"Speaking"
"thinking"
On with the story
Within Alvarez, a few days after Irene is freed from her curse
Natsu was currently taking care of her as the man was on his way to his room where Irene was resting at
he was bringing her meal to her as he walks in the hallway where some guards bowed to him before walking off
Natsu reached to his room and was about to knock on the door before hearing something falling from inside the room
Without a thought, he went in and saw Irene on the floor and was struggling to get up
Natsu sighed as he placed her meal on a table and went to help her up
"will you please rest down?" Natsu said with a tired voice as this was a daily thing
Irene pouted a bit to him before looking away
He sighed again before walking to take her meal back
"your body is still weak and needs a few more days to rest," Natsu said as he took the spoon and scoops some of the rice
He then leans it to Irene who was still pouting and looking away from him
"come on, say aah," Natsu said before Irene rolled her eyes at him
"I can eat myself" Irene muttered as Natsu place back the spoon at the plate "why are you so insisted on going back to Ishgar?" Natsu placed the meal to the table beside the bed and looks to her
Irene mumbled some words but Natsu could hear her with his enhanced senses
"to find your daughter, is that it?" Natsu said
"I need to go back to find her" Irene said to him
"because of guilt?" Natsu asked as Irene nodded with guilt and sadness
"I was so obsessed in turning back to a human that I would even sacrifice my own child to do it" Irene muttered out in sadness as tears started to flow down her face
Natsu looks at her for a moment before sighing
Irene cried in tears before feeling herself being embraced by Natsu
"but you didn't, didn't you?" Natsu said while caressing her back softly "you couldn't do it because she was too precious to you"
He then leans away and looks at her
"you want to be with her again, right?" Natsu asked as Irene nodded while Natsu's fingers wipe away her tears
"I'll grant your wish" Natsu said as he kissed her forehead
He then stands back up beside the bed and walk towards the door
"eat your meal and then we'll be heading off to Ishgar" Natsu said before he reached towards the doorknob and twists it open "I'll be back for you"
He then closes the door, leaving Irene in the room
Irene reached her hand to where he kissed her while having a tinge of red on her cheeks
She then looks to her still warm meal on the table beside the bed
Irene sighed before reaching towards the plate and took the spoon
She then eats in silence and after five minutes she finished the meal and placed it back to the table
Irene sighs before looking at her reflection in the mirror near a cupboard
Her hair was getting longer and wilder and she could see that her complexion was still the same from many centuries ago
"I should thank him for all he has done for me for the past few days" Irene muttered as she turns her waist a bit to look at the dragon mark on her back as she traced the wings near her side
She then heard knocking as Natsu came in with maids behind him
"let's get you changed" Natsu said as Maidservants came into the room and went to Irene
Natsu then excuses himself outside and waited for the maids to finish changing Irene
After a minute the maids exited the room and excuses themselves to Natsu who nodded in gratitude
He then walks back into the room and saw Irene still on the bed but with a new set of clothes
"come on," Natsu said as he went beside the bed and positions her leg to the edge of the bed
Green aura glowed on his hand as he touched her legs gently
The aura flowed down to her legs as they then disappeared
"Okay, let's do this slowly," Natsu said as he gently lifts up Irene to her feet
Irene stumbled a bit before regaining her balance for a moment
"easy" Natsu softly said as he holds her hand while she walks
Step by step Irene's feet took before she slipped
Fortunately, Natsu caught her as her head rested on his chest
"looks like your back spine is a bit weak," Natsu said as he positions Irene to his chest as his hands glowed green again and then he traced his hands on her back to her lower spine as he healed her
Irene blushed a bit at the tickling feeling of his hands on her back as she tried to hold back a moan
"there," Natsu said as he finished healing her back
He then looks at Irene who was blushing hard
"what's wrong?" Natsu asked and was replied with Irene hiding her face in his chest
Irene softly muttered "thank you…for everything"
Natsu smiled to her as he patted her head
"it's nothing," Natsu said to her as he holds her hands and guides her out of the room
