Fairy Tail 1. Chapter 1 - And So It Began

**Disclaimer: Mashima-sensei owns Fairy Tail! :)**

**Warnings: Implied Violence, Hatred, Paving the Road to Shounen-ai/Yaoi**

A man cloaked in black hid amongst the shadows as three children cowered in fear before him. A young girl around the age of six stood behind two boys as they tried to protect her from the intruder. Even though all three of them were needed to make the prophecy, her input would be the strongest seeing as she saw into the future. Her platinum blonde hair hung in her deep brown eyes as she tried not to make eye contact with the _demon_ standing before them. The boy with blue hair standing to the left of her was quivering; it was so bad that she swore that she could hear his boney knees knocking together. The older boy on her right was glaring darkly at the man in the shadows; his onyx eyes promising to incinerate him where he stood.

"You are going to tell me what I want to know," The shadow stated stoically, "Otherwise, things might not work out in your favour."

The dark haired boy growled menacingly,

"When dealing with you, nothing will work in anyone's favour."

The man in black chuckled and moved out of the shadows; his face still obscured by the hood that hung on head. If the blonde looked hard enough, she could see his demon red eyes glistening brightly. This demon was not one to be trifled with; he was almost as terrifying as the king of demons himself…though it seems impossible due to him being the mate of the great dark dragon. There was only one being in the world that would be able to stop him and that's exactly why he had turned up; he wanted to know _who _held that power.

"That could very well be true," He conceded, "But would you rather your loved ones lived for a possible fifty more years or for merely six months or maybe even one."

Her heart thumped in her chest and tears prickled in her eyes; she didn't want to lose her family. As she stared at her brothers she could see that they were as frightened as she was. However she didn't expect her middle brother to take a step towards the shadow (despite his shakiness) and glower at the devil as if he was ten times bigger than his stature truly was.

"Don't underestimate our kind!" He cried, "Were better and stronger than you'll ever be; we all have something that you don't have!"

The demon tilted his head to the side,

"I know; I don't have the power to foresee what is come to pass, but you three do. Now, if you don't tell me what I want to know not only will your homeland and your kind fall, but so will countless innocents and the young newborns of the Dragon Clan that you have been sworn to protect."

The older boy hissed,

"You wouldn't dare."

"Are you, Child of the Past, willing to make that wager?" His teeth shone maliciously in the light of the full moon, "How about you Child of the Present and Future, are you brave enough to cast that bet?"

The blonde girl's eyes widened incredulously as the memory of a young dragonlings with dark blue hair flashed through her mind's eye. Just by looking at her brothers, she could tell that they were thinking about the safety of their dragonlings as well; especially since theirs had only come of age recently. And the others in her village…she couldn't risk them losing their partners or their lives…

"Fine," She whispered; her voice firm and crisp, "We'll do as you ask; though the answer has been in front of your eyes for millennia."

The blue haired boy stared at her with wide eyes,

"Carla, what are you doing?!"

Her fists clenched at her sides,

"I'm doing what I can Happy! There's nothing else that we can do now; we can't let them die!"

Happy jumped at the conviction in his sister's voice; he had never heard her sound so passionate in his entire existence. Carla turned her attention over to their oldest brother Pantherlily who simply grunted in neither agreement or otherwise. The aura around the man cloaked in black shifted as victory seemed to be within his grasp. Carla took a deep breath and centered herself as her brothers joined hands with her and then with each other. As soon as their skin touch a magic circle appeared under their feet and a rainbow like shield engulfed them. The demon waited impatiently as Pantherlily was the first to speak…

_Darkness shall invoke the Call  
>Causing all, but one, to Fall<em>…

The demon scowled at the thought of his darkness failing to kill all but one person. His power was infinite and unbeatable; the power of death could not be overcome. No one would be able to defeat the combined might of the king of Dragons and himself. That prediction had to be flawed…no one had the power to defeat him! Unless…**the demon slayers**…

_Two Clans must unite as One  
>Joining the power of Ice and Sun…<em>

As the words left Happy's mouth he was certain as to who his enemy would be. He should've known that part of the Demon Slayer line had managed to survive; but now he was feeling fairly confident. There was a reason why elements were separate; it was impossible to join the power of Ice and Sun; something as polar opposite as those two was bound to end in failure.

_Bound by Blood or Bound by Pain  
>He shall bring the Light again.<em>

The light disappeared as the final words left Carla's mouth. As the Fates escaped the protection of their shield, hatred and anger slammed into them like a brick wall. Carla held onto her brothers' hands tightly as fear started to course through her body. She knew that the demon was infuriated by the last line of the prophecy; she knew it as soon as she said the words and the smirk fell off his face.

"That can't be right." He hissed gutturally, "I will **not** be defeated by some pathetic, non-existent bloodline."

Pantherlily smiled tauntingly,

"You didn't think they were so non-existent until you heard of your inevitable demise."

The demon rounded on him; his red eyes blazing like the fires of Hell,

"I'd watch your tongue Child of the Past; you might regret it one day."

The onyx eyed boy chuckled,

"I don't regret anything other than standing here beside you as you threaten our home."

The man in black looked as if he was going to strike out at her older brother. She was about to pull Pantherlily away when Happy held her hand tightly and shook his head 'no'. However, she could tell that he wasn't telling her that because he was afraid; he was telling her that because if she as so much as moved a finger the demon would attack them all.

"I will find that **thing **mentioned in the prophecy and I will destroy it." He spat, "The only thing capable of beating me is the Demon Slayer clan and luckily for me, there is only one more Demon Slayer left in the world."

The Fates frowned as dark mist started to collect around the demon; in moments, the shadows swallowed their foe. Carla stared at the empty space that now stood before them; a strangle sob escaping her lips. She felt Happy's arm wrap around her shoulders comfortingly as Pantherlily mirrored him on the other side. She felt tears well in her eyes as pure white wings sprouted out of her back; it was about time that they went home.

"We need to warn him," Carla stated stoically, "and protect him in any way we can."

Pantherlily nodded,

"The boy will be on a road of hardship; most of which he has to be alone. We have to watch out for him and insure he stays alive."

Before they were about to take to the sky, Happy smiled brightly. She looked at him in confusion; had he not been present when Zeref threatened the existence of the last family of Demon Slayers? Lily seemed to have the same thoughts as her, but they didn't have to wait long for Happy to spill the beans.

"I know the perfect demons to protect him!" He cheered, "Who better to do so than the only race strong enough to stand up to Zeref!"

FTFTFTFT

He held his sleeping boy close to his chest as he walked through the thick brush of forest. The boy's pale face was pressed into the crook of his neck and he was pretty sure he could feel some drool on his collarbone. Silver sighed and tried to ignore the wet feeling instead focusing on where he was going. This was going against everything he was ever taught, but he had to do this; not only for the entire world, but so his little boy could have a long and healthy life. A sharp pang shot through his chest at the thought; he only wished that he would be able to watch him grow up.

Silver heard them before he saw them; although if he thought back on it, he would remember seeing the smoke rising into the air. Cheers and roars echoed throughout the night air as the chill failed to bite at his skin. As he stepped into the fire filled clearing, the sounds of celebration immediately came to a stop; slit eyes glaring at him in apprehension. He watched as the younger dragonlings were hidden by their parents; if he were in their position he would be doing the same. He felt his son shift in his arms, most likely feeling the oppressive auras of the strongest demons in the world; his slaying powers weren't going to take long to awaken.

"Demon Slayer," A deep voice resounded through the clearing, "What brings you to my domain? The treaty between our kinds has not been breached nor will it ever be breached."

Silver nodded; his blue eyes narrowing,

"I am aware of that Igneel, but you'll find that we have more pressing matters to deal with."

A large red dragon shifted nearby; his golden eyes blazing dangerously. Silver raised an eyebrow expectantly as Igneel was swallowed by fire only to reveal a tall, tanned skinned man with fiery red hair and sharp eyes glaring at him when the flames managed to finally dissipate. The red head approached him purposefully and stopped in front of the demon slayer so that they were only a meter apart. Silver watched the Dragon King cautiously as his golden eyes fell upon the boy who was sleeping in his arms.

"Who is this young one?" Igneel inquired curiously, "He smells of your blood Demon Slayer."

Silver rolled his eyes,

"That's because he's my son; I thought that would be pretty obvious for someone like yourself."

The dragon seemed to look the boy over before looking back at his clan once more. The dragons were still weary, but some had decided to shift into their human forms as well. However, the one that caught his eye was the pink haired dragonling who stood near the fire; it was clear that he was the offspring of Igneel. Noticing his stare, Igneel cleared his throat…

"Why have you brought him here Silver Fullbuster?" He demanded, "There has to be a reason why you'd risk his health during this time of night."

Silver bristled and glared at the dragon,

"You're right and I regret doing it, but this holds precedence over anything. Zeref is back and is once again threatening the world…"

Igneel scoffed,

"Then do your job as a demon slayer and kill him; it's **your** destiny."

"I would want nothing more than to end it," He growled, "But it's not my destiny, the Exceeds revealed that I'm to die by Zeref's hand on my son's sixth birthday."

All the sound that had once lingered around the clearing had completely died; the roaring fire even seemed to have dimmed. Silver stared resolutely away from Igneel's piercing golden eyes as the dragon stared at him in disbelief. He could almost imagine going back to the Hunter Clan and telling them all that he made the Dragon King speechless; that was sure to cause a riot. Igneel opened his mouth as if to say something only to pause when the boy in Silver's arms decided to wake up.

The boy's raven head lifted from his father's shoulder and looked around him sleepily. Igneel couldn't believe the power he sensed within the boy and even at such a young age. The dragon shifted his gaze back to Silver and he knew that the Demon Slayer was aware that his son was bound to surpass him. It wasn't long before the boy's frosty, deep blue eyes landed on his golden ones; instead of fear, curiosity seemed to fill his gaze. Igneel looked to Silver for permission to speak to the boy and the demon slayer faintly nodded.

"Good Evening there young one," Igneel smiled, "Did you have a pleasant rest?"

The boy tilted his head to the side; his thumb in his mouth,

"Yeah…"

The Dragon King chuckled lightly,

"That's good. May I ask your name?"

The smaller raven furrowed his eyebrows for a moment, but answered the dragon anyway.

"Gray."

"What a handsome name," Igneel winked at the boy, "Gray, do you want to play?"

A smile immediately spread across the boy's face as he nodded his head enthusiastically. Silver frowned at the Dragon King, but he quickly relaxed when he realized that Igneel was trying to get Gray away from them so that they could have their conversation. Igneel turned towards his people and called out a name to the crowd and for some reason, he wasn't surprised when he saw the pink haired boy he noticed by the fire running to them. The boy skid to a stop in front of them and Silver noticed that the dragonling had to be nineteen or close too it (well in human years anyway) which meant that he had just recently come of age.

"Now Gray," Igneel addressed the small raven, "This is my son Natsu; he'll gladly play with you while I speak with your Papa. Is that alright with you?"

The small raven nodded enthusiastically as Silver lowered him to the ground; the demon slayer never took his eyes of the dragonling as the pinkette smiled at Gray softly. Despite the unease he had, he almost wanted to laugh at the fact that with his son being three, he only came up to the dragonling's lower thigh. Instead of looking put out at the fact that he had to watch a baby (a slayer no less), the pink haired boy seemed excited and up for the task. As Natsu reached out to take Gray's hand and lead him towards the other dragons, Silver's eyes widened when the tell-tale scales of a dragon sprouted across his skin even though he was currently in his human form.

"I thought that would happen."

Silver's eyes narrowed as he turned to Igneel darkly,

"**What **did you think would happen?"

Igneel clicked his tongue playfully before putting a reassuring hand on the Demon Slayer's shoulder,

"Gray will be completely safe if you have to leave him; Natsu will watch over him for the rest of his life."

Silver's eyes wandered to his son as Natsu called a flame to his hand,

"What do you mean?"

Something seemed to flash in Igneel's golden eyes,

"Let's just say Natsu has been waiting for him for a very long time."

TBC

**OMG guys, I'm terrible :( Here I am with three stories on the go and I just go and add another one -.- But honestly, I've been planning this one since we first learned about Silver, but didn't want to post it before we knew who exactly Silver was to Gray (though I of course had my suspicions). Now I know you guys want a new chapter for "As Time Goes On" (which I have started writing btw) and my other stories, but I'm having some issues with those ones please bear with me! Other than that, I hope you enjoy this prologue and don't be too harsh! Waiting for you reviews! :)**

**-sktrgrl**


	2. Chapter 2 - The Betrayal

**Disclaimer: Mashima-sensei owns Fairy Tail minna! :)**

**Warnings: Violence, Implied Character Deaths, Blood, Language**

Silver sat on the porch, his eyes lingering on the brightening skyline as pinks and oranges started to overcome the indigo blue of the horizon. The stars had long since disappeared along with his easiness and calm; the day had finally come. It was hard to believe that it has already been three years since he had approached the Dragon Clan in order to ask them to protect his son from his inevitable fate. Of course, he wasn't expecting the young Dragon prince to imprint on Gray, but now that it has happened he couldn't be more grateful. Now he knew he could leave this world and his son would have protection from the strongest clan of the three races.

"Silver."

The raven haired man managed to suppress a jump as he turned towards the crisp voice of his childhood friend and partner. Ur Milkovich was leaning casually against the post at the top of the stairs; her arms folded across her chest. Silver felt the need to laugh at her stern expression, even though she portrayed the mask of nonchalance, he could tell that she was just as tense as he was. He ran his hand through his hair nervously; he should've known that she would be showing up sooner or later. He sighed, at least that meant he wouldn't have to hunt her down later.

"Ur," He smirked at her, "Good to see you; how are your kids doing?"

The raven haired woman rolled her eyes,

"Let's skip the pleasantries Silver, do you have any idea what day it is?"

The demon slayer stared at the slightly frozen floorboards of his deck and decided not to answer; even if he didn't say anything, she would know. He could feel her brown eyes burning into the top of his skull and he was sure that she wasn't quite through with him yet. He heard her sigh loudly before she walked across the porch and sat down in the wicker chair that resided beside him.

"Does Mika know?" She demanded, "I swear if you didn't tell her you'll have more than Zeref to worry about."

Silver scratched his chin and stared at Ur out of the corner of his eye,

"She knows enough; I'm not risking the chance that she'll be pulled into this."

Ur slammed her fist onto the wicker arm rest,

"What are you thinking?! You're going to die! Doesn't she deserve to know that?!"

He clenched his hands into tight fists as he pushed himself out of his chair and wandered over to the wooden railing that encircled the porch. He leaned against the plywood and pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. He knew that he wouldn't be able to keep silent this time; Ur wouldn't be able to accept it if he wasn't able to give her an answer. After all, if it weren't for her, he would never had met Mika and had Gray; and he knew that without a doubt, he wouldn't have survived as long as he had being what and who he was without them.

"Of course she does," He hissed, "But Gray is already losing a father, I will not let him lose his mother as well; what would you do if you were in my situation?"

Silence surrounded them; the only sound was the harsh, late autumn wind as its cold touches caressed the frost covered ground. He didn't think she was going to say anything until her slightly calloused pale hand landed on his shoulder. Even when they disagreed, he could always count on her to make him feel better. She was his emotional rock; he helped him with things that he wasn't able to share with Mika…after all, his wife was a 'null', she was completely human and had next to no knowledge about the demon world or the war that was happening at their doorstep.

