AN: Thank you NinjaFang1331, AliceCullen3, Goku275, and Nox Zephyrus.

I really hope everyone enjoys this chapter.

"Just sit back," spoke Igneel's voice directly into Natsu's head. "We'll find some way to stop Acnologia."

A bright light started shining from the Fairy's chest as pain surged through his body. The light grew more radiant, and the pain more intense. Natsu screamed.

"All these years of silence… I am sorry Natsu…"

The light shot from Natsu's chest, coalescing into a dark red dragon; Igneel.

"…I've been within you this entire time," finished the Fire Dragon King aloud.

"…"

Natsu could only stare at his father in shock. Years of wondering and searching, and his dad had been within him the whole time! Confusion, anger, and joy warred within the fairy's heart, fighting to be the first to express itself.

"There is much to say," continued Igneel, aware of his son's mixed feelings. "But, the elimination of Acnologia must come first! Just stay alive, Natsu!"

As the Fire Dragon King flew off toward Acnologia, Natsu started to shake. His eyes grew misty.

"Dad…" whispered the Fairy, his voice full of emotion. Of the emotions he was feeling, his joy had won out. "…I'm not gonna take this lying down!"

Anger was definitely a close second, though. Had he not been worn out from fighting Motherglare or had there been a nearby fire for him to feed on, Natsu would've turned into his dragon form and chased after his father.

"Igneel! You better tell me every damn thing! Why'd you just up and disappear all of a sudden!? Were you really inside my body!? How'd that work!? What happened on July 7th, X777!?"

Natsu sucked in some air, then shouted even louder than before.

"Don't you dare leave again before telling me everything! You hear that!? DON'T YOU DARE DIE TO ACNOLOGIA, DAD! KICK HIS ASS!"

As Igneel reached Acnologia, he was joined by Metalicana, Grandeeney, Weisslogia, and Skiadrum. The five dragons stared resolutely at the Black Dragon.

"It's finally time," stated Weisslogia.

"It isn't going to be easy," observed Skiadrum.

"But, for the sake of our children and these people…" spoke Grandeeney.

"…Acnologia is going down," finished Metalicana.

"Heh. I'm all fired up!" declared Igneel.

"Iron/Shadow/Sky/White/Fire Dragon's Roar!" shouted the five dragons, unleashing their opening salvo upon Acnologia.

The Black Dragon counter with his own version of the spell. The two sides' attacks collided and exploded, producing a cloud of smoke that obscured Acnologia's view of the other dragons.

However, Weisslogia soon emerged from the smoke with one hand glowing. He fired a blast from that hand as he flew by the Black Dragon, striking Acnologia and causing his body to lock up. "White Dragon's Claw!"

Acnologia immediate went about using his magic to erode the spell and regain his ability to move. It only took a few seconds, but this was enough time for two more dragons to assail him.

"Iron Dragon's Club!"

"Shadow Dragon's Slash!"

Metalicana and Skiadrum flew past the Black Dragon, hitting him with a limb transformed into a pillar of metal and slashing him with a claw shrouded in darkness respectively. Their attacks broke through the dragon's scales, drawing first blood.

The injures were not deep, though, and failed to elicit a cry of pain from Acnologia. Fortunately, that was not the purpose of their attacks. No, Metalicana and Skiadrum's aim was to distract the Black Dragon as the real attack was prepared, a goal that was achieved.

"Ile Arms. Ile Armor. Ile Vernier," said Grandeeney, strengthening Igneel's attack, defense, and speed with her Enchantments. "Good luck."

The Fire Dragon King shot through the last vestiges of the smoke, drawing back his arm to strike. While waiting for this moment, the five dragons had developed a basic outline of how they would battle Acnologia, and it had been decided that Igneel would be their main fighter.

"Fire Dragon's Iron Fist!" roared Igneel as he punched the Black Dragon in the face.

"Rah!" Acnologia shouted in pain, the first sound that had left his mouth since arriving. This reaction only lasted a moment, followed instantly by him punching the Fire Dragon back, knocking him away.

