Natsu and Gray were now going home after a tiring school day, throwing insults to one another as usual.
"Wait up, Natsu!", a voice interrupted them.
Natsu spun around, meeting Mirajane's smile.
"Natsu, we need to talk", she said.
"Sure, go ahead."
Mirajane shook her head. "We need to talk in private."
Gray started to slowly back away from the two. "Umm... I'll just... leave you two alone! BYE!", he yelled and ran away while Natsu started shouting his name.
After a few minutes of 'jerk!' and 'how dare you leave me alone, traitor?!', Natsu turned to Mirajane and sighed.
"Fine. Let's go to my house."
Mirajane giggled and followed him, humming an unknown tune.
Natsu opened the door to his house widely, a bored expression on his face.
"Ladies first", he spoke, stepping out of her way. Mirajane rolled her eyes and entered the house, Natsu following behind. A loud meow welcomed them, and Happy came in from the kitchen, jumping in Natsu's arms, purring and cuddling.
"Who is he?", Mirajane asked.
"Happy, this is Mira. Mira, this is Happy", Natsu replied after hugging his beloved cat. Mirajane stroke Happy's fur, then the cat returned to the kitchen.
"He's lovely. Now, about our little talk..."
"Yeah, yeah, we need to talk", Natsu mimicked before launching himself on the couch. "Say quickly, I have a pretty tight schedule and I need to go to work in a few hours."
Mirajane sat on the couch and looked at him with a serious face. "Ah, about that. I fired you."
.
.
.
"WHAT?!", Natsu shouted. "How the fuck will I earn money now?!"
"I'll handle that', Mirajane spoke calmly. "Now, since you no longer have a job and have more free time, I will have the possibility of answering your questions more in-detail."
Natsu groaned annoyed. "Fine, fine."
Mirajane smiled. Natsu stood still a little before turning to her.
"First question: what are you doing here? You aren't even supposed to be in this world..."
Mirajane's smile fell. She looked down before opening her mouth to speak. "Do you remember what happened?"
Natsu shook his head. "No, only the worst part."
"That's right, you were too little... You were only 4 then..."
- flashback - 14 years ago
It was the 6th of July. Mirajane was supposed to watch over Natsu for the day. She was taking Natsu home from the kindergarten.
"Mira-nee! Look, that girl is crying!", Natsu suddenly spoke, pointing at the other side of the street.
Mirajane looked, but saw nothing. "Natsu, there's nothing-", she turned to him, but he was gone. Her eyes searched for him until she spotted him, running to the other side of the street. A truck was nearing him.
"NATSU, LOOK OUT!"
Mirajane ran desperate, throwing Natsu on the other side of the street.
CRASH!
Natsu's eyes searched for Mirajane, until he spotted her.
She was laying in a pool of her own blood, under the wheels of the vehicle that stopped too late. Her body was broken. Natsu turned around for the little girl, only to see her looking at the dead body with a sadic smile before disappearing without a trace.
Natsu ran to Mirajane's side when it was safe for him to cross. He shook her dead body, hoping she will rise from the ground and smile at him as always.
"Mira-nee... Wake up... You gotta take me home..."
He received no response as her head fell awkwardly to the side.
"M-Mira-nee... Come on, wake up..."
Tears gathered in his eyes as Mirajane stood silent. He hugged her, burying his face into her white hair stained with blood.
"M-Mira-nee... Y-You promised me y-you'll buy me a c-cake... T-Tomorrow's my b-birthday, remember?...", he whispered, his voice cracking. "W-Wake u-up...'
A man put a hand on his shoulder.
"She's dead, kid. She won't wake up", he spoke emotionless.
"N-N-No...", Natsu whispered, hugging her closer.
The man decided to let him be and walked away from him. Natsu raised up on his knees, looking at his small hands. They were now dirtied with her blood. His little body was shaking as he stared at the blood, his bottom lip trembling.
"M-Mira-nee... W-Wake u-up..."
His vision blurred with tears. He didn't acknowledge the crowd of people that suddenly surrounded him.
"M-MIRA-NEE!", Natsu shouted, letting tears flow freely on his cheeks. He covered his face with his hands as he started crying loudly over Mirajane's death.
Natsu gulped as tears clouded his vision as soon as he remembered the scene. He wiped them away furiously.
"Damn...", he whispered. "I'm not supposed to cry now..."