"Don't get me wrong Silver," She whispered, "I want Mika to live in the dark as much as you do and I want her to be around for Gray; we both know how much he'll need her in the future, but the Exceeds also told us the prophecy of your death…of both your deaths."

The demon slayer pounded his fist onto the fine wood causing shards of ice to erupt in its wake,

"I won't let that happen! I will not let her die; I refuse to leave Gray alone like that and I refuse to let my duty take her life."

Ur's hand trailed up from his shoulder and rubbed the back of his neck rhythmically,

"Your son won't be alone; he has people who will keep him safe."

Silver scoffed loudly,

"And for how long? Don't forget Ur, you have a prophecy hanging over your head as well."

She smiled sadly and let her hand fall limply to her side. She walked over to the railing herself and folded her arms across the wooden plank. The both of them watched as the first rays of sunlight started to touch the snow covered ground making the white particles shine like diamonds.

"What about the Dragon prince?" She glanced at him with a raised eyebrow, "That clan is practically immortal; they only age if they wish and you mentioned that the prince imprinted on Gray didn't you?"

Silver smiled sardonically,

"A prophecy lies over their heads as well…and it seems that they will be separated for a long time before they can finally meet again."

Ur laughed hollowly,

"It's amazing how our lives are controlled by prophecy; it's almost as if we don't have free will at all."

Silver shrugged his shoulders vaguely and narrowed his deep blue eyes onto the horizon. Most of their lives seemed to be controlled by the higher powers; it was almost as if they were mindless drones who only listened to the will of their master. However, he knew that if Zeref were to finally end this never ending war, it would be an eternity of slavery for both the living and the dead. If he had to give his life in order to set the path to salvation he was willing to do it…

"Papa?"

The demon slayer automatically turned his head to the now open doorway only to see Gray standing there tiredly with his blanket clutched tightly in his hand. His large, droopy eyes seemed more pronounced with the lingering touches of sleep trying to pull his eyes back closed. Silver smiled at his son brightly before walking towards him and lifting him up in his arms. The small raven immediately wrapped his arms around his dad's neck and buried his face into his throat.

"What are you doing up already little one?" He whispered playfully.

"I couldn't sleep anymore; I wasn't tired." He yawned loudly, "Who's she?"

Silver chuckled under his breath as he carried his son over to his childhood friend,

"This is your Aunty Ur; the last time you would've seen her you would've been a baby."

Gray tilted his head to the side and stared at her cautiously. Silver had to hide a laugh as a cough when he took in Ur's surprised expression on her face. She hadn't seen Gray since he was a baby in the hospital; between missions for the Hunter Clan and her own little ones she hadn't had the time to get to know her godson.

"Hi there," She greeted, "You don't need to be so scared; I'm not going to hurt you."

"I'm not scared," Gray pouted, "I'm not scared of nothing."

Ur chuckled and ruffled the boy's raven hair affectionately,

"Even the monsters under your bed?"

Gray flinched and looked away from Ur as he bit his lip. Silver smiled fondly at his son; his boy wasn't scared of much, but when it came to the 'monsters' under his bed it was an entirely different story. Silver rubbed his back soothingly before placing his son on the floor. Gray clung to his pant leg and stared up at him with wide eyes.

"Why don't you go get ready for the day," He whispered, "Mama will be up soon and then all four of us can sit down and have your birthday breakfast, yeah?"

A bright smile overtook the small raven's face and he nodded his head enthusiastically,

"'Kay! Is 'Tsu coming for breakfast?"

Silver smiled softly,

"Not today, but his dad said that he'll be here for supper."

Gray frowned for a moment at the thought, but he nodded his head nonetheless and ran back inside; his feet pattering against the hardwood floor as he moved. Silver's eyes followed his son's frame until he disappeared around the corner. He turned towards his friend and saw the soft smile on her face.

"Shit," He whispered, "I guess you can't stay for breakfast can you? Who's watching over your kids?"

"Rob and Gildarts are watching over them," She shrugged, "Gildarts ended up staying the night on the couch after our poker night went too long and he passed out, while Rob said he would watch all three of them this morning since he knew that I would want to come here bright and early to talk to you."

"So is that a yes to breakfast?" He raised an eyebrow curiously.

She touched his elbow comfortingly,

"I'll stay as long as you need me; after all, what are sisters for?"

He smiled and nodded at her as she turned and made her way into the house. Silver remained outside for a moment longer and watched as the sun completely breached the horizon; finally invoking the start of the end of his life.

FTFTFTFT

Natsu stood outside as the sun started to rise into the sky. As the son of the great fire dragon Igneel, he rose when the sun did along with his father. Of course, his dad usually disappeared before the sun would poke its way into the early morning sky so he could start the ritual of protection. Usually, Natsu could lounge around in bed for a few more hours, but today he found that he couldn't. He knew that something was going to happen today and he knew that it wasn't going to be good; his father had been getting tense for days now and it has only gotten worse.

The dragonling was pulled out of his musings as something seemed to blossom in his chest. He smiled faintly as he realized that his Chosen had woken up from his slumber. He never thought he would meet his soul mate so soon after coming of age; for most dragons it took years, maybe even millennia, but Gray was there on the very day he entered 'adulthood'. Of course part of him wished that his Chosen was a little older (or a lot older) than he was, but he was going to be around throughout Gray's life be it brother, best friend and then finally (hopefully) lover.

"Oi Natsu, stop thinking so hard," A gruff voice called out, "You might burn off the rest of your brain cells."

"Oh shut your mouth metal head," He growled as he turned towards his 'brother', "Don't you have anything better to do than piss me off?"

The son of the metal dragon demon Metalicana guffawed loudly as he approached the fire dragon demon. Natsu scowled as Gajeel's sharp red eyes seemed to scan over him like an experiment and a smirk appeared on his face.

"What's got you in such a bad mood?" He laughed, "Shouldn't you be happy? It's the squirt's birthday isn't it?"

Natsu ran his hand through his pink hair,

"Yeah it is, but I feel like something is going to happen."

Gajeel's eyes narrowed as all teasing left his face,

"What kind of _feeling_ are we talking about? The good kind or the 'world is going to shit' kind?"

The fire dragon threw his hands up in the air,

"That's the problem; I have no clue and it's driving me absolutely crazy!"

Natsu sighed and paced around their forest encampment; this entire thing was just frustrating. He was about to set a nearby tree aflame when he felt Gajeel's hand grab onto his forearm. He turned to face his 'brother' and he immediately noticed the tenseness that resided in the older raven's frame.

"Have you talked to your dad about it?" He demanded.

Natsu frowned and yanked his arm out of the metal dragon's grip,

"I would if I knew where the hell he disappeared to."

Whatever was bothering his father for the past couple days was enough to ensure that he remained removed from the rest of the clan. Natsu didn't know what it was, but even that behaviour made him uneasy. His fingers were twitching restlessly at his side as he broadened his senses in an attempt to locate his father. However, as he scanned the clearing he found it strangely devoid of the Guardian Dragons; it was as if the only ones left in the village were the dragonlings…even the dragonlings who were too young yet to be left alone were without their parental figures.

"Gajeel," He whispered tensely, "When was the last time you saw Metalicana?"

The red eyed dragonling shifted warily,

"Sometime this morning; a little after the sun rose I believe…what are you thinking about flame head?"

Natsu tilted his head worriedly,

"I can't sense the Guardians or my father; it's as if they completely disappeared."

Gajeel frowned at him in disbelief before closing his eyes. The heir knew that the older was scanning the encampment for anything that he may have overlooked. After a few moments, the iron dragon demon's eyes opened slowly; confusion and hurt shining in his fiery orbs. Without saying a word he turned his back on Natsu and started to make his way to the forest line.

"Oi metal brain!" Natsu hollered anxiously, "Where the hell are you going?!"

"I'm going to go round up Laxus, Erik, Sting and Rogue," He answered tersely, "You on the other hand have to head to the squirt's house and warn the demon slayer that something is happening and it's not good."

"But…our parents…"

Gajeel froze in his footsteps,

"For whatever reason, they aren't here which leaves you in charge. You said something big is coming and despite your lack of intelligence I do trust your instinct; you need to be able to protect Gray at any cost. I'll bring the others over when I find them; we need to be prepared."

Natsu clenched his jaw so hard that he thought his teeth were going to crack; he didn't like the idea of splitting up at all, but it was the only thing they had right now. He nodded his head tightly before turning his back on his brother. The pinkette gathered his magic inside him and allowed it overflow; the flames immediately swallowed his body. As soon as the heat left his newly formed scales, Natsu flapped his large wings and took to the sky. He was faintly aware of Gajeel doing the same behind him; it was the fastest mode of travel after all.

He focused on letting his wings rip through the air as he shot above the trees; it seemed that with every flap of his wings, the lower the sun would sink in the sky. He really hated how far Gray's village was from the clearing; it made visiting him difficult. And considering the dilemma he has currently found himself in, he really wished that there was some short cut that he could take. He was about to fly into the barren icy landscape of the tundra when a familiar scent reached his nostrils. Natsu immediately glanced down and noticed a shock of auburn hair; judging by the scent it could only be Erik. Without a moment's hesitation, Natsu dove from the sky and shot like a rocket towards the ground. Before his snout was a hair away from the snow, he leveled himself out and allowed his flames to consume him once more; his human body taking the dragon's place.

"Erik," Natsu addressed the poison dragon demon, "Gajeel and I were looking for you."

The red head was silent for a moment before he turned to face the heir,

"I heard you."

The pinkette's eyes narrowed cautiously; something about his 'brother' didn't feel right and he knew that a large part of it was because Erik _never_ used his unique gift on members of their clan. Natsu sniffed the air around him and instantly put himself in a defensive pose causing a smirk to spread across Erik's lips.

"Erik," Natsu growled warningly, "What did you do?"

The poison dragon demon's onyx eyes shone brilliantly,

"I've done a lot of things, but I have to say that the one I am most proud of so happened to occur today."

Natsu was prepared to charge the red head when he suddenly held up his hand,

"You should be careful your _highness_, you wouldn't want to leave itty bitty Gray to his death do you?"

The fire dragon demon's eyes sparked dangerously,

"Don't you dare threaten him."

Before he was even able to finish the sentence, Erik had started laughing; his dulcet tones echoing throughout the bitter air. Natsu gathered his power within him prepared to fight his brother only to freeze in his tracks once more. Erik tilted his head to the side and stared at Natsu as if he was nothing more than the dirt that was stuck to his shoes.

"I don't have to threaten him," Erik smirked, "For it has already been written…_At the six year mark the Dragons will be Betrayed by one of their own, and the Dark One shall ascend the throne; One snow covered village will be the stage, to be consumed by the Monster's rage; The Protector of Ice shall finally fall, bringing with him the end of them all_."

It felt as if every corner of his core was doused in water. His airways seemed clog as realization started to set in. All the sad and longing looks that Silver had as the years went on and the silent worrying of his father; the six year mark was today…today, Gray was turning six years old. Newfound rage burned inside him as he glared hatefully at his brother; the dragonling who was christened on the exact year as himself.

"Erik," Natsu hissed as flames sprung to his hands, "How could you?! H-He's my Chosen…and we…we're your family!"

Dark laughter escaped his lips,

"And that my dear Prince is why it's called betrayal. But now that you know the truth, I can't allow you to leave alive; I can't have you running off to warn _the demon slayer_ now do I?"

Natsu felt his belly swell as he prepared himself for a roar. Just as the flames left his lips, he was able to catch Erik's next words…

"And from now on you can call me Cobra; you should know the name of your killer."

FTFTFTFT

Silver watched his son as the small raven sat in front of the panoramic window; his warm breath fogging the chilly glass. He noted that the sun was sinking lower and lower; it had well passed supper time and Natsu had yet to make an appearance. Gray had refused to touch his plate until Natsu had arrived and with his genetically given stubbornness, it was obvious that no matter how much Mika or himself tried they would not be able to get Gray to have one bite of his dinner. The demon slayer frowned, if that pink haired idiot ever did show up he was going to kick his ass for making his baby boy sad.

He was pulled out of his borderline murderous thoughts by thin arms wrapping around his neck. He placed one of his hands on Mika's right forearm and rubbed it soothingly. Silver smiled softly as she pressed her lips to his temple. She slowly released him and wandered over to the seat across from him and sat down. She set her elbows on the table and laid her head in her hand; Silver gulped, he knew that look. It meant that she wanted to talk…and said topic might very well result in a very brutal smack down from his wife.

"Silver," She frowned, "Natsu's never been late before, early yes, but never late; I'm worried."

The dark haired man tensed slightly,

"He probably got held up is all; he is a teenager."

Mika was contemplative for a moment; her honey brown eyes shining with curiosity and mischief. She played with the ends of her long raven hair thoughtfully before looking her husband in the eyes. Okay, now he knew that his wife was up to something. Mika stretched her hand across the table and placed her small hand on top of his own. She rubbed her fingers along his knuckles and looked at him imploringly.

"I know," She smiled sadly, "I know everything."

Silver's heart stopped,

"Y-You what?"

"I knew something was different about you Silver; you seemed so otherworldly. I thought it was my imagination until Gray was born…he had the same otherworldliness as you did and then when Natsu came into our lives; c'mon you wouldn't think I'd find it strange that he doesn't age and that he's creepily emotionally invested in my six year old." She rambled, "So, well, I talked to Makarov…"

Silver pulled his hand away from Mika's and buried his face in his hands. The very thing he didn't want to happen had happened. He laughed brokenly before raising his head to look at his beautiful wife. Mika had tears in her eyes, but she was still smiling at him. That's when he knew that she knew about the prophecy as well.

"Mika," He whispered, "When the time comes, I need you and Gray to run away from here as fast as you can; do you understand me?"

She opened her mouth to respond only to be cut off by their son's enthusiastic shouts,

"'Tsu is here, 'Tsu is here!"

Neither of them had the chance to blink before Gray had hopped off his seat by the window sill and threw open the front door. Suddenly the smell of death reached his nose and caused him to immediately shoot out of his seat. He heard Mika doing the same, but he was focused solely on the scent that had filtered into his house. When he reached the doorway, Natsu was kneeling in the snow, his body almost contorted into an unshapely ball…that's when he noticed the smell was coming from Natsu.

With a burst of speed that instantly caught up with Gray's little legs, Silver overtook his son and acted as a barrier; causing the small raven to run directly into his arms. Gray started to kick him repeatedly for halting his mad dash for the dragon prince, but he effectively ignored. He quickly handed Gray to Mika who had just caught up.

"Go get Porlyusica," He ordered, "And make sure she hurries."

Something in his eyes made her pale and she immediately listened to him; she started towards the village, Gray kicking and screaming for Natsu the entire way. Silver returned his attention to the fallen Dragon Demon and ran over to his fallen figure. He reached out to touch his quaking shoulder only to have Natsu flinch away from him.

"Don't touch me," He hissed brokenly, "The poison will spread to you too."

Silver's eyebrows furrowed,

"Poison?"

Natsu looked up at him; his amber-flecked green eyes were surrounded by dark circles. His normally golden tanned skin was as pale as the snow that lay around them. He knew that if he didn't do something soon, the Dragon Prince wouldn't survive long enough for Porlyusica to save him. He could not let Natsu die; not only did he owe Igneel, but Gray would be broken for the rest of his life…a part of his soul torn from him. He summoned his ice magic and concentrated a portion of his demon slaying magic into the sheet of ice; enough to curb the poison, but not enough to kill the dragon demon faster.

"Who did this to you?" He demanded.

Natsu winced,

"Erik…Erik betrayed the clan; the prophecy is coming true."

