Chapter 57: E.N.D.
Gray and Juvia weren't at school the next day, and despite everyone texting/calling them throughout the day they didn't hear back from them. Natsu sighed as he threw his phone down on the table he, Lucy, Wendy, Gajeel, Levy, and Erza all sat at in the guildhall.
"Still nothing, I'm starting to worry. I don't know if they ever made it back into town." Natsu frowned, making Levy tilt her head teasingly.
"What? You worry about Gray? I never thought I would see the day." She quipped and Natsu's face just flushed.
"Who said I was worried bout the stripper, maybe I'm worried about Juvia." He grumbled. Lucy looked up from her new book that was gifted to her and giggled at her boyfriend's antics.
"Oh don't act like that. All day you have been asking me if I've heard anything back from him." She stated simply before putting her nose back inside the book. Natsu puffed out his cheek.
"Wow, thanks for selling me out. I can just feel the love." He muttered dryly. Erza grinned and her little brother figure.
"Well I think for one it's actually quite sweet of him to be so worried about Gray." She stated, and Natsu rolled his eyes, but when his phone vibrated he grabbed it with lighting quick speed that made Jet look like a snail. Only to see it was a text from Ooba telling him that she was reopening the store next week and he was expected to close the shop by himself. In a huff he threw the phone back down. The table was just giggling at his antics.
"Laugh it up." Was all he muttered, his face heating up.
"Dang Lu, I didn't know you had competition with Gray." Levy quipped.
"I'll say, I had no idea Natsu cared so much about him." Wendy smiled. All the teasing made Natsu's face grow warmer.
"I don't know how you guys aren't worried about them…"
"Nobody said that Natsu, we are just poking a little bit of fun at your expense." Erza sighed, the boy just made a frustrated noise. He sniffed the air a few times, his eyebrows rising.
"Gajeel." He muttered darkly.
"Yeah, I smell it too." Gajeel began looking around, his eyes lowering in suspicion.
"Me too, but what is it?" Wendy piped in, her little nose twitching and she glanced around the guildhall. The rest of the table's occupants looked at the three dragon's like they were crazy.
"What's going on?" Lucy questioned, stuffing her bookmark on the page she was on and putting it on the table to glance at her boyfriend who rose to his feet still sniffing the air. Makarov sat at the bar, his eyes watching the trio carefully.
"Something's coming." Was all Gajeel said. Natsu glared at the front doors as they swung open causing a small bell to ring.
"Hello, welcome to Fairy Tail. You can sit anywhere you'd like. I'll be right with you." Mira's gentle voice greeted the newcomers without turning around. She turned around and her eyes widened.
"Oh…my." She stated, all the other people in the building were equally wide-eyed. Both guild members and normal people just there believing it to be a normal restaurant, everyone stared at the figures entering the building. The first person to walk in was Lahar. Natsu growled at this, and tried to hide behind Erza. After Lahar walked in, a tall woman with sharp pointed ears, and green feathery hair. Erza's breathing seemed to stop, her heart plummeted into her chest.
"I-It…c-can't be." She stuttered, making a few of the people glance at you. The green haired woman noticed Erza's glare and offered her a sadistic grin that made the redhead's blood run cold. There was still one last person to walk through the door. And it was none other than the Mayor of the city who had taken over office following Jude's arrest. The same man who gave Brain the ability to create Nirvana, and use the Oracion Seis to disguise themselves as Crime Sorciere. Mard Geer. He walked in coyly with his arms behind his back looking around the building.
"Ah, quite the interesting establishment you have here. I've always wanted to come visit. I hear the burgers are to die for." Mard Geer spoke smoothly looking around the room until his eyes landed on Natsu who glared at the man. Mard Geer's calm face never changed, but his lips did curl a tiny smidge upwards.
