Disclaimer: Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima


ACT V: Ragnarok – The Fateful Encounter

Approximately X793

~ o ~ O ~ o ~

Chapter 32: On a highway to hell

Everything seemed to stop after Jet had delivered his sad news about their fallen comrades, making both Lucy and Natsu stand completely still as they tried consuming this tragic turn of events.

How? Why? The Dragon Slayer thought to himself, trying his best to deny the news.

"No..." the celestial mage muttered beside him, her entire figure trembling with sorrow making it all to clear to him that this wasn't a hoax or vision someone had placed inside of his mind.

His friends was dying, it wasn't a complete victory. Of course he knew that, but it was a thought he didn't take as serious as he should have. A flashback from before the war entered his mind, where he had tried his best to encourage Lucy. As he remembered this he heard his own voice speaking: "However we need to keep strong and believe in our own conviction that humanity will win, or else it's a battle we've already lost... I ain't allowing anyone to die. You can be sure of that"

The thought made cold sweat spawn all over his body, as he sat paralysed because it was a lie, he couldn't save them. Of course it was silly of him to take that pressure on his own shoulders, but that was just his nature. He wanted, no he needed to save everyone, even if he had to risk his own life doing so.

Crushed and feeling defeated, a new feeling started to spawn deep within himself as something that felt like fire started to burn and consume him as it started spreading.

They should pay... whoever did this should be punished and it had to be with his own fists.

Growling in a low voice, he felt how the anger started to pulsate through each fibre of his being and as it did, he could feel his muscles starting to prickle in pain like something inside of him was shredding his insides to pieces.

You need to fight it! The demon hissed inside his mind I warned you didn't I? I told you not to summon this power if you're not ready to face the unrestricted powers it contains! You need to calm the fuck down or things will go bad! Are you listening you pathetic brat?!

Natsu's mind was such a turmoil of feelings combined with the demon yelling at him, that weakened him to a degree that his knees suddenly buckled underneath him, sending him down into a kneeling position where he sat panting.

"What seems to be the problem?" Zeref asked while cracking his knuckles "This is far from over, so can you stop being so overly sensitive?"

"Natsu?" Lucy sat down next to him and watched as strings of black started to slowly edge its way over the whiteness in his eyes, making her gulp before continuing "What's wrong?"

Not answering the Dragon Slayer's body started to shake uncontrollably as his insides started to tear at him more violently, because the anger inside of him was fuelling his curse in such a way it was starting to attack his own body. He knew that he needed to suppress his feelings, but it was hard doing so because it was like his anger was being in an endless circle, because each time his body was aching it seemed to ignite his fury. It wasn't like he didn't try to fight it, it was just in his nature to react with a stubborn sort of anger, whenever he took damage.

Lucy didn't know what to do and sat in panic as the black color in Natsu's eyes kept moving and of course the Celestial Mage instinctively knew that this couldn't be a good sign.

"Ohh well" Zeref shrugged as he glanced at the two mages "Seems like my stupid brother is out of commission for now. That leaves you and me Lucy to finish this fight"

"I..." the Celestial mage gasped, because she was suddenly in a though spot, being pressed from two sides, one taking care of Natsu the other fighting the dark mage.

"Now my dear girl it's time for us to dance!" Zeref smiled warmly as he raised a clenched fist that was engulfed with his dark magic.

"No..." Natsu muttered as he watched the blonde press a key against her chest, changing into her Taurus Star Dress "... Lucy..."

"I'll keep him distracted for a while, so please do your best to fight your own battle" the blonde smiled encouragingly at him before sprinting in Zeref's direction.

"... stay..." he whispered and watched in horror as the girl started battling the dark mage, because it was a battle he knew she couldn't win. Her opponent was too powerful and she was worn out from fighting for so long.

Feeling desperate he felt a new sort of emotion spawn inside of him, as he watched the girl doing her best to keep up with her opponent.

Self loathing... he utterly despised his own lack of actions, because what was he doing on the ground fighting his stupid curse, when he had to settle the score against his own brother?

