Chapter 48 Silver Lining:
Countdown begins to the end of the story. 5! Didn't get a review last time sadly. Ah well, please tell me your thoughts on this chapter if you don't mind.
The fireball hit Natsu, who tried to eat it as it came toward him, but that didn't prevent it from knocking him down.
"Natsu!" Lisanna screamed.
"Big Brother!" Wendy called as she looked up from Makarov who she was still healing.
"What was that?" Mirajane asked as she sat next to Laxus and was wrapping his wounds. "A fireball?"
"I'm surprised it knocked him down," Laxus said.
Lisanna knelt over her crush, who clenched his teeth and clutched his stomach.
"Natsu are you okay?" Lisanna asked worried.
Natsu opened his eyes, which had turned from their normal black to fiery red. He growled, Lisanna recoiled in surprise and fear.
"I am not Natsu!" the being in front of her said. "My name is E.N.D! And I am here to end Zeref! He must die!"
All the people present and awake (which was everyone but Makarov) felt their mouths go wide in shock.
"E.N.D? But that's the most powerful demon of the Book of Zeref!" Mest exclaimed.
Lisanna, Wendy, Carla, and Happy all looked at Natsu in worry and desperation. Mirajane and Laxus were still confused as they not all heard the truth from Zeref like the former four mere hours ago. Had he somehow gotten E.N.D to manifest within Natsu? Or was it something else? Would he hurt them now?
Natsu roared, and suddenly a long line of fire flew up into the sky. They felt the heat in the already hot air.
"Everyone get back!" Natsu suddenly said.
Lisanna felt a wave of relief, he was still in there! But feeling the heat she followed his instructions and moved to a safer distance. It felt as though she were in an oven like a meal about to be cooked.
"Zeref, I must get to him! He must die!" Natsu said.
Natsu… or E.N.D began to walk in another direction, flames encircling him. Looking at his arms, Lisanna saw they looked like they'd become covered in dragonlike scales with claws at the fingers. Horns also appeared to be growing from Natsu's head, like the ones he'd had when he pretended to be the Demon Lord that took over Edolas. Lisanna was reminded of when Elfman had taken over the beast during the S-class mission and attacked her, which resulted in her being sent to Edolas.
No! I won't have this happen again! Lisanna thought.
"Natsu! If you're in there please come back!" she screamed with all her might while also making she wasn't within striking range, at least from a close combat attack.
"Lisanna stay out of the way!" Natsu roared. "I must get to Zeref!"
"Big Brother no!" Wendy shouted.
"Natsu! This isn't you!" Happy called.
"Zeref may have done a lot of damage to this world but he clearly regrets it!" Carla elaborated.
Natsu stopped, their words seeming to have an effect on him. Then suddenly more of their guildmates appeared from the forest. Gray, Lucy, Levi and two woman the others didn't recognize.
"Guys! What's going on here?" Gray asked.
"Hey Natsu! You think you can turn down the heat?" Lucy asked.
Natsu's only response was a growl. That caused Lucy to shiver.
"What's wrong with him?" Lucy asked. "He eat too much fire or something?"
"Lucy, we ran into Zeref!" Wendy shouted. "He said Natsu is actually his younger brother and a demon!"
"What?" Lucy exclaimed.
"That can't be true!" Gray said. "I mean I never liked flamebrain completely but he's still one of us! He ain't one of Zeref's demons!"
"I… must… kill!" Natsu snarled. "Zeref… must die!"
"No arguments from me!" Gray agreed. "He created monsters like Delliora so the world would be better off without him."
Having lost his family to Delliora and not having heard Zeref's tragic backstory, Gray considered Zeref akin to his mortal enemy. Learning from Grimoire Heart that he was actually still alive, Gray had been filled with rage even though he suppressed it. But there was one problem.
"But do you really think you can kill him? If we all go maybe we can…"
"No! I will kill him myself!" Natsu declared.
The fire emitting from his demonic dragon like form intensified.
…
At the spot where Natsu, Lisanna, and Happy had fought Zancrow and Jackal, Erza and Juvia spied the damage. They were close to ready to head back when they happened upon here. Among the many shattered areas caused by the fierce three way fight, Erza spotted something.
