Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

When Natsu entered the guild hall this morning, he didn’t expect to be stuck in a magic bubble that even he couldn’t break. He leaned against the side of the translucent bubble, watching his friends try to come up with a way to get him out. He closed his eyes and relaxed, something others would believe uncharacteristic of him. In all honesty, Natsu was tired of fighting, and not from just fighting his current confines.

The dragon slayer was tired of fighting in general. He boasted about becoming the strongest, strong enough to best Erza, Laxus, and Gildarts, but now the notion didn't hold much merit. A deep fatigue seemed to have settled into his bones. There was no way he’d let his guild know about it though! They needed him, if only to be a tool for destruction, that he later would get reprimanded for. Yep, that was Natsu’s purpose, and if it meant his family’s safety, he’d keep his discomfort and thoughts to himself.

Vibrations in the bubble brought him back to the present. Lucy, his beautiful, golden haired teammate stood with her arm still raised from knocking. Worry had seeped into her dark brown orbs, staining them. Look at him, being a terrible friend and making her, and likely the others, worry about him. Guilt began to swirl in is gut. He quickly slapped a wide, toothy grin on his face and dropped easily back into his routine charade. Good thing he was so practiced and believable, he thought as some of her worry seemed to alleviate and her eyes brightened slightly.

She was saying something, but he couldn’t hear her. As it turned out, the bubble was sound proof, but they didn’t know that. Earlier, when they’d originally tried to get him out, he’d cursed in defeat and the group had heard him, but he couldn’t hear their admonishment about his ‘language’ because Wendy was around. He didn’t want to worry them more than they already were with the surprise bubble and all that, so he’d elected to read their lips instead.

Lucy came over to reassure him, apparently. On her lips he’d read something along the lines of “We’ll get you out” and “Just hang on for a little longer”. He gave her a thumbs up and she returned to the group.

And boy, was he hanging in there. Initially, this bubble had been a pain in the butt, but the longer he was stuck in the silence of it, the more he came to realize he didn’t really mind. It was nice, to finally have some quiet, and no one in danger to save in all his flames and destruction.

He was watching his family work to free him when he stumbled a bit. Natsu blinked slowly, his head wasn’t this foggy a minute ago, right? He…He was actually feeling pretty dizzy. He stumbled forward and caught himself on the bubble wall, breathing getting deeper. The fuzzy feeling in his mind grew. Why did he suddenly feel so tired?

Natsu let out a quiet groan, but in the uncharacteristically quiet guild hall, it was loud.

The pinkette’s eyes fluttered and drooped. What was happening to him?

In his fight for consciousness, he didn’t notice the turned heads, the widened eyes, and shouts of his name. All he saw was a pair of large, calloused hands pressed against his through the bubble and dark, worried eyes before he succumbed to exhaustion and fell into the calming embrace of darkness.

~

When a random magic bubble appeared out of the blue and decided Natsu was the best person to swallow up, Gray hadn’t been very surprised. Weird and wacky magical incidents were commonplace in Fairy Tail, this would just be another one to add to the ever expanding list of them.

Natsu not being able to cancel out the magic on his own was strange, and even stranger when their S-Class mages couldn’t so much as put a dent in the thing. Eventually they’d put Freed and Levy on the job. There was probably some magic unraveling thing to do that Gray would never understand, they just had to figure out how.

Natsu was also taking being stuck inside a random magic bubble surprisingly well. There was no yelling, no fiery fists pounding on the unbreakable, translucent walls, or pouting. Odd. He was vaguely aware of Lucy going over to the bubble a few times to check on their teammate, but there was never any real change.

Gray watched his pink haired rival out of the corner of his eye. They fought a lot and pissed each other off more often than not, but Gray cared about that idiot dragon slayer. The raven watched Natsu lean against the wall, closing his eyes in a content sort of way. He didn’t think he’d ever seen the dragon slayer so…relaxed before.

“Ah, dang it!” Levy threw her papers at the table in frustration. “I don’t understand this! There isn’t any kind of magic to reverse or nullify, so how do we get Natsu out?!"