"Stupid... pathetic" growling and grinding his teeth firmly against each other, a cloud of darkness seemed to slowly consume his mind, while a dark aura started to engulf his body.

"Keep it together!" Lucy called trying to support her comrade but he didn't hear her words. No all there was inside his mind was a ferocious anger that acted like it was an animal that enjoyed scratching his mind and body into shreds.

Not thinking straight he closed his eyes and sat in a bobble that erased everything around him and soon his mind was at a standstill as it tried balancing on the edge, where he was close to losing his mind to the curse. As he sat like that Natsu didn't hear the sudden commotion that was happening around him, nor did he hear that the battle between Lucy and Zeref had taken a new turn.

However he didn't stay oblivious as someone suddenly engulfed him in a tight hug, making his eyes snap open in surprise which made him stare into a huge cleavage.

"Luce?!" Natsu asked as he recognised her scent "Wha...?"

"It's okay" she chuckled "Just relax"

Feeling bewildered he turned his head to look at Zeref who was battling Laxus and Makarov all of sudden.

When did that happen?!

"Lucy-san, Natsu-san!" Wendy yelled as she ran in their direction "You okay?"

"We're fine" the celestial mage said in a tone that clearly revealed they weren't.

"Just sit still, then I'll do some basic healing on you" the tiny girl smiled as she placed radiating hands above them "I can't do much, but I'll do what I can"

"Thank you" the blonde said and let out a sigh.

"Lucy?" Natsu tried to catch her attention again, even though his mind was still raging in a lot of different directions, like his entire skull was on fire.

"Shh, it's okay" she whispered and placed her chin against his head "You need to calm down, do you remember when we meditated?"

"Uh-huh"

"Focus on your breathing and try to imagine every breath of air is a remedy that removes your darkness"

Not questioning her advice, Natsu did what he was told and started taking deep breathes while trying to imagine that the air was like healing waves that entered his system and washed away his anger and pain. It took a while of repeating this before his body seemed to enter a trance like state where he unconsciously wrapped his own arms around Lucy, before he rested his face against the soft pillows that nature had provided the Celestial mage to have.

The Dragon Slayer didn't know how long they sat like that, because at some point he managed to drift off and snore ever so slightly. Which was only natural considering the turmoil his mind and body had already been through.

So while Natsu and Lucy got a moment to relax but also being healed a bit, another fight was happening right in front of them, that was interesting on a lot of levels.

~ o ~ O ~ o ~

Laxus and the other Dragon Slayer's used a lot of magic in their fight against the huge demons, which was why the group stood panting trying to regain their composure, when they eventually won against their foes.

None of them said anything for a long period of time, that was until they noticed a small person approaching them, which caused the blonde man to turn his head to look in the person's direction.

"Gramps" he nodded as a way of greeting him making the old man nod in return.

"I know you're all tired from fighting against so many opponents, but I'm here to ask you a favour" Makarov said in a stoic voice as he took in the people around him.

"What is it master?" Wendy asked sounding genuinely curious.

"I ain't following your orders" Erik spat stubbornly earning him a hard gaze from the tiny man, which caused the poison Dragon Slayer to look in another direction before muttering "Whatever man"

Coughing into his hand Makarov continued to speak "I want you guys to seek out the groups that are fighting the corpse army Acnologia left behind. Tell them that if they want to slay them they need to figure out a way they can turn them into nothing more than dust. They can electrocute them, burn them to a crisp or whatever they can with their powers, but they need to turn them into atoms and then spread their remains so they can't duplicate themselves"

"As I recall you read a story to me when I was young when they used that method on vampires. Is that your source old man, huh?" Laxus chuckled making the old man blush from the accusation.

"It doesn't matter where the solution came from, as long as it works then that's all that matters" Mavis said as she suddenly appeared beside the guild master.

"Yeah I guess" the lightning mage shrugged.

"Now Laxus and Wendy I want you to come with me" Makarov pointed at the two before turning his attention to the remaining slayers "And I want you to distribute this valuable information. Originally I would have made Jet do it, but he's... emotionally distraught and out of commission so it's up to you guys to do this!"