"What's this doing here?" Erza asked as she picked it up.
It was Lisanna's beast saber. The knight realized the girl must have lost it in the fight.
"Um… Erza?" Juvia asked.
"Yes?" the knight wizard said.
"I think we should hurry and return to base camp!" Juvia said.
Looking in that direction, Erza saw what looked like a tower of flame looming high over the trees. And such magic power that was filled with heat and darkness.
"I think you might be right."
With Lisanna's sword ready to be returned to her, the two sprinted as fast as they could.
…
Likewise everyone else was making their way toward the base camp… both friends and foes. Silver Fullbuster could feel the power of the demon he'd searched for ever since Keyes had resurrected him. He would not rest until he had used his special magic to defeat the most powerful demon in the book of Zeref that had taken his family from him. Keyes, the necromancer had brought him back to life… and he had vowed to make use of this existence and kill as many demons as possible. He couldn't attack ones in Tartarus since Keyes would simply let him die again then. He wouldn't live much longer, but he would destroy their plan at least. They would never return to Zeref, which he took as them wanting to do their masters bidding.
The magic power of darkness and fire was getting stronger until Silver saw him as he arrived at the camp that must have been Fairy Tail's makeshift base. He saw the demon… E.N.D walked like a man like the other Tartarus demons. But he was engulfed in flames that stood high as a tower above the trees. Looking into the flames, Silver saw the human. He looked like a young man of around seventeen to nineteen. Silver son Gray would likely be this age if he had survived against Delliora. He also horns and dragon like arms with clawed fingers.
"E.N.D! I've found you at last!" Silver shouted as he attacked with a mad grin. "Revenge is mine!"
…
Gray looked at the source of the shout. He saw a large muscular man in armor like Erza. The words absolute zero were shown on the chest. A scar was on his face, and he had raven hair like Gray whose eyes widened in shock. It couldn't be!
"Ice Demon Rage!"
Silver Fullbuster's attack came in a shape similar to the Dragon Slayer roar, he shot a large amount of ice at his foe from his mouth. With his mind focused almost solely on finding and killing Zeref, Natsu didn't react in time. He was thrown off his feet by the powerful attack which was super-effective on him as it was ice demon slayer magic being used on a fire demon.
"Natsu!" Lucy and Lisanna both screamed at the same time.
"Big brother!" Wendy yelled.
Silver bared down on the wounded demon… ready to finish him off. But Gray placed himself in front of the person that looked like his… that didn't matter.
"Stop!" He shouted.
Silver's widened. It couldn't be!
"Gray?"
"IT IS YOU!" Gray exclaimed. "Father."
"Father?" Mirajane asked.
"Gray… I thought you were…"
"I thought so too," Gray said. "No… I saw you die!"
Forgetting what he he'd been about to do, Silver Fullbuster nodded.
"Yes… I did die. But I was brought back… by a necromancer," he explained.
There was so much they wanted to talk about… but there was no time as Natsu pushed himself back up. With Silver's guard down the demonic fire dragon slayer shot a fireball at him. Silver was thrown back against a tree.
"Dad!" Gray shouted.
He wanted to shout at Natsu but seeing as how his father had just come very close to killing him… he couldn't. Natsu continued to walk, single-mindedly focused on finding Zeref.
"Natsu!" Lisanna shouted.
"Natsu come back!" Lucy cried.
Their cries fell on death ears. The fire above Natsu spread, cutting them off and preventing them from pursuing. At least most of them… Happy fire over the flames after his best friend.
Well I decided to make a couple changes to E.N.D's look in this fanfic as I believe I mentioned a few chapters ago. Just kinda made it up as I wrote this chapter. I also changed Gray's response to him as unlike in canon Gray never made a promise to slay him. Some have even stated he was ooc when fighting him. I haven't formed an opinion on that yet but in this au Gray protects Natsu from his own father. I did consider getting rid of Keyes here but it came to an end first. Ah well will probably happen next time. Until then guys don't forget to review.