Silver frowned,

"Where's your father? Couldn't he fight him?"

The pinkette's fists clenched tightly and the dark haired male had a feeling that it wasn't because of the pain. Natsu stared at him evenly; worry and fear evident in his steely gaze. He relaxed his hands and closed his eyes,

"Igneel, Metalicana and the other Guardian Dragons have all disappeared; we couldn't sense them anywhere…it was as if they had never existed."

_Zeref and Acnologia…_

He didn't voice it to the hurt Dragon Demon, but he knew deep in his gut that they were responsible for the Guardians' disappearances. He was about to ask the young heir more questions when a ferocious roar sounded in the direction of the village followed immediately by an explosion. Silver looked toward the village to see what the hell was going on only to see a demon that had to be close to fifty feet tall and he was positive he could sense Zeref's Living Magic surrounding it; he smirked, it made it virtually unbeatable.

"Don't…Don't go."

He turned and found himself looking into desperate green eyes,

"Gray will need you…your wife…if you go all of them will die and Gray will be left all alone."

"I…" Silver sighed and pressed his hand on pink hair soothingly, "I have to protect as much people as I can; my clan is fighting so I have to help them protect those who cannot protect themselves."

"But…"

Silver shushed him calmingly,

"Gray will always have you Natsu, son of Igneel and with that knowledge, I know I can die peacefully."

Before Natsu could argue with him any further he dashed towards the smoldering inferno that used to be his town. He had left Natsu solely for the fact that the other members of his clan were coming to his aid. As he entered the chaos filled streets, he only regretted one thing…

Gray would have to watch both his mother and his father die.

TBC

**Hey minna! :D Here's a new update for ya! Sorry for the delay, but I wanted to make this part just right, hopefully it isn't too horrible. I still can't believe I wrote this…sigh…I hope you like the whole betrayal thing lol it was difficult for me to choose a rogue dragon demon (here's a punny moment for ya: I was gonna chose Rogue for the bad guy because of Future! Rogue in the Manga/Anime but decided against it 'cause he wouldn't have the same motivation since Frosch is still alive in this). Waiting on your reviews :)**

**-sktrgrl**

**PS. Okay… so before finishing this chapter I watched episode 196 of Fairy Tail…hell I knew it was coming but I still bawled like a baby when Gray took the fall for Juvia :'( and congrats to all of you who said it was Lyon who called out Gray's name…yup, added more to their bromance and broke my heart even more! WAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!**

**I also want to say thanks to all 14 of you lovely reviewers and I want to apologize for making you all wait so long! :) Thanks to those who followed and favourited as well; you guys are awesome!**


	3. Chapter 3 - Peace Can't Remain

**Disclaimer: Mashima-sensei owns the glorious world known as Fairy Tail!**

**Warnings: Language, Time Skip (majorly), Bro-Angst, General Angst, Character Death and Violence**

**EDITED – I don't know if it's any better or not lol! I hope you enjoy!**

_**Thirteen Years Later…**_

Lightning flashed across the obsidian sky as thunder hastily followed it; rain was falling heavily upon the once living forest. Animals no longer thrived there and the trees have long since died starting when the ominous presence first found the place. Sitting in the center of the clearing was a man with hair as dark as the sky above him and eyes as red as the blood of the innocent people he spilt. The last thirteen years had been nothing short of a massacre in the Demon Plain and he had to say that it was the best thirteen years of his life.

After killing the last surviving Demon Slayer, there was no one else left to stop him. He continued to resurrect lost demons left and right allowing them to have free reign amongst Earthland once more; he had never experienced something more euphoric. Not only had the sacred city of Isvan been destroyed, but Edolas, Extalia, and many other places were eradicated soon after. A frown tugged heavily on his lips; somehow the Dragon spawn had managed to escape the massacre along with a few of the Exceeds and that was something that did not sit right with him.

They had to be up to something.

He glanced up at the crying and sky and tried to suppress his uncalled for anxiety. There was no use in worrying about something that wouldn't be a threat to him and his mate. The fact of the matter was, without a Demon Slayer he and his precious Acnologia could not be defeated; the world would finally be theirs. This time, puny little Demon Slayers like Mavis Vermillion and Silver Fullbuster wouldn't be there to save the day and that was just glorifying.

Now the only thing that would make this day even better was if his beloved would return home to him.

"Zeref-sama!"

The dark haired demon rolled his eyes before turning towards the source of the call lazily. Walking towards him, with purpose in every step he took, was none other than Purehito Geborugu; now commonly known to the world as the corrupt Demon Slayer, Hades. There is no doubt that Hades had the strength to destroy all plans that he held dear, but the man's heart was so darkened by his hatred of the very clan he was born into that it was easy to manipulate the weakling into the palm of his hand.

"What is it Hades?" He yawned and closed his eyes, "There had better be a good reason why you're interrupting me when I clearly said that I wanted to be left alone."

The tall, silver haired man bowed to him reverently,

"I apologize for the interruption Zeref-sama, but I thought that the Intel I received was of upmost importance."

"And what would that be?"

A few moments of silence passed causing a scowl to appear on Zeref's pale face. He angrily opened his eyes, prepared to reprimand Hades for wasting his time when he saw the look of utter disbelief, anger and _fear_ on his slightly wrinkled visage. Zeref felt his magic swirl within him as his anxiety started to rear its ugly head.

"Hades," He spat furiously, "Tell me what you have found or you shall feel the full wrath of my Death magic."

"I apologize again Zeref-sama," He muttered tersely, "It's just that what I'm about to tell you won't be easy for you to hear."

The dark haired demon clenched his fists at his sides,

"Did something happen to Acnologia?"

If possible, Hades paled even further; shaking his head adamantly back and forth,

"No, but I do regret to inform you that an Ice Demon Slayer still lives."

Whatever he had been expecting hear, he had to firmly say that _that_ wasn't even close to the top of his list. How could that even be possible? He had used any means necessary not only to kill the bastard of a Demon Slayer (even kicked his rotting corpse), but he also severed the ties to the Hunter Clan and the Dragon Demons preventing the ridiculous 'ice and sun' part of the prophecy from coming to fruition.

"Do you somehow find this amusing?" He growled, "Do you wish to bring about my anger?"

"Of course not my lord!" Hades bowed his head, "But I have a reason to believe my Intel; Cobra _heard_ it himself and you mustn't forget that he used to have deep bonds with the Dragon Clan before he betrayed them. If anyone would know about this, he would Zeref-sama."

Zeref clenched his teeth tightly,

"Is Cobra here, Hades? If so, I demand that I speak with him immediately."

"I'll bring him to you straight away."

Without another word, the silver haired man turned on his heel and made his way to the boundaries of the forest. Zeref watched his retreating back; anger and loathing rolling off of him in waves. Throwing caution to the wind, the self-proclaimed King of Demons whipped his arm out towards a nearby husk of a tree sending a wave of dark energy rocketing towards it. In the blink of an eye, the decrepit bark that was once remained on the dead life form disappeared into oblivion; it was as if the tree had never existed.

Before he could lose his temper even further, he heard Hades returning from the edge of the forest; a new set of footsteps accompanying him. Zeref couldn't help but feel pleased despite the situation, after all, Erik…no…Cobra had come so far in the past fourteen years. His poison dragon demon abilities had become next to unbeatable and his blackened soul, if possible, has even started to become as black as Zeref's own.

"Cobra," He addressed the russet haired demon, "Is the information you brought to Master Hades true? There is absolutely no margin for error; we cannot afford to make mistakes."

The poison dragon demon's onyx eyes sharpened,

"I wouldn't come to you unless I knew what I heard was in fact true; I would never wish to anger you Zeref-sama."

The dark haired demon pursed his lips,

"Then what is the news you have brought me?"

Cobra stared at Zeref stoically for a moment before he spoke,

"Before I tell you anything my lord, I have a very important question that I have to ask you."

Zeref growled impatiently,

"And what would that be dragonling?"

The russet haired dragon stayed resolutely silent once again incurring the King of Demon's boiling wrath. Just as he was about to punish the dragonling for his insolence, Cobra had opened his mouth to speak.

"Zeref-sama," He stated seriously, "Were you aware that Silver Fullbuster had an heir?"

The dark haired demon froze; his non-existent heart almost exploding from distress,

"What are you talking about?"

Cobra sighed,

"Silver Fullbuster had a young son who managed to survive the attack on Isvan that night; in fact, he along with a handful of hunters were the only survivors of the destruction."

Zeref's eyes narrowed,

"Simply because this bastard of a child survived doesn't mean that he had inherited his father's gifts."

"That may be true, but I know for a fact that this boy poses a great danger to your plans." Cobra stated confidently.

"What about this irrelevant child could possibly anger me?" He demanded haughtily.

The russet haired demon's onyx eyes burned deeply into his blood red,

"Not only _did_ Silver's son inherit the powers of the Demon Slayer line, but he is also the mate of the Dragon Demon Prince, Natsu Dragneel."

_**Two Clans must unite as One  
>Joining the power of Ice and Sun<strong>_

How could he be such a fool?! How could he miss something as important as a direct blood relation?! He felt the two demons shift fearfully near him, but he didn't pay them any mind; he, after all, had a mess to clean up. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath in an effort to rein in his fluctuating Death magic; the last thing he needed was to accidently kill his foolish subordinates…

They haven't lost their usefulness yet.

When he had felt his magic finally calm down, he opened his eyes and stared darkly at Hades and Cobra in turn. It seemed that he would have to call in the rest of his 'team' in order to remove the blemish that had arisen. He focused his attention on the silver haired man and glowered at him from underneath hooded eyelids.

"Hades," He ordered, "Round up the rest of the soldiers; it looks as if we'll be marching into battle sooner than expected."

"Of course Zeref-sama," He bowed obediently, "Right away."

As Hades made his way towards their place of residence, Zeref glanced over at the poison dragon demon. He knew that Cobra could not read his mind (for the dragonling's was so much more inferior), but sometimes he thought the brat knew more than he let on. He stared evenly at the dragonling in silence before finally addressing him,

"Before I send you on your mission, I want to know if Natsu Dragneel is still protecting that bastard of a demon slayer."

Cobra shook his head immediately,

"No Zeref-sama; in fact, Natsu Dragneel has been absent from Gray's life since your precious Deliora destroyed the village of Brago twelve years ago."

The dark haired demon raised his eyebrow curiously,

"Now why would he do that? Isn't it painful for a Dragon to be separated from his mate for such a long period of time?"

"Yes, but in this case Dragneel had no choice in the matter." Cobra smirked, "He can't really do much when his mate no longer remembers anything about this world."

Zeref's eyes widened at the surprising information; all the anxiety and anger he felt up until that moment started to dissipate. Maybe there was a chance that he could use the so-called demon slayer's obliviousness to the supernatural world to further his plans. The corner of his lip twitched in amusement as a rough idea started to form in his head.

"Care to tell me how this outcome would be possible, Cobra?"

"I'll be more than happy to; anything that hurts Igneel's son is worth it," He nodded, "But first, I would like to ask you about the mission you have for me in this assassination."

The red eyed demon smiled at the unyielding hatred Cobra had for Natsu Dragneel; it has been something he had deemed useful when he had seduced the poison dragon demon to the side of darkness. He has never gone so far as to pry into the dragonling's mind to find out the reason for that hatred, but the answer was no doubt amusing. Zeref smiled at the dragonling and pointed to the Northeast side of the forest where the grass slowly yielded to ice and snow.

"You're duty is simple young one," He smirked darkly, "You are to lead the demon Deliora to the residence of the demon slayer's offspring and destroy him; it would only be justice if the impudent brat were to be killed by the beast that killed his father."

Cobra folded his arms across his chest and raised an eyebrow,

"What of the civilians that reside in the town?"

Zeref scoffed,

"Collateral damage; you will do anything to ensure that that bastard is vanquished, is that clear Cobra?"

"Yes Zeref-sama," The russet haired dragon demon smiled slyly, "It's as clear as ice."

FTFTFTFT

He stared out of the wide, panoramic window; his chin resting on the palm of his hand as he watched the clouds move lethargically through the overcast sky. He could hear the monotonous droning of his professor in the back of his mind; he really, really didn't want to be there. Normally, he would at least _act_ like he was listening, but today he couldn't find himself caring. Hell, half the time, he didn't even know why he decided to go to university. Part of him thought that he went because he didn't want to disrespect Ur and everything that she had done for him while another part of him thought that he went just to spite his older brother; after all, Lyon told him point-blank that he didn't want him to continue his education.

Gray sighed loudly and closed his eyes; he really didn't understand his family. Not only had his older sister disappeared out of their lives five years ago without a goodbye, Lyon had essentially severed him out of his life, leaving him to fend for himself the last three years. Gray lowered his hand from his head and formed it into a tight fist on his desk. He wouldn't say it out loud or anything, but his heart _hurt _every time he thought about his brother abandoning him. The raven knew that a lot of the reason why Lyon disappeared all those years ago (and possibly even Ultear as well) was because his brother blamed him for the death of Ur, their mother.

The funny thing was, Gray believed that Lyon had a right to hate him.

He didn't remember much about that night; it was as if areas of his memory were missing. He knew enough to know that Ur wasn't actually his mother even though he had taken to calling her as such. Sometimes he was able to remember what his real parents sounded like, but he could never remember what they looked like. The year that Ur died, she had told him that he was ready to hear the truth; whatever that meant. In the back of his mind, he could hear a deep, soothing voice telling him that she was his Aunty Ur and he had a feeling that the voice belonged to his father; the man that he couldn't remember.

He wished that he could remember his birth parents; Ur never really told him what happened to them. In fact, the first memory that he had of Ur was her, Ultear and Lyon finding him in some rubble; it was hazy and he wasn't even sure if it actually happened, but it was the closest thing he had to his real mom and dad. With Ur dead, now all he had was questions and no one was around to answer him. The one time Gray had voiced his questions was three years ago when he and Lyon had that argument. He was asking his silver haired brother if he remembered an older boy with pink hair and green eyes; it had all escalated from there and ended with the slamming of a door and Lyon's retreating back.

"Gray? Helloooo, Earthland to Gray!"

The raven jumped in his seat and out of his swirling thoughts. His deep blue eyes immediately landed on a girl with long dark hair and indigo eyes. She was straddling the seat of the desk in front of him and slouched over the back rest; her customary 'water' bottle clutched loosely in her hand. He raised an eyebrow when he noticed that her cheeks weren't as pink from inebriation as they usually were at this time of day.

"Sorry Cana," He chuckled weakly, "Was a little lost in thought."

Cana Alberona rolled her eyes dramatically and took a swig of her drink,

"You don't need to apologize to me, but you have to know that you owe me a slice of pizza now that you made me stay in class later than I ever wanted to."

The raven rubbed the back of his head and chuckled weakly,

"Whatever you say Cana…whatever you say."

He got up from his desk and grabbed the backpack he had draped over his seat. He put it on his shoulder and headed towards the doorway, Cana's strangely sober steps following behind him. The pair walked in silence as they walked down the empty halls of Fairy Tail University; the sound of their feet bouncing off the quiet walls. However, seeing how Cana Alberona was walking beside him, he had to know that the silence wouldn't last very long.

"So," She began; a curious lilt to her voice, "What were you so deep in thought about? The only thing on your mind _should have _been the not-so-surprise birthday bash that we're having tonight to celebrate your nineteenth birthday and even though you're not looking forward to going, it wouldn't have caused such a dark aura to pulsate around you like it was."

