(A/N) Hey everyone. I can only apologize for the ridiculous time it took me to write this. A lot of things been happening that have caused me to not be able to get any time to actually sit down and write any ideas. But now i have the time, you can expect some regular updates. Possibly some more fanfics being written alongside so i can use my ideas up (A/N)

During Natsu's training he had encountered a few problems. He noticed that when he would start putting effort into the fight, his flames would not turn all black, but instead they would gain a small flicker of black inside the flames, eventually turning the the full crimson flames, into half-crimson and half-black flames.

This at first made both Natsu and Gajeel panic as they feared it was another episode. But they quickly brushed that aside when they noticed that Natsu had not lashed out, he simply stood there entranced at this new flames.

"Well, Gajeel, I suppose if the flames work, may aswell use them. Not like I care if they accept me anymore" Natsu said as he created a torrent of Black-Red flames on his hand and started moving it around. "Well, as long as you feel you can control them, I don't see why not"

With that, Natsu learnt to live with the fact that his flames had changed, although it seemed that it was not going to be able to change back anytime soon.

He threw himself into training to ensure he could these flames. Going as far as to have sparring sessions with Gajeel, to see how he could handle them in a fight. Amazingly he noted that they reacted so naturally, they felt as if the flames had not even changed, if anything they felt even more natural, as if a part of him that has been locked away has finally seeped into his flames, almost comforting.

The results from the training were outstanding for both Gajeel and Natsu.

Natsu had gained complete control over his new flames, he could use them without even getting a bit lost in his rage or battle lust. He created a few attacks that blend his flames into more powerful attacks, while also learning to switch between either Crimson or Black flames. The benefit of switching was simple. Natsu had far more control over his Crimson flames, allowing him to only burn who he wants to burn, but they are also a bit more heat based, making his attacked hotter rather than explosive, which is where the Black flames come into it. His Black Flames were controlled but only to the extent of controlling the location of attacks and coating his limbs in flames, he could not control who they burnt, while they were also far more destructive than the regular Crimson flames he used.

Through the training Gajeel had learnt to further strengthen his defensive abilities, like his Iron Dragon Scales, they could now withstand Natsu's Crimson flames for a while during a spar, but the scales were still to weak to withstand the destructive power of Natsu's Black flames for too long. Asides from defensive abilities, Gajeel also managed to progress his Dragon Slayer abilities, by creating some new attacks, aswell as a new Dragon Slayer Art spell.

Content with their training Gajeel decided to spend the remaining day before the trails in the guild hall with Wendy. "Natsu-san, Gajeel-san. You ready for tomorrow?" Wendy asked as Natsu and Gajeel entered the building. Both mages just smiled at Wendy and ignored the stares from the other mages and the heated gaze from a certain Ice mage over being knocked out in one attack from Natsu when he threatened to 'take care' of Wendy and Gajeel.

"You know it Wendy. Me and Salamander are going to win this for sure" Gajeel claimed while pumping his fist in the air. "What about you Natsu-san, you confident about tomorrow?" Wendy asked while giggling at Gajeel's antics. "Yeah, I wont let Anyone stand in the way of the S-Class exams for me and Gajeel" Natsu said in a voice loud enough for most people in the guild to hear, which caused most to silence themselves and start sharing glances.

Gajeel looked at Natsu with a smirk, knowing exactly what Natsu is doing to his guild mates, 'Gihi, scaring them senseless before the exams even start huh?' Gajeel thought to himself before deciding to have a little fun himself, "Salamander, you think you're going to use That new move in the exams?" he spoke loud enough again for most to hear. Natsu saw this and had to stifle his laugh at what him and Gajeel had unwittingly started doing to the guild.

"Black Steel, what could That be exactly? Could it be this?" Natsu started while engulfing his hand in Black flames, while most of the guild unknowingly stumbled back from the familiar flames while other either gained Angry or Fearful looks on their faces.

