[Re-edited 05.24.23]

To answer a guest review: I am in fact, still alive! ;)

Sorry, sorry, sorry! Forgive me, I really do try my damnedest to not miss my weekly updates...

So that said, I know this is well overdue, it has been a whirlwind of a month, I picked up a third job (cuz I'm crazy) AND completed a series of intense final practical exams and earned my 2 year program diploma! Wooo!

Then last week I ended up in the hospital with severe headaches and dizzy spells that turned out to be COVID, who knew?

But I am back!

I really appreciate those of you that reached out to check in. Rest assured, even if I am ever late on an update, I WILL NOT abandon this story. Hopefully this super action packed chapter is worth the wait.

~Onward

39

-Reasons to Fight-

Gray paused, hinged forward slightly with one hand on a knee as he wrestled his breathing back under control. Just ahead, Gajeel and Rustyrose were exchanging a barrage of strikes with blades transformed from their own arms. The dramatic silver-haired Kin was as powerful as he was peculiar. Gray racked his brain for a way to overcome the man's Arc of Embodiment that apparently lent him the ability to conjure anything he could imagine. It wasn't unlike his own magic really, in fact, the way he transformed parts of his own body into weapons, in addition to summoning objects and beings was basically a combination of the magics he and Gajeel both wielded.

What a coincidence the three of them would end up in a confrontation, but was it possible that possessing similar magics could act as an advantage? Or would it be their downfall? So far, Rustyrose had forced them to stay on defense and neither side had managed to land an effective hit yet. Gray gritted his teeth, there was no way in hell he was going to call one of the S Class to back them up. He and Gajeel could take this pompous freak down themselves.

Rustyrose landed a kick to send Gajeel flying and twirled on the ball of his foot, throwing his arms out to the side in a flourish. His head tipped back with a big smile as though waiting for applause, "Ghosts of Britta," he summoned.

The hall darkened around them and hundreds of spectral forms manifested throughout the space, surrounding, and immobilizing their forms in shadowy restraints. With an enraged growl, Gajeel's cheeks puffed with a deep inhale and loosed a tornado of metal shrapnel back at their enemy, tearing through the ghosts that restrained them but not dispelling them completely.

Releasing his magic pressure and literally freezing the air, Gray launched back into the ongoing battle. The ice mage conjured and whipped an icy grappling hook across the space in an arc, the chain slammed into the Kin's side and immediately wound around him, locking his arms to his side in a flash. The temperature of the room was dropping so fast that particles of ice shimmered in the air and the ground beneath their feet became sheer and slippery. The newly formed ice floor allowed Gray to skate agilely around Rustyrose, drawn by the momentum of his chain as it wound tighter and tighter around the silver-haired man.

The shorter the chain became as it secured Rustyrose, the closer it brought Gray to him, and once in range, Gray drove an ice enhanced fist into the man's cheekbone. Rustyrose flew to the side, still trapped in the grappling chain and landed hard on his shoulder. Not letting the chance slip, Gajeel looped around him and slammed an arm-turned-iron mace into their downed enemy's chest. A sharp cry of pain was finally torn from their opponent's lungs, and one eye peered at Gray through the broken lens of his glasses with notable concern for the first time since their fight began.

"This isn't over! Belfast, the Hurricane!" Rustyrose screamed.

The ice mage braced as a giant black beast appeared to tower imposingly over them, it quickly slashed the ice chains to release its summoner. Begrudgingly, Gray internally admitted Rustyrose's hands-free casting to be one of his biggest advantages he had over Gray's own imagination-based magic. In comparison, if Gray got tied up, he'd be in major trouble.

The winged creature snapped those powerful wings forward, whipping the air into a deadly storm that overtook both Gajeel and himself in quick succession. Gray heard an agonized yell tear itself from the Iron Slayer's lungs to join his own as their bodies were shredded by the slicing winds. When the attack died down, both Fairy Tail mages were revealed in heaps on the floor, bleeding from numerous shallow cuts. Gajeel groaned audibly as he attempted to move, but Gray didn't move an inch.

Rustyrose threw his arms out to the side again, and began boasting. "There will always be someone in this world stronger than you! Let it be a lesson learned, to know when to surrender! There is nothing that can beat the infinite power of imagination!"

"I agree."

The gloating dark mage's eyes blew wide, and he spun wildly as Gray's prone form shattered into now useless fragments of ice. Then a tower of ice burst from the ground just as Rustyrose whirled in the direction of the voice and Gray smirked as he dropped to land atop the ice platform above the embodiment mage.

"Shall we see whose creativity lends more power in the end?" Gray asked with a dangerous calm. He slammed one fist into his open palm and the ice crystals still clinging to the air swirled into a whirlwind around his hands, giving visible form to a large magic circle. Gray stretched one arm out in front of him to catch the massive hand-held cannon that dropped heavily onto his shoulder. Tightening his grip on the front trigger, he fixed the man with a cocky smirk at the glimpse of fear that finally dawned in his eyes. "Ice Make: cannon!"

Ice exploded in a devastating burst of power from the cannon and encompassed most of the hall, instantly freezing the walls and the floor anew. The magic overwhelmed the Grimoire mage entirely and he screamed in anguish as he soared back to crash into the ice shield that Gray had erected to protect Gajeel from the backlash of his spell. Rustyrose collapsed forward in a boneless heap and Gray let out a long breath before letting his spell break.

He leapt down and checked Rustyrose to be absolutely sure the man was knocked out before moving to stand over Gajeel. "Sleep time's over, Princess," Gray remarked cheekily, using the iron mage's go-to nickname for him. Reaching down, he dragged his comrade to his feet by his upper arm. The iron mage grumbled irritably and glared at him from the corner of one red eye, despite being incapable of standing on his own.

Judging by the pinched expression, Gray thought it likely the iron mage was waiting for the inevitable goading at taking down their opponent solo, but Gray let the chance drop for now. There would be plenty of time to hold this victory over the Dragon Slayer's head when they'd completed the mission. Right now, there were more pressing matters to attend to. Gray pulled Gajeel's arm over his shoulder to support him, and caught the other's eye, "Gajeel, you felt that, earlier… right?"

