2 mother frickin months, I haven't update! Heck maybe three months now! Feel free to punish me! I DERSERVE IT! SORRY! GAH I HAVE TOO MUCH TYPING TO DO! Also I'm taking away the answer the review thingy temporarily so then there will be more words relating to the story XP ok let's start!
First of all, the answer to the question before was… Erza! Congrats!
Chapter 22: Natsu
The pink haired man felt like the more he got closer to the guild, his mind got clouded more. He went down the old road, feeling a headache coming and so he groaned. His hand reached for his head and rubbed his temples as if to ease the pain. He looked up to the sky, to see the bright blue air and fluffy misshapen clouds. He closed his dark eyes and concentrated, trying to remember again.
He felt strange. It's not that he felt weird already since the whole "memory-forgetting" incident but everything was out of place. He knew he should be freaking out by now but somehow he wasn't. Did heaven rearrange his personality or something to make him a totally different person?! He also felt strangely calm and he realized that he didn't feel any other emotion rather than confusion, serenity and annoyance. And first of all, when did he start thinking over his feelings?!
He brought his hand to his pink locks, ruffled them and made a deep sigh. Either way, this wasn't helping him remember things at all. He continued walking, ignoring the pain in his head. Apparently the odds aren't in his favor today since the pain he was feeling that moment hurts more than ever. He placed his index finger to his lip, in a concentrated posture. A little boy with blue hair and cat ears appeared in his mind, who shouts "Natsu is thinking?!" The pink haired man shook his head. Someone with a low opinion of his past self just appeared in his head. He crossed his arms together and stopped for a second if another image will pop up. The little boy disappears from his brain. He groaned again when it did.
He tried to put things in order from the things he does knows whatever is the truth which is another thing he never thought he'd do. But he only remembered two straightforward things: Fairy Tail and a blonde maiden.
Lucy… He's her dragon. And she's his princess. He made a promise? Right? Wait, of course he did!
...What was it again? Natsu smacked his face and stared at the ground. As he did, his vision cleared into a new scene. First something flashes before his eyes. He sees trees flashing past him but he didn't move. It looked like he was running through a different part of the woods. Then his vision cleared and he was back where he was, the old road. Immediately, Natsu knew this was important. Did he see a premonition? But this thing he saw didn't feel like it came from the future…
He needs answers. And a lot of them. He can see the guild's figure in a bright open field. It looks bigger than before, did it get renovated? Wait, he shouldn't be thinking these things! He should be running up to the Fairy Tail and give the building a huge reunion hug! But deciding against this last second, he pushed opened the small gate that led to the entrance of the Fairy Tail guild. He had arrived... Then why didn't he rush in there and push open the doors? Was he not happy or glad to be back? He can feel the warmness build up inside of him as he saw the big wooden doors of his guild were wide open. He can hear laughter and cheering which lifted his spirits even further. Before he can realize it, he longed for the figures of his partners and guild mates. But once he entered he felt a sudden chill that erased the warmness inside him. Something was wrong. The music and his fellow comrades' laughter stopped short and disappeared from his mind.
Inside was normal. Almost immediately a missing memory revealed a massive entrance room with a stage and a bar. The guild was actually like the scene that appeared in his head. There were people chatting and two white haired girls at the bar with a large white haired man who seemed to shout "Man!" The sight was nothing compared to the memory he had, it was a lot quieter. Not that much people laughed or shouted, which made it almost seemed like a funeral room. And about the chill he felt before, he couldn't explain where that had come from! Maybe someone had left the AC on or something so he ignored the weird coldness. All he wanted is to be greeted back into his home again.
No one seemed to notice him as he came in so he thought that was a bit rude. He, Natsu, just came back from the dead and flown *fell* down from the heavens to meet them…but isn't it rude also that he had forgotten their names? Ok they were forgiven…
He walked over to the bar and sat down on a stool. He still hadn't remembered the white haired ladies' names behind the counter so he waited till they had noticed him. For a while now, nobody did. Truth to be told, nobody had even glanced at the man. Natsu frowned lightly but he sat there patiently. For an half an hour or more, not one person even sensed his presence, no greeting, no cheering, nothing. Was this some sort of trick they are playing? But then they didn't know he was alive. The sudden chill lurked up and crawled over his back again. He took a gulp as a drip of sweat fell from his forehead.
He got up from his stool and walked over to one white haired girl who was cleaning a glass with a rag, the long white haired lady was smiling as she did her job. For a while, he stared at the girl's peaceful expression. Something told him, that this person was someone important in his past memory. His hand slowly lifts to touch the white haired girl.
