Valkyrie's Time
A/N: enter... DARK KOWABA! Dun Dunn Dunnnn! Haha yes, it was only a matter of time before I came up with this dark and tragic story! Now let us begin, in a story where Natsu turned his back on Fairy Tail.
Disclaimer: I do not own the Fairy Tail series or any characters in said series.
Warnings: Slight OOC and gore. Not to mention it's pretty sad.
"I don't know about this..." - Regular Speech
'I need to get back!' - Regular Thought
"Ora Ora Ora Ora Ora!" - Attack
"The Northern Fortress, Monday 2:36 p.m." - Place Setting
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6 Years Ago
"Dammit! You bastard... how could you turn your back on family!" Gray spat, clutching his gushing wound as his consciousness began to fade. With blurry vision and slow, ragged movements, Gray slowly pushed his upper body up in Natsu's direction. "You knew you couldn't beat me one on one, that's why you had her help you!" He shouted, throwing his pointer finger in the direction of another woman who was also on the battlefield.
Dimaria, who was wiping her hands free of the blood of Gray's allies, scoffed at him as she finished making the pile of corpses. "Only a weak man who has been defeated will make such an outrageous claim. Pay him no mind Natsu, he's on his last breath anyways." She glared at the Ice Make Wizard.
Gray nearly fell apart when he say what the blonde had done to his fellow Fairy Tail members. His friends, his comrades, his families. They had killed them all. Whoever was able to cling to their fading life was quickly hunted down and dispatched by the Spriggan 12. And Natsu was the cause of all this, if he hadn't switched teams this never would've happened. All this ruin and pain was because of him.
"I can't believe you..." Gray said with tear filled eyes and trembling lips, not taking his eyes off of the numerous piles of bodies. "They were your friends Natsu, your family! And you killed them! Slaughtered them like animals!" He began to weep. "To think at one point... I actually called you my br- ah!" He coughed up blood as Dimaria's sword quickly found its way through his back and out his chest.
Natsu, with a stoic face, looked at Dimaria. "Why did you kill him? He was still speaking!" He said.
Dimaria just waved him off as she walked next to him and leaned on him. "The damn fool was just prattling on about friends and family," she snorted. "Didn't he realize by now that I'm all the family you'll ever need?" She finished with a sultry look. Her eyes her half lidded and her smile was nothing short of seductive. She gently took his face into her hands and began to lean in for a kiss. "Killing all these week idiots has gotten me really horny... promise me you'll help me take care of it." Dimaria spoke softly.
Natsu just went completely slack as she crashed her soft, welcoming lips onto his. Since she liked being the dominant one in the relationship, Dimaria took full advantage of Natsu's utter obedience with glee. Natsu closed his eyes and so did she, the kiss took them far away from this place. It was only when they needed air did they pull away from each other and a small string of saliva connected their lips.
"I hope you aren't pushing yourself too far..." Natsu whispered as he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into a loving embrace.
The blonde warrior just chuckled and patted him on the head. "Have no fear darling, no harm will come to our unborn child. I am protecting this token of our love far more than any other living being." She proclaimed.
Natsu was about to comment, but a pained groan interrupted the two. Looking over at the moving object on the floor, it surprised Natsu to see that Lucy was still, in fact, alive and was currently crawling over to her dead comrades.
"G-Gray..." she sobbed as she saw him lying lifelessly on the floor. "Erza... where's Erza?" The blonde Celestial Mage asked next.
Dimaria laughed haughtily as she walked over to the crawling blonde. "Oh ho ho, you're Lucy Heartfilia, aren't you?" She asked rhetorically. "I know because a few of my male coworkers have expressed their lust for you many times. I wonder... should I present you to them as a token of good will?" She laughed when Lucy pleaded for mercy.
"P-Please! Stop this!" She begged.
"Not a chance sweetie," Dimaria gave her a cold smirk before stomping on her head, effectively ending the life of Lucy Heartfilia. Natsu got one last look at the cold, dead eyes of his once best friend. But then the world started to grow darker...
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The Present
"Ahhhh!" Natsu hollered as his upper body jolted up out of his bed. His body was sore and covered in sweat from the nightmare. His chest rose up and down rapidly as he tried to catch his breath. When Natsu grabbed a handful of his bedsheets, he felt the soft, cooling silk fill his palm. That was when he remembered where he was.
