Chapter Fourteen
Revelation II: I, Dragneel
Another week had come and gone with no further signs of Gajeel or Phantom Lord. They hadn't given up, they were most likely watching from the shadows, waiting for the prime moment to strike.
It would have been one thing for Jose and Phantom Lord to perform this kind of hostility against Fairy Tail now that they were aware, but it was quite another for this feat to be achieved with the Salamander of all people skulking around Magnolia.
Once again he was comfortably on his perch above the row of shops that now had some fresh windows, a donation made by the guild. Having the locals being angry with them wasn't something they wanted to let go unanswered.
Again, Natsu was wandering aimlessly through the town, filtering through the lesser populated streets to avoid the larger crowds. People had begun to clock that he'd been hanging around a lot longer, moreover they were starting to talk about the fact that he was supposedly the dark mage Salamander.
Small wooden stalls lined the main street today, it was a big drive for the local businesses to get their wares seen. For Natsu though, it was a great chance to buy that fish for Happy that he'd kept putting off.
Just as he'd found what he'd wanted, a large green fish that would be far too much for Happy, he saw something that threw his senses into total disarray. Stepping back into the darkness of an alley, he was certain that he'd just seen a ghost, a vision of the past, now sporting a pair of obnoxious sunglasses and a suave black suit.
He could smell the faint trace of celestial magic lingering in the air, but that didn't mean a whole lot, he was tuned in to where Lucy was almost always, he could feel a trace of her from hours gone.
But that face, those eyes that he saw behind those glasses… It couldn't have been anyone else.
Pushing past the crowds to chase his distant memories he found himself standing back in front of the guildhall, staring in through the open doors. He was already here, there was no reason not to investigate further now.
Waltzing in, he looked around erratically, still holding the comically large fish in his hand.
"You remembered, you really remembered my fishie!" Happy beamed, causing Lucy and Levy, both of whom had been deeply mesmerized by a dusty old book over at the bar, looked up at the recent 'intrusion'.
"Sure did buddy, I made a promise." he said absent-mindedly, gently tossing the fish down on an empty table, still scanning the guild hall for that damn ghost.
"Is it time, boy?" Makarov asked from his cushion.
"What? Oh, no, that's not-hey, have any of you seen an asshole, about this tall," he said, motioning, "Spikey brown hair, wearing a suit, stupid sunglasses. Probably thinks that he's the absolute shit, the final word for ladies man."
"Sounds like Loke." Levy said.
Natsu slowly turned his full attention to her, his gaze making her squirm on the spot, "I'm glad to see that you're recovering." he told her, the smallest hint of genuity in his tone.
"Could you repeat that name for me, just so that I know for sure?"
"Loke?" she asked, looking to Lucy for support who merely shrugged.
"Loke, no, his name isn't Loke." Natsu mused with a soft grin that turned sour, anger darkening his brow, "Leo, get your bitch ass out here, right now!" he demanded, releasing a small part of his restraint that sent a wave of pressure rolling out.
"Ok, ok, calm down man, no need for things to take a turn for the worst, right!" Loke came out of the shadows appearing seemingly from nowhere, holding his hands up to try his best to keep the peace.
"What business do you have with young Loke?" Makarov asked, intrigued by the development before him.
"It's been a very long time since Anna brought anyone to this world, so who summoned you?" Natsu asked, his tone deathly. There was a wild aura around them, something so forcefully encumbering that it was like an eternal promise of endless pain.
"You're right, it has been a few years, I admit that I would probably have some questions too." Loke said, backing up a few feet, keeping his hands up to defend.
"If I dispel you from here, it will hurt." Natsu gruned, implying something that the others around them hadn't understood.
"Come on man, it's not that simple, don't you think I'd have a genuine reason to be here, I'm a Fairy Tail mage. You're the one who wound up here, destroying our guildhall, just for that I should put you through the wringer!" Loke argued, his tone and features becoming serious. It was like he had no scope of who it was he was currently threatening to beat up.