Her name? What was her name?
He knew what was coming but he didn't want to believe it. The woman was still smiling while his trembling hand almost touches her pale face.
Her name was?
His lips trembled as he sees her eyelids flutter opened and he saw a beautiful shade of blue that always showed kindness like a mother would always give to her child. It sent many warm feelings spread inside the man.
Mirajane...
His hand dissipates as it became in contact…
Lucy kept giving nervous glances at Erza. The red haired woman insisted that she forgave the blonde for their little water "Incident" where Erza's cheesecake had died. But her expression says otherwise, it looked like the life was sucked out of her and the red head had a dreary aura that surrounds her. Everyone stayed cleared for her, including Gajeel, but Jellal always stayed by Erza's side despite her scary atmosphere when she's depressed. Gray started to laugh, making some people join in even though he knew Erza was feeling down but he couldn't resist. Sometimes it's fine to laugh. Even Happy who wouldn't smile as usual, laughed lightly at the red haired girl's childish behavior. Erza started to join along with them even though it was directed to her. The dark haired man's laughter stopped as he saw that the only one who didn't join along was the blonde who was ahead of them. The group seemed to notice that the blonde wasn't 100% okay; Jellal grunted to Gray and motioned him toward the blonde. Gray hesitantly nodded as he realized the blue haired man was giving him a command.
Lucy walked quietly, locked inside her thoughts. Gray picked up his pace until he was beside her and once again he had left his clothes somewhere. Lucy snapped back to reality to see the man beside her which she raised a blonde eyebrow to. Before the blonde reminded him of his missing exterior, he inspected her face with the corners of his eyes. Lucy gave him a glance, wondering why was he staring at her so intently as if she was a test experiment.
"You aren't lively as you used to be" Gray says out of the blue as he averts his eyes away from her, straight into the trail they were walking on. Lucy abruptly looks at him, shocked but the surprise didn't last long. The blonde looked at her black boots so she would not look directly at the half naked man's face.
"I didn't realize…" She mumbled but it sounded unsure. Gray glanced at her again to see her lowered head. He sighs lightly; he lifts his hand and patted her blonde head making her flinch at his sudden touch. But Gray says:
"We miss him too"
With those words, Lucy's shoulders un-tensed slowly. She felt as she had let everything go and released them into the open. She bit her lip as she felt it tremble but she allowed Gray to continue patting her head.
The people behind them stared at the two. Erza gives a small smile to the blue haired man as Jellal pulled her closer to him in a comforting stance. Gajeel tsked lightly but kept his arms behind his head. Wendy tightened her tiny grip onto Carla's while they kept walking. Pantherlily walked beside the iron dragon slayer, not saying a word while the little blue haired boy's eyes look onward at Lucy and Gray. The boy's hands fumbled together in a troubled way. The dark haired man and the blonde reminded him of the relationship of a passed nakama. Happy clenched his teeth while his cat ears on his head twitched nervously. It was true that everyone misses the pink haired dragon slayer but every time Happy thinks about it, he feels like his tiny heart would break. But even though it hurts, he decides to hold it in. To keep the memories he had with the deceased man alive and also to learn from the pain. For his sake. With that, his little hands that were fumbling into a tangled mess a moment ago, they dropped down to his sides, almost defeatedly.
The blonde finally looks up to meet the dark haired man's face. Together, they smiled at each other; it felt comforting to the blonde since there is someone who felt the same way as her. They can relate to what happened eight months ago, just like the group behind them. She knows that they care for her too and Lucy describes their relationship as connected souls. They all feel the pain and sorrow of the painful loss. For many days, weeks and months, Lucy waited for some comfort to heal her broken heart… The blonde is grateful to have such wonderful friends to be her nakama.
"How sweet~"
Lucy flinched at the new purring voice and when she was about to turn around to meet the new visitor, she saw Gray's dark eyes dilated to slits. The next thing she knew was the dark haired man pushing her to the side with him. She wondered why Gray had tackled her until she saw huge cracks of stone and dust coming where the place she and the dark haired man had stood before. Whatever just happened, someone had tried to attack them…
"Why didn't we sense someone coming?!" Gajeel shouted while glancing at Wendy who was shocked as the iron dragon slayer. Erza looked at them wondrously, even the two dragon slayers they have hadn't even noticed the attacker. That had meant their newfound enemy was skilled…
Erza ran up the surprised blonde and held her and Gray up. But her angry brown eyes stared at the cracked ground and smoke covered area. She already has a glistening sword at her side, directing it the person's silhouette that was already seen by the clearing smoke. The red head aimed her weapon at the attacker.
