Even The Dragon King Has Feelings

by Don Cheadle

The Alvarez War is over. He used everything he had to get everyone home, whether it be those damns seeds inside him, or even his very soul. In the peace that follows, one thing becomes clear; Fairy Tail won. Natsu lost. (AU)

12. Twelve

For a mage, one who wields the supernatural power of magic, Natsu loathed the use of 'tricks'

Flight, force fields, attack reflection, manipulating the elements, those were things he didn't mind. A savvy warrior used all of the tools in their toolkit after all.

But going back in time to kill past him?

Vibrating to a higher dimension to avoid taking damage?

Sending him to a world of void outside of reality?

Manipulating concepts to affect the flow of the universe?

Inserting an entire alternate timeline directly into his brain?

Sticking him in a never ending time loop?

Creating infinite space as an invisible force field that nullifies any attacks?

Those merely served to piss him off.

Because not only did he not know what half of them meant, none of them ever worked.

Everyone and their mother had some overly complex strategy or plan- until they got decked in the face.

There was a point when an opponent stopped using their entire arsenal effectively and just threw random bullshit at him to avoid throwing hands.

This 'Mistress of Time and Space' had crossed said threshold an hour ago.

He had made the decision to get the combat oriented missions done first, they paid the most on average and he could get them done in very little time.

What had been the first job on the chopping block?

Neutralize and/or capture the 'Mistress of Time and Space'.

A powerful mage wielding control of space and time that had come to Fiore looking to expand her slave trading empire native to the island of Caelum.

Tracking her down wasn't too hard, given she left a trail of pillaged and destroyed small towns in her wake as she traveled further inland from the border of the still in ruins Bosco Kingdom.

She was supposedly a big deal, feared and dreaded by many.

But to Natsu, this mage was just another in a long list of enemies who had appeared from absolutely nowhere, conveniently showing up only after the last world ending threat had been taken care of.

Even if there wasn't a massive bounty on her, he still would have probably tracked her down and neutralized her given the whole slave empire thing.

He swore there was just a factory somewhere churning out the most boring headache inducing evil mages, each one worse than the last.

This didn't mean she wasn't a strong mage, she most definitely was.

But it was nigh-impossible to tell through the deluge of crap that she had been hurling at him one after another.

From what he could tell, some spells weren't actually hers, rather techniques of her past opponents frozen in time and whisked away into an alternate space.

They were stored there, ready to be re-summoned and unfrozen any time she wanted.

To say she was beyond unpredictable was an understatement.

"You're still alive? I must say, you're a treat to knock around!" a shrill female voice echoed throughout the craggy untempered canyon, forcing Natsu to finally pay attention to it, "My bags of tricks is running dry, all wasted on a little cockroach with pink hair."

Natsu gave a few slow blinks and sat up in the middle of a massive smoldering crater, formed by his opponent's latest attack.

A dozen meters above stood the jagged edges of the steaming cavity, obscuring the ever so vast barren caldera that lay beyond.

The 'Mistress of Time and Space' stood atop a rustic butte, staring down at him with a haughty gaze.

She was a slim woman of average height, her skin dark as chocolate and figure shapely.

Dark forest green hair was restrained behind her head in a ponytail, which allowed the mischief of her sly features and cunning amber eyes to glow freely

There were probably tons of finer details, but Natsu wasn't interested enough to notice. There wasn't anything all that interesting about her besides her strength, and the fact she could somehow use time magic without an outside power source.

Natsu just really did not care, he had long been desensitized to this stuff.

Upon seeing Natsu eye her for a brief moment, the woman let out a sultry laugh, her figure shifting against the backdrop of the drab night sky.

"Like what you see?" she heckled with a wink, the seductive lethal energy that seeped from her toxic enough to make an entire forest of flora wilt into slush.

"Truth be told, I'm not into men," the woman flipped her ponytail over her shoulder, her smirk suggestive as she leaned down at the waist, hugging her arms beneath her bust, "but for you I might make an exception. There's a wildness to you that's really doing it for me."

Natsu really wasn't listening.

Dragging himself to his feet, Natsu lazily brushed the dirt and dust that clung to his pants.

Upon realizing his precious scarf was not in its rightful place draped around his neck, Natsu glanced around the steaming crater for any sign of it.

"I never expected a man of all people to last so long against me." she mused, straightened her back.

Natsu was busy overturning scorched boulders and kicking over piles of ash.

Her cheshire grin only widened as she sung, her song deadly and poisonous,

"You're a lucky guy, I would've killed most men by now."

Natsu nudged a pile of rocks aside with a foot, relieved to see the tasseled end of his scarf sticking from the earth.

"I'm in a good mood today, so I think I might keep you around, pretty sure my girls back home will love a new addition-" she stopped mid sentence to narrow her eyes,

"Hey jackass, are you even listening to me!?"

Natsu, back turned to her, finished curling his scaled scarf around his shoulders and stifled a yawn.

Hurling a glance behind him, he squinted up at her, "Huh?"

The woman's brows came together as she hissed, "Did you even hear what I said to you?"

"Who are ya again?"

"Does your idiotic mind have even the slightest clue as to whom you are speaking to?"

Natsu blinked, "Nah, not really."

Her face lost its smug smoothness as she snapped irritably, all sense of composure yanked from beneath her feet.

"I am Ishtar Horae you buffoon! Space and time are mine to command!" 'Ishtar' introduced herself, "Can you not see the magnificence that stands before you?!"

Natsu offered a meaningless shrug as he swiveled to face her, "Just told ya lady, never heard of you. I swear, yer wheels are spinning but I'm pretty sure the hamsters dead."

Ishtar scoffed, her voice molesting the canyon with its echoes, "Of course a simpleton like you wouldn't. I don't care if some backwoods hick underestimates me."

"Underestimate you? Ain't sure that's possible."

"Silence! The only reason you are still alive is because your bullheaded stubbornness amuses me, so I advise you to watch your tone!" Ishtar spat, bristling.

The air churned as her potent magical energy stirred, squeezing the oxygen from the atmosphere greedily.

Natsu gave a lofty sigh, massaging the bridge of his nose with a few fingers.

Natsu really wasn't in the mood for this.

"Can we just get back to fightin' already?" he blurted finally.

Ishtar threw her head back in a conceding laugh, "So quick to die are we?"

"Holy crap lady, do I really have to bust out some crayons to explain it to ya?" Natsu couldn't help but crow, "I don't care."

"You're a 15 million jewel piggy bank that I gotta break. We clear?"

A menacing forest glow growled around Ishtar's form as she bared her teeth, "Crystal."

She suddenly raised her arms, summoning an ethereal symbol of a clock behind her, bolts of magical yellow sparkling around its moving hand. Natsu had seen this several times, it appeared whenever she tried to use a spell that wasn't just freezing and redirecting.

Clouds stopped drifting and the dulcet breeze stopped flowing as she began to chant in some odd language Natsu didn't understand.

As the clock's shimmering hand passed each of its twelve dials, it left behind an incomprehensible rune, each one glaring with hues of marvelous green incandesce.

The clock's hand came to an abrupt start, stilled motion only settled for but a moment before it stuttered back and forth, like the movement of a toddler.

Finally, it began to spin in cog-like gradations, smooth and maddening, in the opposite direction.

A dozen reams of swirling green and yellow burst from the crater's messy barriers, the colors meshing and kissing before they gathered into shapes.

Rushes of blurry white mist blew past Natsu, who felt the air still as intrinsic components of the universe were altered on a whim.

Despite the lack of vision, twelve familiar scents, twelve familiar magical signatures told the dragon slayer everything he needed to know.

As the commotion settled, the intangible clock behind Ishtar dispersed, who watched smugly as her new pawns came into form.

The wind shivered as the dozen figures emerged from their gifted cocoons, the painted layer of swirling temporal emerald that had plucked them from beyond slithering away.

Natsu's eyes widened in stunned recognition.

As above him stood, The Spriggan Twelve.

The most fearsome unit of the vast Alvarez Empire, which had been supposedly disassembled a month ago after the war's end, was now back at full strength.

Some of the hardest most grueling battles his guild had ever endured were now standing above him, as if the war had never happened.

A very pleased Ishtar brought her hands together to summon another spell, transitory strands of magic twisting along her forearms before she clapped her hands.

A bright flash rang above each of the Spriggan Twelve, turning their eyes a banausic yellow in color for a briefest of moments.

"Great heroes, I have called you from the great beyond to do my bidding!" she announced with an eye rollingly fictitious sense of honesty, as if she wasn't even really making an effort to sound convincing.

"Serve your mistress and rid the world of this fool, then you shall be returned from whence you came!" twelve sets of glowing eyes leered down upon Natsu, the authoritative sheen that commanded their minds fading to allow their personalities to return.