Gray rolled his eyes,

"Cana, according to you my 'aura' is always dark; you said it was the reason why you were so drawn to me."

"Don't avoid the question Gray Fullbuster," She clicked her tongue, "I've known you for almost twelve years now so I also know that that pinched face you had earlier had something to do with Lyon, your mom, Ultear or all of the above."

He scowled darkly and continued to stare ahead of himself; he really hated how perceptive she could be. He could feel her eyes burning holes into the side of his head, but he could care less about it; Cana was intimidating, but not that intimidating. He glanced at her out of the corner of his eyes and shrugged his shoulders vaguely.

"It doesn't matter what I was thinking about; it wasn't that important."

She folded her arms across her chest,

"So then it won't stop you from at least pretending that you're going to have a good time tonight?"

"Cana," He sighed loudly as they exited the school building, "I told you that I didn't want to go in the first place; you know I hate my birthday."

The brunette raised an unimpressed eyebrow,

"Yeah, you may have mentioned it, but you never told me _why_ you hated it."

And there lies the center of the problem.

He didn't know why he hated his birthday…he just did. He would honestly wake up in the morning with a dark whirling pit settling into his stomach. He had a feeling that it had something to do with the recurring nightmares (that he couldn't remember) that happened the night before his birthday, without fail, every single year. What used to confuse him even more was that Ultear and Lyon would be more depressed than usual on his birthday and Ur would often look at him with pity in her eyes.

Gray growled under his breath in annoyance and tried to purposefully lose his derailing train of thought. He glanced over at the brunette walking by his side and frowned. Ever since he had known her, she had tried to pry into his life and figure out the 'mysterious aura of Gray Fullbuster'. When he was younger, he didn't have a problem with it because it made her happy, but now it only served to remind him that he knew just as much about his own life and past as she did.

"Gray," She huffed; causing him to turn his attention to her once more, "Don't ignore me; I'm sorry I asked, okay?"

He knew she wasn't actually sorry.

"If I go to this stupid party," He closed his eyes in defeat, "Will you promise not to throw me another party ever again?"

As if by magic, a smirk instantaneously spread across her face. Before he could stop her, her hand latched onto his forearm (with a surprisingly tight grip) and started to drag him out of the main building of the university. He hung his head in silent agony; what did he just get himself into? Suddenly, a chill travelled down his spine forcing him to stop walking, causing Cana to nearly trip over her own feet and face-plant onto the pavement.

"Gray!" She growled impatiently, "What the hell was that for?!"

"I…"

He didn't know how to explain it to her without sounding crazy; it felt like he was being watched. The strange thing was, he wasn't as freaked out as he should be; in fact, the reason he stopped was for something else entirely. For as soon as the chill disappeared, it was replaced by a comforting heat blooming in the center of his chest. He subconsciously gripped the front of his shirt right over his heart and glanced around himself slowly.

"Gray?" He turned towards Cana at the note of concern in her voice, "Are you alright?"

"I…" He gulped softly and slowly released his shirt, "Yeah…I'm fine."

She looked as if she was going to try and push it further, but he quickly grabbed her hand and started to pull her towards the parking lot once more. She was oddly silent the entire way to her vehicle, but he simply chalked it up to the fact that she was either weird-ed out by him or simply thinking up ways to get him positively hammered.

If he'd had to take a guess, he'd have to say that chances are the answer was the latter.

FTFTFTFT

A lone figure sat in a large room with a chandelier hanging from the ceiling; a large table rested before him with enough seats to house eleven more people. He stared at the empty chairs and frowned, of course everyone else could be late, but as soon as he was late he received the largest verbal stoning of his life. He rolled his eyes; he guessed it was to be expected since his sister was the acting leader of the Hunters' Alliance… she was never one to cut him some slack.

He straightened in his chair when he heard the large double doors to the chamber open. As soon as the doors slammed against their respective walls, sound finally reached his ears. Well, if he was going to state it correctly, he meant the complete lack of sound. He could hear the footsteps of his comrades as they got closer and closer to the council chambers, but for the first time in a long time no voices accompanied the footsteps and he knew why.

Today was the day.

Today was the anniversary of when their homes were destroyed and their parents or guardians were slaughtered at the hands of a demon. Today was the anniversary of when their only hope for winning against the demons was annihilated and today was the anniversary of when nothing would ever be the same. There were many thoughts and feelings that accompanied today's date; each and every thought being different from the other, but the one thing that remained the same was the sense of hopelessness and loss that seemed to surface without fail.

He frowned as the remainder of his family walked into the chambers; a thick cloud of sadness surrounding them as they took their seats. It was days like today where the vacant chairs in the room seemed the most noticeable; it was days like today where they felt the emptiness of their absence. The chair that rested at the head of the table has been vacant for the past thirteen years and if all went to plan, it would never be filled even if looking at it brought a sharp pain to his chest.

"Lyon," He turned towards the slightly amused voice, "I didn't expect you to be here waiting for us, it's more often than not the other way around."

The silverette felt his cheeks flare in anger and embarrassment,

"Oh shut up Ultear, It's not like I'm late on purpose!"

At his outburst, the tense atmosphere that engulfed the chambers dissipated slightly; leave it to Ultear to make fun of him just so they could be mentally prepared for this particular meeting. He glanced around the room and noticed that they had seemed more relaxed than they had when they had initially arrived.

"Even so," She smirked, "You deserve a gold star for that achievement."

The silverette rolled his eyes at his older sister and averted his gaze,

"Whatever."

A soft laugh reached his ears,

"Oh Lyon, you don't need to be so angry about a little teasing."

"Be quiet Scarlet," He growled, "You're only saying that because she never makes fun of you."

He glared lightly at the red haired woman who sat to the left of the vacant chair at the table. If Ultear was the right hand and acting head of the Alliance, then Erza Scarlet was the left hand and dealt with anything else that Ultear didn't have the time to deal with. Having those two demon women at the head of their Alliance was damn near life threatening.

"No," She smiled, "I just never put myself into that type of situation and I'm not the only one; she doesn't yell at Lucy, Juvia or Mira does she?"

A strawberry blonde male scoffed from the other side of the table,

"Maybe she's just sexist."

Lyon felt a dark aura immediately descended upon the room,

"What did you say?!"

"Uh guys," A blonde haired girl laughed nervously, "Shouldn't we talk about what we scheduled for this meeting?"

Ultear glared at Loke for a few more moments before she relaxed in her chair once more. Lyon couldn't help but sigh under his breath as the murderous intent seemed to dissipate; the sunglasses wearing idiot really managed to dodge a bullet this time. Of course it's not Loke's fault that Ultear couldn't handle the truth of her personality; she did tend to favour girls and everyone…who was male at least…knew that.

"Of course," She nodded to the blonde, "Thanks for the reminder Lucy."

Lucy smiled in response for a brief second before sadness descended on her face once more. Lyon noticed as Loke placed his hand under the table and squeezed the girl's hand comfortingly. Those two were always strangely close, yet at the same time they couldn't be farther apart; it was damn annoying to watch. It was obvious that Loke and Lucy had some sort of connection and the fact that the duo refused to acknowledge that inherent connection pissed him off to no end. He didn't understand why they didn't take advantage of the time that they had together and be happy while they still could. It hasn't happened yet, but he was positive that it wouldn't be long before the tentative period of 'peace' that they've had for the past couple of years would come to an end.

"As all of you know," Ultear stated seriously, "Today marks thirteen years since the Demon usurper sent the monster Deliora into Isvan and destroyed our homes. About eleven years ago, the Exceeds gave us another prophecy telling us of the return of Zeref after years of supposed silence; we need to create a plan of action."

"But Ultear-sama," Juvia glanced at the raven haired woman sadly, "If Zeref doesn't know he's alive and Gray-sama doesn't know this world exists, couldn't the prophecy be completely voided?"

Silence descended amongst the people present at the meeting as _his _name was uttered for the first time in who knows how long. Gray was always a taboo when it came to these meetings and it was usually because of one or two reasons. The first being the sadness his absence brings everyone in the Alliance and the second being the ensuing guilt that plagues both Ultear and himself for the rest of the day.

If there was something that he wished that he could change (other than his mother's death and the destruction of Isvan, of course…) would be to redo the way in which he and his adoptive younger brother had parted. Even now, he regretted everything he said to Gray and wished that he could somehow apologize to him, but it wasn't possible. The best way to keep Gray safe from Zeref was to keep the raven separated from the Alliance and in return separate from his suppressed memory.

"There's always that chance," Ultear conceded softly, "But Zeref also has many sources, one of which being Cobra the Betrayer who knew all about the workings of the Dragon Clan and the origin of Bonds and Imprinting. We have to be ready for anything."

Lyon noticed as people in the room shifted restlessly; he along with everyone else knew that this was coming. Everyone knew that the War was drawing closer and closer as the years went by, but it was obvious that no one wanted to believe it was true. Just as he thought the meeting was going to end in a stalemate on the matter (once again), Freed Justine raised his palm. His eyebrow raised curiously as he eyed the emerald haired male; it wasn't often that Freed made his thoughts known in council.

Ultear nodded towards the twenty year old male,

"What do you and the Thunder Legion have to say on the matter Freed?"

Freed tapped his chin; his blue eyes narrowed seriously,

"What if we were to ask for outside assistance? It is clear to not only me and the Thunder Legion, but also to many of the other Hunters in the Alliance that we do not stand a chance against Zeref on our own. Even if Gray were to return to us with his full strength, who is to say that we can defeat the Dark One alone? The Exceeds sure don't."

Lyon frowned at Freed,

"What are you getting at Justine? Stop beating around the bush."

"I'm talking about the prophecy given by the Exceeds three years before the destruction of our home," Freed rolled his eyes, "The Prophecy of Ice and Sun."

From across the table, Loke's eyes hardened into a stern glare,

"You can't honestly be thinking of doing _that _are you?! After everything they did?!"

Erza held up her hand to silence the strawberry blonde before he could go on a tirade. The scarlet haired woman glanced at Ultear who nodded at her slightly to signify her right to speak. Lyon watched as the mighty Titania rose to her feet; her stature seeming to tower over everyone in the room.

"Do you know what you're suggesting Freed?" She demanded, "How do we know that we can trust them after all the bad blood between us; hell, we don't even know where we could find them if we did want their help."

"But Erza," A platinum blonde haired woman uttered softly, "This could be actually what we need in order to defeat Zeref for good."

"Mira," Loke glared at the older female, "You can't be serious about this!"

"Loke," Ultear warned him, "One more outburst like that and I'll have to ask you to leave the chambers."

The strawberry blonde opened his mouth as if to refute her, but he wisely closed his jaw with a snap and leaned back in his chair. Lyon found himself frowning once more; it was obvious where this was going, but he wasn't sure if he liked it. At the same time, he knew that this was the only chance that they had.

He cleared his throat loudly causing all heads to turn towards him,

"When I left Gray, we had an argument…like all siblings do, only this time it was different."

Lucy's eyebrows furrowed in confusion,

"What does that have to do with our decision Lyon?"

He could feel Ultear's eyes burning into the side of his head as he prepared himself to answer the blonde. If anything, Ultear was angry because he had never mentioned any sort of argument to her. In fact, he had told her that he was able to separate himself from Gray without a hitch; he might have been stretching the truth a bit.

"It matters," He stated, "because although Gray doesn't remember much about his past, he does vaguely remember Natsu Dragneel."

"Natsu Dragneel," Erza stared at him in disbelief, "As in Natsu Dragneel, the Dragon Prince Natsu Dragneel?"

Lyon inclined his head slightly,

"The very same; it wasn't until that moment that I realized just how powerful their imprint actually is. Despite the fact that our Mother used the seal Iced Shell on Gray's memory at the cost of her life, he was still able to describe Dragneel without actually knowing who he was."

Silence engulfed the chamber once more; he was definitely on a roll today. He could tell that Ultear was about to say something when the sound of running footsteps reached their ears. Simultaneously, nine heads turned towards the entrance way to see a small girl with a puppy-like face dash into the room at full speed.

"Coco?" Lucy called to the out of breath girl in surprise, "What are you doing down here?"

The girl's big brown eyes stared up at them fearfully,

"You have to hurry! We need to gather the members of the Alliance immediately!"

"What's going on?" Ultear demanded, "Has Hibiki picked up something on the Archive?"

Coco nodded her head quickly,

"I-It's Deliora! He's marching towards Magnolia Town and he's not stopping!"

It was as if all the air had been sucked out of the room. Not only was the Monster they believed to have been destroyed by Ur eleven years ago walking around, but it was heading towards the base of their main Intelligence network, Had Zeref discovered that they were getting closer and closer to figuring out how to defeat him?

No. That didn't make sense; Zeref would have attacked them directly, not their Intelligence network (even if it was valuable). Then it suddenly hit him like a ton of bricks…he whipped towards Ultear, fear evident in his onyx eyes.

"Gray."

FTFTFTFT

He was right… he completed regretted letting Cana drag him to this shit-fest…

Even if it was supposed to be _his _shit-fest…

Gray huffed under his breath and leaned his head on his arms with his red solo cup dangling loosely from his hand. He was never one for crowds to begin with, but this was just ridiculous; he honestly thought that he didn't know half the people at this stupid thing. From where he was sitting, he could see Cana talking to Bacchus at the bar; her shirt (unsurprisingly) gone and lounging across the counter in nothing but her bra and capris.

And she bugged him about his stripping habit.

He rolled his eyes briefly and took a large swig out of his Long Island Iced Tea; even if he hated the party, he had to admit that the alcohol was spot on. Of course, who better to pick the alcohol than Magnolia Town's resident alcoholic? Despite his complaining about her, a small part of him was happy Cana was with Bacchus; those two had been flirting for _ages_. Honestly, he thought the next two Ice Ages would come before they pulled their heads out of their asses and dated already.

He laughed quietly to himself as he went to take another drink when he realized the he had none left. He frowned at the empty cup before getting to his feet (although slightly off-kilter at first) and made his way towards the bar to get himself a refill. He sat his cup on the bar and waved his hand at Kinana to let her know that he needed another drink. The shy girl nodded at him and held up her finger telling him that she'd be there in one minute. He nodded at her in acknowledgement and waited for her to be free.

"Fullbuster, you are honestly the most depressing birthday boy ever."

Gray scowled and stared at Cana as she and Bacchus took the two seats to his right,

"Yeah, well you already knew this when you planned the damn thing."

The brunette snorted,

"That's true…aren't you getting another drink?"

The raven nodded his head and tilted it towards Kinana to show that he was waiting for her to finish with the other customers. When Gray looked back at Cana he noticed that her 'impatient drunk face' was on. Before she could yell at the poor barmaid, he quickly grabbed onto her arm and pulled her away from the bar; he could always get another drink later.

"Oh c'mon Gray," She pouted playfully, "You're the birthday boy, you shouldn't have to wait for your drink!"

He chuckled and flicked her forehead,

"Well I can't let you make a fool of yourself now can I? It would just ruin my sparkling reputation."

Cana scoffed and chugged the rest of her rum,

"What reputation?"

He laughed loudly and was about to retort when he suddenly saw a shock of pink hair; all words dying at the tip of his tongue. Strangely enough, the spot on his chest seemed to heat up again like earlier; what the hell was going on with him lately? He could hear Cana trying to grab his attention in the background, but he was solely focused on the pink hair heading towards the exit. Without saying a word to his friend, he started to push his way through the crowd until he managed to burst out the front doors and into the paved parking lot.