Sting, Rogue, Erik and Gajeel was all in different shapes but they took on the assignment in silence before scattering in all directions.

"Shouldn't we be out there delivering the message as well?" Laxus asked trying to figure out what the old man was thinking.

"No, we need both of you for what's coming up next" Mavis stated in a firm tone "Wendy we need you to perform some basic healing on the participating people in this next fight"

"And what is my role in this?" the blonde enquired.

"This is a fight you must fight with us" Makarov smiled somewhat warmly at him "After all since the beginning it's been Fairy Tail's legacy to take out the dark mage once and for all. That's why we need you there and you know why"

"I..." Laxus narrowed his eyes not liking where this was going "... because of what we talked about back at the guild?"

"Yes... when the time comes you know what to do" the old man answered, looking almost fragile for a second.

"Like hell I'm gonna...!"

"Shut it, brat and do as I tell you!" Makarov snapped surprising the blonde because he wasn't prepared for that sudden outburst of anger.

"This isn't time to fight amongst ourselves, we need to go" Mavis said and started walking away, closely followed by the two Dragon Slayers and the guild master.

"So..." Laxus started "Not to sound rude or anything but what are you gonna do Mavis? I mean you're a ghost so isn't it limited what you can do?"

"Don't worry" the tiny blonde smiled brightly "I have an important role in this as well when the time is right"

"Ohh it wasn't like I was worried about you or anything" Laxus blushed because he seriously wasn't he was just curious.

"Are you okay?" Wendy chuckled teasingly while eyeing the lightning mage up and down "You seem flustered all of a sudden?"

"I do not!" he huffed at her teasing and ignored her chuckling.

No one said anything after that as they made their way to the place where Zeref was currently battling against Lucy, who was clearly way over her head.

"Lucy-san!" the tiny healer called before she noticed Natsu in his demonic form who had his eyes closed for some reason like he was struggling with something inside himself "Natsu-san!"

"Woa, that's the annoying brat?" Laxus said as he took in the kid "Whatever, Wendy run to him we'll keep Zeref occupied for you to do some mending on the both of them okay?"

Not waiting for her answer Laxus used his lightning to quickly rush over to the battle where he placed himself in front of the blonde girl, before using his magic to counter an incoming attack.

"Laxus?!" Lucy asked in a bewildered tone from behind somewhere him.

"This isn't the time for greetings, go help that idiotic moron over there with whatever the fuck he's struggling with"

"I... thank you, we'll join you as soon as possible"

"Yeah, yeah" Laxus smiled wholeheartedly towards the dark mage who was sending him a curious look.

"Well, well who do we have here?" Zeref asked as Makarov arrived as well with Mavis who was invisible to their opponent.

"My grandson" the old man grumbled "So you better not underestimate him"

"I see I'll make sure not to do that then" tilting his head to the side he smirked "There's another one here isn't there? I can feel her presence"

"She might be" Makarov answered "But that is none of your concern, we're here to make sure her promise on behalf of our guild is fulfilled"

"Tsch, see if I care if she's here or not" the dark mage rolled with his eyes "But if you so dearly wish to die, trying to finish something that silly girl said long ago then go ahead. I'll make sure to wrap you up and offer you as a gift for her, so she'll finally understand that Fairy Tail can't and never will be capable of finishing me"

"You talk too much" Laxus roared as he summoned lightning that flickered all across his body in asymmetric patterns "Let's do this emo kid!"

With that the lightning mage and Makarov entered the battle against the dark mage hoping with all of their might that this was the final battle in order to win the goddamn war.

~ o ~ O ~ o ~

Laxus was firing his lightning magic against their opponent, while Makarov smoothly evaded and delivered attacks as he successfully covered the battlefield with a speed that was quite impressive especially considering his old age. Because of that the duo was doing pretty well since their magic was compatible with each other.