"Unfortunately I am here strictly on business today…Hello Mr. Dragneel, I don't believe I've had the...pleasure…of meeting you before." Mard Geer walked over to Natsu who stood up straight, a chill traveling through his spine. Mard Geer was a few feet taller than Natsu and looked down on him with a look that a starved lion gave a giselle before pouncing for the kill. Natsu's breath hitched as the strange smell from before filled his nostrils. He glanced over at Wendy whose eyes were wide. They locked onto Natsu's and she mouthed one word: Jackal. Natsu froze. Sniffed the air that surrounded Mard Geer, and sure enough. It was the same strange odor that Jackal had given off.
"Mr. Mayor…." Natsu glared up at Mard Geer who grinned maliciously. The entire table, heck the entire building was holding a collective breath at the stare down between the two. Makarov's eyes were dark and focused carefully, Erza was still in a state of silent terror as she stared at the green-haired woman. Gajeel was growling under his breath, ready to jump in if things were to warrant it. Lucy's brows furrowed as she focused on her boyfriend carefully.
"I have to admit the game we have been playing has been fun, Salamander. But I made a promise to this city when I was elected. Lahar, cuff him." Mard Geer instructed, Lahar grinned and walked towards the table. Gajeel began to rise to his feet, but Natsu sent the fellow dragon a glare that told him not to get involved. Gajeel cursed under his breath and sat back down. Lucy's jaw was clenched tightly. She had already lost Natsu to Mard Geer once, was she about to again?
"I've finally gotcha. Doranbolt isn't here to save you this time. Put your hands behind your back!" The mayor smirked and stepped out of the way, giving Lahar a path to Natsu. Wendy's whimpers filled the quiet place as the poor girl hid her face behind her face.
"Master…do something…" Mira begged quietly, tears forming in her eyes. Makarov just sighed and tried to look away.
"I'm afraid….there isn't anything I can do." He replied dryly.
"Natsu…." Levy mumbled and gripped Gajeel's hand tightly without thinking. Natsu's dark look was responded with Lahar's cocky grin. The officer pulled a pair of handcuffs out of his pocket.
"From the moment we met, I knew you were the Salamander. You killed your own father in a fire, and destroyed our city's historical monument in Kardia Cathedral. Acted as a vigilante bringing the law into your own hands, not to mention the fiasco in Shirostume. You will be going away for a long time."
"No he won't!" Lucy snapped, shooting up to her feet. She stood in between the two. Natsu stood there shocked at her actions while Lahar just glared at the girl.
"Luce…" Natsu mumbled, but the girl ignored him.
"No Natsu, I will not sit back and let them take you away when you have done absolutely nothing wrong! We both know you weren't the one who killed your father, you've saved so many people. The whole Kardia Cathedral couldn't be avoided because, oh wait the entire city was turned to stone and you had to bring us back to normal…so no Natsu I won't stand back while you take the fall for stuff that wasn't your fault." She hissed with a dark undertone. Lahar's expression darkened while Mard Geer and the green-haired woman had an amused look on their faces.
"Girl! Get out of my way or I will arrest you for harboring a fugitive and interfering with Government matters."
"Then go ahead and do it, because I won't let you take him away!" Lucy was fuming, but she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned around and saw Natsu staring down at the floor before looking up at her through his bangs. He wore a dark expression that she had only seen once. The night Daphne had died.
"Luce…sit down, this was an inevitability." He pushed past her leaving her speechless. Lahar grabbed Natsu and pushed him hard against the neighboring table. A collective gasp filled the air as Lahar pushed hard on the back of Natsu's skull with his elbow and began cuffing his arms.
"Natsu Dragneel, you are under arrest!" He shouted, Lucy's hand gripped at a fork that was on the table. Her entire body quivering in anger. Erza gripped the girl's hand making the blonde look at the redhead who had a tear streaking down one side of her face.
"You'll only make things worse for him. I know it's hard, but we can't get involved. Not this time." She muttered quietly, her eyes never leaving the green-haired woman who stood next to Mard Geer.
"Move along." Lahar pushed Natsu forward.
"I'm going, I'm going." Natsu hissed and took one last look at his friends, the four disappeared from the guild leaving the place silent. Lucy breathed heavily, her body shaking in anger.
"Damnit…..no….Damnit!" She fumed and threw the fork she had been clutching tightly at the wall with enough force that the prongs actually got stuck in the wood. She dropped to her seat, and put her face in her hands.