When he got outside, he started looking for pink hair (after all it should stand out, not just anyone had pink hair!), but found that whoever it was seemed to vanish into thin air. His chest was still burning slightly so he _knew_ the pink haired figure had to be around somewhere; he didn't know how it was possible, he just knew that it was.

"Gray!" Cana shouted as she burst out of the bar, "You can't just run off like that!"

The raven blinked at her in confusion,

"Why? It never seemed to bother you before."

"Well," She scowled, "It's not very often that you get drunk Gray; you never know what kind of stupid shit you could do. Don't you remember the last time when you claimed that a cat on the street was your rival?"

He glared at her as he noticed Bacchus laughing at him from behind her,

"I thought we agreed that we weren't going to talk about that ever again. Besides, it's not like I left for no reason; I saw something that's all."

She crossed her arms over her chest and raised her brow expectantly,

"Oh yeah? What did you see?"

"Like I'm going to tell you," He pouted (though he'd adamantly deny ever doing so), "All you'll do is laugh and make fun of me for the rest of my life."

"Try me," She smiled coyly, "Was it a girl? Does our dear sweet Gray finally have his heart set on someone?"

Gray folded his arms across his chest and tried to glance away from the teasing brunette in order to hide his blush. This was why he didn't like telling her anything; she just used said information to make his life miserable. He was pulled out of his eternal embarrassment by the sound of a ringtone. He glanced up in time to see Bacchus answering his phone and walking away from him and Cana. He smirked at the confusion that seemed to flit across Cana's face as the man started to retreat.

"What's going on Cana?" He teased, "Is there something going on that I don't know about? You guys always did act kind of strange for a couple."

What he expected was for her to start yelling at him or maybe even punching him, but that was not what he got. Instead her eyes widened at his statement causing him to narrow his eyes suspiciously. He opened his mouth to ask her what the hell her problem was when a loud, soul-wrenching roar echoed throughout the town of Magnolia. Gray's heart started racing in his chest and he felt his hands get clammy; he didn't know what that sound was, but it made something deep inside of him crack…he felt…_fear_.

"Gray, Cana," Bacchus ran back towards them; his face paler than it was only a few moments before, "We have to get out of here, now."

The roar crackled through the air once more causing the hair to rise from the back of his neck,

"What…What was that?"

"Gray, did you hear him?" She demanded as she grabbed onto his hand and tried to pull him away, "We have to get the fuck out of here!"

He stared at her in complete confusion; he didn't know what the hell she was talking about, but he did recognize the pure look of anguish on her face. What did she mean that they had to get out of there; where exactly are they going to go? But most importantly, why did two of the most courageous people he knew seem so terrified that they were going to pass right out?

Suddenly, the earth rumbled underneath his feet; his first instinct told him that it was an Earthquake, but he was quickly proved wrong. As if time slowed to a near stop, Gray turned his head to see the most terrifying _thing _that he had ever encountered. Standing before him was nothing less than a monster; he stood at over fifty feet tall, with blue scale-like skin and bird-like feet with a tail that reminded him of a lizard dragging behind it. It seemed like something that would only exist in fantasy novels or anime; just how much alcohol did he drink?

"C-Cana," He muttered, "Please tell me I'm seeing things."

He caught her grimace out of the corner of his eye,

"I wish I could Gray, but I can't. What we need to worry about right now is getting out of here! I'll explain everything to you once we escape, but we have to survive first."

The monster's roar soaked the air again as entire houses were being destroyed in its wake. The arm that Cana was holding went slack as what she said finally reached his mind. He could feel her trying to pull him, but it was as if his body couldn't, no, wouldn't move. He robotically turned his head away from the monster and faced his friend.

"What do you mean explain?" His voice cracked.

"Gray," Cana warned, "We can't do this now…"

He yanked his arm out of her grip,

"You mean to tell me, that you know what this thing is?!"

The brunette bit her lip despondently but slowly nodded her head. Gray felt as if his entire world had fallen from under him. He stared back at the monster; his heart pounding rapidly in his chest as it inched ever closer to his position.

"Gray," Bacchus' hurried voice reached his ears, "I know you're confused, but we really have to get out of here now; if you don't move your ass in .05 seconds I'm going to carry you out of here!"

His eyes widened in disbelief,

"Y-You know it too?! Just who the hell are you people?!"

He almost felt guilty when he saw the pain shoot across Cana's face; it was if he was the one who betrayed her. She opened her mouth as if she was going to say something only for an explosively loud roar to pull his attention away from her. He turned just in time to see the monster gather a strange light in his mouth before a beam of green shot out from it; Gray was frozen as the beam of light rocketed towards him at full speed. He didn't know what it was, but something about that light seemed so familiar to him…

"GRAY LOOK OUT!"

The next thing he knew, he was thrown onto his knees and he was staring up into Cana's eyes as she all but lay on top of him; her arms almost wrapped around his shoulders in a protective embrace. He flinched as something splattered across his face; something that was extremely warm…His hands shook as he slowly raised them to touch the only girl who was brave enough to reach out to him and become his friend.

"C-Cana…"

She smiled brokenly; her frame shaking with apparent pain and tears streaming down her face,

"I'm sorry Gray…I'm…sor…ry…"

All he could do was sit there as his best friend fell on top of him completely; her dead weight nearly smothering him despite her build. He could hear Bacchus' enraged voice echoing behind him; the sorrow mingling with the triumphant roar of the monster as if it knew that it succeeded in taking a life. It was like he could suddenly hear everything; he finally took notice that there were actually other people around them the entire time…probably from the first time the creature actually roared.

He could hear Magnolia Town exploding into chaos and fear as the monster took fire on the village…

The worst part was…

He remembered now.

The monster standing before him now was the monster that haunted his nightmares; he could remember the dreams that have plagued him for the past thirteen years. His parents' voices seemed to be louder than ever; it was as if they were standing right beside him…warning him and apologizing to him and he didn't know why.

But most of all, he remembered how Ur truly died…

She was protecting him from this thing…

"_Gray…"_

He could hear her voice…

"_I'll seal you from your darkness…"_

There was so much pain…so many tears…so many fears…heat…so much heat…they were all burning. Everything was burning. There was going to be nothing left. His home was going to be destroyed before his eyes and he wouldn't even know it…he wouldn't even remember it… It was only because of Cana, a best friend that he never truly knew, sacrificed her life to save his own.

The darkness she told him that she sensed was much bigger than she realized…the darkness that Ur sacrificed her own life to seal for him had been seeping through for years. There were cracks forming in his foster mother's ice shell that he never knew about, but Cana did. And it was finally Cana's sacrifice that broke the remaining restraints the seal had on him.

He felt so cold…

So cold…but it was so familiar…

The cold was his home…but strangely enough…so was the heat…

Especially the smell of campfire…with pink hair and green eyes…

THAT was his home…and he forgot all about it…

"GRAY!"

His head slowly turned towards the source of the voice; a familiar stranger with a body engulfed in flames. Even from where he was he could see scales spreading across his face and extremities. He slowly raised his hand in an attempt to reach the figure; the subtle burning in his chest saving him from being swallowed by the cold…

"'Tsu?"

And everything went black.

TBC

**EDITED! – I don't know if this is any better; I hope you liked it! **

**Hey Minna! So sorry for the late update on this story, but school is happening atm and things are getting hectic! Also I hope this chapter is okay and not too confusing (especially with the whole time-skip thing)! And I also apologize for making everyone very much OOC, hopefully it doesn't bug you too much! Waiting on your lovely reviews! :)**

**-sktrgrl**

**AND THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR REVIEWS, FAVOURITES, AND FOLLOWS! If it wasn't for you guys this story (plus others) just wouldn't exist so thank you so much for your support! XD **


	4. Chapter 4 - Belief Will Unite Us

**Disclaimer: Mashima-sensei owns Fairy Tail :)**

**Warnings: Language, Violence, Mentions of Suicidal Thoughts and Character Death, Angst**

He hid in the comfort of the foliage as the mid-afternoon sun shone upon the town of Magnolia. He knew that Gajeel would probably be pissed at him if he knew what he was doing right now; not that he could bring himself to care. Natsu Dragneel rested lazily against the bark covered trunk as he lounged on the somewhat sturdy branch of the old oak tree. His tanned arms were folded behind his head as peered through the dense leaves that surrounded him in an attempt to look through the window of the building that was in front of him.

Sting liked to tease him about being a stalker and no matter how much he denied it to the blonde's face, even he had to admit that he had some stalker-like tendencies. Like now for example, when he was hiding in a tree spying on his mate who didn't even remember him…God, that sounded horrible. He huffed through his nose in exasperation; it's not like he had a choice or anything. If he wanted to be near Gray, he had to be willing to take the risk…even if that risk involved in Gray not knowing of his existence under any circumstances.

After Ur sacrificed herself in order to place 'Ice Shell' on Gray's memories, he was explicitly told by the heads of the Alliance that he was not to go anywhere near the raven. There was the slight chance that his mere presence, even as a stranger, in Gray's life could result in the seal shattering and Zeref learning of Gray's survival; that was something that could not happen, no matter how much it hurt him to stay away from the raven.

He grimaced at how painful the first five years were for him. He still felt guilty for all the problems he caused his brothers during that period of his life. Luckily the years seemed to pass a little quicker due to the fact that they were all immortal, but it was still messy for all of them. Not only did they all have to acknowledge the fact that their parents might never return, but they also had to deal with their leader being depressed and suicidal the majority of the time. His family tried so hard to help him through the separation…

Wendy tried to heal him with her magic; she was still young at the time and didn't understand mating quite yet…

Sting tried to rile him up and make him laugh; even if the young dragonling wasn't that funny…

Rogue tried to help him with his calm presence; though it was hard to keep calm when Sting was endlessly annoying him…

Laxus tried to beat the snot out of him to try and ignite his fighting spirit; all that did was distract him for a few minutes before remembering the circumstances they were in…

Gajeel did the same as Laxus and also yelled at him a lot; he was about as effective as Laxus was…

The younger dragonlings of the tribe tried to make him feel better as well, but there wasn't much they could do to bring him out of his slump. After five years of wallowing in pain and despair, he had finally decided that he was going to end it all. He wasn't sure if his brothers and sisters knew this or not, but it came very damn close. He had flown away from their camp without any true direction in sight. His goal was to go somewhere where fire could be extinguished so anywhere with water would do perfectly fine. He also needed to be somewhere far enough away that his siblings wouldn't be able to find him.

He remembered flying for a very long time before a large body of water appeared in the distance. From the salty smell that entered his nose, he was able to tell that it was the ocean; he knew that without a doubt that would be the best place to go. The monsters that lurked in those dark depths would be able to deal with his body once he passed so that his draconic body wouldn't accidently be found by the Nulls who didn't understand their world.

He lowered himself closer and closer to the ocean as wings grew ever fatigued from stress and strain. As he was about to take the plunge into the water, the smell of mint and forest pine engulfed his nostrils. He vaguely remembered his instincts taking over at the moment; instead of falling towards the ocean, he was rocketing towards the beach, his heart beating heavily in his chest as he drew closer and closer to the scent that stopped him from ending his life. Somewhere in his mind, he knew that he shouldn't give his hopes up…that maybe it could be someone else; but his draconic side shut down those fears immediately, for only one person could have that particular scent…

_Gray_…

He had all but crashed onto the sandy shore in his hasty landing; the sand upturning as his heavy body collided with the Earth. Without another thought, he willed his body to take the shape of his human form. He felt the heat envelop his body as he ran across the sand mid-transformation; the minty scent still brushing against his senses as he ran as fast as he could. He found himself running through the forest with the thick branches scratching his tanned skin harmlessly as he ran; the foliage simply bouncing off his scales as he ran to his mate.

He was about to burst through the other side of the trees when he heard voices. He immediately skidded to a stop and remained hidden in the tall grass and trees. His heart raced as he recognized two of the voices. He narrowed his eyes through the shielding branches to see three young teenagers; two ravens (a boy and a girl) and a silverette. The female raven and the silverette seemed to be bantering as the raven haired boy seemed to be trying not to laugh at the other two.

A tear fell from the corner of his eye as his eyes honed in on the laughing raven; a bright smile was spread across his pale face. He had clutched his hand over his heart as a familiar heat took residence in his heart once more; he knew without a doubt that the young teenager standing in front of him was Gray. He was no longer the broken shell of an eight year old boy that he had left behind in Brago five years ago; he was a thirteen year old boy who was able to laugh and enjoy himself in ways that he hadn't been able to after Silver and Mika were killed before his eyes.

He wanted nothing more than to come crashing through the trees and grass that kept him separated from his mate…but he knew he couldn't. After seeing Gray as happy as he was, he couldn't bring himself to risk the chance of breaking the seal that kept his terrible memories at bay. He didn't want to be the reason that Gray would lose his smile; he wouldn't be able to live with himself if he did. So instead of doing what he wanted to…instead of doing what his instincts told him to do…he turned his back on his mate and made his way back towards the other side of the beach.

It was then that he decided that he couldn't wallow in grief anymore. He couldn't hurt his family any more than he already has; he had to remain strong in case the day came when Gray would need him by his side once more. It was then that he decided that he would only check on his mate enough so that he could retain his sanity as well as protect him should the need arise…

At least, that was the _original _plan.

He frowned as he remembered the position he was in at the present time; spying on Gray as the raven attended his University classes. At the beginning he really did stick to the plan…he only came in timed intervals to watch over his mate. He usually watched over the male when he could feel Gray's stress or if he was worried about something, but as the raven got closer and closer to reaching nineteen years of age the pinkette just couldn't stay away.

As much as Gajeel and Laxus teased him about his 'stupidity', he did in fact know a few things. The only reason why his 'stalker-like tendencies' (as Sting affectionately called it) started getting worse was because if it was under normal circumstances, he and Gray would be solidifying their bond. Right now, there bond was at its minimal strength; they could feel each other's presence (at least Gray would've been able to if the seal wasn't in place) and perhaps strong emotions from each other. Once the bond was completed, it would be as if they were sharing a part of each other's souls.

In all honesty it was rather complicated, and that was only made worse by the fact that Gray had no idea that he existed.

However, as Gray's birthday drew closer and closer the pull for the bond to be complete was driving Natsu up the wall. And now that _today _was finally Gray's birthday, his draconic side was practically going on a rampage in his psyche. He'd been trying to fight it all day, but he knew that he was going to lose to it sooner or later and he was more than a little concerned about how Gray would react if he saw some weird scale-covered stranger come running towards him with hunger in his eyes.

It probably wouldn't go very well.

He knocked his head against the trunk in frustration only for an acorn to topple from somewhere above him and land straight in his eye. He cursed loudly and jumped from the pain that the acorn caused prompting him to fall rather ungracefully from his perch. He shouted as his back smacked the ground and cursed loudly once more; today really wasn't his day. He was about to push himself back to his feet when a very distinguishable guffaw reached his sensitive ears. He sat up so that he was no longer lying on the ground and crossed his legs in front of him; his hands squeezing his knees as his cheeks reddened in embarrassment.

"Shut up," He muttered, "It's not that funny metal head."

Natsu raised his head to look at the iron dragon demon who still had the same teasing smirk on his lips,

"Ge he, yeah it most definitely was; that's what you get for being a creep flame head."

If it was possible, Natsu's cheeks seemed to redden even more. He was pretty sure that his face was an even darker red than his hair, which of course only made Gajeel laugh even harder.

"I'm not a creep," He denied vehemently, "I'm just checking up on him."

