid open for a second, his wide eyes practically asking 'You know?'.

Larcade gave an empty chuckle as he basically floated to the ground, hands still pressed together as if praying, "This may not be my universe, but it seems to still have you in it, which means father is as well."

"From the look on your face, I presume we have met?"

Natsu hesitantly nodded, "I'm sorry, I really am, but there is no reason to fight."

"There is no need for apologies. Father was right to favor you, he had created something truly marvelous." Larcade responded, dismissive in a tone Natsu knew all too well.

Pink bristles swayed as Natsu bowed his head, unsure of what to say other than to request, "Yer still intent on fighting me, ain't ya?"

The younger etherious looked up to admire the moon from the bottom of the ravine, "The Mistress wills it so. Once you have been taken care of, me and my comrades get to return home."

"Is that crap she's feedin' your mind?" Natsu scoffed.

Ignoring him, Larcade swathed his index and middle finger on each hand in an alluring purple glow.

"I'm sorry things must be this way Uncle, but it is time for your hunger to consume you." In one fluid motion, Larcade summoned a torrent of rich violet to swirl around Natsu's legs, plastering the fire mage in hues of mauve and lilac.

Natsu felt a pull at his stomach, aching radiating from his center as if attempting to convince the rest of him of his gut's desperate situation. The rest of his body ignored it as it had so many times before.

Natsu spoke, voice rich with pity, "That's not gonna work bud."

Larcade's eyes broadened before narrowing, "Curious." he murmured to himself as he extinguished the spell.

Pearly limpid tendrils rose from the ground as Larcade moved his arms in a circle, one limb above his head, one limb held at his waist. From his chest came a bolt of alabaster magic that splashed against the awaiting Natsu.

The hollow comfort for rest called to the dragon slayer, shuttering his synapses and pouring weight upon his eyelids. However, just as always, his thoughts no matter how harmful they may be kept dancing, unable to surrender their stage to a dreamscape.

Natsu said nothing, offering a helpless shrug and pursed lips, showing he was unaffected.

He denied sleep countless times before.

Lines were drawn across Larcade's forehead in astonishment, "How can that be?"

The blonde man shook his head as if to reassure himself, quickly switching to his last somewhat non-lethal option.

Cupping his palms together in front of his pectorals, Larcade gathered a conglomerate of bright wonderful colors that stretched to touch his fingers. The spectrum of colors reflected in a circle around him, arcing and curving as it twinkled playfully.

From the prism he cast his most potent spell, forbidden calls for pleasure were to be amplified by anything that the ballooning shockwaves of pink touched.

As soon as the rosy glow swept past him, kissing his skin as it flew by, Natsu felt blood force its way into his loins.

He had to admit, dirty thoughts regarding Lucy crossed his mind.

But, he had pushed past those before, he had to given her tendency to not wear much.

However, nerves no longer connected to each other in a vast array of properly intertwined stimuli, multiple occasions of sensory overload from pain leaving them twisted and inefficient.

Natsu respired softly as he rested his hands on his hips, snorting, "Look, all your 'horny spell' is doing is giving me a boner. We're dudes case you forgot, those just happen every morning."

At this, Larcade finally stepped back, breathless, "I-i don't understand."

"What? You don't understand... boners...?"

Larcade ignored him and rubbed his upper lip with the back of his thumb as his gaze drifted elsewhere, muttering aloud, "You're hungry, yet you don't eat, you're weary, yet you don't sleep, you lust, yet you don't relieve."

His head bounced from left to right slowly as if the reality of it was too much for him to understand.

"Those are the sweetnesses of life. They are what give meaning to existence, b-but… but you don't get to enjoy any of it." Larcade explained, prompting shakily, "What type of life are you living?"

The older man had no answer, he could only provide yet another meaningless shrug.

"You aren't living…." his jaw clenched as he stared at Natsu, putting it bluntly, "You're just not dying."

"It ain't all that bad." Natsu admitted softly, "Yeah, gettin' outta bed is the most difficult part of the day, if I actually got any sleep mind ya."

"Here's the thing though, You get people in your life, people you love, and when you see em' smile, man you feel like you can topple any mountain." the dragon slayer couldn't help but laugh quietly, his smile small against his scarred cheeks.

Natsu walked forward, and to his surprise, Larcade made no defensive or offensive moves, he still stared at nothing in particular, trying to figure out the unsolvable puzzle that was the fire mage before him.

"I'm not gonna lie, all of this, having to fight her, to fight you, it's ridiculously dumb." Natsu stopped right in front of Larcade, resting a comforting arm on his shoulder, "Hell, I still don't fully understand how you're even here."

"And even if I'm going to have to hurt people I don't want to, I'm actually glad I get to tell ya this."

Natsu tilted his head, emphasizing each word, "That person, those people, the thing that makes you fight hard, that makes life worth living, it's not my brother."

Larcade's amber orange eyes snapped to him.

"Don't live your life for him, don't look up to him, because all my brother is going to do is hurt you. I know, trust me."

The artificial Dragneel furrowed his brows as he searched the dragon slayer for any hints of deception. He found nothing.

"When you get back to your timeline, do me a favor, find that person." Natsu requested earnestly, eyes turning apologetic.

Larcade had no time to give an honest reflection before a chop to the side of his neck undid the tension in his muscles and put his brain to sleep.

When he lurched forward, Natsu caught him by the back of his yellow kasaya and gingerly lowered him to the ground.

"A demon, pretending to be human, using the power of a dragon. Quite the façade."

Malice came in the form of a gravely rasp as Natsu felt the wretched sensation of curse power seep from the darkness around him.

He rose from his kneel next to the unconscious Larcade, expression souring upon seeing legions of floating eidolic skulls emerging from the numerous nooks and crannies the rocky maze provided.

Bloodman.

The fire mage stiffened at the curse power massaging the air around him with toxic allure, as if begging him to unleash the same kind of strength.

He had to fight with the memories of the times he had been the one to command such darkness and destruction, although on an unfathomably greater scale.

Bloodman slithered from the shadows, his form ablaze in midnight violent whispers signaling his third seal had been unleashed.

The etherious cackled, the sound that poured from the royal purple glow of his maw a disgrace to the concept of laughter itself as his army of hovering skulls chortled along.

"Your scent gives you away, smellin' another demon gets me all excited." Bloodman gruffed with sadistic glee, cadaverous claws wiggling with excitement, "Whatever you think you are, it don't matter to me, because they bleed all the same."

The dragon slayer turned to face his fellow etherious, stating, "I'm nobody but Natsu."

A pulse of invisible heat burst from his form, turning the floating gang of skulls to falling piles of ash.

Bloodman was unable to move an inch as Natsu abruptly appeared before him.

Natsu drove a knee capable of splitting mountains square beneath his chin, the impact so fierce Bloodman's head was nearly torn from his spine as his feet were forced from the ground.

Before he could be sent hurtling into the air, Natsu encircled his fingers around one ankle and slammed him right back down to earth, leaving him limp in a newly created creator just big enough for one person.

The unconscious etherious beneath him let out a rattled groan of pain but remained unmoving.

While winning one battle, he lost another, no longer able to keep memories of his time submitting to his demon heritage.

