Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail. Fairy Tail, Rave Master, and Eden's Zero are all owned by Hiro Mashima. Please support the official release.
When your hearts beat with the heat of the sun for each other, that is love. This Fairy Tail redo is a story of two people connected by a fire unquenched by any power in the world. Their bond will take change the fate of Fiore and all of Ishgar.
Chapter 19: Mastered Dragonforce
"Is that a challenge?" Jellal taunted, raising a hand in a relaxed fighting stance, "Consider my interests piqued. I would love to witness the power of a Dragon Slayer and a Demon Slayer, especially one that was proclaimed a Wizard Saint."
"RAAUGH!" Lucy and Natsu kicked off the ground with a bang after Jellal with flaming fists coming forward to his face. Lucy did not commit to her attack and instead used her swinging arm to anchor into the ground. The sudden stop twisted her body to go into a real attack.
"Fire Demon's Kick."
Jellal was deflecting Natsu's Iron Fist with the back of his hand but had no time to bring up with other hand to block two fire kicks to his face. He only dodged backwards, but it left Jellal wide open to Natsu successfully landing a punch to Jellal's jaw. Natsu rushed the hurling Jellal and sucker punched twice in the gut then finished with an Iron Fist to his chin. Lucy followed-up with her own combo with an elbow to Jellal's behind and a blinding flurry of punches along with Natsu.
"Fire Dragon's Wing Attack."
Natsu's dragon fire took the form of a pair of wings that bashed into Jellal.
"Fire Dragon's Talon."
"Fire Demon's Kick."
Lucy and Natsu did a somersault and hammered down their heels onto Jellal's head.
"Fire Demon's Scorching Blastshell."
While upside down, Lucy stretched out her hand and fired a high-explosive shot of hellfire that sent Jellal forward and consumed him in an explosion. The fire slayers fueled their flames till their cheeks puffed with a gurgling noise.
"Fire Dragon's-"
"Fire Demon's-"
"-ROAR/RAGE!"
Golden and crimson flames blasted from their mouths in a destructive stream that eradicated all in its path. Like before, the two flames turned into an Unison Raid becoming a singular blue inferno. A wall of blue fire sprang up on impact with Jellal's figure disappearing in the burning curtain. As the fire was dying down, they could make out the shadow of Jellal's figure standing. A wave of his hands put out the fire around him, but he looked a little less for wear.
His pants were ragged with holes burned into them and scorching some of the skin, and his left arm took most of the power from the Unison Raid evidence by the burn that ran up to his arm like a scar and even more on his left side where his black tank top was burned away. It was damage but not enough to make that smile disappear.
"Impressive." Jellal said, "If you were just a little stronger, I would be dead right about now. But now you won't be getting in anymore lucky hits."
Lucy charged up her magic to go into Demonforce, but Jellal's own magic surged up around him in a golden glow.
"If you think I'll give a chance to enter that form of yours, you're too naive." Jellal stated to Lucy, "Meteor."
One second Jellal was standing there with his body glowing in his Heavenly Body Magic, but the next he disappeared from sight completely faster than Lucy. The slayer pair felt blows crash down on them from all directions at tremendous speeds. They would try to attack at the first sight of Jellal out of the corner of their line of sight, but their fists only met air and Jellal would've already counter-attacked. Even relying on their enhanced senses proved fruitless.
'Too fast.' thought Lucy through the pummeling, 'He's not giving me a chance to go into Demonforce.'
"Now I'll show you the true power of Darkness Magic." Jellal said.
He flew above the tower and put his hands together vertically in a hand sign only used in the most powerful of spells. Seven magic circles aligned themselves and connected in a constellation pattern. To Lucy's horror, the spell was aimed at Natsu where a copy of the magic circles surrounded him.
"Grand Chariot."
"NO, NATSU!" Lucy cried as she sprinted to Natsu just before the blast.
The dust cleared showing a down but unharmed Natsu. However, lying on top of him was Lucy, her entire left side covered in bruises and her elbow snapped at a weird angle.
'Shit.' thought Lucy, 'And I just had that fixed.'
"L-Lucy!" Natsu cried, holding Lucy by behind her head gently when he got his footing, "Why did you do that?!"