"You always cared a lot for me...", Mirajane murmured with a sad smile. "After your father disappeared, you changed... from a loud kid into a caring little boy that wanted company more than anything... And it seems that, after my own death, you changed again... You're afraid, aren't you?"
Natsu looked down at the ground, refusing to look her in the eye. "What's the point of having friends if they'll die like all the others? Igneel disappeared, I think he's dead since I haven't heard anything about him in fifteen years, Lisanna died from a heart disease, Elfman was killed by a wolf when he got lost in the forest, you died... Then Freed and Evergreen were murdered. From that day I decided to stop getting so attached to people and I only spoke to Gray. He is like a brother to me, but I'm afraid he'll die too...". Natsu sighed, putting his hands on his knees. "I'm like a bad luck charm. Whenever I get close to someone, they die. I cried enough; I don't want to deal with the death of loved ones anymore..."
Mirajane looked at him with sad eyes, frowning. Natsu has been put through so much since her death...
Natsu was looking down, no expression written on his face, but Mirajane could tell he was crying on the inside. He suddenly turned his head to her, startling her a little.
"Why are you here now? It took me so much to move on... So why now?", he said.
"This... is hard to explain..."
"You either answer me in any way possible or watch me walk away and finally move on with my life", Natsu spoke harshly.
Mirajane gulped. "You... are not totally normal..."
Natsu raised an eyebrow, confused. "What do you mean?"
"Do you know who the Keeper of the Sacred Flames is?"
Natsu shook his head in disagreement.
"Do you know what the Sacred Flames are?"
Natsu shook his head again. Mirajane sighed and stood quiet a little, gathering her thoughts.
"The Sacred Flames were created by the Great Fire Dragon King to maintain balance between all existing worlds. The Sacred Flames need to be carried by someone to function, and that person is called the Keeper of the Sacred Flames. It's simple: a living being existing in any of the five original realms is chosen to carry the Sacred Flames and becomes a Keeper. After his demise, another Keeper is chosen. Thus, there's balance. It's a neverending circle."
"Nice story, now what does that have to do with me?", Natsu said boringly, interrupting her speech.
"Let me finish!", Mirajane scoffed. "So, the balance is kept as long as the circle repeats. But, five hundred years ago, a strange mortal buried with the curse of immortality and dark magic, created a new world and populated it with human-like creatures created by himself. These creatures are known as demons. They swore to fulfill Zeref's greatest desire, which was his own death, but none of them was powerful enough to do so. After some time, when Zeref suddenly disappeared without a trace, his demons decided to steal the Sacred Flames to gain enough power to find and kill their creator. The other realms declared war against the demons, and therefore started the war between the five original realms and Zeref's realm, which is continuing even today. The demons were always outnumbered by us, so we always won. But lately, the demons decided to use tricks to steal the Sacred Flames directly from the Keepers, when they are still inexperienced and therefore vulnerable."
"I still don't get what this has to do with me", Natsu interrupted again, yawning.
Mirajane glared at him, growling, and thus catching Natsu's attention before she started speaking again. "The Keeper is chosen when he/she reaches adulthood. He/She is chosen in the Dream Realm, and if he/she survives when the Sacred Flames enter his/her body, he/she becomes a Keeper. Remember that dream when you saw me? "
"More like a nightmare...", Natsu grumbled before nodding.
"Well, that's when you became a Keeper yourself."
.
.
.
"...So I'm a Keeper dude who's going to die?"
Mirajane facepalmed. "No, you are most definitely not going to die if you listen to me you dork!"
Natsu shrugged and stretched his limbs. "What's next?"
"To increase the security of the Keepers and of the Sacred Flames, a guardian is chosen before the Keeper. That guardian is usually someone who is or was close to the next Keeper, and it doesn't matter if the future guardian is alive or not, as you can see. The guardian is sealed within the Sacred Flames to burn continuously until the next Keeper releases him/her. The guardian need to have knowledge about the war, the other realms and so on."
"Sooo, you're my guardian?"
"Of course."
"And I'm the Keeper dude?"
"Yes."
"Okay, fine, I'll think about it once I've eaten something and once you leave", Natsu said, preparing to shoo her away.
"I can cook."
His eyes lightened up at the news.
"YOU CAN STAY AS LONG AS YOU WISH!"
Mirajane giggled and moved to the kitchen. Natsu was send in his room to do his homework.
But someone was still watching them, and crying for them...
I'll try to make my chapters a bit longer.
If you don't understand something that happens in the story, feel free to PM me. I'll reply for sure.
I hope you liked it!