Stop being ashamed of how many times you've fallen and start being proud of how many times you've gotten up!
I don't own fairy tail.
To be honest, Natsu didn't know what to expect, but seeing his dead brother, whom he had killed during his rampage, and the first master of his guild, who is now supposedly his brother's wife, walking into the now-broken guild hall holding hands was certainly not what he was expecting. He had managed to gather up all of his family members and lay them down so they were no longer scattered across the battlefield, while also making sure they were next to the ones they loved the most. Mavis and Zeref gave him a sad smile as they looked down at Natsu, who was sitting on the floor, looking over his team's fallen bodies.
Natsu looked at his brother with a frown as tears ran down his face, revealing that he wasn't upset; he was simply sad and lonely. He didn't want everyone in his life to leave him. He was even sad that Zeref was gone, knowing that meant he had no living relatives or family left to spend time with, even though Zeref was evil.
Zeref shared a look with Mavis, to which she nodded back at him, a look of hope shining in her eyes as she looked between the dark mage and dragon slayer. Zeref sighed, while looking at his brother, who only had a look of confusion on his face as he looked at Zeref, wondering what exactly was going on. Zeref reached his hand out to Natsu, who took it and stood up, looking at Lucy longingly before he was dragged outside by his brother, Mavis following closely behind him.
Once they were outside of the guild, Natsu managed to get out of Zeref's grip while stumbling. He was about to start yelling questions at him when his enhanced hearing picked up the sound of a roar that would forever haunt him. Looking up, his eyes caught sight of Acnologia flying straight towards them at high speeds. Mavis looked at the sky worried before looking back to see Natsu glaring at Zeref who was sweating so much that it looked as if he were about to melt. Grabbing his brother by his shirt, the salmon-haired dragon slayer shook him a little before finally looking at Mavis with a raised eyebrow.
What the hell is going on?!" Natsu screamed, one hand shaking his brother by the shirt, while the other pointed towards Acnologia in the distance, which was getting closer by the second. "And aren't you both supposed to be dead for fucks sake?" Zeref must have taken offense to that, because his eyebrows furrowed into a frown before he sighed and released himself from Natsu's grip. "We want to make things right, and if we don't hurry, Acnologia's going to ruin those plans before they even get started." Zeref looked at Natsu with a now serious expression on his face, as he moved to stand next to Mavis. Natsu was about to question them further about the subject when the first master raised her hand, and the small area around them flashed white before they were teleported to the castle of the royal family in Crocus.
Natsu looked over the edge just to glance at the city, but was shocked to find that Crocus didn't look like the city he once knew from before. Instead, there was fire everywhere, along with broken buildings and people running around screaming for their lives as they ran away, trying to help others who were in danger. "What happened?" Natsu asked, looking back at Zeref and Mavis, who both had sad looks on their faces. "Acnologia... Before he started heading towards us, he came to Crocus, and as you can see, it wasn't exactly a happy visit."
What's the point of showing me all this, huh?!" Natsu yelled, his eyes full of rage as he looked at the city. Small memories flashed before his eyes of when they celebrated their victory at the Grand Magic Games. "We want you to change the future, Natsu." Mavis explained, looking at the city with pity. Natsu stared at Mavis, shocked by what he was hearing. She wanted him to go back in time, but the only way to do that was through the Eclipse Gate. "The Eclipse Gate," she said. Behind them, the gate stood tall, just as it had always been there. "But how?" he whispered, looking at the gate in shock. For all he knew, it had been destroyed during the fight against Rogue.
"But how? We would need a celestial mage, and lately I don't see one around," Natsu yelled, looking around as though he were truly searching for someone who might be hiding. "We have our ways, Natsu, but you have to trust us." Zeref spoke with wisdom and hope leaking from his voice, as though he hoped he could convince Natsu more than his wife had. Mavis held up two of her fingers while looking at Natsu with a smile on her face; her other hand rested behind her white dress, while her long hair flowed in the wind. "Along with sending you into the past, we will both grant you one thing of your choosing to help you, given the two problems we have."
Natsu put his hand to his chin to think about what he wanted when suddenly he looked between Mavis and Zeref with a vicious grin on his face as if he were going to push someone into a mine cart again. "I want Igneel's power back," he said, looking at Mavis with excitement. The first master turned around to look behind her, as if she was talking to someone, before turning back around to hand him a ball of fire, burning brightly with red flames. The flames of the fire dragon king himself, Igneel. Natsu ate the magic before turning to his brother with a shit-eating grin on his face.
Zeref raised a cautionary eyebrow at his brother and started taking small steps backward. He stopped his brother from walking away by grabbing his shoulder tightly. "I want you to make it so that I'm at peace with this END. I don't want another one of his rampages to hurt my friends." The dark mage looked at his brother, his cautious expression transforming into one of pure shock. Then, he snapped his fingers. As soon as Natsu heard Zeref snap his fingers, he felt a sharp pain in his head; he was now facing a man who looked exactly like him, except for his black hair at the tips and demonic wings and horns. The man had his arms crossed and a bored look in his face, his red eyes seemingly glowering straight into the core of Natsu's soul.