"Idiot," Lucy groaned, "I don't want to see you hurt."
"But you are!" Natsu argued, "You don't - I-"
"Don't worry about me." Lucy said with a forced smile, "I'm not planning on dying anytime soon. Besides, one of us has to beat the shit out of this guy."
"What a fool you are, Lucy Hearfilia." Jellal spoke to himself as he descended to the ground, "That blast was the equivalent of a meteorite. I'm surprised that you still have your arm. The R-System can't take anymore damage."
"Oh really." Lucy responded with a devious smirk. Natsu caught on as well and gave his own evil toothy grin. Lucy raised her good arm, balled her fist in fire, and slammed it into the crystal floor sending a fatal crack and shaking the tower of lacrima. After that, they unleashed their magic wildly (though for Lucy considereable less due to her injuries) in random directions for one purpose: destroy.
"Fire Dragon's Roar."
"Fire Demon's Rage."
"Fire Dragon's Wing Attack."
"Fire Demon's Killer Fist."
"Fire Dragon's Iron Fist."
"Wh-What are you doing?!" Jellal cried out in outrage at the scene of calamity before him.
"You have the worst luck ever, pal." Natsu said, punching at random parts of the tower he could reach, "We Fairy Tail wizards are known for being destructive."
"And we slayers are the worst among them." Lucy added, sending a breath of hellfire that destroyed a lacrima pillar.
"I'm not going to let two ignorant fools get in my way." Jellal hissed, "This will be the end of you."
"Too bad for you." Natsu replied with his usual smile, "Lucy and I are fired up now."
Despite being barely able to stand, Lucy dished out as much fire and explosions as Natsu with he ranged attacks while the Dragon Slayer went on a happy rampage like a monster. Jellal tried to interfere, but Natsu would either dodge or deflect attacks away from Lucy to continue her fun.
Jellal fired a powerful blast of magic that sent Natsu in the air. He recovered quickly and used his position and momentum to send a Brilliant Flame down the tower, which Lucy joined in with a Scorching Blastshell. Together, they broke down a significant piece of the tower, making it lose much of the needed magic.
"Now I'm angry!" Jellal growled, veins bulging on his forehead, "I didn't spend years building this tower just to have some hot-headed love couple bring it down."
The unexpected term to describe Natsu and Lucy made the pair blush deeply despite the serious situation.
'Do people really say that about us?' The pair thought.
"We - warned - you!" panted Natsu, his magic exhausted. "I told you destroying stuff is Fairy Tail's specialty."
'Natsu, Lucy.' thought a conscious Erza, 'The both of you are too injured and weak to continue standing.'
"DIE!" Jellal roared gathering his magic.
The shadows around them thinned and lengthened toward Jellal as a dark sphere grew in size above him in his hands. The whole tower was shaking under the immense pressure the ball of magic contained.
"I'll plunge the both of you into infinite darkness." Jellal roared.
"Stop it, Jellal," cried Erza who stood between the fire slayer pair and Jellal, "unless you want to kill me too."
Jellal flinched for a moment as though in shock of killing Erza. Lucy could swear she saw a bit of humanity in his eyes. That quickly disappeared as Jellal steeled his gaze.
"I can always find a suitable replacement." Jellal stated, "You are not the only one who fits the cost of Zeref's revival."
"Erza, get out of the way." Natsu cried.
"It's my fault you're in this mess." said Erza, "The least I can do is protect you."
"You suicidal idiot, get out the way!" Lucy ranted but could only collapse as her exhaustion left her body writhing in pain from her injuries.
"Heavenly Body Magic: Altaris."
The ball of shadow rushed down Erza without stop. She shielded herself as best she could, but missed the figure of a man dashing in front of her and taking the blast. The whole summit of the tower was clouded in the dust from the ensuing explosion. Instead of Erza taking the blast, it was revealed to be Simon covered in horrendous burns and wounds from taking the full blast of Altaris.
(Que Fairy Tail Sad Ost [start the water-works])
"S-Simon?" Erza whimpered.
Lucy and Natsu could only look at Simon in shock, more so when they could hear his faltering heartbeat. Erza was having flashbacks of the past, where she sees Simon protecting her she could also see Rob who shielded her from death the same way. It was happening all over again. She was losing another one of her precious friends again. And she could watch.
