Yes. I know it's been forever. If you want to hear excuses, go to my profile. If you don't care now that I've updated and just want to read this chapter, that's fine.
xxxNatsuErzaxxx
Lahar sighed, frustrated as his subordinate attempted to convince him that Fairy Tail was not dangerous.
"Are you listening to me? Fairy Tail isn't hiding any Lost or Forbidden Magic here. It's just an island where they buried their First Master. Its special sacred grounds. Untouchable like the guild hall itself."
"It does not matter, Doranbolt. The Magic Council has ordered that we find whatever secrets they are hiding."
"And I'm telling you they're not hiding any! Fairy Tail is just here to have their S-class tests in peace! They—" Doranbolt cut off, staring in horror at the largest dragon he had ever seen, the only one actually. Beside him Lahar tensed.
"Acnologia."
Doranbolt's head whipped to face his captain. "You know that monster."
Lahar ignored him. "This must be what the Council suspected. Fairy Tail in league with the Dark Wizard Zeref. We must inform the Magic Council immediately."
Doranbolt's arm shot out, stopping Lahar from walking away. "You can't be serious," he said. "Fairy Tail working with Zeref. Fairy Tail hates Dark Wizards. Hell, half the damage they cause is from when they beat up Dark Wizards. They would never summon Acnologia."
"You don't understand." Lahar shook his head, forcibly removing his arm from the other man's grasp. "Acnologia answers to no wizard but Zeref. And even then only because Zeref is the only wizard strong enough to bend dragon to his will. If the beast is here, so is Zeref. Fairy Tail has been hiding Zeref on their island. The one place no one else could reach."
Doranbolt was stunned. It just didn't match up. Fairy Tail hated Dark Wizards. They would never side with one. But if what Lahar said was true, the Acnologia could only be controlled by Zeref, then the Darkest wizard in teir history was on Tenrou Island and there was no way Makarov didn't know.
"Let me talk to them." He shouted at Lahar's retreating back. "Convince them to turn themselves over."
"No. You will stay on this ship. Fairy Tail is not to be warned."
"But!"
"That's an order, Doranbolt."
Doranbolt clenched his fists as Lahar went to contact the Magic Council. He refused to believe that Fairy Tail was responsible for calling the black dragon. He would not believe it unless he heard it from one of them.
It just wasn't Fairy Tail's style. Working with others or siding with Dark Wizards. This had to be a mistake. Lahar must be wrong. Fairy Tail had accepted him. He wasn't ridiculed for his magic. He wasn't pushed through hoops and assigned missions beneath him in order to make a living. Fairy Tail treated him like he was one of them, like family, and he would be damned if he didn't warn them.
Doranbolt didn't care what his captain said or what the Council's orders would be. Fairy Tail was not the bad guys here and he wouldn't let the Council arrest them or kill them.
It was time for him to make his own decisions and stop blindly following the whims of others. It was time for him to do what Natsu said, and do what was right.
xxxNatsuErzaxxx
Natsu was surprised to find the Magic Council's mole suddenly standing before him. Then he was angry. "What are you doing here? I told you to get off this island."
Mest or Doranbolt, whatever his name was, raised his hands. "I'm here to warn you. The Magic Council believes you summoned Acnologia."
Natsu's first reaction was hysterical laughter. The sound set the hairs on the back of Doranbolt's neck on end. It was just so typical of the Council to blame the problem on Fairy Tail. They couldn't be bothered to do their job properly and conduct an investigation. Fairy Tail is involved so it must be their fault. The second emotion he felt was rage. Even after all he had seen the Council do and everything he knew about them, he never thought they would accuse his guild of being Dark.
Lastly, he felt indifference. At this point, the Council's opinion didn't matter. Fairy Tail had never held closely to what the Magic Council thought of them and they couldn't prove that someone from Fairy Tail summoned the King of Dragons.
All it meant was that Natsu had another reason to make sure that he defeated Acnologia: to protect Erza, to see the dragons return, and now to prove Fairy Tail's innocence and humiliate the Council.