Where exactly am I? Natsu questioned the other side of himself, obviously shaken to see himself as a demon. End sighed at his counterpart, as he looked at him with a sorrowful expression on his face. "I'm sorry," the demon mumbled, causing Natsu to look at him with a face full of smugness. "What was that? I couldn't hear you properly." He said, one hand on his ear, as if to look like he couldn't hear, while the other hand was on his hip, leaning towards the demon. The demon tightened his fist, looking ready to knock Natsu out right then and there, but suddenly, he looked at Natsu with a face full of embarrassment. "I said I'm sorry, damn it!" The demon shouted, glaring at Natsu, who had a smug grin plastered all over his face. "I'm sorry, I lost control of myself and hurt your loved ones. Okay?" The demon said, throwing his hands up into the air in frustration, as the salmon-haired dragon slayer extended his hand out to him.
I'll forgive you if you help me save the future we should've had," Natsu said, his hand still raised out to the demon who took his with slight hesitation. The dragon slayer grinned as he looked at his demon self. "To make sure we don't forget, let's stop with this whole END thing since we're both technically the same. Instead of END, you're going to be called Ether. How does that sound?" Ether gave his other self a small smile. They were polar opposites - one cold and cruel, while the other was warm and kind; he just knew it would be chaotic, but then again, things just wouldn't be the same if they weren't. The two shook hands before Natsu was flashed back to where he was standing with his brother and sister-in-law.
How did it go?" Zeref asked, his hands folded on his chest. "Pretty well, considering what I thought would happen," Natsu answered. The salmon-haired mage now had dark red tips on his hair spikes and one bright red eye to show the pack he and his demon counterpart made. Just as they were about to get back to business, the roar of a dragon could be heard, closing in on them at full speed, ready to get rid of the last thing holding a threat to him. "We don't have much time left; we need to hurry!" Mavis exclaimed in panic, walking fast over to the Eclipse Gate, with the two brothers not far behind her. "The two problems we have at the moment are whether you'll be able to enter the gate given your demon persona and what time to send you to."
"Mavis and I believe it will be best to send you to Tenrou Island just in case." Zeref started before getting cut off by his younger brother who shook his head no with his arms at his sides. "Send me back to the time when the Seven Dragons attacked," Mavis and Zeref looked at Natsu in shock at what he said before Mavis gave him a questioning look. "I won't be able to stop Acnologia on Tenrou while also protecting the guild," he started to reason, one arm still clenched into a fist, the other on the gate. "If you send me back to the Games, the Dragon Slayers will all be together, and we'll have more people to prepare for the worst." The couple shared a look before turning to Natsu and nodding their heads in acceptance. Lifting their hands in the air, two balls appeared - one white, the other black. As they shot off magic energy, the gate started opening, and Natsu stepped into it.
"Hey, Natsu!" Zeref shouted, his expression focused on sending his magic into the gate. Natsu turned to his brother to see what he wanted. "When you see past me, give him a punch in the face, will ya?" Natsu chuckled before walking into the Eclipse Gate, making sure to give one last smile to his brother and the First Master who put up their fingers to give him the Fairy Tail symbol in return. Just as Natsu entered the gate, Acnologia arrived, trying to follow the Dragon Slayer. Zeref and Mavis stood in front of his path, holding hands as they made their final stand. "I'll see you soon, Mavis," Zeref whispered to her before running to stall Acnologia, while Mavis chuckled and ran to close the gate.
"Please, Natsu, save the future!" Mavis yelled. After that, everything went black as the power of the Eclipse Gate, the first Master of Fairy Tail, the Black Mage, and the Dragon King collided. This was the final stand, something Natsu would be eternally grateful for in the future.
At the grand magic games when the dragons attacked.
Natsu was currently facing off against Future Rogue on top of Mother Glare. The others had just managed to close the Eclipse Gate and were giving silent thanks to the gods while hugging and cheering when suddenly the gate could be seen opening again. Everyone stopped what they were doing, including the dragons, and turned towards the gate. Looking at the gate, they could all see a figure coming out of it, though they didn't get the chance to see what they looked like completely as the person jumped up and started heading off towards Mother Glare. Future Rogue, who saw that Natsu was distracted, fired off a blast of Shadow Magic at Natsu, who saw the attack forming in Rogue's hand. Before Natsu got the chance to react, the figure who had appeared out of the gate kicked the Shadow Dragon Slayer off of the dragon he was standing on and onto the floor below them.
"What the hell!" Rouge yelled, his face looking shocked and in pain as he fell off of Mother Glare and onto the ground. The figure who had kicked him off stood on top of him, looking proud. Rouge could now see a clear silhouette of the man. He had dirty pink hair with dark red at the edges, and he had one onyx eye while the other was a bright red. He also had a one-sleeve vest with white pants and finally, he had sandals on. "N-Natsu?" Rouge yelled, looking at the man in surprise; there were two of them, just like two Future Lucys. Everyone turned towards the two, as they froze in shock at what they were seeing. Then, all of a sudden, the Eclipse Gate disappeared with a big boom, like it had never been there in the first place; the only thing it left behind was ash marks on the floor.
