Chapter Seven
Revelation I: Son Of The Dragon
The entire town of Magnolia had been thrown head first into a panic. Mirajane Strauss, the Demon of Fairy Tail had her magic back and was fighting tooth and claw against none other than the Salamander.
It was bad enough when earlier in the day Erza Scarlett had been facing off against him, but at least then it was confined to the grounds of the Fairy Tail guild, here they were respecting no such boundaries.
Mirajane's power was immense, even going so far as to give Natsu a reason to put a lot of effort into their battle, but something was wrong, her power was raw, unrefined, and totally out of control.
He'd succeeded in doing what he'd essentially been asked to do but this Satan Soul had mostly taken over Mira instead of the other way around, and he needed to do something about that, it wouldn't do wonders for his reputation if people started saying how he'd unwittingly unleashed Mira on Magnolia.
"Titania!" Natsu shouted, hoping that she was somewhere nearby. He dashed back, again and again, only just fending off the voracious swipes of Mira's razor sharp claws. The power that was irradiating out of her showed no signs of slowing down and now he couldn't even see the whites of her eyes, only darkness.
"I assume this isn't what her magic is supposed to be!?" he yelled again, unsure if she was anywhere near them, for all he knew they could simply have been trying get as many people away from their chaos and destruction as possible.
"No, she was always in control of her Satan Souls, right up until the day she lost them!" he heard Erza call out in response.
Very well, if that was the case then he was going to have to do something drastic, something that left him in a terribly vulnerable position.
"Well then, here goes nothing." he said to himself, dodging yet another volley of swipes, only this time they were entrenched by volatile black and pink magic that seemed to destroy anything it came into contact with.
"Nullify!" he screamed, the sheer act of using this incredibly old magic was already drawing heavily upon him. Even that wasn't enough to actually nullify Mira, but it did sap the overflowing volume to her magic reserves. It looked like they'd been locked in a weird stalemate, Natsu with his arms extended toward her and Mira unable to advance upon him.
After a few extremely tense moments, Natsu had fallen to one knee, his head hung low but his arms determined to keep their stance. Another few seconds had passed before Mira had managed to get her magic back under control, leaving her Satan Soul form and returning to the normally bubbly white haired waitress.
"To think!" Natsu yelped in surprise, falling to his other knee, his shoulders feeling like they weighed a hundred tonnes, "That it would take almost every ounce of my power just to nullify yours, that's extraordinary!" he said with what Mira thought sounded like pride.
"Now, claim your prize, if you can transform again, you can take my head!" he exclaimed, swinging his arms wide. His whole world had been flipped upside down within only a few minutes of fighting her. She really was worthy of the title of Demon, hell, even the Demons that Natsu knew wouldn't have held a candle to that power if she let it go unchecked.
"Oh no, you don't get out of this that easily, you think you're the only one who can use that trick? Let's see what you're really hiding in there!" she shouted, her rage only barely still in line as she advanced upon the downed dark mage, her hand outstretched.
He realized what she was intending but it was too late, "No, you can't, I can't let it out!" he screamed, but at that moment her hand connected and it was her turn to get inside his head.
She was granted with a brief vision, almost like a memory of when he was young. She witnessed his growth from no more than a mere child to that of a man whose age befitted the body she knew him to have, all of those years that he'd spent with an enormous fire dragon. So the reason that he knew his lost magic was because he was raised by a dragon, that went some way to explain it.
Before she could delve further into his memories she was torn from them, brought somewhere else, somewhere that she hadn't been able to navigate of her own free will.
All of her senses were on fire, it felt like her soul was being torn apart as she peered into the deepest part of his mind. All she could see in front of her was a roaring inferno that rose beyond her vision.
She could almost make out the shape of a throne in the centre of it all, a silhouette cast from the flames, lounging lopsidedly, but the thing that scared her the most was the fact that there were two eyes, emblazoned with a deep crimson so vibrant that she could easily see them through the flames. All they held was pain, and the promise of the worst death she could ever imagine.
"You do not belong here." The voice spoke calmly and yet it felt like it was so loud that it reverberated through every one of her bones. "Leave at once." it said again, snapping it's fingers before Mira was forcibly cast out of Salamander's head, thrown clear of his now unconscious body as they both fell to the ground.
