Natsu watched as the Dark Dragon, Acnologia, ripped through his father's chest, and his body fell to the ground, lifeless. "The time I spent with you was the happiest time in my life." Igneel spoke his last words, His body vanishing in the wind.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Natsu screamed at the top of his lungs, as memories of his childhood with Igneel flashed in his mind. He was shouting all things he wanted to tell his father everything he had done, all the names of people he had wanted Igneel to meet… only his father could no longer hear them. He cried for the father he had spent more than 14 years searching for, only for him to die right in front of him.

Natsu woke up, drenched in sweat and sunlight on his face.

"Igneel." Natsu breathed. He looked to the sky outside in sadness. It had been three days since his father died, and three days since he ran away from the Fairy Tail guild to train so that he would never have to lose anyone like that again. He never wanted to feel helpless, to not lose anyone else in front of his eyes, never again…

"Don't worry, Dad. I will get stronger. I will make you proud." Natsu forced a smile onto his face. As he looked around the cave he had spent the night in, he felt an odd sense of home. It brought a sad smile to his face, remembering all the times Igneel and he had spent together, only for it to end. The dark thoughts made him frown. Shaking his head, he stood up and gathered his things, or what little he had brought with him, then he walked out into the bright morning light.

"OK, let's get a move on, Happy! I want to get to the mountain range before nightfall." Natsu declared only for his frown to deepen when he did not hear a reply. He turned himself around looking for the feline, then he remembered that he had left Happy behind as well as everyone in Fairy Tail. he had told himself that he needed to do this alone. With a sigh, Natsu turned and started walking deeper into the forest in silence.

Little did he know what was waiting for him at his destination, or what was currently happening at the Fairy Tail guild.

Fairy Tail

Due to the fight against Tartaros, Magnolia was destroyed, so they made up a small camp where the guild once stood to dress everyone's injuries and to settle down after all the fighting.

"It's been three days since Natsu went missing. I am starting to get worried," Lucy spoke, sitting at a makeshift table with the rest of Team Natsu. Minus Natsu, of course.

"Don't worry about the flame brain, he will come back. He always does," Gray stated, but inside he was also worried for the dragon slayer. No one had seen him since the end of the fight with Tartaros, and they were starting to get worried.

"Natsu is probably taking Igneel's death pretty hard. He needs time to mourn; Igneel was really important to him." Erza's voice seemed calmer than usual, which normally would have scared the crap out of them, but for right then just gave them a little comfort, knowing she was probably right.

"You know, I thought the passing of the dragons was beautiful. Why is he more upset about this than the other dragon slayers?" Lisanna chimed in, also worried for the fire dragon slayer, her childhood crush.

"You don't know what Natsu had seen! Igneel didn't go out like the other dragons." Happy shouted, tears coming to his eyes just thinking about Natsu's screams as his father fell from the sky.

"What do you mean, Happy? Did something happen?" Mira asked. The conversation had attracted more listeners than when it started. Happy sniffled and told them about how Acnologia and Igneel fought and how the Apocalypse dragon had ripped through Igneel's chest, and him falling out of the sky. He also told them about Natsu crying and screaming for Igneel as he could not do anything to help his father as he died right in front of him. By the end of the story, a lot of people had tears in their eyes and Happy was wailing out, until Lucy broke the whimpering silence. They remembered the last words the other dragons said about Igneel, that even he could not defeat the black dragon but only succeeded in sending him away with the remaining power he had left. There was no dragon braver than Natsu's father.

"I had no idea; I should have been there for him." She said as tears rolled down her cheeks. They had no idea what the dragons had really meant until this time.

"Lucy, don't be so hard on yourself. We are all to blame. Natsu has always been there for us, and we should have been there for him in his time of need," Erza stated, holding onto Lucy's shoulder to comfort her.

"Plus, you were suffering a loss too; you are entitled to mourn for Aquarius," Levy pointed out, coming up to sit beside her best friend and also reserving nods from the other guildmates.