'To answer your question truthfully, I'm not sure who… h-how… what I am right now. I just need time to think, ya know?'

The echo of his own voice, his own words, seeped silently from his brain to tickle his ear.

That statement wasn't entirely true, even for the time.

He knew what he was. He just despised the reality of it.

'Lucy, you've fallen in love with a demon.'

As much as he and the ascendant being known as E.N.D were one in the same, as much as he was no longer a mere emanation or avatar, as much as he was in complete control of all that power, Natsu still hated it.

"Sea King Dragon's Encircling Deluge!"

The chaotic poetic roar of rushing waters met Natsu's ears as he turned around to see walls of it, cold and powerful, tumbling towards him all while shoving past monolith after monolith.

Natsu acted quickly, grabbing Larcade, and after some reluctance, Bloodman, before leaping to higher ground.

While the hissing torrents blasted past his feet, the dragon slayer dumped the two Spriggans before jumping for the tallest rocky jut he could find.

"Impressive, truly." the gaudy voice of God Serena pierced the slowly quieting screech of flowing water.

On a defiant crop of earth just behind him stood the mightiest mage in Isghar.

"Don't slow clap-"

The orange haired man did exactly that, somehow even more condescendingly than Natsu expected.

"Dammit." the dragon slayer muttered as he turned to the older man.

"So were you really tryna drown your own pals?" Natsu prompted, tilting his head back towards where he had left them, "Sure, one has a boner beam and the other is a dick, but I thought you guys were a team."

God Serena tapped his temple, "You underestimate their bull-headedness."

The younger man sighed, adjusting his scarf, "So we gonna fight? I gotta wrap this up before your other buddies regroup."

Putting one foot behind another, God Serena spread his arms wide, boisterous, "A duel against someone of your caliber? That would be delightful." he purred.

He flipped his ponytail over his shoulder, warning with a mischievous tut, "I will warn you, I am much stronger than my comrades would have you believe."

Natsu blinked, snapped from his internal thoughts,

"I'mma deck you in the schnoz."

God Serena's face twisted with consternation as he squinted, "I beg your pardon-"

He was cut off when Natsu bopped him in the kisser, having moved with untraceable speeds.

The Wizard Saint stumbled back with a cry of pain, nursing his throbbing nose.

"H-how dare you!?" God Serena seethed, more nasally than before as a stream of blood curled over his lip, "Have you no glamor nor class? Where is your 'flash'? This is supposed to be a legendary battle, not a street fig-"

Natsu punched him again.

"Ah! Y-you… you did it again! Listen you simpleton-"

And again.

This time, God Serena tripped over himself and landed on his rear, growling through a broken nose, "That's it! You die!"

Streaks of bold light formed in one of his hands as he announced, "Lightning Dragon's Heavenward Halberd!"

Spiraling arcs of lighting came together to form an antsy trident, which God Serena then promptly threw at the fire mage.

Natsu effortlessly dodged it, letting it sail past him out into the expanse of night. Upon detonation, the attack showered the black skies with fulgid sparks that stretched past the horizon.

God Serena, sclera now dark-blue, glared at the fire mage with pin prick white pupils.

"You're that dragon slayer knock off." Natsu remembered aloud, drawing a growl from his opponent who leapt at him with a bloodthirsty snarl.

"Lightning Dragon's Iron Fist!"

In response, Natsu engulfed his own hand in warm orange and charged.

Their fists met, sparks and fire clashing to unleash upheaval of biblical portions.

The vast wild maze of rock Natsu had created was leveled in an instant by the circular shockwave that stretched so far they smacked against gargantuan canyon walls miles away.

Hundreds of thousands of tons of dust and smoke were dispersed as the two recovered from the recoil and threw themselves at one another, their battlefield a monumental graveyard of shattered stone.

Fists flew as they danced around each other, nearly every thrown strike bouncing off a block or missing entirely.

There was something missing, a key piece to the puzzle that was nowhere to be found in Natsu's chest.

Excitement.

There was no planet in danger. No city to save. No people to protect. No friends to watch suffer. No family to fail to defend. There were no stakes.

It was just him and his opponent, locked in a dance of skill and technique.

Just him, his opponent, and the fight.

It was supposed to be his happy place.

The lack of stakes should have heightened his enjoyment ironically enough, the fact he was fighting against someone he had no personal connection to would normally allow his strength free reign.

But now, there was no fire in his belly.

"Cavern Dragon's Earth Collapse!"

Dark green twinkles poked up from beneath them before their glow brightened and the ground shook.

Hundreds of chunks of earth were sent scattering like buckshot when the terrain practically imploded, forcing Natsu and God Serena to separate.

The Wizard Saint was quick to raise a palm, announcing, "Sea King Dragon's Water Vortex!"

A spinning blast of whites and blues rocketed towards Natsu, the stream of high pressure water effortlessly carving away rock several meters deep into the ground.

From Natsu's mouth came his own blast, a burst of lively orange fire condensed into a beam that rushed to meet its opposite element.

Upon contact, Natsu's roar proved the obvious superior and forced the watery cyclone back against God Serena's shaking fingers.

"Y-your a dragon slayer?" the orange haired man whispered in astonishment, discontinuing his attack to gobble up the island leveling beam of flames that had been so generously gifted to him.

However, upon shoving a flaming elbow into his belly, Natsu forced his fellow dragon slayer to regurgitate all that he had consumed with a strangled gasping heave.

A wild swing from God Serena managed to land against Natsu's side, giving the older man enough time to backpedal, gasping out, "Gale Dragon's Song of Moon and Wind!"

From his mouth came a tumultuous storm of turbulent wind, far more forceful than anything that had ever come from Wendy.

Despite blowing away miles of land behind him, Natsu cocooned himself in a blanket of fire and powered right through the gusts' epicenter to barrel into the Wizard Saint.

Forcing his opponent on the backfoot yet again, Natsu ignited his fists in rambunctious swathes of sun colored flames before advancing.

God Serena now had no choice but to do the same, dark orange fire smothering his palms as he held up his hands in a defensive stance.

Upon pushing a straight punch off course, the older man attempted to counter with an overhead elbow strike, only for Natsu's own elbow to block his efforts.

Natsu fed him three quick and consecutive blows, a right jab to the belly, a left uppercut to the chest, and a right hook to the jaw, his hands leaving trails of fire in their wake.

The older man, unable to keep up, leaned forward and swung desperate.

Natsu dodged the dollar store Fire Dragon's Iron Fist and punished the overextension by rolling over God Serena's back, pulling his knee to the chest to push kick his opponent clean in the back once he landed on the other side of him.

God Serena was sent tumbling several meters before grinding to a stop.

Natsu felt his opponent's magic skyrocket even further as from the rumbling ground came eight massive colorful dragonian specters, lined up like the order of a rainbow.

Standing as beacons of shimmering color among the night, they wiggled and preened and growled around their summoner.

Stumbling to his feet, God Serena wheezed, spitting blood from his mouth before snarling, "Your death will be slow and painful, do you hear me? I will show you the true power of a dragon slayer!"

"Dragon God's Fang!"

The eight flowing avatars swelled with magical glimmer, translucent skin emanating their respective elements before they charged Natsu, letting out deafening defiant roars.

