Chapter 1: The returner
It couldn't be real, he deny it. She couldn't be gone, not like that. Yesterday he returned from a mission and everyone on the guild was mourning. At the middle of the guild, were Elfman and Mirajane crying. The elder was wounded, with bandages and an arm cast. She was one of the strongest mages in all Fairy Tail and there she was, crying her eyes out.
Then the old man approach him, trying his best to keep his face together but he could tell he was into too much pain. What come from his mouth was the most horrifying thing he ever heard:
"Lissana passed away."
That wasn't true. She couldn't die. She couldn't. She was supposed to return with her siblings and he was going to fight Mira so he can show anyone he was stronger than her. But that wasn't happening, instead everyone was crying for her. Why? She wasn't gone. She wasn't dead. He heard them right, they say that they didn't find her body. Meaning that Lissanna was somewhere else hurt and alone. And like hell he will leave her alone.
So he immediately run away, ignoring the screams from his friends. Screw them, if they didn't want to find Lissana then he will do it alone.
She told him that they were going to city across the sea so they took a boat to reach it fastly. Today was Sunday and the weather was a mess, it was impossible to get a boat to ship him there. But this was Lisanna, his best friend. And he was the only one who could help, damn the consequences. Natsu stole a boat and sail into the sea.
Everyone knew that he get dizzy easily and he was certainly dizzy but he was holding up like never did before, it was for Lissana after all.
But unfortunately he didn't know shit about sailing, he could merely kept the boat together. The storm was tremendous, no sailor would dare to travel in such conditions. Yet, he push forward. Even when his eyes were blurred by water and the sunlight disappeared, he keep pushing. He had to save her.
But then a Lighting strike his boat and torn it apart. He screamed in pain, his body on pain for the shockwave.
The dragon slayer grabbed a broken part of the boat and use it as a lifeguard. He didn't have a boat anymore and neither nausea, so in an ironic twist of fate he was better than before. So he swim and swim, fighting against the sea waves and the wind. It was for her.
He push and push, even when he couldn't feel his legs anymore and his breath was as cold as Gray's magic, he push.
But the weather didn't leave him like this, no. The bastard still have more to throw at him. A wave that could be describe as a tsunami formed before him. He tried to chant a spell but it was too late, the giant wave swallow him whole and drown him to the bottom of the sea. He kick, he punch, he curse but it was all useless. Natsu was at its mercy.
The next day, Happy would return to their home only to not find his friend there. He fly to the guild in tears and screaming for help. Makarov mobilized the entire guild to find clues of the missing mage. Mirajane told him that before they leave for their mission, they talk to Natsu that they were to take a boat to get to their mission. The clue that the elder Strauss give them end up to be right because a hour later, Macao and Wakaba would return with info the got from their friends at the port. That one of the parked boats was missing since last night. All the members were aware of the terrible storm from yesterday, one of the biggest that Fiore ever had.
They didn't waste time and rented as many boats as they can, even the coast guard help them to reach for the boy. Each minute passing, the more the dread inside the heads of the elder mages increased.
At the fourth hour they face the worst outcome possible, they found the missing boat torn apart. But what left them completely speechless was the distinct scarf of Natsu floating with all that ruble.
At the end of the day, Makarov and the others returned to the guild. They didn't say nothing, the scarf that the master was carrying was more than enough to them.
In less of a day, two tragedies happen to Fairy Tail. If Lissana's death was a blow, Natsu's death was a dagger directly to the heart. After what happen to the girl, the death of the energetic boy was too much to handle for many of them.
If Mira was a mess, hearing the news of Natsu dying while trying to get to where Lissana died brake her. If they didn't tell him about that, he will still be around with them.
Elfman didn't react at all. His face was stone cold, he completely blame himself for what happen and accept it. He refuse to cry or to scream, he had to be strong for her only sibling left.
Gray was the most volatile of all. A lot of the members hold him up. He spend hours screaming with rage and cursing Natsu. It was quite the scene but no one blame him. He was suffering like the rest of them.
Erza didn't say nothing, he mourn their deaths at her own way.
Happy….let's not talk how he was.
The life of a mage wasn't an easy one, sure you could get into great adventures and meet all kinds of people. But sometimes, that glamour was absent and replace by a dismal reality.
The year 782 was the darkest year that Fairy tail lived since its foundation.
Magnolia, year 784:
The port of Magnolia wasn't as big as Hargeon but it was still important, mostly because the members of Fairy tail and Phantom lord used their boats to travel across the sea so they can go to missions. They were trouble makers but they pay very well and the work was constant. Of course they receive cargo from merchants and companies.
Sometimes the sailors find a boat carrying stravagant people and today was one of those situations.
One of them pointed a small sailboat approaching the port slowly. IT was very small, it was a boat that merely could handle a person. The experienced of the matter could tell that such ship could only work for small travelling or races. Whoever was driving was a madman to cross the sea with such unequipped boat.