"But…he didn't do anything wrong…." Wendy muttered softly. Gajeel sneered at the younger dragon.
"Doesn't matter to them, they have been using him as a scapegoat for a long time now. His identity being revealed in his fight with Jackal was just the ammo they needed to finally get him and put all the blame on everything on him. Don't be surprised if they put Jackal's crimes onto him just because they can." He muttered dryly, speaking from his own past experiences. Levy frowned.
"It's just not fair."
"No…it's not." Erza agreed while staring at the door. Her eyes narrowed as she thought about the green-haired woman she recognized from her childhood.
Lahar pushed Natsu all the way to the end of the path where the police car was parked. Mard Geer, and his female companion walked behind them. They shot each other a coy grin and a matching dark look.
"Alright get in." Lahar shoved Natsu into the back of the police cruiser he growled.
"Just a heads up I have terrible motion sickness, so don't blame me if I blow chunks all over your seat." Natsu quipped with a smirk. Lahar glared at him and slammed the door without responding. He turned his back to the car and saluted the Mayor.
"Thank you very much for your services Captain Lahar…." Mard Geer began walking over to the driver's seat of the car. Lahar stared at this confused.
"Sir, don't you want me to drive?" He questioned. Mard Geer smirked.
"Oh that won't be necessary….Kyoka…if you would." Mard Geer spoke calmly before hopping in the car. Lahar glanced at the woman named Kyoka in confusion before a sharp pain rippled through his torso. Looking down at his chest he saw a large clawed hand impaling his torso belonging to Kyoka who looked down at him with a sadistic smile. She licked her lips and watched the life drain from Lahar's face. Natsu sat motionless in the back of the car as he stared out the window. He struggled to break free of the handcuffs and rushed to Lahar's aid.
"Hold still would ya. We have a long trip ahead of ourselves." Mard Geer stared at Natsu's face through the rear view mirror. The passenger door then swung open as Kyoka wiped her hand clean of Lahar's blood.
"You two….are Etherious aren't you!" Natsu muttered in a dark tone trying to break free of his restraints. Just then the car began to move and his body instantly felt weak, and his stomach churned.
"All shall be explained soon enough. Our boss wishes to meet with you." Mard Geer replied with a voice filled with malice. Natsu felt his body grow weaker due to his motion sickness and eventually passed out feeling like crap. Back at the guild Erza was watching the whole thing and soon everyone that had been inside the guild was circling Lahar who lay motionless on the ground, blood pouring out of five huge gaping holes in his chest. Lucy felt for a pulse, but it was no use. Not even Wendy, Sherria, and Porlyusica could save him he was dead the second Kyoka retracted her claws.
"I'm going to follow them." Was all Erza stated before hopping in her own car and began trailing them, trying to hang back to avoid suspicion. After about an hour and half of driving the cars were traveling through Boundary Forest, Erza tried her best to hang as far back as possible without losing sight of the car. Mard Geer had noticed this however, and frowned.
"Oh Kyoka…it looks like we have company." He stated bluntly.
"Indeed…my oh my what a bother." She cracked her neck and soon her appearance changed. Instead of looking human she now looked like a harpy, her hands turned to claws again, and her feet turned into ones akin to birds. A strange white helmet covered her face with two green feathers poking out. Without Mard Geer stopping the car she opened the passenger side door and flung herself out. Erza watched the scene and slammed her foot on the breaks causing her car to come to a loud, squealing halt. Kyoka grinned as she rose to her feet and faced the car where Erza was slowly exiting, requipping into armor and holding a sword tightly in her hand.
"My, my…if it isn't Titania. Your reputation precedes you, I recognized you the second I saw you at Fairy Tail earlier." Kyoka got into a fighting stance.