Natsu and Irene were heading straight towards the throne room where his brother and the rest of the Spriggan 12 were waiting for him
"have everything settled?' Zeref asked him
"yeah," Natsu said to him
"I'll be leaving the management of the empire to you and Invel, alright?" Zeref asked him
"yeah" Natsu replied while looking a bit annoyed
"why can't August be the one to do it?" Natsu asked while motioning to August who was beside Zeref
"August has more important things to do" Zeref replied to him and made Natsu sighed in tiresome
Natsu looks to his nephew who shrugged his shoulder and then back to his brother
"just get back before I go crazy with all of the paperwork!" Natsu said to him
"I'll try," Zeref said to him with a smile
Natsu then snaps his fingers as a portal appeared in front of Zeref
"I'll be heading off," Zeref said as he walked into the portal as it disappeared when he went in
"I'm gonna kick his ass if he doesn't come back" Natsu said as August chuckled a bit
"please bear with the responsibility for a while, E.N.D-sama," Ajeel said with a smirk before he, Jacob, Larcade, Wall, and Neinhart left the room
"it's a good thing that we didn't get any of the Emperor's task, right Randi?" Dimaria said to Brandish who nodded
"it'll be a pain to get any of those" Brandish said as she and Dimaria walks out of the room
"even death has no desire to do such thing" Bloodman said before he disappeared with Larcade who disappeared in a flash of white
The only ones left are Natsu, Irene, August and Invel
Natsu grumbled because of the governing duties he's going to face pretty soon
He then heard giggling from Irene as he turns to look at her
"quite an amusing brotherhood you have" Irene smiled to Natsu who puffs his cheeks a bit in a childish manner
"I hate political stuff!" Natsu raised his hands like a kid
August and Invel smiled a bit while shaking their heads in amusement
After a few seconds of Natsu's whining, the man calmed down and then turned to August and Invel
"the both of us will be leaving for Ishgar and will be back in a few days time," Natsu said as August nodded to his uncle
"Invel, sort out the meeting with the governor of Ishgar" Natsu said told the ice mage
"it shall be done," Invel said to him
Natsu nodded then snaps his fingers as he summoned another portal
"ready?" Natsu said to Irene who nodded to him
Natsu then holds her hands as they went into the portal
A portal appeared in the middle of a forest as Natsu came out of the portal before Irene followed by
"this is!?" Irene said amazed and surprised as she recognized these woods
"I look into your memories to the last place you hold dear" Natsu said as he looks to the nature surrounding them "looks like this place is where you gave birth to your child,"
Natsu then sniffs the air around them while Irene looks amazed at Natsu before she pointed north of their position
"there's a village north of here, I left my child there in an orphanage," Irene said to Natsu who nodded
They then walked towards the direction of the village
Irene stumbled a bit as Natsu catches her
"I think it is better if I gave you a wheelchair," Natsu said to her in a joking way
"I'm not an old woman!" Irene exclaimed at him
Natsu raised his hands up in surrender before he got an idea
He snapped his fingers as a portal appeared beside him
Natsu reached in the portal and pulls out Irene's staff
"this should help," Natsu said as he gives the staff to Irene "now you can use it as a walking stick,"
Soon Natsu gets knocked on the head by the said stick
Natsu and Irene journeyed to a path and saw a fallen over sign, that said Rosemary Village
"this is the place" Irene said with a hopeful face
Natsu nodded before his eyes went into confusion when he smelled burned wood and blood
"this scent.." Natsu said
They journeyed further the path and both of them saw it
What was supposed to be a village was now a wasteland as there were nothing but burned down houses and dead bodies
"n-no!" Irene exclaimed in shock as she runs towards the village
"Irene!" Natsu exclaimed as he runs to catch up to her
Irene runs through the path that will lead her to the orphanage where her child is
She then spotted the burnup orphanage that was miraculously standing
Irene slams open the door as she then gasps in shock
In the orphanage was several dead bodies of adults while somewhere children's
"no! Nooo!" Irene screamed with tears falling down her eyes as her staff falls down
Natsu caught up to her and looks into the orphanage
He frowned a bit to the dead bodies but turned his attention to Irene
"calm down!" Natsu said as he grabbed her shoulders and look at her "there's still a possibility that she survived this!"