Gajeel nodded curtly in confirmation. The magic pressure that had been unleashed not long ago had been intense enough to have paused all three men momentarily in their battle. Gray pursed his lips, he'd bet an entire week free of Juvia's hysterics that Natsu or Haru would be at the center of whatever battle was expelling that kind of nauseating pressure. Despite wanting to help, he definitely didn't think it would be a wise idea to waltz in with Gajeel in the shape he was. Not that the Iron Slayer would willingly be sidelined from the battle anyway.

"Haru, Natsu, can either of you hear me?"

The minutes stretched by and neither of the Twin Dragons responded. Gray swallowed dryly, knowing the silence likely confirmed his suspicions. He hoped the girls were somewhere safe at least. Glancing at the injured iron mage subtly, Gray sighed again and began to walk down the destroyed corridor, toward the Palace's entrance. Without knowing where Wendy had ended up, he could at least get Gajeel some iron… The gates surrounding Mercurius would do nicely.

Natsu

Lucy had been the first to clash with one of their new opponents. The reckless behaviour surprised Natsu slightly, though she was becoming quicker to act since he'd met her. She no longer doubted her abilities, her strength. The pale yellow and green skirts of her Star Dress swirled around her as she threw everything she had at Bluenote. Apparently, his nonchalant behaviour and strange interest in her power, (sizing her up like a slab of meat), had pissed her off. Mira had appeared behind the bulky man in an invisible strike to back her up, and both girls launched into coordinated attacks at the rogue mage now pinned between them.

"Excellent, yes, excellent! You can fly with me—but I will clip those wings, Fairies," Bluenote droned.

He pressed the palms of his hands downward as though trying to flatten the air itself and gravity increased tenfold around the girls. They both gasped, hinging forward under their own weight but did not fully collapse under the force. Natsu went to leap to their aid, but Hades stalked forward, intercepting him with the swipe of glowing chains. Natsu ground to a stop, barely managing to leap clear of the chain and whirled to meet the dark guild master in combat. The man's magic pressure threatened to immobilize them all where they stood as surely as Bluenote's gravity did.

Haru appeared in the air over Hades, releasing a vortex of blizzard and water magic and Wendy now sprinted around behind with a breath attack that whipped Haru's spell into a full-blown hurricane around their enemy.

"Go Natsu! Help the girls!" Haru screamed.

Natsu spun, fire flaring up around him, ready to launch an attack to counter Bluenote's—

"Spica!" Lucy yelled. Clad in a maid's dress similar to Virgo's, another Star Dress if Natsu were guessing, Lucy ripped a hole out of the ground directly under the gravity mage. The relatively small hole shattered in a wider radius thanks to the added pressure of Bluenote's own power. The floor fell away into a gaping hole beneath him, forcing him to break his spell as he reacted to rescue himself from the fall. Manipulating gravity once again, Bluenote used his power to hover himself back to solid ground just as Lucy and Mira both fired back at him again.

Mira jumped above him and a burst of her purple-black magic whipped up around their enemy, gradually manifesting as a darkened whirlpool this time. Natsu knew immediately that her new Takeover must be that of the water demon from all those years ago. She was clad in a black body suit that exposed her legs except for the mid-thigh high boots she wore that blended seamlessly into scales that coated her thighs. Similarly, the plunging neckline also blended into patches of silvery-black scales that painted her chest and ribs. Her hair was tied back in a high ponytail, framed by the shiny black horns that curled over the sides of her head. Translucent blue fins rippled from her shoulder blades and upper arms and moved like water around her.

A shudder ran through him at the unbidden memories her transformation conjured, but the usual emotional recoil that he would have experienced at a visceral level were absent this time. If anything, her transformation offered him a strange confidence. Mira had found it in her to embrace the power that had taken the life of one of their most precious people, and was using it to fight for their family now. His closest friends, fighting alongside him at that very moment, knew his secret now. They knew what he was, and they'd accepted the truth as easily as he now found himself accepting being confronted with the demon that stole his first love and had nearly ended his life.

More importantly, the girls clearly had this under control. Natsu spun again when he heard Wendy scream, and caught sight of his fellow Dragon Slayers just in time to see Haru catch the sky mage. Natsu ran toward them as Hades shot a stream of purple hued magic at the recovering pair. "Lightning-Flame Dragon God's ROAR!" Black and red flames laced with lightning rushed toward the dark guild master, but he reacted quickly, his own power flaring up around him to prepare a counter.

Wendy jumped, flipping in the air to drive a kick down at Hades. "Sky Dragon's talon attack!"

With the winds whipping around her, the little Dragon Slayer's strike connected squarely with his back interrupting his counterattack. Wendy jumped back, skipping to the side just as Natsu's spell overtook Grimoire's master.

Quickly catching sight of Haru back in position to allow them to have Hades surrounded, Natsu yelled "Now!" With an unspoken plan, all three Dragon Slayers' magic pressures spiked. The trio all flew forward in vortexes of elemental magic, preparing to combine and build sequential attacks off one another.

In unison they all called their incantation, "Dragon Slayer's Secret Arts:"

"—Ocean's Vengeance, storm blades!"

"—Shattering Light, sky drill!"

"—Crimson Lotus, exploding flame blade!"

The high-level spells collided in a cataclysmic explosion that sent reverberations and residual sparks of magic throughout the room. At the center of the combination attack, a pitch-dark aura burst through the elements and their spells were absorbed into a pit of black power. Hades grinned maniacally as he fired their spells back on them in brutal pulses of shadowy magic. The Dragon Slayers cried out and the shockwave sent all three of them sailing outward. Haru managed to grab hold of Wendy again, and dug in to stop their momentum as Natsu did the same on the other side of the room.

Dropping to a knee and panting for air, Natsu searched to get eyes on his comrades opposite him. Haru had eased Wendy back to her feet but far as Natsu could tell, she hadn't avoided the brunt of that last attack.

Beside him, another explosion tore through the room, and Natsu turned in time to see the girls chasing after their opponent through a large hole in a now crumbling wall. He chewed his lip, mentally wishing them luck in their ongoing battle. "Haru," he said telepathically, and caught his partner's blue eyes across the room, "time we kick this up a notch."