"Who are you? And state your purpose for hurting one of our comrades!"
The person laughs giddily as he lifts his arms up while he steps out of the cracked surface. This man wasn't what Erza was expecting. He looked like about the same age as her, maybe in the 20's. Just by judging the man's clothing, the red head had a feeling that the man was trying to conceal his appearance. He wore a black hood cape that drooped over his shoulders with the edges trimmed with gold. He wore his hood that covered his eyes slightly. Underneath the cape was a gray tank top that left his arms bare and he wore dark pants that stopped as it reached to his long black boots. He also had long black piece of cloth that wrapped around his neck and concealed the man's mouth, imperceptibly. On his right forearm was an insignia of an unknown guild that was colored bloody red. The tattoo had a circle over a weird crescent which left Lucy clueless. But judging by Erza's furious but shocked look in her features, she figured that the red head knew where the strange man had come from.
"My name is Hiro!" He said gleefully. The blonde noticed her attacker was smiling because she saw his cheeks stretched lightly above the dark cloth. As he smiled, his eyes flickered as his hood was pushed up a bit. His eyes were the color of gold tint that was barely caught by the weary group. He bowed down mockingly at the armored woman. As he rose, he pulled his head gear down a little to cover the right of his weird gold eyes. Hiro's left eye stared hungrily at Fairy Tail as his smile stretched wider. His gold orb wanders around the group, watching their expressions. He lets go of the black clothing so again, his hood has shielded his eyes. He takes a small, quick whiff of the air and after, Hiro smiles again.
"I see you guys have 2 dragon slayers with you" He lowers his voice; his left eye shines a little brighter through the shadow of his clothing. Wendy and Gajeel flinched and look at each other as they heard their magic topic. Carla gripped the dark haired girl's hand tighter, cautiously, and gave a glare at Hiro. The dreaded silence wages on and there was a stare down between Erza and the slightly crazed man. Erza didn't even lower her sword point at the teen.
The man continued smiling but he glances behind him, turning his head a little. Gray noticed that Hiro was leaning in a little as if he was hearing something. Something dreadful pops in the dark haired man's head as he realized this fact. Were more people of his kind arriving? The ice mage studied the man with close inspection. What type of magic does this man uses? Gray looks at the ground where Hiro was standing. The grooves and slabs of rock were broken into pieces and it went in pretty deep into the surface. It was not deep enough for Earth magic but impressive enough to be any other magic. Whatever skill, Hiro possessed, Gray suspects it must be powerful. The dark haired man looks at the traumatized blonde beside him. Lucy's brown eyes narrowed down as if she was thinking. They both were thinking the same thing.
Hiro finally looks back, to see Erza's sword point almost at his neck which was covered by the dark cloth. Erza had the most serious look on her face as she adjusted her blade. The man smiles and holds out his hands in a "Now, hold on" gesture.
"You haven't yet told me about your purpose Hiro-san" she says menacingly.
"Mmmm…" Hiro walked slowly in small steps, his finger on the bottom of his lip, in a thinking position. "Sorry, can't tell you. Master's orders" He says as his smile stretches once more. Clearly, you can tell this man was having fun. Erza inches her sword closer to his Adam's apple, already touching the long black cloth.
"Ooo, you're an impatient chick aren't ya?" Hiro grins wider despite his current situation.
"Answer me this, how is your master alive? I ran my swords through him on that hasted day, eight months ago. He was dead. Explain to me how Hades is still alive!" Erza screamed. Master Hades was one of Jose's top colonels. The second master of Fairy Tail so of course she, and some others who had been at the guild the longest, would know of him! The newcomers like Lucy, wouldn't even learn of his infiltration unless it suddenly popped up in one's small talk. But despite this, the celestial mage already knew of that name. She widened her eyes as she recollected the identity of someone who helped Jose's plan against her and her family. The blonde suddenly found new hatred for the master of Hiro.
"I'm sorry but can we please do this next time? I have other matters that I have to get done today" Hiro says happily as he backed away from the group. Before he leaves, the man glances at the blonde haired girl that looked exactly like the poster that his master gave him. Shiny sunshine hair and warm chocolaty brown eyes...
Her presence makes him sick.
