I'm back! Sorry for not updating for a while; family drama, along with the first few weeks of school, are just the worst. Also, I will be fixing the other chapters because my grammar was bad and the font wasn't the best, so without further ado, let's get started!

Before the village incident.

It was dark. Incredibly dark now that Natsu thought about it. Everywhere he looked, there was black sky and gray smoke that filled every aspect of the world around him. The only reason he could see anything at all was because of his magic, which helped illuminate his path. That's when it hit him; he held his head with both hands as images of what had occurred with Zeref played in his mind. As he let go of his head, there was only one thing going through his mind: that stupid spell!

After yelling at the top of his lungs and trying to find something to light on fire, he realized something… Where the fuck was he? He was in a wide-open space with nothing around but himself; even though earlier, he was in chains being held captive by Zeref. So how had this happened? "What did that damn spell do to me?" Natsu whispered to himself. He was confused – one moment, he was trying to escape the chains, and the next, he was in some weird abyss with nothing around. I mean, how does that even happen?

That's when the weirdest thing happened to him, and I mean weirder than Lucy weird. There was light; it appeared as if something was opening its eyes after taking a long nap. That's when he realized it - those were his eyes he was seeing these things, but how he was standing right there. That's when he saw the bastard who had gotten him into this situation. "Zeref!" Natsu spat venomously.

That's when he made a choice. Taking a few steps back to get a running start, Natsu charged, trying to get to his brother to most likely beat the shit out of him. Right when he thought he was close to his goal, red chains with black stains reached out and grabbed his arms and legs, keeping him in place. Natsu tugged at the chains to try and get them to budge, but they just tightened around him, forcing him to watch as his body acted on its own to do God knows what.

"Seems you're awake, little brother," Zeref said, excitement lacing his voice, making him sound like he wasn't about to do something that would ruin thousands of lives. Zeref snapped his fingers, and the chains around Natsu's outward body disappeared as he stood up and walked toward him. Natsu's body followed him, ready to just follow his orders, like everything he ever stood for had been stripped from him. This made Natsu furious; no way in hell was his body going to act against his will and listen to his brother while he was stuck in some stupid chains! Trying to escape again, Natsu pulled against the chains holding him in place as hard as he could. The chains must have noticed, because in the next moment, they tightened around his arms and legs, pulling him back like it didn't want him to intervene in what was happening.

"Let me out!" Natsu screamed. His body had currently stopped beside Zeref in front of a map with red lines covering several towns and villages near the area. "This will be our first target," Zeref explained, using a stick to point to a small village. Natsu was confused; he knew his brother had something planned, but still couldn't figure out how getting rid of these villages would help his cause. The next few minutes were like hell on earth for Natsu as he was forced to listen as Zeref told his subordinates the first act for his plans. It was horrible; it made him sick. What made him want to throw up the most was that he was going to be in the center of it all, delivering death to innocent people - the very same people he wanted to protect.

After explaining the first part of his plan, Zeref ordered his army to leave, leaving only him and Natsu in the room. Turning around to face his brother, Zeref smirked and snapped his fingers. The next second, he was inside the same black space as Natsu, looking at him with pure amusement in his eyes. A shocked Natsu tried to lunge for the dark mage who had gotten him into this.

"Did you have fun, little brother?"

"You won't be able to do this."

"What makes you think that?"

"Because once I break out of these chains I'm gonna kick your ass!"

"You won't even be given the chance," Zeref said, snickering and looking at his finger nails with interest before glancing back up at Natsu. "You'll barely be able to keep yourself in check by the time the day is over." With a flick of his wrist, the chains tightened even more, causing Natsu's arms to bleed, making sure he couldn't escape. Natsu hissed in pain, feeling a sharp force in his head as his eyes turned red with no emotion behind them. Biting his lip wasn't helping keep his pained screams down much either. "Just give up already; it's wasting my magic," Zeref exclaimed, his eyebrows furrowing into a frown about having to waste his magic so early.