Freed put a hand on the blue haired girl’s shoulder, trying to be comforting. “We’ll get him out Levy, besides, he's not in any danger-”

A low groan cut the rune mage off and Gray whipped around in time to see Natsu stagger and press his hands on the bubble in front of him. The pinkette looked like he was about to pass out, his eyes drooping dangerously. That was all Gray had to see before he was by his rival’s side and trying to find out what was wrong.

Gray pressed his hands against Natsu’s slightly smaller ones and tried to get his attention. Whatever was happening, Natsu was fighting, and losing, a battle of consciousness. The idiot was fine a few minutes ago! What happened in that short amount of time that made his condition change so drastically?

“Natsu! Come on, you gotta answer me! Natsu!”

He was vaguely aware of Lucy, Erza, and the others calling out and trying to break through the magic that held their friend.

“Natsu!” Gray screamed the dragon slayer's name as the pinkette lost his battle and collapsed limply, like a puppet cut from his strings.

He immediately dropped down to meet Natsu’s level, where he’d slumped against the bubble’s wall. Gray watched Natsu’s chest rise and fall steadily, but slower than a normal humans, even in unconsciousness. Gray frowned at that, but it was good he was still breathing. Gray felt some of the panic in his chest alleviate, Natsu looked like was asleep.

“Guys,” His guild mates didn’t calm down. “GUYS!” his shout quieted them some, bringing them back from their panic for a moment. “He’s still breathing, I think…I think he’s asleep. I don’t know what put him under though, something’s wrong with, whatever this is.” He gestured to the translucent bubble.

Erza crouched beside Gray, and put her hand on the bubble, as though she was trying to place her hand on Natsu’s cheek for comfort. Lucy stood close behind them, cradling a crying Happy close to her chest.

“He was fine for so long though! What could have…What could have knocked him out like that? Natsu has a ridiculously high tolerance to sedatives and things like that. And he’s good at detecting them too, so he would’ve known if there was something wrong with the air.” Lucy rambled, a comfort for herself.

Gray ran a hand through his hair. “I know that,” he almost snapped back. “I’ve never seen the Flamebrain just collapse like that.”

Erza stood, taking charge of the new situation. “Freed, Levy, work on getting him out. The rest of us will-“

The scarlet haired woman trailed off as she looked past the group gathered by the bubble. There was a glassy looking cloud floating in front of the tables Freed and Levy had been working at.

“What…is that? Is that the same magic as the bubble?” Someone asked. Gray was more concerned about what he saw next. Flickering to life, like one of those new lacrima projectors, we’re words.

Stop future

Change it

Save him

By this point, Gray was over the weirdness of the situation. “And what the actual fuck is that supposed to mean?!”

Materializing onto the cloud was Lucy’s living room, Natsu splayed on the couch, poking at Happy mindlessly. Lucy was sitting on the floor, writing something on the papers scattered around the coffee table.

“Stop future…Change it...Save him?” Levy repeated, deep in thought, “Could it be…Natsu’s future we need to change? Something happens to him that we need to save him from?”

“It’s possible. Watching this might be our only real chance to get Natsu out of the spell at this point.” Freed murmured. It wasn’t everyday that a future showing bubble decided to swallow up your friend and give you a concerning message about his future.

That was enough for Erza to put everyone into action. “Everyone sit down! I know there aren’t many of us here at the moment, but it will be our job to relay all important information to the rest of the guild. So pay attention!”

Everyone took a seat near the cloud. Freed, Laxus, Mira, Levy, and Gajeel sat at the table with all of their textbooks and paper, while Gray, Erza, Wendy, and Lucy with Happy sat at a table together. Levy and Freed prepared to take notes, pens already in hand. As soon as the group was situated, the scene in the mist began to move.

(Better Together - Us The Duo)

Lucy hums as she writes, focused deeply on her project. Natsu messes with Happy, but is quiet enough not to disturb his partner as she works.

Lucy’s eyebrows furrow. “This looks like it’s going to happen soon.” She squints, then points, “Look! There’s my calendar! It’s still x784!”