Natsu then search the orphanage while sniffing the scent in it and he could tell that there was a faint scent of someone else who had the same scent as Irene
He then started searching around the orphanage for the scent but found no child with the same scent as Irene's
Natsu then stumbled upon the documentation room where they stored all information to every single child who was being taken care of here
He went in and search through it
Natsu immediately found the documents that were documented on the date Irene left her child but they were in terrible shape
He waved his hand around the document as the burned documents were soon restored to its former form
Natsu flips through the pages of the documents and stumbled upon the documents of a young girl in the age of eight who had scarlet colored hair
"Erza…" Natsu muttered as he reads the name of the child
He then walks out of the orphanage and finds Irene sitting by the porch of the orphanage
Natsu could tell that she has guilt and sadness in her heart right now as he approached her slowly
"Irene" Natsu called out to her as he sat beside her
Tears were streaming down her eyes as she looks to him
"here" Natsu gives her the document paper of the child to her
Irene's eyes widen as tears fall even more
"my…baby girl" Irene cried out while holding the paper close to her
Natsu frowns seeing her like this as he embraces her and lets her cry on him
After a few minutes, Irene had stopped her crying as she looks to the paper, she holds
"let's go home," Natsu said as he stands up
Irene nodded to him as he helps her up while letting him hold her
They were about to walk away to exit the village before Natsu stopped when he heard a pebble falling
"Who's there!?" Natsu exclaimed as he turns around to look and saw a little shadow hiding behind a burned down house
Natsu looks to where the shadow hid and then to Irene
"wait here," Natsu told her as he slowly approached the house
He then turns to look at the corner and found several children and a few adults who had the children hide behind them
The adults were holding farm equipment as they were holding it against Natsu
"calm down, I'm not here to hurt you guys," Natsu said while slowly making his way to them
"then why are you here!?" one of the adults exclaimed at him
"are you with the Zeref's cult!?" the other exclaimed at him while holding up a shovel
"Zeref's cult?" Natsu said confused
"you took the children and killed all of the adults!"
"now I get it" Natsu muttered out while raising his hands to them
"I'm not with this Zeref's cult or whatever it's called," Natsu told them while trying to ease them "me and my companion are here only to find a child by the name of Erza"
Natsu turns to look at Irene as he motions her to come
"a few years back, bad people were after her and her child and thus she had to abandon her child here," Natsu told them a fake story as it bought their attention "now that she is safe, we came to this village to get her back, but it would seem that something had happened here"
The adults were whispering with each other on whether they should believe their story or not as Natsu and Irene were waiting on their answer
The adults then look at Natsu and Irene with a hesitant face
"we know Erza, she was a brave and kind child. She was taken by the Zeref's cult after she had helped hide Kagura from them" one of the adults motioned to a little girl who was wearing a white ribbon on her head
"do any of you have any idea on where they are taken?" Natsu asked them as he was replied with them shaking their heads
"I see…" Natsu said with a sigh
"thank you for the information" Natsu thanked them while bowing his head to them
He then snaps his fingers two times and a carriage with two horse pulling it came out of it
"I'm giving you all this so that you can have some necessities for the next few months," Natsu said while taking out a sack full of jewels and gave it to one of the adults
"thank you!" all of them thanks Natsu while some were in tears for his kind act
"don't mention it," Natsu said as he turned around with Irene
"what are we going to do now?" Irene asked him
"you are going back to Alvarez," Natsu said to her while looking back at the happy survivors "I'm staying here to find Erza"
"but I'm coming with you!" Irene retorted to him but Natsu shook his head to her
"I have a better chance of finding her on my own"
Irene looks down a bit down as Natsu sighed
"I promise that I will find her for you," Natsu said as he took Irene's hand to his "you have my word"
Irene looks to him before looking down and nodded as Natsu smiled
He then snaps his fingers as he summoned a portal for her
"wait for me," Natsu said as Irene nodded and went into the portal
After the portal disappeared, Natsu's feet started floating up before he flied to the sky
"now then," Natsu said while his eyes glowed goldenly "where are you, Erza"
Natsu then dashed towards the open sea to find the child
a few days had passed as Natsu left to find Erza
Irene was sitting on Natsu's bed while in a scarlet nightgown as she was still waiting on Natsu to come back with her child
"it's been two weeks since he's been there" Irene thought as it had already been a week since he left
Irene thought of going back to Ishgar herself to find her daughter but Her thoughts were broken when knocking came from the door
She looks to the door and saw Natsu coming in with a tired look on him
"did you find her?!" Irene exclaimed to him as Natsu nodded
"I did" Natsu replied before taking a seat on a nearby chair "but it be better if you don't meet her yet"
"what are you saying!?" Irene exclaimed at him "where's Erza!? Where!?"
Natsu looks to her before looking back down
"Irene.." Natsu started off "she's been through horrible things when I found her"
Irene just looks at him as her face held confusion
That's a wrap!
Bye bye