Chapter Fourteen

Revelation II: I, Dragneel

Another week had passed by in Magnolia. Slowly.

"Did not think it would be possible to be this bored." Natsu yawned, lying across some tall branches at the top of the grand oak tree that he'd found the blue haired girl on almost two weeks ago.

People had given him a wide birth recently due to his increasingly sour demeanour from restlessness. The Fairy Tail guild hall had been finished pretty much the day after his confrontation with Gajeel, and the hustle around Magnolia seemed all the better for it.

Despite the fact that Fairy Tail had a reputation for bad damage control, the people were glad to see that they were back in operation. He couldn't help but feel that the citizens of Magnolia had started to become somewhat accustomed to his presence as well, even some of them paying him no heed when he'd gone from spot to spot.

'It's time, Natsu.' E.N.D called out to him. He'd been becoming more and more vocal as of late, needing no particular anchor in the heat of battle in order to speak his mind, it was a worrying development.

"Shut up and behave. The only time you get to be free is if we find Zeref." Natsu responded, hating the fact that he'd gotten so stir crazy that he'd relented to responding to E.N.D.

There was a surge of magical power in the air that caught his focus, immediately zoning him toward the harbour. Dropping from the tree, he fell into a smooth run that took him into the middle of Magnolia and through a few more side streets before he found what he'd been looking for.

Gray was covered in a thick sheen of sweat, ice magic particles clinging to the buildings around with a dozen or so bodies strewn around by his feet.

"Is this a cry for help or have you gone postal?" Natsu asked, looking at the bodies with wide eyes. They were all just unconscious in varying states, save for one whose life Natsu couldn't detect.

"Nice of you to finally show up, Smokey." The ice mage quipped, glaring somewhat at his rival.

"I'm not one of your guild mates, I'm not just going to come whenever you get into a bar fight, now what the… Oh." he said, noticing the Phantom Lord guild mark that was on display.

"Yeah, they're back. Are you going to help or what?" Gray asked, having to swallow a lot of pride to even say the words out loud.

There was a moment where Natsu was silent, looking between the bodies then right into Gray's eyes.

"I will help you. These waves of idiots aren't the problem here though. Porla turned Phantom Lord's guildhall into a mobile fortress two decades ago, a mobile fortress with a big ass fucking cannon on the front, that's the real problem." Natsu responded.

"He brings his toys to war, we'll just break them." Gray shrugged, falling into step with Natsu as the two of them moved toward the shouts of conflict in the next street over.

"That one isn't so easily broken." Natsu grumbled, remembering the last time he'd seen Jose's fortress in action. It was a painful day.

Turning the corner, they saw Erza dispatch a trio of Phantom Lord's men with a single slice of a blade, cutting through the air like there was nothing in her hand. She wore long flared trousers the colour of flames and nothing but a few bandages across her chest.

Natsu gave a wolf whistle, gaining her immediate ire as she turned to look at the two elemental mages.

"Not the time, Salamander." she warned him in a tone that made even the likes of him shirk down.

"What the fuck?" Gray whispered, staring at Natsu who refused to return the gaze. That was the first time he'd seen Salamander be intimidated by anything.

"So-" Natsu said.

"Yeah." Erza nodded as the three of them watched a vast stone building crossing the ocean, a humongous cannon barrel jutting out in front of it, all firmly aimed at Magnolia with the Fairy Tail guild hall firmly in it's sights.

"Guys, we have a problem!" Lucy's sweet voice reached their ears as she too appeared out of a side alley.

"Well, yeah, no shit." Natsu grinned, pointing at the Phantom Lord guild in the distance. Lucy had gone into a sheer stunned silence, her voice coming out as nothing more than a high pitched squeal.

"All those poor fishies!" Happy's usually cheery tone was sombre.

"Hey buddy, I'm sure those fish know to not get trampled on, they'll be fine. Once this is all over we can go fishing and you'll see for yourself, how's that sound?" Natsu asked, immediately making the flying cat ecstatic.

"You know, one side of you is this scary face carved out of jagged molten rock, and the other side is this grinning idiot made out of marshmallows and sunshine." Lucy said, sharing a moment where the two of them looked one another in the eyes. Before, she'd have broken away the moment he turned his head, but there was something about him that was starting to grow on her.

In the rare moments where she'd seen him interact with her cat, he seemed the be the sweetest, kindest man she'd ever met with a gentle touch that couldn't possible be capable of the things that he was really capable of.