Haru nodded his agreement and turned to Wendy as a visible blue aura flickered up around him. "Wendy, take the Princess to the room we left Tomie and Arcadios in." Even from across the room, Natsu could see the reluctance to leave them on the Sky Slayer's face, but she agreed to the direction none the less. She was injured and didn't have the physical and magical endurance that he and Haru had yet, plus Hisui was still in no condition to be in the middle of a battle of this magnitude.

They were lucky the head-strong princess had stayed back and in relative safety to begin with. Catching a glimpse of the two girls escaping the room in his peripheral while keeping Hades in his sights, Natsu finally let go of all the thoughts warring for his attention. He would believe in his comrades as usual, he and Haru had recruited this team because they were all undoubtedly strong and dependable. He needed to keep his focus squarely on taking Hades down, or it could mean his life, and Haru's.

'Lucy, I know you've got this,' Natsu thought as the heat of his magic spiked around him soothingly. He let the rush of power wash over him as his senses sharpened even further.

- Flashback -

X377

Igneel had declared it was time for a break, much to Natsu's relief, as it was already well into midafternoon. His father had been taking his role of preparing him for the intensity and intricacy of melding his magic and etherious very seriously. The two powers were innate opposites, and Igneel seemed to be taking immense pleasure in drilling the potentially devastating consequences that could come out of the hasty behaviour that Natsu was so often inclined to. If nothing else, Igneel had effectively driven a healthy respect of the destructive potential of uncontrolled etherious into Natsu's head.

The tiny flickers of the demonic power that the fire dragon had guided Natsu in drawing forth to weave into his Dragon Slayer magic had left him exhausted, his head pounding and in a state of muddled consciousness. Not unlike the episodes he'd had prior to the sealing ritual. Today they were simply working on the untapped potential and new capabilities of his fire magic that Force could afford him, but it was still draining regardless. Natsu was more than a little thankful to be slumping back against a boulder with handfuls of food to shovel into his face. Haru and Glaciea were still far down the ridge, in the midst of their own training, if the giant waves quickly transforming to towers of jagged ice were any indication.

"Oi, Natsu," the pink-haired Dragon Slayer tore another strip off the flank in his hands and turned to fix his father with an inquisitive expression as he chewed the large chunk of meat. "Find yourself a mate yet?"

Natsu's eyes bulged when he inhaled sharply at the unexpected question and consequently choked on the ambitious mouthful. He thumped a loose fist against his chest through the coughing fit and Igneel gave a dry chuckle, leaning over to slap him on the back until the fire mage managed to swallow the food lodged in his throat. Reaching for his canteen, Natsu took a couple long swallows and stared absently at the small fire licking at the air in front of them. He could feel his father's eyes on him curiously, waiting patiently. Natsu released a long exhale and let the snap of loss and guilt wash away with some effort. "Humans don't use the term 'mate,' Dad," Natsu drawled.

"Dodging the question Natsu."

Natsu rolled his eyes at the retort, even if it was right on the mark. The space around his palm glowed as he met Igneel's gold eyes again and handed him a requipped photograph, "Her name is Lucy."

Natsu knew he didn't have to point her out to his father. He and Lucy stood at the center of the image, his arms wrapped around her from behind and pressing a kiss to her temple. She was laughing, face radiant in her happiness at that moment. Natsu desperately missed that laugh, that bright smile. The longing ache building in his gut reminded him that they'd already been in X376, or he supposed it was X377 now, for far longer than either he or Haru had wanted to be. Their comrades were still out there, hell, it was possible they could have found their own way back by now, and he and Haru would be none the wiser. Lucy and Happy and the rest of their team would be out of their minds with worry.

Natsu deflected his train of thought, elaborating for Igneel, "That's Dragon Soul, my team," he said, the affection and pride notable in his tone.

A wide grin was spreading across Igneel's face as he scanned the photo. "Geez, who knew my empty-headed son had it in him—" Natsu quickly rebutted the remark with a series indignant statements about giving him a little credit, but his father continued undeterred. "She's beautiful Natsu, and I'm sure she's strong-willed and loyal to a fault if she caught your attention… I hope I get the chance to meet her someday."

Igneel was watching him intently as Natsu averted his gaze back to their fire. "Yeah, she's really incredible," he said softly, adding, "they've all been missing over a year, since Acnologia's attack. That's why me an' Haru are here." Understanding dawned on the other's face and Natsu physically shook his head to dispel the course of thought, he smiled again and leaned over the photo still in Igneel's hand. He pointed our each of his comrades in turn, "the blue furball on Haru's head is my cat, Happy, he's been my partner nearly since you vanished. The redhead is Erza, no one keeps everyone in line like she can, and that's Gray, he's a jerk, but always reliable… Just don't tell him I said that."

Natsu smiled at the image of his team, he hadn't let himself look at any of the photos he kept with him since they'd travelled back in time, and he'd dodged most conversation that alluded to them. But he actually found it cathartic to talk about them. He shared some stories with Igneel, and joined in the laughter that he inspired in the fire dragon.

When the conversation lulled, he pursed his lips in consideration. "They're my reason to fight," he stated with conviction, "I have to get stronger, master Force and Etherious, so I never lose them again."

Igneel slapped a heavy hand over his upper back, and gave him a giant toothy smile. "You've grown into the man I always hoped you would, Natsu, I'm proud of you."

Natsu stared back wide eyed for a moment, the sentiment made him more uncomfortable than happy to hear. Still grappling with the self-induced guilt of letting his family down, it didn't feel like he deserved the praise… yet. But he could earn it. So, he simply smiled back, and said honestly, "Thanks Dad." He had, after all, longed to hear those words for years. Natsu quickly pulled a couple more photographs from his pocket space, to distract the fire dragon and change the topic of conversation. He pointed out the other Dragon Slayers in one of the shots that had been taken during the partying after the S Class trials.

Igneel snatched the photo from his fingers with a bark of laughter, "Gajeel has more metal in his body than Metalicana!" Grinning back and piling on additional jokes at the Iron Slayer's expense, Natsu moved on to naming Makarov, who'd given him his home in Fairy Tail, and Gildarts, who acted as a father figure to him in Igneel's absence. Igneel nodded, enthusiastically hanging on every introduction and every story Natsu attached to one of his guildmates.

