Chapter 58

Fairy's Song

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

"Magic"

Flashback

Location / Date / Time Skip

The open space was an absolute shock to the group as the smoke cleared. "The Eternal Flame has vanished…" Lucy mumbled in shock.

"No, no!" Flare shouted in horror.

"The moment the Flame was frozen, it was extinguished?" Carla asked in shock.

"Did I mess up somewhere?" Gray asked himself. "Is there no way we can save the giants now?"

"The Eternal Flame has been burning for hundreds of years." Flare mumbled in shock as Kuro walked over to her. "The village… it won't survive this, will it?"

"No, it's not over!" Wendy shouted, shocking everyone. "I can sense a strong magical presence from the altar. Look there!"

She pointed into the mist and everyone looked in to see a small alter in the center of the crater. In it was a small flame, just barely clinging to life. "That's all that's left?" Happy asked.

"Natsu's fire can bring it back to life!" Wendy shouted.

"You mean pinky?" Flare asked before she looked to the sky.

"NATSU!" Lucy shouted as he punted the creature.

"I hear ya loud and clear!" He said, jumping off the beasts back. The creature twisted and dived at him, only for the Slayer to spin and move to the side. Grabbing the tail, Natsu pulled with all his might and threw it to the ground. The eye started glowing before a beam shot out of it, hitting him.

"NATSU!" Lucy shouted in horror as the beast turned, the beam still firing. It tore through the ground as it made its way towards a frozen giant. Natsu unleashed a roar and blasted the creature, making the beam miss.

"Sorry about this, old man." Natsu said as he flipped in the air, pushing himself off the back of a giants head. "Fire Dragon Brilliant Flame!" Natsu shouted as he slammed his hands together and blasted the beast to the ground, crushing the altar. Fireball after fireball peppered the beast before a final blast exploded, blasting everyone back.

Flare looked up and tears started falling from her eyes. "The Eternal Flame… It's returned!"

"That voice…" Natsu said as Happy and Rose caught him and Laki in the air. "So it was you all along."

"No way…" Gray mumbled as Wendy dropped to her knees, gripping her hands.

"Has it been four hundred years, child of Igneel?" Atlas Flame, the Eternal Flame itself, asked.

"One of the dragons that came out of the Eclipse Gate…" Lucy whispered in fear.

"It should have gone back 400 years." Carla declared.

"400 years… yes…" The dragon nodded. "For four hundred years, I have continued to burn strong…"

"So you're still alive, uncle…" Natsu smiled.

"It's been a while, sir." Happy added.

"Alive? No, that's not entirely correct." The dragon replied.

"What you're seeing is a form brought forth from my Milky Way spell." Wendy replied from the center of her spell.

"I am no longer of this world." Atlas Flame declared. "But that is something from the distant past."

"I don't think he's firing on all cylinders." Gray whispered.

"My memory… it's a bit jumbled…" Atlas Flame mumbled.

"It's probably from the ice." Wendy guessed. "At its core, the residual thought may be based on strong will, but it's still very fragile magic. Being frozen in Ice Magic for so long, parts of his memory have been damaged."

"Ice… yes." The dragon bellowed. "This world is covered in ice."

"Are you talking about the village?" Natsu asked.

"Please, tell us what happened." Flare begged.

"I mistook him for someone else…" The Atlas Flame mumbled. "A single human changed the world to ice…"

The entire group stared in shock of the statement. "All this was done by an Ice Wizard!?" Gray asked in shock.

"That man… he thought I was a demon…" The spirit explained. "He froze the entire village to eradicate me… an exorcist mage… A Devil Slayer." Everyone could put together what that meant for the magic. "It's all a bit foggy… I am. What was I?"

"You are the guardian of this village! The flame of the giants!" Flare shouted before she and Kuro dropped into a bow. "I beg of you! Shine your light upon this village once more! Please save this village!"

"…Yes…" The dragon mumbled. "My name is Atlas Flame. I created this village… Its misfortune is my pain… Its sorrows are my tears. I am the linger spirit of the great dragon… I shall set this village free. I am the Fire Dragon Atlas Flame! The guardian dragon of this village!"

