When Natsu showed back up into the arena, it seemed like the stands were more crowded than before. There, sitting in the stands, were some of the castle staff, soldiers, the shields, and even the other eligible Mage knights.
"They are turning this into an event, aren't they?" Natsu muttered to himself.
The first team that he was up against was a team of four; two of them were girls but one was dressed in baggier clothes, hiding the fact that it looked like he was up against three guys and one girl.
"I hope you won't hold it against us if you lose, your royal highness" one of the guys shouted confidently. Natsu just smirked.
Yajeel, as a referee, gave a signal to start off the match, and the four wasted no time in surrounding Natsu. The man who seemed overly confident in his abilities attacked first. However, before he knew what had happened, he was on the ground in just an instant.
"Don't underestimate your opponents," Natsu stated, before dodging a sword that was aimed at his head. "Smart to attack when you thought I was distracted," Natsu praised as the sword came back around, now glowing a sickly green color. He dodged again as an ice wall blocked his path of escape. He dropped low and the sword embedded itself into the ice wall. The guy he knocked down was now standing up with the help of the fourth member of their little group; he could see it in their eyes that they were getting serious now. The fourth person, the one that was dressed in the baggy clothes, did something Natsu wasn't expecting at all. A lost magic.
"Is that creation magic?" Yajeel asked in surprise.
"Yes, I believe it is," Invel responded.
There was now a mage down in the arena who Natsu was impressed with. He had seen maker magic before, but this was pre-creation magic.
While he was marveling at the walls, the lady with the sword came around the corner and charged at him, but Natsu didn't dodge this time. Instead, he grabbed the pointed blade with his bare hands.
"What, are you crazy?!" she shouted in alarm. She tried to pull the sword away from Natsu's steaming hand, only to realize it wasn't his hand that was steaming with poison; it was her sword. He was heating up the blade, slowly making it glow crimson. Then, when he finally let go, the sword was nothing but melted metal that dripped onto the ground.
"I think I'm done playing around," Natsu stated in a dull tone. He lifted his foot and stomped on the ground, hard. Cracks began to appear and lava came up from the cracks. The walls crumbled to ash, exposing the other three members of the team.
The fight didn't last much longer after that. And all of the fights after that. In the end, all of the beaten knights were lined up again, with Invel standing next to Natsu, who didn't look worse for wear.
"So, My Prince, have you decided which ones you would like to serve you?" Invel asked, hoping that he didn't just fight them in order to scare them off so that he didn't have to get a guard.
"Not quite yet," Natsu said before stepping up in front of the knights, clearing his throat. "You all did really well today. You should be patting yourselves on the back for trying your best and not running away." Natsu paused before looking them in the eyes. "That being said, if any of you have changed your mind about wanting to serve me, you may leave now. There will be no hard feelings." Natsu paused again, letting them process his words. After a few seconds, many of the knights walked out of the arena, thinking it would be easier to just stay as knights. Natsu kind of hope all of them would have walked out that way he could say he tried and this proved he didn't need protecting.
When there were still a few knights remaining, Natsu gave a small smiled. He could admire their determination. "Okay, then. That definitely narrowed it down."
He stepped in front of each one knight. He asked the individuals still in the line why they wanted to serve him. The answers varied, from it, would be an honor to sever someone in the royal family to wanting to help protect their country and wanting a challenge. but in the end, he decided on four people. Natsu turned to Invel, "These are the people I chose."
"I am glad I caught your eye. I look forward to serving you," one of the four individuals said, bowing to Natsu.
He just stared at the knight, narrowing his eyes. "Don't get your hopes up," he stated, "If you think this will be easy, then there's the exit over there. However, if you do insist on serving under me, then show me how much resolve you have. Got that?"
"Should I start kneeling down and kissing your shoes?" the man asked in a sarcastic tone.
"If you are willing to take a kick to the face, then be my guest," Natsu shot back. The man smiled and backed off slightly, nodding in understanding. Natsu turned to the group. "Take a break for the rest of the day. I will see all of you tomorrow." Natsu then left the arena followed by Alexander, Invel, and Yajeel.