“Good job, Lu!” Levy praises, “Date’s are important, so always be on the lookout for those!”

The blonde’s humming turns to a soft song.

“There’s no combination of words I could put on the back of a postcard.”

Natsu turns his attention to her as she continues.

“No song that I can sing, but I can try for your heart,

“Our dreams, they are made out of real things” She starts tapping her fingers to a rhythm only she can hear. “Like a, shoebox of photographs with sepia toned loving.”

Gray whistles in appreciation. “I didn’t know you could sing, Lucy.”

The blonde blushes a little in embarrassment. “I don’t do it much, and definitely not in front of people!”

Mira grins deviously. But you did it in front of Natsu~"

Lucy flushed bright red, "We're just friends!"

“Love is the answer, at least for most of the questions in my heart

Like, why are we here, and where do we go, and how come it’s so hard”

Something in her face twists, as though remembering something she’d rather forget.

“It’s not always easy, and sometimes life can be deceiving

I’ll tell you one thing, it’s always better when we’re together”

Happy giggles as he recognizes the line, and Lucy's blush grew impossibly brighter.

Natsu smiles and starts humming with her.

“It’s always better when we’re together.”

Her blonde head whips up at the sound of his voice, unnaturally soft, singing with her. Once the initial shock passes, she smiles fondly, going back to her writing.

“It’s always better when we’re together,

Yeah, we’ll look at the stars when we’re together

It’s always better when we’re together

Yeah, it’s always better when we’re together”

The group is in shock at their friend’s voices. They harmonize beautifully, and have a talent none of them had any idea about.

“Who knew the Salamander could sing too.” Gajeel joked. The group sweatdropped as they remembered Gajeel and his "music".

The two go back to their own activities, but keep up the song, enjoying each other’s voices and company. Natsu picks up the song this time.

“And all of these moments just might find their way into my dreams tonight,

But I know that they’ll be gone when the morning light sings, and brings new things.”

He flicks a balled up wad of paper at his partner, grinning.

“For tomorrow night you see that they’ll be gone too, too many things that I have to do,

But if all of these dreams might find their way into my day to day scene,

I’d be under the impression I was somewhere in between.

With only two, just me and you, not so many things we got to do,

Or places we got to be.

We’ll sit beneath the mango tree now.”

He looks pointedly at the blonde in question. She at least looks a little sheepish at her worrying, and joins back in their quiet song.

“It’s always better when we’re together,

We’re somewhere in between together, well it’s always better when we’re together.

It’s always better when we’re together.”

They lapse into a quiet only broken by their humming. Natsu starts again.

“I believe in memories

They look so, so pretty while I sleep. Hey now, and when I wake up

You look so pretty sleeping next to me.”

He laughs at her embarrassed expression, and she chucks more balled up paper at her best friend. They continue together, tossing objects at each other.

“But there is not enough time, and there is no, no song I could sing

And there is no combination of words I could say,

But I will still tell you one thing; we’re better together.”

The group sat there, mesmerized by the domestic scene between their two friends, and transfixed by their voices.

“I thought we had to save the Flamebrain by changing his future, not seeing something…cute.”

Lucy tried to get her red face under control. “I think we do, but it might just be showing us other smaller parts of the future as well. Maybe so that everything we see isn’t…horrible? Or maybe what leads up to whatever happens to Natsu in the future?” she mused.

"Or maybe we'll see Lucy finally confess to our cute little fire dragon~" Mira giggled, but it somehow seemed sinister.

Lucy shivered. "I don't like him like that!"

Levy hummed in consideration, ignoring the white-haired demon. “That could be, and I suppose it would make sense. If we know events leading up to, or in a similar time frame, we’d be able to work on preventing anything bad from happening.”

The girls were about to continue their conversation when the images started up again.

(Boyfriend - Dove Cameron)

Natsu is sitting alone at the bar, watching the crowd with a bored expression, twirling his drink. He sighs, bored and ready to go home, watching the man who’d asked him out dancing with other people.