Seeing the half circle they formed as they advanced, Natsu's entire frame was lit ablaze, rustling his clothes and undulating his hair.

Forearms held tense behind him, he gave an echoing battlecry of his own and swiped the air in front of him with his arms.

Streaks of sunny flaring tendrils followed his movements, forming wide luminous fire soaked wings that stretched outwards, its diameter swallowing the eight charging avatars whole.

Busting through the full might of God Serena's dragon slaying magic, the flaming wings continued to expand, soon consuming the Wizard Saint himself before the attack detonated.

The combustion was so violent it painted the entire canvas of the desolate canyon in thick slabs of autumn colors, leaving every square meter blackened and sizzling.

When the commotion faded, and Natsu brushed the ash from his shoulders and sleeves, he grumbled to himself, "Amatuer."

He should be in his element here, things were moving jarringly fast, jumping from one fight to the next, one train of thought to another.

The jarring pacing, or lack thereof, was where Natsu was in his element.

Or at least he thought it was.

"A dragon slayer, huh?"

Upon digesting the sultry female voice, the fire mage stilled.

"He's quite strong, ain't he Brandish?"

Natsu couldn't help but flinch, his posture wilting like a rose petal inflicted with the sickness of guilt.

Precise footfalls grew louder and louder as the dragon slayer breathed in two familiar scents, which nestled its way past his skull and into his brain, just looking to cause trouble by prodding best forgotten memories and mistakes.

Once again, Natsu was faced with people he didn't wish to hurt.

He turned with great reluctance, informing forlornly, "You can't win."

What little hesitant eye contact he could bring himself to make only worsened the returning bundle of confliction that called his stomach home.

Dimaria and Brandish came strutting through blankets of adventurous dust, as if they were completely unaware of the reality of the situation they were willingly walking into.

With their flight or fight mechanisms permanently switched to fight by the unreasonable pull of mind control, neither woman could gather the sense to understand that Natsu had just effortlessly blown through a mage superior to themselves.

"Don't do this." Natsu warned.

"Quit with the whining and cryptic shit, if I recall correctly you were pretty gung-ho about squaring up, weren't ya?" Dimaria challenged as she twirled one of her blades around a finger, "What changed? Don't wanna get beat up by a couple of mean girls?" she taunted in a pouty tone.

Brandish gave a sigh, "I'm sorry, but this is gettin' tedious, Irene will get mad at us if we get sloppy. If it's okay with you, I'm just gonna wrap this up."

Dimaria sent Brandish a sly grin of approval, "By all means, crush the idiot's lungs."

When Brandish raised a hand and pointed at Natsu's chest, nothing happened.

Brandish narrowed her eyes, and tried again, targeting his heart.

Once again, Natsu didn't react to the invisible force attempting to squeeze his most vital organ to paste.

"What are ya doin'? Kill this fool!"

Brandish's aloof demeanor was quick to fade, "I'm trying!"

This time, Natsu felt a pressure bear against the inside of his skull, feebly trying to implode his head.

Natsu gave an exhale that served more to calm his battle instincts than to show fatigue.

Her magic did not work on people who are stronger than her, and even in his base, Natsu understood he had her hilariously outclassed.

Brandish wasn't a bad person. Natsu had seen that first hand, as even when motivated to take revenge on the Heartfilia family for the loss of her mother, she didn't go through with it.

Sure, she was a bit waspish, and horribly misled, but from what he could tell, she was not immune to reason. She wasn't all bad.

She had also made Happy like a hundred feet tall that one time, so that was brownie points in his mind.

Natsu's expression firmed as his beguiling stare finally focused its full attention on Brandish, effectively freezing her in her spot.

"I'm sorry." Natsu stated bracingly, far too genuine for either woman's liking.

"W-what?" was all she was able to muddle before Natsu disappeared before her very eyes.

Once more, the dragon slayer moved with incalculable speeds to blitz past Brandish and apply a swift chop to the side of her neck.

"The hell did he go? Since when can dragon slayers freakin' teleport!?" Dimaria exclaimed, falling into a defensive crouch with her daggers held ready, a nervous sweat breaking out on her brow as she looked to the sound of commotion beside her.

To her right, Brandish lay unconscious in Natsu's arms, who gently scooped her up only to carefully rest her on the ground.

"Y-you….." Dimaria wheezed, the breath knocked from her lungs at the sight, "T-that's not possible."

Kneeling beside her, Natsu thoughtfully inspected Brandish over one last time before rising to his feet.

When Natsu's abstruse ebony eyes slowly shifted their leer to her, Dimaria couldn't help but pale as a human's most primal instinct swelled past the layers of deceit that clouded her brain.

Fear.

Spine shivering, Dimaria clicked her teeth before Natsu could do the same to her as he did Brandish.

Such a small meaningless action managed to turn the world still, freezing the gust of the wind and the dancing of dust.

For everything within miles, space-time was frozen, and was replaced with a rift within time that slowed the intervals of the universe to a stop.

With reality painted a uninteresting dark blue, Dimaria found herself in her own pocket of sealed time.

Before any further action was taken, she called upon the soul of a god to take over her earthly form.

Upon closing her eyes, Dimaria took a backseat for the God of Time Chronos to seize control.

Her entire form was bathed in inky black, which hugged her skin to allow for reams of dark fire to swirl around her. The sable that surrounded her gave way for brandings and markings to curl around her body's curves.

With hair flowing like a waltzing flame, her eyes became solid saucers of menacing yellow that shifted in tune with the change of consciousness.

Chronos let out a breath as he settled into his vessel, looking over to the only person he could see standing.

"Interesting." his voice, haughty yet echoed, bemused at the sight of the frozen still Natsu, "So this is what has my vessel so spooked."

Hovering just a foot off the ground, Chronos eased his way through the air, gathering massive amounts of energy to swirl around him, ready to blast Natsu away with the overflow of magic power.

After all, he could take his time. In his mind, there was nothing the dragon slayer could do.

That was until Natsu's pupils moved.

Titian flames washed the watery tint from Natsu's form, scrubbing him clean of any manipulation of space-time. Bathed in a fire no more irate than that of a candle's glow, it stretched to make contact with the stilled air, sizzling away frozen time upon touch.

Natsu had no need for any demonic powers to free himself of time shenanigans, every type of manipulation in existence failed to take any effect once burned away by his fire.

Sure, he wasn't his father, he could not travel freely through linear time, but he had moved in timeless voids before.

Gifting himself the freedom of movement, Natsu straightened his back and eyed the 'god' with distaste.

"H-how are you…. That's not possible!" Chronos exclaimed, brought to the ground by the pull of astonishment. Almost childishly, he shook his head in denial, "Y-your not allowed to move!"

"Your time stuff ain't so special anymore, just met a lady who can do everything you can do and better. It's stupid, but still."

The god's billowing hands wilted into fists, "How dare you! I am the God of Time, none shall defy me!"

Natsu snorted, "You're not a god bucko, just some idiot entity prancing around claiming to be one."

A shockwave of scintillating heat pulsated outwards from his form, ripping the seal of time off the universe like removing a cog obscuring a clock hand's rotation.

And just like that, space-time returned to normal.

