AN: Quick apology for the wait. Three things really quickly. 1, college started so time to write is few and far between but I won't stop. 2, I struggled with this chapter because I'm not confident in my ability to write fight scenes, so review and tell me if I passed or if it completely sucked. And 3, to make up for the wait, this chapter is longer. Enjoy!
"Alright, Brain. I'm all fired up!" Natsu shouted as he punched his right fist into his left palm. With a roar of "Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!" the spikey pink haired dragon slayer launched himself at the Guildmaster of Oracion Seis, aiming a fiery fist at Brain's face.
"You have no chance against me maggot. Accept your inevitable defeat and feel the ultimate power of Nirvana." The white haired male said as he easily slipped by the incoming fist and retaliated with his own attack.
"Dark Capriccio!" a beam of green and orange energy spiraled out of the skull tipped staff he gripped and slammed into Natsu, knocking the younger male clear off his feet and throwing him a few feet backwards. "I am the master of Darkness Magic. It is one of the Lost Magics. You can't hope to beat me."
Natsu's eye twitched. The man bragged more than Laxus, something that he had not believed possible because the lightning magic user's arrogance was unparalleled. Brain's grandstanding speeches did nothing more than inflate his already oversized self-inflated ego.
Black eyes narrowed as he used fire blasted from the soles of his feet to propel himself forward. This battle was going to be harder than he had anticipated, and he could not blindly charge in screaming his every attack like he usually did. This time Natsu would have to plan his attacks. "Fire Dragon's Wing Attack!" Natsu took hold of Brain, arms and hands igniting, and through the dark wizard across the circular room.
His opponent crashed into the ceiling, raining down dust and rubble on the dragon slayer. Natsu coughed to expel the dust he inhaled and was blindsided by a stream of dark magic that slammed him into the wall. The pink haired mage groaned as he pushed himself up on one knee to find another Dark Capriccio streaming towards him. The attack was easily dodged, but Natsu was at a distinct disadvantage. Somehow, this Brain guy was capable of flying.
'Well, time to even up the playing field.' Natsu smirked as flames roared into life, swirling around him creating a wind that rustled his clothes and formed a pair of fiery wings attached to his shoulder blades. One flap from his fire wings launched him into the air.
He paused his ascent in front of a disbelieving Brain. "You're not the only one that can fly, you bastard!" Fire flared around both his fists. Natsu brought them together, creating the ultimate fireball, "Fire Dragon's Brilliant Flame!"
The resounding explosion from his attack had sent both men slamming into opposite walls. A few beats of his wings cleared the dust and smoke to reveal a sight Natsu never wanted to see.
Standing off to his left and below him in the entrance to the room was the last man the pink haired dragon slayer ever wanted to see and the one he so desperately wanted to destroy. Jellal stood, a confused look on his face, a weird red tattoo, and black eyes sweeping the room, dressed in a dark shirt, a gold trimmed blue jacket, dark pants, and laced boots. His dark eyes stopped on Natsu.
A smile broke out on his face.
A fucking smile. Natsu could not believe that bastard had the nerve to smile at him like they were best friends after what he had done to Erza. The blue haired man had tried to kill them. There was no way he could waltz right into his battle and do whatever the hell it was he planned on doing.
And then he spoke. "Natsu Dragneel. I remember you."
Blood raced through Natsu's veins. His blood felt like it was boiling. His heart pounded harder and faster. His black eyes were riveted on the man who once dared called himself Erza's friend, on the man that said his name. Rage burned inside him, growing more chaotic as the two wizards stared each other down.
Natsu forgot all about Nirvana's affect as he glared at Jellal. "I could never forget the man that made Erza cry. I'll make you pay for that. You'll suffer ten times the pain she felt when I'm through with you. And you'll like it." All this was growled with a dark smile on Natsu's face.
His rage, anger, hate, and desire for revenge overpowered him, and the pink haired dragon slayer launched into a flurry of punches and kicks that were naturally stronger than normal due to him being a dragon slayer and further enhanced by channeling pure magic to his fists and feet.
"Dragon Slayer's Secret Art," Natsu's voice was guttural and animalistic, "Crimson Lotus: Fire Dragon's Fist!" Lighting his hands on fire, Natsu rapidly punched his opponent. Each punch caused a fiery explosion.