Mard Geer only had to drive for about fifteen more minutes before turning onto a dirt road that led past a sign that read: City of Rosemary. The sign had letters falling off of it and was covered in dirt, and various wildlife. After driving the road for a little bit longer they entered a desolate city that had been destroyed. The streets were cracked and filled with holes, class littered the streets from windows of buildings that either collapsed or were burnt and structurally weakened. The entire city had been reclaimed by mother nature so weeds were overgrown and sticking up all over. Vines and moss grew from the cities, and numerous animals had made shelters in the abandoned buildings. It was like a set from a big time zombie apocalypse movie. The story the public had been told was that a catastrophic fire broke out and destroyed the city, but in reality it was the result of the fight sixteen years ago between that claimed the lives of Silver Fullbuster, all of the dragons except for Acnologia and Igneel and hundreds of countless citizens. The car came to a slow stop in front of a burnt down house where a figure clad in an all black suit sat on a rotten wooden bench. He looked up from the ground where squirrels were gathered around his feet and he was throwing them some bread to the car that had just stopped in front of him.
"So it's finally time…" He whispered to himself, he took a deep breath and rose to his feet. Mard Geer stepped out of the driver's seat and opened the backseat's door.
"We're here, get out." He commanded. Natsu just gurgled as a response, and Mard Geer rolled his eyes while he reached inside and yanked the sick boy out by his shirt collar. He threw Natsu on the ground and slammed the car door. Zeref slowly looked up at Mard Geer.
"Be gentle with him." He glared at the Mayor of Magnolia. Mard Geer bowed his head.
"Sorry sir." He apologized and broke the handcuffs off of Natsu.
"It's fine, you are excused now…leave us in peace." Zeref instructed with a gentle voice. He looked down at Natsu who was coughing, but slowly recovered, finally realizing that he was no longer in a moving vehicle. Mard Geer nodded his head and walked away giving the two space. Natsu looked around at his surroundings trying to make sense of where he was.
"What the….where am I?" Natsu groaned out slowly, rising to his feet looking around the destroyed city.
"Hello Natsu. It's good to see you again." Zeref's calm voice made Natsu's head snap in his direction. Natsu's eyes widened.
"It's you! From the graveyard!" Zeref just smiled as Natsu pointed at him.
"So you recognize me. Good, I'm glad to hear it." The man looked up at Natsu with tears threatening to fall from his eyes. Natsu was taken aback by that.
"W-What's going on?! Where are we?! Where's Mard Geer?!" Natsu questioned as he looked around.
"Mard Geer brought you here to me. He has left the two of us alone for now so we might discuss some stuff. As to where we are. We are currently outside my childhood house in the city of Rosemary…this was the very place I lost my mother, father, and baby brother…You remember I told you my story many months ago." Natsu's eyes squinted.
"Okayyyy? So why am I here? What do you want to discuss?" Natsu questioned. Zeref's grin fell to a frown as tears began to pour.
"It's so good to see you again Natsu….it's been too long." Zeref muttered quietly. Natsu just raised an eyebrow at the confusing behavior. Zeref took a couple of steps forward towards Natsu until he was right in front of him. Natsu stared straight at the strange man, not sure if he should feel threatened or not. Zeref squinted at Natsu's face, examining every feature.
"You look just like father." Zeref mumbled, and slowly reached his hand up to caress Natsu's cheek. Natsu's body flinched at the contact, he pulled away and Zeref looked back down at the ground.
"I never did fully introduce myself that night we first met…my name is Zeref…" Natsu's eyes shot open in recognition of the name. He got into a fighting stance, but Zeref held his hands up.
"No Natsu, I don't want to fight you….please let me finish, my name is Zeref….Zeref Dragneel….and you're my long lost baby brother." Natsu felt like the world had just flipped upside down causing him to stumble and nearly fall over.
"W-What?...N-No…..y-you said your brother….w-was d-dead…." Natsu's voice shook as he tried to piece the puzzle together in his head. Zeref's frown morphed into a sad smile.
"Indeed….he did die, nearly forty years ago to this day when I was four years in this very house I lost my parents, and my three year old baby brother. His name was also Natsu, but you aren't him….and yet you are."
"That…doesn't make sense…" Natsu scratched his head, unable to figure out what the gibberish Zeref was spewing meant.