"You're trying my patience, Leo. I would like for you to give me a straightforward answer, or I might not be able to remain calm." he said in a deathly tone that filled the air with a tension so strong that it was almost tangible. Fire began to lick at the air from his shoulders. His skin flared, almost shimmering in a deep crimson as his eyes turned from the lax onyx they usually were to something that looked like a gleaming pool of gold, narrow irises showing the truth beneath the human facade. He was a dragon, an incredibly powerful one.
"Fine, you've made your point!" Loke said at last, giving up on his pretense, "The current holder of my… Business, was killed, and now I'm stuck here, slowly fading, cut off from my home." he said, trying his best to be vague. There was no way that the two of them could have this conversation in private, not while the Salamander of all people had decided to call him out right in the midst of the guild hall.
"So perhaps I can't dispel you." the salmon-haired mage grunted, "But I bet she can." he'd finally calmed down, his image returning to normal as he pointed at Lucy.
"It's too dangerous, she'd be putting her life on the line." Loke argued immediately.
"What's this all about?" Makarov asked, trying to keep everything as grounded as possible.
"There's a dark guild currently trying to kidnap her, and not to belabour the point but she's willingly stepped in my way, which is just about the most dangerous thing a person can do, and look, she's still perfectly fine." the Salamander grinned.
"Attack!" a voice rang through the guildhall, effectively shutting down their argument, "Looks like Phantom Lord, they're tearing up the town!"
There was a distinct rumble that shook the ground for no longer than a second.
"Oh, oh no. That's not good." Natsu frowned, "I thought I broke that piece of crap years ago." he sighed before turning heel and heading towards the entrance to the guildhall.
"What is it?" Gray asked, immediately getting up to join him.
"Stay here, if you're lucky then you won't need to find out." he said, looking out into the street, taking a deep breath to pick up the scent of the closest
'It's time, Natsu.' E.N.D called out to him. He'd been becoming more and more vocal as of late, needing no particular anchor in the heat of battle in order to speak his mind, it was a worrying development.
"Shut up and behave. The only time you get to be free is if we find Zeref." Natsu responded, hating the fact that he'd gotten so stir-crazy that he'd relented to responding to E.N.D.
There was a surge of magical power in the air that caught his focus, immediately zoning him toward the harbour. He fell into a smooth run that took him into the middle of Magnolia and through a few more side streets before he found what he'd been looking for.
He could hear the distant sounds of battle all around the streets of Magnolia, as well as what he thought was ice. He'd thought for a fleeting moment that Gray had actually listened and stayed in the guild hall, but apparently not.
The rumble hit the town again, shaking the buildings and cracking parts of the pavement. It was getting closer, so why couldn't he feel Jose's magical pressure?
Second to that, why couldn't he catch a scent from the Iron Dragon? That was more important to him at the moment. Rounding another corner he realized that pretty much all of the Fairy Tail mages that had been in the guild hall had left to try to either help the people of Magnolia, or to take the fight directly to Phantom Lord.
He recognized the blue hair of the tiny girl he'd seen only minutes earlier, casting some strange type of material summoning magic. It was an impressive magic but it wasn't going to do much against the dark mage that was brandishing a ball of fire aiming right at her.
With no time to spare, he grabbed her by the collar of her shirt, lifting her off the ground with ease, swatting the fireball away with his free hand, paying little attention to the dark mage.
"You should not be out here fighting, especially not alone. Your injuries will be far from healed." he scolded her, looking almost genuinely annoyed.
"Ah, the Salamander, finally I get a chance to prove to master Porla that I'm stronger than those other elite four chumps!" the dark mage yelled, summoning a bigger fireball.
Natsu snapped his fingers, engulfing the mage in a wall of fire so blisteringly bright that they couldn't see anything. Within an instant the mage had been reduced to a pile of ash, not even a scream had been heard.
"You killed him! Without even a moment of thought you took his life, you're a monster!" Levy yelled, flailing around in the air.
"No, his arrogance got him killed. Look kid, I'm only being patient as a favour, if I had things my way, I would-"
"The Salamander, he's over here, if we work together we can-" another gleaming spike of fire erupted and left a pile of ash where the Phantom Lord mage had approached.
