» chapter ten
» in which natsu burns
The morning after their very eventful mission, Natsu woke early, took a steaming shower, got dressed, and set out on a borderline sprint to Fairy Tail. He didn't know his plan to confront Lucy—in fact, it wouldn't have been an exaggeration to say he had no plan whatsoever—but he felt confident something would occur to him in the heat of the moment. He knew Lucy tended to head to the Guild early, so he made it to the doors a bit after eight AM.
"Lucy!" he shouted, kicking the doors in as per usual. Except she wasn't there. Mirajane looked up from waxing the bar's counter and smiled amicably.
"Good morning, Natsu. Unfortunately, Lucy hasn't come in yet."
"Oh." It took him a moment to process her statement, and when he did, he sat heavily in a bar stool with a long sigh that filled the air with smoke. A plate of eggs and bacon appeared in front of him and he looked up in surprise.
"On the house." She leaned closer to him. "How was the mission?"
Natsu, with the fork halfway to his mouth, froze for a solid two seconds, then proceeded to eat much slower. "The usual, ya know. We went in for a party, ended up on a train fighting magic demons." Mira nodded knowingly.
"Standard Fairy Tail ending. I hope you four didn't cause too much trouble."
"Mm…sure," he said noncommittedly. The doors opened again and his head snapped to them. He scowled upon seeing Gajeel's bulky form. "Don't get my hopes up, fuckface!"
"What? Ya tryna start somethin' this early in the mornin'?" Natsu's response was a look of such disgust, Gajeel was momentarily taken aback, then he scoffed and went to a table.
"Why are you in such a rush to see Lucy?" Mira asked. Natsu scowled at nothing to disguise his flush.
"I, um, well—" The door opened again and Natsu was greeted by Gray's ugly mug, partially obscured by bandages as it was.
"Morning, Mira. Could I get some black coff— What the hell are you staring at?" he sneered at Natsu. Smoke curled from Natsu's nostrils and he spat a liquid fireball on Gray's tiki shirt. "What the hell!? What's your problem, flame-breath?" He made a large javelin of ice and launched himself with Natsu, which began the Guild's 8:30 AM brawl.
"Hey, cut it out, you brats." Makarov's massive hands separated Natsu and Gray, and from there the rest of the stragglers returned to their seats. "I have about two tons of paperwork to fill out for that mess in Charoite, and I have to start early to finish in time for my lunch with Mirajane."
"That's not happening, Master," Mira said sweetly, yet it seemed Makarov conveniently went deaf as he dropped the two on opposite sides of the Guild and scuttled off to his office. Natsu sneered as he dusted frost from his hair. Gajeel, who was sitting close by with a plate of French toasted rebar, raised a brow.
"Where's yer girlfriend, Pinkie?"
"She's not my girlfriend, boltface." Natsu sat across from him so he could work on melting the ice shackling his ankles together. At least Gray's stupid shirt was charred to a nice crisp.
"Ah, right, right. Seems like she's avoiding ya too." At Natsu's incredulous stare, he added with a touch of smugness, "I'm always here early and so is she."
"She's not…avoiding me. She's probably just, ya know, tired from the mission. And uh. Yeah." He couldn't even convince himself and kept his face pointed away so Gajeel couldn't see his expression. Gajeel's eye burned on the side of his face but the only sound he made was crunching on his metal breakfast. His teeth were probably harder than his skull at this point.
"You and yer shit mood've been sourin' my food for weeks now, Pinkie. You wallow, then Bunny Girl starts to wallow, then Shrimp's wailin' in my ear about helping or whatever." He snorted as he raised his coffee to his mouth. "Dunno why I hafta, I ain't yer keepers or nothin' like that, but I'm gonna say this: you started this mess, you fix it."
"Easy for you to say," he grumbled.
"Yeah, it is. Because you ain't the one dealin' with this shit." He picked up his plate and coffee and started walking away. "Get yer shit together or tiptoe around each other for the next thirty years, I don't much care."