Shifting his finger over to point out the white-haired girl in Haru's arms, Natsu said, "And that's Mira, Haru's girl—"

The photo was quickly snatched out of Igneel's hand, followed by a delighted cooing sound, "Haru, why didn't you tell me you had such a beautiful mate?" Natsu glanced over his shoulder to find Glaciea behind Igneel and Haru slowly wandering over, looking as exhausted as he felt.

"Really Natsu?!" his partner barked in irritation. He didn't get a chance to elaborate on his complaints before becoming subject to a sudden onslaught of questions from the blizzard dragon. Natsu only laughed, not the slightest bit admonished by the water mage's displeasure at being thrust into the spotlight.

Ignoring their companions, Igneel turned his attention back to him, "Tell me all about Lucy—How'd you meet? What magic does she use? What's she like—"

Natsu threw his hands up in defence of the interrogation, "Okay, okay! Mavis, give me a second you damn scaly fire breather!" He rolled his eyes as his father chuckled and settled back into comfort to listen, and despite himself, a genuine smile pulled at Natsu's face to have the opportunity to share. He couldn't wait to really introduce Lucy to Igneel one day.

-Present-

Lucy

Bluenote glided through the corridor backwards, held floating in space by his masterful control of gravity and Lucy chased after with Mira at her side. The rogue mage had a wild grin on his face as he slammed his palms together and the air squeezed in on either side of them like walls. The pressure caused her and her white-haired friend to crash into each other, fighting against the newly horizontal forces of gravity. With Bluenote now hovering in the air, Lucy's earlier strategy of utilizing Virgo's Spica would no longer work to break his spell.

Immobilized between invisible walls of air the Fairy Tail mages struggled until the force on one side diminished and the other increased to send them both crashing into the adjacent wall. Demonic energy burst off Mira, and Bluenote's spell shattered under the demon-soul mage's own magic pressure. She shot forward, her translucent fins fanning out around her like a short watery cape.

"Black wave," she enchanted, tone calm despite being forced on the defensive until now. A tsunami of murky black water exploded forward to submerge Bluenote, and Lucy sprinted after, gold light enveloping her form. She leapt into the air over their enemy, gold wings materializing at her back and shining bow in her grip, already aimed his way. Lucy shot a torrent of gold streaks to rain down on Bluenote like a meteor shower. The large man collided with the ground on his upper back, and Lucy and Mira skidded to stop on either side of the downed mage, hands and magic still held at the ready.

Bluenote burst into a delighted laughter, "You two surely soar high!" he praised. "You've surpassed my expectations, so allow me to show you my true power."

The look on the dark mage's face gave Lucy chills, it certainly wasn't the expression of a man who had even the slightest consideration that he could possibly be defeated. She caught Mira's eye and realized her comrade was humouring the same thoughts. Both girls took a step back and simultaneously let their magics flare up around them as they braced for the retaliation.

Thrusting his hands forward, Bluenote built up a ball of swirling black magic between his palms, the deranged look never left his eyes. Lucy's lips parted in awe of the exponential spike of his power and the space around them pulled toward a singular point under his control. "Black hole," Bluenote intoned flatly.

The atmosphere turned heavy and dragged them forward, the oxygen thinned as it was stripped from the room and Lucy caught sight of Mira's hand flying up to her throat instinctually. Lucy dropped to a knee, fighting back against the force sucking her in and took futile shallow breaths, mind reeling for a counterstrike. Even in her suddenly desperate situation, she still found herself wondering if Natsu was okay, hoping that he and Haru and Wendy were in a better position than she and Mira were. She gritted her teeth, trying to build up her star magic against Bluenote's, refusing to give in to the adversity they were faced with.

Red filled her vision and she fell back with a sharp breath, oxygen refilling her lungs as she landed flat on her back when gravity abruptly returned to normal. She groaned in a wave of pain and pushed herself up onto an elbow, looking around wildly to determine what had happened.

"Are you both okay?" Erza asked without taking her attention off Bluenote. She was clad in her Heaven's Wheel armour with a sword in each hand and additional swords spinning in the air all around them.

"Erza," Lucy said breathlessly, picking herself off the floor as Mira did the same, "you could not have better timing!"

Lucy and Mira both stepped forward, standing to either side of their friend and watched as the thrill of battle left Bluenote's face for the first time since their fight began. Exhilaration that was replaced by simple rage.

Gray

"I smell Salamander and Poseidon up ahead," Gajeel declared, a wild smile splitting his face.

Gray couldn't help the deadpanned expression that crossed his face as he watched his companion charge down the hall carelessly. After devouring a fair chunk of one of the iron gates that framed the front courtyard of the palace, Gajeel had immediately spun on his heel, red eyes flashing with a need for revenge. He had taken off back for Mercurius, pausing only long enough to bark at Gray to hurry his ass up, and so the two found themselves sprinting down the corridors in search of their missing comrades.

Gray could feel the immense waves of magic pressure becoming denser and denser as they advanced farther into the palace. The unnerving part was there were two distinct spots of very high-level magic spilling throughout the castle and that meant somewhere else more of his comrades were likely locked in battle. He wondered if he and Gajeel should split up, it was hard to discern if one of the powerful auras was stronger than the other.

The decision was made for him.

"They're in there—" Gajeel started, only to be cut off by the obliteration of the wall. Streaks of red and blue flew through the shower of rubble, Natsu and Haru each with a fist buried in Hades' face. The guild master dug his boots into the ground, caught Natsu's arm above the elbow and pivoted to throw him directly into Haru as dark magic poured off him. The Dragon Slayers gave pained grunts but seemed otherwise unaffected, snapping back at Hades and flipping agilely around their opponent with precisely coordinated attacks that painted the air in streaks of vibrant red and blue.

Gajeel had stopped dead just ahead of him, jaw agape, "What the hell is this?!" he asked incredulously.

"Dragon Force?" Gray replied, not quite sure himself. He'd only seen Natsu like this once, when he was fighting Acnologia, but the guys' current appearance matched the descriptions Erza had given awhile back, ignoring the horns...

"Not important—" Gray concluded before leaping forward, brandishing a long blade of ice in each of his fists, "let's help 'em out!"