"-I would burn this entire town to the ground in a matter of moments, it's the most effective way of getting rid of vermin like Phantom Lord, unfortunately, there are innocent people here, and I can't break my code like that." he huffed, indifferent to Levy's look of pure horror as she silently watched him snap his fingers and extinguish human lives.
"Now go back to the guild hall, if I find you out here again I will tell Titania on you." he threatened, unsure if something like that would even land. To his glee, her face lost all colour and she agreed immediately, hurrying back towards the guild hall.
He began down an alley, humming to himself as he went, making a mental note to perhaps not murder all of the Phantom Lord mages, depending on witnesses of course.
He walked back onto the main street, seeing Gray standing in the midst of a circle of bodies strewn around, utterly covered in a thick sheen of sweat.
"Is this a cry for help or have you gone postal?" Natsu asked, looking at the bodies with wide eyes. They were all just unconscious in varying states, save for one whose life Natsu couldn't detect.
"Nice of you to finally show up, Smokey." The ice mage quipped, glaring somewhat at his rival.
"I'm not one of your guild mates, I'm not just going to come whenever you get into a bar fight." he glared.
"While you were doing whatever it was that you were doing, I had to fight all of these guys by myself." the ice-make mage explained.
"Fabulous, Gray." Natsu smiled, bemused.
"Are you going to help or what?" Gray asked, having to swallow a lot of pride to even say the words out loud.
"What do you think I've been doing? I've already killed-"
"Killed?" Gray asked in disbelief.
"Beaten a couple of these morons." Natsu corrected with a mild cough.
"Pretty sure you just admitted to murder."
"I said I'd beaten them, you must of his heard me." the Salamander assured him.
"So they're alive?" Gray raised a brow.
"Define alive." Natsu grinned.
"NOT dead." Gray said.
"They're over here!" another Phantom Lord mage yelled, stepping out onto the main street. Natsu snapped his fingers, turning the mage to ash in an instant.
"Come on man, we could have interrogated them, or just held them captive for the magic council." Gray sighed, his attention catching on the rumble that ran through this streets, this time far louder than before.
"At this point it's just natural selection, they try to fight me, they die. Besides, these idiots aren't the problem here. Porla turned Phantom Lord's guildhall into a mobile fortress two decades ago, a mobile fortress with a big ass fucking cannon on the front, that's the real problem." Natsu responded.
"He brings his toys to war, we'll just break them." Gray shrugged, falling into step with Natsu as the two of them moved toward the shouts of conflict in the next street over.
"I thought I HAD broken it, I didn't expect that he'd be able to build a new one." Natsu grumbled, remembering the last time he'd seen Jose's fortress in action. It was a painful day.
Turning the corner, they saw Erza dispatch a trio of Phantom Lord's men with a single slice of a blade, cutting through the air like there was nothing in her hand. She wore long flared trousers the colour of flames and nothing but a few bandages across her chest.
Natsu gave a wolf whistle, gaining her immediate ire as she turned to look at the two elemental mages.
"Not the time, Salamander." she warned him in a tone that made even the likes of him shirk down.
"What the fuck?" Gray whispered, staring at Natsu who refused to return the gaze. That was the first time he'd seen Salamander be intimidated by anything.
"So-" Natsu said.
"Yeah." Erza nodded as the three of them watched a vast stone building crossing the ocean, a humongous cannon barrel jutting out in front of it, all firmly aimed at Magnolia with the Fairy Tail guild hall firmly in it's sights.
"Guys, we have a problem!" Lucy's sweet voice reached their ears as she too appeared out of a side alley.
"Well, yeah, no shit." Natsu grinned, pointing at the Phantom Lord guild in the distance. Lucy had gone into a sheerly stunned silence, her voice coming out as nothing more than a high-pitched squeal.
"All those poor fishies!" Happy's usually cheery tone was sombre.
"Hey buddy, I'm sure those fish know to not get trampled on, they'll be fine. Once this is all over we can go fishing and you'll see for yourself, how's that sound?" Natsu asked, immediately making the flying cat ecstatic.
