I hope you all have a good Christmas! Sorry for the wait as I've been distracted by a lot! And enjoy the latest chapter of Phoenix Dawn!

July 4, X791

The Phoenix Dawn Dragon Slayers Sakura, Frost, Jayden and Lionel were being guided alongside the Fairy Tail wizards Natsu, Lucy, Gray and Wendy. All of them were being led by Gajeel to an underground area underneath the coliseum.

"What's down here, Mr. Gajeel?" Wendy asked.

"Shut up and just follow me." Gajeel replied.

"Don't treat a lady like that." Jayden said.

"Why do us Dragon Slayers have to come with you?" Natsu questioned.

"Perhaps being Dragon Slayers has something to do with it." Flora surmised.

"I was thinking the same thing." Happy said.

"Sounds about right." Lily agreed.

"But even if it is, why are those two here?" Carla asked as she pointed out Lucy and Gray.

"We're just curious." Lucy said.

"This is it." Gajeel finally stopped walking.

They all looked around and saw massive skeletons as far as the eye could see, but they weren't just of any ordinary creatures.

"These are… dragon bones…" Natsu gasped. "A dragon graveyard…"

"What the hell are these doing underneath the castle?!" Frost shouted.

"At least this place proves they existed." Lily said.

"That and the fact that Dragon Slayers exist." Wilbur pointed out.

"Why here of all places?" Gray asked.

"How should I know?" Gajeel retorted.

"Sakura, you've been quiet s-" Jayden turned to Sakura, who was simply staring at all of the dragon bones in a trance. "Sakura?"

Sakura was having flashbacks to the moment when she watched Fleuressca die right in front of her.

"SAKURA!" Jayden shouted and snapped his fingers in front of her face.

She suddenly punched Jayden in the throat, forcing him to clutch it and struggle to breathe properly.

"What was that for, Sakura?!" Lionel questioned.

"I… I didn't…" Sakura was shocked and looked at her shaking fist.

"Why don't we go sit down back the way we came?" Flora suggested.

Flora guided Sakura back to the tunnel they came through and Sakura sat down against the wall, but she was still listening in to what the others were doing.

"I doubt these are our dragons." Gajeel said. "These guys look like they've been down here for much longer than fourteen years."

"Milkyway!" Wendy exclaimed.

"Now's not the time for astronomy, Wendy." Frost said.

"No, not 'Milky Way'." Wendy shook her head. "I'm talking about one of the techniques Ms. Porlyusica taught me. It calls upon the voices of dragon souls as they flow with the heavenly river. I thought it was supposed to be an attack, but I'm starting to think it's for moments like this. Milkyway could let us talk with the spirits of these dragons."

"What?!" Gajeel shouted.

"You mean…" Natsu said.

"This could shed some light on what happened to the dragons all those years ago." Lionel said.

"And why exactly this graveyard is underneath the castle." Jayden added.

Wendy started using a stick to draw a circular symbol on the ground.

"A magic pattern?" Lucy asked.

"What are you doing, Wendy?" Natsu asked.

"Have you been listening at all?!" Carla scolded the Fire Dragon Slayer.

"She's casting a spell so we can talk to the ghosts of dragons." Happy stated.

"All done!" Wendy said as she made the finishing touches to the circle. "Everybody, stand back a bit." She knelt down and raised her arms. "Oh wandering dragon spirit! Bestow upon me your voice! Milkyway!"

A pillar of light erupted from the circle and large ethereal ripples appeared on the cave's ceiling. Everyone was left staring at how beautiful the light was. As Wendy continued channeling the spell, the dragon skeletons around them started rattling.

"Eee!" Lucy shrieked as she hid behind Lionel. "The bones!"

"What's the matter?" Lionel questioned. "Afraid of zombie dragons?"

"I search for the soul of a dragon!" Wendy continued chanting. "An ancient will that wanders these caverns… So small… I found you!"