The older raven rolled his red eyes,

"Checking up on someone means showing up every few months or so, you on the other hand have been following him around every day for the past two weeks."

Everything within the pinkette wanted to deny what his older brother said, but he knew that he couldn't. Out of all his siblings, he was pretty sure that Gajeel watched over him the most; which was odd considering they fought more often than the others. He figured it had something to do with the fact that the metal dragon demon was the closest to him in age; Laxus was a couple years old and Sting, Rogue and Wendy were a few years younger, so after…what happened…Gajeel was the only one he could turn to.

"It's not like I'm doing it on purpose," Natsu huffed, "My instincts just refuse to accept the fact that it's better for Gray if we stay as far away from him as possible."

Gajeel was silent for a moment as he looked at Natsu calculatedly. The pinkette really hated when the metal head did this; it was as if the elder thought that he had to be careful with what he wanted to say around him and it really pissed him off. He opened his mouth to tell the asshole to spit it out when the smell of mint reached his nose. His heart began to thud heavily in his chest as he glanced around him wildly. Just as the heat started to gather in his chest, Natsu grabbed onto Gajeel's forearm and managed to pull him into one of the nearby bushes that rested close to the oak tree they were standing beside.

"Bastard!" Gajeel huffed in annoyance, "What the hell was that for?!"

Natsu ignored the iron dragon demon's grumbling as he found himself peering through the leaves once more. His amber-flecked green eyes immediately landed on Gray who was being pulled out of the building by a girl with long brown hair. The pinkette recognized her from the other times he'd been spying on Gray, but for some reason he felt as if he remembered her from somewhere else; he just couldn't put his finger on where.

He watched silently as his mate was dragged towards the parking lot (like he was every day), when Gray suddenly stopped dead in his tracks. Natsu frowned at the action; it didn't feel like the raven was in distress or anything, so why was he stopping? His eyebrows furrowed in confusion when Gray suddenly clutched his hand to his chest and started to look around him; what the…

Natsu felt his heart drop into his stomach…

There was no way…

He was so careful…

There was absolutely no way…

He was brought out of his inherent stupor when something hard collided with the crown of his head. He hissed under his breath and rubbed the spot rhythmically as he glared harshly at his brother who evidently hit him over the head with his metal club of a hand. He shifted his gaze to look at Gray once more only to see that he was moving again as if nothing had happened…

Maybe he just imagined it…yeah, that had to be it.

"Hey dumbass," Gajeel growled as he pulled the both of them out of the bushes, "What just happened?"

Natsu took a deep, cleansing breath and shook his head,

"It was nothing…"

The raven haired demon clenched the front of Natsu's shirt and pulled him upwards,

"Don't you dare to lie to me! You may be the Dragon Demon prince Natsu Dragneel, but that doesn't mean you can hide shit from your family; it was as if he felt your presence just now!"

The pinkette's eyes narrowed dangerously,

"Gajeel…"

"No," The raven hissed, "Answer me right now Natsu, did you interact with him in the past two weeks?!"

Natsu glared darkly at the iron dragon demon and pushed him away so roughly that his grip was ripped away from his shirt,

"Do you honestly think I'm that stupid! Of course I didn't; that would ruin his chance at a normal life! No matter how much I want him by my side, I would never wrench him away from a place where he could be happy!"

The immortal nineteen year olds watched each other sharply as if waiting for each other to start a fight. A few tense moments passed between them before Gajeel relaxed his stance slightly and crossed his arms over his chest. Natsu exhaled sharply before relaxing as well; that could have gotten out of hand fairly quickly.

"He still felt you," Gajeel stated, "Despite the fact that you haven't interacted with him he _felt _you."

Natsu shook his head adamantly,

"No, it was merely a coincidence."

The raven frowned darkly,

"In our world there is no such thing as coincidences; you know that Natsu. The Exceeds prophesized that the two of you would unite and defeat Zeref…it would only make sense for it to happen on Gray's birthday."

The pinkette clenched his teeth tightly; the fire in his veins roaring at Gajeel's implications,

"I'm not going to let his life be ruined again and if that means never being with…"

"You think I don't want the squirt to be happy too?" The iron dragon demon interrupted him, "No matter how stupid I thought this decision was, I stayed by your side and watched this boy grow without the threat of his destiny pressing down upon him. I was there with you before Brago was destroyed as well and if I had to choose between this Gray and the mute child that never smiled, I'd chose this Gray any day."

Natsu felt his heart warm once more as his brother's words echoed in his mind. He knew that losing Gray was not only hard for him, but for the other dragon demons as well. They had all become so accustomed to the younger raven's inquisitive presence and positive demeanor that Gray had a permanent place in all their hearts; he was the baby brother that they all wanted to protect…even the young dragonlings who didn't understand his importance wanted to protect him. Gajeel was especially attached to Gray though he would forever deny it; the young raven was the only one who saw through Gajeel's gruff appearance and saw him for what he truly was… a great big softy.

After the destruction Isvan, Gray never smiled again…of course, after witnessing the murder of your parents and your entire village at the hands of a rampaging monster would do that to anyone; especially a six year old boy. Natsu and the rest of the Dragon Clan never truly forgave themselves either. After all, it was one of their brothers that betrayed the Ice Demon Slayer to Zeref; if it wasn't for Erik…

He couldn't think about that right now; he just might blow something up.

"Natsu," Gajeel's voice pulled him out of his thoughts once more, "If the squirt is remembering you and the prophecy is being set in motion, we have to rally the Clan; the war is finally here and we have to be able to protect the humans this time."

The corner of the pinkette's lip pulled into a frown,

"It doesn't hurt to be ready I guess. We should tell Laxus to contact his friends from inside the Alliance; whether we get along or not, we're going to need their help to stop Zeref so we need to reinstate the treaty."

Gajeel grimaced at the thought,

"I have a good feeling that that won't go over too well; we'll have to be prepared for their refusal."

"No," Natsu denied confidently, "They'll overlook their hatred for us just this once…they'll do it because like us, they want to save this world and they want to protect Gray."

After a few silent moments, Gajeel smirked at him once more. Natsu felt his lips twitch into a smile as the fire started to burn in his belly; there was a chance that they could finally end the suffering of the world. The Exceeds' home of Extalia was destroyed as was the demon world of Edolas…it was only a matter of time before Earthland met the same fate seeing as Zeref had been conquering parts of the human plane for the past thirteen years.

Even if their homes were gone, even if the Exceeds' homes were gone, Natsu and the rest of the Dragon Clan were going to protect the only home that they had left. He refused to let Zeref win this time; this time, everyone was going to make it out of this war alive…he won't be burying his comrades, not ever again.

"I'm going to go tell the others what the plan of action is," Gajeel looked at him pointedly, "I take it that you're going to stay here and stalk the squirt some more?"

The pinkette felt his cheeks heat up again,

"You asshole! It's not stalking damnit!"

The older raven guffawed loudly,

"Whatever helps you sleep at night princess; send a signal if you need us."

"Yeah," Natsu scoffed and glanced to the side petulantly, "Like anything is going to happen…"

"Oi dumbass," Gajeel smacked the back of the pinkette's head, "I'm serious; if something goes down, you let us know, got that?"

Natsu massaged the back of his head as he nodded in understanding. The iron dragon demon seemed to stare at him for a few more seconds before finally nodding and allowing a dark silver haze to shroud his body. The pinkette's nose wrinkled from the abundant smell of iron and watched as his older brother took off into the air as fast as lightning (even if lightning was more Laxus' signature). The pinkette watched the large form disappear into the horizon before turning on his heel and leaving the University campus; he needed to track down Gray's scent again.

He sighed; he really _was _an obsessive stalker.

FTFTFTFT

Sting Eucliffe was lying in the tall grass watching the clouds go by.

This wasn't very strange for him; in fact, it was something that he always did, even when he was in a bad mood. There was just something about the way the clouds moved across the bright blue sky without any true purpose that grabbed his interest; especially on days like today when he woke up feeling like the entire world was about to go to hell in a hand basket. He was hoping that Natsu-nii was going to be around when he woke up that morning, but he wasn't all too surprised to see that he wasn't.

Like King Igneel, Natsu-nii was often up before the sun's fingers latched onto the horizon; even more so these days. Everyone could tell that the prince was getting more restless as the days dragged on and everyone knew that that reason was none other than the Ice Demon Slayer Gray Fullbuster. It was no secret that the Day of Reckoning was today; today was supposed to be the day that the young slayer became officially bonded to Natsu-nii. With the way in which the years blur together for them, there was only one reason why they all knew that today was the slayer's nineteenth birthday.

That reason was because Rogue and his coming of age ceremony happened on the last Full Moon and all though dragon demons aged slower than humans, they were about three in human years when Gray had first come into their lives on the day of Natsu-nii's coming of age ceremony. He had only admitted this to himself, and perhaps maybe Rogue when they were young, but he had always been jealous of Gray.

There was nothing that Sting strived for more than Natsu-nii's attention and that was all but destroyed the moment the slayer came into their midst. From the very moment that their skin had touched, Natsu-nii's entire life was in the hands of a three year old boy who could barely string more than three sentences together. For a long time, he had only seen Gray as a hindrance to their leader; of course, that was mostly because he didn't understand what mating entailed.

It wasn't until Natsu-nii was forced away from the slayer that he realized just how important Gray was to him. In human years he was eight when Natsu-nii first started to collapse into himself. His big brother refused to eat, he couldn't sleep and sometimes when he thought no one was around he would fold in on himself and roar into the night sky. The broken sound that used to tear out of Natsu-nii's throat still gave him nightmares; there's nothing worse than watching someone you care about fall apart from the inside out.

He had to sit back and watch Natsu-nii suffer like that for five years; he never thought time could pass by so slow. Everyone was worried about him; even Gajeel and Laxus were and those two liked to pretend that they couldn't stand the mere presence of the prince. It was early one morning when Sting woke up to the sound of wings beating through the air harshly. He remembered running out of his hut only to see Natsu-nii's draconic form flying into the horizon. Something inside him told him that something bad would happen if he didn't follow him and boy was he glad that he did.

Initially, he was surprised when Natsu-nii didn't notice his presence following him; he could usually tell if Sting was nearby, but as the salty smell of the ocean reached his nostrils he knew why Natsu-nii was so distracted. He watched in horror as the prince shot towards the ocean like a flaming arrow; a roar was about to be torn from his throat, afraid that his hero and brother was going to die, when suddenly the faintly familiar smell of mint and forest pine reached his nose.

His mind all but skidded to a halt when the scent reached him; he knew exactly who it was and apparently so did Natsu-nii for he immediately pulled out of his dive and headed straight for the beach. Sting remained in the air and watched him as the prince transformed into his human form and took off into the woods. He wanted to follow him and stop him from doing something stupid, but he couldn't bring himself to do so. He had to trust that Natsu-nii would make the right decision and return home safely; so instead of following him, Sting had turned around and returned home.

Even till this day, Sting wondered what Natsu-nii saw when he found Gray that day. Whatever it was, it pulled the prince out of the slump he was in and little by little he returned to the way he was before he was forcibly separated from Gray. There will always be a part of him that would hate the Hunter's Alliance simply for the pain they caused Natsu-nii; he wasn't sure if he would even be able to work alongside them when the time came.

"Sting."

The blonde sighed through his nose as he was pulled out of his musings. He turned his head away from the clouds and found himself looking into the burning eyes of his brother, and partner in crime, Rogue. The raven was standing in front of him, his shoulder length hair pulled up into a small ponytail at the top of his head; though his long bangs still hung in his eyes. A small frown was on the paler dragon demon's face as he stared down at him with his arms crossed; Rogue could really act like his mother sometimes.

"What's up Rogue?" He raised an eyebrow at the raven before turning his attention to the sky once more, "Something going on?"

The shadow dragon demon scoffed,

"What isn't going on? Everyone's all frazzled because Natsu didn't come back with Gajeel a few minutes ago."

Sting shot upright and stared at his partner incredulously,

"Seriously?! Natsu-nii didn't come back?!"

Rogue nodded his head,

"But that's not even the important part; Gajeel says we need to prepare for battle and he's pretty pissed that you weren't in the village."

The white dragon demon rolled his eyes at the raven's response but got to his feet anyway. He brushed off his pants quickly before stretching his arms over his head. He was distinctly aware of Rogue watching him with something akin to exasperation, but he couldn't find it within himself to care. If he lived for gaining Natsu-nii's attention, the other thing he lived for was pissing Gajeel off. He may have a death wish for liking to do so, but he thought it was worth it.

"Are the Exceeds coming?" Sting glanced at Rogue out of the corner of his eye as they walked away from the clearing, "It's been forever since I've seen Lector and I miss him."

The raven shrugged his shoulders noncommittally,

"I assume that they're going to be informed, but I don't know if they'll make an appearance or not. You're right though, it would be good to see Frosch again; it feels like it's been forever since we've seen them."

Sting grunted as the village started to come into view. The last time they had seen Lector and Frosch was when they spent a day in town just to spend some time together; man did that turn into an adventure. Not only was it sweltering hot that day and full of Nulls, but Frosch had managed to get separated from them when Lector had gotten distracted by a clothing maker who was selling vests out of her cart. Rogue had approximately 100 meltdowns that day trying to find the young Exceed; they ended up spending the rest of the day trying to find him.

As the pair got closer to village, Sting's instincts only seemed to skyrocket. For the first time in forever, all the members of their family were present…well, everyone except for Natsu-nii of course. Hell, even Laxus was there and the blonde preferred to act as a nomad more than stick around the village too often. Natsu-nii likes to say it's because Laxus has a stick up his ass and is too full of pride to want to be with them and as much as Sting looks up to Natsu-nii even he could see that was a lie. He had a feeling that it had to do with rumor going around the village about Laxus wanted to spend more time with a 'secret lover' that he has.

"Oi Sting," Gajeel's annoyed voice called out to him, "I told you not wander off today; I had a feeling something important was going to happen."

The blonde rolled his eyes and rested his arms lazily behind his head,

"I didn't go far; Rogue was able to find me, wasn't he?"

The older raven glared at him so darkly he thought that he was going to be incinerated. Just by looking at the vein throbbing in his temple, Sting could tell that he was in for a whole world of hurt; it didn't have to be right now either, Gajeel was the type of demon to get back at someone when they least expected it. He glanced at Rogue out of the corner of his eye and smiled slightly; at least he had his partner in crime to help him if he needed it.

"Don't look at me like that," Rogue smirked, "You're on your own this time."

Sting's mouth fell open like an unhinged door; not only had his best friend read his mind, but he refused to bail him out! The blonde dragon demon's shoulders slumped as a metaphorical dark cloud descended upon his body. So much for loyalty; next time he won't be there to help Rogue out either! That ought to teach the bastard for betraying him!

Oh, who was he kidding? Rogue never got in trouble; the jerk and his shadow powers.

"Stop pouting brat!" Laxus drawled lazily as they joined the circle, "It only makes you look like the child you are."

Sting's face burned from anger and embarrassment,

"I'm not a brat!"

The older demon scoffed under his breath and rolled his eyes which only made Sting even angrier. Laxus could be such an ass; was it everyone against Sting today or something? His purple eyes wandered over to Wendy who was staring at him with a look of pity; even the younger dragonlings were looking down on him.

He wished he was still in the meadow.

"As I was saying," Gajeel grunted, "The older members of the clan need to be prepared to go into battle; despite what Natsu wants to believe, the prophecy is starting to come true."

"Gajeel-nii," Wendy whispered curiously, "If Natsu-nii thinks that the prophecy isn't coming true, why would you go against him?"