He clenched his teeth hard, he wanted to kill her right there at that moment but he refrain himself from doing so. He slowly tries to loosen up more and it was successful.
"And see you later Lucy Heartfilia" Hiro's voice deepened unintentionally and it totally destroyed his purity and childish exterior. But he quickly smiled to erase their suspicions despite knowing his plan had failed slightly. Moving his head away from the blonde, he looked longingly at the two dragon slayers, how much he wanted the glistening redness of their blood so it would be the same as the color of his insignia. Not now, another time… he couldn't wait.
He reveals a blue stone in his palm that he kept in his fist the whole entire time. At first, the Fairy Tail group thought it was a bomb or weapon but suddenly a blue faded light glazed over the Hiro's silhouette and left it with nothing in its place.
"WAIT!" Erza shouts as the blue light disappears but knowing that she was too late, she dug her sword into the cracks in frustration. "He had a teleportation lacrima!"
Everyone takes a moment to try to put things in place. Erza starts shaking which made her armor clank together; she retracts her sword and returned it to its dimensional space.
"Hiro-san…" Wendy says softly. "He seems a little too nice" The girl looks up to examine everyone's grim expression.
"Wendy, I don't think we can trust him" Jellal said as he pulled Wendy and the other small children to their feet. "Have you seen the way he looked at Lucy?" Jellal's brown eyes turned to the blonde as if to see what she had thought about the predicament they have encountered.
The blonde looks up at the sound of her name. She had noticed the eerie expression Hiro had on when he looked at her. But something about him was nostalgic and familiar. Lucy tried to think of someone who she may have met in the past but she couldn't think of anyone.
Erza composed herself well enough and she folded her arms. Her face looked grim as if she was thinking about the weird man as well but made no intention of starting a conversation about it.
"I suggest we cancel this quest since there is something definitely wrong" Erza said, looking at them nod their heads slowly. The tension in the atmosphere was thick enough to cut with a knife but despite that everyone got up and followed the red head girl on the trail. The armored woman didn't spoke at all while they walked which showed that she was really confused by the attack of Hiro. Jellal gave her some space for her to think as he knew what she was thinking about. The blue haired man brought his hand to his face and thought as well. If this 'Master Hades' was alive, does that mean he has something else planned? If so, they should get prepared because something might be coming for them.
Canceling the quest hasn't been on Lucy's mind. She thought today would be a normal day; she would go with her friends on a quest, enjoy the weirdness and be happy. But no. Everything changed because someone attacked her. Why? Why would someone try to hurt her?
Her only hint was Hades.
This man helped her worst enemy, Jose, who killed her parents, rebuilt the R-system, and killed Natsu. Anyone who would help this kind of villain should be punished severely.
They arrived at the guild quite quickly than the blonde expected. Maybe it's because of the lurking feeling of devastation or suspicion of someone coming for them but either way, she was glad to be back home.
Once he had remembered the white haired mother's name, almost everything had come back to him. The two small children he found back then were named Sting and Rouge. They are sitting a few meters away, laughing with a few guild members. Being happy and not knowing that he was near them…
He remembered his foster father Igneel, the Dragon's Den, the first time he met the blonde princess, the parting between them, the horrible and menacing reputation he had before he even met Igneel, the day he learned fire dragon slayer magic, obtaining the lacrima arrows, the fights with Gray and Gajeel. Everything.
That girl over there is Levy, the one beside Mirajane is Lisanna, the man near them was named Elfman, that's Bisca, Alzack, Max, Jet, Droy, Warren , Cana, Gildarts, Laki, Warren, there's Macao, Wakaba, Romeo, Reedus, And Freed, and Evergreen, and Bixslow, Laxus, Ji-chan, Sting, Rouge, Lector, Frosch, Over there is Wendy, Carla, Happy, Pantherlily, Gajeel, Stripper, Erza, Lucy… He takes a big breath to calm himself down. Slowly his breathing pace went back to normal. He had remembered everyone but still he hates himself. He had forgotten his family's names that are too precious to not remember. For that he can never forgive himself. His head hurts. Natsu wants the world to stop spinning and most importantly, he wants them to know that he's alive…
Natsu didn't know what to do.
He was freaking out. He was definitely freaking out. At least he thinks he is. Every part in body feels sickening calm. He hates it, everything was wrong. He wanted to break something in rage, scream to express his anger but all he wants to do is crawl into a hole so no one can see him tore apart. Not only he couldn't reunite with his nakama, they couldn't even frickin see him! To make his brain explode even further, his eyes finally lands at the group who had returned back.