Natsu scowled against his will, seeing as if every single complaint he had about magic in general had been rolled up into one and thrown at him.

The mind control he could understand, however stupid it may be, she had spent almost an hour throwing similar nonsense at him to no avail.

But how were they here? How was the Spriggan Twelve back with their deceased members resurrected?

Were they resurrected?

Were these even the same Spriggan Twelve from the war?

"Aight, that's dumb, how?"

At Natsu's demand, Ishtar's full lips curled,

"As their mistress, space and time bend and break as much reality as they need to in order to do my bidding." Ishtar hugged her arms beneath her chest as she hummed her explanation, "Before you stand not those of our world, but of stream of time where they have yet to be demolished by that little war. Another twelve, from another time."

The strands of magic from before crept along her fingers as Ishtar wiggled them, "They are strong willed indeed, it is taking the strongest spell I've gathered to keep their minds in my hold."

To Natsu, that sounded like the usual nonsense.

Natsu sighed through his nostrils, giving a miffed shake of his head before he beckoned her with the stiff curl of two fingers.

Natsu grated out, "C'mon, let's get this over with."

She had already thrown so much nonsense at him, evidently she had a few more tricks he had sit through.

August was the first Spriggan to say anything, turning his head to look up at his new 'mistress', "Is there any particular way you wish for us to go about this endeavor milady?"

Natsu couldn't help but cringe at that, as despite them once being enemies, the old mage had been a reasonable and wise personality.

Even during his chaotic mental state at the time of their meeting, he could not bring himself to hate the so-called 'Wizard King'.

Now seeing him used as someone else's puppet pressed an uncomfortable reminder against his skin like a branding iron.

He did not want this fight.

And there were people here he didn't want to hurt.

They had yet to wrong his family, regardless if some of them were probably monumental jerks or just flat out terrible people.

Ishtar shrugged, taking a seat on the edge of the butte with her legs crossed, "None whatsoever. Just make his death slow and painful."

August frowned tightly, yet said nothing, swiveling his eyes over the rest of his comrades thoughtfully.

"As you wish." August grimaced, "Now-"

"-I'm only gonna say this once." Natsu interrupted sternly, forcibly yanking all attention back to him. He scanned the twelve, avoiding certain faces before stating,

"Do not make me do this." his timbre trembled.

"Please." Natsu warned softly, trying to turn off the flames inside him that boiled a whistling kettle filled with best forgotten memories.

His answer came as a few patronizing cackles from some of the twelve's more cynical members.

"Apologies young warrior, our hand is forced." August, genuinely remorseful, responded with bushy brows furrowed, "Jacob, if you please."

Gusts of wind came tussling tunnels of dirt and dust as if in a raucous ballgame celebration, heaving blankets of smoke up from the crater's center.

Upon settling, one of the Spriggan's towering above him was missing.

A sly voice, suave in accent, behind Natsu suddenly purred, "Sorry mate, you heard the lady."

The moment the assassin unveiled himself, light having finally decided his body was worth reflecting, his fist was caught mid strike by Natsu.

"Oi, h-how the hell did ya….?" he drawled off, angular features sharpening in confusion as he tried to tug himself free.

Before the stunned Jacob could acquire as to how Natsu was able to read him like a blatantly open book, Natsu yanked him right into an elbow that sent him flying into the crater's craggy walls, unconscious.

The blank coal of his eyes having never left the twelve mages towering over him, Natsu gave a grim reminder, "I warned ya. I warned you, but you didn't listen."

The full force of his base state shook the tectonic plates beneath as it chucked fierce shockwaves across the canyon, stunning all of those who stood above him.

Natsu moved before anyone else could do anything, leaving behind nothing but whippets of alarmed wind and flabbergasted light that vibrated in bewilderment as to how something could move faster than it.

He would be the one on the offensive, seeking out the weaker links.

While most of them were comparable to each other in raw power, some members required more set up to reach their true potency, making them easy targets.

No coordination would ever happen between them, not while he had anything to say about it.

Before Wall could search for weaknesses or sharpen and strengthen his body with the steel and firepower of his assault mode, he was disabled by a forearm strike to the back of the neck.

Before Neinhart could call upon the evils of the past to further increase the difference in numbers, he was put down by a decisive hook to the side of his head.

Before Ajeel could gather carpets of eager sand to mold and create armies of golems and beasts, an elbow to the gut squished all the air from his lungs and painted his vision with black.

Before the perturbed dust could finish showering the ground with its puffs, three more members of the Spriggan Twelve lay in unconscious heaps.

Complete disruption his goal, Natsu sent the rest scattering with a straight punch to the ground, turning the entire rocky plateau into a complex bewildering mess of broken brown rock and gaping crevices that stretched for miles upon miles.

Before he could leap up to meet anyone on higher ground, massive crooked pillars of earth sticking out wildly as far as the eye could see, chains of biting ice curled around his ankles.

Frozen claws sunk into his mind as Natsu felt a crystalized collar form around his neck, shimmering sprinkles of snow-light basking from it as a faint trill bolted across his spine.

While it was nowhere near as fierce and gelid as Gray's ice, the freeze that sunk into Natsu's neck made up for its lack of glacial bite with a cold that seeped through his skin and into his mind.

The stalling of his ability to form coherent thoughts lasted only but a moment, for as soon as his resistance to whatever the spell tried to do to his mind handed him back the controls, he grasped the ice collar and snapped it in half.

Had it been anyone else, Natsu would have been disabled there and then, but the way that collar sucked away at his self worth worked against it. That pool was very much dry.

Natsu couldn't do much else before a fist studded with icey diamonds smacked against his jaw. Invel took the failure of his Ice Slave spell in stride and took the chance to surround himself in non-pellucid layers of unholy corundum armor.

It stung, the sharp knuckles scraping at his skin, but the next blow was ineffective, landing against Natsu's cheek, which failed to budge.

Before Invel could develop any plan of attack, Natsu shoved a palm into the front chestplate of the armored Spriggan with all the strength of his base state.

The armor shattered like thin glass, coming apart violently with a spray of bright blue shards.

Invel let out a strangled gasp as he was sent hurtling back through rock wall after rock wall, the gargantuan chunks of rock that jut from the earth shuddering as one of thousands collapsed down on top of the Spriggan.

Pulling his feet free from the chains, Natsu winced, breathing sharply as he held his aching head.

He had resisted the control of that collar, but it didn't make for a pleasant experience.

The 'Winter General' was still alive, he could still hear a heartbeat, but he was probably left with a few broken ribs.

"Impressive, truly." came a tranquil male voice that practically tickled the wild dizzying terrain of the stone labyrinth Natsu had created.

Natsu jerked his head upwards to see standing far above him atop a scabrous rocky pedestal was Larcade Dragneel.

This threw Natsu off track, who sucked in a breath and blinked away creeping memories the etherious' frustratingly familiar scent brought.

The smoking kettle inside him began to shriek, its lid moments away from being thrown off as Natsu was thrown back to the sight of his 'nephew' slumped over at death's door.

In that door way had stood Zeref, his father, his creator, the person he loved most.

But all the dying Larcade had got as he sobbed at his father's feet was apathetic obliteration.

Now here he was, summoned from a universe where this had yet to happen, forced to take part in a fight that wasn't his.

His slim form halted the moon's ivory light from traveling further past him as he loomed over Natsu.

"You've dispatched my comrades with ease." Larcade granted him an honest compliment, a slim bitter smile following, "Father really did create something extraordinary, didn't he Uncle?"

Natsu's mouth slid open for a second.

Larcade gave an empty chuckle as he basically floated to the ground, hands still pressed together as if praying, "This may not be my universe, but it seems to still have you in it, which means father is as well."

"From the look on your face, I presume we have met?"

Natsu hesitantly nodded, "There there ain't no reason to fight. I'm sorry for whatever he di-"

"There is no need for apologies. Father was right to favor you, he had created something truly marvelous." Larcade responded, dismissive to the sentiment, "Compared to that, I am indeed a failure."

"Your not a failure, kay?" Natsu stated firmly, "None of that crap is your fault."

Larcade took a moment to inspect him before he smiled, no longer bitter, but no less cavalier, "I appreciate your disposition, Uncle." he responded.

Pink bristles of hair swayed as Natsu bowed his head, "Still wanna fight me, do ya?"

Lacrade looked up to admire the moon from the bottom of the ravine, "The Mistress wills it so. Once you have been taken care of, me and my comrades get to return home."

"Is that crap she's feedin' your mind?" Natsu scoffed.

Ignoring him, Larcade swathed his index and middle finger on each hand in an alluring purple glow.

"I'm sorry things must be this way Uncle, but it is time for your hunger to consume you."

In one fluid motion, Larcade summoned a torrent of rich violet to swirl around Natsu's legs, plastering the fire mage in hues of mauve and lilac.