He locked eyes with Haru, who'd just conjured a giant wave to crash into Hades, pushing him toward Gray which allowed him to slash across their foe's torso in an X. The ice resonated and Haru's wave froze into a thick wall around their opponent. Natsu followed up the attack with a powerful Secret Art, diving from above with streams of red and black fire expanding outward violently. The resulting explosion was catastrophic, obliterating the walls of the hall all around them. Haru and Gray both conjured ice shields to ward off the aftershocks of the attack but the shields melted away in an instant under the heat of Natsu's magic. All three men behind the icy cover were stunned to find Hades largely unscathed and with Natsu tangled up in his chain magic. Hades widened his stance and swung Natsu across the wide span of the destroyed corridor, forcing Haru and Gajeel to dodge.

"Cold Excalibur!" Gray slashed through the glowing chain, releasing Natsu who flipped instinctually, getting his feet beneath him again and launched off the wall right back at Hades once more. Not missing a beat, Gray leapt forward with him and spun a kick into Hades' ribs while the Fire Slayer slammed his fist into their opponent's jaw. All four of the Fairy Tail mages surrounded the Grimoire master and fell into a flurry of attacks.

"Well, well, Makarov's children have some bite," Hades commented dryly, extending a palm out to shoot a concentrated bullet of ethernano at Gajeel that caught him in the shoulder, shattering some of the metallic scales that coated his skin.

"How do you know Gramps?!" Natsu barked as the iron mage swore and retaliated with a large, serrated blade that morphed from his arm. Hades spread both arms out to each side and shot two more bullets. Gajeel dodged this time, as did Natsu on the other receiving end and this pattern continued, magic bullets dodged, countered, blocked and dodged again.

"You mean you don't know your own beloved guild's history?" Hades countered condescendingly as he fully faced Natsu to exchange strikes with the fire mage.

Amongst the hatred, the desperation, the adrenaline that coursed through his veins, a snap of irritation still flew through Gray at the implication behind those words. He instantly knew the feelings were shared by Natsu, the pink-haired man's eyes narrowed at the bearded man who had his attention solely fixed on him. "What's that supposed to mean?!" Natsu growled.

"I was one of Fairy Tail's founding members, and your second guild master, boys," he said, eyes sweeping over each of them in turn now. All four briefly froze mid-attack, their eyes blowing wide in shock.

"YOU'RE LYING—"

Their furious rebuttals were cut off into confused sounds as multiple dark magic circles appeared around them, exploding mere seconds later to tear through the hall, destroying the minimal stability left to the structure. Pain tore through Gray and the resulting scream was ripped from his lungs, he vaguely registered similar agonized sounds from each of his comrades.

-Flashback-

X377

The sun had already sunk behind the peaks, bleeding the sky a vibrant orange, the late hour whisking in the night chill to hang in the air, but Haru could only feel the intense heat.

In all his years fighting at Natsu's side, he'd never experienced heat of this magnitude. It was stifling. A trial in itself for Haru to overcome, the challenge to just think clearly and take action in the throes of heat stroke.

He took off at a sprint across the terrain, eying the literal wall of fire barrelling down on him and quickly changed tactics, realizing he couldn't possibly outrun the range of the attack. He drew a breath, and channeled bursts of water downward to launch himself into the air, aiming to dodge vertically instead. As he shot upward with his magic swirling around him, he let his mind go blank with a notable level of effort, allowing innate dragon instincts to take over. He didn't think he would ever fully get used to feeling the resulting explosion of power that washed through him. Haru opened his eyes a second later, in the air far above the line of fire that spanned the entire ridge. The destructive power displayed, still stunned him, even after weeks of being on its receiving end. Sharper vision scanned the ridge, taking in the details of the match, snapping over to Natsu's form shooting by in a torpedo of fire to collide with the vulnerable flesh of Igneel's throat.

Catching hold of the edge of a couple of the dragon's scales, Natsu swung around and flipped up the other side of Igneel's neck. He flipped again in the air and cracked a powerful hammer kick down with flames bursting outward on the impact. Haru hit the ground, freezing it in an instant and glided toward the sparring pair with the momentum of his landing. Taking advantage of the dragon's attention being fixed on striking back at Natsu with a roar that sounded in half annoyance and half amusement, Haru slapped his palms down, summoning jagged spires of ice that erupted from the ground to take Igneel in the belly.

Glaciea cheered in delight from her perch on a high ledge of one of the cliff faces that framed their impromptu battlefield. Igneel gave a pained grunt and with a sharp beat of his wings, took himself into the air to gain a better vantage point over the boys. Catching Glaciea's human eyes, the edge of Igneel's lip curled up in a grin that bared glinting fangs, "Just whose side are you on?!" he barked incredulously.

"Natsu!"

"Yeah! I'm all fired up!"

Haru arched back out of a stream of water, the toe edge of his boots digging into the ground as he slid back to a stop directly to Natsu's left. He exchanged a quick glance with his partner, gold meeting gold, and gave a curt nod as their elements expanded around them in a violently building vortex. The winds snapped out wildly around them, pushing against the building pressure of the magic being expelled off them both, and Igneel hovered in the air watching in anticipation. The boys wove streams of fire, lightning, water, and ice together precisely, then they simultaneously dipped their weight low and leapt into the air at the fire dragon with a shared shout. As mirror images they drew their inside arms back, whipping them down in a large arc, and fire built up in Igneel's jaw as he prepared to counter their strike, but the boys lost control of the unstable magic before they could complete the incantation. The spell broke apart and the resulting implosion sent both of them flying back, flipping midair to drop out of the failed unison raid, the Twin Dragons dug hands and feet into the ground, grinding to a stop multiple meters back from Igneel.

Sounds of exacerbated annoyance escaped them both reflexively, and Natsu punched a fist hard into the ground between his feet where he remained in a crouch. "Dammit! I thought we had it that time!" he growled angrily.

Igneel laughed loudly as he returned to the ground, shrinking to his human form as he approached the two with a lazy energy, Glaciea was not far behind him. Natsu dropped back onto his butt, running his fists through his hair irritably and Haru stood with his arms crossed over his chest, only doing a marginally better job at hiding his frustration than his pink-haired partner.

"Alright. How about we break here for the night. We can pick this up again in the morning," Igneel suggested, not bothering to reassure the boys of their progress over the last few months. He didn't need to, their progress had been exponential, impossible for them to dismiss or question even in their frustration, and they certainly didn't need to be coddled through their setbacks.

