Natsu grimaced as he steeled himself for the coming blast. It was a bit late to contemplate running away; he wouldn't get very far, and that would just get everyone else killed, too. And as bitter as he was about Jellal… That wasn't fair to Meldy or those villagers they'd been sent to protect. Not to mention what Jellal's death would do to Erza. What his death would do to Mira.

No, Natsu knew he needed to do this. Regardless of his personal feelings, there was no other option. To simply 'do' it – save everyone – that's what Erza would do. That's how Erza raised him to be. Perhaps to some, it was harsh to make a person live so self-sacrificially, but Natsu certainly preferred that to the alternative, expecting everything to be handed to you and depending on everyone else to take care of every crisis that arises. No one from Fairy Tail lived with that snobbish mindset; they all looked out for one another, helped build one another up.

All of Natsu's thoughts were shattered when the blast suddenly erupted. Natsu didn't pay attention to what happened to the monster's body, because he had other things to be concerned about – containing the explosion that was growing exponentially by the second. The fiery dome had overtaken him easily enough, but it did not overwhelm Natsu. He'd been at the heart of infernos before; though these flames might've been a little 'hotter' than normal, they were not as unique as Zancrow's God Slayer Magic had been. Definitely more unique than the regular stuff you can find lying around anywhere, but not unique.

Even so. The pain was… excruciating. The flames licking at his skin. The overwhelming scent flooding his nostrils. Hell, he hadn't managed to remain rooted in his original position – Natsu was sent skidding back several feet, at least, and he wouldn't be surprised if there wasn't some bruising after this. As experienced as Natsu was to these situations, he'd never been encapsulated in an explosion of this magnitude before. This thing was purported to cover miles. Yeah, definitely never 'eaten' this much before. But he would gorge himself if he had to… In order to save everyone.

His mouth was very much a vacuum as it sucked in the raging inferno. Even that began to hurt after the first few minutes, however. Much like when one needs to take periodic breaks to breathe in pockets full of air while gorging on food, Natsu was pushing himself to his limits – hell, going way beyond them – to devour this thing. He couldn't afford to take leisurely breaks to catch his breath. Lives were at stake.

'Come now… Surely a few seconds couldn't hurt.' If Natsu could, he'd be grimacing from the voice that chose this delicate moment to speak up… Why now? Oh yeah. 'Greatest Demon of all time'.

'You know I can't let up for a second. Too damn risky.'

Natsu swore he could hear the demon roll his eyes.

'All I'm saying is that it's pointless. What if you go through all this trouble and find out you're the only survivor? Hm? You'll have feasted for nothing. Well, I suppose you minimize the risk of us dying, but I think we both know we'd survive this regardless. Who did that poser think he was, trying to kill us with fire? Idiot deserved to die.'

In lieu of gnashing his teeth, Natsu clenched his fists in frustration. Why couldn't the 'Etherious' part of him just die with Zeref? By all accounts, it should have. And yet… some part of it managed to somehow survive and live on in him like a cockroach. Or more accurately, the Dragon and Demon 'Seeds' within him had fused, so when the END part of him did 'die' with Zeref, it put Natsu in a precarious situation. He was at death's doors, really, until Wendy got to him and helped him… somehow. Natsu didn't quite understand what had happened, being pretty out of it at the time.

The gist of it seemed to be that Wendy gave that 'Seed' CPR – which is totally weird and shouldn't be at all possible, but hey, don't tell Wizards from Fairy Tail what they can and can't do. It wasn't a complete 'revival' though, per se; if it had been, the Demon would probably have a little more control. END literally had no say in any of Natsu's decisions, but it sure as hell compensated for that by constantly speaking up and playing on his… weaknesses. What he thinks about on some level but never voices aloud or gives genuine thought to; everyone has thoughts like that. We all have someone we bear resentment to, no matter how much we try to deny it.

'Just shut up and let me work.' Natsu thought back bitterly as he tried to maintain focus on containing the blast.

'We both know that bastard deserved to die ages ago! Stop holding it off!' The demon raged within Natsu. 'Ten seconds, just hold your breath for ten seconds! His blood wouldn't even be on your hands! Why do you insist on torturing yourself?! He took the only woman you ever really cared about. Took her, and flaunted it in your Kami. damn. face. The bastard doesn't even deserve her, but nooo. Despite all the pain he's caused her, despite how little they actually know each other, that bitch still chose him!'

'Never address Erza like that again!' Natsu snarled internally. Kami help him, he knew all too well where END was coming from, but that gave him no right to insult the woman that had… that had done so much for him…!