Natsu felt a pull at his stomach, aching radiating from his center as if attempting to convince the rest of him of his gut's desperate situation.

The rest of his body ignored it as it had so many times before.

Natsu spoke, voice rich with pity, "That's not gonna work bud."

Larcade's eyes broadened before narrowing, "Curious." he murmured to himself as he extinguished the spell.

Pearly limpid tendrils rose from the ground as Larcade moved his arms in a circle, one limb above his head, one limb held at his waist.

From his chest came a bolt of alabaster magic that splashed against the awaiting Natsu.

The hollow comfort for rest called to Natsu. He stifled a yawn.

Natsu said nothing, offering a helpless shrug and pursed lips, showing he was unaffected.

He denied sleep countless times before.

Lines were drawn across Larcade's forehead in astonishment, "How can that be?"

Larcade shook his head as if to reassure himself, quickly switching to his last somewhat non-lethal option.

Cupping his palms together in front of his pectorals, Larcade gathered a conglomerate of bright wonderful colors that stretched to touch his fingers.

The spectrum of colors reflected in a circle around him, arcing and curving as it twinkled playfully.

From the prism he cast his most potent spell, forbidden calls for pleasure were to be amplified by anything that the ballooning shockwaves of pink touched.

As soon as the rosy glow swept past him, kissing his skin as it flew by, Natsu felt blood force its way into his loins.

He had to admit, dirty thoughts regarding Lucy crossed his mind.

But, he had pushed past those before, he had to given her tendency to not wear much.

Natsu huffed softly as he rested his hands on his hips, snorting, "Look, all your 'horny spell' is doing is giving me a boner. We're dudes case you forgot, those just happen every morning."

At this, Larcade finally stepped back, breathless, "I-i don't understand."

"What? You don't understand... boners...?"

Larcade ignored him, muttering aloud, "You're hungry, yet you don't eat, you're weary, yet you don't sleep, you lust, yet you don't relieve."

His head bounced from left to right slowly as if the reality of it was too much for him to understand.

"Those are the sweetnesses of life. They are what give meaning to existence, b-but… but you don't get to enjoy any of it." Larcade explained, prompting shakily, "What type of life are you living?"

Natsu had no answer, he could only provide yet another meaningless shrug.

"You aren't living…." his jaw clenched as he stared at Natsu, putting it bluntly, "You're just not dying."

"It ain't all that bad." Natsu admitted softly, "Yeah, gettin' outta bed is the most difficult part of the day,"

"Here's the thing though, you get people in your life, people you love, and when you see em' smile, man you feel like you can topple any mountain." Natsu couldn't help but laugh quietly, his smile small against his scarred cheeks.

Natsu walked forward, and to his surprise, Larcade made no defensive or offensive moves, he still stared at nothing in particular, trying to figure out the unsolvable puzzle that was his uncle before him.

"I'm not gonna lie, all of this, having to fight her, to fight ya, it's ridiculously dumb." Natsu stopped right in front of Larcade, resting an arm on his shoulder.

Risky, but it felt right. Perhaps the only thing that would come of this that would feel right.

"Hell, I still don't fully understand how you're even here." he admitted with a rather out of place laugh, soft and short.

He could feel the kettle in his chest cease its blaring, and the rattling lid atop it settling.

"And even if I'm going to have to hurt people I don't want to, I'm actually glad I get to tell ya this."

Natsu tilted his head, emphasizing each word, "That person, those people, the thing that makes you fight hard, that makes life worth living, it's not my brother."

Larcade's amber orange eyes snapped to him.

"Don't live your life for him, don't look up to him, because all my brother is going to do is hurt you. I know, trust me."

The artificial Dragneel furrowed his brows as he searched Natsu for any hints of deception. He found nothing.

"When you get back to your timeline, do me a favor, find that person." Natsu requested earnestly, eyes turning apologetic.

Larcade had no time to give an honest reflection before a chop to the side of his neck undid the tension in his muscles and put his brain to sleep.

When he lurched forward, Natsu caught him by the back of his yellow kasaya and gingerly lowered him to the ground.

"A demon, pretending to be human, using the power of a dragon. Quite the façade."

Malice came in the form of a gravely rasp as Natsu felt the wretched sensation of curse power seep from the darkness around him.

He rose from his kneel next to the unconscious Larcade, expression souring upon seeing legions of floating eidolic skulls emerging from the numerous nooks and crannies the rocky maze provided.

Bloodman.

Natsu stiffened for a moment at the curse power massaging the air around him with toxic allure, as if begging him to unleash the same kind of strength.

Bloodman slithered from the shadows, his form ablaze in midnight violent whispers signaling his third seal had been unleashed.

The etherious cackled, the sound that poured from the royal purple glow of his maw a disgrace to the concept of laughter itself as his army of hovering skulls chortled along.

"Your scent gives you away, no amount of pretending can hide it." Bloodman gruffed with sadistic glee, cadaverous claws wiggling with excitement, "Whatever you think you are, it don't matter to me, because they bleed all the same."

Just like that, everything was back to not feeling right.

He turned, "I'm nobody but Natsu."

A pulse of invisible heat burst from his form, turning the floating gang of skulls to falling piles of ash.

The off guard Bloodman was unable to move an inch as Natsu abruptly appeared before him.

Natsu drove a fiery knee capable of splitting mountains square beneath his chin, the impact so fierce Bloodman's head was nearly torn from his spine as his feet were forced from the ground.

Before he could be sent hurtling into the air, Natsu encircled his fingers around one ankle and slammed him right back down to earth, leaving him limp in a newly created creator just big enough for one person.

The unconscious etherious beneath him let out a rattled groan of pain but remained unmoving.

"Sea King Dragon's Encircling Deluge!"

The chaotic poetic roar of rushing waters met Natsu's ears as he turned around to see walls of it, cold and powerful, tumbling towards him all while shoving past monolith after monolith.

Natsu acted quickly, grabbing Larcade, and after some reluctance, Bloodman, before leaping to higher ground.

While the hissing torrents blasted past his feet, the dragon slayer dumped the two Spriggans safely before jumping for the tallest rocky jut he could find.

"Impressive, truly." the gaudy voice of God Serena pierced the slowly quieting screech of flowing water.

On a defiant crop of earth just behind him stood the 'mightiest mage' in Isghar.

"Don't slow clap-"

Serena did exactly that, somehow even more condescendingly than Natsu expected.

"Dangit." Natsu muttered as he turned to face him.

"So were you really tryna drown your own pals?" Natsu prompted, tilting his head back towards where he had left them, "Sure, one has a boner beam and the other is a creep, but I thought you guys were a team."

God Serena laughed, "You underestimate their bull-headedness."

Natsu sighed, adjusting his scarf, "So we gonna fight? I gotta wrap this up before your other buddies regroup."

Putting one foot behind another, God Serena spread his arms wide, boisterous, "A duel against someone of your caliber? That would be delightful." he purred.

He flipped his ponytail over his shoulder, warning with a mischievous tut, "I will warn you, I am much-"

"I'mma deck you in the schnoz." Natsu blurted.

God Serena's face twisted with consternation as he squinted, "I beg your pardon-"

He was cut off when Natsu bopped him right on the nose, having moved with untraceable speeds.

The Wizard Saint stumbled back with a cry of pain, nursing his throbbing nose.

"H-how dare you!?" God Serena seethed, more nasally than before as a stream of blood curled over his lip, "Have you no glamor nor class? Where is your 'flash'? This is supposed to be a legendary godly battle, not a street fig-"

Natsu punched him again.

"Ah! Y-you… you did it again! Listen you simpleton-"

And again.

This time, God Serena tripped over himself and landed on his rear, growling through a broken nose, "That's it! You die!"

Streaks of bold light formed in one of his hands as he announced, "Lightning Dragon's Heavenward Halberd!"

Spiraling arcs of lighting came together to form a trident, God Serena sending right at the space between Natsu's eyes.

Natsu ducked, letting it sail past him out into the expanse of night. Upon detonation, the attack showered the black skies with fulgid sparks that stretched past the horizon.

God Serena, sclera now dark-blue, glared at the Natsu with pin prick white pupils.

"You're that dragon slayer knock off." Natsu remembered aloud, drawing a growl from his opponent who leapt at him with a bloodthirsty snarl.

"Lightning Dragon's Iron Fist!"

In response, Natsu engulfed his own hand in warm orange and charged.

Their fists met, sparks and fire clashing to unleash upheaval of biblical portions.

The vast wild maze of rock Natsu had created was leveled in an instant by the circular shockwave that stretched so far they smacked against gargantuan canyon walls miles away.

Hundreds of thousands of tons of dust and smoke were dispersed as the two recovered from the recoil and threw themselves at one another, their battlefield a monumental graveyard of shattered stone.