Natsu finally broke the ice and was tempted to send a fireball Gajeel's way but his magic merely sputtered in response, momentarily spent. He decided to resume his earlier waiting game, and after another hour, he realized that not only had Lucy not come, neither had Loki. The realization brought a scowl to his face. He scowled deeper when he realized he shouldn't be thinking that way—Lucy was allowed to do whatever she pleased in her downtime. And he knew for a fact her and Loki were nothing but platonic.
—not that it mattered. Because neither he nor Loki could have anything with Lucy in the end.
"Natsu!" Natsu looked up as Happy came to a landing on the tabletop, fresh fish in hand. "You left early. Are you okay?"
"Yeah," he muttered, looking away. Happy paused.
"And you were late coming back last night. You didn't say anything and went straight to sleep."
"I wanted to come here early. Ya know, to catch Lucy. Who's not here."
"Did something happen last night?" Natsu grumbled something unintelligible and Happy cocked his head to the side.
"I might have…messed up. Big time. And I thought I could fix it today, but if Lucy's not here, the only thing I can come up with is she's avoiding me. Maybe as revenge for me avoiding her," he grumbled. "Either way, I screwed up right when I thought we were getting along fine. Because of that stupid Truth Charm from the stupid job I should've sat out on altogether." Happy put his fish down to pat Natsu's head and the unbridled affection from his lovesick, not yet heartbroken friend was touching. "Thanks, lil buddy."
"Maybe you should go on a job," he suggested. Natsu raised an eyebrow.
"Why's that?"
"Fighting always clears your head." It was hard to argue that logic. And besides, if Lucy really was avoiding him, it wasn't doing him any good to hang around like a wet noodle. But at the same time, it felt very un-Natsu-like to keep running away as he had been doing. Natsu looked up when Happy started talking again, pulling a rolled-up paper from his knapsack. "There's this place, New Retia, with lots of mountains, and these super rare flying fish that lay their eggs on the mountains. So I found a mission to grab their eggs and bring it to this chef so he can make his famous caviar."
"And let me guess, you want some of that caviar."
"Not for me," Happy said, glancing to the side. Natsu followed his gaze and found Wendy and Charla sitting at the bar chatting. Well, at least somebody at this table can find love. "And there's another mission in the same town. There's a rogue dark mage causing a lot of trouble." He passed the paper to Natsu and he gave it a look. He raised an eyebrow at the mini map showing the town's location.
"Hey, weren't we there once before?"
"Yup," he said, eating the fish's head. "We blew it up."
"Oh. Yeah. Right." Natsu laughed at the memory. "Guess that's why it's New Retia." The reward was on the higher end and the mage's name was listed as Einar, magic unknown but some type of fire. It was sounding more appealing by the word but he couldn't quite put his heart into it. "I don't know, Haps."
"Lucy will cool off by the time you come back." Natsu frowned at that. He didn't think it was as simple as her "cooling off" but saying that required telling Happy what had happened last night, and though they were the best of friends, he was more inclined to eat Gajeel's steel nail clippings than relive the moment. It was just a job, not too far away, and he could get it done by the end of tomorrow, maybe the day after if they took the scenic route.
At the very least he would have the journey's time to come up with a real plan. Or maybe come to terms with the fact Lucy can't and won't be his. The toenail clippings sounded more and more appealing and Happy still awaited an answer.
"Yeah, I'm in."
Happy grinned as he stuffed the rest of the fish in his mouth and took off towards the bar, showing Mira the job requests. Natsu never felt uneasy before a job in his life but…nah, it would be fine. Perhaps he was overthinking it and all Lucy needed was a little cooldown time. He could even use the money to buy her something in way of apology—maybe one of her favorite stinky perfumes. Cue his usual apology of "I wasn't thinking, I'm sorry," which wasn't at all a lie, she would scold him a bit and forgive him. He would prove to her that being together—like, together-together—wasn't such a bad thing and they would be find. Better yet, they'd be happy. Best case scenario. He refused to entertain the thought of a worst-case scenario.