The charring fever was so intense it broke simple physics, blistering the god's skin to the point the broiling oxidation forced him to surrender.

The 'God of Time' fled, retreating away whilst dumping the controls back to its vessel.

The lesser shadows withered away, still smoldering from the acrid bite Natsu's flames left, leaving Dimaria to plop to the ground, who gasped in surprise.

Dimaria blinked dumbly, looking down at herself, then to Natsu, then back to herself.

Tears welled in the corners of her eyes, the competitive confidence in her voice now a squeak, "H-he lost?"

She tried in vain to call upon the soul of a god, desperate to give herself up for power. But it refused to come out.

Her greatest triumph card had been useless. Chronos lost. Chronos had fled. The God of Time had practically given up.

She had lost.

She didn't know the things that Natsu did.

Even so-called 'gods' could be surpassed and defeated. His father had told him stories of that time he had defeated several cosmic entities, demon lords, all sorts of wild things.

And his father wasn't a god.

Just a really, really, really strong dragon.

"Can ya please just listen?" Natsu hopefully queried as let his flames disperse, easing over to crouched in front of her.

His heart hurt at the limpid fright in her eyes. It hurt even more remembering this wasn't the first time he had seen her like this.

Dimaria yelped and hastily clawed for her discarded dagger, only for the dragon slayer to catch her armored wrist and hold it in place.

She squeaked and socked him in the jaw with her other hand, to no effect.

"Get away f-from me you freak! Yo-you're a monster!" her indignant shout quickly turned to feeble mewling as she realized she was completely at his mercy.

She was despondently overpowered, as she tugged with all her might to free her wrist from Natsu's grip to no avail.

A realization could be seen establishing itself in her terrified expression.

She was a prisoner of war. Natsu, being the victor, could do whatever he wanted with her.

Natsu sucked in a breath sharply as he bit down on his tongue a little too hard, another rush of caustic emotion offering his chest it's familiar uncomfortable embrace.

Dimira was a living testament to his greatest fear.

Himself.

'It tells me that all of this is in your head. When I said you're one of the most gentle people I know, I meant it. Stop doubting yourself, doubt kills. All you need to do is just be.'

Juvia's soft soothing words of wisdom rang in his head, pointing his next actions in the right direction.

As she sniffled and whined for him to not hurt her, Natsu gently grabbed both her forearms and held her still.

Nothing, not fond memories, not the texture of his scarf, nothing would be able to silence the shame. But hopefully, he could learn to not let it consume him.

"I am not going to hurt you, understand?" Natsu's tone rose as the authority of his stern yet tolerant masculine voice finally broke through the Spriggan's hysterics.

Dimaria looked up at him with puffy golden eyes, sniffing as tears of fear and humiliation streamed down her cheeks.

"I didn't wanna scare the god out of you, but that was the only way you were gonna listen to me, that mind control is stronger than I thought."

"W-who are you-"

"Zip it, I'm talking." Natsu snippily cut her off, "I'm not in the best mood so I don't wanna peep outta you, none, zilch, capiche?"

Dimaria whimpered and nodded submissively, her smaller shoulders trembling beneath his calloused palms.

He growled his approval of her obedience, the creases on his visage flattening as Natsu puffed steam from his nostrils.

"Look, that lady, she is just usin' ya. I have no idea what she's feeding your brains, but I'm not your enemy."

The dragon slayer snapped his fingers in front of Dimaria's face when her focus wavered, "Hey, you need to listen. Did you hear what I said? You understand what's going on?"

Natsu could see coherent thoughts return to her brain as she licked her lips nervously and nodded.

He practically forced her to her feet via his grip on her forearms, the taller male dragging the feebly struggling Dimaria along by the arms towards the still Brandish.

Her fearful whimpers of confusion elicited another reassurance, "Stop whinin' lady, I ain't gonna hurt you."

His words, far harsher than his thoughtful tone, ceased Dimaria's protesting.

"Now. Sit."

Natsu separated contact and stiffly pointed to the ground next to the prone Brandish.

Dimiria, whose teary checks were already tickled with color, flushed further in deprived humiliation as she followed his orders like an obedient dog.

Hugging her own chest protectively, the broken 'Warrior Queen' awaited further instructions.

"Here is what we're gonna do," the dragon slayer announced, "You are going to stay here with her, that lady's a perv so I'm not too keen on leaving your friend unguarded."

He backtracked to scoop up one of Dimaria's daggers, "You stay here, and don't move. Wait for one of your people to come lookin' for ya,"

"And when they do, you tell em' what I told you. That lady is messin' with your heads, making you fight a battle you can't win." Natsu grunted as he lowered to his haunches before her once more.

Holding the weapon by its blade, he offered the hilt to her in pity. She was fully aware nothing she could do could harm him, so they were more of a comfort at this point, something familiar for her to hold.

When the demure Dimiria reached out for it, Natsu pulled it back to prompt,

"Repeat all that back to me. Now."

Given express permission to talk, she hiccupped, "St-stay here and wait for my a-allies."

"And what are you gonna tell them?"

Dimiria mumbled through her cowed mortification, "That… th-that she is controlling us, and that we c-can't…. We can't win."

When Natsu held it out to her, she bashfully accepted it and held it to her chest like a child clinging to the happy memories their stuffed teddy bear brought them.

Heart sufficiently shattered at how he had broken her, Natsu rubbed a hand back and forth across the lower side of his face and awkwardly expressed, "Look, I'm sorry, really, you pullin' out time magic left me no other choice.

Dimiria said nothing, burying her face in her knees.

Not a single part of any of this felt the slightest bit okay. Not a single part.

The rational side of Natsu's brain reminded him that he had defeated everyone so far with no casualties, and he was able to completely subjugate Dimiria without hurting her.

But the rest of him made it so those reasonings fell on deaf ears.

"If you wish to tell me something, then please do so face to face."

Natsu couldn't help but curse aloud as the trend of a Spriggan member showing up one after another continued.

A cluster of enchanted explosions detonated beneath him, their fuchsia fireballs forcing Natsu to leap away from Dimaria and Brandish.

Irene's magical signature finally registered, hanging heavy over the scene as the after effects of her attacks washed away the blankets of dust that shrouded the land.

Descending from the air gracefully, the 'Scarlet Despair' surveyed the situation with a cold stare, glancing from her thoroughly subdued comrades then to Natsu.

"You're quite the handful boy, scattering us like that, making it impossible for me to keep track of you or my fellow Shields." Irene remarked, not bothering to propose about Dimiria or Brandish's condition.

Natsu scoffed irritably, "Well, when you keep throwing yourselves at me one at a time like sum' street gang, it makes beating you pretty easy."

He would have much rather dealt with the calm, reasonable personality of August than the vain and cruel Irene.

"You're quite the dragon slayer," she intoned, "I recognize my own magic anywhere, and you seem to have mastered your specific art to a greater degree than any user I've ever encountered."

Vexed, Natsu neglected her praise, "I'm gonna say this one more time. Stand. Down."

Irene raised a pencil thin brow, the cunning almond of her eyes tinted with mischief, "You seem to be saying a lot of things once. Your mind works in mysterious ways."

"Yeah, and you don't exactly seem to be playing with a full deck yerself….." the dragon slayer began to grate out before his response slowly shriveled on his tongue, dying on his lips.

