Disclaimer: Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima
ACT IV: Aftermath – Psychological Wounds
Approximately X793
~ o ~ O ~ o ~
Chapter 22: Countdown
Natsu felt thoroughly confused when he found himself standing in front of his pure glistening soul and the orange shining sphere.
What the...?
"So how was it?" the orange contours of the demon asked as it appeared in front of the Dragon Slayer's own radiating body.
Not answering Natsu just stood blinking, as his counterpart approached him.
"Sad, no?" the demon enquired, before tilting his head to the side "Mm?"
"Well... yeah..." the Dragon Slayer gulped and felt a mixture of emotions rummaging through his system. It was so weird and overwhelming that he couldn't hold on to one singular feeling, which was probably because his mind was shocked from what it had experienced. And why wouldn't it be, after all the Natsu had just experienced his own death...
"You have a lot of questions now don't ya?" the demon smiled sadly.
"I... died?"
"You did yes" his opponent confirmed.
"But how...?"
"Are you alive now?" the demon finished his question and let out a sigh "Well I'm not sure about the details, however from what I've gathered Zeref used our body somehow to create END. He must have used a couple of years on it, because when I was unleashed into the world and saw him for the first time he was considerably older, than what he was in the memory you just saw. My estimate is about ten years have passed from the time our original body died..."
"Ohh..."
"But honestly I can't say anything for sure..." the demon shook his head "... because it was only recently I myself remembered the time from when we were human"
"I... wait a second..." Natsu rubbed his chin in thought "If you weren't created back then, why on earth are you the one remembering it?"
"Well it could be because your mind had experienced something so traumatic that it was suppressed, but since it wasn't erased completely it eventually moved over and became a part of my existence" the demon pointed at the orange glistening ball "Or perhaps Zeref locked it all away somewhere inside of me and it would resurface when you started to acknowledge me"
"... this is so confusing..." Natsu groaned feeling mildly annoyed.
"Not really..." the demon blinked "I mean no matter what caused it, you could say it's like when a man and a woman are intimate with each other, resulting in them creating an offspring"
"Don't compare it with something like that!" Natsu roared in outrage.
"An egg then" his opponent sighed clearly frustrated "Consider your old memories as an egg you need to open"
"I can easily do that by myself" The Dragon Slayer snorted "Just one good smack that's all it takes"
"Gosh darn it, you're annoying" the demon's eyebrow twitched in anger "Okay if it makes it easier image us being a pair of chopsticks. It takes both of us before you can grab something and consume it. Sure you can try poking your food with one chopstick, but it's easier if you use both of them"
"Ahh I think I get it now" Natsu hummed suddenly feeling hungry.
"... you're actually drooling in that form..." the demon facepalmed himself "... this recollecting your memories thing, might actually be the death of me"
"That reminds me"
"Mm?"
"Why did it physically hurt so freakishly much for me to remember it?"
"Ahh, well because I forced you to drink it" the demon grinned wickedly "So it shouldn't hurt as much next time you consume a memory"
"... you're an asshole..."
"Likewise"
"Hmf!" Natsu snorted defiantly "Anyway, you made me relive a memory, so now you have to show me how to gain access to the demonic powers"
"Look who thinks he's being smart all of a sudden" his counterpart smirked "Very well come with me"
Natsu did what he was told and followed the creature over to the orange glistening ball.
"Place your hands on the sphere" the demon said.
"This ain't a trap is it?" Natsu narrowed his eyes in suspicion.
"No, it isn't a trap, see that red liquid in there?" a claw pointed at the red thing flowing in the sphere "You need to reach that because that's pure demonic blood, it was taken almost 400 years ago when Zeref locked me away for the first time in that book of his. Anyhow the blood in there will respond to the demonic blood that flows inside of you, since they essentially came from the same source"
"How do I reach it?" Natsu asked before placing his hands against the orange ball, momentarily surprised at how warm it felt against his palms.
"Connect with it through your markings... feel the heat of the sphere and try to reach out to the primal side of yourself"
"That's easy for you to say" Natsu grumbled but fortunately it wasn't that hard to feel the connection between his markings and the blood. So without really doing anything the Dragon Slayer saw the red liquid moving in his direction. When it reached his right hand it slowly started snaking up on the skin of his arm, forming the same patterns as the markings on his physical body.
"Ohh..." Natsu mouthed feeling astonished for a second, as he stared at the markings glistening in an orange colour.
"Now all you have to do is wake up and summon it" the demon said in a serious tone "But before you do that, I need you to be cautious"
"Why?"