"We should go find Salamander!" Elfman declared loudly, throwing his fist in the air and marching out of the camp, but stopped when he saw the master over them from the pile of debris looking grim.

"May I have everyone's attention!" Fairy Tail's Master shouted to get everyone's attention, looking at his beloved family with sad, worn out eyes. When no one said a word, he continued while scanning the crowd. He took a deep breath to brace himself for his family's anger.

"I have something I need to tell all of you… as of this moment I am disbanding Fairy Tail." He declared. He waited for the words to sink in; for three seconds there was nothing but silence, then the silence erupted to yells and screams of 'whys' and 'you can't do that' and other angry remarks from the guild members. But he ignored them all, for if he listened he was afraid he might change his mind.

"ENOUGH! My word is final. As of this moment, the Fairy Tail guild is disbanded! You are all free to go your separate ways." He did not dare to stay any longer for he could not hold back his tears anymore, and did not want to see their sad and angry faces at what he had done. He knew it was for the best, and it was the only way to protect his family from the new horrors that would come.

He needed the time to find this new threat before it had a chance to destroy his children, and if they hated him for it, then so be it. Because that's what parents would do…

Back with Natsu

"Finally made it and it is not even dark yet." Natsu smiled to himself and went off to explore for a place to set up camp.

"Long time no see… Natsu." A voice called out. Natsu froze. 'I know that voice,' he thought as he turned to come face to face with none other than the Black Mage Zeref.

"Zeref…" Natsu breathed, not believing what he was seeing. The last time he saw the black wizard was during the fight with Tartaros; Natsu didn't think he would see him again so soon. However, Natsu was not intimidated by Zeref's presence. He did not allow himself to be. "Why are you here?" Natsu asked, his body tense in case he had to fight.

Seeing this, Zeref sighed, "I am not here to hurt you. I have come to give you a gift…" He reached a hand into his cloak. Natsu's body stiffened as he went into a fighting stance; Zeref stopped and frowned at Natsu. "I did say I was not going to hurt you." he said while staring at the fire wizard with his black eyes holding nothing but sadness and pain. He slowly brought his hand back out and held the Book of the END.

Natsu's eyes widened seeing the book that he had tried to obtain in the war for his father. "What? Why would you give me that?" he asked, becoming a little wary.

"Igneel would want you to have it…" Zeref spoke with sadness still in his eyes, looking down at the book in his hand

"How do you know Igneel?" Natsu asked but Zeref ignored the question and continued talking.

"It is your choice on what you do with it. You can destroy it, or you can open it and see what happens. But of course, you might not like what will happen if you destroy it." Zeref said tossing the book to Natsu. As he caught it he looked up to ask Zeref a question, only to see he was gone. Natsu looked around in slight panic, trying to find the black wizard but when he didn't see him, Natsu lifted his nose in the air and took a sniff but Zeref's scent was gone. The black wizard had just disappeared, leaving the book of END in Natsu's hands.

Natsu looked down at the red colored book with black markings around the edges and big bold letters in the center that read E.N.D. 'The right thing would be to just destroy it. That, or give it to Gray, but I know he would want to destroy it,' Natsu thought as he lit his hand on fire, ready to destroy the book Zeref treasured the most. But he suddenly stopped his hand an inch from the book, illuminating it in a reddish glow. Of course, you might not like what will happen if you destroy it. Zeref's words rang in his mind. 'What would happen if I were to destroy this book?' he thought, staring at the black letters. Then he thought about his father, Igneel didn't want him to destroy it; he wanted Natsu to retrieve the book but he didn't want Natsu to open the book either.

He sighed and put out his fire. 'This could be a really bad idea.' Natsu thought and he chuckled at himself.

