Date: XX/XX/0791
Time: 1800 Approximately
Location: CLASSIFIED…Magic Council Headquarters
Mest gave a long sigh as he stalked down the damp and dull corridor that was the Magic Council's Prison. Wails of prisoners echoed down the halls as dim lanterns lit the path for the ex-Fairy Tail member hundreds of feet below the surface, hundreds of feet below the Magic Council's Headquarters. Mest mumbled to himself as a rather pungent odor wafted from one of the cells he passed. It seemed that another prisoner had died and the body had been ignored for too long…
Now, Mest didn't really like going down to the deepest pits of the Magic Council's deepest darkest cells, yet as one of the heads of the Rune Knights, he had to make constant trips down here as was mandatory for someone in his line of work. Though today…things were different…
"Very different indeed…" Mest grumbled to himself as he rounded the corner, the image of his old pal Lahar coming into view just up the hall.
"You're late," Lahar stated, just as a teacher would an uninteresting fact to a class as he pushed his glasses farther up the bridge of his nose, "You know, for a guy that can teleport, you really have a terrible sense of timing."
Mest looked off to the side in slight embarrassment as he scratched the x-shaped scar on his left cheek, "Hey I'm here right? Why'd you call me anyway? I thought interrogations were carried out by Truth Mages or whatever you call them…"
Lahar gave a huff before turning and walking down the corridor, his back as straight as a board and a walk that was more similar to a march than any real form of walking. Mest followed behind him, though with noticeably less discipline in his posture. Lahar pulled a notepad from underneath the white cloak he wore before flipping through a couple pages, "Unfortunately the Magic Council has deemed this person of interest too important, and dangerous, for the regular procedure. That's where we come in. We'll be conducting the interrogation together, though I must emphasize that I will be the one leading the interview."
Mest rolled his eyes at the statement, "Hey that's fine with me, conduct the whole thing by yourself for all I care."
Lahar's glasses reflected the light of a lantern off them in such a way that it was impossible to see his eyes for a moment, "You won't be saying that here in a moment, Doranbolt."
Mest simply rolled his eyes again at the comment, "I guess we'll see, won't we?" Before a look of irritation crossed his face, "And the name's Mest, Mest Gryder. Not Doranbolt, got it?"
Lahar merely nodded his head as the two men continued down the corridor. The farther they walked the quieter the wails became until there was only the sound of their boots tapping on the floor and the occasional puddle to keep them company. That was…until they reached their location.
Mest looked up unamused at the slightly taller than normal metal door in front of them, which he correctly identified as being the interrogation room, "So…who's the lucky fella we're here to squeeze?"
Lahar looked down at his notepad before taking a deep breath, "Interviewee: Natsu Dragneel, known magic: Fire Dragon-"
Lahar couldn't finish his almost robotic reading of the notepad before he was interrupted by Mest, "What! Natsu!? Seriously!?"
Lahar kept a stoic face even as his colleague's usually relaxed demeanor was replaced with confusion and outrage, "The Fairy Tail mage known as Natsu Dragneel, or the Salamander, has been arrested on the charges of, one-hundred and thirty two counts of murder in the third degree, treason, intent to commit mass treason, unlawful congregation of a cult, unlawful-"
Again the Rune Knight was cut off by his colleague, "This is outrageous! Just because the Magic Council has a vendetta against the Fairy Tail guild, that doesn't mean they can arrest one of their most famous mages for political brownie points! It didn't work over seven years ago, it isn't gonna work now!"
Lahar's glasses once again glared from the lantern light as Mest caught his breath from the small tirade he had gone on, "You done?"
Mest responded by flipping Lahar the bird, "Screw you, there's no way you're gonna convince me that the Salamander did all that crap."
Lahar's stoic expression was replaced with a slight scowl, "Believe me…I wish that was the case as well…" The Rune Knight unlocked the metal door before pushing it open, "Just…humor me, would you?" Mest stared at Lahar for a moment, before scoffing and entering the room.
On either side of the room stood two guards carrying magical spears as a form of defense, which with a quick jerk from Lahar's neck, took the cue to leave and wait outside. Leaving the two Rune Knights in the room with…him…
Even compared to the dim prison outside, this room was dark. It was so dark in fact, that it took Mest a second for his eyes to adjust to the shadows in the room. Near the back of the dull brick room stood a metal table with two unoccupied metal chairs on one side…and a completely occupied chair on the other side.
The figure had his black boots kicked up on the table, hiding the upper portion of his body in the part of the room so dark that not even Mest's newly adjusted eyes could see clearly. Though he was able to make out the strongest magic canceling shackles they had bound tightly to the prisoners wrists, as well as odd horn like shapes that curved back from the hairline.
"Natsu?" Lahar questioned almost asif speaking to a child before taking a seat, Mest following suit with a utterly confused expression on his face, "Natsu, we're just here to talk." No response from the figure, not even a twitch of a muscle. Lahar breathed out before leaning forward in his chair, "Natsu, you've hurt a lot of people. You were planning to hurt a lot more, we know that for certain. The only thing we don't know is why?" Still no response, "Why would one of Fairy Tail's most famous mages, the Salamander himself, do all of this?"