'Oho, like you haven't thought about her in that way at some point in the past year. She didn't even know she was hurting you until it was blatantly pointed out to her. How far the mighty have fallen. Once a proud sister figure we looked up to, now the Titania is a cold, unfeeling Guild Master. You know she deserves a taste of the pain we've felt. Jellal's death would be letting her off easy. Plus, Simon and all his other victims would finally be able to rest in peace.'

Natsu screwed his eyes shut tight as he did everything he could to stay focused on the task at hand. Of course his 'inner demon' would make a nuisance of himself now. Opportunity to be rid of Jellal? Why wouldn't it kick up a fuss? Natsu and his 'END' persona didn't see eye to eye on too many things, but that doesn't mean they never did. Natsu felt ashamed to say that END had a point about Jellal; it wasn't right, but even after all this time… Natsu had never forgiven the man for all the suffering he caused. The Dragon Slayer felt like if he ever did, it would do a disservice to all those that had died – Grandpa Rob, Simon, all those people at the Tower of Heaven, whether directly, indirectly, or without knowing, Jellal had killed them all. Grandpa Rob gave his life so that Erza could go and rescue Jellal, and what had happened in the end? Jellal got 'possessed', and Erza was forced to leave that island while Jellal used all of those people as leverage over her. Natsu still wasn't convinced he didn't have some control of himself, because he didn't act like a puppet while he was possessed; he still had his own damn thoughts and plans – why, Natsu only needed to recall Erza and Siegrain's interactions to realize that. Jellal worked hundreds of people to the point of death to get that Tower finished. And then, when it came time to 'resurrect Zeref', he manipulated Erza's friends into capturing her and bringing her back to be sacrificed. Natsu stopped the bastard, but at no small cost, as Simon paid for it with his life because Natsu hadn't been strong enough at the time to save him.

'Look. Me 'n Erza are at odds right now, but she apologized. I can't turn my back on her now. Not Erza. I'd never be able to look her in the eye if I just let Jellal die. She'd be able to tell, and I don't wanna imagine how that would impact our friendship.'

'Because you totally just want to be her friend. Admit it! You're like a lost pup that can't let go and move on, even though you have excellent taste in your 'fallback plan'. Sure, I can see that Scarlet is a looker; she'll be a real freak in bed, but never with you. Her taste in guys is a real turn-off… not to mention it pisses me off. Which is to say… he pisses you off. So go ahead, defend those two for all you're worth, but you're never gonna make her your mate.'

Funny how END would differentiate himself from 'Natsu' sometimes. But then again… so did Natsu. Wasn't like he had multiple personalities or nothin' – he and END were one and the same, and Natsu needed to come to grips with that. It wasn't some other personality that was feeling this way about Jellal and Erza; on some level, he really did feel this bitter and betrayed. None of this was helpful in focusing on the blast, but Natsu had struggled to withstand his 'inner demon' to this point, and he'd be damned if he caved into those temptations now.

A few agonizing moments later, Natsu could feel the fiery dome shrinking... finally… He was beginning to black out. So with the explosion no longer an imminent threat… Natsu fell flat on his back but continued to absorb as much of the explosion as he could, even to the very end. Damn he felt bloated. And achy all over. No, really, this was the worst idea he had… Never again. Y'know, unless his friends were endangered again. Before Natsu knew it, the world around him disappeared and Natsu knew no more…

Natsu swore he'd been through this loads of times before – blearily blinking his eyes open as he laid in some bed in a place he vaguely recognized. But his vision didn't stay blurry this time; it sharpened into focus until the pink-head realized he wasn't alone in the room. He couldn't help cracking a grin at the blue tomcat curled up at the foot of his bed, while Mira was resting her head on his chest as she sat next to his bed. Well. It wasn't his bed, 'cause his bed was a hammock, but he'd obviously made it back. Somehow. Hopefully that meant what Natsu thought it meant.

Craning his head as much as he could to get a better look around the room without disturbing Mira from her slumber, Natsu could see the faint streams of sunlight wafting in through the windows, meaning it was pretty early morning. Further inspection of the room revealed a sparse amount of furniture and decorations; really, there was more stuff on shelves than anything else. From this the Dragon Slayer surmised they were at Porlyusica's place, 'cause they sure weren't at his and Happy's home or Mira's. Though the aged healer didn't seem to be in the single-room house at the moment, so Natsu idly wondered what she was off doing.