"When do I ever think things through!" he screamed to the sky. Images flowed into his mind; of how his friends fought and suffered because of his reckless actions, and of his father's death. How helpless Natsu felt of not being able to do anything to help them. Never again did he want to feel this way…

'What should I do?' he thought, taking his eyes off the demon book again to glance at the sky. Your choice on what you do with it. You can destroy it, or you can open it and see what happens, was what Zeref had said.

Hours seemed to go by and Natsu just stood there, never letting go of the book or making a move to open or destroy it. He just stared at the red worn cover, words of Zeref as well as Igneel circled around in his head. Even his father didn't want him to destroy the book. But why? This was Zeref's strongest demon, the source for many of his friends' misfortune and the attack with Tartaros.

Gray had told him that END was a fire demon. Therefore, if he were to release it he was sure he wouldn't have a problem with defeating the monster… right? But Natsu was getting a strange feeling from the book, something... familiar. He couldn't explain it. He took a breath and opened the book. Natsu screamed as a red/orange light surrounded him as the area around him began to burn, he tried to let go of the book but found he couldn't. His world faded to black.

Natsu POV

I groaned and slowly opened my eyes only to shut them again due to the bright light. I tried to go back to sleep when the memories of the previous day flashed in my mind. I shot up into a sitting position, fully awake and alert.

In a panic, I looked around me in search of the black mage or my book. I froze. 'My book? Did I really just think that?' Looking down at my hands my breath caught in my throat. My hands were covered in black flame marking and my nails had turned into claws. Panic started to rise in me faster and faster, I ran to a nearby stream and looked down at my reflection, and what I saw horrified me. My eyes were a sickly crimson color, my teeth had become sharper making them look more like fangs; I had two black horns on top of my head and my ears were also pointed, I even had wings and a pointed tail. After a minute the black marking and my demon-like appearance started to disappear and my magic began to settle until I looked normal again.

Of course, the queasiness that I felt did not go away. I ran my hands over my body looking for those strange markings. I did not find any but when I checked my chest, there weren't any markings but something I could have gone my whole life without seeing again… the Tartaros guild mark. But this one was different; it had the big bold letters END curved at the bottom. I traced out the letters with my fingers, while my mind went into a flashback of memories I didn't know were mine.

Flashback

"Natsu! Zeref! Dinner time! You don't want your food to get cold, do you?!" a sweet female voice chirped, coming from a small cottage at the edge of town. A much younger vision of Zeref and Natsu were playing outside in the tall grass, big white smiles on their faces.

"Coming, Mom!" they called back as they raced each other to the red oak door where they could smell freshly cooked meat and other tantalizing smells.

Inside a beautiful woman stood over a settable placing steaming food on clay plates. She had pink hair, but for some reason Natsu couldn't see her face clearly, but he could feel the love in her eyes when she would look at him. Hearing the boys running into the house she looked up and smiled.

"That was fast! I guess you boys are really hungry, and I thought you both were going to play all evening long." She said in a joking manner, her smile grew wider seeing her boys' pouting faces.

"Well, come to sit down. Zeref dear, can you go tell your father that dinner is ready?" she asked as little Natsu sat at the table reaching for food only for his hand to be smacked away by his mother. Zeref nodded and ran outside to look for his father.

After a nice family dinner, the family of four gathered into Natsu and Zeref's bedroom. A man sat at the edge of Natsu's bed. He was tan and was well built with black hair and eyes; he also had a kind smile. He was telling the two younger boys stories of his adventures when he was a young wizard.

"That was an awesome story, Dad! When I grow up I want to become a wizard, just like you!" Natsu said while jumping on the bed and throwing his tiny fists in the air.

"Slow down, Natsu. You first have to be old enough to go to the wizarding school like your older brother before you can become a wizard." the man said smiling and trying to get the little boy back into bed.

"Zerwef will be the best wizard of them all!" Natsu boasted, looking at his brother and giving him a big Dragneel smile.