Bedsheets rustled next to him and he looked to his left to see his wife and love rise next to him. "What's wrong?" She asked softly as she wrapped her arm around Natsu and held him close.
Natsu just blinked as the side of his face was pressed into his wife's soft, naked chest, this was one of the few moments where he wished his lover would wear clothes to bed. Looking up, Natsu stared into Dimaria's eyes. "Nothing, just a dream. Let's go back to bed before we wake Dante." Natsu whispered as he tried to free himself of his wife's grasp.
Dimaria didn't let him escape. "No, we're not going to sleep until you tell me what your dream was about. Either you tell me or I'll get Brandi to shrink you so I can crush you..." she threatened. Natsu chuckled hollowly as he knew she was not joking.
"Geez, I can't keep secrets from you, can I?" He asked as he wrapped his own arm around her waist.
"Nope!" Dimaria laughed as she pulled on one of his cheeks teasingly. "Now tell your beautiful wife what's wrong."
Natsu sighed deeply and his shoulders slumped. "I... I had a dream where we... killed all the members of Fairy Tail..." he revealed. Initially he did not want to tell Dimaria as his allegiance now allied with her and Zeref, so he had no idea how she would react.
"Oh..." Dimaria said as she pulled her arms back from around him which sent him into caution mode, since he had no idea how she would react, he had to be on full alert to ensure his safety. Fortunately for him, Dimaria didn't seem too bothered by it and she gently slid out of bed and wrapped herself in a loose, gold silk robe. Natsu felt claustrophobic being surrounded in all this silk and gold, but he stomached it for the sake of his wife as Dimaria proffered to surround herself in things related to victory.
"We didn't kill them, you know that because we defeated them together. You stopped me from killing them and instead had me imprison them. We can go to the dungeons tomorrow if you wish to confirm it." She spoke as if she was speaking to a subordinate.
"Are mad?" Natsu asked timidly, still clearly worried.
Dimaria turned back around to look at him and smiled brilliantly. "Not at all, I'm just a bit miffed that you're worrying about this right now, six years after that happened. But if you want to go down there tomorrow, I'll take you... on one condition of course." Her eyes twinkled with mischief.
Natsu rose an eyebrow in question. "What do you want...?" He asked.
Dimaria slowly began to crawl onto the bed with a seductive look, her loose robe bearing her generous chest as she crawled towards him. "I want you to-"
Creeeeaaaak!
The door to their bedroom slowly opened and a small silhouette came halfway through the door. "Mom? Dad?" A small, scared voice called out into the darkness.
"Dante," Dimaria spoke out, still on her hands and knees approaching Natsu. "Go back to bed, your father and I are busy." She commanded.
"But mom! I'm scared!" The poor boy whined, not wanting to go back to the black abyss of darkness that was his room. "I don't want to be alone."
Natsu was about to get up and comfort his son but was stopped when Dimaria got up first. The buxom blonde groaned as she got up and approached her child. She now towered over the smaller blonde with her arms crossed and a stern look on her face. "Dante, go back to your room and face your fears, I will not stand to have my child accept defeat. Don't let them scare you."
Dante trembled under his mother's powerful gaze. She was always like this when he was afraid. She was normally a decent mother but when he was either scared or defeated at anything, she'd scold him. Dimaria truly was a winner to the core.
"Mom..." he tried to say but she wasn't having any of it.
"Go to your room, I won't say it again." She growled and peered down at him, looking down her nose at him.
Natsu just looked at his own flesh and blood son and decided to act. "Dimaria, please, be nicer to him. It's normal for kids to be afraid of the dark. I'm sure you were even afraid of the dark." He jested.
Dimaria's cold look shifted to one of mirth and scoffed at the notion. "Bullshit, when I was young, I was the most powerful being in my village."
"Not everyone can make a deal with gods ya know..." he joked as he stepped in between the two and took his son by the shoulder. "Come Dante, I'll make sure the big, scary monsters don't get you."
"Dad!" Dante whined. "They're not monsters! I'm not three!"
Dimaria just huffed and went to sit down at the foot of her grand bed. She loved those two very much but she would prefer that they listen to her more, it was quite annoying for her to be cast aside while they bond. The mother only wished for her son to grow up strong and not be babied by his father. That was why she wanted to have Natsu give her another child, hopefully one that would bring honor and victory to her family.
