"What do you mean Zeref has him!" They both demanded but none of them could get me to talk. I just stood up and started running to the park. There was no time for explanations. I arrive to the park with time to spare. I look around and all I can see is Wendy, Charles, Erza and Gray catching up to me. There is nothing out of the norm here. Where are you Zeref you coward!
"Nozomi! What was that about?" Gray shouts at me.
"I have to meet Zeref here in a few minutes. Go back if you must to inform the guild" I say to Wendy and Charles who immediately run off. I turn to the others
"I don't want any of you to be involved with this. Zeref only wants me. You lot stay behind me and don't say a word! I am going to need witnesses and someone to take care of Natsu when we get him back."
"Not on your life!" Gray shouts back at me. "We are family! Nakama! We are in this together or not at all! This is what the guild is all about. I know that you have been on your own for so long but this is the way that we have always worked. One person's problems are the guild's problems. End of"
"Do you ever learn to shut up you baka" Was all that we heard making us turn around and face a black figure walking slowly towards us. The voice was very low and ominous sending shivers up my spine.
"Who are you calling baka?" I hear Gray shout but I don't take it in. I look at the black figure as it makes itself more aware of it's identity and I can hear that voice anywhere.
"Natsu" Is all that I can make out. The others freeze at my realisation of who it is. But it is not the Natsu that we know. As we see him walk towards us, I notice that Natsu is different to how I know him now. It is still spiked up but it is pitch black, his scarf has turned black to match and his clothes are ripped to pieces. I notice that his dragon scales have covered his body and his fangs are fully out like when he is in full dragon slayer mode. But the thing that freaks me out the most of this different Natsu is his eyes. They have no love in them, no niavity, no…..nothing. They are purely blank. In all, this Natsu looks like he was someone to not mess with. Like he was a born fighter belonging to a dark guild. The idea is shaking me to my core. This is what was happening to him all of this time? This new character was trying to take over his mind! Why would Zeref do this? Where is Lucy? Like Erza was reading my mind she suddenly screams out
"Lucy!" and we all turn our eyes south of Natsu. He is holding Lucy in his arms with her body bound in what looks like rope in the form of fire. She looks unconscious and is battered and bruised. She clearly put up a fight before she was knocked unconscious. But why are you holding Lucy like that Natsu? Why the change of appearance? We all gasp as one as Natsu stands beside someone and drops Lucy to the ground with a thud, the fire rope still binding her body.
"What has Zeref done to you Natsu!" I shout before I think of anything else to say.
"Now now Nozomi, is this anyway to talk to your brother like that? Or me for that fact" A man covered in black with a long white wrap around him comes out from behind Natsu and stands beside him. Natsu doesn't even move an inch when Zeref is standing next to him. My body freezes in shock at seeing this man in the flesh! I cry silent tears at the suddenly realisation of having more than one connection with him!
"You!" I shudder Zeref laughs.
"It is me. At last I can see you again Nozomi-san"
"Nozomi how does he know you?" Erza says to me quietly so only I can hear
"He….he attacked mine and Natsu's village" I manage to say, only making the tears come on stronger. A montage of everything I have had to go through with losing Mama and Papa, protecting my brother from this monster and spending all of that time looking for him….only now to have lost him again to the one man I never wanted to see again.
"What do you want with Natsu and Nozomi?" I hear Gray shout out to Zeref. Zeref laughs dripping with evil intent.
"I want them for my army. A fire dragon slayer and his fire wielding sister at his side? We would be unstoppable!" Anger is building up inside of me so I let it out
"I will never join you! You never will have me and I am taking my brother back."
Zeref chuckles again "Oh but my dear…I already have your brother. I just need you to complete the set. I knew of your potential when you both were born. For years I tried to get your Mother and Father to join me so you both could be by my side as my heirs to my empire but they refused…..So I killed them."
"So why try and kill us then!" I shout out "I had to protect Natsu from you and yet you wanted us as part of your army!"
"I knew that you both had potential and I saw you both as a threat. So I tried to kill you before your magic came into play. But of course just in the nick of time you seem to find your magic and bring it out of you to save both of you. So I waited and waited until you were old enough because as they say… if you can't beat them" He says walking over to Natsu and pats him on the head "Join them"
I am officially fuming now "Natsu would never join you on his own free will! What makes you think I will join you when he is like this! You will have to make me like Natsu to join you!"