Wendy clasped her hands together in prayer and the light was shining brighter. A massive blue sphere materialized before her and a large figure began to take shape.

"I ain't surprised a dragon's soul would be that huge." Jayden said.

"Wendy?" Happy spoke.

"It's best if we stay quiet." Jayden stated. "Wendy needs to concentrate."

A few seconds passed and a transparent image of a large jade dragon appeared before them, letting out a bellowing roar. Pretty much everyone except for Wendy, who was trying to maintain focus, screamed in terror like girls.

"Wimps…" Frost muttered. "And you call yourselves men…"

"Ahahahahaha!" The dragon started guffawing. "Nothing's funnier than the faces of startled humans!"

Everyone stopped screaming and blankly stared at the dragon in questioning disbelief.

"I am Zirconis, the Jade Dragon." The dragon introduced himself. "Somebody called my soul back. No doubt it's Grandeeney's Sky Magic. Where are you?"

Zirconis looked around and saw Wendy still focusing on the spell.

"Oh, how adorable!" Zirconis lowered his head to Wendy. "Did such a wittle dwagon swayer manage to revive me?"

"Watch it, buddy!" Natsu shouted. "You stay away from her!"

"No!" Zirconis said to Natsu. "Such a tasty snack shouldn't go to waste!"

"You jerk!" Natsu argued.

"Haha! It was only a joke! How can I eat her when I can't even touch anything?" Zirconis demonstrated by showing his large finger faze through Natsu like it wasn't even there. "You humans can be really stupid."

"Is this dragon for real?" Jayden questioned.

"I'm just as unsure as you." Frost replied.

"Let's be specific. I am Zirconis, the Ja-"

"YOU JUST SAID THAT!" Gray yelled.

"What happened here?" Carla inquired.

"Why are all these dragon bones here?" Happy asked.

"We called back your spirit to find these answers." Lily said.

"Go away! I don't have time to speak with humans!"

"What about cats?" Cole questioned.

"Very well then. It happened over four hundred years ago…"

"You have loose rules, don't ya?" Gray murmured.

"We dragons were once rulers of the world! We soared through the skies, roamed the earth and crossed the oceans in prosperity. Everything in the world belonged to Dragonkind. Humans were nothing more than snacks to us, heh heh… But there was a dragon who objected to the rule of Dragonkind, spouting nonsense about building a world where humans and dragons could coexist. A civil war rose among the dragon: those who wished to coexist with humans and those that didn't. I fought against the idea of coexistence."

"'Against'?" Lucy questioned. "You mean…?"

"I can't bring myself to like humans! Outside having them as dinner!"

"So you're pretty much talking to your food right now?" Natsu giggled childishly.

"Shut up, you annoying pest!"

"So, what happened with the battle?" Carla asked.

"Ahem… The battle hit a stalemate. The battles between dragons tore the earth apart. Eventually, the dragons who wished for peace with humans had a foolish strategy: bestowing them with magic that could slay dragons and have them joining the battle."

"Dragon Slayer Magic…" Lucy muttered.

"That's the origin of Dragon Slayers?" Happy asked.

"The power of the Dragon Slayers couldn't be matched. It was only a matter of time for the peace-seeking dragons to emerge victorious, but there's a reason I called their strategy 'foolish'. They had given the Dragon Slayers too much power and eventually they turned against them. And among them was a human who bathed in too much dragon blood. I shudder simply mentioning HIS name. He continued killing dragons and soaking in their blood. Eventually, his skins turned to scales, his teeth to fangs and his human body became that of a true dragon."

"A man turned into a dragon?!" Frost exclaimed.

"That can't be possible!" Lionel shouted.

"Now that I think about it, perhaps not." Jayden surmised. "We Dragon Slayers take on dragon qualities, but it's probably also a reaction to their blood that man to become a dragon himself."

"That was the end of the path for dragons. All the dragons you see here were slain by HIM! It was then that he became the Dragon King and the Dragon King Festival! A dragon, yet not a dragon, the Wings of Darkness! His name… is Acnologia!"