Jellal feebly defended himself by crossing his arms in front of his face as Natsu rained down fiery fist after fiery fist. He made no move to counter attack until the fire magic user paused in his relentless attack.
Natsu had been so sure that he had defeated Jellal with one of his more powerful attacks that he was very surprised to see the man still standing when he stopped. He was unscathed, bruises, burns, and scratches littered his body, although Natsu had no clue where the scratches came from. It wasn't like he had long nails.
A quick glance at his fingers showed that his nails had elongated, hardened and sharpened to a point. His hand had become a claw and his fingers transformed into talons.
The shock of his new transformation ability was enough to break Nirvana's grip on Natsu, and he stared amazed at what used to be human hands. His skin was now covered with dark red overlapping scales. Sharp curved talons extended from the end of his, was it called toes now?
"Natsu." A deep voice broke the pinkette from his admiration of his new hand. "I'm sorry for whatever it is I did to you. I can't remember much, very little actually, but I remember you and Erza Scarlet. I could never forget that red hair. I know I hurt you both. I want to make up for it. I want to pay for my mistakes, right the wrongs I made."
Natsu glared at the blue haired man sprawled on the ground. Jellal had just apologized, something that normally would solve everything as far as he was concerned, but he couldn't forgive him. Jellal was supposed to be Erza's closest friend when they were enslaved and forced to construct that damned Tower of Heaven. He shared her suffering and pain. Her hopes and dreams.
And he had betrayed her. He threatened her friends, both old and new. He kidnapped her. He tried to sacrifice her to revive Zeref. He had pretended to return to the boy he had been to trick Erza into his trap. He had tried to kill Erza. He had made Natsu's mate cry.
Natsu always believed that everyone deserved a second chance, but he found it almost impossible to accept the apology of an amnesic man and grant him one. How could he know that this wasn't another one of the dark wizard's ploys?
"How cute."
Natsu whirled to face Brain, who apparently wasn't as downed as he had thought. The man stood tall, skin paler, hair less straight, and with blood red eyes. He wore an evil and dangerous smirk. "Isn't this just sweet? Two enemies reunited. And the mighty Jellal that had once been the vessel for the all-powerful Zeref is groveling at his enemy's feet for forgiveness."
The pinkette warily took a step backward, away from Brain who appeared to have multiple personality disorder and towards the one man he despised most. His new magic sensing ability was screaming at him, practically shrieking, from the amount of power this alternate version of Brain possessed. It made his skin prickle. Right now, an apologetic Jellal that he didn't trust was the lesser of two evils.
"I'm going to wipe the floor with both you maggots, right back into the garbage where you second rate wizards belong." Brain sneered. "Dark Gravity!"
Natsu's lungs burned as his breathe was knocked out of him. Brain's attack had sent him crashing to the floor.
'Correction,' he thought as the floor cracked and he fell, 'it's sent me plummeting through three floors.' The dragon slayer didn't have the breath to groan when he slammed into the last floor. It took all his effort to get his feet under him.
"Dark Delete!" came the cry from above. Now not only was rubble still falling around him and his vision clouded by dust and his breath stolen from him from both the impact and the dust and smoke, but now Brain was raining spheres of his dark magic.
"Dragon's Fire Shield!" Natsu's fire burst into existence above his head, forming a circular shield of flames that protected him. Without second thought he released his flaming wings and soared back up through the holes he had been knocked down and slammed a fiery elbow into Brain's gut.
"You little maggot!" Brain roared. "Do you really think you can defeat me, Zero, the master of Darkness?"
'Just great. Now he's naming his second self.' Natsu watched as Zero, as he now called himself, charged green darkness energy on his fingers and summoned thousands of black phantoms. With a shout of "Genesis Zero!" the dark phantoms swooped in and swarmed around the pink haired dragon slayer, completely engulfing him.
Blackness surrounded Natsu as the phantoms pressed in on him, long gangly arms swiping at him leaving behind red welts wherever they touched. But that wasn't all. With every touch Natsu felt his magic power diminishing and something else. It almost felt like he was losing a part of himself.