The heat suddenly rose and blasted the humans in the face as his spirit started to fade. "I remember it all… The most vile dark magic from the books of Zeref… E.N.D.… 400 hundred years ago, Igneel was unable to destroy E.N.D.…"

The heat blasted the entire village and the frozen beings were instantly thawed, much to their confusion. The giants guarding the flame turned as the flame blazed. "Atlas Flame's residual memories have totally vanished…" Wendy mumbled.

"To think he'd be able to muster that much power with what little spirit he had left." Lucy said with a smile.

"E.N.D. is the dark magic Igneel was trying to destroy?" Natsu asked Happy. "First time I'm hearing about this."

"Aye." He replied.

A frozen wind whipped around a decimated village, a lone figure sat down on his knees. "Lord Silver…" A masked being said, stepping up from behind. "We have received an order from headquarters."

"I'm paying my respects. Let me be." The man said back.

"This time all the members of the Nine Demon Gates have been summoned to meet." The masked man nervously said. "So please comply with the summons, Ice Demon Slayer Silver."

"Relax. There's no need to crap your pants." The slayer replied as he stood up. "It's not like I eat you or anything. The only thing I eat are the souls of demons."

Sun Village

Natsu laughed atop a giants head, who giggled as well. The entire village laughed as they set giant trays of food out in celebration. "We you little people big time."

"Just happy we could help put." Gray replied.

"So what exactly happened to you?" Erza asked, killing the mood.

"Eh, some creep with ice powers came by." Nicholas explained, cracking a giant walnut. "They though the Eternal Flame was a demon and froze it, and the whole village apparently."

"The whole village suffered because of a case of mistaken identity?" Erza asked in shock.

"Not the worst thing that's happen to people." Brianna replied, giving off the implication.

"And I have a feeling we only just scratched the surface." Gray added. "The creep said we opened 'the Netherworld gates'. Whatever the hell that means."

"The Netherworld Gate?" Erza asked in shock. "That's Tartaros!"

"So someone from Tartaros is behind all this?" Nicholas questioned. "And they sent those two here to keep it frozen?"

"Can we stop talking about this!?" A scared Lucy asked. "I feel like that guild will show up if we mention them too many times."

"Yeah, besides, we finished the job. So let's party!" Natsu cheered.

The others smiled as Lucy looked around. "Hey, aren't we missing some people?" She asked. "Where are Flare and Kuro?"

"Over here." The green skinned man called out, making the blonde walk over. "Come on, Flare. This is your home, right?"

"FLARE!?" One giant shouted before they all stood up, knocking Natsu and Happy to the ground.

"Come on, they're waiting on you." Lucy begged as she pulled on the redheads arm. "You're home now?"

"Listen, I abandoned the village and never looked back." Flare confessed. "They hate me."

"No they don't." The blonde looked up and saw the giant's faces, scaring her a bit.

Kuro stepped in front of Flare for protection as the giants studied her. "It's been a long time."

"I hardly recognized her."

"You might be tiny, but you've obviously grown."

Flare stepped under Kuros arm as the chief stepped forward. "So what was it like in the outside world?"

The red head fiddled her fingers nervously as she answered. "It was a lot of fun, but it was also hard…"

The chief and everyone around her chuckled as the giant leaned in. "You'll find that's the same wherever you go. It's the one thing we have in common. You can come and go as you please, but remember: no matter where you end up, you'll always have a home here. Welcome home, daughter."

Flare's eyes teared up as she hung her head. "I… I'm home." Kuro rubbed her back and then hugged her as the party resumed for the rest of the day.

Succubus Eye Guildhall

Minerva walked into the main hall and stared in horror at the damage done. "What is this? Where is everyone? Did they all leave?" She walked along before stepping on a black paper figure. She went wide eyed as she noticed them littered around her. "What is this?"

"Your guild members." A voice from behind declared, scaring Minerva. "I tried to enhance their abilities with my Curse, but most of them were too weak to be enhanced. Those are all that's left of them."

"Who's there!?" She turned around to see a woman with bird like features on her hands, feet and head.

"I am known as Kyouka. One of the Nine Demon Gates of Tartaros." The being replied.

"Why would you do this?" Minerva asked in fear. "I had expected punishment for failure, but this is a bit extreme for one village."

"I don't know what you mean." Kyouka replied. "Your jobs are your own."

'Then this was a private request from Silver?' The human realized.