The powerful yet tantalizing scent of a dragon wafted into his nostrils, and instead of revving horrible memories inside his head, it turned every battle instinct he had up to eleven.

It felt like he was being challenged.

He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but it was driving him nuts with indignant excitement.

Natsu could taste the impulsive call to punish this dragon for encroaching on his territory. He wanted, he needed, he would assert himself.

Forces he couldn't control, but knew very well, turned the fire in his veins into a spirited paramount inferno of dragonian instinct.

Irene's scent was driving him buck wild, and the completely caught off guard Natsu was losing the battle for control.

His curling fingers shook, his teeth chattered, his breathing quickened as foreign sensations and intrinsic habits made his blood boil.

"What's wrong, going mad boy?" her taunts were certainly not helping the situation.

The fear he had just internally discussed, even the memory of Juvia's wisdom, they all fell to meaningless cinders by this mechanical yet animalistic yearn to dominate.

Clutching his head and screwing his eyelids shut to mask burning pupils, Natsu let off a low groan as his muscle mass suddenly expanded, his form broadening and lengthening.

Seductive swaying steam chipped away at his skin, leaving behind jagged scarlet scales that stretched across his legs and arms.

As the smooth yet sharp smoldering texture of dragon scales surfaced beneath the peeling human skin, the dragon slayer's already razor sharp teeth, that of an apex carnivore, extended further in his mouth.

Irene to her credit finally caught on to what was going on, lowering her staff to give the air a few testing sniffs.

Another coat of snow white painted her already pale skin as she was snapped from her cruel veneer, honest stupefaction loosening the grip on her staff.

The pheromones that wafted from him were that of a king looking to remind his subjects of his dominion over them.

Before her stood the Dragon King looking to dominate.

When the dragon slayer's eyes opened once more, his pupils had shrunken to golden slits clouded with the lust for control.

In this dimension, Irene realized the true Dragon King was standing before her.

This wasn't the false usurper Acnologia.

This was, he was, the rightful heir to the throne.

The son of Igneel.

Just thinking about him made Irene shudder.

However, what was in front of her might be just as bad.

Dragon Force Natsu now stared her down like a predator mere moments before making a kill, his lips drawn back in a snarl and low rumbling growl pouring from the dark confines his throat.

The Scarlet Angel pushed past inner instincts to submit and readied herself for battle, hiding her gulp with a scowl of her own. The notion was laughable, her, the Queen of Dragons, nervous, scared even.

But here Irene was, fighting a shiver.

All the while Dimiria watched in quaking trepidation.

When Natsu leapt at Irene like a lunging panther, the spectating Spriggan turned away and squeezed her eyelids shut.

The battle that followed further darkened skies, shattered lands, and shook everything.

Even as it wandered far, as it gravitated to the putrid clouds that brewed, Dimiria could feel it all.

Dimiria didn't wish to see any of it.

She clamped her hands over her ears and pulled her knees to her chest, intent on not disobeying Natsu's order.

With each blow it seemed the planet shuddered, rustling Dimaria's organs with each booming vibration.

She didn't want to watch because she knew the outcome.

If Dimiria was aware even Irene paled in comparison to Natsu, then after feeling his magical energy increase fifty fold by that transformation, it told her that the fight would be a slaughter.

Her stomach still dropped when she heard the empathic resounding roars of Irene's dragon form quickly turn to raucous screeches of pain.

In all of the hectic commotion, she had failed to notice the arrival of her leader.

"Dimiria?!"

The reassuring voice of August had managed to cut through the disasters of distant yet vociferous battle.

Dimiria couldn't stop her knee jerk reaction to being prompted from coming out a feeble clamor of shock.

Aged hands gripped her shoulders, "Calm yourself child, what happened to you?!"

"A-august?" she blinked dumbly, sounding unsure if this was actually the Spriggan leader crouched before her.

His lengthy beard shifted as he nodded, "Yes, it's me, now please relax."

August's lips pursed behind his wavy facial hair as his eyes flit to the still unconscious Brandish laying right next to them.

Dimira, remembering her task, gripped the loose sleeves of the older man's robes and told him, overwrought,

"August, we can't win! H-he's a… a-a monster! I couldn't even phase him, Chronos r-ran away from him!"

Bushy brows popped like fuzzy white caterpillars, "Please breath child, you're safe now." he attempted to reason.

However, inside, his congenital awareness partially echoed her sentiments.

This mysterious young man their mistress had tasked them with dispatching had picked them off one by one. He knew every move to make, and when to make it.

While Irene had insisted upon directly tracking him down, he had decided regrouping was their best move. All he had found was the unconscious forms of his Shields littered about the desolate canyon.

And if even Dimaria's potent Age Seal failed to slow this young dragon slayer down, then August doubted this was a battle they could win.

If this was someone that could spook the cynical Dimiria into submission, then their opponent was truly unlike anything they had ever faced before.

August growled in frustration, his gaze darting from place to place as he attempted to form some sort of plan. He knew not where his new mistress was, so calling on her for assistance simply was not an option.

"August, y-you need to know-"

Dimiria was cut off when a colossal explosion birthed a second sun far in the distance, the majestic yet daunting golden fireball humming an eerie song of destruction.

Despite its height in the atmosphere, she could feel the jarring heat press against her face as dust rose from the earth to obscure any vision.

From the fires in the sky descended Irene, the weight of her dragon form shattering the land beneath, sharing copious amounts of smoke with the vast terrains once more. Cursing beneath a breath, August summoned a translucent barrier dome to shield his comrades from the impassioned shockwave.

More than a mile away, the mighty sage dragon, sleek and powerful, lay defeated in the center of massive divot where a proud mountain once stood. Bright sparkly red scales were scuffed and sizzling, the tendons of her wings tattered and seared as Irene made no motion to rise.

Natsu dropped from seemingly nowhere, far too swift for Irene to keep track of.

With a downright feral glint in his shimmering slits, the dragon slayer leapt up to stand upon the dragon's neck, coldly snarling as if demanding she yield.

The Queen of Dragons gave a pitiful warble of pain at the pressure put upon her esophagus, her massive eyelids snapping shut as her body returned to its human form, no longer able to sustain her true self.

Swirling coral smoke and chatoyant rose twinkles swallowed the dragon's goliath frame, scampering away to nothingness shortly thereafter to reveal the human Irene.

Her clothes singed so thoroughly they crumpled to ashes off her body, Irene's entire body had been gifted a dozen bruises and even more deep scrapes.

Completely bared and exhibited, the nude woman lay on her side wrestling for air.

Natsu stalked towards her, having not shed a single bead of sweat during the brief affray, his coiling fingers reforming fists over and over again erratically.

Looming over the fallen Queen, the King demanded docility and appeasement from his prize.

Irene, any sense of pride or composure comprehensively fragmented, stared up at the looming male in fright. Despite wishing too, she made no motion to cover herself.

With a submissive whimper, Irene rolled herself onto her back to expose her belly, a loud nonverbal 'you win'.

She knew the rules. This was dragonian custom, should a male prevail over a female in combat, he was free to do with her as he pleased, including mating, forceful or otherwise.