Fists flew as they danced around each other, nearly every thrown strike bouncing off a block or missing entirely.

"Cavern Dragon's Earth Collapse!"

Dark green twinkles poked up from beneath them before their glow brightened and the ground shook.

Hundreds of chunks of earth were sent scattering like buckshot when the terrain practically imploded, forcing Natsu and God Serena to separate.

God Serena was quick to raise a palm, announcing, "Sea King Dragon's Water Vortex!"

A spinning blast of whites and blues rocketed towards Natsu, the stream of high pressure water effortlessly carving away rock several meters deep into the ground.

From Natsu's mouth came his own blast, a burst of lively orange fire condensed into a beam that rushed to meet its opposite element.

Upon contact, Natsu's roar proved the obvious superior and forced the watery cyclone back against God Serena's shaking fingers.

"Y-your a dragon slayer?" he whispered in astonishment, discontinuing his attack to gobble up the island leveling beam of flames that had been so generously gifted to him.

However, upon shoving a flaming elbow into his belly, Natsu forced his fellow dragon slayer to regurgitate all that he had consumed with a strangled gasping heave.

A wild swing from God Serena managed to land against Natsu's side, giving the older man enough time to backpedal, gasping out, "G-gale Dragon's Song of Moon and Wind!"

From his mouth came a tumultuous storm of turbulent wind, far more forceful than anything that had ever come from Wendy.

Despite blowing away miles of land behind him, Natsu cocooned himself in a blanket of fire and powered right through the gusts' epicenter to barrel into the Wizard Saint.

Forcing his opponent on the back foot yet again, Natsu ignited his fists in rambunctious swathes of sun colored flames before advancing.

God Serena now had no choice but to do the same, dark orange fire smothering his palms as he held up his hands in a defensive stance.

Upon pushing a straight punch off course, God Serena attempted to counter with an overhead elbow strike, only for Natsu's own elbow to block his efforts.

Natsu fed him three quick and consecutive blows, a right jab to the belly, a left uppercut to the chest, and a right hook to the jaw, his hands leaving trails of fire in their wake.

God Serena, unable to keep up and moments away from buckling beneath the blows, leaned forward and swung desperate.

Natsu weaved and punished the over-extension by rolling over God Serena's back, pulling his knee to the chest to push a kick into his opponent's spine once he landed on the other side of him.

God Serena was sent tumbling several meters before grinding to a stop.

Natsu felt his God Serena's magic skyrocket even further as from the rumbling ground came eight massive colorful draconian specters, lined up like the order of a rainbow.

Standing as beacons of shimmering color among the night, they wiggled and preened and growled around their summoner.

Stumbling to his feet, God Serena wheezed, spitting blood from his mouth before snarling, "Your death will be slow and painful, do you hear me?"

God Serena's thrust his hands forward, releasing every bit of his magic, "Dragon God's Fang!"

The eight flowing avatars swelled with magical glimmer, translucent skin emanating their respective elements before they charged Natsu, letting out deafening defiant roars.

Seeing the half circle they formed as they advanced, Natsu's entire frame was lit ablaze in response.

Forearms held tense behind him, Natsu lashed out with quiet focus, swiping the air before him with his arms.

Streaks of fiery tendrils followed his movements, forming wings of fire that stretched outwards to meet the stampede of vibrant dragon heads.

Busting through the full might of God Serena's dragon slaying magic, the beat of the blazing dragon wings continued to expand, soon consuming the God Serena himself before the attack detonated.

The combustion was so violent it painted the entire canvas of the desolate canyon in thick slabs of autumn colors, leaving every square meter blackened and sizzling.

When the commotion faded, and Natsu brushed the ash from his shoulders and sleeves, he grumbled to himself, "Amateur."

"Another dragon slayer, huh?"

Upon digesting the sultry female voice, Natsu stilled.

"He's quite strong, ain't he Brandish?"

Natsu couldn't help but flinch, his posture wilting.

Once again, Natsu was faced with people he didn't wish to hurt.

What little hesitant eye contact he could bring himself to make only worsened the returning bundle of confliction that called his stomach home.

Dimaria and Brandish came strutting through blankets of adventurous dust, as if they were completely unaware of the reality of the situation they were willingly walking into.

Their flight or fight mechanisms had been permanently switched to fight by the unreasonable pull of mind control.

"Don't do this." Natsu immediately warned.

"Quit with the whining, if I recall correctly you were pretty gung-ho about squaring up, weren't ya?" Dimaria challenged as she twirled one of her blades around a finger,

"What changed? Don't wanna get beat up by a couple of mean girls?" she taunted in a pouty tone.

Dimaria sent Brandish a sly grin of approval, "By all means, crush the idiot's lungs."

When Brandish raised a hand and pointed at Natsu's chest, nothing happened, no reaction from Natsu.

Brandish narrowed her eyes, and tried again, targeting his heart.

Once again, Natsu didn't react to the invisible force attempting to squeeze his most vital organ to paste.

"What are ya doin'? Kill this fool!"

Brandish's aloof demeanor was quick to fade, "I'm trying!"

This time, Natsu felt a pressure bear against the inside of his skull, feebly trying to implode his head.

Natsu gave an exhale that served more to soothe the headache rather than express pain.

Her magic did not work on people who are stronger than her, and Natsu understood he had her hilariously outclassed. He would not drop his guard around her again.

Brandish wasn't a bad person. The war had shown him that, she had spared Lucy her revenge and saved his own life and got him back into the fight.

She was waspish, but she wasn't unreasonable.

She also wasn't strong enough for him to waste time on her.

Natsu's expression firmed as his beguiling stare finally focused its full attention on Brandish, effectively freezing her in her spot.

"I'm sorry." Natsu stated bracingly, far too genuine for either woman's liking.

"W-what?" was all she was able to muddle before Natsu disappeared before her very eyes.

Once more, Natsu moved with incalculable speeds to blitz past Brandish and apply a swift chop to the side of her neck.

"The hell did he go? Since when can dragon slayers freakin' teleport!?" Dimaria exclaimed, falling into a defensive crouch with her daggers held ready.

A nervous sweat breaking out on her brow as she looked to the sound of commotion beside her.

To her right, Brandish lay unconscious in Natsu's arms, who gently scooped her up only to carefully rest her on the ground.

"Y-you…" Dimaria wheezed, the breath knocked from her lungs at the sight, "T-that's not possible."

Kneeling beside her, Natsu thoughtfully inspected Brandish over one last time before rising to his feet.

When Natsu's ebony eyes slowly shifted their leer to her, Dimaria couldn't help but pale as a human's most primal instinct swelled past the layers of deceit that clouded her brain.

Fear.

Spine shivering, Dimaria clicked her teeth before Natsu could do the same to her as he did Brandish.

Such a small meaningless action managed to turn the world still, freezing the gust of the wind and the dancing of dust.

For everything within miles, space-time was frozen, and was replaced with a rift within time that slowed the intervals of the universe to a stop.

With reality painted a uninteresting dark blue, Dimaria found herself in her own pocket of sealed time.

Before any further action was taken, she called upon the soul of a god to take over her earthly form.

Upon closing her eyes, Dimaria took a backseat for the God of Time Chronos to seize control.

Her entire form was bathed in inky black, which hugged her skin to allow for reams of dark fire to swirl around her.

The sable that surrounded her gave way for brandings and markings to curl around her body's curves.

With hair flowing like a waltzing flame, her eyes became solid saucers of menacing yellow that shifted in tune with the change of consciousness.

Chronos let out a breath as he settled into his vessel, looking over to the only person he could see standing.

"Interesting." his voice, haughty yet echoed, bemused at the sight of the frozen still Natsu, "So this is what has my vessel so spooked."

Hovering just a foot off the ground, Chronos eased his way through the air, gathering massive amounts of energy to swirl around him, ready to blast Natsu away with the overflow of magic power.

After all, he could take his time.

That was until Natsu's pupils moved.

Titian flames washed the watery tint from Natsu's form, scrubbing him clean of any manipulation of space-time.

Bathed in a focused fire, Natsu let it stretch to make contact with the stilled air, sizzling away frozen time upon touch.

Natsu had no need for any demonic powers to free himself of time shenanigans, every type of manipulation in existence failed to take any effect once burned away by his fire.

Gifting himself the freedom of movement, Natsu straightened his back and eyed the 'god' with bored distaste.

"H-how are you…. That's not possible!" Chronos exclaimed, brought to the ground by the pull of astonishment. Almost childishly, he shook his head in denial, "Y-your not allowed to move!"

"Your time stuff ain't so special anymore, just met a lady who can do everything you can do and better. It's stupid, but still."

The god's billowing hands wilted into fists, "How dare you! I am the God of Time, none shall defy me!"

Natsu snorted, "You're not a god bucko, just some idiot entity prancing around claiming to be one."