"My only concern is enhancement. I seek out anyone that is worthy." The bird-like woman continued. "War is coming, and my master needs all the troops he can muster. That is why I came here. I suppose you coukd call me a recruiter."

"It must be hard to form an army when you kill everyone who comes to you." Minerva retorted.

"I have for no need for weaklings like these." Kyouka declared before glowing in a green aura. "Let's see if you survive, shall we?"

"No, stay back!" Minerva shouted before screaming in pain.

The Next Day

Random Forest

"Man, that village is farther away than I thought." Happy complained.

"Warrod's magic was much better than walking." Wendy added. "I didn't think anything could move that fast."

"Well, this way, we get to enjoy the scenery." Nicholas chuckled. "Something we never could do before."

"I can't wait to see Warrod's face when we tell him we saved the village." Lucy cheered.

"I'm just happy Flare and Kuro are finally happy." Brianna said. "After everything that happened to them in Raven Tail, they deserve it."

"Okay, that's enough of a rest." Erza ordered, much to the annoyance of everyone.

Hours Later

Warrod's Hut

The Wizard Saint laughed as the group finished explaining their mission. "I thought you kids would be up to the task, but I never imagined this. Well done."

"We hardly broke a sweat." Natsu chuckled.

"It was our privilege to serve you and save the villagers." Erza added.

"Hey, what happened to those treasure hunters?" Nicholas asked.

"We sent them off in grand style." Lucy chuckled.

"We also found out Tartaros may have frozen the village." Wendy added in concern.

"Well, we can let the Council worry about investigating that sorry lot." Warred chuckled. "There are more pressing matters, like your reward."

Night

Hot-Springs

"This is amazing." Lucy sighed as the girls stepped into the water.

"And the view is incredible." Erza added.

"Now this is what I call a reward." Brianna added. "What about you guys?"

"We're just peachy!" Natsu complained on the other side of the giant stone wall. "This reward sucks!"

"Hey, take up with the plant god if you really wanna complain." Nicholas said back.

Later

The group stood around a pyre burned, cooking their food. "Spending time guild mates like you has me feeling all nostalgic." Warrod chuckled.

"That's sweet, but since are we guild-mates?" Lucy chuckled in confusion.

"Oh, I thought Makarov had told you." Warrod replied, lifting his sleeve to show off his guild mark. "I was a member of the guild from the very beginning, alongside Mavis."

All ten members stared in shock before Lucy put two and two together. "That's why the master was so nervous…"

"Is it safe to assume that is the reason you requested Natsu and Gray?" Erza asked.

"Pretty much." He replied. "When you all entered my home, I caught a whiff of the guild's nostalgia. You young fairies have made my heart skip a beat. The peace that Mavis sings about, you lot will be the ones to protect it. Comrade isn't simple a word, comrade are about heart. It is the unconditional trust in your partners. Lean on them, and they will lean on you."

"Wait, does that mean you're even older than Gramps?" Natsu asked. "Then you must know something about E.N.D."

"E.N.D.?" Warrod repeated.

"It's got something to do with Zeref's book of demons." The pinkette explained. "My dad, Igneel, tried to defeat it or something."

"The books of Zeref… Another unsettling word." Warrod mumbled. "I wish I could help you, but I know very little myself. But when you mentioned Tartaros, I remembered something. We know next to nothing about the true form of their guild. Not their base of operations, their members, or even their actual numbers.

"But the people who have seen their meetings swear those gathered are worshiping demons. There is a grim suspicion among the Four Gods of Ishgar. Take it for what it's worth, it's possible they have a book of Zeref in their possession."

"Damn it! You don't know where it is!" Natsu cursed before he started throwing punches. "When I find them, I'll make them spit it out! I'll give them some of this! And that! Tartaros won't know what hit them!"

"Uh… Natsu…" Gray mumbled, pointing downward.

Natsu followed the finger and looked down, seeing Erza face first on the ground. Backing away in horror, Natsu could only watch as Erza stood up and walked over to him, murder in her eyes. "You're dead."

And with this, Sun Village is wrapped up nicely. I feel happy for Flare, which I didn't think would EVER happen when she was first introduced. She actually creeped me (and everyone else) out. And I also felt scared for Minerva, no lie. Not much left to say, so see ya next time.

Beta read by General Feng Xiang