"Wh-Why?" Erza said, tears building in her real eye.
"To... save you." Simon groaned as he collapsed onto the ground. Erza instantly rushed to his aide and lowered herself to her knees to hold Simon by the back of his head.
"What the hell were you thinking?" Erza cried, "Why didn't you escape with the others? Answer me, please."
"Please... don't cry." Simon said weakly but with a smile, "It's okay. I'm... happy to... give my life... for you."
"Stay with me." Erza pleaded, the tears becoming visible in both eyes, "Just please stay with me, Simon."
Simon continued in his last words. "You were... the only one... who could... make me smile."
"Don't die on me." Erza whimpered, her voice breaking.
Lucy could only watch as her own memories flashed over the scene. Where Erza stood would be Lucy as a little girl kneeling over her dying father. She could only cry as the man who gave everything he could to the daughter he loved die before her daughter's eyes. She would live by her father's own sacrifice but at the cost of her own family she loved so deeply.
Why was fate so cruel to take away the precious ones? Lucy could repeat that question in her head as she saw Erza breaking down into tears just like she did the day Lucy's father died.
"Simon please!" Erza sobbed.
"Erza..." whispered Simon, "I've... always... loved you."
Lucy couldn't help but see and hear her own father say those words to her as though fate was playing a cruel joke to replay such a painful memory to the Demon Slayer. Her own tears started to shed down her cheek and she involuntarily repeated "Dad", with a whimper in her tone that Natsu picked up on. And he was pissed, picking up a chunk of Etherion to put in his mouth to make Jellal pay for all this needless misery.
Simon's body went limp in Erza's arms. The redhead could do nothing but cry all the tears she's kept bottled up for all these years.
"No!" Erza cursed, "NOOOO!"
"Don't worry, your big boy is going to live."
The sad mood was broken instantly by a familiar eccentric voice from the sidelines. All eyes turned to the pet-er, regular sized 'Celestial' Mage of Fairy Tail with a body at her feet with the face and such visible skin covered by the clothes. From the body flowed what looked like a river of blood to Simon surrounding him in a blood red magic circle. A glimmer of hope shined in Erza's puffy eyes as she put her ear to Simon's chest. True to Cynthia's words, Erza could hear a healthy heartbeat. He was merely resting.
"Yo." said Cynthia, "I say he's going to make a wonderful recovery. Though the donor was... less than intact."
"Thank you." Erza whimpered, "Please, get him out of here."
"Okey-dokey, just beat this fucker senseless." Cynthia answered with a salute. She picked up Simon with a hand grown with Giant's Wrath and disappeared in a veil of shadow.
"If his body's left, please bring it to me." Cythia requested, licking her lips.
'Good to see Cynthia's back to her sadistic antics.' Lucy thought with a sweatdrop.
'What kind of magic is this!?' thought Jellal, 'Was that blood? Was this girl using a human sacrifice to heal Simon? How?'
"Simon may have tried to sacrifice his life to save yours," Jellal said, "but he's a fool to think-"
"SHUT UP!" Natsu roared, swinging the most powerful sucker punch that Lucy has ever seen out of Natsu.
Lucy noticed an alien blue glow around Natsu, and her eyes widened seeing Natsu bite into a chunk of lacrima. That was basically a human downing a keg of viper poison.
"Natsu, what are you doing?!" Lucy cried.
Her words went on deaf ears as Natsu exploded with power from ingesting such concentrated magic. The tower cracked under his mighty roar, and the magic of the R-System swirled around him. But Natsu coughed out liquid Etherion choking him. Lucy could tell on the inside that the Etherion was tearing his body apart inside out. He collapsed on the ground, gagging for air that couldn't reach his lungs or his inability to scream in pain.
"How could you be so stupid?!" Erza cried, "Ethernano is made out of all types of magic, not just fire."
'She's right.' thought Lucy, 'There are too many elements for Natsu to absorb the raw power of the Ethernano. He needs more fire but - that could work!'