"Gramps!" the lightning mage yelled making his grandfather move out of the way as he made his way over to their target "Roaring thunder!" successfully hitting the dark mage with his fist, multiple lightning strikes was summoned and stroke Zeref making the man stumble backwards.

"Rain of light!" the old man roared as multiple beams of lights spawned from his hands and was sent rocketing like they were glowing arrows towards the dark mage, who was still covered in the remands of Laxus attack. Once the master's attack hit him Zeref raised his arms in front of him, forming an x as he tried protecting himself from the incoming amount of magic.

"Impressive..." the dark mage panted as the lightning eventually evaporated "... I'll give you that"

"I don't give a damn what you think" the lightning mage snorted defiantly "But could you just die already?"

"Mmm, so you're the impatient type, huh?" the dark mage smiled wickedly "It kinda reminds me of someone with pink hair"

"Oy! I'm not anything like that immature kid!" Laxus eyes widened momentarily before he once again made lightning spawn around his hands. The sound of Mavis giggling warmly because of his reaction did nothing to improve his mood, quite on the contrary.

"Now listen here! I will..." the lightning mage stopped when he heard an unnatural sort of hissing sound suddenly spawning somewhere behind him.

"Dragon... slayer..." a weird sound seemed to cackle in a barely audible voice.

Responding to the creature Laxus spun around on his heels and found himself staring into one of the demons he and the other Dragon Slayers had fought against earlier on. It was weird because he was absolutely certain they took care of all of them, so how the fuck was this one still alive?! Actually it did look more dead than alive, with the deep cuts and huge gaps where there once had been meat, which was bleeding in a steady stream.

"Dragon..." the demon made a weird gurgling sound in it's throat that almost sounded like it was trying to chuckle.

"I don't like this" Mavis whispered to herself as the creature suddenly launched itself in the lightning mage's direction.

"You should have stayed dead" Laxus grumbled in annoyance as he clenched his fist and moved his arm backwards, ready to strike the incoming enemy when it was close enough.

"Laxus don't!" the previous guild master called "It's a trap!"

Unfortunately the warning didn't reach the lightning mage in time as his clenched fist hit the demon, which had no effect whatsoever.

"... slayer" the thing whispered it's eyes widening and shining with insanity as it quickly grabbed Laxus's neck before raising his free claw behind him, where a lot of dark looking flames spawned.

"Makarov!" Mavis called in a desperate tone, but the tiny man was already on it as he was running in his grandson's direction.

While this was going on Zeref stood watching with a satisfied looking smile, seemingly enjoying the show in front of him.

"You piece of shit!" Laxus roared in anger as he spawned more of his lightning magic around his hand, as the demon's claw came swinging down, making him catch it before it managed to deliver an attack towards him. As it did the demon seemed to smirk as the lightning seemed to intertwine with the black looking flames, making the fire grow larger around the claw like it was sucking out the energy in Laxus's magic, turning it's own power more potent.

"Leave my grandson alone!" Makarov roared in a voice that clearly stated he didn't want the demon to mess with him before he called "Giant Wrath" making light spawn all over his body, the power being so potent the ground started shaking before it was sent in the demon's direction.

"Dragon..." their opponent released Laxus, making him fall down and roll over in order to avoid the incoming attack.

"Stop!" Mavis called but it was too late as the light hit the demon. As it did their opponent once more tried to chuckle as the black fire seemed to consume Makarov's attack, making it grow in strength.

"Slayer?" the demon questioned as it ran towards the guild master at such a high speed that it caught the man off guard as a claw engulfed with a massive amount of black flames slashed down at him.

The attack didn't hit him once or twice, but multiple times making the ground soaked with blood as it was sent spattering everywhere.

It only took a second before Laxus realised what was going on, making his heart pound loudly inside his head as he prepared himself to stop the demon from literally slaughtering his grandfather, but before he got there Zeref had made his way over to them.

"You monstrosity" the dark mage fumed with hatred "You... you dare to take his life when it was mine to take? You imbecile! Feel my wrath as you go back to hell!" he hissed in anger as dark magic spawned around the demon, licking all over it's body making the creature scream in agony and pain until the magic eventually consumed it, leaving nothing but darkness in it's place.