A shockwave of scintillating heat pulsated outwards from his form, ripping the seal of time off the universe like removing a cog obscuring a clock hand's rotation.

And just like that, space-time returned to normal.

The charring fever was so intense it broke simple physics, blistering the god's skin to the point the broiling oxidation forced him to surrender.

The 'God of Time' fled, retreating away whilst dumping the controls back to its vessel.

The lesser shadows withered away, still smoldering from the acrid bite Natsu's flames left, leaving Dimaria to plop to the ground, who gasped in surprise.

Dimaria blinked dumbly, looking down at herself, then to Natsu, then back to herself.

Tears welled in the corners of her eyes, the competitive confidence in her voice now a squeak, "H-he lost?"

She tried in vain to call upon the soul of a god, desperate to give herself up for power. But it refused to come out.

Her greatest triumph card had been useless.

Chronos lost. Chronos had fled. The God of Time had practically given up.

She had lost.

"Can ya please just listen?" Natsu hopefully queried as let his flames disperse, easing over to crouch in front of her.

His heart hurt at the limpid fright in her teary eyes.

Dimaria yelped and hastily clawed for her discarded dagger, only for Natsu to catch her armored wrist and hold it in place.

She squeaked and socked him in the jaw with her other hand, to no effect.

"Get away f-from me you freak! Yo-you're a monster!" her indignant shout quickly turned to feeble mewling as she realized she was completely at his mercy.

She was despondently overpowered, as she tugged with all her might to free her wrist from Natsu's grip to no avail.

A realization could be seen establishing itself in her terrified expression.

She was a prisoner of war. Natsu, being the victor, could do whatever he wanted with her.

As she sniffled and whined for him to not hurt her, Natsu gently grabbed both her forearms and held her still.

"I am not going to hurt ya, understand?" Natsu's tone rose as the authority of his stern voice finally broke through her hysterics.

Dimaria looked up at him with puffy golden eyes, sniffing as tears of fear and humiliation streamed down her cheeks.

"I didn't wanna scare the god out of you, but that was the only way you were gonna listen to me, that mind control is stronger than I thought."

"W-who are you-"

"Zip it, I'm talking." Natsu cut her off, "I'm not in the best mood so I don't wanna peep outta you, none, zilch, capiche?"

Dimaria whimpered and nodded submissively, her smaller shoulders trembling beneath his calloused palms.

He grunted his approval of her obedience, the creases on his visage flattening as Natsu puffed steam from his nostrils.

The kettle from before was boiling again, bubbling with fuzzy memories he didn't have the patience to deal with for what felt like the thousandth time.

"Look, that lady, she is just usin' ya. I have no idea what she's feeding your brains, but I'm not your enemy."

Natsu snapped his fingers in front of Dimaria's face when her focus wavered, "Hey, you need to listen. Did you hear what I said? You understand what's going on?"

Natsu could see coherent thoughts return to her brain as she licked her lips nervously and nodded.

He practically forced her to her feet via his grip on her forearms, dragging the feebly struggling Dimaria along by the arms towards the still Brandish.

Terror shot through Dimiria's body as she was effortlessly man handled like she was no more than a little girl.

Her fearful whimpers of confusion elicited another reassurance, "Stop whinin' lady, I ain't gonna hurt you."

His words, far harsher than his thoughtful tone, ceased Dimaria's protesting.

"Now. Sit."

Natsu separated contact and stiffly pointed to the ground next to the prone Brandish.

Dimiria, whose teary checks were already tickled with color, flushed further in humiliation as she followed his orders like an obedient dog.

Hugging her own chest protectively, the broken 'Warrior Queen' awaited further instructions.

"Here is what we're gonna do," Natsu announced, "You are going to stay here with her, that lady's a perv so I'm not too keen on leaving your friend unguarded."

He backtracked to scoop up one of Dimaria's daggers, "You stay here, and don't move. Wait for one of your people to come lookin' for ya,"

"And when they do, you tell em' what I told you. That lady is messin' with your heads, making you fight a battle you can't win." Natsu grunted as he lowered to his haunches before her once more.

Holding the weapon by its blade, he offered the hilt to her in pity.

She was fully aware nothing she could do could harm him, so they were more of a comfort at this point, something familiar for her to hold.

When the demure Dimiria reached out for it, Natsu pulled it back to prompt, "Repeat all that back to me. Now."

Given express permission to talk, she hiccuped pathetically, "St-stay here and wait for my a-allies."

"And what are you gonna tell them?" Natsu softened his voice.

He just couldn't stand her whimpering, not after that broken sound had spent the last month and a half swirling around his head alongside everything else.

Natsu wasn't sure to be frustrated at how blurry that memory was, or thankful he didn't remember what he had done to her.

Dimiria mumbled through her cowed mortification, "That… th-that she is controlling us, and that we c-can't…. We can't win."

When Natsu held it out to her, she bashfully accepted it and held it to her chest like a child clinging to the happy memories their stuffed teddy bear brought them.

He didn't get it, why he couldn't just lump Dimiria in with God Serena and Bloodman, why couldn't it be that simple?

She was not a good person, even before her crimes against Wendy, Chelia, and Lucy during the war, she had no reason to deserve any sort of mercy.

All this fuss, because of what? Because he hated how this was the second time she had called him a monster?

Natsu rubbed a hand back and forth across the lower side of his face and awkwardly expressed, "Look, I-i'm sorry, really, you pullin' out time magic left me no other choice."

Dimiria gave another hiccup, burying her face in her knees, "Y-you win, okay?" she murmured.

"Just leave me alone, p-please." Dimiria begged him, "I-i'll do what you told me, just d-don't do anything to me."

He nodded solemnly, "Okay, I won't touch ya again, promise." Natsu grounded out, rising to his feet and backing away.

"Just remember to tell your boss or whatever that-"

"If you wish to tell me something, then please do so face to face." a deep yet distinctly feminine voice chastised.

A cluster of enchanted explosions detonated beneath him, their fuchsia fireballs forcing Natsu to leap away from Dimaria and Brandish.

Irene's magical signature finally registered, hanging heavy over the scene.

Descending from the air gracefully, the 'Scarlet Despair' surveyed the situation with a cold stare, glancing from her thoroughly subdued comrades then to Natsu.

"You're quite the handful boy, scattering us like that, making it impossible for me to keep track of you or my fellow Shields." Irene remarked, not bothering to propose about Dimiria or Brandish's condition.

Natsu scoffed, "Well, when you keep throwing yourselves at me one at a time like sum' street gang, it makes beating you pretty easy."

He would have much rather dealt with the calm, reasonable personality of August than the vain and cruel Irene.

"You're quite the dragon slayer," she intoned, "I recognize my own magic anywhere, and you seem to have mastered your specific art to a greater degree than any user I've ever encountered."

Vexed, Natsu neglected her praise, "I'm gonna say this one more time. Stand. Down."

Irene raised a pencil thin brow, the cunning almond of her dark eyes tinted with mischief, "You seem to be saying a lot of things once. Your mind works in mysterious ways."

Natsu's nostrils flared, "Well you ain't exactly working with a full deck yourself..." he drew off, any further thoughts suddenly wilting in his head.

Her scent.

The way it shamelessly filled the air around them, riding and dancing along the ever shifting winds her magic presence brought.

It was... infuriating.

Not just her scent, but the weight of her magic, fierce and heavy and familiar, the magic that could only belong to a dragon.

He was being challenged. Her being here, far after the war was over, far after she stopped terrorizing his guild, it was unacceptable.

Natsu clutched his head tight, seething growls through his chattering teeth, doing everything he could to fight the boiling inside.

Billions of years of instincts had finally come to play, swelling his body with its influence and unraveling his mind so that the only urge that remained was to end the threat.

His eyes screwed shut and for a moment the world fell away, all the while fangs lengthened, muscles boomed and bulged with new fibers, and the sweltering kettle inside him finally had enough.

It burst with force.

A Dragon Force.

Irene knew something was off, something wasn't right.

The dusky light of the sky had darkened, the ground beneath her feet was wailing and rumbling.

Natsu's magic had shot towards the moon, leaving her in its wake.

Ignoring the nervous whimpers of Dimiria behind her, Irene rose her nose to the trembling air and sniffed.

Another coat of snow white painted her already pale skin as she was snapped from her cruel veneer.

When Natsu's eyes opened once more, his pupils had shrunken to golden slits.

It was obvious, the man was gone, taken by the crimson scales and gleaming rows of teeth.

In this dimension, Irene realized the true Dragon King was standing before her.

This wasn't the false usurper Acnologia.

Natsu now stared her down, his lips drawn back in a snarl and low rumbling growl pouring from the dark confines his throat.

Irene pushed past inner instincts to submit and readied herself for battle, hiding her gulp with a scowl of her own.