Gajeel and Natsu looked around at the state of the guild from him just summoning a simple flame and while this may have saddened him not long ago, he has reached a point where he simply couldn't care any more. He has a new family now, Gajeel, Wendy, Happy, Carla, Lily were all he needed. If anyone else wanted to re-ignite an old relationship with him, they would have to make the move not him, but now instead of being sad, him and Gajeel shared a glance with each other before laughing to each other over the reactions.

"Gihihi, the look on your guys faces" Gajeel stumbled his words out between laughs, un able to control himself to how terrified the guild were at the concept of the same flames he had been sparring against for the past week. Gray could not hold his anger in anymore as he sent stood up from his seat, "Natsu, what the hell are you doing using those flames in here?" "What ever do you mean Gray? Am I not allowed to use Magic in the guild anymore?" Natsu asked, feigning ignorance on what Gray is actually referring, "You know damn well what I'm talking about. Those flames are dangerous, you know this" at this Natsu frowned, 'How dare he assume he knows a damn thing about my magic. He has no right to assume he knows anything about me anymore' "Oh? Of course they are dangerous, Gray. They are flames, flames burn things. Its the person using them that defines how dangerous they are. If you actually believe that I would turn these flames against in this guild right now, then you are far more lost than I originally thought"

With that small speech, Natsu turned his back to the guild to continue his conversation with Gajeel and Wendy. All the while Natsu was showing Wendy his new flames, and how he can mix his old and new flames together, she was entranced by the flames. Wendy knew that Natsu would never do anything to harm her so she had no problems admiring the flames, and the beautiful colours they were creating by mixing. Natsu however had been so engrossed and focussed on mixing his flames in different ways and showing his control of the flames by swirling his flames around Gajeel's Iron Club Arm he failed to notice Gray readying his magic to attack Natsu.

Ice-Make: Lance

Was all Natsu heard before the Lances made their way to him. Gajeel and Wendy watched with Wide-Eyes as Natsu was being attacked in the guild by one of his guild mates, however they noticed that just as Gray finished casting the spell, Natsu smirked and the temperature rose very quickly.

The only result of the attack was a fizzling sound and a splash of water hitting Natsu's back, "Oh? Did someone throw some water at me? No? Must have been some weak Ice melting" Natsu stated his thoughts with a humorous undertone, igniting Gray's fury even further, but before he could fully prepare another attack he heard a few words being uttered before a pain sparked in his face and the darkness took over his vision, "Iron Dragon's Iron Club" was all Gajeel said before his arm extended toward Gray's face in the shape of an Iron Club before knocking him into his table throwing, Erza, Lucy and a few other members drinks into the air.

"Next time, control your Ice Princess, he may get hurt other wise" Natsu said without turning to face his old team. The whole guild stood and watched with baited breath. One of their mages just openly attacked a fellow member, but nothing happened. His attack melted before it made contact, and then he dared attack again before being knocked out.

Makarov sat at the top of the bar and could only watch with a saddened expression at what this beloved guild and its children are doing to each other. "Someone take that idiot up to the infirmary before he gets himself hurt" Makarov said before turning back to his conversation with Gildarts and Macao.

"So... what the hell happened while I was away" Gildarts, still not quite grasping everything that has happened with Natsu and the rest of the guild. Sighing, Makarov started explaining everything to Gildarts. The fight with Laxus, his flames, the way the guild had started acting towards him, his new team, everything. All Gildarts could do was look at Natsu with a saddened expression until he caught a glimpse of the smile on his face as he talked to the Slayers and their Exceeds, he couldn't help but grin at the image 'That kid always finds the best in a situation'.

The rest of the day went without problem. Natsu and the Slayers talked most of the day away on the table before going behind the guild to practice some spells. Wendy had taken to training with Natsu throughout the time she has been at the guild, slowly getting stronger with abilities and getting access to some of the spells her Dragon failed to teach her before she disappeared.

The whole guild had roused into discussion when Natsu and his team had the left the building. The discussion was of one topic but surprisingly it had two opinions. "What was Gray playing at then? Just attacking a member of the guild for nothing and an attack from behind aswell" one member asked everyone's question out loud. All the members could do was mutter to themselves the reasons for what they believe is the reason behind his attack.