Other members of the clan seemed to make noises of agreement; even part of Sting wanted to agree with them, but he knew better. He turned his attention back to Gajeel and looked at the older dragon demon evenly.

"Something's changed in the slayer, right?"

Gajeel nodded his head imperceptibly,

"He's starting to feel Natsu's presence and the dumbass swore to me that he hasn't had enough interaction with Gray for the seal to be cracking because of him."

Murmurs swept through the gathered clansmen; the day had finally come…the time was drawing ever closer; it was almost time to end Zeref's reign of terror. Sting frowned at the thought of that…of course he wanted both Zeref and Acnologia to be defeated, but what would the cost be? He was too young to remember the full effects of the last war with Zeref thirteen years ago, but he does know that so many lives were lost that day; he couldn't help but wonder if all this was worth it sometimes. But, as he looked at the determined faces of his fellow dragon demons, he knew that it was time for them to make a stand; Zeref's tyranny had to end, no matter the cost.

"What are we going to do?" Rogue asked stoically, "Do you have some sort of plan?"

Gajeel looked up at the sky thoughtfully for a moment,

"Flame head and I talked about it before I left. We decided that it was time for us to rekindle our treaty with the Hunter's Alliance."

Sting's eyes widened dramatically,

"You can't be serious; they detest our very existence…there's no way in hell that they'd be willing to work with us again."

"We have to try," Gajeel argued, "The prophecy can't be completed without our cooperation; even if they're blinded by hatred, they should be able to see that."

"I don't know about that," Sting muttered, "After what Erik did…"

The iron dragon demon's eyes narrowed dangerously,

"Don't bring him into this."

"But Gajeel," Rogue continued; his red eyes burning, "Sting has a point, Erik broke the treaty and because of that their entire village was slaughtered."

Laxus growled impatiently,

"If they want to protect Gray Fullbuster, they'll work with us willingly; especially since Ultear Milkovich and Lyon Bastia are part of the Alliance's council members."

Sting's eyebrows furrowed,

"What do they have to do with the slayer? Why would their opinion be so important to the council?"

The older blonde stared at him down his nose,

"That doesn't matter; just trust me when I say that they'll join us."

The white dragon demon stared at the lightning dragon demon and frowned. Laxus really annoyed him when he treated him like a child all the time. He was about to tell the older demon as such when Laxus turned his attention to Gajeel and nodded at the iron dragon demon before wandering off. Sting growled under his breath and was about to follow Laxus so that he could give him a piece of his mind only for Rogue to grab the back of his vest and stop him from going anywhere.

"Don't even think about it Sting."

The blonde scowled,

"And why the hell not?! The bastard deserves it!"

The shadow dragon demon rolled his eyes,

"Because, all it would get you is a nice, comfy bed six feet under. Natsu is the only one who can handle him and even that's just barely; sometimes Gajeel even has to help him."

Sting folded his arms across his chest and pouted,

"That's only because he's like half hunter or something; if he wasn't a half-blood I could probably take him no problem."

"Sure," Rogue patted his shoulder, "Keep telling yourself that and you better hope that he didn't hear you; you know he hates when demons bring that up."

"Yeah, whatever."

He shrugged Rogue's hand off his shoulder and started to head towards his meadow again when Rogue grabbed onto his elbow to stop him from going too far. The blonde's purple eyes narrowed at the raven in annoyance, but it didn't seem to faze the shadow dragon demon at all. The white dragon demon muttered incoherently under his breath before yanking his arm out of Rogue's grip and glared childishly at the ground.

"Don't make that face Sting," Rogue clicked his tongue, "We have to stay in the village in case something comes up."

"It's not like I'm going to go too far," He argued, "It's not like anything can happen anyway since Laxus still has to contact his 'source', right?"

The raven huffed in exasperation,

"That's not the point and you know it."

Sting rolled his eyes; of course he knew it, it didn't mean he liked it very much though. It's not that he hated the village or anything; in fact that was far from it. If anything, he just wanted out so that he could stretch his wings a little bit. Things around the village had been getting tense lately and rapid approach of the unknown wasn't helping anyone any either. It was like everyone was waiting for the world to end and it was making his skin crawl; it didn't help that Rogue was being his somewhat pessimistic-self either.

"Look," Rogue placed his hand on his shoulder, "I know that you're getting restless, we all are, but now isn't the time for you to be running off."

Sting sighed loudly and placed his hands on his hips,

"You really have to stop mothering me; it's getting annoying."

The shadow dragon demon smirked,

"It's not my fault; you need me to mother you. If it wasn't for me, Gajeel would've beat the snot out of you a long time ago."

The blonde grimaced and turned away from the raven; he might've been telling the truth there…like hell he was going to admit it though. He was about to bring Rogue to his level of morale only for a loud roar shred through the once quiet camp. His attention instantaneously moved from Rogue to circle around the camp; praying that the roar of panic did not come from who he thought it did. However, that hope fled from his mind when he noticed that Gajeel had a look of trepidation on his normally gruff visage.

"Natsu-nii?" He whispered in confusion.

Another bloodcurdling roar tore through the air insistently and he immediately froze as a chill swept down his spine and white, almost fluorescent, scales spread across his arms, legs, and face; their Prince was calling them to battle. He whipped around to face Rogue to see his red eyes wide and dark scales covering his extremities as well. He glanced up at the sky as another insistent roar shook through the camp.

"We need to move out now!" Gajeel shouted as the smell of iron filled the air, "Sting, Rogue and Wendy you're coming with me; the rest of you stay here!"

"What about Laxus?!" Sting demanded in annoyance.

"He'll meet us there; just move your ass and stop complaining or are you chicken?!"

Sting swallowed back his retort and simply allowed his essence surround him; he hoped that the others remembered to cover their eyes this time. When the light disappeared he stretched his large white wings and shot off into the sky; he knew from instinct that Rogue and Wendy weren't too far behind him. He kept his eyes trained on Gajeel's rapidly retreating figure and picked up speed; what had Natsu-nii gotten himself into now?

FTFTFTFT

Natsu sniffed the air around him in an attempt of find Gray's scent. Usually it wouldn't have been a problem, but of course today would have to be the day were everyone in Magnolia wanted to spend the day outside. Gray's scent of mint and pine trees was extremely unique for this town, particularly because of its temperate climate, but sometimes his scent managed to get shrouded from him by some weird cleanly smell and it really annoyed him; especially since the smell burned his sensitive nose.

His nose twitched slightly at the thought before he shook it out of his head; now wasn't the time to be distracted. He focused on walking down the streets of Magnolia once more…it couldn't be hard to find a single person after all; he could always ask around too if he was really desperate. He sighed under his breath loudly and rolled his eyes at himself; he really sucked at being a stalker sometimes.

Not that he was a stalker of course.

As he pushed through the crowd of people, a warm wind brushed over him and ruffled his hair playfully. A small smile spread across his face when the smell of mint finally reached his senses. He moved his way as quickly as he could through the crowd; he had to have been close even if the wind carried Gray's scent to him. More like a dog than the dragon demon he was, Natsu made his way towards the source of the smell like his life depended on it. Just as his impatience was about to get the better of him, a large building loomed in front of him.

In the back of his mind he could recognize the bar; it was the one that Gray and that girl he was always with frequented on the weekends. Even if he did not know much about Gray's friend (despite the fact that she was vaguely familiar), he did know that she was a bit of an alcoholic; she reeked of the stuff more often than not. A part of him couldn't understand how her liver was still functioning from all the alcohol that she puts in her system. He shook away the tangent thought and pushed on the large wooden doors so that he could enter the bar.

As soon as the doors swung open, his ear drums nearly exploded from the loud music and noise that erupted from inside. He tilted his head to the side; how was it that he couldn't hear the music when he was outside? With his ears as sensitive as they were, he should've been able to hear music this loud no problem; after all, he could hear conversations from people three blocks away from him. He frowned to himself as he walked deeper into the young adult cesspool; something just did not feel right to him at all.

The hairs on the back of his neck and arms seemed to rise at the apprehension he felt. He was about to go back outside and guard the entire building from a safe distance when Gray's unique smell wafted towards him once again. He lifted his head towards the smell and followed it like he was in a trance; every cell in his body wanted him to find Gray right now… especially since he was feeling so uneasy with the situation he was in.

He manoeuvered his way through the swarm of people smelling of alcohol and sweat as he made his way towards the succulent smell of his mate; there was nothing else important to him at that moment other than that. As the scent got sweeter and sweeter, Natsu could feel his skin tingling as the telltale scales started to cover his arms and face. He grimaced to himself slightly before moving away from the crowd of people and stuck himself into the shadows of the bar. He slunk along the wall wordlessly as he slowly approached the open bar.

His body immediately froze as Gray Fullbuster finally reached his sight; he really hadn't been able to watch him properly until now. Sure he was hiding in the tree earlier, but Gajeel was distracting him too much. Natsu stared longingly at the now nineteen year old Gray as he leaned against the open bar with his red cup on the table. His pale cheeks were slightly tinted pink from the alcohol he was drinking and his raven hair was as messy as always; but even if it was messy, the raven locks suited him.

What warmed Natsu's heart the most was the small smile that had commandeered Gray's usually scowling face. Even though Gray smiled more than he did when he was child and had his dark memories, he did spend most of his teenage life frowning. He had a feeling it was due to the tumultuous relationship that he shared with the Milkovich siblings after what happened in Brago all those years ago, but he couldn't be positive. All that mattered was that for the first time in almost thirteen years, Gray was smiling on his birthday and Natsu couldn't be happier.

Just like he told Gajeel, all he wanted was for Gray to be happy. If all he had to look forward to with Gray was to forever watch him from a distance, he could be happy knowing that his mate was happy; even if his draconic side didn't particularly agree with him in regards to the forced distance. He was immediately wrenched from his thoughts as a familiar burning sensation started to explode in his chest. His amber-flecked green eyes widened and he focused on Gray and noticed that the raven was staring in his general direction.

He forcibly pulled his eyes off his mate and made his body turn towards the entrance once more; his heart pounding furiously in his chest as he pulled farther and farther from his mate. He burst through the front doors and heaved a sigh of relief. However, that was short lived for the burning in his chest didn't seem to dissipate; in fact, it only seemed to get more and more intense. He clenched his fists tightly as he realized that Gray was heading towards the front door as well.

He looked around himself hastily before running around the side of the building and started scaling the wall as fast as he could; he had to get somewhere where he could transform and fly away before Gray noticed his presence any more than he already did. His heart was stuck in his throat as he finally reached the slanted shingles of the roof. He gathered his magic around himself and jumped off the roof in dragon form just as Gray came bursting out of the bar.

Natsu exhaled through his large nostrils as the wind caught his large wings; that was a little too close for comfort. But at the same time, it only meant one thing; Gajeel was absolutely right. Gray was able to sense his presence which could only mean that the prophecy was coming fruition no matter how much he wanted to stop it. He was about to turn his direction towards the Dragon Demon village when a putrid smell entered his extremely heightened senses; the smell was so strong that it had almost knocked him right out of the air…

What was worse was that it was familiar.

Dread built up like a wall in his gut that stirred him to fly to the source of the stench. Deep down, he knew that poisonous smell; he knew without a doubt in his heart that it belonged to Erik. He didn't want to believe it…even after all these years, he didn't want to believe that Erik had gone to Zeref's side. But there was no other explanation for it; it was because of Erik that the Hunter village of Isvan was destroyed. It was because of Erik that the balance between Extalia, Edolas and Earthland was irrevocably erased.

He may have been his brother at one point, but he wasn't anymore.

After the fall of Isvan and Erik's betrayal, Natsu wanted to save Erik from the path that he had taken; as Prince and acting King of the Dragon Demon clan he felt that he needed to save his brother from the darkness. It was Gajeel and Laxus who stopped him from doing so; after all, sometimes there were demons that just could not be saved and it so happened that Erik was one of those demons…or _Cobra _was one of those demons.

The only way he would be able to fight Erik on even ground was if he could remember that the Erik he grew up with no longer existed; all that was left was a dragon demon named Cobra. He flapped his mighty wings swiftly as he got closer and closer to the source of the smell. However, what he saw in the distance wasn't something he was expecting…

He was expecting to see Cobra and maybe an army of Zeref's finest demons; what he was not expecting was to see Deliora the Demon of Destruction moving towards the unsuspecting town of Magnolia. He all but stopped moving his wings in disbelief as he stared down the monster that Gray and Ur had sacrificed so much in order to seal away; that monster should not be moving…he watched it fall with his own eyes on that night eleven years ago in Brago.

"Dragon Demon Prince Natsu Dragneel," A condescending voice called out to him from the shoulder of Deliora, "I should have expected that you'd try and stand in my way; I was foolish to think that you wouldn't remain near the Demon Slayer even if he didn't remember you."

Natsu growled furiously,

"Erik…"

"Funny," The poison dragon demon smirked darkly, "I thought I told you that my name was Cobra on the night that Isvan was reduced to ash on the snow. But of course, if I lost as badly as you did to me, I would repress that memory too; after all, it was because of your weakness that baby Gray lost his family and home, was it not?"

Amber-flecked green eyes narrowed dangerously,

"Shut the hell up! You betrayed us, your family; how could you do that?!"

"We've already been through this Dragneel," Cobra said lazily, "I'd rather finish what I failed to do thirteen years ago."

"Oh yeah," Natsu snarled, "And what's that? Kill me? You'd never be strong enough to do that; you wouldn't be able to come even close."

The russet haired dragon demon laughed loudly,

"Who said anything about killing you? There's a reason why Deliora has been revived and is on the march for that town up there and it is because of one human being; it's my job to make sure that the final thorn in Zeref's side is ultimately destroyed."

Natsu roared furiously and dove at Cobra like a flaming arrow,

"Like hell I'm going to let that happen; I'm not letting you or this monster anywhere near Gray!"

Cobra smiled darkly as he jumped off the massive shoulder of Deliora and into the blistering sky. The scent of dense poison engulfed Natsu's senses before a fairly large burgundy coloured dragon burst from the smoke and attacked the fire dragon head on sending them both tumbling towards the forest covered ground. Natsu raised his claw and swiped at the poison dragon causing Cobra to let go of him before they reached the forest floor.

He glared at the poison dragon demon as he inhaled through his mouth and felt the lava-like heat churn in his belly. Just as Cobra righted himself in midair, Natsu exhaled a large breath of fire that managed to skim the tops of the evergreen trees as it rocketed towards the slightly off balance Cobra. However, just as the fire was about to reach the poison dragon demon, Cobra flew to the side and immediately avoided the wrath of Natsu's fire.

"You still think you can beat me Natsu," Cobra laughed mockingly, "You of all people should know that I _hear _every move before you make it; there's no way you'll be able to beat me!"

Natsu opened his mouth to retort only for Cobra to fly at him without hesitation. He moved to avoid his adversary only for the poison dragon demon to move with him and clamp onto his large wings to prevent Natsu from moving anywhere; the only reason why he was still airborne was because Cobra was holding him up there.

"I told you, I hear everything!" He smiled viciously, "Poison Dragon's Roar!"

The fire dragon demon roared in pain as poison shot from Cobra's mouth and struck the back of his neck; the poisonous sludge rolling down the scales of his upper neck to the small of his back. In the back of his mind, he could feel the other members of the Dragon Demon clan stirring in worry, but he pushed it to the back of his mind. As Natsu felt Cobra's claws releasing his grip on his wings, he quickly latched his own claws into Cobra's burgundy scales.