"I know, but I promise it will….tell me do you know about the demon known as E.N.D? The Etherious responsible for destroying this entire city sixteen years ago." Natsu slowly nodded his head in recognition of the name, unable to find words.
"You see, you aren't actually my baby brother Natsu…..you are an Etherious….and Etherious I gave the name and appearance of my own brother…..you're E.N.D…..Etherious Natsu Dragneel." Zeref's words were spoken in a dry matter-of-fact tone. Natsu stopped breathing, his eyes bulging. He felt dizzy, he felt sick, he felt like this was some kind of bad dream that he needed to wake up from.
"N-No…..y-you've got to be lying….t-that…can't be true….I…don't believe it…" Natsu's entire body was shaking. He was breathing heavily and stared at Zeref for any sign of him lying. The whole story sounded insane. He was Zeref's little brother? And he was also E.N.D? It couldn't be true. He was Natsu, he was raised by Igneel. He was Lucy's best friend turned boyfriend, he was Gray, and Erza's brother in arms. He was human. He was as human as it got…wasn't he? Zeref noticed the conflict going on within Natsu and began speaking once more.
"I know, it's a lot to take in…so let me explain further….I have always been gifted with a strong intellect, and after you and our parents passed I dedicated my every waking moment to figuring out some way, anyway to bring you back….but it was impossible….death could never be undone, it is a failure of human evolution. When I was eighteen however, I figured out a way to create life itself through ethernano….These creatures became known as Etherious…that's when one day I had an epiphany..." Zeref looked around the destroyed city.
"I was spending so much time trying to figure out how to enhance the human species that I actually discovered an alternate….Life made of ethernano….why save humanity when I could replace it? Replace it with a higher life form?! One free of ailments, one free of disease, free of death itself!" Zeref's voice was losing its calm demeanor and growing unhinged as the man's miserable face now turned sinister. Natsu's body was failing him.
"So I came up with the ultimate weapon! One capable of razing this entire world to the ground and allowing it to be rebuilt for Etherious!...Look around Natsu, this was that Etherious' doing. All by itself…I tricked Igneel the fire dragon into donating his own Ethernano so that it would inherit the immense power of one of the legendary dragons….I used the body of my deceased brother so that in a way I brought my precious baby brother back to life….that's why you still bleed blood, and grow older…because you aren't a pure Etherious…more like a hybrid, but even still you are the most deadly and dangerous….this city and the lives lost sixteen years ago are proof enough…." Zeref began chuckling to himself. Natsu had heard enough.
"THAT'S A FILTHY LIE!" Natsu shouted, his body erupting in flames, he surged forward but a large thorny vine shot out of the ground and wrapped around his body preventing him from moving. Mard Geer stepped out from behind the building he was hiding behind.
"I assure you, he speaks the truth…" Mard Geer grinned at the boy.
"I wasn't sure of it until we watched the fight between you and Jackal who was one of our strongest Etherious….you are E.N.D."
"SHUTUP!" Natsu screamed his entire body burning hotter than ever, he sprinted at Zeref again, but a large wall of ice shot out of the ground making Natsu stop in his tracks. Zeref looked up at the ice wall that now separated him from his dear baby brother. Mard Geer put a hand on his master's shoulder.
"We need to get out of here sir…." Mard Geer pushed him over to the car, Zeref took one last look at the wall of ice.
"We'll meet again real soon Natsu….Mard Geer, send word back to base. Let them know that operation F.A.C.E. has now begun."
Natsu growled looking up at the wall of ice that had prevented him from attacking Zeref. He turned around in the direction where he could hear boots clicking against the wrecked street. His eyes widened at the person approaching him.
"Hello. Natsu." Gray spoke coldly, throwing his shirt to the ground, the air around them getting colder. Natsu held his breath and a lump formed in his throat. Gray glared at him with what could only be described as murderous intent.
"Gray?..." Natsu asked softly, tilting his head in confusion towards his friend who clenched his fists tight.
Chapter 58: Fire & Ice!
A/N: Sorry bout the double updates hehe, I wanted to get this one out as soon as possible though, because I am just so excited to share what is to come! Love y'all!