"Remember, we will send a scout to Floralia Town in a week. We pray that the scout sees the village celebrating your victory and not mourn the death of another." The head guard told Natsu as the train was about to make its voyage back to Crocus.

"Thanks for taking me up here! I promise to defeat that Demon for you guys!" Natsu waved off the royal guards as he saw the train blitz back to the capital and decided to walk around the village. Firridge Village was a charming place, with wooden cottages adorned with flower boxes and smoke curling from stone chimneys. The air was filled with the scent of pine and the distant sound of a waterfall. Natsu greeted the villagers he passed, asking them if they knew anything about Floralia Town, and they all responded by asking someone else until someone told him to go to the bar for his answer.

His wandering led him to a cozy-looking tavern with a sign that read "The Fir and Flame." Pushing open the heavy wooden door, he was immediately met with the warmth of a roaring fire and the rich aroma of hearty stew. The tavern was bustling with activity, the wooden beams of the ceiling resonating with laughter and shouts. Natsu's keen senses picked up on a raucous commotion at the center of the room. A large group of men were engaged in a drunken brawl, their laughter and shouts filling the air as they tussled playfully. Around them, children and wives watched, cheering on their partners with spirited encouragement. Natsu chuckled to himself, feeling a pang of nostalgia. "It feels a tiny bit like Fairy Tail," he mused aloud, reminded of the often chaos of his guild when a barmaid walked up to him and shook him. "Hello, sir. You must be new here."

"I am. My name's Natsu, and I'm currently going to Floralia Town on a mission." Natsu said loud enough for everyone to hear. The raucous energy quickly drained away from the building as they looked at Natsu, "Was it something I said?"

"You want to talk about Floralia Town, eh?" A voice said as they turned to see a disheveled-looking man standing near the bar. It was obvious even from the dim light of the tavern that he had his left leg amputated and used a cane to get around, "I know a few things about that place. Let's go outside and talk. I don't want to dampen the mood here any longer."

Natsu followed the limping man out of the tavern and walked to the outskirts of the town, where all they could see were the large mountains that Natsu would have to traverse in order to reach Floralia Town.

"My name is Sawyer, and I used to be a citizen of Floralia Town. That was until the Demon came through and claimed it as his. He burned nearly all of the buildings and used his small troop of Demons to overrun all the people who tried to revolt. I was a part of the revolution, and it caused me to lose my leg to those foul creatures." Sawyer spoke as he clutched his cane tightly, his anger and sadness rising as he remembered the horrific events that happened, "After he destroyed the revolution, he forced us to follow his laws, and if we broke them, then one of us would get punished. They took my wife away from me in front of my eyes, and I couldn't do anything to stop them, or else they would have gotten to my daughter."

"Sawyer, I promise to save your village, and when I do, you'll be reunited with your daughter once again." Natsu promised Sawyer as they heard a distant explosion coming from the other side of the mountain range, "Was that from Floralia Town?"

"Yes… that means he wants another sacrifice to satiate his hunger." Sawyer answered, unable to help but imagine the pain his village was going through while he was trapped in this village. "Before you go, please tell my daughter, Monica, that her father is okay and she doesn't need to worry about his safety any longer."

"Sure thing." Natsu said as he waved Sawyer farewell and followed the treacherous route through the mountain range to Floralia Town.

(A couple of days later )

"Master! Tell us why Natsu hasn't returned from the mission you claimed he was on?" Erza shouted as she glared at Makarov, who was sitting on the railing on the second floor looking at all of his children and, judging by the shared expression they all had, were curious about the disappearance of Natsu.

After they celebrated Gildarts' completion of his hundredth S-Class mission, they realized that Natsu wasn't found anywhere in Magnolia Town. When they asked Makarov about Natsu's location, he lied and told them that Natsu had left on a mission and would be back in the next couple of days. They waited for Natsu's imminent return, and when no signs of his return appeared, they began questioning Makarov on whether or not he was being truthful to them, leaving us right now where an irate Erza was confronting Makarov.

"I guess now is the time to reveal the truth." Makarov sighed as he pulled out the envelope Natsu handed him and opened the letter, "I apologize for telling none of you this sooner, but Natsu begged me not to reveal what he was going to do until the time was right."

"Do you think something bad happened to Natsu?" Juvia worriedly asked Gray, who didn't share the expression everyone else had, as he knew why Natsu wasn't with them.

"No," Gray simply stated. As he and a couple of the other guild members noticed how choked up Makarov was, he silently read the message to himself before he steeled himself.