Suddenly Natsu's eyes shot open, Mest almost fell back in his seat from the sudden jumpscare. Because where Natsu's normally onyx-green eyes would be, there was instead a pulsating ring of glowing orange and red. The "eyes" if you could even call them that, looked as though they were being looked at through a bad camera lens, as if the pupil, the iris, and the sclera had all started to slowly fizzle away. They also provided just enough light for Mest to see the edges of Natsu's mouth pull back in a grin that was not humanly possible to produce.
"You want to know why?" Mest almost did a double take, as the normally energetic and peppy tone in Natsu's voice was replaced with something much calmer, much colder, something sadistic. That wasn't even mentioning the slightly raspier twinge his voice had, just enough that it was noticeable.
Lahar cleared the nervous knot in his throat before continuing, "Y-yes Natsu. That's all we want to know."
Suddenly Natsu's boots slammed on the room's floor before the mage leaned forward, revealing his face from the shadows he hid behind not half a second ago, "That's hilarious!" Mest jumped back out of reflex as he finally saw the face of Natsu Dragneel since he had walked into this room. Except…that thing in the seat was not Natsu…
Sure that thing had the same shape as Natsu, it had the pink hair as Natsu, it even had the same voice as Natsu, but it couldn't be Natsu. After all, Natsu Dragneel of Fairy Tail fame, wasn't a demon.
Natsu laughed maniacally at the reaction he got from the Rune Knight, his pupils growing small and his impossibly wide grin opening up to show pearly white serrated teeth that seemed way too big to fit in his mouth. Mest's eyes couldn't help but be drawn to the small golden horns that reached back about as far as his wavy hair did, as well as the pitch black portions of skin that seemed to start from his back and reach up to his jawline, back of his hands, and just before the front of his torso.
Natsu, or whatever this thing was, looked uncanny. It was as if a monster had heard the description of the Salamander and tried replicating as much as they could, only to fall short. Perhaps it was the normally light tanned skin being a sickly pale, or perhaps it was the fact that his lean muscles seemed to grow slightly into a taller, more bulky build, or maybe it was the fact that even though this thing was in their most powerful magic canceling shackles, that he was still able to crack the floor with his stomp.
Lahar was also visibly frightened by the sight in front of him, but was able to stay at least a little in control of his actions unlike his colleague, "Natsu please, we are merely here to have a civil discussion to help understand why you did the things you-"
"That's not my name." Natsu said, his disturbing eyes staring deep into Lahar's soul as he said this.
Lahar adjusted his glasses with another nervous gulp, "Of course…what would you like to be referred to as instead? If you don't mind me asking?"
Natsu let out a dark chuckle before leaning back into the shadows once more, "Call me…End." Suddenly Natsu's gaze grew very serious, "Not Natsu Dragneel, not the Salamander, not E.N.D, just…End."
Mest calmed his nerves enough to sit himself down in the chair again before asking a question, "End huh? That's very…confusing, don't you think?"
Natsu chuckled at the question, "Like you're one to talk Mest, or was it Doranbolt? You know, it's just so hard to keep track nowadays with all these name changes going everywhere!"
Mest felt a sour taste in his mouth at the comment, but didn't push it any further before Lahar spoke, "Ominous names aside, I think we should get down to the actual reason we're here…"
End hummed in amusement at the response, "Sure, I don't have anywhere to be right now anyway." He chuckled to himself as if he had said something funny, "So, you said you wanted to know how someone like Fairy Tail's finest could turn into…me, right? Well, where exactly do you want me to start?"
Lahar managed to put on a nervous smile, one as fake as it was convincing…which is to say quite convincing, "Wherever you feel the most comfortable starting, Nat-End."
End hummed to himself before kicking his boots back up on the table once, pushing himself farther back into the shadows, and fiddled with his thumbs and shackles as he thought, "Well…I don't know…" Before the hint of a smile could be seen from his eye's light, "I guess the only proper place to start talking about the End, is the beginning!" End laughed even if no one else did before continuing, "Tell me Lahar, Doran-Mest, have you heard about the port town called…Hargeon?"
Mest furrowed his brow, as did Lahar. The two Rune Knights leaning in as the demon wearing Natsu's skin began regaling them with a tale. A tale of magic, a tale of dragon slayers, of demons, of love, of betrayal, of insanity. This tale was full of adventure, family, treachery, and death. This is the story of Fairy Tail…
…as well as its End…
"Oooooh…" Natsu groaned as the train lurched its way to the station, "How much further Happy?"
"Aye! Not too far Natsu! We're almost there!" The blue cat replied, as his namesake implied, happily.
Natsu forced the backpack onto his back and tightened the white, scaly scarf around his neck, "Alright then! I'm all fired-!" Before the familiar tint of green returned to his face and he resorted back to puking his guts out of the train window, "God…damn…motion sickness…"
The train came to a complete stop and opened its doors for the passengers to leave out of, "Natsu hurry! You don't want to be left behind for a second time do you!?"
And just like that, Natsu seemingly forgot all about his motion sickness as he ran straight off the train with renewed vigor before turning around and flipping the mode of transport the bird, "Screw you devil machine! I swear, after I find Igneel I'm gonna have him turn you into cinder!"
Many a passersby spared confused glances at the pink haired man cursing the train as if it had personally slighted him in some way, as well as sparing some more to the strange blue cat that snickered away as it ate a rather large fish to the side of the young man. None of them ever knew or even remembered that the same pink haired boy was the one that would burn away the world…