Feeling a mixture of emotions Laxus watched the dark mage take a few steps backwards where he stood perfectly still with his arms crossed, clearly pissed about the situation.

"Stupid idiotic creations" Zeref sighed loudly "Sorry I gotta take a quick breather to settle my emotions"

"Gramps?!" the lightning mage called as he took in his relative on the ground, who was bleeding profoundly.

"No..." Mavis said her voice trembling with sorrow.

"Gramps!" Laxus continued to call as he crawled over to him and quickly scanned the master's body. The meat on the old mage was torn so badly that it was impressive that his entrails wasn't spattered all over the place.

"Shit!" the blonde man cried as he tried his best to use his hands to prevent more blood from leaving Makarov's body but it was a futile effort "Wendy get over here right now!"

"Ye-yes!" the healer stuttered as she made her way over and immediately placed her glowing hands above their master's body.

"Can you heal this?!" Laxus yelled, making the poor girl flinch in fright "Can you?!"

"I... I..." the healer shook profoundly because there was nothing she could do and it was obvious she couldn't bring herself to tell him that.

"Wendy, please!" the lightning mage pleaded to her but he still didn't get a reaction from her.

"Laxus... stop it" Mavis said in a gentle voice as she placed her hand on his shoulder "You're frightening her.

"I..." the blonde man bit down his bottom lip as he looked at the trembling girl "I'm sorry Wendy"

"It.. it's okay..." she answered now sobbing freely.

"Master... this can't be happening " Lucy sniffled in a low voice as she tried waking up the Dragon Slayer but nothing seemed to happen.

"Laxus..." the master called in a tiny voice making him exchange a look with his grandfather.

"Yeah, what is it?" he answered sounding almost grumpy and tired.

"You know what to do..." Makarov coughed making blood spatter from his mouth "... you..."

"I don't want to!" the lightning mage's voice cracked as tears ran down his face "Not like this!"

"Promise me!" Makarov shouted making Laxus bow his head in defeat.

"Of course I will, you stupid old fart!" feeling angry and incredibly sad, the lightning mage slammed a clenched fist against the ground "God damn it!"

"Good..." the old mine smiled "... you're now officially the next guild master"

"Master..." Mavis cried while squeezing Laxus's shoulder.

"Watch over him..." the old man took a deep breath his eyes starting to get clouded.

"No, don't you dare!" the lightning mage shouted in distress as Makarov's eyelids started to close "Gramps!"

Not answering the master exhaled deeply, but he never took another breath after that, which caused Wendy to remove her glowing hands before she started to cry into her hands, too sad to say or do anything else than let the feelings consume her.

"FUCK!" Laxus roared in both anger and sorrow as he picked up the tiny man and started hugging him closely against his own chest "Damn it old man!"

Feeling powerless and fragile Laxus knew that this was the end of an old era as another one started, leaving the future of the guild in his hands.

~ o ~ O ~ o ~

Crying... someone was crying somewhere near him, but Natsu couldn't hear who it was. Everything seemed muffled like it was part of a distant dream, which was why it took him a few seconds to realise that there was more than one person who seemed to be in misery.

What was going?

Starting to come back to his senses, he felt his body aching all over as he opened his eyes only to find himself staring into a lot of skin. Soft skin actually that felt incredibly good against his face, but he tried not to dwell on that part because there was definitely something horribly wrong. People was crying and he could smell the salt from the tears that was being spilled. Furthermore Lucy was holding him so closely against herself like he would vanish if she didn't and because she was doing that he could feel her shivering so gosh darn much, that it pretty obvious that she had experienced something tragic as well.

"Luce...?" he called feeling anxious and worried as he carefully snaked out of her arms, in order to look at her tear streaked face that looked like she had just seen something so horrible, that it had shattered her heart into splinters.