Everyone froze upon hearing this, especially the Fairy Tail wizards.

"That thing…" Lucy gasped.

"Was once human?!" Gray exclaimed.

"No way!" Gajeel uttered.

"He slayed nearly every dragon, and that was four hundred years ago. All that's left… is to tell you-"

Zirconis's image faded away until he completely disappeared.

"Hey!" Natsu shouted.

"He vanished!" Jayden also shouted.

"We still got questions to ask him!" Gajeel joined the shouting.

"Wendy!" Happy and Carla ran over to Wendy.

"I'm sorry…" Wendy said. "His spirit's completely vanished from this place. In other words, he's moved on to the afterlife."

"That was an overwhelming story." Gray said plainly.

"It was too huge!" Lucy was still shaking.

"So if you use Dragon Slayer Magic too much, you become a dragon?" Natsu asked as he looked at the other Dragon Slayers.

"I don't want that!" Gajeel replied.

"Me neither!" Frost agreed. "Men would rather look at my soft, human body than a scaly dragon body."

"That is not possible." A strange, authoritative voice spoke from behind them.

"Who's there?!" Wendy shrieked.

The owner of the voice walked toward them, revealing themselves as a tall, dark-skinned man in knight's armor with a long nose and frizzled dark hair. There was also a familiar woman walking next to him in the garb of the palace guards.

"I apologize for eavesdropping." The armored man said. "Though it confirms the historical research we've performed. I assume you're familiar with the demons of the Book of Zeref."

"I'm not." Jayden bluntly raised his hand.

"Acnologia is close to that." The man stated. "The theory is that Zeref transformed a Dragon Slayer into Acnologia."

"Zeref did?!" Happy asked.

"In other words…" The knight smirked. "The first step to defeating Zeref… is to capture Acnologia!"

"Defeat Zeref?" Natsu questioned.

"Who are these bastards?" Gajeel growled.

"Yukino?!" Lucy gasped when noticing that the woman next to the knight was Yukino Aguria.

"She joined the royal guard?" Jayden also recognized Yukino.

"I am a captain of the Fiore Royal Army stationed in Crocus." The man introduced himself. "Captain Arcadios of the Sacred Cherry Blossom Knights."

"And I am Provisional Sergeant Yukino Aguria of the same unit." Yukino greeted.

"What's the royal army doing here?" Lionel asked.

"Wait, Yukino?" Lucy asked. "Weren't you a member of Sabertooth?"

"She told us they kicked her out." Happy answered.

"All the more reason to kick their pompous asses!" Jayden cracked his knuckles. *First they maim Aqua and now I hear about this… I really can't wait for them to get what's coming to them!*

"Why don't I explain?" Arcadios offered. "We need the assistance of a Celestial Wizard for a certain top-secret project we've been working on and Sergeant Yukino has kindly offered her services."

As Natsu complained about being confused, Jayden looked back at Sakura to see that she had returned to the group, though she was unusually quiet and down.

"I take it you are Natsu Dragneel?" Arcadios asked Natsu before turning to Sakura. "And you must be Sakura Momohime. You both amazed at the Grand Magic Games today."

"Screw that!" Natsu butted his head against Arcadios's. "What was that about needing a Celestial Wizard?"

"Natsu, I don't think you want to pick a fight with this guy." Happy said. "He seems really important…"

"If he's so important, then he shouldn't be going berserk like that." Flora said.

"Follow me." Arcadios turned around and started walking.

"Hey!" Natsu shouted back at him.

"Miss Lucy, I require your assistance." Yukino said.

"Huh?" Lucy reacted.

"If this plan succeeds… Zeref AND Acnologia will be defeated." Yukino stated.

Everyone contemplated the words Yukino just gave, wondering if it was really possible to take down the most powerful beings in Earthland just like that.

A/N: Again, sorry for the massive delay, but I've been busy with other stories and games. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Stay tuned for next time!