No.
The only thing that repeated in his head as he saw the group, his eyes locked on a girl with beautiful blonde hair, was…Why now? Her blonde hair flowing in a silky wave. Her brown eyes that look like warm pools of chocolate. Her smile that always sent flutters in him that made him long for it.
She walked with the large group toward the small master just a few inches away from the pink haired man while he still sat on his stool. He studied them eagerly to notice any differences between them as they came closer. He realized that there was new comer with blue hair and a tattoo on his left eye. Who was he? He sees the man wrap his arm around the red haired beast and his serene eyes suggest that she was his important treasure. Erza had found someone precious? His eyes wavered to the ice bastard who had immediately walked to a dark short-haired woman who was having a drink with Cana and the rest. Was this Gray's girlfriend?! Wait, no. She seems more motherly and a teacher rather than a mate. Natsu smiles lightly to himself for the first time. They looked happy…
His dark eyes glazed over the blonde beauty to find that she had a grim expression. A matter of fact, they all had a frown upon their faces. Gajeel was an exception to this but seeing Erza's "This is business" look in her brown eyes as they met Ji-chan's withered ones. Erza nodded simultaneously with the old man as they start walking up the large staircase toward Master's office. Natsu became confused; the blue haired man took a seat directly beside Natsu which made him flinch a little.
"We should discuss a strategy" He said his voice deep and calm, this man almost seemed like he was born to be leader. His dark brown eyes stared at the blank expressions of Lucy, Wendy, Gajeel and the children. The man folded his hands together, his eyebrows creases together.
"He isn't coming here right Jellal-san?" Wendy whispered softly. The blue haired man named 'Jellal' gave her an unsure smile as if to comfort her. He placed his hand on her dark hair and patted her lightly.
"He might" He admitted. "But he won't hurt anyone when I'm here" Natsu found a strike of jealousy as he watched them two interact. His returned memories reflected him among the pig-tailed girl, with the same brother and sister relationship. Just remembering these images, just made him think:
You're not needed anymore.
You got replaced.
"But I don't want to be" Natsu whispered unconsciously, against his thoughts.
"Is the Hades bastard coming as well?" A gruff voice says interrupts. The metal dragon slayer crosses his arms as Natsu stared at him with awe and repeating confusion. Hades? Jellal twitched but with his blue head low, he nodded slowly. Had Natsu heard right? Did the metal freak just say Hades? This gotta be a mistake! Natsu recalled that Erza had killed the man and he saw it himself! How the HELL-?
"Yo! You're back already?!" A new bright voice rang. A spiky blonde haired man came over with a big grin on his face while he dragged a dark brown-haired boy by his hand. Behind him was a black-haired boy whose right eye was covered by some of his dark locks. This man walked beside a small girl wearing a frog costume who eagerly skipped over to them.
Natsu felt his heart clenched together as he watched the two teens smile. They actually look happy. The pink haired man scoffed to himself as he smiled at the improvement in their behaviors. But still he felt a pit of longing deep inside of him.
"Hey Blondie, how was your first quest in eight months?" Sting hollered despite being at a close distance between them. The group flinched slightly but recovered quickly, Lucy frowned at the spiky haired man as he slung an arm around her shoulders.
"First of all, you're blonde as well Blondie. And second, we…had to cancel it" Lucy paused slightly as Rouge raised an eyebrow at them, no doubt that he suspects something.
"Why?" Sting asks eagerly despite Lucy's glares.
"Erza had taken us to the wrong place" Gray interjected as he strides back from the drinking adults; he flicks Sting in the forehead to get his arm off the hesitating blonde. Lucy looked relieved from Natsu's perspective which made the pink haired man frowned a bit. What had happened during their request?
"Oh" Sting said frowning; he rubbed the spot where Gray had flicked him. "Were you guys late or something?"
"Y-yes we were Sting-san" Wendy joins in their conversation. "And also I had forgotten something in the guild" the dark-haired girl says, taking some of the blame for herself.
"It was all of our faults" Jellal pipes in; he stands up from his stool and patted the dust off of his clothing. "We all wanted to stay together, that kept us off track" the blue haired man finishes though Rouge remains silent, Natsu soon realizes that the dark-haired man already knew that they were hiding something but decides to keep quiet. Sting, in the other hand, believes the whole entire story. But Natsu sees Sting's eyes moved to Lucy's blank face. Maybe he does know something was wrong.
