Chapter Twenty-Three…

(Lucy Heartfilia - Aftermath.)

13th of February 783 - Heartfilia Konzern, Late Afternoon:

It has been a few hours since Jude Heartfilia and his employees were killed, and since then Lucy didn't stop crying for the loss for her father and those who used to work there. In fact, she was crying more for those who worked for her than her own father, as she realized he was going to sell her off to marry some ugly son of a bitch. But still, she cried for him, as he was her father be it good or bad and part of her loved her.

Natsu didn't do much, just stayed there giving her some comfort, telling her that things were going to be okay. But after a few hours though, he knew that he had to leave so he can get back to Happy and the others and plan what to do next. So softly he said to her as she cried, "Lucy, I'm sorry, but I need to go, my job here is now done, and I have to leave to meet up with some friends."

"Pl, please don't, don't leave," Lucy sobbed, "I, I don't want to be, to be left alone, I'm afraid that, that Dark Mage will return and finish off what he and his friends started." By now her sobbing stopped.

Natsu knew that wasn't going to happen, as he was the one who paid them to do all this, and his orders were clear, leave Lucy alive. But he couldn't let her know that now could he, so he said, "Listen, he got a big hit, he lost all of his men, he would think twice before he'll do anything too soon. Not only that, but I have to take in the Dark Mages that are still alive and those who are dead in so that the authority can sort them out. Not only that, but you need to deal with those who died, inform their families and if they don't have any sort out their funerals."

Lucy gave a few sobs, as she thought about them again, but she realized what the pink haired Mage said was right. He had to take these people in, but she had to deal with the aftermath of all this. But yet she didn't want to be left alone for too soon. "Well you come back once you took them in?" the blonde Mage asked, "I really don't want to be alone for too long."

"To be honest I don't know," Natsu told her, "you see me and my friends have got to do a few things, two of these things is to find someone and the other is to find a headquarters for the Guild I told you that I'm trying to create. At the moment we're meeting at different places, as we train and do jobs."

Lucy remembered that Natsu told her about this when they meet for the first time a few days ago, even then her interest was piqued. Even after he explained his reasons for starting his own Guild. At the time she wasn't sure if she wanted to be part of such a Guild, but now with the death of her father and those she cared for, she wanted to become stronger so she could find those who killed them. From what she remembered, the Legal Guilds could be a hinder than a help, and not only that, they might not allow her to pay the people that did this back the way she wanted to. As for joining a Dark Guild, she wasn't too sure about, it might be helpful, but she can't see herself joining one. This left her with one option, she could join the Guild that Natus was trying to build.

That's when she came up with an idea, one that she hoped will not only help Natsu but also to bring him back her so that she wouldn't be alone. So brighten up a bit, she said, "Why don't you use this place for your Guild?"

Natsu was suspecting her to ask to join him as an Independent Mage, but he never thought that she would say he could use her home as his headquarters. Okay, he had hoped that she would, but never really thought she would do so. Acting like a caring person would, he asked, "Are you sure about this? It'll be a big up taking, we would be altering the buildings and the grounds to fit our needs. I don't want to ruin your home for you."

"Yes I am sure, you can call it my father's payment for bring me back here, and saving my life." Lucy informed him, "I wouldn't feel right that you have done all this and get nothing back. Not only that, but this would help me too, I don't want to be alone and I do want to join a guild that'll help me to become stronger so that one day I can find those who did all this and make them pay."

"If you are sure, I don't want to push you into something you don't want to." Natsu told her with a warm smile.

"I'm sure, and it'll help both of us." admitted Lucy.

"Thank you, but what about your father's businesses," the Dragon Slayer reminded his follow Mage, "they are in trouble, he was willing to marry you off to get some money to help with dealing with these problems."

Lucy looked thoughtful about this and took a few moments to think about this before she said, "I'll have to look into this whilst you're away and see if I can sell them off if I can. I just hope that whatever the problem is, I just hope that it isn't out of control just yet that it can't be fixed."

"If there is, I'm willing to help you to deal with them, any way possible." Natsu told her kindly. Sure he was willing to help, as he didn't want these problems to be the reason that he would lose this land and mansion, because it had to be sold off to deal with Lucy's father's money problems. Because if that happened, he would bring the bastard back to life, and slowly and painfully kill him all over again and might do so a few times if he loses this land.