Natsu roared. It wasn't a roar of unbearable pain, but more like that of an enraged dragon. And that's what Natsu was. Ever since the Tower of Heaven incident when he stupidly ate the Etherion, the pinkette had been equal parts dragon and human. He had the form of a human, but now he possessed the lungs and heart of a dragon as well as their extremely durable and almost magic resistant scales as skin. But he was going to need to be more than that if he was going to beat Zero and his horde of ghouls.
A pillar of pure flames surrounded Natsu, blasting the ghouls back and turning hundreds of them to ashes. The fire roared in his ears and through his veins. "DRAGON TRANSFORMATION!"
Zero's red eyes widened at the incredible sight he was witnessing. "But how? No dragon slayer is capable of becoming a true dragon. Just what are you?" he shouted, fear making his voice quiver as the flames died down to reveal an actual dragon twenty feet long from snout to tail.
"I am a true dragon slayer. And it's with the power of a dragon that I'm going to destroy you. Secret Dragon Slayer's Art: Burning Scarlet Rage!" A torrent of flames spewed out of Natsu's mouth, stronger, larger, hotter, and more powerful than ever. It tore through the ghouls leaving ashes in its wake and slammed into Zero, who released a terrible scream as it made contact.
Natsu kept up the attack for a good five minutes before stopping. He released his dragon transformation and sank to his knees. One look at Brain/Zero was enough to tell the dragon slayer that he had won. Not that he needed to look. There was no power on Earth that could stand against the fury of a true dragon. All that was left of the leader of Oracion Seis was a blackened charred corpse.
And the thought of it made Natsu dry heave. In all the battles he had fought, every enemy he had faced off against, the pinkette had never, not even once, killed his opponent. Well, except for when he thought he had killed Jellal when he blew up the Tower of Heaven. But even though he didn't actually kill him, in that case it would have been by way of making the tower explode and not at his own hands. This time, it was Natsu himself that had killed.
Natsu wasn't sure how he was supposed to be feeling. He had never been one for killing his opponent, in fact he made sure not to each time he fought. But this time he didn't have any choice. With every second Nirvana was getting closer to its goal, and the only way for him to get at the lacrima powering its leg was to go through Brain, literally.
His self-degrading thoughts were interrupted by Hibiki. "Alright you guys. All six of you are in position. On my count take out the crystals.
"One, two, three, NOW!"
Natsu took a deep breath and stood unsteadily on wobbly legs. "Roar of the Fire Dragon!" A stream of fire crashed into the lacrima, shattering it. The dragon slayer was thrown off his feet by the sudden stop of the once moving city of ruins. There was an "oomph" and a groan as he slammed into the blue haired mage that was still lying on the floor.
Black eyes looked over the man beneath him. He wanted nothing to do with Jellal. But his sense of honor demanded that Natsu bring the man back to the ground. While it was the blue haired man's appearance that had caused him to lose control, Jellal had also allowed him learn a new ability. An ability that lead to Natsu defeating Brain/Zero.
Natsu gave a heavy sigh as he bent down to take one of the taller male's arms over his shoulders. He was sure nothing good would come of this, and the last thing that he wanted to do was increase Erza's chances of encountering her one time childhood friend, but he couldn't leave Jellal behind. Natsu was normally all for giving second and sometimes even third chances, but he wasn't sure if he could give one to Jellal for this was the man who tried to sacrifice Erza to resurrect the darkest wizard in the world. But if he had truly lost all his memories, Jellal deserved a second chance.
So Natsu carried the larger man's dead weight to the forest floor where the pair, Natsu really because Jellal was unconscious, with stares from the rest of the alliance members in varying degrees of disbelief and confusion.
But Natsu didn't even have the chance to explain what had happened before Lahar, Captain of the Fourth Custody Enforcement Unit made his own shocking appearance and announced the Magic Council's orders for Jellal's arrest.
Every person in the clearing froze, glance between Jellal who still hung draped over Natsu, Erza who looked as if she had been paralyzed, although Natsu didn't know if it was because the appearance of Jellal or Lahar, and Lahar. Natsu's black eyes glared at Lahar, who calmly returned his gaze.
It was one of the reasons why Natsu didn't like Lahar. The guy was strict, firm and unbending. Too much so. He took his job seriously, to the extreme. He didn't give you an inch. If the Magic Council ordered it, then Lahar was the tool sent out to see that their orders were carried through to the letter. And Lahar followed his orders to the last period.