"Someday, Natsu, you can go to school with me and we will become wizards together." Zeref said, giving the same smile back to his younger brother.

"Ok, now settle down, both of you. It is time for bed." their dad said, kissing both of them on the head, then he got up and turned to blow out the candles. "Good night boys." he walked out of the door to follow after their mother, and closed it behind him.

"Zerwef, are you awake?" Natsu asked into the darkness a little while later. He got a hum in return telling him to continue. "Will you teach me how to do magic like you, Mom and Dad?" he asked.

Zeref opened his tired eyes and replied, "Natsu, of course I will teach you. That's what brothers are for." He closed his eyes, sensing Natsu's smile at his response.

"Thank you, Brother." He heard Natsu mumble softly as they drifted off to sleep.

End flashback

'Are these my… memories?' I thought as my fingers stopped tracing the black letters on my chest, my eyes wide. 'What is going on? What is happening to me?' I thought over and over as more memories played in my mind of when I was little.

"Zeref is my big brother?" I gasped out loud. The words seemed foreign, but a strange feeling of warmth and comfort filled my chest. Zeref was my brother. The more I said it, and the more I thought about it, the more it felt real to me. Seeing his smiling face when we were younger, playing all day outside, of Zeref studying. Memories of a family I never knew I had. Of how Zeref was always there for me when I needed him as my big brother. But when did that all change? My mind fell back into the past again.

Flashback again

Sounds of screaming and explosions woke the two sleeping boys. Zeref got up from his bed and went to pick Natsu up from his bed and ran out of the room to find out what was going on.

"Zeref, Natsu! Are you both ok?!" their frantic mother asked, gathering both of them in her arms.

"What's going on?" a sleepy Natsu said.

"The village has been attacked. Zeref, I need you to take your brother as far away from this place as you can get. Do you understand what I am asking of you?" she said firmly, letting go of the boys from her embrace and looked Zeref in the eye. Zeref slowly nodded, unsure of what was going on.

"Where's Daddy?" Natsu's voice quivered, scared of the things he did not understand.

"Daddy's outside protecting everyone." She gave him a sad smile. "Natsu, I want you to be good and listen to your brother, and when everything is over I will come and find you. OK?" She gave them one last hug, tears rolling freely down her rosy cheeks like somehow, she knew this would be the last time she saw her two precious little boys. She got up and ran out the door, ignoring how Natsu screamed for her to come back.

Zeref grabbed Natsu's arms and forced him to focus on himself, "Natsu, we have to go!"

"What about Mom and Dad! We can't leave them!" Natsu cried, pleading for his brother to go after them.

Tears grew in the older brother's eyes, he hated to see his brother cry and he even hated himself for leaving their parents behind. He somehow knew that they would never see their parents again. But now, Zeref had to be strong for himself and his little brother.

"Natsu, listen to me. We will see Mom and Dad again, but right now, we need to get out of here." He lied. Natsu's tears fell silently like he knew it was a lie but sensed Zeref's pain, and held everything inside to cry out later.

They made it outside, and what they saw made them stop. The whole town was on fire. It was clouded in thick black smoke, bodies of their friends and neighbors littered the ground, some missing parts of their bodies. The others just laid on the ground, frozen in pools of their own blood, their glassy eyes open in surprise. They could not see their parents amidst all the flames surrounding the ruins.

Zeref shook his head, trying to remove the images that were burned into his mind. With their hands clutched to each other, he pulled Natsu away from the gruesome scene and continued to run into the forest with Natsu trailing close behind.

End flashback

I held my head in pain. What was going on? "Zeref," I breathed, 'Where are you now?' I needed to find Zeref. I needed to understand what was happening to me, and Zeref was the only one who knew the answer; he might tell me more about our past. Not feeling tired or hungry I gathered my things and started walking in a random direction to search for Zeref, my older brother.

I hope you like this story better now that I have re-written it and I think I might be changing some things as for the direction this story was heading.