"Mira!" she heard Erza call out to her as both she and Makarov came running over.
"I'm fine, but he…" she looked over to him, unsure of what exactly it was that she'd seen.
"I saw a collection of memories from when he was young, he was raised by a dragon!" she said in disbelief, "But… Before I could see anything else, there was something dark, almost evil, hidden away in there. It's like he's keeping it all caged away. What kind of dark mage would fight so hard to keep that away from everyone else?" Mira questioned, taking Erza's hand and getting back to her feet.
"I don't believe he really is a dark mage, my child. He simply doesn't have the heart for it. We've all seen and known people who have held back the rising tide of darkness, he seems to be no exception." Makarov intoned.
"Well, it seems that all is well, for now. He's no longer a threat and had brought this upon himself in order to get your magic back under your control, I think that shows his intentions were never bad." Makarov hummed gently.
"I suppose we should inform the council again?" Erza asked, though it sounded like this was something that she simply didn't agree with.
After a moment of consideration, Makarov shook his head, "No, I would say take him to the infirmary but he reduced it to ash. Mira, retrieve Lucy and Gray, I wish for the four of you to bring him to Porlyusica, I want him to be kept hidden away for the time being. Until I say otherwise or until he decides otherwise I wish for him to be confined there. I'm going to call a meeting with the council, I wish to know exactly why he was branded as a dark mage." Makarov told them, turning heel to walk away, he needed to fetch his grandson to escort him to the council if he was going to go through with what he was planning.
"Master, why go through all of that trouble considering what he's done to us?" Erza asked, unsure about the old man's motives.
"Simple, my dear." Makarov answered before turning ever so slightly to face them, "I'm going to offer him a place within our guild. I think you'll find that if we surround him with the right people, he'll be able to keep himself in check, and maybe he'll be able to teach us all something, in time."
Unable to form a response, both S-Class mages watched as Master Makarov headed towards where he knew Laxus was going to be.
"He's kinda cute when he's asleep." Mira mused, looking down at him with a hand on her chin and a finger across her lips.
"Mira…" Erza said, crossing her arms impassively.
"Right, I'll get Gray and Lucy." she sighed, turning around to figure out how far they'd travelled when she wasn't in control.
It hadn't taken long before their group had headed towards Porlyusica, with an unconscious Salamander slung over Erza's shoulder while Makarov and Laxus took their time walking the path to where the magic council was located.
"I don't understand what your plan is, old man. Why would you even try something like this, the kid levelled our home." Laxus stated, instigating a conversation between the two.
"This is something you'll need to learn if you're to become the master of our family one day. Sometimes the hardest choices are made to those who already subside within our walls but to an outside force." Makarov explained slowly, taking his time with his words so that Laxus might understand immediately.
"I still don't get it gramps, what choices do you feel the need to make towards him? The world already knows his name and he's clearly got wealth enough considering that he dropped a bag of jewel down to pay for the guildhall without any hesitation. Material things obviously have no hold over him and he's already got power in droves, hell, even I'd have to put in some real effort to even dent that thick skull of his, what makes you so certain that he'd accept your offer?" Laxus asked, trying to figure things out from his own perspective.
"Family. The one thing we hold in our highest regard. I believe that we can offer him a family, and that's something that a man like the Salamander would protect until his dying breath, if given a chance." Makarov explained, making it abundantly clear as to what his motives were.
"If you say so, gramps. I just won't be surprised if he rejects your offer, there's always a catch with a guy like that. You might be happy to let him join up now, but five months down the line when we find out he's a walking disaster you might start to regret it." Laxus huffed playfully, knowing the few ways to push Makarov's buttons.
"Hush now, child, we're almost there. On your best behaviour as always Laxus, you and represent the present and future of Fairy Tail." Makarov warned him as they homed in on their destination, unsure of quite how it was going to go.
Fortunately Makarov had sent word ahead that he wished to have a meeting with the council, and when one of the Ten Wizard Saints requested such a thing, it was usually seen to immediately.
His peers had all the more reason to attend after they'd been told that the reason for Makarov's request involved the Salamander.
He couldn't help but wonder to himself just what it was that the boy had gotten himself wrapped up in for a reputation such as his.
He had no idea what was about to be brought to light.
A/N: Review?