At Erza's table, she was in a deep discussion with most of the main members and all the people who were going to Tenrou excluding Natsu and Gajeel. The topic of discussion was of Natsu and his new flames but surprisingly it was the control of the flames but not so surprisingly there were still a few members who saw Natsu as some crazed monster that could kill at a moments notice "But if he has more control doesn't that mean it will be easier for him to rampage if he decides to?" Lucy exclaimed mid discussion to the rest of the table. From that there most people could only agree with what she said, "Well, regardless. While on the exam, keep an eye on him, if he does seem to go out of control do what you need to do" Erza stated, while taking a sip of her drink.

Throughout this whole conversation they had failed to notice the growing group of missing mages in the guild, until Levy was about to get a drink from Mira, "Hey where is everyone?" Levy asked, but soon after she spoke those words. There was a deafening boom from out behind the guild and the screams of the guild members.

Erza who jumped to the conclusion of someone attacked, donned her armour "Purgatory Armour" before running around the back of the guild. The first thing she saw was black flames licking at the edge of some grass. Thinking that Natsu had gone crazy again she charged at him with no thought, hoping to incapacitate him before any damage could be done. However would she did not intend was for her sword to simply go through him as if he was not even there, resulting in him blasting her with a fireball.

The crowd around the guild looked on in confusion. First Natsu was showing them his new Fire Body spell, then Erza attacked him, "What the hell Erza?" Natsu yelled, letting his flames flow around his body in case she attacked again. Erza could only look at him in confusion and then the rest of the guild, 'why are they not running?' but her musings were brought to a halt when one of the members spoke up "Erza, he was showing us one of his spells, we came to watch his training with Wendy".

This was enough to make Erza drop her head in shame before swiftly turning on her heel and walking back inside the guild. "Hmph. Well, Wendy, lets continue" and with that Natsu continued to train Wendy in Dragon Magic, while Gajeel used his iron to create targets for Wendy to practice her attacks on before him and Natsu had their daily spar.

The day of the exam had finally arrived. Natsu and Gajeel were on the edge of the boat talking to Wendy who was coming to the island as Mest's partner.

The boat ride to Tenrou, was uneventful. Some members were debating whether or not to go speak to Natsu, others were deciding the best way to avoid him altogether. Natsu and Gajeel were talking about some combination attacks they could use against stronger opponents while Wendy was practising controlling her Wind.

When the boat was nearing the island, Makarov had pulled out a map hologram. This map showed a cave system on the island which was the first test.

Each cave would contain a battle except for the one cave that would give a free pass through the first test. Three mazes will pit a team against one of the S-Class mages, Mira, Erza or Gildarts, while the two other paths will pit teams against each other.

When Makarov had finished explaining the rules, all the teams lined up to start the test, "GO!" Makarov bellowed letting everyone know the start of the test. Natsu and Gajeel activated their magic instantly and leapt off the boat, using the magic to propel them across the water.

They were the first team to reach the beach, so they had the best choice out of all for the cave point. Realising that they will be up against an S-Class at the end of the trial, they decided it would be best to conserve their energy so they took the Free path, hoping it would pay off in the end.

While Natsu and Gajeel were walking in the path that held no scent they were sure they would not encounter anyone at all in the system, until they reached an empty cavern, except the cavern while empty held a strange scent. The scent held nothing but pure death and dread, which unnerved the Dragon Slayers to no end.

"Gajeel, what do you think that smell is?" Natsu asked with a hint of concern over what could possibly give off such a stench. Before he could answer however he heard sobbing coming from in the cave. "Huh?" was all Natsu said before him and Gajeel ran into the cave to find out the cause of the sound.

Entering the cavern they found themselves face to face with young man, he had pitch black hair, wearing black robes and a white sash covering his chest. The strangest thing was that he seemed to have a sad smile while he was crying, but between the smile and the saddened expression, no one could tell if they were tears of sadness or of happiness.

"Natsu?, I wonder? Are you ready to kill me yet?" the man said, while looking directly at Natsu, "Salamander, you know this guy?" Gajeel asked without taking his eyes of the man, both Dragon Slayers tensed when they saw the man, he was clearly the one that is giving off the horrible stench.