"Oh so that's what happened… Oh hey! Blondie! You should come along with me and Rouge for our next mission!" Lucy's eyes widened as if Sting spoke gibberish. Even Lector gave his companion a rather surprised look. But Rogue's lips moved upward slightly, agreeing with the man's suggestion. Rather that they didn't know that a certain invisible dragon slayer is clutching the edge of his stool very hard.
"Knowing you, you'll probably ditch me if I do" Lucy says rolling her eyes as Sting grins wider which answered her theory. The blonde felt her lips curve upward a bit at the man's stupidity and Rouge's following his prank.
"A joke" Rouge says simply. His red eyes meet Sting's and they smiled at each other, obviously planning something.
"But that got you to smile" They both simultaneously said, making the blonde's brown eyes widen at first but later she started laughing which made others join together. Natsu releases his grip and inched his ear toward them a little more while laying his head on the counter. He can hear all of their laughter that made him feel so warm with memories. One beautiful sound stood out to him the most which made him a little sad but happy. He closes his eyes and smiled as he absorbed the melodic voice of his princess…
Not before long, their laughter was cut short by curdling screams.
First, Natsu's head snapped upward, his eyes in slits as he felt something. Almost immediately, they heard a large explosion of wood and bricks. Natsu's body slid through the immense rubble and he stood up to examine the damage. What was going on?! The next thing everyone knew, there were something hurtling toward them at a quick speed. And once again, Gray tackled the blonde girl to the side as others did the same.
Lucy's life flashed before her eyes and there she was before a man that she loves dearly who smiles at her genuinely. But immediately the beautiful sight is replaced with reality. Lucy watches at the figure stands straight and looks directly at her. Gray slides off her and pulled Lucy back up. The whole entire ceiling collapsed and sounds of cries of trapped guild mates stuck under big slabs of stone. Even Jellal was stuck underneath one and he tried to get himself free. The ones, who weren't hurt much, got out from the shock and prepared to face the attacker. Erza and the master finally walk down from upstairs to greet the immense mess. Erza's brown eyes widen as she was the first to fully see the silhouette as the dust cleared. The red haired woman gulped as she received the sight.
There stood Hiro with his black cloth scarf torn to shreds to reveal his canine teeth that weren't seen before. Again the cape concealed the upper part of his face but you can fully see the insanity in his smile. Despite his horrid change of personality, that wasn't what made Erza stifled back a gasp. Natsu gazed at the new man and felt his world stop right there.
Another person stood facing the Hiro but was hunched back. Erza knew this hunchbacked man; he was nowhere near the old age to be curved like that. In fact, he was 19 and he was bending not on purpose but because the pain inflicted on him. His casual smile can even bring up her spirits and his joking personality can make everyone do a chorus of laughter. His beautiful spiky blonde hair now dyed with the color of his own blood and a trickle of red flows from his mouth as he stood shocked to see a hand sliced through his torso.
"STING!"
The wounded man coughed, his eyes were in dilated to slits and he slid out from the arm of Hiro who stares at his blood with great excitement. Sting lies on the ground, holding his bloody stomach, and he was breathing heavily. Rogue forces himself from the rubble as Lector stares at Sting's crumpled body. Even Natsu stood shocked from the bloody picture and he knew that his presence was helpless to do anything.
"That was GREAT!" Hiro cries out, examining his bloodied hand dyed with the crimson blood of Sting. "Don't worry; I didn't hit a vital spot. I want to savor this moment as long as I can before it lasts!" He tells the bloodied man underneath him. Rogue tries to make his way to the crazy man, limping. The rubble damaged his left leg and arm.
"I was right! See, I told Master Hades that dragon slayers are the most beautiful creatures in earthland! Their beautiful blood caked in my fingertips and the magnificent color it provides! It kind of makes me feel guilty for attacking ahead of schedule BUT! THIS IS TOO GORGOUS TO MISS!" Hiro says to himself, not caring for the audience surrounding him. His head shifts slightly to see the shadow dragon slayer's limping body.
"I wonder what this little dragon looks like" He says to himself before he licks Sting's blood and then making a single line on his cheek, almost like a tally mark…
Rogue's eyes didn't have time to widen for Hiro to grab the dragon slayer's wounded leg. Then there was a sickening crack and an agonizing scream. Soon enough, the man had broken Rogue's leg. The crazy man's cloak was now stained with both Sting's and Rogue's blood. Again Hiro makes another line on his cheek with Rogue's darker blood, right underneath's Sting's. A second tally mark finished.