As he continued to lay there, eyes panning around the place, Natsu felt like he'd go stir-crazy if this kept up much longer. Like, how long had he been conked out? Musta been a while because he felt way too rested and energized. He hoped it hadn't been too long, 'cause then everybody probably fretted over him. Natsu Dragneel wasn't a wimp. All he did was win all day, every day. Like a boss.

Natsu kindly overlooked all those ass-kickings Erza gave him. Or Mira. Wasn't his fault a lot of dating stuff didn't stick. Like wearing that monkey suit to nice places or 'table manners'. Whatever those were. Grub was grub – it went to the same place regardless of what pace you ate it at.

See? He was already going stir-crazy. His mind was all over the place. And now a perfectly evil idea was hatching, and Natsu nigh well couldn't resist implementing it. Mira's sides were within reach, and his hands were twitching with energy. So despite how this could possibly backfire, Natsu gleefully started tickling the silver-haired barmaid's sides and didn't let up even as she sat up rigidly and started laughing helplessly, tears glistening in her eyes as the Dragon Slayer had his fun. He swore these opportunities needed to happen more often; Mira wouldn't hurt him while he was there in bed, and the last time he'd done this to Erza, she'd been powerless to resist the tickle attack. Ahhh, this was therapeutic – much better than a simple ass-kicking delivered to his constant tormentors. Anyone can deliver an ass-kicking; a real man relishes in and takes advantage of others' weaknesses without actually hurting them. Y'know, brutally.

There is not something wrong with Natsu Dragneel's head. Everything is perfectly fine.

"STOPSTOPSTOOOOOP!" Mira squealed as the pink-head kept his fingers constantly moving while he mercilessly attacked her sides. Eventually, the silver-head had enough on an unconscious level and flailed her arms, which inevitably sent Natsu crashing back into the head of the bed in a bit of a daze. Mira-chan still had it, y'know? As Natsu's eyes comically rolled around in their sockets like a couple of balls, Mira caught her breath before crossing her arms and glaring at the Dragon Slayer with a cute pout. Needless to say, it ruined the effect of the glare a tad, but Natsu got the vague notion she was trying to pull off a 'wounded' expression more than an angry one. "Now that wasn't nice. I'm gonna have to tell the kids their papa is a big ol' meanie who picks on defenseless girls."

… Yep. Only Mira. And Natsu really didn't halt the momentum of Mira's counterattack.

"P-Papa?! KIDS?!"

Mira nodded cutely while ticking off a number on her hands.

"Yup. I want twelve of 'em, one right after the other so they're only a year apart in age." She giggled as the pink-head's eyes glassed over as his mind went to a place it so rarely ventured to. Didn't mean he wanted to… do the deed so many times, but Mira-chan was cruel in making him imagine everything. From the kinky to the traumatizing to the whiny and bratty. Yeah. If Natsu was a dad that many times over, he'd probably keel over. That is, if a pregnant Mira didn't do him in beforehand because mood swings.

Welp… Natsu was broken now. Mira nodded once more at her handiwork. Served him right for 'picking' on her when she'd been so worried. Here she'd been all set for the usual 'drama' that came with one of her precious people waking up in Porlyusica's care, but the numbskull breezed past it as if he hadn't been conked out for two weeks. Y'know, bar brief periods of waking up.

Oh well. This was Natsu she was thinking about. Natsu Dragneel and 'normal' got along about as well as oil and water. Then again, the same could be applied to her and, well… anyone from Fairy Tail, really. Eh. Normalcy is overrated.

"What's all the ruckus, Mira?" Happy yawned as he sleepily pawed at his eye. He then looked over at Natsu to see him sitting up with open eyes. The blue tomcat grinned widely. "Natsu! You're awake!" When Natsu didn't respond, Happy frowned and poked at the Dragon Slayer's feet in an attempt to stir him. Eventually, all the pink-head did was collapse back onto the head of the bed with a frothing mouth and listless gaze. "Wah! Mira, what did you do?! He's broken! NATSUUU!"

Mira smiled serenely at the Exceed's antics. She didn't 'break' Natsu, heavens no! It was perfectly natural for a boy to lust after a girl! Or, y'know, just have visions of them and their many, many children. Yeah. Little demonic ankle-biters and fire-breathers – they'd be so cute! Perfectly natural for Natsu to start thinking about their future. Yup.

"Now, Natsu, you will have to come back here for regular appointments." Porlyusica told the Dragon Slayer about an hour after Natsu had, er… 'recovered'. "I would keep you here under observation for a while longer, but I must insist you vacate. Your Guildmates have been quite concerned for you, and have been checking up on you frequently."