Yup, it would be fine. Perfectly fine.
New Retia was a thirty-mile jog south of Dahlia but in a significantly less monster-populated area. So no wizard Guilds, only a couple of workers' Guilds, and last time Natsu was there, there weren't any Dark Guilds in the vicinity. But that was seven years ago, so things change, apparently. Happy's flight dramatically shortened the journey and he left Natsu at the mayor's office before heading off to the mountain overlooking the town. The mayor stood outside the door with a gracious smile—which immediately turned into a constipating look upon seeing Natsu's face. He supposed Mirajane embellished who exactly was coming.
"Ah, Mr. Dragneel, it's been…quite a while." She regained the smile after a moment but spoke without actually separating her teeth. Natsu laughed and rubbed his neck.
"Town looks great! No hard feelings huh?"
"As long as we don't need to call that construction Guild at the end of this, no hard feelings." Natsu made to head inside but she not so subtly kept herself positioned in the doorway.
"Don't I get tea and snacks? I got some last time."
"The reward is enough of the town's money already without draining our food stores as well," she pointed out. No arguments there. "Anyhow, we're not sure where this Einar fellow came from. He started stealing from our depository a couple of weeks ago, and whatever local wizards we have were no match. Two of them are still in critical condition; we had to ship them to Dahlia for better treatment." He winced.
"Why not send a request to Sabertooth? They're a lot closer." The mayor shrugged.
"We did, but I suppose their hands are already full. There was a major rockslide a few days ago when some mountainous Vulcans went wild. We could hear the commotion all the way down here." Ah, maybe he should check in on them too before returning to Magnolia.
"Where's this dark wizard hanging out?"
She directed him to an old Guild hall at the southern corner of town. "There was once a wizards' Guild here, Stellar Memory, some decades ago. They left once Sabertooth was created, but we've never taken the building down."
And now some loose cannon of a Dark Mage wants to deface that memory? Natsu's blood boiled and he turned away to hide the anger darkening his features. "Consider him gone," he growled. "His ass is already toast."
Said Guild hall was a fairly large one-story building with chipping paint and molding wood. The arched roof seemed to have once held the Guild's name in big block letters but they were barely visible now. Natsu pushed the door open and walked into darkness; a quick light in the palm of his hand revealed an expansive hall with the tables pushed against the walls and blanketed, a centerpiece bar, and dusty beams crisscrossing the ceiling. He noticed the curtained windows and yanked the fabric away, bringing in bright streams of early afternoon light.
"Some of us like lurking in the dark, ya know."
Natsu's attention was drawn to the rafters, where a figure shrouded in shadows sat with boots dangling below. "I've heard of you, ooh yeah. You're, uh, Gecko, right?"
"Salamander." Natsu exhaled a long stream of black smoke and orange embers. "And it'll be branded onto your ass, Einar."
Einar leapt to the ground in a shock of golden robes and long, amber-colored hair. "Is that the best you can do, blow smoke? I expected more from the most notorious Fire Mage of western Fiore."
Natsu grinned a ferocious grin. "How about a demonstration of what I can do? Fire Dragon's Roar!"
A whirlwind of fire filled the space between them, almost climbing so high as to set the rafters on fire. Natsu let the fire hold for a few seconds before stopping; he figured it was long enough to have crisped the Dark Mage. Then, to his utter surprise, he saw Einar standing in the same spot, not one inch scorched. He even seemed a bit bored.
"Really? I'm still unimpressed," he commented with a smirk. "Now, let me show you some real fire." He took a stance and set his arms like he was drawing an invisible bow. When he released the "arrow," Natsu was surprised as a red projectile shot towards him. He sidestepped it and turned to see a small explosion of crimson flame burst a melon-sized hole into the concrete wall. He turned back to Einar to see him readying another attack.
"Same here," Natsu grinned. "Haven't they told you what I do to fire?" He leapt into the path of the arrow and caught it in his mouth like Happy with a fish. "Now, let's get this over wi—" Natsu trailed into a noise of surprise and doubled over into a massive stomachache. It was even worse than when he ate the Tower of Heaven's etherion crystals.