The pinkette interrupted Doranbolt's ramblings of what he thought the Council's next action might be. Natsu could predict that based on past interactions with them. What was more important right now was that the rest of Fairy Tail got off Tenrou Island, and preferably got very far away.
"I don't care what you have to tell them. Just get everyone else of the island. Take them to your ship and set sail as fast as you can. Don't let anyone convince you to let them stay. Force them to leave if you must."
"But what about you?"
Natsu rolled his shoulders. "I'll be fine. I'm a Dragon Slayer. This is my job. I'll deal with Acnologia while you get the rest of the guild to safety."
"But doesn't Fairy Tail have two more Dragon Slayers? Should I bring them to you so they can help?" Doranbolt asked sincerely.
"No." Natsu said firmly. "You don't leave anyone behind. They're all getting on that ship if you have to knock them out and modify their memories so they think the trials are over."
Natsu ignored the shocked look he was given. He needed to kill Acnologia, and he couldn't do that if he was worrying about who else might be on the island. Besides, his nakama weren't prepared to fight the King of Dragons. They would last two minutes against him. The only way to protect them was to make sure they weren't here when Natsu and the dragon fought.
"Please," he begged, "take Erza first."
Doranbolt decided not to ask any more questions. He had come to warn Fairy Tail and he had done so. He would see them to safety, modify both theirs and the other Rune Knights memories so no one remembered Acnologia.
Before he left, he gave Natsu one last look, full of respect. "Goodbye, Natsu." He received a nod.
Until his magic wore off, Doranbolt would be the only one to remember that Natsu Dragneel, Fairy Tail's Salamander, died facing the King of Dragons, Acnologia, sacrificing himself so his friends could escape.
xxxNatsuErzaxxx
Natsu turned his focus inward, concentrating on the bond between him and his mate. He could feel her love, her fear, her anxiousness, her worry, her determination to find him and fight this monster side by side. He lost himself in Erza's emotions until they turned to confusion, horror and finally tranquility.
Now that his mate was safe, he would be able to confront Acnologia head on. There was nothing holding him back.
'I'm sorry, Father, but I don't think I'll be introducing you to Erza. But I can tell you all about her when I see you.'
xxxNatsuErzaxxx
It took an enormous amount of will to walk into the shadow underneath the darkest and largest dragon he had ever seen and pretend it couldn't simply flatten him by dropping out of the sky.
Natsu supposed his years of goofing around and generally being obtuse were paying off. If he didn't open his eyes he could imagine the shadow was that of a clouds and the beating of his massive wings was an approaching storm.
It really was disconcerting how calmly he was taking this.
Hands down this would be the toughest battle of his life. He may have been a dragon slayer, but he had no experience killing a dragon. Natsu didn't have the slightest clue where he was supposed to start. All he knew was that skin of a dragon's underbelly was softer, like a leathery shell. It was the only weakness Natsu could think of.
Which was why the pinkette was standing underneath the behemoth dragon.
Natsu closed his eyes briefly. When they opened they were black with a golden iris, slit like a dragon's. Pure magic crackled around his fists. A runic spell circle rapidly expanded from his feet, moving outwards until it encircled Acnologia's shadow.
The white symbols shined and the energy from it was growing exponentially.
Natsu evened his breathing, focusing on control the power of the magic circle. When it reached its peak, the dragon slayer roared.
There were no words. It was a scream of rage. Of retribution. Of sorrow. Of determination. Natsu would make the dragon king pay for taking away Igneel and for taking pieces out of Gildarts. He would not let Acnologia hurt another person. Natsu didn't care what it would take. He would do anything to defeat Acnologia.
Natsu released the restraints he held on the circle, letting the pure white magic exploded towards the sky.
The dragon above him shrieked, outraged that a human was fighting back. The pillar of white magic shrank as the magic fueling it died and then vanished all together. Acnologia emerged unharmed aside from a slight smoking of his scales and the darker tone to his underbelly-almost like the magic had burned him. The dragon's eyes glittered malevolently.