The notion was laughable, her, the Queen of Dragons, nervous, scared even.

But here Irene was, fighting a shiver.

All the while Dimiria watched in quaking trepidation.

Natsu skipped bathing himself in molten gold, skipped cratering the ground with geysers of lava heat, and pounced.

When Natsu leapt at Irene, the spectating Dimiria turned away and squeezed her eyelids shut.

The battle that followed folded the skies and shattered distant lands. Dimiria didn't want to see any of it.

Even as it wandered far, as it gravitated to the putrid clouds that brewed above, Dimiria could feel it all.

She clamped her hands over her ears and pulled her knees to her chest, intent on not disobeying Natsu's order.

With each blow it seemed the planet shuddered, rustling Dimaria's organs with each booming vibration.

Her stomach dropped when she heard the empathic resounding roars of Irene's dragon form quickly turn to raucous screeches of pain.

In all of the hectic commotion, she had failed to notice the arrival of her leader.

"Dimiria?!"

The reassuring voice of August had managed to cut through the disasters of far offyet vociferous battle.

Dimiria couldn't stop her knee jerk reaction to being prompted from coming out as a feeble clamor of shock.

Aged hands gripped her shoulders and held her still, "Calm yourself child, what happened to you?!"

"A-august?" she blinked dumbly, sounding unsure if this was actually the Spriggan leader crouched before her.

"Yes, it's me, now please collect yourself child."

August's lips pursed as his eyes flit to the still unconscious Brandish laying right next to them.

Dimiria, remembering her task, gripped the loose sleeves of the older man's robes and told him, overwrought,

"August, we can't win! H-he's a… a-a monster! I couldn't even phase him, Chronos r-ran away from him!"

"Slow down Dimiria, take a deep breath and start again." he attempted to reason.

However, he partially echoed her sentiments.

This mysterious young man their mistress had tasked them with dispatching had picked them off one by one. He knew every move to make, and when to make it.

While Irene had insisted upon directly tracking him down, he had decided regrouping was their best move.

All he had found was the unconscious forms of his Shields littered about the desolate canyon.

And if even Dimaria's potent Age Seal failed to slow this young dragon slayer down, then August doubted this was a battle they could win.

If this was someone that could spook the cynical Dimiria into submission, then their opponent was truly unlike anything they had ever faced before.

August growled in frustration, his gaze darting from place to place as he attempted to form some sort of plan. He knew not where his new mistress was.

"August, y-you need to know-"

Dimiria was cut off when a colossal explosion birthed a second sun up in the mosaic of stars above, the majestic yet daunting golden fireball humming an eerie song of destruction.

Despite its height in the atmosphere, she could feel the jarring heat press against her face as dust rose from the earth to obscure any vision.

From the fires in the sky descended Irene, the weight of her dragon form crushing the earth beneath, sending chunks of mountainside tumbling for miles.

Cursing beneath a breath, August summoned a translucent barrier dome to shield his comrades from the shockwave.

Miles away, the Dragon Queen lay defeated in the center of massive divot where a proud mountain once stood.

Bright red scales were scuffed and sizzling, the tendons of her wings tattered and seared, and her blocks of muscles held no more energy.

Irene made no motion to rise.

Natsu dropped from seemingly nowhere, far too swift for Irene to keep track of.

With a downright feral glint in his shimmering slits, Natsu leapt up to stand upon the dragon's neck, coldly snarling as if demanding she yield.

The Queen of Dragons gave a pitiful warble of pain at the pressure put upon her esophagus, her massive eyelids snapping shut as her body returned to its human form, no longer able to sustain her true self.

Swirling coral smoke and rose twinkles swallowed the dragon's goliath frame, scampering away to nothingness shortly thereafter to reveal the human Irene.

Her clothes singed so thoroughly they crumpled to ashes off her body, Irene's entire body had been gifted a dozen bruises and even more deep scrapes.

Completely bared and exhibited, the nude woman lay on her side wrestling for air.

Natsu stalked towards her, having not shed a single bead of sweat during the brief affray, liquid gold dribbling from his mouth.

Irene, any sense of pride or composure comprehensively fragmented, stared up at the looming male in fright. The fire deep within his throat threw out shadows of serrated fangs onto her.

Despite wishing too, Irene made no motion to cover herself.

Her eyes flashed and her mind was freed from its cage, but all that did was trade her subservience from one person to another.

With a submissive whimper, Irene rolled herself onto her back to expose her belly, a loud yet nonverbal 'you win'.

She knew the rules.

This was dragonian custom, it had to be, power was everything, the fight was everything, winning was everything.

Any confidence she once had had been ravaged, chewed and gnawed on by the sting of defeat to the point it was no more decorous than a chew toy years past it's lifespan.

Her cheeks burned in disgrace as she prepared herself for what was to come next, for the life of servitude she would be forced to live.

Just as he had succumb to his instincts, Irene let her insurmountable defiance crumble, and shamefully accepted whatever plans her king had for her.

Natsu proved to have a drastically different understanding of the situation when he shrugged off his duster and draped it over Irene's nude form.

She blinked dumbly, clueless as a fawn.

His scaled face softened as his expression, wrought with shame and confusion, lost any sense of previous hostility.

The switch that had been flipped on moments ago suddenly flipped off.

All that was left was very familiar to Natsu.

Shame.

He stared down at his steaming palms, stained with blood and dust, and swallowed thickly, as if he had just had control of his body dumped back into his lap.

"I-i don't understand." he croaked blankly, sounding as if he was moments away from emptying his stomach.

"Why... why did I do that to you?" Natsu, completely stumped, turned to the beaten woman for answers, "Why did I want to beat you so bad?"

Bile rose from his stomach and soaked his tongue, as the longer he stared at Irene, the more he saw Erza.

His Erza.

Pale skin, scarlet hair, the same nose and chin and cheeks, like mother like daughter.

Rage filled him at the sight of Irene's bruises, as if they had been left on Erza, not her monstrous mother.

It didn't matter how many times he told himself she wasn't Erza, that was the only thought he could crumb together.

His voice was deeper now, but that didn't stop it from wobbling as Natsu spoke, "W-why? Why did I want to hurt you?

Irene was silent as she thought, unsure whether to ask why he would show mercy, why had he stopped.

The Dragon King had just dominated her in combat, and instead of following through with tradition, he was asking why he had acted on the instincts that came with it.

She answered the best she could, "You have n-not been King for long, your scent gives you away."

"I am not King." Natsu rebuked, grimacing with reproach.

She flinched at his low bark, yet subscribed to tradition, her King had sought her counsel, and no matter what state she was in, it was her duty to appease him.

"W-what you think of your-yourself doesn't..." she trailed off with a wheeze, wincing at the hot spikes of pain that used her lungs as a pin cushion, "D-doesn't matter."

"When was the last time you activated Dragon Force?"

Natsu sucked in a breath, "Since before Dad died. More than a year ago."

Irene sniffed the air, finding the ghostly presence that faintly lingered within his magic to belong to the one being in the cosmos she truly feared.

Igneel.

Suddenly this dragon slayer's power made sense.

"Dragon Force, t-the bridge between man and dragon..." Irene stopped to suck in air, "Y-yours is out of balance. You are a new King, your instincts, that seed within, are stronger."

It took everything she had to move her head towards. But her king's eyes were far too bright, so instead she stared down at his feet.

"This is the first time you've exerted yourself as king, y-your scent tells me so. It is a miracle you have regained your senses when you did." she explained, remarkably even in spite of her injuries.

Natsu scoffed, "That's not... i-it doesn't... none of that excuses what I did to you." he reaffirmed, both to her and himself.

There was a difference between ending a threat, and cruelty.

Irene may deserve cruelty, but he wasn't interested in being the one to give it. Not when this Irene had yet to torture Mira, steal Wendy's body, and brutalize Erza.

That being said, he was wasting time feeling guilty about it, he still had August to deal with.

He sucked in air from between in fangs and let the blaze inside cool. Being in Dragon Force didn't make it easy.

"For once I didn't wanna fight, I didn't wanna lose my temper, I didn't want any of this." Natsu sighed, the vulnerability in his exhale jarring compared to the growl he spoke with.

Dropping to his knees, he carefully pulled Irene into a sitting position, sliding his duster around her bare shoulders, "For what it's worth, I'm sorry." he mumbled.

What Irene bumbled barely passed for anything decipherable as he practically dressed her, "W-what are y-why are... why…"

Natsu guided her lithe arm through a sleeve as if the older woman was a child during their first exploit of putting on clothes.

"Kay, I understand each of those words individually," Natsu reacted tersely, voice impatient yet movements gentle, "Take two?"

Irene murmured sheepishly, "W-why aren't we…" she gave a faux cough, "Mating?"