"Oh?" Einar looked shocked himself before he schooled his features into smugness. "Now that's very curious." While Natsu was still reeling, Einar charged him, streams of fire trailing from his fists like ribbons. "Flaming Devil's Dual Whip!"
Natsu just barely managed to strafe to the side to avoid the two lashes of flames that gouged deep ruts into the wood and sediments below. His sandals fought for purchase on the mossy floor; he burned footholds into the fungus to maintain balance, but the unrelenting pain made him want to flop onto the wood. Wait a minute, he thought, that spell he used… Flaming Devil's? Is that Demon Slayer Magic like Gray's? Then it made sense why it made him so sick to eat. He imagined he could do a repeat of his fight with Zancrow: emptying his magic container to absorb the fire. Problem solved without much thinking, just the way he liked it.
"Fire Dragon's Wing Attack!" Natsu swept a line of fire across the ground. Einar leapt back into the rafters in one smooth move, then readied another arrow.
"Flaming Devil's Burst!" Five arrows were notched and loosed on Natsu. With his gut finally sorting itself out, Natsu performed a backflip to avoid the attack and kicked off from the ground.
"Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!" Einar dodged to the side and Natsu's punch destroyed a massive chunk of beams and ceiling, bringing a burst of dawn's light into the dim building. He spun to see Einar bracing a hand on his extended arm.
"Flaming Devil's Phoenix Rush!" A massive plume of scarlet flames burst from his open palm and took the shape of a bird in flight. Natsu flipped on top of a steady rafter and filled his chest.
"Fire Dragon's Roar!" Natsu's flames stopped Einar's and reduced them to sparks and embers. Einar's eyes widened.
"What the—"
"Keep up!" Natsu barked, diving down and into a dropkick right in his face. Einar flipped backwards from the impact and Natsu grabbed his ankle, swinging him around before letting him fly into the bar. Glass and wood shrapnel exploded outwards and a soaked Einar rose from the dust looking positively murderous.
"You're gonna burn," he growled, raising a claw-like hand. Natsu grinned.
"Here's something I learned about bar brawls." As Einar attempted to light his magic aflame, red sparks shot up from his entire body. His eyes widened as Natsu continued, "Don't throw fire around booze!"
An explosion of blue flames forced Natsu backwards, and he threw his arms over his face to avoid the resulting shrapnel. A rush of barely-warm air whooshed by, then Natsu detected a much stronger heat in time to raise his hand—and take a broken bottle through it. Then Einar's other hand gripped his face.
"Burn," he growled. And Natsu was enveloped in flames.
Muddy memories surfaced in Natsu's mind of his toddler days, throwing around little fires no bigger than baseballs even as Igneel warned him against it. He recalled what it felt like to lose control, even for a moment, and have the magic turn on him, whipping at his skin and raising blistering welts from the heat. It was long before his skin hardened to withstand the burn, and he knew what it felt like to be scorched, to feel as if he was going to turn to ashes on the spot.
But this fire didn't feel like fire: it felt like acid burning away at his skin and down through the muscles, through bone, until not even ashes would remain. He couldn't think through the pain, couldn't see through the embers filling his vision; he was being purged on the spot, exorcised. He was going to die there.
"Natsu!"
Natsu's eyes shot open—when did they close?—and he brought his foot up in a swinging kick that landed cleanly on the outside of Einar's elbow. A loud crack sounded as the bone bent the wrong way and Einar leapt back, cradling his bleeding and swelling arm. There was a brief reprieve as both were left to catch their breath.
For a minute, Natsu thought, gritting his teeth so hard they groaned, I remembered Lucy's voice…can't die without properly apologizing. Igneel would kick my ass.
"You," Einar said lowly, catching Natsu's attention. Sweat pasted his fringe to his forehead and his eyes held nothing short of murderous rage, but they also seemed a little…scared? "I've heard people calling you a demon, but I thought it was only a nickname. Now, however…my magic wouldn't have affected you so much if you were totally human."