Finally, after going back and forth a few times, a little voice in Natsu's head wondered why he was still fighting a losing battle. He was tired and in pain. As the pain and tiredness grew, so did the small voice at the back of his head telling him to just give up. And he did; he stopped resisting and let his body go numb, while his eyes finally turned from onyx to red. After that, he didn't know what happened, and to be honest, he didn't care - all his hopes for escaping had been shattered. He could barely even remember the happy memories he shared with his friends…his family.

Natsu didn't know how long he had been left in those chains; it felt like weeks or even months. All he knew was that no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't leave. Raising his head, he could see through his teary eyes the village he was destroying. Natsu tried to feel remorseful, but he couldn't bring himself to do so. Instead, he was kind of enjoying watching them struggle to survive. 'It's kind of funny how they fight even though they can't survive.' Natsu thought, his eyes widening in shock as he realized what he was just thinking. He didn't even know where it came from, but he couldn't deny it. He liked it; he found it entertaining to watch them struggle for their lives.

He grabbed a man who was trying to crawl away by his throat. The man's clothes were torn and covered in ash and blood from the cuts adorning his body. He held the man by his throat, heating his hands to choke the man as slowly as possible. He wanted to see him grovel in pain and beg for death. Finally, the man went limp; his hands no longer trying to claw away from Natsu. His eyes were blank of life, while his mouth lay open, as if he was trying to breathe, but couldn't because Natsu was choking his airway.

As he was about to approach another villager to entertain him, when he heard two voices in his head. One urged him to stop what he was doing and continue to fight for his freedom; it was a soft, caring sound that seemed like it could calm anyone down at any time of day. Meanwhile, the other voice was terrifying and deep, sounding like something from nightmares. It wanted him to keep listening to it and follow its orders, enjoying watching people suffer. The second voice was like a snake, wrapping itself around him and whispering in his ear, while the first was like it was failing to rip the second voice away from him.

He didn't know what was going on, but the second voice was just so loud in his head compared to the first that he just tried to go back to listening to it. But the small voice was still there, fighting his decision; it was as if it knew if he gave up on it, he would never go back to it. Natsu held the side of his head in an attempt to stop the pain of the voices when suddenly he froze, his arms going to the sides of his waist. His eyes flashed white. The next thing Natsu knew, he was in some place with red and black flames everywhere, fighting each other like they would go out if they stopped even for a second. While behind them, shooting stars moved at the speed of light, each moving towards a different direction. He thought it was kind of peaceful to be here, even if he didn't know where "here" was.

Where the hell am I?" He screamed, looking around even though this place was nice; he was furious that something had ruined his fun. As Natsu was about to move to find a way out when he heard the soft and small voice from earlier. It was as kind as before, but it was closer, as if it was right in front of him, beckoning for him to reach out and grab it. So he tried to do just that; he reached out to try to touch the voice, but when his finger grazed it, a flood of memories passed through his head. He remembered them all - Gramps, Gildarts, the Strauss siblings, Happy, Wendy, Carla, Iron Brow, Erza, Ice Striker, Igneel. He remembered them all - his guild mates who he considered family, and his own father. How could he have forgotten them? That's when he saw her. Her bright blonde hair that shone like the sun, chocolate-colored eyes that would sink anyone if they looked into them, along with her lovely smile that would make his heart flutter and skip a beat each time he saw it, and lastly, her soft voice that blocked out all others, even the simplest words. It was Lucy. His Lucy. How could he have forgotten her of all people?

"What have I done?" Natsu whispered. How would he be able to explain to his family what he had done to all of those people, and how much he enjoyed their pain? A tear ran down Natsu's face; one of his eyes had returned to its usual color—onyx, while the other was still a dark red. He was confused; he didn't know what he was anymore—was he a monster or a human? The soft voice from earlier reappeared, trying to comfort him, but before it could get the chance, it was blasted by a dark presence. "Well, it seems you're more resilient than I thought," the presence said, its dark aura radiating power. Natsu realized it was the same dark voice from before, telling him to enjoy everything that was happening.