The Natsu from the past jumped down from the dragon he was standing on, as the others disappeared. He was running with everyone else towards the scene where the Rogue of the future was. All the guilds froze at the sight, as whispers went around, and they looked at the figure on top of the Rogue. Natsu pushed his way through the crowd to see something he never thought he would. It was him, but he looked older, as though they had gone through something no one should have.
Past Natsu's POV
As I stared at what looked to be a version of my future self. Rouge's body disappeared in a shoe of golden dust back to his own time, with thousands of dragons or maybe he just died; I didn't really know where he went. The other me looked around at all the faces of shock near him before he managed to get a look at the members of my guild. Once he saw them, his body loosened and his eyes looked like they were about to break down at any second. His hand reached out hesitantly towards us, but retracted once he saw our confused faces staring straight at him.
As I was about to start questioning him, when everyone went on guard and readied their magic, while the other me just raised his hands up in a sign of surrender. Sweat was dripping down his head, as he looked around. "Well, this is awkward, isn't it?" He laughed, his face holding no sign of fear, but for some reason, I saw a bit of longing or sadness in his eyes; I didn't know which one, but I guessed it was probably both, to be honest.
Suddenly, Gajeel walked up to him, standing in front of him with his arms crossed over his chest, showing his irritation. Future me only looked at him with a smile I didn't quite understand on his face. "Oi, who exactly are you?" Gajeel screamed, as the dragon slayers covered their sensitive ears; sometimes dragon hearing was horrible. The other version of me looked around before giving a light chuckle and looking back up at Gajeel, giving him a smirk that probably would have made him get punched in the face if not for the shock Gajeel was experiencing, thanks to what he said.
"I'm Natsu from the future," gasped went around as people looked at future me and me wondering what exactly he was probably here for. Gramps walked over to him, observing everything he could take in about the man from the future, while future me just looked upset, like if he was experiencing a bad memory. Lucy suddenly walked over to stand next to the master with a look of uncertainty on her face; her fists were clenched tight, as if she thought it was going to go wrong at any second. I tried to go with her, just in case I needed to keep her safe, but I was held back by my guild mates, who looked just as uncomfortable and uncertain as Lucy.
"Why exactly are yo-" Lucy started but wasn't able to finish her sentence because as soon as the other me saw her, he broke down crying and tackled her into a bear hug. I was certain it would strangle her if he didn't calm down. "Lucy!" He yelled, tears running down his face at a fast pace, while his arms only tightened around her. "I missed you so much! I'm so sorry!" Lucy raised her hands hesitantly to pass his head in understanding, while everyone else just stared, shocked by the sudden breakdown. The me from the future looked around and when he caught the eyes of the rest of the guild, his tears started pouring out like he was the sky raining rapid hail and rain. Shit, he even cried when he stared at Gray and Gajeel. I could tell one thought was going through everyone's heads at the time: What exactly happened in the future to make him act this way?
Lucy lowered her head to whisper in the other me's ear, though it couldn't really be called a whisper since all of us heard it. "Why are you here, Natsu?" Future me looked at her, still crying. "The future," he started looking around at all of us before looking back at Lucy. "I have to save the future." After that, he passed out, collapsing in Lucy's arms, which sucked because now I had to carry him to get taken care of. The words he said echoed in my head over and over: "I have to save the future." I wanted to tell them to shut up, but I didn't think it would help all that much. But I knew one thing for sure; we wouldn't be getting a break anytime soon.
With the rest of the guild in heaven
It seemed like that idiot hadn't changed much, did he?" Gray chuckled, looking down at his best friend, even though they acted like they hated each other. Gray knew Natsu would do the impossible for him, and he hoped Natsu knew he would do the same for him. Suddenly, there was a sudden poof, and Mavis and Zeref appeared; the scars they had obtained from fighting Acnologia were gone, and they both wore sad smiles on their faces.
They looked around as Gray walked over to them, his shirt already gone with him only wearing black pants and shoes. "How about I show you both around?" Gray asked smiling as he extended his hand out to them with the rest of his team running up to them laughing and playing. Erza chased after Happy after he stole a piece of her cheese cake while Carla, Wendy and Lucy talked seemingly running down the hill with golden wheat on it in what appeared to be a friendly race.
Taking Mavis's hand, Zeref gave her an apologetic look to which she nodded in understanding. Before walking off with the two mages, Gray cast one last look down at his friend, a smirk of reassurance on his face.
"Try not to mess things up, flame brain," Gray said with a chuckle. "You wouldn't want me to beat you too soon, now would you?" He chuckled again before walking away with the rest of his team, along with Zeref and Mavis following closely behind. As he walked, he gave a wave of goodbye, as if someone were waving back at him from behind.
And that's the end hope you enjoyed until next time.