Natsu blinked as the aged healer seemed to be letting him go with her blessing. That was hardly common with Porlyusica – so soon after an incident, at any rate.

"Wha? You sure it'll be okay? I'm not gonna burn people am I? Or explode?" Natsu's eyes became as wide as saucers as he still had that bloaty feeling in the pit of his stomach.

Porlyusica quirked an eyebrow at Natsu's nervousness. Quite unlike him.

"Nothing has happened to Mira or Happy, correct? That said… Your condition is a strange one. By all accounts you should be dead with the amount of Magic you took in; or at the very least, leaking it out even in your sleep. Yet you have showed no signs of doing so. You have been here in my care for two weeks, and nothing extreme has occurred." The aged healer sighed as she grudgingly revealed some of her own concerns. "I fear this is the calm before the storm, however. While it may appear that you are in control of your Magic, what is likely happening is that you are not trying to use it. Once you do, it will rage out of you. From there, I can only speculate what will happen. That is why you will need to come back here for appointments. I do not like how little you seem affected by absorbing so much."

Natsu opened and closed his mouth in an attempt to respond to that, but he really couldn't formulate one. Even Porlyusica didn't know what would happen?! ... Then again, maybe it wouldn't be somethin' bad. Who knows? Maybe he'd be that much more kick-ass for having so much fire in his belly. This brought a grin to his face, which somewhat confused the aged healer.

"Well, okay! I'm gonna go test it out now!" Natsu grinned ear to ear as he walked to the door where Mira and Happy were waiting outside. Porlyusica had been about to warn him to not channel any Magic within her home, but the knucklehead had to start channeling flames into his fist just as he reached the door. The result was quite explosive as he pumped it in the air; instead of a fire-coated hand, it was as if a fireball had materialized around the appendage and decided to surge outward quite forcefully, easily wrecking the walls, windows, and ceiling of the hollowed out tree that Porlyusica called home. Natsu was, of course, unharmed, as was Porlyusica, but the Dragon Slayer seemed a bit more excited than sheepish at this development. The Dragon Slayer grinned madly at the sheer power he'd just unleashed and the big gaping hole that allowed him to see Mira and Happy standing just outside. He pumped his fist animatedly and cheered boisterously. "OH YEAH! IM'MA KICK GRAY'S ASS FOR SURE! SORRY FOR THE MESS!"

Porlyusica massaged her temples and let out a weary sigh as the Dragon Slayer rushed past his dazed friends outside. No one had been expecting that… though in retrospect, they probably should have. This was Natsu they were talking about. Getting the insufferable Pyro through this was going to be a nightmare… Makarov must be rolling in his grave by now.

Author's Note: I'll stop here for now… Apologies to Porlyusica, but that last bit was just begging to be written. XD

So here's the thing. There I was, writing on Christmas night (or was it the twenty-sixth? Either way, night before the manga) as I struggled through a cold-illness-thing, thinking I just wanted to write a bit of dialogue from END. Then the manga comes out the next day and it's like… Mashima? You a mindreader, bruh? Aw, heck. It plays into my hands, even if you go a totally different route with the 'Seed Fusion'. XD So yes. END will likely have some… things to say as the plot progresses. Didn't really place an emphasis on him beforehand 'cause I wanted to keep the mood 'sad' instead of 'holy crap, Natsu's pissed at Jellal'. Though as good ol' Tempest35 pointed out… that anger's gotta be there. So this was fun to write for me. ^^

I'm finally getting over my illness, so the time has come to write like the wind as my winter break's already halfway over. ;_; Just an FYI, the next few days I will likely be channeling my writing into my main Naruto fanfic, which hasn't been touched since August. I wanna get one more update for that before the year wraps up, and then I'll try and split my attention to both series, 'cause it's unfair to neglect either. Fun. -_-

If nothing else, though, the gap between updates here will allow me to plan a bit more ahead. I've got some rough ideas for how I want things to come to a head between Natsu, Erza, Mira, and Jellal, but because you guys have been so awesome I don't wanna shaft you and come up with some plot on the fly. Hence why there wasn't any other interactions this chapter yet.

Last thing… Eileen/Irene… What have you done? Eileen/Irene… stahp. The Wendy fanfictioners will feel vindicated in their sexy portrayals of her now. Wendy was one of the few adorable girls we had left that wasn't quite 'sexy' yet, and you TOOK THAT FROM US. OH KAMI WHY. XD