Her cheeks burned in disgrace as she prepared herself for what was to come next, for the life of servitude she would be forced to live.

However, when she looked at her new alpha's face, Irene was surprised to see his pupils widen and his face morph into a sickly shade of green as his features, wrought with horror, flushed with disgust.

Finally coming to over the nude bruised body of a defenseless woman, Natsu's inherent response was to empty his stomach. Stumbling backwards as if intoxicated, the dragon slayer keeled over and devolved into spasming groans as he heaved up his last meal onto the soot smothered earth.

Coming in painful intervals like the slow methodical ticking of a clock, Natsu spewed spittle and stomach acid from his burning throat.

It gradually calmed, leaving Natsu to drop to his knees, bullets of cold sweat running along the empty creaks between his crimson scales.

Why did he lose control like that? It wasn't a blind rage, nor an outburst of grief.

He had just had an entire inner monologue about how his lack of control led to his greatest mistakes, now here he was, repeating the routine.

For a full minute there was an uncomfortable silence, only the faint howls of unnatural wind pressing itself flush against the lapidarian landscape.

"W-why?" he croaked aloud, his deeper timbre fluttering, "Why did I do that?"

What the hell was wrong with him?

What was, what had been, going through his head that made his body act with such cruelty?

Another image was now permanently branded into his retinas, a woman bearing an alarming resemblance to Erza, his Erza, laid out naked, beaten, and affright beneath him.

Natsu hadn't even had time to digest how he felt fighting her before unseen strings toyed with his movements like an unthinking puppeteer, implanting the savage call to dominate within him.

No words could ever be used to properly describe how much he loathed himself.

His voice finally broke, "W-why goddamnit! Why did I want to do those things to you?!"

This Irene had yet to inflict torture upon his family. This Irene had yet to do many terrible things.

This Irene didn't deserve to be abused in such a fashion.

"Th-that's your instincts… your in-instincts as king." Irene breathed out hoarsely, her voice meek as if weary she was stepping out of line.

"I'm not king dammit! I ain't the king of anyone! I ain't above anyone!" Natsu denied vehemently, pounding a fist into the ground, splintering the tectonic plate beneath into thousands of pieces.

Irene's head lulled to face him, strands of scarlet bristles sticking to her face, "Y-your scent, i-it doesn't lie. That was your first…. First…...f-first time feeling that urge to dominate."

The older woman was quiet for a few anxiously long moments as she slowly but surely swelled her lungs with air.

The icey purr she once spoke with now a timid mewl,

"You saw me as a threat to your territory," she took a break to cough, the sound making the younger man cringe, "You reacted in self defense… m-my…. my highness."

"Don't call me that! Don't you dare call me that!" Natsu barked roughly as he shoved a finger at her, the former Queen of Dragons flinching at the outburst.

Jaw clenched, Natsu sought for some possible faucet of reason he could apply to his actions, to understand what he had done to make someone act so horrendously out of character.

He let out a frustrated yell that echoed blandly before his defeated hands plopped into his lap, his head swiveling in its socket as he slowly shook his head.

How could he not doubt himself? How could he just 'be' if doing so meant he became this…. This monster?

None of what he just did was self defense.

"You... blame yourself for things outside your control." a discordant Irene observed, her statement more reserved than her previous tone yet still cautious, "Why?"

Natsu stared at her questioningly from over his shoulder, prompting her to add,

"Whether you wish to have the title or not isn't up to you. You are the son of Lord Igneel, the last true king. Whatever happened in this timeline left you the rightful heir."

"How the hell does that justify what I just did to you?" the dragon slayer brutishly demanded.

"You have not been King for long, I-i can… I can tell. You have never had to assert yourself, you've never been exposed to the instincts that come with it."

Her ears burned as Irene stated haltingly, "Then combined with the pheromones of a… fertile female, there was no possible way you could have braced yourself for that. I-it is a miracle you managed to regain control of yourself when you d-did."

Natsu was silent.

He almost took her word for it, almost.

She just looked far too much like Erza for Natsu to merely forget about this.

"I didn't want any of this to happen. For once, I didn't wanna fight." Natsu shared, his adam's apple bobbing in his throat as he swallowed.

Reminders of the past kept getting chucked in his face over and over again.

What he was, how he had changed, one insecurity after another dogpiled atop his consciousness before he could properly understand their origins.

It wasn't often Natsu felt overwhelmed, but right now, he couldn't even muster the energy to continue being disgusted with himself.

He wanted to get better, but he just didn't know how, and the few things he did now how to fix, required such immense courage that Natsu simply couldn't afford it at the moment.

"I could see your hesitance, s-sense your caution. You disrupted our numbers, divided and conquered."

At that, the dragon slayer brows crinkled what human skin remained on his face as they drifted together.

"Divide and conquer." he repeated to himself, so reposed Irene couldn't hear it.

If there were too many opponents at play, the most optimal solution would be to scatter the populous, then target one individual after another.

Grimacing at the awful taste in his mouth, Natsu spoke in the form of a pule, "It's better than nothing. Thanks for the advice I guess."

He rose to his feet and walked towards her, unbuttoning his duster, "Alright, let's get this over with."

Irene, having propped herself up on her elbows, blushed furiously upon seeing his advance and pressed her thighs together over her womanhood. Slim forearms tried in vain to preserve her dignity as the older woman covered her chest.

Eventually, she squeaked a poignant yet crushed mewl and let her hands fall, revealing her bare breasts.

Any confidence she once had had been ravaged, chewed and gnawed on by the sting of defeat to the point it was no more decorous than a chew toy years past it's lifespan.

Natsu proved to have a drastically different understanding of the situation when he shrugged off his duster and draped it over Irene's nude form.

She blinked dumbly, clueless as a fawn.

At the blank stare, Natsu groused half-heartedly as he depressed to his patellas and practically dressed her, "I thought people didn't fancy bein' naked.", he said as if he didn't quite fathom the reasoning behind the concept.

Carefully pulling her into a sitting position, Natsu slid the duster around her shoulders.

Irene didn't remain at a loss for words for long, although what she bumbled barely passed for anything decipherable, "W-what are y- why are…...wh-why….."

The dragon slayer guided her lithe arm through a sleeve as if the older woman was a child during their first exploit of putting on clothes.

"Kay, I understand each of those words individually," Natsu reacted tersely, voice impatient yet movements and touches gentle, "How about a take two?"

Irene murmured sheepishly, "W-why aren't we…" she gave a faux cough, "...mating?"

His feedback was a brief yet perturbed glance, and that was it.

Gingerly buttoning the duster back up, he stole no glances like a healthy male would, just growled a poorly stifled irascible reply.

"The hell you talkin' about woman?" Natsu responded with a bearish buzz, "You a perv too?"

Despite the heat on her cheeks, she found the focus to catechize her alpha, "Yo-you won, you know that, right?"

"It's called an ass whuppin' lady, whatta bout' it?"

"It is common for a male victor to copulate with the female before leaving. You, b-being the king, wouldn't abide by the normal rules that an event like our breeding festival has. You could breed with any female however you like whenever you please."

Natsu rolled his eyes, piqued, "Sorry to pop bubbles, but the only girl that gets little me workin' is a hundred miles away from here."