"Yeah, you don't know the half of it Lucky." he said, walking past them towards a group of oncoming Phantom Lord mages, grinning wide at the shouts of protest to the fact that he knew what her name actually was and yet kept getting it wrong.

"Attention all mages of Fairy Tail!" a huge magic circle appeared over the top of Magnolia, projecting the voice of it's user.

"This is Jose Porla speaking, the master of the majestic Phantom Lord guild you see before you. While I'm sure our appearance today has sparked a lot of panic, this was not our intention, you see, we have been hired by someone to make sure that his missing daughter is returned safely from the hands of the Fairy Tail guild. Anyone who aids us in handing over Lucy Heartfilia will be greatly rewarded, but, those who decided to stand in our way will be eliminated without a second thought, and to demonstrate that we aren't playing around, we'll be firing a shot from the Jupiter cannon at the Fairy Tail guild, enjoy the show!" Jose's voice cut out, leaving an eerie silence in it's place.

"What a prick." Natsu grumbled, walking toward the open clearing in front of him. He could already feel the magic building up, it wouldn't be long before Porla's threat became a reality and the cannon fired upon them.

"You've seen that thing before, haven't you?" Erza asked him, not really waiting for an answer while she requipped into her adamantine armour.

"Yeah, it's not something to be taken lightly." he said, never taking his eyes off of it.

It seemed that Porla wasn't going to give them any room for movement as the cannon already had a swirling ball of pure magical power forming at the end of it.

"Is that you, Salamander?" Porla's voice reached them again, only this time it was softer, much closer. Before them stood a flickering image of the guild master himself, grinning like a cracked goon.

"No." Natsu responded immediately, crossing his arms.

"Gajeel told me that he'd come across you and I hadn't believed the reports until I saw that his iron skin was cracked. Few could do that to my Dragon Slayer, but I suppose that it makes sense that it was the Salamander of all people." Porla said with a gentle sigh.

"Why don't you come and work for me instead? You could wipe Fairy Tail off the face of the world in an instant. Bring me the girl and I'll give you half of the reward to yourself." The dark mage tried to sway him, but to no avail.

He'd barely noticed it, but Mira in her Satan soul had swooped down and stood next to Erza, watching the exchange with a disgusted look in her eye. They were all waiting with a hitched breath to see what the infamous Salamander was going to say or do.

"You can't seriously be considering this jackass' offer!?" Gray jutted in, his fist ever so slightly getting covered in the start of ice particles, ready to throw down with the Dragon Slayer if he so much as lifted a finger toward Lucy. "Salamander!" Gray demanded, catching them off guard with how much emotion was shining in his voice.

"Salamander this, Salamander that. I think the world has grown too accustomed to that name, and it's history." Natsu said, his grin perfectly mirroring the rising power within him. It filled the area with a blanket of heat, but it wasn't aggressive, none of them felt like they were in danger from him, it was a reassuring feeling that they all got from him.

"What are you…" Erza tried to reach out to him but found that she couldn't touch him, the heat almost cooked her hand the moment she got close.

He turned his head ever so slightly, just enough that the four mages behind him could clearly see the look in his eyes.

"If I'm going to join your guild then I can't have you call me Salamander all the time, can I?" he told them.

"Enough of this, Salamander, this is your last chance, bring me the girl or die with that trash, you know where I'll be." Porla told him, cutting the projection off and continuing the charging of the Jupiter cannon.

"Not so fast, asshole," he glared, pulling his hands up to the air and making a magic circle almost identical to the one in the sky.

"Jose Porla!" his voice echoed all around Magnolia, the magic enhancing it a hundred fold, "Your blatant disregard for innocent lives has made my direct involvement imminent. You stand before not only the Fairy Tail guild but me. So charge your cannon and see what happens, but just know that in ten minutes when your guild hall crumbles to ash, it was at my hands, the Salamander!" the threat of incredible violence was one that none could deny sent a shiver down their spines.

"I, Natsu Dragneel, son of Igneel the Dragon King!" his voice held so much raw power that it motivated the allied mages to their core.

Only a few seconds had gone past before he added his final addendum, "Fairy Tail mage!" he held a hand up, sending a huge pillar of fire into the sky, obliterating Porla's magic circle, instead leaving a Fairy Tail emblem in it's place.

They all heard roars and cheers erupt across Magnolia, mages and citizens alike at the latest declaration from the once dark mage known as the Salamander.

"So, Natsu?" Erza was the first to speak, her tone one of intrigue.

"It's been a very, very long time since someone other than Porlyusica has said my name. Feels… Strange." he admitted.