"So that is the prince?" A girl mused in thought.
"I think this will be fun. Finally, I am serving the royal family." Another in the group said excitedly
"I just hope he doesn't turn out to be a royal brat." Another girl stated as she crossed her arms.
A little later, deep in the dungeons
Mavis struggled to open her heavy eyelids, which she never thought would be this hard. She felt utterly exhausted, sore and confused about everything.
She was a ghost; she shouldn't have been feeling pain or exhaustion. But when she finally managed to pry open her eyes, the light was too bright for her, forcing her to close her eyes again. After a minute she tried again as she blinked repeatedly, this time letting her eyes adjust despite the pain of the sensitivity to the bright light. She was surprised when she saw a light wood roof above her. Was she lying somewhere? Turning her head, she saw that the wood roof was held up by the same light-colored wood posts, and beyond them were light purple walls and a white ceiling. Through an open window, she could see the blue skies and faintly hear the birds chirping in the distance.
It took great effort to raise herself to a seated position. She was surprised to find that she was, in fact, sitting on a bed in a room she had never seen before. More so, she wasn't going through the bed. She tentatively fingered the blanket, even more, surprised that her hand wasn't going through them. She could feel everything; the breeze coming from the window, the softness of the blanket, the rough texture of the bed frame.
This should be impossible, she thought. She was a ghost; she shouldn't be able to touch anything. She threw off the blankets and looked down at herself. She was wearing a light pink nightgown with a white bow at the middle and white trim at the bottom. She wriggled her toes and looked at her hands, now completely confused about what was going on.
Was this a dream? Was she alive?
But… if this was a dream, why did her body hurt so much?
She heard a chuckle that made her jump. She abruptly turned towards the noise, blushing at the thought that someone could see her in her confused state.
"Welcome back to the land of the living," Natsu smiled amusedly at her, which just added to her confusion. Where was she, why was he there, and how could she now touch things? She had a million questions but didn't know how to ask them. Natsu must have recognized the look on her face because he continued. "You are now back amongst the living without your curse. Congratulations."
She looked at him like he was insane, then her memory hit her like a ton of bricks. She was a ghost at Fairy Tail Guild and they were at war with Alvarez; they wanted to capture her. Her eyes widened and her breath quickened, beginning to panic. Was that where she was? Was she now a prisoner of the Alvarez Empire?
"Mavis, please calm down, you are not in any danger," Natsu spoke in a calming tone.
"Zeref?" she asked warily, trying to wrap her head around what kind of situation she was in and how she would be able to escape.
"Yes, Zeref is here. But you are not a prisoner or anything like that, I promise," Natsu stated, trying to give her a reassuring smile.
She doubted that. "Then I can go back to Fairy Tail, because this doesn't look like a Fairy Tail building?" she asked.
Natsu's smile disappeared. "No, Mavis. This isn't the Fairy Tail Guild," he explained in a serious tone. "You are in the castle in Alvarez. I took your body from your crystal."
Mavis wasn't sure if she could really trust Natsu, now that he was no longer a member of Fairy Tail. "If I am not, as you say, a prisoner, then can I go back?"
"Yes, but…" Natsu hesitated.
She knew there was something shady about this. They've already taken Fairy Heart from her, what more did they want from her? She couldn't feel that magic anymore. In fact, she couldn't feel any magic at all. It was weird to feel that emptiness in her soul. She didn't know how to feel about that.
"I know it's a lot to ask but… could you…" Natsu looked away, trying to find the right words.
Was he asking for a favor?
This whole situation was not helping alleviate her confusion at all; it only seemed to add to it.
Natsu seemed to find his words as he looked her in the eyes. "Could you talk to him… and then, when the spell is lifted from around Fiore, I will take you back to Fairy Tail."
She blinked. "Spell?"
Natsu gave a small nod. "I will explain it to you later, but please talk to Zeref. Even if it is words of rejection or hatred, please just talk to him. Neither one of you have the curses anymore, so you don't have to worry about it. He would like another chance to talk to you. Right now, he is waiting outside the door - he's too afraid to see you right now."