"Because I'm the demon here and I know how to deal with the curse. So don't try to summon it if you're not ready to face the unrestricted powers it contains. If you do, things could easily turn out wrong"
"How so?" Natsu asked dreading the answer.
"Trust me, you don't wanna know"
"The heck, if there's something I need to know..."
"There isn't..." the demon sighed and pointed in his direction "... now go play with your power"
"Wha...?" Natsu started but suddenly felt himself being evicted from his mind, so forcefully he didn't get a chance to react before he was back in the world of the living.
"Son of a..." the Dragon Slayer muttered before he snapped his eyes open, making him stare at the ceiling in his room.
Wait a second... Natsu thought before turning his head, surprised to realise that he was sprawled out on the floor.
"Huh?" he blinked feeling perplexed as he raised his body and got into a sitting position. It took a few seconds of staring before he realised the condition his house was in.
"Eh?!" his eyes bulged when he saw his trashed furniture, that looked like it had been exposed to some hardcore violence.
Oh no... not knowing to what extend his unconscious behaviour had destroyed his home and valuables, the Dragon Slayer started to thoroughly scan each and every item in the room. Fortunately it didn't look like anything important was destroyed, only some old furniture he should have replaced ages ago.
"Ahh..." he exhaled feeling somewhat grateful.
Natsu just stood like that when he suddenly felt something trickling down his nose, making him use the back of his hand to remove it. However it wasn't enough, making the Dragon Slayer furrow his eyebrows before looking at his hand, expecting there to be a disgusting layer of snot but seeing something red instead.
"Crap!" Natsu placed his hand above his nose before sprinting over to the sink, where he removed his hand that was suddenly covered in blood. Not sure what to do he just stood staring at the droplets as they fell from his nose and hit the bottom of the sink, where it started gathering into a small pool.
He just stood like that when he he realised that he should probably try to stop the flow. So with that in mind he pinched his nose with two fingers, but instead of helping, the blood just seemed to stream down his throat. Which was rather disgusting, so Natsu removed his fingers again and just lazily stared at the red liquid that kept dripping for what felt like forever, but fortunately it eventually stopped.
"Jeez.." a groan escaped from him as he opened the tap making water flow in a steady stream, he used to removed the evidence that his nose had been fucking retarded. He also used the water to cleanse his mouth from the awful metallic taste in his mouth.
"Stupid body... stupid demon..." the Dragon Slayer cursed before raising his arm in order to look at his markings. They were still glistening ever so faintly with that orange light, which might indicate the key to summoning his demonic powers was still there.
Should he try it out? To see what the curse felt like?
Honestly was there even in point in asking?
Chuckling in excitement he closed his eyes and felt the raw powers inside his markings. It didn't take more than a second for the curse to respond to his request, making him feel the unleashed power starting to flow through his veins.
"Mm?" the Dragon Slayer opened his eyes and watched in ave as the glistening markings slid across his skin, before forming into different patterns all over his body, where the glistening effect vanished leaving black tattoo like markings. Once that was over with he noticed that his hands was starting to look more like claws, making them seem more lethal and sharp. At the same time he felt a sudden headache and heard the unpleasant sound of bones shattering in his skull, as something started emerging from his head. Fortunately the feeling soon vanished leaving him panting as the summoning finally finished.
"Neat..." Natsu muttered as he eyed his claw like hand before he ignited it, making black flames spawn.
"This is so cool!" he chuckled childishly before extinguishing the fire and casually strolling over to the bathroom, in order to look himself in the mirror.
"Holy shit!" his eyes widened as he took in his new appearance. Of course it wasn't that surprising because he had seen it in that image Happy had stolen and he had somewhat seen it, when he had watched the demonic contour in his mind, however it wasn't the same as actually experiencing it. Heck no, it was nothing like he had imagined.
Not sure what to do he just stared into his red glistening eyes, transfixed at the cruelness they suddenly emitted. Like seriously it almost made himself feel intimidated by it.
"Mmm..." Natsu grumbled before turning his head to stare at his horns.
Honest to god, they locked fucking awesome!
The Dragon Slayer smiled a toothy grin at himself, before he started wiggling his tongue as if he was trying to tease his own image.
Natsu just stood there doing weird faces and grimaces, when he accidentally poked himself in the eye, making him swear profoundly. The situation annoyed him so much he suddenly felt an unreasonable anger being unleashed inside of him. It was such a powerful feeling that he almost didn't get time to fight it, but fortunately he managed to cope with it in time, as he stood perfectly still trying his best to focus on his breathing and not his emotions.
So that was the negative side of his curse? Well no wonder the demon warned him about it... Natsu thought and closed his eyes before placing both claw like hands on the sink and leaning against it, his head tilting forwards from the motion.
