AN: I thought that spellbound and spell bound meant the same thing. Imagine my surprise when my English-English dictionary told me they were different.

#3) Spellbound

"And the beast inside came out,

spellbinding all the souls who dared to look at it."

They were all set in defeating Zeref even if they needed to find a way to kill the black wizard and that was a constant worry in his mind. Along with the book. He knew that if something happened to the book, he would also feel it. And the worst case scenario, if Gray got his hands on the book… Just picturing it made him feel sick.

The worries were eating his insides, but he kept his regular face on, so that his friends wouldn't worry about him. They had bigger issues to solve right now, he couldn't be a burden to the others.

And so the troubled boy kept fighting, with a fake smile and a worrying attitude.

But when faced with the choice, he gave away his internal struggle. Throw the final blow on the opponent right in front of him or saving the book. On a last moment thought, he dove right for the book, holding it like a precious treasure and rolling to absorb impact.

And the next moment, all eyes were set on him. Natsu didn't understand. Had his mistake been that big that all the others stared at him like he wasn't their companion? All the sounds were unrecognizable, buzzing on his ears like annoying mosquitos. Until he heard the only one which sounded different.

"You don't understand what's going on, but have you tried looking at yourself?"

The dragon slayer raised his hands, but they weren't hands anymore. Instead of hands he now had… claws? Claws with dragon-like scales of a darkish red that resembled way too much the color of blood.

The buzzing died down and he could finally get part of what was being said in that place.

"…chance! END…here!"

Angry voices shouting at each other, discussing something. He had no idea of what was the talk about, but his gut feeling couldn't avoid telling him it wasn't good. His lips moved and the words fell from them, even though he didn't want to say anything.

He once again became the target. Questions were fired and he just averted his gaze from the questioning people there.

And the sound of sobs reached his ears. A sound he knew but loathed from the bottom of his heart. And for a brief moment, Natsu regained control.

"Don't… don't cry…" He looked at the tear stained face of his partner in a tender way. For a moment he thought everything would be okay after all that mess was over. For a single moment he was naïve enough to believe in an ending in which the demon got the happily ever after.

A wrath filled cry came from his rival and friend, and reality dawned on him. The demon slayer's rage filled eyes spoke more than any of the words shot around.

Because END knew that one would perish, for both the demon and the slayer couldn't coexist anymore.

And in a span of time no longer than seconds, once more a dream trigger broke, leaving only the dust of a wish behind it.