The workers got a closer look at the persona sitting on the boat, it was a man wearing a full red metal armor, covering all the parts of his body. But the desing of the armor was what stood up, it wasn't common metal but red scales similar of a dragon, the other thing was the multiples horns popping out from his shoulder and back head. They couldn't see his face, it was covered by a face plate.
The stranger stood while holding something on his hands, it was a sword….of something similar to one. It was too big to be called a sword and it didn't look like one, it was like the nail of a giant beast.
His boat parked at the port and he step out of it. He looked around, seemingly lost. "Pardon me, good sir." He talked to one of the many men present. "Can you tell me where I land?"
"Y-You're in Magnolia Port, sir." He answered, the armored man didn't say anything for a minute. "S-Sir?"
"By any chance there's a place called….Fairy tail?"
"Y-Yeah, why?"
"Where's the way?"
"You have to go to the central plaza and take the street pointing north, you will see it from it. Is very easy to find."
"Thank you very much, good sir." The man walked passed away from the sailor men, completely ditching his ride.
"Wait! What about your boat?!"
"You can keep it, I have no need to use it anymore." The man said while walking away from them.
He walked towards the central plaza just like the man indicated. Everyone was looking at him with curiosity and whispering behind his backs, he could easily heard what they were saying but he choose to ignore them. He take the north street and keep his journey.
When he reached the end of it he found the place that he was looking for in all its glory: The magic Guild Fairy tail.
Seeing it after all these years was quite overwhelming. A great feeling of nostalgia evolved his body to the point he froze where he stood. It was like time never passed to this place.
Now that he was stranding before it, he didn't know what to do.
But then he saw a young woman coming out from the guild's door. She was wearing a long red dress that reached her feet. The woman looked very cheerful and happy, perhaps she could help him.
So he walked towards her, trying to not scaring her. "Excuse me, young lady." He called for her and she stopped what she was doing.
"Mmm?" She took her eyes on him, the woman before him had blue eyes and white long hair with her front bang being tied by a tiny tail. Thankfully she didn't see frighten of him. "Do you need something, sir?"
"Yes, is this the magic guild Fairy tail, right?"
"Oh yes~~~! Do you want to publish a quest for us, sir?" Her smile was cheerful and full of joy, something that he was thankful for. He honestly didn't expect such a reaction from her.
"No."
"Forgive me, now that I look at you, you don't seem as a costumer. Perhaps do you want to join?"
"I do not. As a matter of fact, I'm already a member."
"You are?" Her smile was replaced by a confused look. "I never see you around here…"
"I haven't come to this guild in many years, young lady."
"OOOHHHH! I see, no wonder I don't recognize you. Well, I'm glad that you decided to return to our guild. We'll always welcome the old and new members!" Her smile returned to her face. "You might don't know who I am, my name is Mirajane but you can call me Mira. What's your name, sir?"
"Dragneel. Natsu Dragneel."
…
…
"Excuse me, can you repeat your name again?"
"My name is Natsu Dragneel, I join Fairy tail when I was ten years old." Mirajane stopped on her tracks and stared at him in silence. "Is something wrong?"
"How dare you?"
"I beg your pardon?"
"Do you think this is funny?" The smile on her face completely disappeared and was replaced by an angry scorn. "To use a dead person name to make a sick joke? Do you have any trace of dignity?!"
"Is something wrong, Mira-chan?" Her sudden outburst catch the attentions of the other members, plenty of wizards started to surround the two of them. One of them was a young man no older than 18 who wasn't wearing a shirt. "What's wrong with this guy?"
"Is he brothering you, sis?" Another man came in, this one was huge. He had dark skin and spiky white hair.
"Is another imposter of Natsu's." She said with venom in her voice. "Is just like that guy that Macao took out four months ago."
"You really have some nerve to pretend to be Natsu." An old man with a pompadour walk close to him alongside another man of his age. "Macao, what did you do with the last guy who pretended to be Natsu?"
"I hang him by the balls. Not a very nice experience, if you ask me."
"I'm not an imposter, I am telling the truth."
"Then you must prove it, young lad." From the crowd emerged a tiny older man, the way all were looking at him made it clear that he was on charge of the guild. "If you truly are who are you saying to be, then you shouldn't hide your face from your family. That's not something that Natsu would do."
The armored individual stared momentarily at the old man. "You're right. You haven't seen me in a long time and this armor doesn't help either." He grabbed his helmet with both hands and removed. Behind the mask hide the face of a young man, his face was tender but mature and rough, consequence of years of experience. His pink hair fell to his shoulders, it was a mess and give him a wild aura to his appearance. No one say nothing for a second, they all look like they were seeing a ghost. "I believe that my face is an irrefutable evidence of my identity."
"N-Natsu..? You are…"
"It can't be!"
"H-How?!"
All the members of Fairy tail were completely in shock and by good reasons. A dead man has come back from the death. Tears were falling out of his eyes without them even notice. The woman from before started to approach him slowly and shaking.
"Are you….are you really…?" Natsu look at her teary face for a moment and then something clicked.
"You are Lissanna's older sister. Mirajane." The moment the name of her sister came from his mouth, Mira lost her conscience and faint.