Having had enough fun for the moment Natsu started breathing through his mouth, trying to figure out how to suppress his demonic powers again.
You need to command it back... make the blood flow back into the orange sphere, a voice in his mind spoke.
"How?" the Dragon Slayer wondered out loud.
Visualise it...
"Easier said than done" Natsu grumbled before he tried visualising it. The process was slow and boring but eventually he got a hold of it, making the demonic features vanish from his body. Once that was over with, he took a moment to stare at himself in the mirror to make sure he was back to his usual self, before stomping out of the bathroom.
"Mmm..." he muttered before looking outside. It was still too early to go to the guild, so he might as well start throwing out the furniture that wasn't functioning any more. So with that, the Dragon Slayer found himself occupied for the next few hours.
~ o ~ O ~ o ~
Zeref was standing by himself in a vast and huge area, where he stood taking in his surroundings.
There was nothing there other than rocks and some tiny pieces of green in the form of grass and moss. This was the same place he had been, when he had made his first encounter with Igneel so many years ago. Back then none of them knew how fateful their encounter would be, nor did they know just how grim and horrific the future would be look like. At that time the world had been tainted with hatred and chaos, which was evident from the vast amount of corpses that had been sprawled all over the place and soon it was time yet again to see the ground covered in a crimson colour, which hopefully would mean it was time to meet his end.
He just wanted to die, why would anyone deny him of something so basic?
"Tsch" Zeref snorted and watched as a dark silhouette approached him and it didn't take long before he recognised him as Achnologia in his human form.
Once his opponent was close enough, he stopped in his tracks and just stood staring with eyes glistening with anticipation and anger.
"Achnologia" the dark mage smirked "It would seem the time has come"
The man nodded a tiny smile playing on his lips.
"As I told you before..." a female voice suddenly spoke from beside the duo "... we will stop you"
"Mavis" the dark mage turned his head to look at her.
"We will stop you no matter what it takes" the tiny mage's eyes narrowed as she took in the other two.
Achnologia couldn't see the girl, so he snorted loudly feeling angry about the dark mage suddenly name dropping what he presumed was a human's name.
"I'm sorry..." Zeref chuckled darkly "... I hope you're prepared for the destined day when the sun rises on the seventh of July"
"... yes..." Achnologia growled in a lethal voice his eyes glistening with amusement.
"Excellent" the dark mage smiled to himself before turning around and walking away, Mavis closely following behind him.
They walked for a while, before Mavis addressed the other mage.
"Zeref please" she pleaded in a gentle voice "It isn't too late to stop this madness"
"Mmm..." he hummed lazily.
"We can still solve this, it isn't to late to find a cure for the curse"
"Ohh but it is"
"I understand your frustration, but please this is not the solution" Mavis shook her head.
"You know nothing!" Zeref snarled and threw his arm dismissively to the side "I lost everything too many times, so now the world needs to suffer just as I have suffered. It's time my wish is granted and I get revenge. I need satisfaction, no to be more accurate I demand it!"
"Zeref..." Mavis whispered in a low voice "... how can I make you stop this?"
"You can't do anything... our bond... our friendship, is something lost a long time ago. As I've said before I do have some faith in you, but this is it" the dark mage took a deep breath "This is the end"
They exchanged a long glance with each other, both of them with a hint of sadness lingering in their eyes.
"Mavis..." Zeref started "... this is goodbye"
"Yes..." she nodded trying her best not to look affected by the situation.
Opening his mouth, the dark mage just stared at the girl not sure what to say next. Everything he wanted to say had been said, there was nothing left for him to do other than unleash the next chaotic war onto the world. So with that in mind Zeref let out a sigh and walked past Mavis, ignoring her calling as he left her behind.
Soon it was his time... it was his turn to take action and get what he deserved.
~ o ~ O ~ o ~
Jellal was watching the conversation between Zeref and an unknown person. Or well it wasn't an unknown person for long, since the dark mage addressed him as Achnologia. Not knowing how that was possible, the blue haired mage just observed and listened until the two of them finished their exchange and went in opposite directions.
This was bad... really bad, he thought to himself as he quickly made his way back to where the rest of Crime Sorciere was gathered.
"I keep telling you it's too raw!" Sorano yelled making Jellal flinch, because it would seem she was discussing with Meredy again about something.
"... girls..." he massaged the bridge of his nose and let out a sigh, before announcing his arrival to the group, by strolling into their view. Currently the team was gathered around a bonfire, all of them relaxing and trying to ignore the two females bickering.