Before Natsu could even get the chance to tell off the voice, a light appeared in front of him. Once it had died down, he saw her there. She looked to be enjoying the scenery around her, trying to figure out just where she was. Her golden blonde hair was in a ponytail to the side of her head, while she wore a blue sleeveless shirt with a black long glove. Her white skirt that went to her thighs and knee-high brown boots completed her attire along with a key pouch and a whip with a heart at the end that hung on her belt. "L-Lucy," Natsu whispered. She wasn't supposed to be here; how was he supposed to face her when he had killed dozens of people? Lucy turned around, her eyes widened in shock as she saw him. Raising her hand to her mouth, she looked like she was fighting to keep her sobs from coming out.

Natsu looked up at her, guilt in his eyes whether or not she noticed. His guilt turned to fear when he saw what was behind her. Behind Lucy stood a dragon with black scales and shaded white tips. Its dark red eyes seemed to penetrate his very existence. He needed to get her out of there; he didn't know what that thing would do to her. "Run, Lucy!" Natsu screamed. Lucy's shocked and happy face turned to one of confusion as she tried to look behind her. Then, all of a sudden, she vanished, and Natsu was left alone with the dragon, which gave him an evil smirk. Black smoke began to puff around the dragon, turning it into a snake. It slithered toward Natsu. Natsu wanted to move to avoid it, but his body felt frozen, like it was paralyzed by something. The snake slowly slithered up his legs and wrapped its body around his arms, keeping him in place while its head was positioned at his ear.

"My, my. You seem to have temporarily overcome my spell. How impressive." The snake said into his ear. Natsu wanted to fling and burn the snake off of him or ask him about what he meant by temporarily, but the snake bit him on the neck. Natsu screamed as the snake's venom ran through his veins. It was like it burned him from the inside; normally, Natsu would be immune to this, but he felt as if he were just being stabbed by Acnologia's claw with his magic around it. He didn't know what was happening; all he knew was that he was in pain and that he had a strong blood lust stronger than before. He didn't want to though. One side of him wanted to go back to his friends, but the other side wanted to go back to having fun torturing the people of the village along with anyone else he came across or got in his way. He tried to choose the other side, but the dark voice in his head returned, forcing him to choose the latter. The snake squeezed him tighter and pushed more venom into his neck until Natsu started feeling unconsciousness take over him. He closed his eyes knowing he probably wouldn't open them again for a long time. He made one final wish before he could wake up, praying to everyone he could think of, desperate enough to even almost pray to Happy, but decided against the idea. "Please let me see Lucy again." Then he opened his eyes to find himself still destroying the village.

After Natsu had opened his eyes again, he found himself still in the burned-down village, surrounded by hundreds of bodies. Looking at his hands, he could see blood all over them, along with the scratches and scars of the people below him. Zeref sat off to the side on a building that was barely standing; it was probably the most stable one, seeing as though all the others looked like they would collapse with the slightest touch. Behind Zeref stood a man with brown hair and green eyes. He had the build and clothing of a farmer who had worked on the fields for hours upon hours. The man held up his shovel, prepared to strike the dark wizard with it when suddenly Natsu charged forward, using his fire to attack the man and prevent the attack.

Good news, he stopped his brother from getting a serious dent and concussion. Also, another good thing is that Natsu noticed that an explosion happened not big enough to injure the two of them, but just big enough to make the bodies on the floor worse and look unrecognizable. As Natsu watched the smoke pile into the air, he heard a group of footsteps running towards him. Looking behind him, he could see the distressed and pitying looks on the faces of his old friends. It was quite amusing to him to see them like that; they looked as if they had met something from their nightmares. He stared at them with excitement gleaming in his eyes while theirs only held shock at seeing him. "This is going to be fun!" Natsu thought, ready to finally feel the satisfaction of getting to fight them.

"Natsu."

Finally done the next update should be in 2 weeks if I'm lucky and by that time I'll have fixed another chapter bye!