His feedback was a brief yet perturbed glance, and that was it before he buttoned up the duster over her ample chest.

"The hell you talkin' about?" Natsu buzzed bearishly, "You a perv too?"

Despite the heat on her cheeks, she found the focus to catechize her alpha, "Yo-you won, you know that, right?"

Natsu cringed and blurted, "It's called an ass whuppin' lady, whatta bout' it?"

"It is common for a king to copulate with a female after winning a fight." Irene began, bowing her head almost bashfully.

"You, b-being the king, wouldn't abide by the normal rules that an event like our breeding festival has. You could... breed with any female however you like, w-whenever you please."

Natsu rolled his eyes, piqued, "Sorry to pop bubbles, but the only girl that gets little Natsu workin' is hundreds of miles away from here."

"We ain't screwin', no offense to you." he stated.

Gilded slits inspected her one last time before Natsu gently grabbed her and draped her over his shoulder, eliciting a yelp of surprise from the older woman.

"Alright," he huffed, "Let's go find the old-timer and get you guys back to your timeline."

As he navigated his way out of the broken remains of the mountain, leaping over steaming boulders, Natsu was careful never to jostle Irene too much.

Just like everyone else, Irene too felt so delicate.

Normally, at the sight of such overturned rock and scorched earth, Natsu would wince, but he had far more important things to worry about than the dreadful aroma of destruction that hung over the atmosphere.

August next, then annoying lady after.

"Why are you being so gentle?" Irene inquired, her voice not all suited to the meekness she spoke with, "I am your enemy, the spoils of war."

Natsu, whose shoulders remained steady despite the erratic movement of his legs, jeered, "You ain't my prisoner lady, got it?"

"Nobody is gonna be touchin' you that way, not while I'm around."

"I was your enemy." Irene repeated again, "Why show mercy?"

"I don't know, you don't deserve it even now, and if you were the Irene from my world I would have left ya there to rot!" Natsu barked at her impatiently.

Irene, a full grown woman who had oozed confidence and power, hiccuped like a child that had been snapped at.

"Apologies my King." Irene whimpered, curling tight against him.

Pressing her soft flesh against his chest and back had no affect on his pheromones, but yet a small pathetic whimper, a tiny show of vulnerability, it turned his sizzling scales warm.

Natsu's face soured, and for some reason he found himself reassuring her, "It's fine, just stop calling me that, I ain't dad."

Irene nodded into his back and appreciated her luck. The Emperor's younger brother was a truly fascinating being.

"I am humbled by your mercy-"

"Stop pushing your luck lady, so quit the groveling, it's freakin' me out." Natsu interrupted her with a chuff.

"I-i understand, punish me if you wish." Irene mewled in acceptance.

Natsu couldn't take it, all this was too much, and she certainly wasn't helping.

He came to a stop in the middle of one of the many hissing craters he had left and shrugged Irene's form off his shoulder so that she stood before him. When Irene staggered, he gripped her forearms and held her upright.

Irene melted under his golden stare.

She couldn't help but squeak when Natsu gently shook her, "Stop. It." he hissed.

"I ain't your king, and you ain't my prisoner," Natsu growled, "I can barely think straight right now, I really don't need you wallowing to me like your my slave."

Irene's shivering lips hung open in honest bewilderment as she murmured, more fragile than ever, "I-i don't understand."

"Y-you won. You w-won me. Th-this is dragon c-custom, I-i..." Irene babbled, her disheveled drapes of scarlet hair ruffling against her pale face, "Power, victory, it's everything."

"For the Queen of Dragons, you suck at being a dragon." Natsu stated blankly.

Irene balked before admitting softly, "I was human once. A-a long time ago."

"And did you bother to learn about dragons for anything more than their power?" Natsu questioned, readjusting his grip on her, "Your talking about being king, but did ever even meet my dad?"

Just like Erza would do when she was unsure, Irene bowed her head and hid behind her hair, "N-no."

"Well, how am I supposed believe anything ya say about dragons if all you cared about was how strong they were?" Natsu's question was firm but not accusatory.

'The Scarlet Despair' shook like a leaf beneath his hold.

"I know what it's like to lose control." Irene whispered, every part of her so vulnerable Natsu felt she'd turn to sand between his fingers, "It's one of the only things I still remember."

Natsu was quiet. His impatience shriveled and he felt a pang of something in his chest.

Every time. This happened every time.

Every time he peeked behind evil's thick curtain, he found that pain was the one calling the shots.

Every single time.

Natsu noticed how she shuffled uncomfortably, timidly shifting from one bare foot to another without stop.

The scorched earth they stood on was still sizzling, still clinging to the very heat that had conquered her before.

"Okay, well," he began softly, reaching down to scoop her up into a more comfortable hold, "dragons never owned one another. So I don't own you, got it?"

Irene let out a warbled grunt as her feet was relieved of the torrid sensation of blistering rock.

As Natsu began walking once more, Irene coughed out one last sentence, "I-i don't deserve your mercy."

"You really don't." Natsu didn't hesitate to agree, stare still pointed forwards into roaming waves of dust.

After a moments ponder, Natsu said, "But that's the only mercy worth givin'."

"Enough talk, just save your strength."

Irene did just that, allowing silence to perch itself between the two of them.

If what she said had been true, about his instincts, then it didn't matter if Natsu felt worthy of the crown or not, there was a problem he needed to fix.

It was a problem Natsu had never even given a second thought, despite how obvious it should have been.

He had been too lost in the moment, too hung up on Bloodman's words, Dimiria's cries, Larcade's platitudes.

It wasn't the demon inside Natsu needed to tame, it was the dragon.

A frantic gasp of astonishment reminded him he had arrived at his intended destination.

He looked up to meet August's boggled stare.

The wrinkles of age that had dug themselves homes in the older man's skin stretched in turbulent suprise for the fight time in decades as his mouth slumped open.

Behind him, Dimiria still sat obediently, the grimace on her face and tightness in her self-hug showing that despite knowing of the outcome, she still dreaded it.

Natsu said nothing, gradually lowering into a crouch so he could let Irene slip from his arms.

Holding her steady, he motioned to August with a chin before letting her go, although hesitant seeing how her knees quaked wearily.

August was at a complete loss for words as Irene, his second in command, limped over to him with a defeated blush on her face.

In a world of ever changing empires and rulers, he was sure Irene would always remain unfazeable.

Nothing scared her.

Nothing.

If somehow, an opponent stronger than her revealed itself, she would fight to her dying breath.

But the fact she was still alive, beaten and bruised yet not fatally injured, implied she had finally submit to someone.

This dragon slayer had made the dragon kneel, and the rest of Irene had folded along with it.

August's fingers slackened. His staff fell from his grip and tumbled to the ground, wood clanking against rock with a flat thud.

"I-irene?" he called out, exercising his voice as if it was precaution to reaffirm this was actually happening.

Having grown closer, Irene finally stumbled.

Both Natsu and August moved to catch her, but the older man proved to be nearer.

He lurched forward to catch her, stabilizing the dazed woman against his own balance.

She couldn't bring herself to look him in the eye, palms squeezing the shoulders of the duster she had been given.

"I-i couldn't beat him," Irene admitted solemnly, her head drifting side to side, "We can't beat him."

"In this world, he is the Dragon King. The true king."

"What!?" came August's hoarse exclamation, severely lacking in volume.

Guiding her towards where their other Shields lay, the elder Spriggan harmonized his breathing and investigated, "Are you absolutely sure?"

Irene shifted on the sore soles of her bare feet, her neck twitching as she swallowed thickly, "He is Lord Igneel's son"

Dimiria, with a burst of courage, shot to her feet to ease Irene into a sitting position.

"I-i told you." she repeated to August charily, "Nothing we can do to him will work."

Natsu finally chimed in, his vocal cords roughened by his transformation, "I warned you."

The equitable practical August flinched and scooped up his staff, positioning himself between his Spriggans and the dragon slayer defensively.

The awe inspiring might the Spriggan Leader possessed, upon flaring, felt like a pitiful bark of a cornered cub to Natsu.

This time, Natsu didn't raise his fists, thoroughly done fighting them.

Before August could assume his battle form, Natsu threw him some sanity, "I understand you're just trying to defend them, but holy crap I'm not your enemy."

"Yer snarlin' at the wrong party."

Natsu pointed a finger to the distance, "She's controlling you. I know it, you know it." he elaborated once more, hopeful August's judicious side would prevail.

Wise eyes snapped to sober thought as practicality took over, August lowering his staff to sigh. It seemed he was the only one of his Spriggans to question their orders, let alone their predicament.

"I still don't fully understand our situation, or why she wanted you dead." August admitted with reluctance, instinctively running a hand through his shaggy beard as if the action was a tick to calm his nerves.

Natsu lifted a shoulder, "Your preachin' to the converted there."