“SOMEONE ASKED THAT FLAMEBRAIN OUT ON A DATE?!?”

"Natsu agreed to go out with a man?"

Erza smacked the ice mage on the side of the head. “Of course someone asked him out, just because you don’t desire Natsu doesn’t mean no one does.” She addressed Freed, who'd also spoken. "I've long suspected Natsu wasn't the straightest line in the sand, but if we want to know more, we'll have to ask him about it. In any case, we'll accept him, and his partner, as long as he is happy." The redheads gaze darkened. "Unless he is like that asshole in the scene there, we can skewer that guy."

Gray just grumbled something about a “fire eating freak” and “how dare he” while the others digested what Erza said.

A large hand places itself on the pinkette’s shoulder and turns him around to face, of all people, Laxus.

“Laxus?”

“I can't believe we're finally alone
I can't believe I almost went home
What are the chances? Everyone's dancing
And he's not with you”

“LAXUS?!”

Laxus, for his part, looked just as confused. “What? It’s not like I know what’s going on.”

“It is odd, though, that you’d express anything to Natsu at all, Laxus. I wonder what brought this on?” Freed stared at the screen, seeming to try and will the image way with his mind. There was no way his Laxus had an interest in Natsu of all people.

Natsu stutters out something incomprehensible, face flushed at the situation. He has no romantic feelings for Laxus, and the lightning dragon slayer obviously has his sights set on either Mira or Freed.

Natsu pulls back, ready to start yelling about how this couldn't possibly be Laxus when he’s grabbed again.

Natsu’s attention is turned to Mira, who bowed and placed a chaste kiss to the back of his hand chivalrously. Natsu flushes more, completely confused and taken aback by what was happening.

“MIRA TOO?!”

The white haired mage just giggled. “Oh, would you look at that, maybe I’ll date Natsu in the future~”

The present mages had never seen Lucy growl like she did in response before.

“M-Mira?”

She placed a finger to his lips.

“The universe must have divined this
What am I gonna do? Not grab your wrist?”

She glanced toward the crowd, and Natsu’s asshole of a date.

“I could be a better boyfriend than him
I could do the shit that he never did
Up all night, I won't quit
Thinking I'm gonna steal you from him
I could be such a gentleman
Plus all my clothes would fit”

She winks mischievously and the pinkette just about passes out.

Wendy giggled. “I’ve never seen Natsu so flustered before! It’s cute!”

“Gihihi! I won’t let Salamander live this one down!”

“Do you think he’d really fit in Mira’s clothes?”

“Wendy!”

Meanwhile, in her own little world, Lucy imagines flustering Natsu herself, and then flushes so red she could start steaming. Why was she having thoughts like that?!

The two lead him into the crowd, Mira pulling him along by the hand, Laxus with a hand on his arm. The fire dragon slayer could barely believe this was happening. Mira? Yeah, this is a stunt she would pull, but Laxus?

Natsu must have died or something, Laxus never would have done something like this for him. Ever.

A new person ruffles his hair, and Natsu knows it’s Gajeel, but can’t for the life of him figure out why.

“I could be a better boyfriend
I don't need to tell you twice
All the ways he can't suffice
If I could give you some advice
I would leave with me tonight”

“Gajeel too?! But I thought you were with Levy!” Gray exclaimed.

Levy just laughed. “I don’t think Gajeel’s cheating on me with Natsu in the future, you guys.”

Mira spun him around and pulled him close like they were dancing.

“The universe must have divined this, mmm, mmm”

Mira bowed, demonic glint in her eyes.

“Ladies first, baby, I insist" The boys step back, letting Mira lead Natsu around the floor.
"I could be a better boyfriend than him
I could do the shit that he never did
Up all night, I won't quit
Thinking I'm gonna steal you from him
I could be such a gentleman
Plus all my clothes would fit”

Lucy hummed, a little bit jealous of Mira’s closeness to Natsu. “I’m honestly surprised he’s letting the three of you manhandle him like that. Usually he’d have started a fight by now.”

“Pfft- That Flamebrain is probably worried Mira and Laxus will kill him on the spot if he tried to run away.”