Natsu launched to his feet, shooting fire into the air around him boisterously as usual, "Yeah! Break time!"

Rolling his eyes, Haru still couldn't help the fond smile. When dinner rolled around, the Fire Slayer would cheer for food, when the meal was finished, he would cheer for more training, with the sparring drills done now, he was back to cheering for a break. 'One-track minded as ever,' Haru thought with an internalized chuckle.

Walking over to the fire pit that Igneel had set to roaring and Natsu was already snacking on, Haru sunk down next to his partner and leaned back against the rock with a water canteen in hand. He hadn't realized just how exhausted he was until he'd let Force fade and the refreshing water had hit his tongue, he released a satiated sigh, drawing a knowing grin from Natsu.

They'd been on this mountain ridge for a few months now, secluded from the rest of the world and the Dragon Wars that were still mounting in this time. Igneel had occasionally left them with Glaciea a couple days here and there to go provide support on the front lines of some of those battles, much to Natsu's displeasure. The fire mage spent a fair amount of time attempting to convince his father that he should be able to go and fight too, that it could be great training. Just as predictably, Igneel refused every time, stating that the boys' safety was far too important to the inevitable battle with Acnologia in their own time period.

According to Igneel, none of the confrontations he found himself in along side the other pacifist dragons were really worth calling battles, anyway. The altercations were still fairly small and largely lacking violence. It seemed most of the time the rebel dragons would retreat as soon as they were confronted with an evenly matched group to their own ranks. Likely just sizing up their abilities and magic capacities, as surely as Igneel's side did. But that didn't mean the scales of inter-dragon conflicts weren't on the rise, and Acnologia hadn't been spotted since a fight with Igneel many years before, that the fire dragon refused to elaborate on. Though it was common knowledge throughout the kingdoms that the apocalypse dragon was the one behind the scenes, slowly pulling the strings to meet his own ends and Igneel simply couldn't believe that his motivations were solely about seeing humanities' end.

As it happened, the day the escalation of the Dragon Wars could truly be marked would be entirely unexpected.

Months Later

The day started as routinely as any other since he and Natsu had found themselves making home on Igneel's secluded ridge, seemingly isolated from the rest of the world. That morning Haru had roused Natsu from his sleep, as he often did, and the pair had fallen into running their usual two-mile loop around the ridge that included a couple of the less treacherous summits. They generally finished their run before the sun was even breaking over the peaks that framed their camp site. Glaciea wandered up to them, stifling a yawn behind her hand as she stopped to run bleary eyes over them, "Good morning you two."

Without pausing their respective assigned magic drills, he and Natsu both returned the blizzard dragon's greeting and continued to pound away at the cliff face with bursts of the four elements controlled between them. Glaciea only watched for a bit before tilting her head to look toward the source of snores barely audible over the explosive sounds of the boys' spells. "I haven't the foggiest idea how he manages to sleep so soundly through your drills every morning," she stated dryly. Haru thought she was talking to herself more than them, but he chuckled as Natsu loosed a massive burst of fire crackling with lightning at the mountainside. The fire mage's father was an even deeper sleeper than Natsu himself was… Nearly impossible to wake before he was ready to be woken. Despite that, Glaciea retreated from their company to coax the fire dragon out of his deep slumber to start the day.

Not too long after, the two dragons, remaining in their human forms for now, returned, Igneel rubbing at the sleep in his eyes with the heel of his clawed hand, grumbling as he walked about how using blocks of ice was not a very respectful way to wake a King.

It seemed to Haru that Igneel's wake up calls were the only moment he ever whined about appropriate conducts befitting his royal status. It was also the only time that Glaciea ever seemed to disregard any inclinations of respectful conduct that she usually strived to uphold toward the Dragon King. In fact, she managed to look totally exacerbated each morning at his behavior, as though she were dealing with a disobedient child.

"Force, now." Igneel barked, and though his words were punctuated with a large yawn, Haru and Natsu had learned early on that despite the lazy demeanor, their grumpy master could snap off brutal attacks with zero warning that easily took them unaware. Those brutal attacks had left them a little singed more times than either cared to admit when they didn't react to the command in a timely enough fashion.

Haru glimpsed the deep red shade washing through his partner's hair out of the corner of his eye, it matched Igneel's so closely that any outsider would assume the two were blood relatives. Haru didn't need to see his reflection to know his own hair would have taken on its silvery-white colour. He also knew crystalline ice horns that offered a tangible symbol to his mastery over the blizzard magic, had formed to curve back along the sides of his skull, not unlike the twin flames that flared up over Natsu's head. "Continue," Igneel commanded, the slightest upward quirk of his lip. They had both reached a near masterful control of Force over the year, able to enter the state quickly and effortlessly by now, and it clearly pleased Igneel.

The training had involved a lot of meditation in addition to the usual combat and spell training, much to Natsu's irritation. But ironically, despite struggling to reign in his boundless energy for even a few minutes at a time, Natsu had made much faster progress to obtaining Force. In fact, he had made it look fairly simple.

Igneel had explained that the Force states they'd reached prior were incomplete or false. Not much better in his eyes, than the magic used by the militants trained by dragons years before Igneel's council chose to perform the Dragon Soul Ritual on each of eight children. He speculated that desperation could force the transformation as well, as when Natsu managed to enter Dragon Force when he was half blind and desperate to protect the guild during Acnologia's attack. Achieving and maintaining Dragon Force was, apparently, mostly instinct driven, which required the boys to get used to surrendering to their dragonic instincts. So, it shouldn't have been a surprise that Haru had a hell of a time keeping up with Natsu in that regard, his fiery partner already relied heavily on baser instincts during any hard fight. The concept made Haru incredibly uncomfortable and letting that control go, had been an exceedingly difficult task.