"We ain't screwin', no offense to you."

Even if things still worked down there, and his moral compass was a little looser, the fact this was his best friend's mother would probably halt any fanservice. Her scent may be different from his Erza, but the appearances were far too similar.

He didn't even know why he was digesting the idea.

Gilded slits inspected her one last time before Natsu gently grabbed her and draped her over his shoulder, eliciting a squeak of surprise from the older woman.

"Alright," he huffed, bothered, "Let's go find an old-timer and get you guys back to your timeline."

As navigated his way out of the broken remains of the mountain, leaping over steaming boulders and such, Natsu was careful never to jostle Irene too much.

Normally, at the sight of such overturned rock and scorched earth, the dragon slayer would wince, but he had far more important things to worry about than the heavy dreadful aroma of destruction that hung over the atmosphere.

"Why are you being so gentle?" Irene inquired meekly, "I am your enemy, the spoils of war."

Natsu, whose shoulders remained steady despite the erratic movement of his legs, jeered, "You ain't my prisoner lady, capiche?"

"Nobody is gonna be touchin' you that way, not while I'm around."

Irene opened her mouth to add something, but wisely decided against pushing the issue. Instead, she bashfully mewled, "Thank you."

"After what I did to you, I don't deserve no thanks." was his quick response, "Stop talkin', save your strength."

Irene did just that, allowing silence to perch itself between the two of them. To Natsu, the reticence tailored the silken thread that was his thoughts, allowing him to humor what she had said earlier.

Irene definitely knew more about dragon culture than he did, considering she had lived through while he only had his father to shed a few stories once in a while.

If what she said had been true, about his instincts, then it didn't matter if he felt worthy of the crown or not, there was a problem he needed to fix. It was a problem Natsu had never even given a second thought.

It wasn't the demon inside Natsu needed to tame, it was the dragon.

Natsu stopped staring at the scales that lined his enlarged arms when a frantic gasp of astonishment reminded him he had arrived at his intended destination.

He looked up to meet August's boggled stare.

The wrinkles of age that had dug themselves homes in the older man's skin stretched for the fight time in decades as his mouth hung open.

Behind him, Dimiria still sat still obediently, the grimace on her face and tightness in her self-hug showing that despite knowing of the outcome, she still dreaded it.

Natsu said nothing, gradually lowering into a crouch so he could slide Irene off his shoulder. Holding her steady, he motioned to her comrade with a chin before letting her go, although hesitant seeing how her knees quaked wearily.

August was at a complete loss for words as Irene, his second in command, limped over to him with a defeated blush on her face.

In a world of ever changing empires and rulers, he was sure Irene would always remain unfazeable. Nothing scared her. Nothing.

If somehow, an opponent stronger than her revealed itself, she would fight to her dying breath.

But the fact she was still alive, beaten and bruised yet not fatally injured, implied she had finally submit to someone.

August's fingers slackened. His staff fell from his grip and tumbled to the ground, wood clanking against rock with a ringing thud.

"I-irene?" he called out, exercising his voice as if it was precaution to reaffirm this was actually happening.

Having grown closer, Irene finally stumbled. Both Natsu and August moved to catch her, but the older man proved to be nearer.

He lurched forward to catch her, stabilizing the dazed woman against his own balance.

She couldn't bring herself to look him in the eye, palms squeezing the shoulders of the duster she had been given.

"I-i couldn't beat him," Irene admitted solemnly, her head drifting side to side, "We can't beat him."

"In this world, he is the Dragon King. The true king."

"What!?" came August's hoarse exclamation, severely lacking in volume.

Guiding her towards where their other Shields lay, the elder Spriggan harmonized his breathing and investigated, "Are you absolutely sure?"

Irene shifted on the sore soles of her bare feet, her neck twitching as she swallowed thickly, "He is Lord Igneel's chosen heir."

Dimiria, with a burst of courage, shot to her feet to ease Irene into a sitting position.

"I-i told you." she repeated to August charily, "Nothing we can do to him will work."

Natsu finally chimed in, his vocal cords roughened by his transformation, "I warned you."

The equitable practical August flinched and scooped up his staff, positioning himself between his Spriggans and the dragon slayer defensively.

The awe inspiring might the Spriggan Leader possessed, upon flaring, felt like a pitiful bark of a corner cub to Natsu.

This time, Natsu didn't raise his fists, thoroughly done fighting them.

Before August could assume his battle form, Natsu threw him some sanity, "You know you can't win, so just stop."

The dragon slayer licked his lips and massaged a scaled forearm, "I understand you're just trying to defend them, but for god's sake I'm not your enemy."

"I can respect you trying to fight, but yer snarlin' at the wrong party."

Natsu pointed a finger to the distance, "She's controlling you. I know it, you know it." he elaborated once more, hopeful August's judicious side would prevail.

His back hunched as strings of shame yanked his posture down as he pleaded yet again, doleful "Please old-timer, don't make me fight. I'm tired of hurtin' folk."

Wise eyes snapped to sober thought as practicality took over, August lowering his staff to sigh.

"I still don't fully understand our situation, or why she wanted you dead." August admitted with reluctance, instinctively running a hand through his shaggy beard as if the action was a tick to calm his nerves.

Natsu lifted a shoulder, "Your preachin' to the converted there."

With hindsight, Natsu realized he could have probably just let her monologue her way into revealing some important information. But since she was so hilariously boring, his impatience couldn't help but re-surface.

He wasn't sure what or what not to say. He hadn't outright stated to any of them they had fought before, and Larcade was the only one who knew who he was by name.

Irene knew of Igneel, and had pieced together his relation to him, but that seemed to be the extent of her knowledge.

It would be best, Natsu decided, to keep how he knew them purposely vague.

Before August or Natsu could converse, a familiar sensuous purr rang out, "Oops, looks like I'm busted."

Behind Natsu, green tendrils willed itself into forming a humanoid shape, plucking a form from one place in space before relocating it to another. The shimmers faded, revealing a bemused Ishtar.

"I didn't expect you to be that strong," Ishtar admitted, the sinister slimy olive glow that oozed from her rattling the land like a penny on a drumhead, "Even the mighty Spriggan Twelve was a walk in the park for you."

Natsu sulked at her arrival, praying for patience as he said aloud, not bothering to face her, "You've had your fun. Send them back."

"Now why would I go do something like that?"

August interrupted with a bitter accusation, "You lied to us! You used me -my comrades- as pawns in your little game!"

"Don't talk too fast there Gramps, your lips might bleed." Ishtar derided, cocking a hip.

The eldest mage growled threateningly and readied his staff.

Natsu held an arm between them, "Don't." he warned August, "Let me handle this."

"I would listen to him, you are no threat to me so it is best you don't act like one. Go back to the retirement home, let Mr. Dragon make a case for you."

At the remark, Natsu looked over his shoulder, "Enough yapping, send them back, they aren't a threat to you anymore."

Ishtar curled a brow, tucking an errant band behind an ear, "Sorry bucko, that isn't how the spell works."

"Although, you seem awfully eager to part ways with them. You've been given twelve punching bags you could knock around with no consequences, no stakes, no tension, no repercussions, they are of absolutely no threat to you, yet you decided to spare them."