Now Natsu found himself conflicted. Technically, Jellal was a criminal and the Magic Council had every right to arrest him. But Jellal remember none of the crimes he committed and Natsu thought it unfair to let the man stand trial and suffer for deeds he didn't remember.
On the other hand, the Magic Council's arrest orders solved his problem of how to deal with Erza and Jellal. If Jellal was sent to prison, he would have no need to worry about him harming his mate ever again.
But he had to factor in Erza's feelings. Just by looking at her Natsu could see she was crying. And those tears killed Natsu on the inside. The bastard wasn't even awake and he was making Erza cry for him. Those tears also feared Natsu with uncertainty. Erza was crying because she was about to lose Jellal for the third time. Did those tears mean that she couldn't leave without Jellal? That she needed him in her life. Did it mean that she was choosing Jellal over him? Did she not care that they were perfect for each other?
Natsu was unsure what to do. Half of him wanted to throw Jellal at Lahar so the black haired man could take him off his hands and take the decision out of his hands too. But the other half wanted to stop his mate's tears, and the only way Erza would stop crying was if Jellal remained out of the Council's hands.
So the pinkette was torn in two. He knew he'd have to make a decision soon because Lahar was starting to look impatient, but he just didn't know what choice to make. And he needed to make the right one.
This bastard had committed so many crimes and caused so much damage. Natsu could forgive Jellal trying to kill him. He could even forgive him trying to kill Erza if she could overlook it. But this bastard had made her cry not once, but twice. And he couldn't forget nor forgive him for that.
But Natsu would do anything to keep Erza from crying. Even if it meant defending Jellal from the Magic Council and saving the source of her tears. Even if he was going to keep Jellal out of prison, Natsu wouldn't be forgetting anytime soon that this was the second time he had been the cause of Erza's tears.
So, although it felt like his heart might shrivel and stop beating, Natsu defended Jellal and his stained character from Lahar and his magical army. His heart was breaking into miniscule pieces, but having Jellal at her side would make Erza happy. And once she was happy he would leave Fairy Tail. He didn't have the strength to stay. He couldn't stand the pain of seeing the two happy together in the guild and knowing that it was because of his choice. Knowing that it could have been and should have been him at Erza's side.
He handed Jellal over to Wendy, the only other person that seemed to know Jellal personally and wanted anything to do with him, and then transformed into his dragon form. Natsu ignored the gasps of shock from his friends and the screams of fear from the magical army. One sweep of his tail sent Lahar and his goons flying through the forest and crashing through trees.
He returned to his human state, shouldered Jellal, and boarded the magical bomber belonging to Blue Pegasus that would bring them back home with a curt "Let's go," to his teammates, all of who scrambled to follow the only wizard to ever transform into a dragon.
xxxNatsuErzaxxx
"Are you sure this is what you want, Natsu?" Makarov Dreyar asked, black eyes piercing straight into Natsu's own dark orbs despite the Third Master's lacking height.
Natsu nodded, unable to speak for fear that his voice would waver and give away his true desires.
The old man gave a heavy sigh. "Very well. If this is what you truly want I won't stop you." Makarov stood up and crossed around his desk to stand in front of the boy he considered a second grandson. "But first, there are three rules you must follow:
"One, you must never reveal sensitive information about Fairy Tail to others for as long as you live. Two, you must never use former contacts met through your being in the guild for personal gain. Three, though our paths may have diverged, you must continue to live out your life with all your might, you must never consider your own life to be something insignificant, and you must never forget about your friends for as long as you live." He clapped Natsu on the shoulder and drew the boy into a hug.
Makarov took a step back. "And remember, Natsu, you are always welcomed here."
Natsu gave the guild master a small sad smile and silently exited the old man's office.
'Goodbye, Natsu.' Makarov thought, watching as the pink haired figure from his window grow smaller, uncaring of the tears that splashed on the floor. Fairy Tail had once again lost one of its most important members, its centerpiece, and this time there was a chance that he wouldn't return.
Makarov continued watching long after Natsu had disappeared from sight, wishing with all his heart that the dragon slayer would one day come to the conclusion he was looking for and return home.