"Well it looks like there's no use and going back to bed... it's only three in the morning..." she whined as she hopped into bed and turned on her bedside lamp. She might as well finish that damn book Brandish got her for Christmas otherwise she'd never hear the end of it from the green haired woman. "To think I could've been getting laid right now..." she grumbled.
Zeref's Alvarez Castle, Wednesday 10:49 a.m.
"No running Dante," Dimaria chided as she held hands with her husband, walking down the long corridor that led to the dungeons where a handful of mages from Fiore were held.
It seemed that his mother's words never reached his eyes as the boy kept running down the stone passage way, his father's scarf flapping in the wind. "Hurry up! I want to see the guards and their giant swords!" He laughed.
Natsu smirked at his son's eagerness. He wasn't the least bit discomforted by the fact that he was going to see his former allies chained away in prison cells. It's not like he didn't try to get them to come over to his side, but they refused. They made their choice and so did he, they just happened to make the wrong choice. That's why he had new friends and family now.
He looked over at Dimaria who was shaking her head at the boy's excitement. "That boy..." she grumbled.
"Relax Mari," Natsu smiled, "he's just excited, let the kid have fun."
"I know, I just wish he would take this seriously, does he not understand that this isn't a fun place to be? That this is where the losers end up?" She asked.
"Well maybe he just doesn't believe in losing," Natsu said sagely.
Dimaria rolled her eyes, "oh please. There's only two types of people in this world: winners and losers. Natsu, are family is a family of winners. Never forget that." She told him.
Natsu just chose to stay silent, not bothering to try and argue with Dimaria's narrow minded logic. He found out a long time ago that even if you win, you could still lose everything.
It wasn't long until the two caught up with their child who was nearly harassing the guard with his questions. "Dimaria-sama!" They saluted.
Seeing the two guards at the gate salute and respect her, Dimaria perked up a little from being acknowledged for her excellence. "At ease. Just direct us to the cells of the Fairy Tail prisoners." She commanded.
The guard on the left nodded. "Prisoners Gray Fullbuster, Lucy Heartfilia, Lisanna and Elfman Strauss, and Cana Alberona are being held in Sub-level B4. Laxus Dreyar is in Sub-level B6 and Erza Scarlet is currently with Belserion-sama in the torture chamber."
Dimaria nodded her thanks. "Thank you, now please make sure that whenever you see a child running down from now on, tell them that this isn't a playground." She scolded.
"Hai Dimaria-sama!" They saluted.
The blonde woman just shook her head and grasped Natsu's hand again to lead him to the floor where his old guild was being held. Natsu also nodded to the guards who respectfully bowed as the brother of the emperor walked off. Natsu may not have really acknowledged it, but he was technically a prince of Alvarez, making Dimaria a princess.
It did not take the three long before they arrived at the stone cells of the once mighty and powerful mages. Maybe at one time they were strong and honorable, but here they were just gutter rats, clinging to the last breath as they struggled to survive.
"Well, well, well... what do we have here?" Dimaria mocked with a smirk as she walked down the stone hallway, looking into the cells to see the Fairy Tail mages. "You all look pitiful, absolutely pitiful. Not to mention you create the most horrendous stench I've smelt in years!" She bellowed with laughter, mocking the poor souls.
Natsu also passed the cells, looking in them to see the dirty, ragged faces of his former friends. He held onto his son's hand as they walked, but stopped when they came across a certain cell. The cell of Lisanna Strauss.
"N-Natsu..." she croaked out as she saw her childhood friend. She leaned over against the bars and held onto them tightly. "It's been so long... why are you here?" She asked softly, her voice dry from the lack of water.
Natsu crouched down and gently cupped her face. "I needed to make sure of something, that's it." He said rather coldly.
Tears began to well in her eyes. "W-What... what happened to you Natsu?" She choked. "What happened? You used to be a good man, but then..." her eyes turned to the blonde haired, brown eyed boy known as Dante Dragneel. "You had him and everything changed!" She wept.
Natsu stood up and backed away from the cell bars, holding his son close. Dimaria soon made her way over to their cell and crouched down next to Lisanna.
"Listen snowflake," Dimaria said cockily. "Dry those tears, they're not doing you any good. Natsu made his decision and now look, he's the one that's free and you're the one that's locked up. You should've joined when you had the chance and maybe you'd be free like us."
Lisanna threw her hands up to her face as she began to sob uncontrollably. "Where's my sister? Where's Mirajane?" She asked.