"Thank you, Natsu, but you don't have to do this." Lucy told him.

"But I do want to." Natsu told her, before admitting, "I'll be honest, I don't want to lose your land to pay off your father's money problems. Don't get me wrong, I want to help you out, but at the same time, this is more my personal needs too. This land is great for my needs for my new guild, and I don't want to lose it only after getting it."

Lucy could understand this, from what she was told Independent Mages often look out for number one, themselves. Whilst they might help others, they only do so to earn money, otherwise, they often look out for themselves and their allies if they got any. Right now, Natsu's goal is to protect his interest, which is the land and mansion that she gave him. From the little she knew about him, he'll do whatever he can to keep the land and mansion. In a way, she was happy to hear this, whilst he didn't care about her father's business, she did care about her home. She was brought up there and had many happy memories there with her parents and those she loved before her mother died. So if she can somehow save her home, she would more than happy to do so.

Then after some thought, Natsu said, "Listen, Lucy, I don't know when I'll be back, but if you want, I can send one of my friends here to help you out, and if these Dark Mages return protect you."

"I would like that Natsu." Lucy agreed with this idea, not only for protection, but she didn't want to be alone right now. But before Natsu could say goodbye, for now, she said as she handed the Black Zodiac Key back to Natsu, "Before I forget, here's your Black Sagittarius Key."

"No, you keep it for now," Natsu told the young Mage, "you need it more than me at the moment. As long as you don't use it unless to defend yourself. To be honest, after seeing how your Golden Keys work, I feel better if you had it with you until I come back." Natsu saw that Lucy was going to something, Natsu raised his hand up to stop and said, "Whilst you might have some attachment to them, in a fight, they don't seem to do too well. Although Taurus seems good in a fight, I sense that he could be easily taken down if he is overwhelmed. As for your Aquarius Key, I would throw it away."

"I can't, her Key once belonged to my mother and I was given it after my mother died." Lucy explained why she wanted to keep Aquarius Key, "I just can't throw her away as if she was nothing."

Natsu sighed, he could understand her reasoning, if he had something as important as something belonging to his parents, he too wouldn't want to throw it away. But still, this Aquarius was a bitch and he had to say something, "Listen I can understand that you would want to keep her because she once belonged to your mother, but your Aquarius shows you no respect, and has threatened to kill you. Whilst she can do so personally, she could find a way to do so that she wouldn't be punished by the Zodiac King."

Natsu could see her thinking about this, conflicted, so he said, "Think about it whilst I'm gone, keep the ones you got because Aquarius used to belong to your mother. Or use the Black Zodiac Keys, which are not only stronger, but they'll be willing to train you to become stronger, so that not only can you use them longer, but so that they can use more of their own skills to help you. But be warned, if you decide to sue the Black Keys, you'll no longer be able to use the Golden Keys."

"Why is that?" asked Lucy.

"Because of who the Black Keys belonged to, there's part in their contract saying that a Summoner can't use Golden Keys at the same time as the Black Keys." explained Natsu, "So as long as one user use one set of Zodiac Keys, they can't sign the other contract."

"So why would I agree to sign a contract with the Black Keys, if I can't use my Golden Key?" Lucy asked, confused why she would ever get rid of her old keys.

"Oh, I don't know, maybe because they are stronger and they would train you to become stronger," Natsu said sarcastically, then with a soft smile, he added, "Listen I know you have reservations of using the Black Keys, because of their pasts, but all I ask is that can you think about it whilst I'm away. If you still against them once I come back, I'll take the Black Sagittarius Key from you and don't say another word about it. But what he didn't mention was that, with the Black Sagittarius Key close to her, her thoughts well become darker and darker the longer Lucy ha its and so more likely she'll keep the Black Key. And with everything that happened that day, Natsu knew her will would be at an all-time low, it would be easier to convert her into becoming a Dark Mage.

"I can do that, but I highly doubt that I'll change my mind about it." the Celestial Magic User told Natsu.

"That's all I can ask for." Natsu told her with a warm smile, "Now If you don't mind, I'll collect all of the Dark Mages bodies and put them on the train so that I can take them to the Magic Council branch here in Fiore. As I do this, you'll start on the letters to the families of those who died here today."

Then Lucy thought of something and asked the Dragon Slayer, "Listen Natsu I know that you want to leave tonight, but could you help me gather the bodies of my employees. I don't think I can do so myself."