Mavis looked down at] her lap in thought. What was Natsu saying? Another chance to talk, without the threat of their curses looming over them? No contradictions, no clouds of death hanging over their heads…?
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, her chest expanding and shrinking. She had forgotten what it was like to breathe freely for the first time in ages. A few moments later, she looked up to Natsu's dark eyes and gave a small nod. "I will speak to him."
Natsu smiled and made to get up, only to get surprised upon seeing Mavis attempt to follow but let out a pained groan, having forgotten that she was not a ghost anymore. Her body was sore and was about to fall. Natsu had to catch her as she made a childish squeak, and her blush intensified at the thought of someone seeing her ungraceful action.
"Easy, Mavis. Your body is really weak right now," Natsu whispered. "Just lay on the bed here. I will bring him in for you. Ok?"
Once Mavis was settled back onto the bed, Natsu turned to the door. Upon opening the door, a very nervous Zeref walked in a second later. Natsu stepped out of the room and gently closed the door behind him, leaving the two of them alone.
He stopped right in front of the bed, clearing his throat. He didn't know how to start this conversation. "I bet I am the last person you want to see right now." He didn't meet Mavis' eyes and just waited for the inevitable outburst. For her to yell at him about something, about how evil he is and all the death he had caused.
But none of that came.
They just stayed, frozen in silence. Then…
"Is it true that we no longer have the curse?" Mavis asked calmly. A bit too calmly. Zeref just nodded.
"I know that doesn't make everything I have done to you, or this world, okay. But I do have a plan to fix all of that. However," he hesitated before fixing his eyes onto Mavis', "to do that, I will have to say goodbye to this world. For good."
"Are you planning to do that now, so that you can die…?" Mavis asked.
Zeref flinched before looking down at his feet. "No. By resetting this world," he mumbled.
"Listen to me, Zeref," Mavis said firmly, almost scolding. "You mustn't erase this world." She glared at him, before softening her eyes, adding in a quiet tone "Because... this is the world that we met." Zeref was so surprised by what she said that his head snapped up to meet her eyes. "Let me get to know you, without the curse this time." She gave a sweet smile hoping this was the right call.
With Natsu
Natsu was on his way to the palace gardens when he ran into Alexander. It had only been a day, but he was still not used to having a personal servant. The kid still wouldn't look him in the eye. He found it a little annoying.
"Your highness, I found you!" he breathed heavily as if he had run a marathon through the castle in search of him.
Natsu waited for the boy to catch his breath. "Uh, are you okay?" Natsu asked a little awkwardly.
"Ye-yes, sir, I am fine," he bowed in respect.
"Alexander, can I ask you something?"
"Of course, I am here to serve Your highness."
"Are you afraid of me?" Alexander straightened up but his head was still bowed down.
"O-of course not, your royal highness," he squeaked, which made Natsu frown.
"Then why don't you look at me?"
"With all respect, sir, I can't do that. You are a prince while I am just a lowly commoner. Just being in your presence is a blessing."
"Listen to me," Natsu said firmly. "I don't care where you came from or if you are a commoner or not. Actually, I find it annoying that you won't look me in the eye when we are talking," he stated.
Alexander frowned, hesitating for a moment. He slowly lifted his head, and for the first time, he saw Natsu's face up close. His first thought was that Natsu was handsome just like the stories. He definitely looked like a prince, but his dark eyes seemed to look right into his soul so they were more than a little intimidating.
"See, isn't this better now that we can talk face to face?" Natsu grinned, revealing his perfect white teeth. It was probably the brightest smile Alexander had ever seen. His dark eyes didn't seem scary anymore as there was now a light behind them that seemed to dance like flames.
"Ye-yes, Your highness," Alexander stammered, closing his eyes in embarrassment for just a second. Never had he seen a smile that bright before. He vowed, right then and there, that he would serve the prince with the best of his ability, and to always stay by his side. He was about to voice his vow to the prince, only to find that he was no longer in front of him. Gasping, he quickly spun in a circle, spotting the prince's retreating form. He quickly ran after him.