"And I keep telling you it's supposed to be like that" Meredy stomped with her foot and held out a carrot "If I cook it even more then it'll turn into mush!"
"Naah-ahh!" Sorano countered and shook her head, making her white hair flap from the motion.
"Enough of this!" Jellal groaned impatiently "This is not the time to discuss food"
"Jellal you're back!" Meredy immediately lit up "Did you find something useful?"
"That he did..." Erik yawned loudly, his jaw cracking loudly "... I heard everything"
"Really?" Sawyer smirked and fiddled momentarily with his glasses.
"You know I did, idiot" the poison Dragon Slayer snorted defiantly.
"Please don't provoke him, we don't have time for this" Jellal groaned as he made his way over to Macbeth who was sleeping, with his back resting against the trunk of a tree. When he got there Jellal gently shook the other mage's shoulder making him groan, but eventually the black and white haired mage opened his eyes.
"It's time for our next move" Jellal stated before turning around to eye each member of the group "Zeref will start the war the seventh of July that's two days from now, so it's time to start what we've been planning the last year"
"Seems so" Erik grumbled and lazily scratched his neck "I guess there's nothing left to do than get this shit started"
"Yes..." Zeref nodded "You all know what to do and where to go. I'll see you all on the promised day"
They all nodded and silently the group split up and departed in different direction. The only person who didn't move right away was Meredy who nervously eyed the blue haired mage.
"What is it?" he asked feeling slightly curious why she hadn't left yet "You know what to do"
"Yes I know..." Meredy sighed heavily "... it just... I know we've been preparing for this for a long time, but still it seems so suddenly"
"I know"
"Seven guilds... seven members..."
"Yes"
They both stood in silence when a grin played on the pink haired girl's lips.
"Meredy?" Jellal asked not sure he wanted to know but asked her anyway "What is it?"
"Ohh nothing..." she chuckled "... it's been a long time since you saw her, hm?"
"I uhm... so it would seem, yes" Jellal blushed, secretly looking forward to it, but not admitting it out loud.
"So are you gonna confess your feelings this time?" Meredy smirked teasingly, making the other mage blush even more.
"Fee-feelings?!" Jellal stuttered and shook his head in denial "You know I don't..."
"Sure you don't..." Meredy sighed and gently patted the other mage on his back "... just be sure you don't regret anything later on. We don't know what might happen after all so..."
"I know..."
"Good" the pink haired mage nodded to herself "Well I'm off, see you later kay?"
"Yes... see you later" Jellal answered and watched as Meredy left leaving him alone.
The time had finally come for the last encounter and now it was his time to fullfill his role. He would have to hurry though, because it was already getting late and he needed to get there in time.
~ o ~ O ~ o ~
The guild of Fairy Tail was almost empty, which was probably because it was so early in the morning. It wasn't completely empty though, because Lucy was casually sitting at the bar sipping a cup of tea.
Letting out a sigh, the celestial mage removed the steam from her cup by blowing on it, before taking a sip and enjoying how it warmed her throat.
The last few days had been chaotic and rather emotional. Not only because of the meditation she had done with Natsu, but because there was a strange and foreboding aura in the guild that something was about to go down soon. Everyone knew instinctively this leaving them slightly on the edge and nervous.
Heck even Makarov was making preparations for something, by the look of things. The worst time was when the tiny mage had dragged Laxus into his office, where the lightning mage had stormed out all of a sudden with a angry look on his face, mumbling something about the master and responsibilities, clearly not satisfied with whatever they had talked about.
Ohh well, there was nothing she could do about it really, other than wait just like the others did.
Speaking about mood and behaviour, Lucy had noticed that there was a slight change in herself other than her nerves. It was something she couldn't explain, but ever since she had used Lumen Historie or Fairy Heart, it was like she felt more adventures and bold in her behaviour towards the pink haired Dragon Slayer.
It was rather weird, because it was like something inside of her had evoked, making her feel a certain need to be closer to him. To be near him and do weird things like tease him, just to see that stupid idiotic person smile. Mavis had said that she didn't know how it might affect her in the future, so surely this was just an after affect of that.
Stupid idiotic spell making her confused about her own feelings, Lucy grumbled in her mind when she heard the sound of the doors burst open.
"Luce!" Natsu roared and a second later he was standing next to her "Thank god you're here!"
"Uhm..." she muttered before turning to look at him. Even though he was clearly excited about something, it was evident that he was also fatigued, which she guessed was because he was still sleep deprived.
"It's not time for uhm!" he said in a serious tone and looked rather guilty about something "I have something I need to tell you..."
"Ohh okay" she nodded "Sorry for saying this but you look tired?"