The crazy man smiles, satisfied with the massacre. He rises and stares down at the limp bodies of the pained dragon slayers. He turns his neck to glance at the disgusted, petrified faces of the guild. Hiro gives a sniff in the air and smiles gleefully.
"I didn't forget you two…" He slurs and trailed off his sentence.
Erza was the quickest to recover.
"Protect Wendy and Gajeel!" she orders as everyone flinches back to reality, Hiro had already started running toward the closest dragon slayer who was the little dark-haired girl, Wendy, who was frozen with fear. The girl had her arms up defensively but tears came out of her eyes as the man quickly approached. Fortunately, Erza intercepted and made a second swipe to the attacker with her second sword. It grazed Hiro's arm slightly but not enough to cause a lot of damage. The sword also shredded most of his cape until it was up to his shoulders; the hood still covered his upper head. Hiro wrapped the dark cloth around his mouth tighter.
"Why would you interfere?" Hiro asked wondrously as he jumped back. "You know I would have to kill you as well!" Hiro says. Most of the members already shielded the two unharmed dragon slayers while others tried to get out from the rubble or tried to get Sting and Rogue medical attention. Erza looked to her sides to see her nakama trembling and she couldn't blame them, their new enemy was a fighter. Lucy was pulled up by Gray but she still pondered on the thought why Hiro seemed familiar.
"No one will harm our comrades any further! I suggest you leave now or I will use force, shred you to pieces and send you back to your master" Erza threatened. Natsu makes his ghostly self toward Lucy and inspected her for major injuries but there were only a few scratches to his relief. But Gray had taken the most damage for himself. Natsu gritted his teeth as his hand slipped through Lucy's face. He was completely helpless.
Hiro looks around, gazing over his surroundings. There were many wizards in the room but he knows he will be able to kill them all. He notices a certain girl who keeps eying him with deep thought…It annoyed the hell out of him…
He smiled at Erza as he took a knife from its sheath in his pocket. His cloak was already in shreds, he may as well throw it off. The red head stood protectively in front Lucy as she noticed Hiro's sudden glance at the blonde. Her dual swords were out; they glistened from the setting sun that the hole allowed in.
But the biggest mistake she did was blink.
One short second had almost cost her life. Hiro had made his move with the quick speed of his while her eyelids fell. Instead of slashing her, he had whipped his arm against her neck that made her gasped and dropped to the ground. Whatever Hiro had did, Erza couldn't move any part of her limbs. All she could do was watch Hiro make his way toward Lucy and Gray, with the knife blade still in his hand. She watched as his lips formed the word, referring to her:
"Trash"
Gray pushed Lucy behind him and held his arms out in a protective stance. His eyes glistened hard with strength. Hiro gave him a frown to show his disappointment. Natsu stared at the figure with hatred but the strangest part to him was that…Hiro sounded very familiar.
"Why are you in my way?" The servant of Hades asked, clearly annoyed.
"A promise" Gray muttered, unwavering and he kept his arms straight.
"A promise to do what? Die for that petty girl?"
"NO!" Gray shouts, his dark hair shading his upper face. Lucy looked confused as she stared at the back of the ice mage. "A promise I made to myself to protect Lucy for a past friend" Gray murmurs softly, ignoring the blonde's shocked expression and focused on the crazed man. Natsu flinches as he grips his fists hard in anger. Why would the ice bastard do this for him?! Natsu examines Gray and was surprised to see his dark grey eyes determined.
"Well, let me tell you this" Hiro starts, lowering his voice deeply. "That promise was such a waste…" Hiro made his way toward them. Gray had his fist in the palm of his other hand, ready to use his ice make magic but again, Hiro attacked with such speed that there was after images of his silhouette. Gray grimaces and dodged the crazy man's first strike.
Hiro jumped back but returned to attack the dark-haired man. Gray noticed that Hiro wanted a close combat. Maybe his magic involves with something that needs the opponent to be close. So all Gray had to do is get far away from the crazy man, for him to attack.
The problem was that, Hiro was aiming for Lucy.
The cloaked man had tried to get past Gray's formation multiple times. Gray felt a sweat trickle from his face as Hiro's fist grazed parts of his body. He felt a cut on his face that warm sticky liquid fell from his cheek. He clenched his teeth hard. If he can't move away from Lucy, then he had to move the crazy man to somewhere far instead. Gray went in for a kick to trip Hiro down but the man jumped up as he did. Gray smirked at his chance as the attacker fell for his plan.