"I am so sorry, Prince Natsu! I should watch where I am looking!" Alexander squeaked. He was in too much of a panic trying to catch up to the prince that he didn't notice the prince had stopped in his stride when he called out his name, so Alexander crashed right into the prince and then landed on his butt.
"I-I'm very sorry, Your highness! I will be more careful, please forgive me!" he stuttered, ashamed.
"It's fine," Natsu waved it off. Alexander unconsciously let out a small sigh of relief. "Are you ok? It looks like you landed pretty hard," Natsu asked, giving him a hand to help Alexander up, who scrambled to his feet on his own and was now bowing his head over and over again.
"You are very kind to ask that of a servant that crashed into you," he stammered.
"As I said, it's fine," Natsu sighed as he ran a hand through his hair. "This is going to take a lot of getting used to."
"Your highness." A new voice filled the hallways.
"What now?" Natsu muttered, turning to see who had spoken. Much to his surprise, it was Yajeel. "Yajeel, do you need me for something?" Natsu asked, glad to at least change the subject of his new servant's groveling.
"I am here on behalf of Lord Invel; he can't seem to find His Imperial Majesty," Yajeel informed.
"My brother will be unavailable for a while. Where is he? I can see if it is something I can deal with," Natsu sighed, knowing that his brother and Mavis would be talking for a while. Even if their talk might be short, Natsu would bet that his brother wouldn't want to be disturbed. It would also be safer for the staff.
"I will take you to him, sir." Yajeel bowed and turned around to walk down the hall. Natsu and Alexander followed him.
Yajeel led them to the throne room. Ever since Natsu came to the Alvarez Empire, he had only been in the throne room twice. The room was impressive; it was a long room with the walkway covered by a dark purple carpet, massive marble pillars that ran the length of the room, and up the high ceilings in the center was a chandelier. The throne was black with an obsidian high back. Behind the throne was a purple banner woven with precious metals with the Alvarez crest in silver color.
Upon walking up to the empty throne, Natsu saw Invel and August standing in front of the throne and were talking with someone Natsu didn't recognize. But from the design of the clothing, Natsu guessed it was a nobleman.
"Invel, what is going on?" Natsu asked when they got closer. All three men turned to him.
"Your highness." Both Invel and August bowed at him.
"Are you Emperor Spriggan?" the third man asked. Invel and August glared at the man for his lack of politeness to a member of the royal family.
"No, I am not. I am his younger brother and the Prince of Alvarez," Natsu stated smoothly.
"Yes, and as he is the Prince, you should show him some respect," Invel growled as the temperature in the room dropped several degrees.
"Calm down, Invel," Natsu said. It wasn't every often he saw the Chief of Staff getting so defensive. That was curious. "Will someone explain to me what is going on?"
"My apologies, my prince. This is Caspian Lockhart Durtoush of the Durtoush family. They are a Noble family from the Guiltina Kingdom close to our border," August explained. Caspian Lockhart Durtoush puffed out his chest a little in pride.
"Okay, so what is a nobleman from another country doing here? If I remember correctly, Guiltina is monolithic with few islands and is to the North of us."
"You are correct, sir," Invel praised, glad that the prince's royal lessons weren't going to waste.
"I wish to speak to the emperor," Caspian Lockhart Durtoush demanded. Natsu frowned slightly at his snooty tone.
"Well, the Emperor is busy and can't meet with you. But as Prince, you can tell me why you came all this way," Natsu said in his best diplomatic tone. Already Natsu wasn't liking this guy…
"As you know, the great Durtoush family estate is located close to the Alvarez border, and we are quite aware of how prosperous the Alvarez Empire is these last few decades—"
"So are you wishing to open up trade with us?" Natsu asked, guessing where this was going. "Because we already have trades with the Guiltina Kingdom."
"Not quite. We would like to become citizens of this Empire and also keep our noble ranking. We feel that the state Guiltina Government is going, and the decline of their monarchy, that the Alvarez Empire will take over Guiltina in the near future," the man stated.