Natsu looked down at himself. Every square inch of him was covered in blood, dribbling from micro abrasions and burning welts alike. Another few seconds in Einar's flames and his skin would've melted right off. The dragon scale quality of his Slayer Magic had crumbled away almost completely. Then Einar's sentence really sunk it.
A demon? I'm no damn demon, that's for sure. But I remember Silver freezing me in place—I wonder if Demon Slayer Magic has some sort of super-effectiveness against dragons. Well, no time to worry about that now.
"I'm me," he said. "I'm Natsu Dragneel, nothing more, nothing less."
"Liar," Einar ground out, his arm giving a sickening crack when he unceremoniously snapped the bone back in place. A vein bulged in his forehead as he lit his hands with huge balls of rolling flames. "I know a monster when I see one. Flaming Devil's Flurry Rush!" He slammed his fists together and sent out speeding watermelon-sized balls of fire by the dozen. Natsu burst into flames himself and watched Einar's fire fizzle out on contact.
So, his magic has no effect on mine, but if it touches skin… He gritted his teeth and rushed ahead, making sure to keep his cloak of fire burning hot as he pulled back a fist. "Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!"
"Flaming Devil's Crush Claw!" Einar threw his hand forward and intercepted Natsu's punch. A shockwave raided from the point of contact, displacing the debris and throwing up billowing clouds of dust. They were locked into a stalemate when neither could overpower the other, and their feet dug grooves into the ground as they fought for dominance.
"Listen, you dickhead, I have someone important back home that I need to get back to. So would you kindly keel over?"
"Screw you," Einar retorted. "Ever consider I have someone important too?"
Natsu's sandals were losing purchase. He really should rethink his footwear. "Should've thought of that before going against the Magic Council."
"You're one to talk. Fairy Tail is a thorn in their side every other week. But because you have so many powerful wizards on your side, they can turn a blind eye! Meanwhile, guys like me get shafted and have to struggle to get what we want!" Natsu's leg buckled and Einar lifted him and slammed him hard into his back. His right shoulder gave a gross popping sound and he roared in pain. He blinked the black spots from his vision to see Einar bearing down on him with a handful of fire.
"Maybe you should've joined Fairy Tail to begin with!" He kicked Einar's arm away with his own gout of flames before somersaulting from his path. He gritted back a groan as he replaced his shoulder in its socket, then moved into a punch. "Fire Dragon's Iron—"
"Flaming Devil's Guillotine!" He swung his body forward and his fist landed on the ground; at the same time, a wall of fire dropped on top of Natsu in a line of concentrated heat. The flames didn't merely burn, they cut through the skin and muscle of his outstretched arm like a scythe, and if it wasn't cloaked in his own fire at that moment, he was certain it would've been cut clean off. This time the pain was too much and the blackness consumed him before he could fully process what happened.
The next thing he knew, cold anti-magic shackles were clamping his hands behind his back. He was tempted to shout when his arm was jarred, but he held it back by literally biting his tongue. As Einar's feet strolled into view from where Natsu's face was smashed into the floor, he spat a wad of blood on his toes.
"You think this—can stop me?" he growled, bringing his knees in to push himself up. Einar summoned another crimson arrow and jammed it down into Natsu's left calf. He fell back to the ground with a deeper darkness encroaching on his vision. Einar's sinister laugh followed him into unconsciousness.
"The black market will pay quite a lot for a clipped fairy."
Author's Note: I'd been on and off diddling with this story the past year but a recent review is really what spurred me into action. "Abandoned fic?" Nope, I never abandon stories. It can take me years to come back but it's always something on my mind. That being said, this chapter is shorter than the others for being more of a setup for the last arc. There are maybe two or three chapters left for this old beast. I hope yall appreciate the ride and stay til the end. Not much to say about the chapter itself. There was a BoTW reference last chapter, I wonder if anyone caught it? This time there's a reference to another of Mashima's works.