Weisslogia took advantage of the Black Dragon's attention being on Igneel, attacking Acnologia from behind.

"Holy Ray!" he shouted, firing countless blasts from his hands. They battered Acnologia's scales, drawing the Black Dragon's attention. Immediately, Grandeeney followed up with a spell of her own.

"Sky Dragon's Wave Wind!" she yelled, buffeting Acnologia with a powerful tornado. The Black Dragon responded by turning toward the Sky Dragon and inhaling for a Dragon's Roar attack, only to get hit by a flaming kick before he could fire the spell.

"Fire Dragon's Claw!" bellowed Igneel as his foot slammed into Acnologia's chest. The Black Dragon gasped as the air was knocked out of his lungs.

Unfortunately for the five dragons, before they could perform their next attack, Acnologia was able to recover and perform a spell of his own.

"Eternal Flare," said the Black Dragon, shooting purple lights into the sky. They rained down on the five dragons, each one exploding with enough force to annihilate a city block.

With the inhabited city below, the dragons were unable to avoid the attack. They all sustained a number of significant injuries. Worse than that, however, the spell disrupted their teamwork and allowed Acnologia to take control of the fight.

The Black Dragon was finally getting serious.

Acnologia started by zooming toward Grandeeney. As a Sky Dragon, she could heal any injuries he inflicted on the other dragons, making it more difficult to eliminate them.

"Sky Dragon's—" began Grandeeney, trying to delay the Black Dragon long enough for her allies to pull themselves together. But Acnologia was too fast, tearing apart her left arm and wing as he flew by. Grandeeney plummeted to the ground, the first casualty.

Next, Acnologia turned to Weisslogia. The White Dragon's stigma had been powerful enough to hold him in place for a few seconds, which was unacceptable. Not wanting to get close and give Weisslogia another chance to paralyze him, the Black Dragon opted for a ranged attack.

"Power of the End," said Acnologia. He fired a beam of destructive energy from the palm of his hand, aiming for the White Dragon's chest. Weisslogia twisted his body, avoiding instant death at the cost of a sizable chunk of his right torso. He still fell to the ground, his injuries too great to continue flying, much less fighting.

"Acnologia!" roared Igneel and Metalicana, furious about their fallen comrades. "Fire/Iron Dragon's Roar!"

Streams of fire and shrapnel shot toward the Black Dragon, forcing him to make evasive maneuvers. As Acnologia focused on the attack of the Fire and Iron Dragons, he forgot about his third remaining foe. At least, until a shadowy figure flew by him.

"Shadow Dragon's Waxwing Flash!" shouted Skiadrum as he shifted out of Shadow Form. A surge of darkness followed him, tearing out gashes in Acnologia's body as it passed the Black Dragon. Then, with Acnologia's flight disrupted by the attack, Igneel and Metalicana were able to strike him with their Dragon Roars.

Igneel moved toward the Black Dragon, determined to keep up the pressure. However, before he could close the gap between them, Acnologia recovered and went after Skiadrum.

"Not this time!" yelled Metalicana, recognizing that another of his allies was about to be attack. The Iron Dragon put himself between the Black and Shadow Dragons, determined to stop Acnologia. "Dragon's Secret Art: Karma Demon: Iron God Sword!"

Metalicana clapped his arms together above his head, transforming them into a giant blade of iron. He lined up the sword with Acnologia, then swung downward.

"'Dragon's Secret Art'?" echoed the Black Dragon derisively. He reacted to the attack by releasing a Dragon's Roar. The spell collided with the blade, the two forces struggling against one another. Then, Acnologia's attack tore through the sword and struck Metalicana's chest. "Too weak."

Worse, the Dragon's Roar didn't stop there, piercing through the Iron Dragon and making it to the Shadow Dragon behind him. Skiadrum, astonished by the sheer power of Acnologia's attack, was unable to react in time. The spell tore through his chest, and two more dragons fell.