Erza rubbed her chin, armor clanking. “I want to know why Laxus, Gajeel, and Mira followed Natsu to a bar though. They must have had a bad feeling about his date.” She frowned at how the man in question had ditched Natsu for others after asking the pinkette to accompany him. “With good reason too.”

Happy finally stopped munching on his fish for a moment. “I wonder why Lushy, Erza, and Gray didn’t follow him instead since they’re on the same team.”

The three in question froze for a moment. That was a good point.

She pulled Natsu along in their little dance, her grip on him protective, almost possessive.

“Mira, I don’t-”

“I could be a better boyfriend than him”

Laxus’s large hands yank Natsu over to stand in front of him.

“I could be a better boyfriend
I never would have left you alone
Here on your own glued to your phone
Never would have left you alone
For someone else to take you home”

Gajeel clamped a hand on Natsu’s shoulder, firmly, but comforting. At least in Gajeel’s own way.

“I could be a better boyfriend than him
I could do the shit that he never did
Up all night, I won't quit
I'm gonna steal you from him
I could be such a gentleman
Plus you know my clothes would fit”

Natsu just stared at the three of them flabbergasted by how they were acting.

He blinked once. Twice.

Oh. Ohhhhh.

A smile lit up the pinkette’s face as he realized what was going on and laughed to himself. His guildmates were being possessive of him, a draconic and demonic trait they got from their magic. They saw Natsu not being treated right by someone outside of their horde and made to reassure him as they saw fit.

“At least the Flamebrain is enjoying himself instead of sulking by the bar.”

The mages turned to look at the ice mage incredulously.

“What?”

“I knew you cared about him!” Wendy exclaimed.

Gray stuttered. “What! No way! I just don’t think anyone should be dumped like that!”

Mira grabbed his hands again as Natsu laughed, the three of them with a small, satisfied smirk on their faces after cheering Natsu up and keeping their horde member happy. She began dancing with him again, smiling and laughing with him as the two dragon slayers growled and snapped at anyone that got too close to either of them.

She hugged him close again.

“I could be a better boyfriend than him
I could do the shit that he never did
Up all night, I won't quit
Thinking I'm gonna steal you from him
I could be such a gentleman
Plus all my clothes would fit”

Natsu returned her embrace with a content smile.

“I know. Thank you for everything Mira, Laxus, Gajeel."

The two older men smirked in satisfaction. Their job here was done.

Now, just to find that asshole who decided to hurt their guildmate.

The mist went blank once more as the viewing ended.

Levy scribbled another note on her notepad. “I think this blip, I’m calling each part of the future we see a blip, is pretty close to blip one on the timeline. Both of these blips will happen soon then.” She chews the top of her pen in thought. “How much time will we really have to change the future though, if these blips are going to happen so soon?”

Gajeel placed a hand on her shoulder. “We’ll find a way, it’s what Fairy Tail does best.”

She smiled. “Yeah, you're right. Everything will be okay.”

Lucy glanced back at Natsu’s unconscious form for the umpteenth time since the viewing began. “What do you think happens to him that is so horrible that someone or something had to send us parts of their past to change it? You don’t think he…dies, do you?”

“I’d bet on it.” Gray mumbled. “He’s always getting himself into some kind of trouble, but I think him dying is the worst that could happen to a guy like him.”

“Dying isn’t the worst thing that can happen to you, Gray. There are much worse things than death.” Erza commented. “I just hope that Natsu doesn't experience some of the things I’m thinking about.”

Happy paled, worse than death!? The Exceed didn’t know there was something worse than that! “Lushy! You’ll save Natsu, won’t you? Don’t let bad things happen to him!”

Lucy hugged the Exceed close. “Of course I will, Happy. Natsu’s important to me too. To everyone.” She smiled softly.

The mist began moving again, signaling the next blip of the future.

“Let’s see what happens next, we have a future to change.”

Chapter Text

(Lyrics like a music video)

(Angel on Fire - Halsey)

The scene begins in Natsu’s house, showing him lying in his hammock. He stared at the ceiling, a blankness in his eyes that he never lets anyone see. He sighs, trying to muster up the energy to get up and start the day. 