"Even the name is attractive." Mira sighed quietly, having dropped out of her Satan Soul and into the regular visage of the caring Fairy Tail waitress.

"Yeah, well, this next part won't be." he stated, his smile disappearing when his eyes turning gold, the iris' narrowing to become draconic, signalling that he was becoming serious in his battle once again.

As if on cue, the Jupiter cannon erupted with a wave of magic pressure before concentrating in the end of the barrel.

"Quick, get behind me!" Erza shouted, slamming her fists down in front of her, two enormous shield halves connecting to form a dozen magic seals in front of them.

"Excuse me!?" Natsu demanded in outrage, "Just who do you think-no, scratch that, who do you think I am?" he demanded.

"I didn't go through all of this internal strife just so that you can manhandle me and treat me like I child, no, I'm doing this for all of you." he told her, pulling her back by the shoulder with so much force that there was a handprint embedded in the shoulder plate of her armour.

The magic seals Erza had woven all shattered within an instant.

"I think all of you should get behind me, now that I've committed myself to your guild, I should be honest with you about the type of person I am, and what I have hidden, locked away inside." he told them, his body became engulfed in a deep crimson aura that looked lethal to the touch.

The Jupiter cannon fired, bearing down on them with such and intense beam that for many of them there, they believed that was going to be the end. There was no way that anyone could survive a direct hit against that kind of magical power.

Stepping up, he slammed a foot down and braced hard, covering himself in volatile flames that peaked in a white so bright that they almost couldn't see him underneath.

"Ma ryu Hoko!" he screamed, bellowing a Dragon Slayer roar that looked almost blood red. Those gathered behind him felt the magic, it was different from what he'd done previously, now it felt similar to what Mira's magic felt like when it was out of control.

Demonic.

The roar clashed violently against the Jupiter cannon and for a tense moment the two colliding forces just cancelled each other out until finally Natsu's roar started to eviscerate the energy of the cannon, going so far as to force it back through the barrel, giving it one final push that caused a catatonic explosion within, wrecking the barrel.

'Burn them all down, kill every last one of them that threatened to take her away from us, Natsu!' E.N.D raged harder than he ever had before. The strength behind the voice was something that he believed was due to them finally having a similar cause.

Neither he nor E.N.D wanted any harm to come to Anna's descendent, that much was clear. It was a rare moment that E.N.D wasn't rattling against his cage in desperation to be free but rather from the passion he had for the life of another. Just one other.

Natsu took a deep breath, falling to one knee, he hadn't used Demon Dragon magic for years and years, he'd had no need to. These past weeks had been full of exceptions.

'Tear them down, burn it all!'

"Shut up, I don't need you getting in my way!" he shouted, not realizing that it had turned into a physical strain, clutching his head as he roared, his power flaring wildly.

"Natsu?" Mira's sweet voice reached his ears, causing a feeling a calm to sweep over him, helping him to get everything back under control.

"I'm fine," he said, out of breath from exerting so much power all at once.

"It's that thing I saw inside your mind, isn't it?" she asked, unable to hush her voice, it was something that the others needed to hear.

He remained silent, keeping his head hung low.

"It doesn't have to define who you are." she said, placing a hand on his shoulder, not caring for the mild burn that was starting to creep up her palm. Even people like him needed someone to care for them.

Slowly he felt the others place their hands on him, their presence serving to calm him down.

It was… Nice.

What he hadn't expected was for Gray to be the one kneeling in front of him.

"She's right, you know. If you're going to be a Fairy Tail mage, you need to learn that we're family, we look after one another. If you think that you're going let whatever it is hiding back there start to control you, I'll keep you in line." Gray told him, coating a middle finger in ice playfully that earned a genuine laugh from the Dragon Slayer.

"Thanks, but I'm fine, just let my guard down a little, besides, now isn't the time for this, we can be all buddy buddy once this shit storm has passed, for now though…" his eyes trailed off to the latest group of assailants, but that wasn't what caught his eye.

Standing amidst the smoke on the end of the Jupiter cannon's destroyed barrel was the one that he'd stuck around for.

"Oh Salamander!" his course voice carried easily over the wind despite not using an amplification magic, "You haven't forgotten about me now, have you?" the Iron Dragon Slayer snarled the way an excited animal would, calling out to his new foe.

"For now, I've got a dragon to slay."

A/N: Obviously, it's been quite a while since I saw or read Fairy Tail, so I'm taking some liberties with parts of the story. Wasn't even going to do the Phantom Lord part until I remembered it has Gajeel and Juvia.

Review?