"No, I don't think I know him" 'except he seems to be give a nostalgic feel'. "Who are you?" Natsu yelled at the man, his answer was the man looking confused then raising his arm and engulfing it in black mists. Natsu seeing this engulfed his entire body in his Black flames and charged at the man, sending him into the wall of the cave kicking up a cloud of dust and rubble.

"How sad, it seems from the look of your magic, that you have indeed started unravelling that which was lost to you, so many years ago. However, this will not be enough to stop me" the man said before sending a wave of magic at Gajeel, making him gasp for air before dropping to the ground out cold, "Gajeel!" Natsu screamed running over to his friends body, "Bastard, what did you do?!" Natsu yelled at the man, "I simply knocked him out, although I could have killed him, something tells me that this man is important to you in some way, so I will leave him alive. For now. But he does not need to be apart of this conversation" Was all Natsu heard before he too was engulfed in the black mist and knocked out.

At the end of the cave system, there was a clearing that all the successful teams had converged on, however all of them had noticed the missing team, Natsu and Gajeel. However all of them knew it was not because he had failed the test, "Where are Natsu-san and Gajeel-san? I thought they took the free path?" Wendy asked sitting in the clearing helping the wounded, even though her team had failed.

"I don't know, I don't think it should be taking them this long if it was the free path. But then nothing could have really happened could it? If the path is clear after all" Makarov said, nervously eyeing the cavern. It had been around thirty minutes since the first team had entered the cave system.

"Right, Mira, you come with me and lets go see what is kee-" "Help us!" Gajeel interrupted Makarov's order, stumbling through the cave with a knocked out Natsu in his arms. "What happened?" Makarov demanded as he ran over to his fallen child, "Some weirdo was in the cave, he started asking Natsu if he was "Ready to kill him" and something about his flames have finally started unlocking something. Next thing I'm waking up in the cavern with Salamander passed out next to me, but look at his scarf" Gajeel said to the group as they huddled around Natsu fallen form.

While the group were all focussing on trying to heal Natsu or figure out who that guy was. Natsu had woken up to a entirely black space. He was unable to move his body, only observe what was happening in the space. While Natsu was trying his hardest to figure out what was happening. He noticed a figure approaching him. Turning around Natsu saw the man from the cave walking to him with a slightly happier expression than earlier. "This is good, just me being here and you being able to stay awake, shows that you are finally unlocking your true self" the man said to Natsu as he could only stare at him in confusion.

"Who are you?" "I am Zeref" The man, now known as Zeref answered.

"Zeref? As in the Dark Mage?" Natsu asked, genuinely worried for a moment, to be in the presence of such a mage is not a good thing.

"Yes. But this is not the place to be talking of such things. I have brought you here, inside your mind so we may talk without outside interruption, and so I can show you exactly what you are, what has been hidden from you" Zeref stated and almost instantly the area around Natsu started changing. Instead of the regular, black space he had been so used to, he was now faced with a village, a small village, covered in snow, it looked almost... peaceful.

The peacefulness of the village quickly dissolved as the village was suddenly in flames,. Buildings broken down, bodies of the fallen villagers strewn on the floor. The worst thing about this however were the small demons that were crawling all over the area, almost dog-like creatures, gnawing at the bodies of the fallen people, eating the meat from the fallen bodies, while there were people in robes using magic to destroy more of the already decimated village.

"Why are you showing me this?" Natsu asked in a shaky voice, 'This village, it seems so familiar. Why? Why do I feel proud at the destruction taking place?' Natsu was asking himself, however, with Zeref connected to his thoughts, he could tell what Natsu was thinking. "So you are beginning to remember this area? You remember the feeling you got as you watching the village burn to the ground?" No!" "You remember the feeling of pride at the amount of bodies you slaughtered that day?" "What? No!" "You remember how you were hailed as the END of all? How the demons worshipped you?" "B-but, h-how is this possible?" Natsu had finally realised that, these were not simply images, they were memories.