Natsu almost wished what she said was true, that it was that simple. It wasn't, obviously. She had inadvertently just thrown the past, a past he wanted to move on from, right back in his face.

She lazily motioned to the Spriggans behind him, "You, the hammer, have been gifted nails. Why not use the gift of power and opportunity?" she asked, head tilting like a curious lioness.

Natsu frowned, was that really her outlook on the world?

"Well there's the issue. There's a groundbreaking new thing called 'compassion', it's-"

"-For the weak." Ishtar dismissively finished for him, "I think I just threw up in my mouth a little bit."

"It's called the rules of nature, pal. The weak die and the strong survive. The strong can do whatever they want, because they can."

Natsu made a languid gesture to their surroundings, "So all of this, all this fighting and manipulation, you did for shits and or giggles?"

Ishtar gave him a smirk, "Precisely. It was entirely unnecessary, but hot damn if it wasn't fun to watch."

All of the sudden, ballooning waves of perplexing crackling yellow energy bundled together in the sky above them.

Ishtar coyly glanced at the watch she didn't have, "Would you look at that? Seems like your little wish is coming true. The spell only brings them here for 10 minutes, and their time is running out."

Bolts of magic shot down to strike the unconscious forms of the Spriggans strewn across the devastated canyon, dissolving their bodies to return them to their rightful place in the multiverse.

Natsu turned when the same splash of bright amber consumed those behind him.

August, Dimiria, Irene, and Brandish, were soaked in the correctional glow that began breaking them down for transport.

"Gotta say, this is a pretty disappointing end to this little story." Ishtar chided to nobody in particular.

Ignoring her shooting the breeze, Natsu mustered the courage to speak.

"Hey old-timer, I'm sorry for what I did to them, I really am."

The ashamed apology bounced off of August's head shake as he advised, "Do not do that to yourself."

As the eldest Spriggan slowly broke apart from the feet upwards, he offered a small smile.

"I see pain in your eyes young warrior, you cannot hold your guilt and the weight of the world at the same time. Our wounds, self inflicted or otherwise, can only heal once we make peace with the demons that created them."

August finally dispersed into the flow of space time, but not before saying, "A man cannot hope to protect what he loves if he is at war with himself."

Natsu, of course, was left silent as the coils of magic returned to the wound in time above them that slowly closed, humming and buzzing, before normalcy returned.

"You seem like the type of guy that can't go more than twelve hours without some sappy motivation speech." Ishtar grimaced as she folded her arms, "It's always the same with you people, the power of love, of friendship, using it to beat 'baddies' you have no business beating."

Natsu continued the trend of not listening as his gaze lingered on his now empty duster, left behind and laid out where Irene once was.

August was right, no amount of hating himself would ever help anyone. He needed to start taking his own advice about moving forward. That was much easier said than done.

"Ishtar, was it?" Natsu presumed softly, going over to reclaim his duster.

The woman watched the bare chest Natsu with obvious interest before being snapped from her lustful daze, "I'm surprised you remembered my name."

Fiddling with the buttons, the dragon slayer expressed thoughtfully, "I'm sorry for bein' a dick earlier, I'm just not in the best headspace right now."

Ishtar narrowed her eyes, unsure where he was going with this.

"But, there is no version of this where you come out on top. You've hurt too many people."

"Don't you lecture me with your thirty dollar haircut, save the hero speech for someone who gives a rat's ass." Isthar seethed scornfully.

"I'm not a hero. I just hate bullies." Natsu denied as he squared his shoulders, speaking firmer than he ever had before, "So, you have two options, surrender, or we fight. Flip the coin."

"Is that an ultimatum?"

"Can you stop making up words and just decide?" the dragon slayer insisted sternly.

Ishtar couldn't help but snort, "Glad to see you've grown some back bone."

"Here's what I'll do, I'll take your deal, and offer one of my own."

Natsu rolled his golden slits, "Bargaining? Really?"

"Well, you seem like a tenacious sonuvabitch, so as long as you're around, I ain't gonna get what I want." she reasoned, "Besides, has anyone offered you the chance to start your life over again?"

The dragon slayer blinked owlishly.

"Thought so." Ishtar grinned pompously, raising a hand to cloak it in swirling burgeoning foliate, "Anoichtos chronos!" she chanted.

A dapple of bisque sparks appeared, rotating in a circle where they sped up with each passing lap. With a chiming sibilation, the now solid ring reached into time to pull open a passageway, filling the interior with bright saffron light.

Ishtar dusted her hands off almost playfully, "There ya go hotshot, a portal through time."

"Walk into the light, and it will take you to a point in time you perceive as a major turning point, or whatever event is on your mind. You'll get your old body, so you might not be as strong as you are now, but hey, time travel."

Natsu stared at the swirls of color, entranced by the idea.

He could change everything.

He could save Dad.

He could save Mavis.

He could prevent so much suffering.

He had a chance to not fail.

Why fix what was broken when he could prevent the cracks in the first place?

For a moment, the dragon slayer didn't question the how or why, he didn't think of the consequences.

Despite that, "Sorry, no dice."

Natsu, who had unknowingly drifted a few steps towards the portal, came to a stop.

"I ain't tryna change my past, just accept it." the dragon slayer provided his reasoning, "Nobody else gets second chances, neither should I."

Ishtar hummed a salacious laugh, "Well that's too bad." she paused, "I wasn't asking."

With the swipe of her hand, the portal darted forward.

Natsu reacted as quickly as he could, unleashing a supernova sphere of golden destruction from his palm upon the advancing portal. The power to devastate space clashed with the rupture in time, sending sprinkling rays of perplexing color throughout the universe, lighting it in an instant.

The greedy puncture in the delicate blanket of reality sucked Natsu in, sending him hurtling through dimensional confines rather than the flow of time.

All the dragon slayer could see was white.

---

Natsu awoke to the sight of a lime green sky hanging above him.

The air felt too sterile, smelt too clean, tasted too empty.

The dragon slayer drew a long boorish groan from his lungs as consciousness returned. His eyelids peeled back over and over again as he blinked slowly, peeling himself from the ground. He rubbed and slapped his scaled cheeks to bring himself back to alert status.

Steamed grass stuck to his skin as he sat up, withers of smoke still dancing around him like it was a necessary ritual, never straying into the odd churlish forest beyond and around.

The strange colors just a few hues off the norm that painted the wilderness chanted unfamiliar serenades of life.

Natsu, horns aching, dragged himself to his feet, letting the knee high barley that had been squashed beneath him awkwardly rise up to tickle his calves.

Removing a dead leaf that had been speared atop one of his horns, he noted his Dragon Force had yet to go away.

He couldn't exactly control it, and considering that his Dragon Force, unlike the other dragon slayers', no longer actively consumed energy from him, there was nothing he could do about it.

There were parts of him he couldn't just turn off.

The celestial objects that hung in the sky told Natsu he was no longer on Earthland. Planets, small and large, were scattered about space and beyond clouds.

The tilted forest he found himself in was angled along the slope of a mountain perfectly, allowing the stumbling dragon slayer to gaze out to the battalion of distant islands that flew in the air.

Golden slits widened as his breath slipped between his ribs from like water seeping through poorly held together fingers.

He was in Edolas.