Igneel dropped into a cross legged position and Glaciea stayed standing on the adjacent side of the boundary of the crudely marked ring that Natsu and Haru now sparred in. The two dragons would occasionally toss attacks to try and throw off the boys, who would reflexively dodge with no real acknowledgement of their attacks. They never lost focus on one another as they traded blows, Natsu ducked an ice spiked spin kick and was answering with a fire laced upper cut when blasts of fire and ice careened toward them from each side. Both boys dissolved into their elements skipping laterally to collide with each other as they dodged the dragons' attacks. Once clear, they materialized out of their Flash Steps simultaneously and launched right back into their hand-to-hand as though they'd never been interrupted. This continued until they were both magically exhausted and Igneel finally took pity on them, announcing that he was hungry and was going to go rustle up some breakfast.

"Shitty lizard…" Natsu grumbled, dropping onto his butt.

"No breakfast for you, Son."

Natsu's eyes bulged, "What? Wait—Dad you wouldn't—"

"Ohhh so now it's Dad?" Igneel rolled his eyes, "let's see what meat we have left for breakfast… Ungrateful brat." Jumping back to his feet, Natsu took off on his father's heels with various compliments to suck up for breakfast privileges.

Haru pursed his lips as the two walked across the ridge to their campsite, "I miss vegetables…" he drawled blandly. They'd been eating a diet subsisting of 90 percent meat for months now and the lack of variety was wearing on him. He watched derisively as the two fire wielders pulled the remaining spoils of their hunt from the previous day from the ice pit Glaciea formed to keep the meat from spoiling.

"We could leave them to cooking the meat and sneak into town to pick up some vegetables and eggs from the local farms," Glaciea suggested offhandedly and Haru's attention snapped to her instantly, eyes wide in anticipation. She laughed softly, "I take that as a yes... Alright, I could use a change of scenery anyway…" The blizzard dragon relayed the decision to their companions and Haru clambered onto the dragon's back as soon as the light faded from her transformation. He waved back at Natsu as they took to the sky, his mouth already watering at the thought of eggs for breakfast for the first time in months.

. . .

Glaciea swooped down, and Natsu peered after the departing pair until the tip of the blizzard dragon's tail disappeared below the line of clouds that hung low around their hidden mountain ridge that morning. Returning to the fire, he dropped to his butt and leaned back onto his hand, lazily tipping his head to the side as he caught Igneel's eye. "We don't have to wait until they get back to eat… Do we?" he asked, stomach grumbling loudly in protest to the thought.

His father grinned as he jammed another spear of meat into a half circle around the fire to roast, and traded it for one of the already lightly seared cuts, "You kidding? 'Course not!" With that declaration he tore a hefty chunk of meat off the spit, grin widening further and Natsu scrambled forward to snag his own chunk of meat mirroring the grin. Knowing that even with a dragon's flight aiding their journey, it was likely their companions would be away for at least an hour, father and son fell into casual conversation, finding no rush to begin that day's training quite yet.

"Hey Dad," Natsu asked after polishing off his third serving, Igneel was only a couple feet to his left, lazing on his back now with one leg draped over the one bent beneath it. The redhead returned his searching gaze, answering with no more than a sound. Natsu tilted his head, considering his next words and Igneel's eyebrows rose at his silence, it wasn't very common for Natsu to not just blurt out anything on his mind. "Did you ever have a mate, Dad?" he finally settled on, watching his father's reaction.

Igneel flinched, a barely perceptible reaction, but Natsu caught it. "Where's this coming from, Son?"

"It's just, recently, you've been bringing up Lucy a lot more. Ever since I hit a wall with Etherious," Natsu explained. The Fire Slayer had indeed, hit a major plateau in his training with the demonic power, and all progress had ground to a complete halt, it was beyond frustrating. To top it off, he'd barely managed to safely wield the barest tendrils of the power to begin with. Igneel had started reminding him of his vow to embrace both powers to protect Lucy, to protect his team and the guild, as though Natsu had lost sight of his purpose. As though it weren't on his mind all the Gods' damned time. Igneel seemed to think Natsu was holding himself back, even if it wasn't consciously. More than that, he seemed determined to protect Natsu from something, something that landed more personal to the Dragon King himself. "Did you—" Natsu swallowed, locking eyes with his father, "did something happen to your mate, Dad?"

The corner of Igneel's lip curled upward into a lopsided smile and he let out a dry chuckle as he considered Natsu, "You really are more perceptive than I give you credit for." Natsu pouted, not that he wasn't used to having his intellect underestimated, but he remained silent regardless and waited for his father to continue.

Looking mildly surprised that he had failed in goading his son into a brawl, Igneel half-heartedly shrugged a shoulder, "Yeah Natsu, I had a mate, I lost her nearly a decade prior to you coming into my life." With a partial confirmation to his question, Natsu leaned forward and dropped his chin into the palm of his hand, elbow propped on his knee. He said nothing, concentrating on the emotions that played across his father's face as he tried to push down his own emotions that bubbled up, hitting too close to his greatest fears. Igneel continued after a breath, "she was a fire dragon as well, Seraphia of the Sacred Flame. Your Purifying Flame spells were hers."

"What? How?" Natsu asked, he'd never really considered it before, but though Igneel had taught him the spells, he'd never actually seen his father use the golden flames himself.

Igneel gave a dismissive wave of his hand. "When the Dragon Wars were still just restless rumblings, Acnologia was already actively seeking others who shared in his belief that humanity is a scar on the world. But dragonkind isn't as quick to succumb to violence as humanity, we are—were— peaceful with all races and we certainly didn't turn on each other. Eventaully, Acnologia decided the best way to rise to power would be to remove me." Natsu tensed reflexively. "He took Seraphia's life by mistake, the first death of a dragon at the claws of one of our own… In her death, the magic of the Sacred Flame passed to me as her bonded mate, which in turn passed to you through the Dragon Soul Ritual."

Natsu nodded absently, the story still dredging up his own emotions. His thoughts shifted and he allowed himself a moment to grieve for Lisanna and a moment to feel the fear of truly losing Lucy, or—he sucked a breath in—never getting her back. His father watched him thoughtfully, "Natsu," the fire mage glanced back arching a curious brow in response, "we—all dragonkind—will lose this war in the coming years at the hands of the False Dragon Slayers we trained years back. Anna warned me of the outcome, and there's nothing I can do to change things, that is, without effecting the future. Your future."

"Dad—"

"Natsu, when that day comes near, I will travel to your time," a smile pulled at Igneel's lips and he dropped a palm on his son's shoulder, "and I expect to meet some grandkids," he announced with his grin spreading impossibly wider.