The memories were striking a feeling within Natsu, he could feel his magic reacting but not in the way that it reacts to emotions, this time it felt like the magic was changing, if not simply adapting.

Suddenly, Natsu felt a trembling pain through his entire body, it was not a simple pain from an injury, this felt like his very being was being destroyed from the inside out. The pain as imaginably high as it was, suddenly stopped, he looked at his body, to notice the Black flames were dripping off his being.

"You see Natsu? Do you understand the images I am showing you now?" Zeref asked him while he walked towards the boy, now lying on the ground.

"Is it still to early to fully understand? Maybe. But you should know this, you should know what you are..."

Outside of Natsu's mind scape, the guild watched with fearful eyes as Natsu was shaking and thrashing around, screaming in pain. The black flames, licking his body, but strangely enough they were not burning anything, not even the bed he lay on.

They were all giving worried glances towards the Dragon Slayer, even the people who have been isolating the past months, they could not stand to see a fellow guild member in this much pain. The people who were reacting worst were the other Dragon Slayers and the Exceeds. Wendy was on her knees near Natsu's bed crying, the normally stoic Carla had a worried expression and some un-shed tears in her eyes, Happy seeing that the flames were not burning him, lied down on Natsu's chest, crying for his 'father'. Gajeel had to leave the camp tent, he could not bare seeing his friend in such pain. Over the past few months were they were far closer than they had been before the Laxus incident, they had gained an almost brotherly bond, seeing him in this state only caused pain to the Dragon Slayer.

"Gildarts, when you leave the Island, I want you to take Natsu with you, take him to the guild, get Porlyusica to check him over" Makarov ordered.

"I just nothing happens to him" Makarov muttered to himself while the rest of the group helped get Natsu to the boat, Makarov stayed behind watching the group move away. Suddenly he felt a familiar presence near him, "Mavis, do you have a clue what is happening here?" "I'm afraid this is something that Natsu has to find out for himself Makarov, but you should know. The world as we know it will change, whether it is for the better will be down to Natsu" "I just hope Fairy Tail's light can handle the wind of the coming storm" with that Mavis disappeared to leave Makarov think about what she said.

Timeskip: Week Later

A week had passed since Natsu had passed out in the cave. The entire time he had been in the infirmary of the guild hall. He flames had receded back into his body, his painful thrashings had ceased, now he just lay there, breathing perfectly, not showing any signs of an illness, just a deep sleep that no one can rouse him out of.

The past week has been a sad time for the guild. First one of their members is sent back to the guild with a seemingly unknown injury putting him into a coma state. Then they receive news that the Island Tenrou has been wiped off the map. After an attack from Grimoire heart, the Dragon of the Apocalypse had shown up and destroyed the Island, meaning that the guild was now without its core members, and the only member that was still here from that group is upstairs in coma.

It was truly a dark time for Fairy Tail. They were crippled, the members of the guild had no one to look to for hope, they had to do the unwanted task of finding a new master while also trying to keep the reputation of the guild.

In the infirmary, Natsu started stirring. He had not been simply knocked out for the week. He had been subjected to various memories, although not full memories, they simply showed the bloodshed of many villages and even the occasional town or city. He had gained no answers from the memories, but gained a thousand questions.

Until one memory had showed him something that shook the very remnants of his soul. He had seen what he was, he saw the person standing before him in the reflection of a lake just outside a village he had just decimated. He looked like him, Pink hair, but one side of the hair was blackened, he looked taller than he was now, he had a far more toned body, but the most shocking thing was his skin. It was all black, almost scaled if it wasn't for the odd bit of rotted flesh, that seemed to just stay there instead of simply falling off. He looked like one of those creatures from the village, he looked like, no he finally accepted it. He was... A Demon

(A/N) I hope this doesn't seem to rushed. I experimented with a few ways of revealing it, and whether i should reveal it now. But in the end i thought it was a better way to do it, so i can get into the serious part of the Fanfic.

Next Chapter: Fairy Tail returns from Tenrou after the 7 year time skip. How much has Natsu and the Guild changed in that time? (a/n)