Dimaria cupped her chin in thought. "Mirajane Strauss? Hmm... I think I remember seeing her be passed around by some guards a few nights ago... or was that Jenny Realight? Oh yeah, now I remember, it was Jenny who got a train ran on them by guards. Mirajane was married off to some foreign noble." Dimaria said. "But don't worry, at least she had the brains to shut up and go with it so now she's loving a life of luxury."
And with that, the family moved down a few more cells. Natsu didn't even bother trying to antagonize Gray. The man went silent the minute he was thrown in prison, which was nearly six years ago. Most prisoners have started a rumor that his tongue was cut out but Natsu knew that wasn't true.
Natsu's final destination was the cell of Lucy Heartfilia. Dimaria walked ahead so she alone stood in front of the steel bars, smirking victoriously as she stood there with her arms crossed under her chest.
"Sup bitch!" The standing blonde greeted. "Have the strength to respond today? If so, I'd be glad to beat it out of you!" Dimaria threatened.
Lucy just groaned weakly as she struggled to get back on the bench on the far wall. "You..." she couldn't even finish her insult as she began to cough violently. When she looked back at Dimaria and saw that her husband and son had joined her. "Natsu..." she spar, showing her disgust.
"Need any help?" Natsu asked in a mono tone, clearly not going to help her.
"Dad?" Dante pulled on his vest. "Why do all of these prisoners know your name?" He asked.
Instead of Natsu answering his question, Dimaria crouched down next to her son and put her hand on his shoulder. "You see Dante, this is the place where losers end up. This woman used to be friends with your father but betrayed him to stay on the losing side. This scum doesn't have what it takes to be a winner." She instructed.
"Oh..." Dante awed as his mother parted onto him her guidance. "So if we win, we can live in a big castle like Uncle Zeref?" He asked.
Dimaria smirked. "Precisely, I have to admit you're catching on fast. And you know what? I dare say your father and I are the biggest winners, you know why? We put all these people in here. That is what makes us winners."
When Dante looked up at Natsu, the pink haired father just nodded. "Sometimes you do crazy things for love."
Gray, who was in the cell next to Lucy's, just scoffed and spat on the ground behind Natsu's foot, unbeknownst to the Fire Dragon Slayer.
"Alright, that's enough for today's outing. Let's let the losers get their beauty sleep." Dimaria chuckled.
Natsu smirked as he took a step back, unknowingly stepping onto the liquid shot from Gray's mouth, causing him to slip in surprise. Dimaria and Dante rushed to reach out and grab Natsu as he fell but sadly they weren't fast enough.
"Natsu/Dad!" They shouted in unison.
Natsu just fell like a feather, feeling weightless in the air. When he thought he hit the ground, he didn't. He just kept falling as his world turned back. The last thing he saw were the faces of his loving family.
The world went dark.
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A Bar in Crocus During the Grand Magic Games
"Umm, can I have my hand back?" Dimaria asked as she looked at Natsu who stood there like a stone with her hand still clasped in his.
Natsu began to blink rapidly as he felt his heart rate regulate and his consciousness returned. 'What the hell? What was that!?' He asked himself in his head. One minute he was meeting this nice girl and then all of a sudden, he was way into the future talking about events he had no idea about. Just what happened? Why did he have a vision of his possible future?
And why was it so grim? What does he do to make his fate travel down the road that leads to his betrayal of his friends? But something even more bizarre seemed to confuse him. He was with the exact girl that was currently standing in front of him. And by the looks of it, they had a family and he was fairly happy. What was going on?
"So..." the blonde started awkwardly. "I introduced myself, are you going to-"
"Dimaria." Natsu said with a tone of familiarity.
Dimaria just blinked as well. "Yeah? That's my name, don't wear it out." She joked.
But Natsu didn't seem entertained. "Who are you?" He asked.
That confused Dimaria almost as much as he was confused. "I told you, I'm a traveler from-"
"Cut the bullshit dammit! Tell me who you are!?" Luckily for Natsu, there was so much commotion from the festivities that no one heard his outburst.
"What the hell are you talking about!?" Dimaria asked, becoming a nervous breakdown on the inside. 'Fuck! Zeref-sama will be pissed if I go back to him without seducing his brother like he asked! He may just have my head for it!'