"You know, one side of you is this scary face carved out of jagged molton rock, and the other side is this grinning idiot made out of marshmellows and sunshine." Lucy said, sharing a moment where the two of them looked one another in the eyes. Before, she'd have broken away the moment he turned his head, but there was something about him that was starting to grow on her.
In the rare moments where she'd seen him interact with her cat, he seemed the be the sweetest, kindest man she'd ever met with a gentle touch that couldn't possibly be capable of the things that he was really capable of.
"Yeah, you don't know the half of it Lucky." he said, walking past them towards a group of oncoming Phantom Lord mages, grinning wide at the shouts of protest to the fact that he knew what her name actually was and yet kept getting it wrong.
"Attention Fairy Tail!" a huge magic circle appeared over the top of Magnolia, projecting the voice of it's user.
"This Jose Porla speaking, the master of the majestic Phantom Lord guild you see before you. While I'm sure our appearance today has sparked a lot of panic, this was not our intention, you see, we have been hired by someone to make sure that his missing daughter is returned safely from the hands of the Fairy Tail guild. Anyone who aids us in handing over Lucy Heartfilia will be greatly rewarded, but, those who decided to stand in our way will be eliminated without a second thought, and to demonstrate that we aren't playing around, we'll be firing a shot from the Jupiter cannon at the Fairy Tail guild, enjoy the show!" Jose's voice cut out, leaving an eerie silence in it's place.
"What a prick." Natsu grumbled, walking toward the open clearing in front of him. He could already feel the magic building up, it wouldn't be long before Porla's threat became a reality and the cannon fired upon them.
"You've seen that thing before, haven't you?" Erza asked him, not really waiting for an answer while she requipped into her adamantine armour.
"Yeah, it's not something to be taken lightly." he said, never taking his eyes off of it.
It seemed that Porla wasn't going to give them any room for movement as the cannon already had a swirling ball of pure magical power forming at the end of it.
"Is that you, Salamander?" Porla's voice reached them again, only this time it was softer, much closer. Before them stood a flickering image of the guild master himself, grinning like a cracked goon.
"No." Natsu responded immediately, crossing his arms.
"Gajeel told me that he'd come across you and I hadn't believed the reports until I saw that his iron skin was cracked. Few could do that to my Dragon Slayer, but I suppose that it makes sense that it was the Salamander of all people." Porla said with a gentle sigh.
"Why don't you come and work for me instead? You could wipe Fairy Tail off the face of the world in an instant. Bring me the girl and I'll give you half of the reward for yourself." The dark mage tried to sway him, but to no avail.
He'd barely noticed it, but Mira in her Satan soul had swooped down and stood next to Erza, watching the exchange with a disgusted look in her eye. They were all waiting with a hitched breath to see what the infamous Salamander was going to say or do.
"You can't seriously be considering this jackass' offer!?" Gray jutted in, his fist ever so slightly getting covered in the start of ice particles, ready to throw down with the Dragon Slayer if he so much as lifted a finger toward Lucy. "Salamander!" Gray demanded, catching them off guard with how much emotion was shining in his voice.
"Salamander this, Salamander that. I was once hailed as a living god of war, a prince of destruction. I brought an entire civilization to a halt in lands far from here and I have waged entire wars that have last longer than your lives. Do not think for one second to presume that you know what goes on in my head, or what my intentions are." he said, glaring directly at Porla's flickering image.
"What are you…" Erza tried to reach out to him but found that she couldn't touch him, the heat almost cooked her hand the moment she got close.
He turned his head ever so slightly, just enough that the four mages behind him could clearly see the look in his eyes.
"I'd prefer that you not see what I have to do next, I've started to not hate you, this could really put a damper on that." he admitted.
"Enough of this, Salamander, this is your last chance, bring me the girl or die with that trash, you know where I'll be." Porla told him, cutting the projection off and continuing the charging of the Jupiter cannon.
"Not so fast, asshole," he glared, pulling his hands up to the air and making a magic circle almost identical to the one in the sky.
"Phantom Lord," his voice echoed all around Magnolia, the magic enhancing it a hundred fold, "Your flagrant disregard for innocent lives has made my direct involvement imminent. Your acts here today are a blatant declaration of war against the Fairy Tail guild, one that I won't stand by and watch from the sidelines."