"Invel, I was not aware we had plans to invade Guiltina," Natsu whispered to the Ice General.
"No, My prince. There are no such plans as of yet," Invel whispered back, "If I may, your highness, I would leave this matter to His Majesty."
Natsu thought that would be a good idea. He didn't know much about politics, but he wanted to help as much as he could while his brother was reconnecting with Mavis.
"Caspian Lockhart Durtoush." Natsu paused for just a second, praising himself that he said the name right. "Tell me, why should we grant citizenship to a bunch of traitors to their own country?"
"Traitor?! We are not traitors, how dare—!"
"Then let me rephrase," he interrupted smoothly. "You think that your country is in decline, and in turn, that means your families' power is also in decline. So, you think that the Alvarez Empire will take advantage of this weakness based on our militaristic reputation, so you think that it would be more beneficial to join us than to be taken down along with your country, and possibly lose all of your wealth and power. How am I doing so far?" Natsu asked. Everyone's eyes were wide, not expecting this from Natsu. When no one responded, Natsu continued, "So, in short, you are willing to abandon your country for the hope of promised power and stability."
"Umm," Caspian Lockhart Durtoush started to say but hesitated. He didn't really know what to say. He was surprised to be found out so soon, and by the prince no less.
"This county doesn't have anything against traitors from other countries as long as they give us something in return for taking them in and for their loyalty. So, my suggestion to you, is to go back to your family and think about if this is really what you want, and what you are prepared to offer us, then come back. If you are serious about it, that is. If you do, then you can be granted an audience with my brother, the Imperial Emperor of the Alverez empire." Natsu didn't wait for a response as he turned around and left the throne room, leaving two shocked but impressed Spriggan 12 members, and a shocked noble man.
Natsu was praising himself a little thinking he could be good at this royalty thing now if he could just get people to call him by his name again he would be golden.
The next day
"We seem to be having a lot of meetings lately," Ajeel sighed, leaning back on his chair with a bored expression.
"Stop being so dramatic. We haven't had a meeting since we got back from Ishgar," Neinhart muttered.
"You wouldn't know, since you rarely go to the meetings anyway," Ajeel shot back.
"Enough," Invel hissed as Natsu and Zeref walked into the meeting room. Everyone was present except for Brandish and Wall who were still in Ishgar and recovery respectively.
"I am glad all of you are here. Now, let's get straight to business," Zeref paused, waiting until everyone was settled in their seats. "As I am sure you are all aware, the barrier surrounding Fiore will be coming down in the next coming weeks. We can safely assume that they will be preparing a counterattack."
"Why would they?!" Ajeel shouted in annoyance, slamming his hands onto the table. "Are they that stupid! They've witnessed our power, so why would they dare attack Alvarez?!"
"You lost to them, remember," Ireen stated in her usual cold tone. Ajeel looked like he wanted to say something, but Natsu cut him off.
"We have Mavis," he stated. "And like I told you before, Fairy Tail refuses to give up; they will most likely be coming to get her back. Pulse we also have the magic power that was sealed inside her."
"Okay, so will we be waiting for them when the barrier comes down?" Jacob asked.
"No, we will be staying here," Zeref said.
"What, we are going to wait until they attack us?" Larcade asked incredulously.
"We will wait to see what they will do. I would like the border guards doubled, and for you all to stay sharp if they do decide to attack. That means for the time being I would like all of you to stay in the capital."
Everyone looked confused about what Zeref was planning, but they didn't question it; they probably thought that there were multiple layers to Zeref's master plan.
Fiore
Due to the fact that everyone was scattered all over Fiore, and that they couldn't use magic, it took a while for everyone to find each other again. If it weren't for the communication lacrima, communicating with other people in the distance would've been next to impossible. Not everyone had them, so it made it a little harder, but it was still better than nothing. They were just lucky the lacrima worked… most of the time.