"You know damn well what I'm talking about!" He then leaned in close. "I know you work for Zeref." He whispered which caused Dimaria's eyes to shoot wide open. But she didn't have time to respond as Natsu took her hand and began leading her out. "We're gonna go sit down and have a nice, quiet talk about this. I'm not going to let you screw your life over for the sake of not losing. You're better than that Dimaria, I know you are." He told her.
Dimaria stayed silent, completely shocked by this turn of events. Completely unknown to both her and Natsu, when they first touched, Chronos' preeminent power of time gave Natsu a glimpse into his future. Fortunately for Fiore and the world as they knew it, this gave Natsu ample time to fix it. He didn't know why or how he saw the future, but he knew damn well he had to change it.
But still, why he wanted to change the horrible future, there was one thing he wished wouldn't change. His future son, Dante. The poor boy who had a heart of gold but was sadly born into the wrong world. Natsu wished things could be different but sadly, the needs of the many would outweigh the needs of the few in this situation. He couldn't afford to be selfish when the lives of his friends, and Dimaria's, was on the line.
"If you know who I am," Dimaria started cautiously. She may have believed in her own strength, but even she knew she couldn't best a whole city of mages and the magic council if her current predicament went sour. "Are you going to turn me in?" She asked.
"No, I just want to ask a few questions, that is all. Then I'll let you go back to Zeref." Natsu responded, squeezing her hand.
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-Time Skip to After the Alvarez War-
Fairy Tail Guild Hall
"Are you ready to talk to her?" Erza asked as she put her hand on Natsu's shoulder and squeezed it, reassuring him that she supported him. She heard the story straight from Natsu's mouth and knew exactly what he was giving up for their sake. She may not have wanted to be imprison, experimented on by her own supposed mother, but she knew how much Natsu valued family. But nonetheless, she was proud of him for prying Dimaria for information on who the Spriggan 12 were and their abilities.
Natsu just scratched the back of his head nervously. "I gotta talk to her at some point, might as well be now. Besides, I have my own reasons." He said solemnly. Erza just nodded, not bothering to ask what he was alluding to. She stepped to the side and let him walk into the faux interrogation room.
When Natsu walked into the room, he was greeted with the sight of a bruised, beaten, and defeated Dimaria Yesta who was strapped to a chair with her head hanging down. Natsu grimaced, this wasn't the Dimaria he supposedly married in the future. That Dimaria was a proud, strong warrior while this woman was a broken woman.
"Are you hungry?" He asked worriedly. "If you want, I can go get you something?"
Dimaria shook her head but didn't look up. "No, I'm fine."
"You sure?" He asked again while walking up to her and crouching so he was looking at her at eye level. "I want to, you look kinda pale."
"Just leave me alone," she whispered.
Of course Natsu wasn't going to listen. "Look, when we first touched, I saw something. I saw a happy future of us together, we even had a kid." Natsu stated bluntly.
"That's the cheesiest pickup line I've ever heard..." she whispered with a tone hinting of laughter.
"It's true Dimaria, and after I heard what your power was, about Chronos, I believe it was fate. Fate wanted me to see what would happen if I just let you make all my decisions for me and give myself to you. That was a future where I was giving ninety percent in the relationship. But now I want an equal relationship where we're both giving our full attention and passion. If we can work together, we can have that happy future but without so much pain and suffering." Natsu preached.
Dimaria finally looked up, revealing her red, bloodshot eyes. "If you saw what you saw, why didn't you just let me seduce you and save myself from this horrible state?" She asked.
Natsu put one of his hands on her knee, "because my friends were suffering Dimaria. I gave up on us so they could live. It wasn't an easy choice, especially knowing I'd have to give up Dante-"
"Our son?" She guessed. "I always wanted to name my son Dante." She revealed.
"We could still have him Dimaria, there's still time!" Natsu said.
Dimaria just scoffed at him. "Oh please, as soon as you walk out, they're going to haul me to some prison somewhere and I'll never see the light of day again."
"No, because I won't let them take you. I'm not gonna let you leave me again, not when I know we belong together. I'll fight them off till the very end if I have to." He said with conviction.
Dimaria looked up at him. "Prove it."
The End
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A/N: Well this was a different little one shot. I kinda liked it. It started out dark and moved to be brighter. Well, as always, fav and follow and review, tell me if you want another one shot like this as these can be pretty fun to do. Anyways, everyone have a nice summer break and I should be back to regular schedule. Peace!