"So charge your cannon, it won't change anything. You can sit on your throne of lies knowing that in ten minutes when your guild hall crumbles to ash and dust, that it was the Salamander that reduced your guild to nothing!" the threat of incredible violence was one that none could deny sent a shiver down their spines.
"I, Natsu Dragneel, Dragon King!" his voice held so much raw power that it motivated the allied mages to their core.
They all heard roars and cheers erupt across Magnolia, mages and citizens alike at the latest declaration from the once dark mage known as the Salamander.
"So, Natsu?" Erza was the first to speak, her tone one of intrigue.
"It's been a very, very long time since someone other than Porlyusica has said my name. Feels… Strange." he admitted.
"Even the name is attractive." Mira sighed quietly, having dropped out of her Satan Soul and into the regular visage of the caring Fairy Tail waitress.
"Yeah, well, this next part won't be." he stated, his smile disappearing when his eyes turning gold, the iris' narrowing to become draconic, signalling that he was becoming serious in his battle once again.
As if on cue, the Jupiter cannon erupted with a wave of magic pressure before concentrating in the end of the barrel.
"Quick, get behind me!" Erza shouted, slamming her fists down in front of her, two enormous shield halves connecting to form a dozen magic seals in front of them.
"Excuse me!?" Natsu demanded in outrage.
"I refuse to be manhandled." he told her, pulling her back by the shoulder with so much force that there was a handprint embedded in the shoulder plate of her armour.
The magic seals Erza had woven all shattered within an instant.
"You think that you're strong, and you are, but you can't defend against that canon." he told her.
"Then what do we do? We can't just stand here and wait for our guild to be destroyed… Again!" Lucy shouted, anger being directed at Natsu.
"I think the best defense is an overwhelming offense, so you should probably get behind me.
I'm still not interested in being buddy buddy with any of you but I should at least be honest with you on some level. This strength, this power, it's evil, a substance of purely archaic chaos." he told them, his body became engulfed in a deep crimson aura that looked lethal to the touch.
The Jupiter cannon fired, bearing down on them with such an intense beam that for many of them there, they believed that was going to be the end. There was no way that anyone could survive a direct hit against that kind of magical power.
Stepping up, he slammed a foot down and braced hard, covering himself in volatile flames that peaked in a white so bright that they almost couldn't see him underneath.
"Ma ryu Hoko!" he screamed, bellowing a Dragon Slayer roar that looked almost blood red. Those gathered behind him felt the magic, it was different from what he'd done previously, now it felt similar to what Mira's magic felt like when it was out of control.
Demonic.
The roar clashed violently against the Jupiter cannon and for a tense moment the two colliding forces just cancelled each other out until finally Natsu's roar started to eviscerate the energy of the cannon, going so far as to force it back through the barrel, giving it one final push that caused a catatonic explosion within, wrecking it entirely.
'Burn them all down, kill every last one of them that threatened to take her away from us, Natsu!' E.N.D raged harder than he ever had before. The strength behind the voice was something that he believed was due to them finally having a similar cause.
Neither he nor E.N.D wanted any harm to come to Anna's descendent, that much was clear. It was a rare moment that E.N.D wasn't rattling against his cage in desperation to be free but rather from the passion he had for the life of another. Just one other.
Natsu took a deep breath, falling to one knee, he hadn't used the Demon Dragon magic for years and years, he'd had no need to. These past weeks had been full of exceptions.
'Tear them down, burn it all!'
"Shut up, I don't need you getting in my way!" he shouted, not realizing that it had turned into a physical strain, clutching his head as he roared, his power flaring wildly.
"Natsu?" Mira's sweet voice reached his ears, causing a feeling a calm to sweep over him, helping him to get everything back under control.
"I'm fine," he said, out of breath from exerting so much power all at once.
"It's that thing I saw inside your mind, isn't it?" she asked, unable to hush her voice, it was something that the others needed to hear.
He remained silent, keeping his head hung low.