A droplet of cold sweat streamed down his forehead, as the lack of response from the girl caused a foreboding feeling of horror to enter his system, before he slowly turned his head to look at Wendy who was crying her eyes out, while Laxus was holding something closely against his chest. Whatever it was it was something that was drenched with blood. Actually the more he looked at it the more convinced he was that something or someone was about to die...

Wait a minute...

His eyes widened in utter terror while the air got caught in throat, because he knew right then and there who the lightning mage was holding.

"No way..." Natsu's mind blanked completely as he sluggishly made his way over to three mages "... it can't be"

"I'm sorry kid" Laxus exhaled loudly as he gently placed the tiny man on the ground "It's too late"

"But..." he shook his head in denial "Wendy?"

"She did what she could" the lightning mage said sounding really tired "Besides she can't revive the dead"

"No... no he can't be" Natsu kept shaking his head as he eyed the master, taking in the massive claw marks that had torn him apart.

Claw marks... a static sound cackled weirdly in his mind as he once more remembered what he had done to his own teammates, this time it mixed up with the scene in front of him replacing the old man with his friends bodies, like it was some weird horror show.

"I didn't..." his pulse started to drum dramatically in his head, as it started to drown reality, making the sounds that surrounded him start to vanish rather slowly, almost as if he was drowning in his own mind.

Struggling to breathe he started to hyperventilate as he took a few steps backwards and away from the bloody scene. The girls was still crying but he vaguely heard that as flashbacks of the master entered his mind, from times they had shared together both good and bad. As they flashed in his mind a wicked laughter suddenly spawned, before all the memories seemed to shatter as if they were being ripped apart inside his mind. While the pieces started to fall something red seemed to drop ever so slowly in his field of vision, making it look like it was raining with blood.

Screaming... someone was crying and screaming in what sounded like a weird and painful choir that sang their sorrows in obnoxious tones.

"I..." Natsu sank his saliva and felt his knees buckle underneath him, before he fell down on the ground "... can't... breathe"

The bloody rain seemed to continue to fall in front of hi,, while everything inside of him was being ripped to shreds and as it did he didn't notice that Lucy was suddenly sitting beside him, trying to calm him by patting his back.

You have to fight it before it's too late! Someone seemed to scream somewhere inside of him but he could care less about others.

His mind was ravaging with painful thoughts and soon it started pulsating through every fibre of his being, making his muscles vibrate and feel numb almost as if an invisible force was taking control of his body.

Dead... dead and gone. All the people he cared about would eventually die, leaving him all alone...

Igneel, his foster father, Makarov and Gildarts which he saw as father figures that had been important and influenced him during his youth was gone. He saw Igneel vanish for the second time and now his two other father figures was gone as well, which was suffocating him.

The bloody rain suddenly became a huge wave in his vision covering everything in a crimson color.

Someone should pay... after all it wasn't his fault he was suffering...

Something inside of him snapped at that moment, making him take a deep breathe before an ear

piercing scream escaped from his mouth. The sound was so loud that it caused a huge shock wave to form, making Lucy hug herself closely to him in order not to get blown away.

As the scream intensified he felt saliva slowly falling down his chin, before his rationality started to fade away.

Fight it! His demonic side screamed as he tried to appeal to him once more Don't give into it!

Natsu didn't want to...he truly tried fighting it but he couldn't... too weak and fragile his emotions was in such a turmoil that he couldn't control anything.

Still screaming Natsu felt the pain intensify before reality was swept away...

It was too late... too much... it hurt... it fucking hurt...


A/N: Yup Makarov died... I'm sorry (?) but he had to go, because it was important to finish him off according to the plot ^^

Zeref is such a good sport when it comes to fighting. I know that's how I made him, but I like him having some sympathy and giving the group some room to grief their loss and stuff like that. I think he is a neat guy :)

To guest : Thank you for your review! Yeah it's kinda sad they died and to be honest I couldn't kill any more in the actual chapters, because I knew stuff in this chapter was gonna happen.

Rest assured though that there wont be any more deaths... well at least for while *whistles innocently* ;)

So next up, sh** hits the fan yet again! *le chuckle*

Be good, be smart and take care! :D

/H