Acnologia wanted to crawl into a hole and die.

He had destroyed Tenrou Island because a) he wanted to destroy it and b) he wanted to kill the Fairy Tail Wizards. He had thought the stupid Flaming Brat would have left with his annoying blue fur ball when he was charging his Chaos Dragon Roar, but obviously he didn't.

Acnologia was so dead. Zeref would torture him so terribly he'll forget what he had done, kill him brutally, revive him as a demon and then kill him again.

Wait, wait Acnologia. The brat's a demon, he can't be killed. He'll be back any day now, demanding August to fight him like he does every day. Of course, that old fart beats his ass everyday.

On day had passed, and then another had passed, and the idiot and his cat still weren't back. Zeref looked like he was going to start panicking. The demons were panicking; Acnologia thought they were emotionless all the time, but it turned out they became very emotional when their master was in grave peril.

"We have to go find Master E.N.D!" Mard Geer screamed, clutching his face and running around the throne room hysterically. Mard Geer, who practically worshipped the idiot, was taking the idiot's disappearance the worse.

"Mard Geer, would you calm down," Zeref sighed, rubbing his temples. "You're giving me a headache."

"Why don't you go find the fire bastard yourselves," Acnologia snapped.

Lamy actually growled at Acnologia. Acnologia flinched. He had never heard the bunny demon growl or do something remotely demonic before. So seeing her growling at him now made him want to burry his head in dirt.

"Don't you dare call our master a 'bastard!'" Lamy howled. "Even though you are a man I'll disfigure you!"

Acnologia, being a man with a hot body (he thought he did anyway, Acnologia could be a narcissist sometimes) and hearing Lamy, the girl who had a weird obsession with men (who knew the bunny demon could be a pervert), threatening to destroy that 'rockin' bod', was a sign of the apocalypse.

"Zeref, get a hold over your demons!" Acnologia yelled, actually sounding afraid of Lamy.

"I can't. Natsu's the only one who can control them," Zeref muttered. "And with him missing, they're going to be a handful."

"WHERE IS THAT IDIOT WHEN YOU NEED HIM —"

"MASTER E.N.D! WHERE ARE YOU?!" Mard Geer yelled.

Zeref muttered something under his breath and extended his hand forward. One after the other, the demons all turned into books, their hysterics gone silent. Acnologia wanted to hug Zeref, but didn't dare to it. Zeref would kill him in a heartbeat.

Zeref was never a touchy feely guy.

"Sting, Rogue!" Zeref called.

The Twin Dragons quickly ran into the room, Wendy close behind them. Lector, Frosch and Carla flew in behind them, Carla had a frown on her face. She wasn't worried about Natsu. She was worried about Wendy's wellbeing to the news that Natsu was missing.

"Have you heard anything from Natsu?" Zeref asked. The three Dragon Slayers shook their heads no. "Acnologia?"

"Well, when I was...uh...getting ready to destroy the island Natsu was there," Acnologia muttered. "He had gotten the Tenrou Jade, so I thought that...he would have left..."

Zeref's eyes widened. "Did he hold the Tenrou Jade?"

Acnologia blinked, confused at what Zeref was getting at. "Yeah..."

Zeref scrunched his eyes closed as if he was in agony, face palming. "You're an idiot Acnologia."

"How am I an idiot?!" Acnologia demanded.

"The Tenrou Jade is an anti-demon weapon," Zeref revealed, talking slowly as if talking to a three year old, which is the age Acnologia acted just about all the time. "It numbs a demon's power. Natsu wouldn't have been able to transform into his Etherious form to fly away."

"That stupid blue exceed was with him," Acnologia pointed out.

"Somehow I think Happy wouldn't have thought to fly Natsu off the island because he thought Natsu wouldn't be able to," Zeref sighed. "You didn't have to destroy the island Acnologia. You could have let Natsu kill them on his own."

"Somehow I think Natsu wouldn't have done that," Acnologia sighed. "His...uh...girlfriend was on the island too."

"Natsu has a girlfriend?" Zeref demanded, eyes turning red in anger. "Who is she? I'm too old to be an uncle!"

"Uh...Erza Scarlet..."

Zeref's mouth dropped open in shock before his eyes seemed to be blazing a deeper red, if that was even possible.

"Natsu was seeing the princess of our enemy when he was sneaking out?" Zeref demanded.

"Wouldn't that have been obvious?" Sting muttered. "Sneaking out and not telling anyone is a big sign of a secret, forbidden romance. That's how it is in the movies."

"I don't watch movies Sting," Zeref muttered. "All those moving pictures hurt my eyes. Plus they're all nonsense."

"That's the point," Sting muttered. Zeref didn't hear him, or if he did he choose to ignore him. Zeref was too upset about the fact his little brother was secretly seeing someone from his worse enemy. Zeref actually didn't care that it was Princess Erza Scarlet, just that it was someone from the light. Zeref didn't want Natsu to go through the same thing he did with the first Queen of Fairy Tail.