The Black Dragon turned to stare at Igneel, disgust and arrogance in his eyes. "Your last stand is pointless. None of you half-dead dragons have the power to kill me, and neither do any of the dragon slayers below us. Give up and die."

"You just don't get it, do you?" replied Igneel with a smirk. "My son and his family are all down there, along with countless other humans. They're depending on us to protect them, so… How could we possibly do something as shameful as giving up!?"

"The hard way it is," murmured Acnologia, his eyes narrowing. He and Igneel shot at one another, beginning their final clash.

As they flew past each other, Igneel bit into the Black Dragon's left arm and pulled, ripping it from his body. Meanwhile, Acnologia tore apart the Fire Dragon's torso, taking his right arm with out.

"Another dragon dead," thought Acnologia dismissively, before knotting his brows in confusion as he realized what Igneel had just said. "Wait… 'us'? 'We'?"

This insight came a moment too late for the Black Dragon.

"Iron/Sky/White/Shadow Dragon's Roar!"

Although the Fire Dragon's allies had all received fatal injuries, none of the wounds inflicted were instantly lethal. The four dragons had clung to consciousness, gathered their remaining Magic Power, and waited for the right moment to strike.

The Dragon's Roars struck Acnologia from all sides, breaking his scales and badly harming the Black Dragon.

"Damnit!" cursed Acnologia as he roared in pain. Between his medical knowledge and experience from fighting countless dragons, he knew that, while not beyond healing, his wounds were too serious for him to continue fighting. If he didn't give himself treatment immediately, this would be the Black Dragon's last battle.

Therefore, Acnologia was forced to retreat, leaving the city and its people intact.

"Natsu! There are things I must tell you while I can! There are two reasons why we dragons were inside our dragon slayers' bodies.

"The first was to prevent you from turning completely into dragons. I suppose that didn't quite work out for you, although Grandeeney believes that the antibodies are why you are able to transform back into a human so easily and completely. I can hear her using her final moments to explain the details to her daughter, so you can ask the girl for more information.

"The other reason… was so that I could defeat our terrible legacy, Acnologia. Acnologia… is stronger than I expected. He will survive, though it will be a while before he fully recovers…

"I didn't want to get you caught up in this, but it looks like you and your friends will have to bury Acnologia with your own talons."

"Natsu… I was watching you all along, as you grew up! You've gotten so big and strong. You're even a father yourself now! The days I spent with you were the happiest of my life. You gave me the strength that comes from loving someone. Never forget that strength."

"Igneeeeeel!" screamed Natsu hysterically, tears flowed down his face. His father's final words (telepathic and oral), spoken as the horribly injured dragon plummeted to the ground, echoed through his son's mind.

Across the city, the other four Fairies raised by dragons were experiencing similar goodbyes with their own parents. Soon, five noble souls left the world of the living forever.

The city of Crocus and its inhabitants may have been saved from destruction at the hands of dragons, but the battle could hardly be called a victory.

Omake

As Igneel and the other dragons fought Acnologia, a certain thought passed through Natsu's mind.

"Wait, if Igneel was inside of me the whole time, does that mean that he's been aware of everything that I've done for the past 14 years? Including when Millianna and I…? No! Nope! Don't even think about it!"

The Fairy buried his thought as deeply in his mind as possible, where it would never again see the light of day. Never.

AN: Honestly, I was a bit on the fence about whether or not to have Acnologia survive the battle. I mean, he is fighting five dragons when Igneel was able to take away an arm in canon (albeit at a massive cost). I suppose the part about the dragons having to tank Acnologia's barrage to protect the city makes it more realistic, even if I didn't actually think of that until I was revising the chapter and realized that his spell would devastate the city and probably kill a bunch of people.

Hopefully the Omake wasn't too abrupt of a shift in mood from the chapter's end. I wrote it before finishing the chapter, so I didn't really think about the mood whiplash.

That's all for now. Goodbye!