Lucy used the last of her power and the raw strength of her will to leap to Natsu's side and power up to Demonforce, but not for the sake of fighting Jellal. In her current condition it was impossible, and Jellal was more powerful than Jose. She kneeled her face inches to Natsu and held his face to steady him. A blush was creeping on Lucy's cheeks for the action she was preparing herself to do, but her only focus was on Natsu. Her precious Natsu.
"You are not going to die on me Natsu." Lucy whispered into the Dragon Slayer's ear, "You are too important. To the guild. To our friends. And mostly to me. I won't let you die because - I've found my mate. It's you Natsu. I love you."
Lucy surrendered herself to her instincts and pressed her lips onto Natsu's. She ignored how warm and soft his lips felt to pour her demon fires into Natsu's mouth and forced it down Natsu's throat. Her plan was to override the elements in the Ethernano with her hellfire and giving Natsu the boost of power he needed. By the time Lucy could tell Natsu's breathing was healthy, she had used all her magic even in Demonforce to force the other elements out of Natsu's systems. Her vision blurred, but she could feel gentle fingers holding the back of her hand.
Lucy heard Natsu's voice. "Lucy..."
Lucy smiled. "Go get him... Natsu... meito (mate)."
Natsu set Lucy down on the ground to rest and straightened himself on his feet. Dragon fire erupted around the wizard, and shrouded his body from Jellal's eyes. The flames died down to reveal Natsu recently gone through a transformation. Along his arms, neck, cheeks, and around his eyes were bright red scales the same as Igneel. Two short horns of red fire crowned above Natsu's brows, and a pair of wings and a tail of fire waved behind him as though they were real appendages of his body.
'So that's it.' thought Lucy, watching in amazement of her beloved, 'That is Dragonforce.'
"What power." Erza gasped, "And it looks like he's in perfect control of it."
Natsu took a moment to look himself over then turned his eyes, now red slits, to Jellal.
"Thank you," said Natsu, "Lucy-meito."
What happened next was a total beatdown. Natsu blinked right in front of Jellal and pushed his fist into him. Before he could even cough a breath, Natsu dealt a combo of punches, smashing Jellal's ribs with each one.
"You made Erza suffer!" Natsu growled, grabbing Jellal by his chin and running him down the tower, "You made my mate cry! I'm not going to let you get away with what you've done! Do anything to them and I'll kill you!"
"You don't scare me." Jellal said but with a hint of real fear in his voice.
Jellal used Meteor to escape Natsu's grasp and fly back up the tower. A single flap of Natsu's wings and he soared faster than even Jellal and punched him in the gut. The force of the punch sent Jellal into a crystal, but he still got up and flew higher in the air over Natsu.
"I am destined to create a land of freedom." Jellal preached, "Once I resurrect Lord Zeref, we will work together to create a land together that is truly free."
"And you think you're going to do that by taking everyone's rights?!" Natsu roared
"I couldn't care less." Jellal snapped, making an Abyss Break magic circle, "Abyss Break."
"I'll show you that you are wrong." Natsu bellowed, his right fist glowing like a red sun, "Fire Dragon's Hidden Fire Form: Flame Lotus: Phoenix Blade."
A spear of solid red fire shot out of Natsu's arm and pierced through the Abyss Break with ease and burned Jellal across his body. Natsu flew above Jellal and punched him back to the tower, sending crystals flying in all directions. In the crashsite lay Jellal with his eyes rolled back and his body beaten and broken. His Wizard Saint pendent was by his side in pieces.
Natsu landed right next to Lucy, and the two exchanged heart-warming smiles. Suddenly, Natsu's body gave out and he collapsed to his knees with the Dragonforce dissipated. He fell not into the ground but into Erza's arms.
"Thank you." said Erza, "You've finally ended this nightmare."
"Just don't try to kill yourself please." Lucy cracked at a joke.
The tender moment was cut short by an unstable surge in magic around them. The lacrima was falling apart and the tower was crumbling in a series of explosions. All of the magic of the Etherion was going to explode like it should have.
And it left Erza with only one solution. One that Lucy was going to hate.
That's right. Simon's alive because of my admittedly broken OC who will make you laugh in the future with her sadistic humor. And Natsu can use Dragonforce at will thanks to Lucy.
Up next is Chapter 20.
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