Onyx eyes widened and heat spread across his cheeks at the thought. "Dad, geez!" Natsu quickly averted his eyes, and Igneel was just as quick to mock his embarrassment. "Oh yeah? What about you, ya old lizard?! If dragonkind is on the brink of extinction don't cha think—"

"Natsu!" Igneel interrupted incredulously, they both forced a series of dry chuckles before dissolving into a genuine laughter. "You'll see Lucy, and the rest of your friends again, I know you will Natsu."

Jaw dropping open slightly, Natsu was about to thank his father for cheering him up, when he was the one who'd brought up the painful subject. But before he could, a concentrated beam of silvery light ripped a deep crevasse straight through the center of their camp. The fire wielders both fell back having just missed being struck by the abrupt attack. "What the hell was that?!" Natsu yelled, eyes darting around the ridge now obscured by plumes of dust for Igneel, "Dad! Are you okay?!"

The clouds of dirt blew apart as a Igneel returned to his true form, and his massive red tail whipped through the debris to return some visibility. His eyes were already focused on the clouded sky above, Natsu looked up too, searching, but he couldn't find any source to the attack. "See anything?"

"No, I don't," Igneel growled back telepathically.

"How is it possible neither of us sensed anything close enough to attack?"

"I have a guess…" A blinding light reflected off seemingly clear sky and the refracted light temporarily revealed the form of a dragon whose scales shifted with the colours of the sky around it. "Tezcalt, of the Mirror."

Igneel stretched his wings out and Natsu sprinted forward, jumping to land on the fire dragon's back and with a powerful flapping of wings they were in the air soaring toward the mirror dragon. Rolling in the air as he dropped toward them, Tezcalt outstretched a reflective wing to catch the sun's rays again and blinded his pursuers. Natsu brought an arm up as a visor over his eyes and squinted to locate the rebel dragon.

"Fire Dragon King's ROAR!" Natsu called as Igneel inhaled deeply as well, both released a storm of powerful flames upward, and their enemy dove again so just the end of his tail was caught in flames. A laser of bright light shot through the burning skies, and Igneel barrel rolled to dodge the attack. With a yelp of surprise Natsu grabbed hold of the scales at the base of Igneel's neck tightly as the air whipped through his ears and when the world righted itself again, he opened his eyes just in time for Igneel to crash into the other dragon.

Igneel was quick to claim the upper hand with strength far exceeding the mirror dragon's, his long claws digging into the softer flesh of his opponent's underbelly and tearing at the membranes of his wings. Natsu's vision was full of flashes of red as the colour of his father's scales reflected against Tezcalt's own, and then a streak of blue slashed through the red. The blue magic beam took Igneel unexpectedly through a wing and he roared furiously, folding his wings in close to his body, he flipped in the air, putting Tezcalt between them and the newly arrived cobalt dragon. Natsu's eyes widened as they darted over the forms of four more dragons approaching quickly. Six total then, an ambush of six enemy dragons.

Natsu quickly entered Dragon Force, "What are we going to do?!"

"You, will do nothing but escape, I will hold them off."

"You know better than that! I would never abandon you!" Natsu declared furiously and ignored the angry reprimands of his father when he launched off the fire dragon's back, surrounded by a cloak of fire and lightning. He caught hold of the base of a cobalt-coloured wing and flipped up to land on the dragon's back, immediately raining various attacks down over its body.

"God's dammit Natsu!" Igneel growled lowly, he whipped by the two, grabbed hold of a third dragon to throw it into another and followed that up with a powerful breath attack that spiked the heat of the air around them all.

. . .

Haru happily bit into the apple in his hand and relished the juices on his taste buds, he kept one hand holding tight to Glaciea's scales and a bag of fresh produce and eggs as they travelled back to the ridge. Popping the remainder of the apple into his mouth, he leaned back comfortably and enjoyed the breeze of the morning air. Fresh, crisp air and the smell of pine from the forest that encroached the base of the mountain range they currently called home and then, gradually, the slight smell of smoke. Smoke? Haru rolled his eyes, it wouldn't be surprising if Natsu and Igneel had indulged in the spoils of their hunts and jumped right into training for the day. They were after all, notoriously impatient. He shifted to look by Glaciea and turned his eyes up toward the mountain peaks, taking in the dark ash filtering through the light blue sky that marked a beautiful summer day.

Suddenly Haru felt a little uneasy, the columns of smoke weren't normal, neither Natsu's, nor Igneel's spells generally gave off smoke unless it was aimed at something that could smoulder. it was possible Igneel had just switched up Natsu's training exercises… Right?

He gave a dry chuckle, "Looks like they're already trying to burn down the mountain range…" Haru tried to joke, gaging the blizzard dragon's response. She looked back over her shoulder, her maw set in a tense line, eyes looking concerned. "Shit…" Haru breathed, "I was worried of that."

"Hold on tight Haru," Glaciea warned, and with a hard beat of her wings their leisurely flight sped up exponentially. They burst through the thin layer of cloud not long after to hover over an active battlefield, a spider webbing of cracks and crevasses marred large expanses of the ridge. Flashes of red and silver and purple hued magic collided in the distance, where Haru had to guess, Igneel was locked in a fight with two or three other dragons.

Scanning the destruction rapidly, Haru's heart rate picked up just as rapidly. "Natsu…" he breathed, eyes continuing to dart over each new explosion, "where is Natsu?!"

A dragon with orange scales flecked black appeared before them and a massive torrent of fire burst down at them, Glaciea countered with a blizzardy roar of her own. Just like that, they were thrust into the unexpected battle, breakfast forgotten.

"Natsu, where are you?!" Haru called telepathically now, searching for the Fire Slayer's magic signature amongst all the intense magic pressure of multiple dragons. "NATSU!"

A/N. So this arc is finally coming to a close, one more major chapter, and then some fun 'n' fluff leading into GMG.

Thank you again for sticking out my random one month hiatus. One month disappearing acts will be rare, I promise!

To the usual review-crew EternalFlame, SuperSaiyajin4Vegeta, Valerioux, FireShifter, Joker D. Zero and guests, you make my writer's heart happy!

'Till next week,

R&R

xx. Loka Muse