"I kinda am..." Natsu shrugged lazily.
"You wanna talk about it?" Lucy asked feeling worried all of a sudden.
"Naw... well maybe later" there was a hint of sadness shining in his eyes as he exhaled a shaking breath.
For some reason the sight made her want to hug him, to try to comfort him from whatever it was that was making him suffer, but she shrugged it off by grabbing her tea and taking another huge gulp. Which was a bad idea because the quick and careless motion made her burn her tongue.
"Ahhh!" Lucy exclaimed as she sank the hot tea "Ngh"
"What's wrong?" Natsu eyed her carefully, making her shake her head with a chuckle.
"Nothing I just burned my tongue, is all"
"Mmm..." he narrowed his eyes before grabbing her chin with his hand.
"Uhm...?" she blushed at the sudden touch.
"Open it"
"What?!"
"Your mouth, open it"
Not sure what else to do, she did what he had asked her to do and opened her mouth. As she did the Dragon Slayer carefully looked at her tongue, his eyebrows furrowing before he made his way behind the bar and rummaged through the freezer until he found what he was looking for.
"This should do it" Natsu muttered to himself before making his way back to the celestial mage, who eyed him up and down while feeling rather confused "Luce open up"
Again she did what she was told and opened her mouth, before Natsu carefully placed an ice cube on her tongue.
"Now you just suck on that" the Dragon Slayer said as a blush suddenly spawned on his cheeks.
Lucy didn't say anything but just nodded, feeling how the cold ice seemed to soothe her tongue.
"So uhm... yeah I have something I need to tell you, so will you come with me?"
"Mmm?" she blinked and turned to look at the rather empty guild.
"I know there ain't that many here, but I want to tell you this in private okay?"
Nodding Lucy jumped down from her seat, earning a huge smile from Natsu.
"Neat! Let's go!" He practically ran towards the door before Lucy had time to react. Once the Dragon Slayer reached the door, he turned around to send her a radiating smile which was probably a bad thing, because in the exact moment he turned his head face to the door again it violently burst open.
"Argh!" Natsu roared in pain as the door smacked loudly against his head, making him stand grumbling against the wooden material that was suddenly in his face.
Lucy quickly spat the ice cube into her hand, her aim being the Dragon Slayer, but the blonde stopped in her tracks when she saw who the person was that had arrived.
"Jellal" she muttered sounding mildly astonished.
"Lucy" the blue haired mage smirked "Pleasure to meet you again"
"Likewise" she smiled back, not sure what else to say.
"Where is the rest of the guild?" Jellal asked as he took in the room.
"They'll be here later on, it's still rather early" Lucy answered and quickly glanced at the fire mage who was still standing with his head slammed against the door while grumbling something inaudible.
"When will Natsu arrive?" Jellal asked, not noticing the viscous aura coming from beside him.
"Uhm..." Lucy pointed her finger in the Dragon Slayer's direction "he's... right there"
"I..." the blue haired mage gently manoeuvred the door towards himself, thereby revealing the fuming Dragon Slayer "I see... what a weird place to stand"
"Grrr..." Natsu's eyebrow twitched from withheld anger.
"It is also a pleasure to see you again" Jellal said oblivious to the other mage's mood.
"Tsch!" the Dragon Slayer snorted "Pleasure my ass, you just hit my head!"
"I did?" the blue haired mage blinked looking rather surprised "I'm sorry I didn't..."
"Never mind!" Natsu sighed loudly "Why are you here?"
"The time has come" Jellal said his tone instantly becoming serious "For humanity to face their greatest enemies in war"
None of them said anything as they stared in disbelief and horror at the blue haired mage.
"No..." Lucy whispered as the reality of his sentence sank in, because another war would potentially mean casualties.
"The final encounter"Jellal continued "Known as the Dragon King Festival but also as Ragnarok. The fight begins tomorrow at dawn"
A/N: "The time has come" Jellal said his tone instantly becoming serious "For you to lip-sync for your LIFE!" O.o I'm not sure why I tend to make Jellal humorous and kinda oblivious to things, but heck I like portraying him like that.
As you see from this (and future chapters) this story is really starting to take an alternative route compared to the manga. It's all good though, I hope XD
Important info: I didn't know how to get this into the chapter, but the reason Zeref triggered the END process in Natsu (by "killing" Lucy), was because he needed the Dragon Slayer to make a choice before the war is unleashed. So yeah, that's something I guess
Bonus info: I have 25 written pages already for the next arc/act but I need a lot of entries
and fighting and… *sigh*it's hard work keeping a track on everything ;)
HugzZ and ze kizzezZ,
/Hejmdal