"Ice make Lance!" Gray shouted as Hiro got open in the air and he swung the frozen object around the area where he stood.
Hiro realizing this, he jumps onto Gray's lance and pushes off to the side. He runs as the many more lances follow him, destroying more rubble. The ice mage watches as the ice object almost hits the attacker but he spots a small smirk in Hiro's mouth. Then there was a bright blue light and the lance hits nothing but empty ground. Gray curses as his weapon disappears, that man still had the transportation lacrima! The dark haired man starts to examine the field for any slight change, desperately looking an advantage. He felt his breathing was heavy and more sweat dripped from his forehead. The blood from his cheek stained his neck and his hands as he wiped it. He was quickly losing energy.
There. There's a black cloth with cold trimmings in the edges flapping a bit in a small crack of fallen rubble.
"Ice make Bazooka" Gray yells and he shoots a big flare of ice. There was a loud explosion and once again there was dust and smoke. Gray breathed heavily as he watched the smoke clear, his magic already at its point. His eyes widened to see nothing there but just the black cloak that was completely shredded into strands of black cloth. His head whips back and forth, looking for the disappeared man but suddenly… he was cut off by the sound of his gasp as Hiro stood behind him. The man had done the same technique that he had done to Erza who watches in dismay of their fight. She gritted her teeth hard while she watched the ice mage tumbled to the ground, limp.
Gray's eyes widened when his body came in contact with the hard ground. But not from his unexpected loss. But at the figure that stood before him.
Hiro's real appearance…
Erza was shocked as well. Truth to be told, everyone was. But the most surprised ones were the blonde and the unseen Natsu. The real definition to describe what everyone was feeling was…
Traumatized.
Everyone stared at his glinted devilish gold eyes and his canine smile. Everyone was shaken by his appearance; it wasn't that he looked like a monster or anything. He looked like he was in his twenties and looked completely normal! Then why did Sting and Rogue look up from their damaged states in horror. Why was Wendy terrified? And why did Lucy started to cry and Natsu became confused more than ever. Well that's because Hiro had…
…
…
…
…
Pink spiky hair.
"Natsu?" Lucy whispered his name as Natsu stares at his look a-like in horrified shock. He was Natsu but he knew for a fact that, that person is also Natsu… The man 'Hiro' turned his head slightly to look at the blonde, his eyes narrowed with annoyance.
"Natsu? Who is Natsu?" He murmured simply.
Lucy, who was frozen as if the time gears had stopped, felt her heart beat race with adrenaline. All she could do was watch as the pink haired man walked to her slowly with his arms outstretched with people's blood. A silver dagger in one hand.
"My name is Hiro"
Lucy's lips trembled to see such a terrible look on Natsu's features. His voice, smile, and face were exactly the same. The same person she had played with, cherished and loved, looked like he thought she was the most pathetic bug in existence. A bug that can be killed with one single squish.
"Please die for me" He says with Natsu's voice, smiling his smile. Lucy felt one tear stream down from her teary brown eyes.
He swung the knife but before the blade can slash the blonde's neck, make her drown in her blood, and forever be traumatized by her lover's voice telling her to die, a large hand tightly grabbed Hiro's torso. The man surprised to find that he was trapped by the master of Fairy Tail, had tried to escape but later finding out that his body was wrapped in runes. Freed had somehow gotten himself free from a large piece of the ceiling, had casted a strong scripture to prevent the attacker from escaping. Master had tried to pick a perfect time to capture this man but was late when he tried to help more of his family out of the rubble.
Despite the successful capture, Hiro was screaming to be released. He squirmed in the runes, trying to get the lacrima out from his pocket but someone immediately took it away from him. After that, he screamed even more but everyone ignored his yells. He even switches his screams to screams of threats. Even though, the guild mates had a grim look on their faces as they looked at their attacker's face. Everyone mind's repeated: 'Natsu attacked them'. Despite their knowledge, the only one who knows that the real Natsu wasn't Hiro was the actual Natsu who was still watching the squirming captive with his thought mixed up with his emotions. And lastly Lucy was still on the ground, not noticing the people who tried to heal her, was frozen as a statue. All she kept remembering was:
"Please die for me"
End of chapter 22!
A LOT OF MOFO WORDS! COMPLETE! Finished it tonight and right now, I'm so pleased! Thank god! Please excuse the grammar mistakes , etc. Review, Favorite, Follow!
Coming up next: Talking to Hiro
No question this chapter! Sorry!