Natsu cursed violently. He really did not want to resort to plan C, but if a direct attack of unaffiliated magic didn't make a scratch, he really didn't think taking on the King of Dragons as a dragon would work.
"Gather! O river of light that's guided by the fairies! Shine! In order to perish the fangs of evil! FAIRY GLITTER!"
The pinkette whirled at the voice of someone chanting and gaped when he spied Cana Alberona standing on a cliff, right arm raised to the sky. An odd red marking on her forearm lit up. As she chanted, rays of light exploded around her, condensing and shooting into the sky, which shined as Cana seemingly drew on the light of the sun, the moon, and the stars. A radiant halo of magic formed over her head, and with the swinging of her arm downwards, the ring encircled the giant black and blue dragon.
"Cana! What are you doing? Doranbolt was supposed to get everyone off the island!" He yelled.
"You may be a dragon slayer, Natsu," said Cana, "but there's no way you, Wendy, and Gajeel could handle a dragon of this size."
"Don't you think I already know that? Why else would I stay?"
The brunette blinked. "You're distracting it?"
"I'm giving Fairy Tail time to escape! I'm the only one that can do this, so get out of here!" Natsu screamed at her.
Cana shook her head. "I can't do that, Natsu. Fairy Tail never abandons one of their own. Like it or not I'm fighting with you."
The fire dragon slayer snarled. "It's not abandoning me if I choose to not leave. I could have left too. But I didn't!" Natsu paused, continuing in a softer tone. "Trust me, Cana. I've got this under control. As soon as the boat gets far enough away from Tenrou Island I'll finish off Acnologia and catch up."
The card magic user opened her mouth and then closed it, swallowing harshly. "Please, Cana," begged Natsu, seeing that his pleading was working, "I still have a few tricks up my sleeve. You haven't seen everything this dragon slayer is capable of."
Apparently he had said the wrong thing, because Cana squared her shoulders and lifted her head. "So do I. Fairy Glitter will take care of the dragon."
Natsu blinked, and then mentally hit himself. In all his anger at her appearance, after everything he had done and was doing to protect the rest of his guild, Natsu had forgotten just what it was she had been doing. He had just heard her scream Fairy Glitter and watched as light transformed into magic. Eagerly he turned, anxious to see if one of Fairy Tail's three legendary magics was strong enough to take care of Acnologia.
He hated to even think it, but if Cana had really just used Fairy Glitter, she might have killed Acnologia for him. Fairy Glitter was supposed to rival Makarov's Fairy Law, rejecting anyone, or anything, the user saw as a foe.
The dragon slayer waited with bated breath as the blinding light still surrounded Acnologia.
The light fell.
Natsu didn't hesitate. Acnologia gave out a ground shaking roar, training his eyes on a now petrified Cana. Natsu barreled into the woman, throwing both of them over the cliff. His dragon wing's ripped out of his back.
The splattering of blood on her face shook Cana out of her paralyzing fear.
"Are those. . ?"
"Yes," Natsu snapped shortly. "Get ready to swim."
Cana looked at him, confused. "Wha. . .swim?" she asked. Her words turned to screams when Natsu dropped her. He waited until she came back up, and with a "GO! NOW!" was streaking back towards the King of Dragons.
Natsu flew the distance between him and the monstrous black dragon quickly. His eyes narrowed in determination as the dragon opened his massive jaws, probably preparing to shoot Natsu down with his own variation of a dragon slayer's roar.
Cana's attack, with the lack of damage it had caused the black dragon, had told Natsu one thing. He would not be killing Acnologia with direct attacks. The dragon's scales were too thick and too magically resistant to pierce.
The pink haired dragon slayer ignored the buildup of blue energy in Acnologia's mouth. He partially transformed, shifting his skin from human flesh to dragon scales, and shot straight through the magic and down the dragon's throat.
If he couldn't kill the dragon from the outside, Natsu would do it from within.