"But my dear, don't you realise it yet. Natsu is extremely powerful, he was a threat. All he needed was a bit of…..persuasion and he would follow me for all time. Natsu" He says turning to Natsu. "Let's make sure that they know who we are dealing with shall we?"
Natsu nods "Yes Master" It sets us all aback. He thinks Zeref is his master now?
"Natsu! He is not your Master. Think of Gii-chan! Think of Fairy Tail! Snap out of this!" I shout out.
"Fairy Tail means nothing to me now. You were my family but now I have found my own family who understands me. You, my suppose-ed sister, you left me alone in the world to survive for so long when I was just a baby! I was raised by a dragon instead of humans and now because of that, the guild I thought was my family doesn't see me for who I really am. I am a true dragon slayer. I have the power to overcome anything but you all see me as just destructive to others! You all promised me that we would look after each other when we were small and none of you kept to it! I now know what you really think and you all are nothing to me now! Only Zeref can show me my true potential" He says back with a venomous slur.
"Shut up baka! If not us then what about Lucy eh! You told me not long ago that you were in love with her! Has that changed too" Gray shouts making us all look at Gray shocked. Natsu admitted to Gray that he loved Lucy! Oh my God I was right all along! I knew it! We turn to look at Natsu who is looking back at Gray passively. He looks down at the floor at Lucy as if he is contemplating what Gray was saying. Looking at Natsu you can somewhat tell that he is having an internal debate with himself so Gray tries again noticing his twitching body. "Think about what could happen with you and Lucy! If you stay with Zeref then it will never happen! Think about Lucy and snap the fuck out of whatever has happened to you flame-brain!" Gray shouts again trying to try and get a reaction out of him. Natsu is overall shaking. He is clearly trying to overtake whatever possession is involved and Lucy seems to be the key.
"Now now Natsu. Be a good boy and not listen to anything they say. You don't need a guild to survive. You don't need love to survive. You only need power and that is by my side" Natsu's body slowly stops shaking at it looks like the possession has won as he is still the same right now. We need to try and go for something else if Natsu is not going to get out of this.
"Good boy Natsu. Now show me what we think of love in a guild" Zeref says slowly. We watch as Natsu walks over to Lucy. He looks down at her and out of nowhere kicks her in the side making her fly.
We all gasp and scream as Lucy flies through the air towards us. Natsu is now in mid-air going for the next attack on Lucy and this is when I decide to get involved. While Natsu is in mid-air, I intercept and manage to punch him in the face making him jolt sideways. He changes his direction and he is now going for me. Punches and kicks are flying everyone knowing full well that there is no point us using our fire magic on each other since it would actually aid us both in the fight. I feel punch after punch after kick coming my way and I manage to block them all, all the while shouting at him.
"I promised that I would never cause harm to you brother. I love you and I promised that I would not hurt you unless I really needed to. That is what a big sister does for their siblings! We protect them! I have searched too long for you to do that to you" I watch Natsu's reaction and I almost see a break through just like with Gray mentioning Lucy earlier.
"Now I'm going to have to break my promise" I manage to break through Natsu's attacks and punch him hard in the gut and with one final punch slam him to the floor headfirst. I watch as I see an unconscious Natsu in my wake. I approach him slowly as I hear Zeref's voice once more.
"You see Nozomi, you are clearly much stronger than Natsu. Imagine what could happen if both of you were on my side. We would be invincible!"
"Not in our lifetimes!" I shout bending down to cradle my unconscious brother. I manage to turn around in time to realise that Gray is holding an unconscious Lucy. Good he caught her in time. This gives me more strength to know that one of my friends is safe.
"You may have had Natsu for a short time but you took him out of his free will and you would never have me….uncle"
Woah! Who saw that coming! Zeref is Natsu and Nozomis uncle! Two more chapters to go and this story is done! Please check out my other ones too! I promise they dont bite! Thank you so much for your amazing support! I wrote this story about a year ago and I finally decided to publish it and i am so glad that the reaction to this is so positive! please comment, review, follow, etc etc and please come back next week for chapter 10!