"Master, is everything alright?" Mirajane worriedly asked Makarov as Makarov wiped the tears that threatened to escape his eyes and stood on top of the railing.

"In my hands is a letter Natsu handed me before he left," Makarov said as everyone stopped speaking. They were curious to hear what was written on the message that Natsu left them before he disappeared.

Makarov took a deep breath and began to read aloud: "I really don't know why I'm writing this letter; I just think it must be easier than talking about it. You know, whenever I was asked who my favorite person in the guild was, I couldn't think of one because I cared too much about you all to choose. I just hope you can think of me like that after you read what I wrote."

The guild stayed quiet as they absorbed what Natsu wrote. It was sweet of him to consider everyone in the guild important to him, but judging by the way Makarov was speaking, they knew something bad was going to come next and waited with bated breaths for what Makarov said next.

"I realized I needed to get stronger to protect the guild and everyone I care about. The best way to do this was to leave for a while and train on my own. I don't know when I'll return, but I will one day." That was enough to put the guild into a frenzy as some of them voiced their frustration at Makarov.

"How could you let Natsu leave like that? Don't you know how much he means to us?" Wendy was the first to shout as she clutched her hands and felt tears roll down her face and onto the floor.

"Wendy's right! Natsu has been a part of the guild for so long now. You could have tried to stop him from leaving us!" Lucy said as she hugged Wendy from behind and looked at Makarov as tears were rolling down her eyes.

"Natsu…" Happy was shocked as he looked at the ground in sadness. He couldn't believe that his best friend would leave without telling him. He felt someone grab his hand, looked over to see Carla, rested his head against her shoulder, and silently cried as Carla patted the top of his head.

"Quiet!" Everyone turned to look at Erza. It was obvious that she was also suffering from the news of Natsu's departure. Still, she knew that she had to put on a brave face like Makarov was doing even if she wanted to join the rest of her family and cry, "If what Natsu wrote is truthful, he is only going to come back to the guild one day, and all we can do now is pray for his safety. Master, is there anything else that Natsu wrote?"

"Thank you for calming everyone down, Erza, and yes, Natsu has more written here and it's dedicated to a couple of people." Makarov answered as most of the guild wiped the tears away from their faces and continued to listen to their Master, "To Juvia and Gray, I want you both to have a happy future together. You deserve it after everything you've been through. To Erza, thank you for always motivating me to grow stronger. To Lucy and Wendy, you two are stronger than you make yourselves out to be. Just look back at everything we did together and remember how strong you both truly are. And to Happy and Lisanna, thank you for being the first friends I made when I joined the guild; you made those tough few years amazing whenever we spent our time together. You guys made me realize what it means to have a loving family, and when Lisanna left us, I made a promise to treat everyone in the guild with all the love I could give. I have so much I want to say about you guys, but that would mean I would have to write an entire book."

"I promise to fulfill your wish, Natsu." Gray whispered to himself as he looked over at Juvia. He smiled as he pulled her in and gave her a passionate kiss on the lips. Juvia blushed from the unexpected kiss but melted in his embrace and returned his kiss.

"You go two! Make Natsu proud!" Cana cheered as the pair blushed but continued to kiss as more of them cheered them on.

"Yeah! Kissing your loved one is manly!" Elfman said as he tried to kiss Evergreen on the lips but was met with a smack from her fan.

"What did I say about kissing me when people around us!" Evergreen stuttered as she tried her best to act composed but failed miserably, thanks to the large blush on her face as Elfman tried to kiss her once again while a couple of the onlookers laughed at their antics.

"Natsu… I'm glad that me and Happy had such an effect on you." Lisanna said as she wiped the tears off her face and looked over at Happy, who was still being comforted by Carla.

"If it weren't for you, maybe Natsu wouldn't have stuck around for so long." Mirajane said as Makarov finished Natsu's message: "No matter how little we talked to each other, I care about you all, truly. Please don't think bad of me for not telling you this in person. I didn't want to worry you or make it harder for me to leave. I wish you all the happiness in the world and look forward to the day I return stronger and ready to face any challenge by your side. With all my heart, Natsu Dragneel."

"I can't hate you, Natsu, not after everything you've done for me." Lucy said to herself as every memory she had of Natsu and herself flashed through her mind.

Makarov looked at his children's smiles, smiled as he placed the letter back into his coat, and whispered, "Even when you're not here, you somehow seem to brighten everyone's mood."