With hindsight, Natsu realized he could have probably just let her monologue her way into revealing some important information. But since she was so hilariously boring, his impatience couldn't help but re-surface.

Before August or Natsu could converse, a familiar sensuous purr rang out, "How unfortunate, it appears I'm busted."

Behind Natsu, green tendrils willed itself into forming a humanoid shape, plucking a form from one place in space before relocating it to another. The shimmers faded, revealing a bemused Ishtar.

"I didn't expect you to be that strong," Ishtar admitted, the sinister slimy olive glow that oozed from her souring the air, "Even the mighty Spriggan Twelve was a walk in the park for you."

Natsu sulked at her arrival, praying for patience as he said aloud, not bothering to face her, "You've had your fun. Send them back."

"Now why would I go do something like that?"

August interrupted with a bitter accusation, "You lied to us! You used me -my comrades- as pawns in your little game!"

"Don't talk too fast there old man, your lips might bleed." Ishtar derided, cocking a hip.

August growled threateningly and readied his staff.

Natsu held an arm between them, "Don't." he warned August, "Let me handle this."

"I would listen to him, you are no threat to me so it's best you don't act like one."

At the remark, Natsu looked over his shoulder, "Enough yapping, send them back, they aren't a threat to you anymore."

Ishtar curled a brow, tucking an errant band behind an ear, "Sorry, that isn't how the spell works."

"Although, you seem awfully eager to part ways with them. You've been given twelve punching bags you could knock around with no consequences, no stakes, no tension, no repercussions, they are of absolutely no threat to you, yet you decided to spare them."

Natsu almost wished what she said was true, that it was that simple. It wasn't, obviously. She had inadvertently just thrown the past, a past he wanted to move on from, right back in his face.

She lazily motioned to the Spriggans behind him, "You, the hammer, have been gifted nails. Why not use the gift of power and opportunity?" she asked, head tilting like a curious lioness.

That one sentence told Natsu more about her than the previous hour of fighting and taunting had combined.

"Well there's the issue. There's a groundbreaking new thing called 'compassion', it's-"

"-For the weak." Ishtar dismissively finished for him, "I think I just threw up in my mouth a little bit."

"It's called the rules of nature, pal. The weak die and the strong survive. The strong can do whatever they want, because they can."

Natsu made a languid gesture to their surroundings, "So all of this, all this fighting and manipulation, you for fun? No plan, no nothing?"

Ishtar gave him a smirk, "Precisely. It was entirely unnecessary, but hot damn if it wasn't fun to watch."

All of the sudden, ballooning waves of perplexing crackling yellow energy bundled together in the sky above them.

Ishtar coyly glanced at the watch she didn't have, "Would you look at that? Seems like your little wish is coming true. I can only bring them here for so long."

Bolts of magic shot down to strike the unconscious forms of the Spriggans strewn across the devastated canyon, dissolving their bodies to return them to their rightful place in creation.

Natsu turned when the same splash of bright amber consumed those behind him.

August, Dimiria, Irene, and Brandish, were soaked in a glow that began breaking them down for transport.

"I must say, this is a pretty disappointing end to this little story." Ishtar chided to nobody in particular.

Ignoring her shooting the breeze, Natsu mustered the courage to speak.

"Hey old-timer, I'm sorry for what I did to them, I really am."

The ashamed apology bounced off of August's head shake as he advised, "Do not do that to yourself."

As the eldest Spriggan slowly broke apart from the feet upwards, he offered a small smile.

This dragon slayer was a curious man. All of his Spriggans were still alive and well, some of them were even uninjured.

Out here, in a different world, with no orders from his Emperor to fulfill, August could find it within himself to show respect.

"You have my thanks for sparing our lives."

Natsu shook his head, "I'm a mess, and everybody I know is getting caught up in it. I'm sorry you got stuck in it too."

August finally dispersed into the flow of space time, but not before advising, voice soft with wisdom, "A man cannot hope to protect what he loves if he is at war with himself."

Natsu, of course, was left silent as the coils of magic returned to the wound in time above them that slowly closed, humming and buzzing, before normalcy returned.

"You seem like the type of guy that can't go more than twelve hours without some sappy motivation speech." Ishtar grimaced as she folded her arms.

Natsu continued the trend of not listening as his gaze lingered on his now empty duster, left behind and laid out where Irene once was.

August was right, no amount of hating himself would ever help anyone.

"Ishtar, was it?" Natsu presumed softly, going over to reclaim his duster.

The woman watched the bare chested Natsu with obvious interest before being snapped from her lustful daze, "I'm surprised you remembered my name."

"I'm not up for this right now," Natsu expressed as he struggled to slide his duster back on, the new muscle mass Dragon Force added making it an even tighter fit, "so let's just not waste my time. Surrender."

Ishtar's sultry expression turned bitter, "Wasting your time am I?!"

"Yeah, you are, so let's just skip you getting hurt and let me bring you in." Natsu finally turned to face her, "Just because you've done awful things doesn't mean this has to end in violence."

"Don't you lecture me with your thirty dollar haircut, save the hero speech for someone who gives a rat's ass." Isthar seethed scornfully, her smooth sardonic mask shattering to reveal indignant haughtiness.

"I ain't a hero, I just don't fina ya interesting," Natsu denied as he squared his shoulders, speaking firmer than he ever had before, "So, you have two options, surrender, or we fight. Flip the coin."

"Is that an ultimatum?"

"Can you stop making up words and just decide?" Natsu continued to insist, "There's nothing you can pull out that will work on me, so stop stalling."

Ishtar couldn't help but snort, "Glad to see you've grown some back bone."

"Here's what I'll do, I'll take your deal, and offer one of my own. I'm feeling a tad generous today.

Natsu rolled his golden eyes, "Bargaining? Really?"

"Well, you seem like the tenacious sort, so as long as you're around, I won't be getting anything done." she reasoned, "Besides, has anyone offered you the chance to start your life over again?"

Natsu froze.

"Thought so." Ishtar grinned pompously, raising a hand.

"Anoichtos chronos!" she chanted.

A dapple of bisque sparks appeared, rotating in a circle where they sped up with each passing lap. With a chime, the now solid ring reached into time to pull open a passageway, filling the interior with bright saffron light.

Ishtar dusted her hands off almost playfully, "There you go handsome, a portal through time. A do-over. I can't hand these out willy nilly, so consider it a favor."

Natsu stared at the swirls of jumpy color.

She had proven herself to be fully capable of molding time, so this very well may be the real deal.

Time travel that didn't involve the same convoluted plan that had brought him and the other dragon slayers 400 years into the future.

He could change everything.

He could save Dad.

He could save Mavis.

He could prevent so much suffering. He had a chance to not fail. Why fix what was broken when he could prevent the cracks in the first place?

All of this was but a deal he has been offered before.

His answer was the same as last time.

"Sorry, no dice."

Natsu, who had unknowingly drifted a few steps towards the portal, came to a stop.

"Even if I did trust that portal thing, I ain't tryna change my past, just accept it." Natsu provided his reasoning, "Nobody else gets second chances, neither should I."

Ishtar hummed a salacious laugh, "Well that's too bad." she paused, "I wasn't asking."

With the swipe of her hand, the portal darted forward.

Natsu reacted as quickly as he could, unleashing a sphere of golden destruction from his palm upon the advancing portal.

The power to devastate space clashed with the rupture in time, sending sprinkling rays of perplexing color throughout the canyon, lighting it in an instant.

The greedy puncture in the delicate blanket of reality sucked Natsu in, sending him hurtling through dimensional confines rather than the flow of time.

All the dragon slayer could see was white.

---

Natsu awoke to the sight of another night sky hanging above him.

The air felt too sterile, smelt too clean, tasted too empty.

Natsu drew a long boorish groan from his lungs as consciousness returned. His eyelids peeled back over and over again as he blinked slowly, peeling himself from the ground.

He rubbed and slapped his scaled cheeks to bring himself back to alert status.

Steamed grass stuck to his skin as he sat up, withers of smoke still dancing around him like it was a necessary ritual, never straying into the odd churlish forest beyond and around.

The strange colors just a few hues off the norm that painted the wilderness chanted unfamiliar serenades of life.

Natsu dragged himself to his feet, letting the knee high barley that had been squashed beneath him awkwardly rise up to tickle his calves.

He noted his Dragon Force had yet to go away.

There were parts of him he couldn't just turn off.

The celestial objects that hung in the sky told Natsu he was no longer on Earthland. Planets, small and large, were scattered about space and beyond clouds.

The tilted forest he found himself in was angled along the slope of a mountain perfectly, allowing the stumbling Natsu to gaze out to the battalion of distant islands that flew in the air, glistening bright against the dark of the night sky.

Golden slits widened as his breath slipped from between his ribs.

He was in Edolas.