A sudden sniggering broke the silence. Sting was covering his mouth, trying to stifle his laughter. Lector, seeming to do what his friend was doing, started laughing even though he didn't know what was so funny.

"Sting, now isn't the time to be laughing," Rogue sighed.

"Fro thinks so too."

"What is funny Sting-San?" Wendy asked.

"N-N-Natsu-San has a g-g-girlfriend!" Sting laughed, no longer being able to contain his laughter. "A demon having a girlfriend! Oh my god, that's priceless! Hahahaha!"

"You are so immature," Acnologia muttered. "You're just jealous that you don't have one."

"What did you just say?!" Sting snapped.

"I said—"

"Would you two shut the fuck up!" Zeref roared. Acnologia jolted, shocked to hear a swear word leave Zeref's mouth. Despite his flaws Zeref was practiacally a saint when it came to a dirty mouth. Zeref had never sworn in his life, and when Acnologia did, he beat him up baddly. Acnologia had always made sure not to swear in front of the Dark Wizard, especially the pink haired brat because Zeref was far worse when it came to Natsu.

"Acnologia, gather all the Spriggan Twelve and Pantherlily," Zeref ordered. "We're attacking Fairy Tail tonight. And Acnologia. You're dead."

Acnologia gulped and nodded. It was going to be a long war.


Natsu felt like he was floating on thin air, his body filled with light. There was nothing as far as the eye could see, just plain white. And he could see, hear and smell nothing. It was just endless nothingness.

"Am I dead?" Natsu found himself asking. Even his voice sounded like nothing. Just an echo.

"No," a voice says through the nothingness. "You are in a deep sleep, just like everyone else on the island."

Natsu looked around, trying to find the source of the voice.

"Who's there?" Natsu called.

In a burst of golden light a woman materialised in front of Natsu. She had long scarlet red haired and dark brown eyes. She was wearing a white halter-type dress that folded on top of itself, a green ribbon tied around her waist to keep it held together. Her feet were bear.

"Erza?" Natsu asked, shocked.

"My name is Ember Scarlet," the woman said. "I'm Erza's mother."

Natsu gasped. Erza's mother? Now that he looked at her closer, her hair was darker, her face more feminine and her eyes looked wiser. She was just an older version of Erza really.

Something clicked in his mind, and Natsu started to mentally panic. Oh crap, was she going to kill Natsu because he was with her daughter? No wait, that was the father that did that. But it was still Erza's mother! He was going to die for sure!

"I'm not interested in marrying Erza, I swear!" Natsu defended himself, getting all polite in front of Erza's mother. If Erza could be scary, where did she get it from? Her mother? If that was the case, then Ember Scarlet would be scarier than her daughter!

"Would you stop being a pain!" Ember Scarlet snapped. Yep, she was scarier than Erza! "Now, for why I'm here. Xanthe!"

Another woman materialised beside Ember Scarlet. She had long brown hair and forest green eyes. She was wearing a pink dress and a pink headband.

"This is Xanthe, the woman from the legend of the Demon and the Maiden," Ember explained.

Natsu gulped. He remembered telling Erza about that legend the night of his and Erza's first night together in the cave. Natsu instantly begun to panic again.

"I'm sorry! Erza can't get pregnant from me, I'm a demon!" Natsu wailed.

"I know that you idiot!" Ember snapped. "But the fact that you slept with Erza is why I'm here with Xanthe."

Alright Natsu, today is the day you're going to die, Natsu thought, gulping. Over protective mother was right in front of him, and she'll no doubt kill him. She had the same magic as Erza, right? Natsu was sure that Erza had inheritated some of her armour, like her Flame Empress Armour.

"Xanthe, tell Natsu the truth about a demon and a human being together."

"When a demon and a human ... uh ... sleep together, it leads to nothing but destruction and tragedy," Xanthe explained. "I slept with a demon and we both died."

Something clicked in Natsu's mind (he wasn't that stupid). Natsu's mouth dropped open in pure shock.

"Are you saying that both Erza and I are going to die?!" Natsu exclaimed.

"That's correct, but I'm here to offer you a deal that will change Erza's fate. But I'm sorry, it won't change yours," Xanthe says sadly.

"What is it?" Natsu demanded, voice hard. "Tell me what I have to do to save Erza's life, to change her fate!"

"Right now Zeref has sent a few soldiers out to Fairy Tail," Xanthe explains. "Zeref is doing this because he thinks you're dead, and his curse is to blame too. You have to use the Tenrou Jade to get rid of that curse. But there's a price."

"You know I'll do anything," Natsu mutters. He'll do anything for Erza and Zeref, the two people he loved the most.

"You have to sacrifice your life to do so."