Natsu couldn't think of a good reason as to why he couldn't help, so he said, "That's fine Lucy."

And so with that, as Lucy wrote the letter of those who died in her father's employment, Natsu went around the mansion to pick up all the Dark Mages that were killed or knocked out and placed them on the train. And after that, he helped to gather the bodies of the employees of the mansion and placed them in one of the rooms, until Lucy sorted things with the families. Once everything was sorted through, Natsu boarded the train left and went to a Rune Knight's Headquarters located at the Magic Council Fiore Branch.

Once there, he gave them the story as to what happened at the Heartfilia Konzern, and how he and Lucy defended themselves from the Dark Mages who killed everyone at Heartfilia Konzern. The Rune Knights thanked Natsu for capturing the Dark Mage and told the Dragon Slayer that they would be investigating this story, and if it holds true, they would send him the bounties of the Dark Mages who had one. From here, they informed Natsu that seeing how late it was, he could stay in the inn within the town for free. Which Natsu did, seeing that he was tired and didn't want to raise questions as to where he would be sleeping that night.

And Then…

14th of February 783 - Forest of Oshibana, Morning:

It was morning and Natsu had left the inn that he stayed for the night, where he went to the Forest of Oshibana to deal with one loose end he had to deal with: Eisenwald. Whilst they only meet Inferna, they knew that she was working for someone else, so they could give over who hired her to get an easier time of things if they got caught. This was something Natsu couldn't allow, as it could lead back to him as the Overlord, and that's something he couldn't allow. So before returning to the Netherworld Tower, Natsu decided to take them out. So he had Inferna and Yuka meet him at the edge of Eisenwald's Guild.

Upon meeting up with them, it was Yuka who asked, "Master, why are we here for?"

"To tie up some loose ends," explained Natsu, "they know about Inferna, and that she is working for someone. If they decided to do so, they might try and find out who she is and who she is working for, or they could tell the Rune Knights about us to get an easier time should they get captured. This is something I can't allow, as they would find out about me, The Overlord, and that's something I can't allow seeing that we still weak and low on people and minions."

The two of them nodded at this, as they realized that knew that they couldn't take the risk of people finding out about them just yet. So it was Inferna who asked, "So what is your plan to deal with them."

Natsu smirked as he transformed into his demonic dragon form, as he said in a demonic voice, "I'm planning to burn the bastards to death."

"And we're here for?" asked Yuka, "If you're going to burn them alive, why would you want us here for?"

"I want you to stay here for a while to make sure that there are no survivors." Natsu told them, "I want to make sure that nothing comes back to us."

"Understood Mater." the two of them said, as Natsu used his demonic fire to burn Eisenwald's Guild down. The reason that Natsu used his demonic fire instead of normal fire or his Dragon Slayer fire, as his demonic fire couldn't be put out with normal water and would take hours before it was put out by itself. At first, there were many screams and people were able to escape the building, but they were killed either by Natsu, Inferna or Yuka. Once the screaming stopped and no one else was escaping, Natsu left Inferna and Yuka there to make sure that none of the escape the fire somehow and waiting for a chance to leave.

To be Continued!

Author's Note - PLEASE READ TO THE END:Here's the end of the latest chapter Dragon Overlord, I hope you enjoy the chapter, and I hope that you could spare a few moments to give me your feedback with thoughts and ideas for this story. I'm sorry for the wait, but I was working on my Ninja Overlord story which I had problems not only finding the rights words, but there was a problem with the mood to write.

I would like to apologize for the short chapter, 2777 words, I'll be honest I didn't know how to write the chapter with what I have written so far. I wanted to tie up any loose ends I might have, which I hope that I did. I wanted to add more, but it didn't feel right with what I wanted to add. Which is why I have done the short chapter…

Now I don't know when I'll be updating the next chapter of this story, as other than this story I have two other stories that I'm working on: Magical Fallout and Ninja Overlord. Each chapter for each of these chapters as long as I'm lucky takes about a month or so to write, it all depends on if the muse is there to help me or I have the mood to write at all. Another problem I have is if both muse and mood is there, I have problems coming up with ideas and the right words to write the chapter, this is why it takes me a month to write a chapter. But if I'm unlucky, and that either my muse isn't with me or the mood to write, or both, it could take me two or more months to write. And for this I am sorry, so I hope that you bear with me.