"It doesn't have to define who you are." she said, placing a hand on his shoulder, not caring for the mild burn that was starting to creep up her palm. Even people like him needed someone to care for them.
Slowly he felt the others place their hands on him, their presence serving to calm him down.
It was… Nice.
What he hadn't expected was for Gray to be the one kneeling in front of him.
"She's right, you know. If you think that you're going let whatever it is hiding back there start to control you, I'll keep you in line." Gray told him, coating a middle finger in ice playfully that earned a genuine laugh from the Dragon Slayer.
"I'm fine, just took a bit more out of me than I thought it would." his eyes trailed off to the latest group of assailants, but that wasn't what caught his eye.
Standing amidst the smoke on the end of the Jupiter cannon's destroyed barrel was the one that he'd stuck around for.
"Oh Salamander!" his course voice carried easily over the wind despite not using an amplification magic, "You haven't forgotten about me now, have you?" the Iron Dragon Slayer snarled the way an excited animal would, calling out to his new foe.
"For now, I've got a dragon to slay." he said, pushing himself off the ground. "Happy, how strong are those magic wings of yours?" he asked the blue cat that was blissfully floating around them.
"Well, I can carry Lucy around when she gets tired of walking." he answered casually.
"Ah you'll definitely be able to carry me then, look at the size of that ass." he said with a toothy grin, seeing the ire rise within the celestial mage.
"Oh you are so getting pummelled." she said, stepping toward him with death in her sights.
"Oof, time to go, Happy, take me up there!" Natsu told him, his feet leaving the ground while the cat did as he was asked, narrowly escaping being assaulted by Lucy.
It was only a moment before Natsu touched down on the destroyed cannon, only a dozen feet away from Gajeel.
"So, why do you call yourself Blacksteel? You aren't a steel Dragon Slayer, it doesn't make sense." Natsu asked, casually walking up to his opponent.
"Though, if I had to guess, it's because you aren't very bright, you're not exactly a great Dragon Slayer, you don't even know much about our magic." Natsu shrugged, closing the last few feet far quicker as their fight began.
Fists flew, parries were exchanged.
"It's a branding thing, I wouldn't expect someone with pink hair to understand." Gajeel snarled, an evil grin coming soon after.
"Gasp." Natsu said sarcastically, feinting right before spinning on his heel and landing a kick to Gajeel's unprotected ribs.
"Why are you going to this much effort for the girl, what does she mean to you?" Gajeel asked, shoving his hands to the brickwork of the cannon, sending iron spikes coursing forward to where his opponent was stood.
"That's none of your concern. I can't say that I'm going to take joy in this, but it's necessary. One day you'll probably forgive me." he said, jumping back a few feet before taking a deep breath in.
"Karyu no Hoko!" the flames swirled and barrelled toward Gajeel, this attack being so much stronger than the one he'd issued in their first encounter.
For a brief moment Gajeel was stunned, staring at the inferno careening at him. At the last second, a wave had erupted from his feet, dousing the flames just enough to protect the Iron Dragon Slayer.
A woman slowly morphed and formed from the water, standing by Gajeel's side, her interference obvious.
"Hmm." Natsu hummed with a neutral expression.
"Could-" the woman said, her expression unreadable, "Could you take me to that ice mage in your guild?" she asked, her face blushing at the mention of him.
"Wha-that's why you came?" Gajeel asked in disbelief.
"I'm not in his guild and I'm not his friend, the guy strips constantly and is too stupid to figure out a good insult." Natsu told her, crossing his arms while he figured out a way to fight iron and water at the same time.
"How dare you…" she said, her eyes falling to the bricks beneath their feet. The clouds above turned into an ominous black that started to swirl around them.
"What the fuck?" Natsu asked in bored curiosity.
"How dare you insult my love." the woman said, looking up at him with a furious expression, "You'll pay with your life for that." the rain began to fall around them so heavily that it felt like an isolated hurricane.
"Not fabulous, Gray." Natsu frowned before their battle commenced once again.
A/N: I rewrote this chapter to fix some problems, I don't know how long it will take me to write the next chapter but they'll probably be pretty long from here on.
Review?