"It's true that you hear everything," Natsu growled, "But, that is also your curse!"

Summoning all the strength and pain within him, Natsu pointed his head towards the sky and let loose a bloodcurdling roar that even threatened to crack the very world in two. What was more important was the sound of immense pain that had erupted from Cobra who was still holding onto him. He flinched at the harsh sound coming from his once brother, but ignored it and instead tightened his grip on the scaly arms he was holding and flipped Cobra over his head and into the trees below.

He barely paid any attention to where the poison dragon demon fell before he turned his attention towards the demon that was heading in the direction of the town of Magnolia. His eyes widened in fear as he realized just how close to the town Deliora had gotten in just that small amount of time; it was practically sitting on top of the city. He could feel Gajeel and the others transforming and heading towards him to figure out what happened, but that wasn't important; he had to save that town…he had to save Gray.

He flapped his large wings in an attempt to head back to the town once more only for him to hiss loudly in pain; his wings and back burning from the poison that Cobra had drenched his skin in. He watched worriedly as Deliora let loose a sky tearing roar; it was happening all over again. Deliora was attacking the one he was meant to protect and once again Cobra's poison was preventing him from doing his life's duty…

NO! Never again, that was not going to happen again! Too much has been sacrificed for that to happen! He wasn't going to lose Gray ever again!

Natsu forced back the pain and flapped his wings forcefully as he shot towards the town at full speed. As he got closer and closer to the town, the citizen's screams of terror started to echo through his mind like an orchestra of never ending pain. He flinched as the sound of Deliora's destruction joined the symphony like a resounding drum. He flew over the rampaging demon's shoulder as a flash of green light shot from its mouth. He was about to ignore the random blast and search for Gray among the chaos only to hear…

"GRAY LOOK OUT!"

He felt his very world come to an end as he focused on the supposedly random green flash of light only to see that it was rocketing like a missile at the one he wanted to give everything to protect. The worst part was all he could do was watch; he wouldn't be fast enough. His chest burned as Gray stared at the incoming magic that would end his life, when suddenly his mate was pushed out of the way. Natsu stared, frozen, as the magic struck the girl that Gray had always hung out with.

Natsu's heartbeat quickened as he descended to Gray once more; even if his new hope was ignited in the face of death and despair. He blocked out all outside distractions as he flew towards his mate; turning back into human form when he was still five meters or so from the ground. He knees almost gave out on him from the strain of his landing, but he had to keep going…he had to keep running…the situation was too similar to how it was back then. It would only be a matter of time now that the seal would break and everything would come rushing back.

That girl died like Gray's mother.

That girl died like Gray's father.

That girl died like Ur.

The air smelt like _pure ice_.

He cursed loudly as an icy, bitter wind pushed against his burning flesh and ruffled his pink hair threateningly. He blanketed his fire around his body as the comforting burn that used to appear when he was near Gray began to freeze over; he was losing him. His eyes narrowed as Gray coveted the entirety of his vision. One second, Gray was staring lifelessly at the girl in his arms with another male standing behind him screaming at the top of his lungs and then the next second, an intense blue light exploded outwards from the raven's body causing him to shield his eyes instinctively.

When he opened them, he couldn't believe what he was seeing. Surrounding Gray and the body of the girl was an insurmountable amount of ice blade coiled around their bodies like a massive tail or spring. The demon of Destruction roared from somewhere behind Natsu's flaming body which told him that the demon had noticed his challenger.

He had to get to Gray NOW!

"GRAY!"

Time seemed to freeze all together as Gray seemed to jump at the sound of his name. Almost as if he were in slow motion, the raven's head turned to face the pinkette; dark black markings covering the left side of Gray's face…it was like back then. He felt his scales sprout along his body as his fear and despair started to awaken. He was too late… his slayer magic had already started to consume him…

"'Tsu?"

Natsu felt his heart lift at the sound of the familiar nickname tumbling off the exhausted raven's lips. He pushed his fire into his heels just as Gray's coil of ice blades erupted from their stagnant position and shot simultaneously at the unguarded Deliora. The demon of Destruction let out a roar of pain that rivaled Natsu's when he was fighting Cobra; it was enough to nearly shatter Natsu's ear drums, but that didn't matter. What did matter was Gray collapsing lifelessly into the ash covered snow.

The pinkette slid across the ice covered ground on his knees; his fire melting the snow in his path as he stopped in front of Gray and pulled the ashen boy into his arms. He adjusted the raven so that he was resting in his lap and used the back of his hand to push Gray's dark hair out of his face. A small sigh of relief left his lips when he realized the dark marks that appeared with the opening of the seal had disappeared completely.

"It's you…"

He jumped at the accusatory voice and turned to face the man kneeling to his left. Natsu took in the man's raven hair which was pulled into a tight bun and his red eyes were glaring at him darkly; though they were rimmed in tears. Pulled against his chest was the body of Gray's friend; her life's blood staining the man's purple jacket.

"It was you," The man growled, "It's because of Dragon Demon spawn like you that Deliora managed to be reborn!"

"No," Natsu denied adamantly, "You have it all wrong! We would never…wait, how…"

"Isn't it obvious," He spat, "As the _prince _of your filthy clan, you should know who I am."

The pinkette's eyes widened in disbelief; not a single part of him wanting to believe what the man in front of him is insinuating. His eyes immediately wandered to the dead girl lying in the man's arms and it was only then that the familiarity he felt towards her made sense. Although he could not remember her name, he recognized her from the times he would visit Gray in Isvan. She was the daughter of the great hunter Gildarts, one of the hunters that he respected the most, and one of Gray's closest childhood friends.

"Step away from Gray," The man slowly laid the girl on the ground, "Or things will get bloody very quickly."

Natsu's hands tightened around the unconscious raven,

"No, you have to understand…we never meant for this to happen!"

The man laughed darkly,

"Why don't you tell that to Cana? Oh wait you can't, because you monsters just killed her!"

The pinkette flinched guiltily,

"No…"

Both of the men froze as a familiar roar tore through the air once more; awakening them from their reprieve and thrusting them back into a never ending nightmare. Natsu stared up at Deliora; demon slaying ice continuously growing from his extremities, but the monster still moving as if its life was not being sucked out of him bit by bit.

"I don't understand," The man stared up at the demon fearfully, "That was slaying magic…Gray's magic should have been able to destroy it."

"Don't ask me," Natsu muttered as he covered Gray protectively, "And even if you did, you probably wouldn't listen to me anyway."

"You bastard…"

Another loud roar echoed through the air; only this time it was followed by another and then another. Natsu smiled brightly as his brothers and sister appeared in the sky all of them roaring their respective elements towards the unsuspecting demon. Deliora roared in excruciating pain as beams of light, shadow, iron, lightning and wind attacked the places where Gray's slaying magic had struck. The pinkette watched wide eyed as the demon started to turn to dust before his eyes; only he could tell that the demon was still managing to hold on…

_Two Clans must Unite as One_

Natsu smirked to himself as weakening Deliora turned to face him once more. The pinkette tugged on the coat of the man standing beside him forcing the man to one knee. The man glared at him distrustfully until Natsu passed Gray to him carefully. He ran his warm hand along Gray's cheek one more time before nodding at the surprised hunter before getting to his feet and stalking towards the crumbling demon predatorily.

"After thirteen years," Natsu growled as an intense fire consumed his body, "your reign of terror will end!"

Almost as if responding to his challenge, the demon roared and swung a fist towards the pinkette. The fire dragon demon merely smirked as he sent all his fire power into his fist and swung at the demon that was more than three time his human size. A large explosion encompassed the area as the two demons connected, only for the result to be Deliora's hand, arm, shoulder, chest, torso, leg, other leg, other arm, other hand, and finally head to dissolve into dust.

Natsu stared down at the pile of dust that used to be the monster that destroyed two villages in one night and half a town in a matter of hours. The nightmare that was Deliora, the Demon of Destruction, was finally over. He was so immersed in what now lay before him that he didn't even notice when his brothers and sister transformed into their human forms and landed beside him; or he didn't notice until someone smacked him over the back of the head.

"Ouch!" Natsu hissed under his breath and turned to glare at Gajeel, "What the hell was that for metal head?!"

"You know exactly what that was for dumbass!" Gajeel roared in his face, "What did I tell you about calling us for help?!"

"I did…"

"Like hell you did Natsu-nii," Sting scolded the pinkette furiously, "Don't lie to us!"

"Sting…"

"Seriously Natsu," Rogue shook his head disapprovingly, "That was very low of you."

"But Rogue…"

"Tch, and you're supposed to be our king," Laxus growled, "How the hell are you going to do that if you're dead idiot?!"

"I don't want to hear that coming from you!" The pinkette poked the older blonde in the chest, "I know you answered my call late!"

"He does have a point Natsu-nii," Wendy nodded sagely, "You were being reckless today…"

"Ah Wendy!" Natsu pouted at the sky dragon demon, "Not you too!"

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?!"

Natsu tore his attention away from his family squabble and looked towards the man he left in charge of Gray. He immediately sobered and walked to the clearly shaking man; his family walking supportively behind him. He didn't say anything as he knelt in front of the man and attempted to take Gray back into his hold only for the man to move slightly out of his reach. He heard Gajeel and Laxus growl dangerously from behind him, but he motioned for them to shut up.

"We didn't bring Deliora," The pinkette told the man calmly, "We would never bring harm to Gray or your clan, and you have to believe that."

"Like hell I do," The man stated defensively, "I know one of your kind betrayed us the night Isvan was destroyed; when there's one rotten egg there's always more."

Natsu clenched his fist tightly,

"That's not true! We want…"

The pinkette paused when he felt Wendy pull on the back of his white scarf. He shifted his gaze to her and found that her brown eyes had fallen upon the body of Cana lying on the ground. He opened his mouth to tell her who she was only for her to look at him with intense need burning in her eyes.

"Natsu-nii," She whispered, "Let me heal that girl."

Natsu frowned sadly,

"Wendy, you can't; she's already died."

"No," She shook her head adamantly, "I can still feel her life force; Natsu-nii, that girl is still most definitely _alive_."

The pinkette's eyes widened,

"Are you absolutely positive Wendy? You have to be absolutely sure."

"She is alive Natsu-nii, please let me help her!"

He glanced at the fallen girl once more for a brief moment before nodding his head. Wendy went straight for the girl as Natsu gave his first nod only for the man to try and stop her from going anywhere near the body.

"I won't let you anywhere near her!"

"Please hunter-san," Wendy bowed to the devastated man, "Please let me help your friend; I can help her!"

"No!"

Sting shoved his way through the group and passed Natsu to grab the front of the man's jacket; though he was careful not to jostle Gray too much.

"Listen here," The blonde spat, "I'm not a fan of your kind either, but now isn't the time for war. Wendy can save your friend, so let her unless you want her to die; that is if she hasn't already while we've been having this pointless conversation."

"Sting," Natsu grabbed the dragonling's wrist, "That's enough."

"But Natsu-nii…"

"Fine."

The pinkette faced the red eyed hunter in front of him,

"What?"

"Okay," The hunter bowed his head towards Wendy; tears pattering softly onto the snow, "Please help Cana…please, if there's a way…please help her."

The blue haired dragonling nodded her head seriously before running past the hunter and kneeling next to Cana with her familiar blue sky magic pulsating around her hand. Natsu released Sting's wrist and tilted his head towards Wendy; signaling for him to go watch her so that she doesn't exhaust herself. The blonde nodded his head silently before wandering to the sky dragonling's side watching her closely.

"We're your enemies," The hunter's voice whispered, "Why would you want to help us?"

Natsu sighed and tilted his head to the sky,

"Because even though you saw us as your enemies, we never truly saw you as ours. Sure, some of our kind does not want to trust you, but the fact is we're going to have to if we all want to survive this war."

The hunter hummed slightly,

"That's true, but will you be able to trust us enough to see this all the way through?"

The pinkette felt his brothers shift slightly behind him, but he kept his gaze focused solely on the slumbering slayer in the hunter's arms.

"Even if we argue and don't get along, one thing will always remain the same for me," Natsu smiled, "I'll _always _believe in Gray."

"At least that's something we can both agree on," A stern female voice cut through the tension, "Dragon Demon Prince Natsu Dragneel."

The pinkette felt his family tense once more at the unexpected voice, but he really couldn't be surprised; it was a matter of time after all. Natsu turned away from the hunter and Gray to face the source of the voice with a small smile on his face. A woman with waist length raven hair stood five meters to his left with her hands crossed over her chest. Her brown eyes were narrowed at him defensively and he was sure that her hands were clasped securely around her concealed weapons. His eyes lingered briefly on the team of hunters congregated behind her; he was probably looking at the Council of the Hunter's Alliance.

"It's nice to see you again," He smiled faintly, "Ultear Milkovich."

TBC

**The long awaited chapter four! Yes minna, it's an actual chapter and not an update; aren't you proud of me?! This is one monster of a chapter; like the longest one that I have ever written! O.o I know that it's really descriptively dense and the flow isn't perfect, but I tried! :( I'm so sorry if it wasn't to your expectations, but I hope you can find something to enjoy out of it! **

**I also want to thank everyone who favourited, followed and reviewed for all the chapters previous and for the update! I'll start writing responses to reviews again in the next chapter! I'd seriously need to make another ten page document to respond to everyone who commented on my very long absence XD So thank you everyone for the continuous support! You guys are amazing!**

**I'm waiting on your awesome reviews! :)**

**-sktrgrl**

**PS. MANGA: *Died* **

**Mashima honestly killed me the last few chapters with all the bombs that he's dropping on me! What does he think he's doing to my beloved Gray?! Yeah sure the situation opens up a ton of NatRay/GraTsu shipping moments (for that I am grateful), but did he seriously have to do that?! Not only was Natsu vs. Gray inevitable before the 1 year time skip, but now it's even more so and the roles are flipped! I want to believe Gray is gathering info like Silver did while he was in Tartaros, but I doubt it :( Especially since it's revealed that Gray was the one who killed Frosch…**

**Our baby has gone dark side and now Natsu has to bring him back! I believe in you Natsu and I hope you continue to believe in Gray, even if you can't right now! He needs you, so don't give up! **


	5. AN: ANNOUNCEMENT - NOT BAD!

Hello Minna!

I know that you were hoping for an update, but sadly it is not the case…but DO NOT worry, I'm not abandoning any of my present stories! I just have a fairly big announcement to make (I just hope I hadn't frightened any of you away with the appearance of this author's note)!

At the beginning of July, I am going to be doing a 31 day prompt month for the NatRay/Gratsu pairing of the Fairy Tail fandom! :) If you would like to participate in this prompt-fest, you can send me a list of select words or a one-shot idea that you would like me to use for this pairing. I will try my best to do what you guys ask of me and I hope that I don't disappoint you! The rating of this prompt month will be from K-M so you guys have free reign; if I have issues with selected ideas I will message you personally to let you know :D

Please send me your prompts via PM and you can start sending requests anytime you wish! Also, the NatRay/Gratsu prompts do NOT need to be entirely romance based; if you prefer their brotherly bond, I am more than willing to do stuff for that too so don't feel pressured to send me romance prompts! XD

I have already received a prompt for this project tonight so don't be afraid to send me an idea you have if you have one right now…in fact I encourage it so that I actually have time to get my thoughts in order and can get your wonderful ideas out on time! :)

Thank you so much for listening to all my rambling (if you haven't left the note already) and I hope to hear from you guys in the near future!

-sktrgrl


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