"I can finally see the village." Natsu tiredly whispered as he saw the partially destroyed Floralia village just over the horizon. The journey through the mountains was, at most, supposed to be an entire day, but what he didn't expect was for END to mess with his mind, causing Natsu to take constant stops and waste two extra days.

"Look at how destroyed Floralia Village is. More than half of the entire village is either in the process of being burned to the ground or already nothing more than a pile of ash." END said with sadistic glee as an explosion occurred near the center of the village, " Looks like the Demon is asking for another victim. You should go down there and watch him end the life of a worthless human."

Natsu didn't say anything as he made his way to the village and saw two Demons standing outside the walls, ensuring that nobody could leave or enter the town without permission from their leader.

"Why do we have to take guard duty? I want to see those weaklings cry in fear as we kill another one of their kind while they only stand there and do nothing about it." The first Demon said.

"Unless you want to get punished by our Master, I suggest you stay quiet." The second Demon said with his eyes closed before he opened them to look at his partner and was horrified to see that he was lying on the floor with a hole in his chest. He took a step back in disgust, bumping into something, and turned around to see Natsu. Before he could even yell out for help, Natsu punched through his stomach and left him lying next to his partner.

"Did you see the fear you instilled in that Demon's face before you killed him? It was glorious, wasn't it?" END laughed as Natsu made sure to bring any more attention to himself by walking through the dark alleyways.

"Shut up. It was the only way I could enter this place without getting noticed." Natsu growled as END's laughter only got louder.

"We both know you're lying. You just wanted a reason to kill them. It only makes sense. Humans are filthy animals that care only for bloodshed and won't stop until their greed for blood is satiated." END refuted as Natsu slowly approached the center of the village but made sure to keep himself hidden and not cause any extra harm to the civilians.

"Citizens of this worthless village, it is time for you to choose a sacrifice to your malevolent ruler! Who will we be the lucky victim?" One of the larger Demons asked, most likely one of the higher-ups, as none of the civilians mustered up the courage to raise their hand, "If none of you are going to choose, then I will choose one for you!"

The Demon walked around the terrified crowd until he noticed a small girl with orange hair hiding behind an elderly lady. He slapped the old lady onto the floor and snatched the small girl by her hair as she tried to free herself from his grasp.

"L-let go!" The little girl cried out as two more Demons held her down by her limbs as the large Demon slowly raised his ax into the air.

"If I remember correctly, you're the daughter of the man who escaped. Think of this as punishment, for when he comes back, he will see your lifeless corpse and have no one to blame but himself." The Demon laughed as he swung his ax. Everyone couldn't bear to see the gruesome scene that was happening right in front of them and shut their eyes, praying that her death would be quick and painless.

Just as the ax was about to cut Monica in half, Natsu jumped in and kicked the ax out of the Demon's hand, and before the two Demons that were holding the child could even react, Natsu took their heads off with the larger Demon's ax before he burnt their bodies to a crisp.

"A-an outsider! How did you get here without any of us being warned?!" The large Demon shouted as everyone opened their eyes to see Natsu standing in front of the girl. The Demon tried to run back to his leader but didn't get far as Natsu appeared right in front of him and punched through him.

"M-Monica, are you okay?" The old lady worryingly asked the little girl as she got up and hugged her, sobbing into her dress as she thought she was about to die. As the elderly lady hugged Monica into her body, Natsu slowly approached them, "Thank you so much for saving my granddaughter. She's the only thing I have left after her parents disappeared."

"Her father wouldn't happen to be named Sawyer?" Natsu cheekily asked as the old lady's eyes widely opened while Monica stopped crying at the mention of her father's name.

"P-papa's alive!" Monica choked out as she looked up at Natsu with hopeful eyes.

"He is. He told me to come down to protect you. It looks like I came just in the nick of time," Natsu said as Monica couldn't contain herself and began crying once again.

"Sawyer's always been a determined soul; I guess that's what Angie saw in him when they got married." The Grandma said as she looked back at Natsu and saw him comforting Monica, "My name is Grace. May we please have your name?"

"My name is Natsu Dragneel, and I'm a Fairy Tail wizard." Natsu answered as a crowd formed around him and began cheering his name for saving one of the citizens. But what nobody noticed was a small Demon with wings hiding on top of one of the buildings before it flew back to the lair their leader was inhabiting.

"Follow us. We need to show you something." Grace said as she and a small group of villagers took Natsu to the partially destroyed town hall and then down a winding path of corridors until they entered a small bunker.