It has been a long and difficult time, spending almost a full mouth without magic and being misplaced scattered landmarks. The first few weeks were the most difficult, tending to the wounded that you could find and trying to contact and find anyone that you knew. Luckily everyone had the same thought and made their way to where Crocus originally was. Instead of a large city and a castle in the center of it, there were grasslands and buildings stuck in hillsides scattered around trees that also dotted the deformed landscape. For several weeks following Alvarez's attack people came to Crocus in groups, confused and angry. The wizards set up tents and temporary buildings to treat injuries and to house everyone that had their homes misplaced. Guilds made a temporary meeting place where they could plan how to get out of this mess.
Wizards took many trips to the barrier without any luck in breaking it down or figuring out how it worked. Without the use of magic, many wizards began to think getting out of Fiore was next to impossible. They could not contact the outside world to get help nor could they stay in contact with anyone from long distances inside the barrier. It all seemed hopeless.
At the Guild HQ building, also treated as temporary living quarters for the royal family, they were calling the temporary meeting place for all the guilds. Everyone was gathering to come up with another plan.
"It has been three weeks since the barrier went up, and everything we have tried has failed!" a mage from the Lamia Scale guild shouted, followed by sounds of agreement from other mages.
"Not to mention, any attempt at restoring our magic or contacting anyone outside Fiore have also failed!" a wizard from Blue Pegasus shouted.
"Fairy Tail, do you have anything to add to this conversation?" the King asked Fairy Tail's Guild Master Makarov. For the last several weeks the Fairy Tail guild had been uncharacteristically silent.
"This was your fight, to begin with, so why don't you shed some light on the subject for us?!" a member of Sabertooth shouted, followed by more angry shouts in agreement.
Makarov was silent for a moment, before, "I do apologize for this mess, and for getting all of Fiore involved," he stated in a sad voice," But we know just as much as the rest of you when it comes to the problems that we are all currently facing."
These past couple of weeks had been very hard for the Fairy Tail guild, especially for the ones who were fighting in the war and then were made aware of Natsu-but-not-really-Natsu's visit later on.
"Can you please explain why all of you seem so down?" The King asked of the Fairy Tail members standing right behind Makarov. Everyone fell silent, looking at them in anticipation.
"... Before the forces of Alvarez retreated and the barrier went up, while our own forces were out of the HQ of the guild, we got a visit from Natsu Dragneel—"
"Natsu!" shouts of many wizards that knew him suddenly erupted. "Where is he?! Did something happen?!"
The Fairy Tail mages lowered their heads, trying not to show how upset and worried they were.
"Please let me explain," Makarov said, but not in his usual manner, to silence the rowdy wizards. When everyone quieted down, Makarov continued, "This might be a little confusing, but as I am sure all of you are aware, the Fairy Tail guild had disbanded for a year after the battle we had with the dark guild Tartarus," Makarov paused, sighing before he continued, "Natsu had disappeared before I announced the disbandment. Now, Natsu did show up at the Guild. But it wasn't actually Natsu, but someone else. He claimed the Natsu we all know is dead."
There were several gasps of shock and disbelief in the makeshift guildhall. A feeling of uneasiness fell over the crowd.
Even aware of the tension in the room, Makarov continued, "This being said, he was just using Natsu's body, he was with someone from the Alverez Empire and stole something precious to us. then moments later he disappeared, and this barrier was activated." all the wizards were shocked
"You don't believe Natsu is really dead right," Sting asked hoping his hero was still alive
"This is Natsu we are talking about of course he is alive!" Lucy shouted definitely
You couldn't have Fairy Tail without Natsu it isn't possible but if the demon that has taken over his body is the one, I am thinking of Natsu no longer exists. Gray thought to himself watching everyone coming up with plains on how they could get Natsu back where gray was thinking just to get revenge for his fallen best friend and keep his promise to his father END won't know what hit him and he would regret ever messing with Fairy Tail.
Sorry, everyone for the long wait. I am having some writers block for this story I trying to remember where I wanted to go with this story since I lost my notes. Don't worry thought this story is not going to be abandoned it is just going to take a little longer for chapters until I remember what I was doing with this story. Any input on this story could be helpful. Thank you all for your patience and continued support for this story. I hope you all like this chapter.