"What is this place?" Natsu asked no one in particular as Grace left Monica with Natsu as she went to search for an item.

"This is the bunker that our former elder created when the Demon first invaded our village. It has everything you need to survive for a couple of months, but with how large the population is, we only have enough to last us a couple more days." One of the civilians said as Grace returned with a string necklace that was holding a small ball.

"This is the last thing our elder gave us before he went out to face the Demon. He told us that this orb was a single-use teleportation device that would bring the person closest to the ball back here once it got destroyed. We want you to have it in case the Demon is too much for you and you need a way back." Grace said as she placed the necklace around Natsu's neck.

"Thank you. All I need to know now is where this leader is hiding." Natsu asked.

"The Demon has set up his face just west of the village inside the mountain, but I warn you, that place is littered with Demons of all shapes and sizes who aren't afraid to tear you limb from limb, especially if they caught wind of what you did to some of them." A civilian said as he pointed at the large map they had and where to search.

"Okay, it's settled. I'm going to go there tomorrow and confront those Demons," Natsu declared. Everyone in the bunker cheered for him and went around the bunker to prepare some food for him while Monica stood back and talked to Natsu.

"Is Daddy doing okay?" Monica asked Natsu as they were sitting down at the table with Monica scribbling something on a piece of paper.

"Your dad is doing fine. He worries about you a lot that he went through the mountains just to ask for someone to save his family and village." Natsu reaffirmed Monica as she put down her crayons and showed Natsu a badly drawn picture. 'It's slightly better than Mira's art.' Natsu mentally said to himself as he tried to decipher what the picture was before he eventually asked Monica who she drew and answered that it was her family plus Natsu with the word 'Hero' written right below.

"You're really confident I can do this, huh?" Natsu asked.

"Mhm, the good guys always win at the end of the day, so why would that change?" Monica said as she raised her fist and had a finger in the air, just like the hand sign the guild had. Natsu nodded his head at Monica's declaration before his food arrived and began eating as Grace carried Monica to her makeshift bedroom. Once Natsu was done eating, he was escorted into his room and went to sleep but knew that he wouldn't get much sleep to begin with as he found himself standing right in front of the corpse of the large Demon that was about to slice Monica in half.

"Show yourself, END. I know you have something twisted to show me so why not show me right now!" Natsu shouted as he heard a bothered sigh right above him and looked up to see END sitting on top of a building.

"Am I really getting that predictable? " And with a flick of his hand, the entire village of Floralia was destroyed as a replica of END was standing over the ruined town and maniacally laughing, " Think of this as a warning, Natsu. You may deny it, but I have already planted my seeds of resurrection inside your mind. After all, the old you would have never killed those Demons so ruthlessly. All that I'm waiting for now is a window of opportunity."

"As if I'm going to a monster like you out in the world." Natsu replied as the dark void slowly swallowed up the destroyed village.

"You don't get to have a say on whether or not I am let out of this world. I will escape on my own volition and wreak havoc on this world." END said as the dream ended, and Natsu woke up to see Monica at the side of his bed.

"Monica? What are you doing here?" Natsu groggily asked as he sat up and rubbed his tired eyes.

"I wanted to wish you goodnight but you were moving a lot and talking in your sleep." Monica said as Natsu let out a small sigh for making Monica worry about him.

"Don't worry, it was just a nightmare." Natsu reassured Monica as he fell back to his bed and was about to go back to sleep when he felt an extra body join him and hug his arm.

"Whenever I have a nightmare, Grandma would always join me in bed and hug me to make me feel safe." Monica said as she let the warmth of Natsu's body roll over hers and quickly fell asleep with Natsu joining her.

Hello everyone, This is the first author note I've ever written here, and since it's the tenth chapter, why not share a couple of things I think so far about my story.

I wrote a rough outline of where I want this story to go after I conclude this arc. Actually, I wrote an outline before I even began writing the first chapter since I was so invested in this story. If I ever burn out from writing this story, which has happened on occasion for my other stories, I wouldn't mind if someone asked my permission to continue my story.

Also, in this chapter, Natsu's farewell took heavy inspiration from The Brobecks' song, A Letter; I even borrowed a couple of lines from the song, too!

And finally, thank you to anyone reading this. It really means a lot to me to see the positive feedback I get from my work. If anyone was curious if I had other works, I do, and you can find them on AO3 underneath the pseudo SoupTasteNice. Warning: every story I posted there is mostly futanari smut, so if you're into that, then you can find some of my other work there.