Another day of feeling out of place, that is.

He rolls out of his hammock and stands, his room more of a mess then he remembered it being last night. He wordlessly begins to clean up a bit, tired of having his things strewn around haphazardly.

I woke up to another mess in the living room

Broken bottles all around my feet

They came again in the night under crescent moon

Didn't wake me in my sleep

The mages started but only Lucy spoke. “He looks so…tired. I’ve never seen him like that before.”

Erza frowned. “I suppose even someone as cheerful as Natsu has bad days. All that energy he has can’t be limitless after all.”

Lucy frowned as well. “I hope a bad day is all it is.” She didn’t want to think about what it would mean if this was normal for him when he was alone.

The guildhall was already packed when Natsu arrived, yelling and laughing already filtering out through the doors toward him. 

Natsu forced a familiar smile on his face and threw open the doors.

His guildmates' happy faces mocked him. He knew they didn’t put on an expert imitation of the person they used to be. He knew they didn’t feel fake.

Cause they talk and drink and laugh 'bout things

And fall in love in my backyard

He took a seat at the bar, listening to the people around him. No one greeted him when he busted open the doors, and for some reason, he couldn’t force himself to make a fool of himself and talk to the others as he usually would.

I hide and cower in the corner, conversations getting hard

Cause nobody seems to ask about me anymore

Gajeel narrowed his eyes at the situation. The scene seemed normal enough, even if Natsu was being abnormally docile. And, well, the lyrics were a little concerning. 

The gaze he felt from next to him said enough about what Levy thought about it as well.

He raised a hand to flag down Mira, but she rushed past him, squealing, to Lucy. Huh, he didn’t know his team was here already. Maybe they somehow missed him when he came in? Happy was already snuggled up to the blonde. 

Did Happy even come home last night?

“Hey, guys!” Natsu smiled. “What’s-” 

Natsu was interrupted by an armor-clad hand slamming onto the counter. “Hush Natsu, don’t you see we are clearly busy here? We do not need you messing up the planning for our next mission.” With that, Erza spun back towards their team.

The hall went quiet. “Erza?” Happy asked quietly. “Why would you say that? Natsu didn’t do anything wrong.” The others turned to look at her.

Erza frowned, confused by her future self’s actions. “I…I do not know. But it was most definitely wrong of me, and I will not allow myself to do this in our future.”

A promise from the Titania was a bond, so her words placated everyone for the moment.

He lowered his hand. “A mission? I didn’t even know we had another one.” 

“Of course you didn’t, when do you ever know anything, Flame for Brains?”

Lucy laughed. “It’s okay, Natsu! Leave everything to us, we all know your strong suit is breaking things!”

And nobody seems to care about anything I think

And nobody seems to recognize me in the crowd

In the background, screaming, "Everybody, look at me"

Natsu’s smile faded and stood, “Yeah, destroying things. Right.”

Lucy grimaced; the disgust she felt at herself was tremendous. How could she be so horrible to her best friend? Where they always like this and just didn’t notice how they treated Natsu?

She looked around and saw the others thinking something similar to her own thoughts. How could they be so rude to him and think it was okay?

And I'm fading away, you know I used to be on fire

And I'm fading away, you know I used to be on fire

I'm standing in the ashes of who I used to be

And I'm fading away, you know I used to be on fire

The dragon slayer walked out of the guildhall and away from the echoes of his family, perfectly fine without him.

He missed when they used to care about him as a person, as the dragon boy the Master had dragged in one day and adopted. He became the heart of their guild, and he was happy .

Gray felt a kind of guilt he only felt when he’d made Natsu cry after trying to use Iced Shell. Did their future selves really not notice how they were affecting him? Or did they just not care about it anymore. Gray shook his head, ridding it of that last thought. No, they had to care. There was nothing Natsu could do to make their love for him, as much as he hated to admit it, vanish like that.

Natsu made his way through the morning crowds in town, only half paying attention to what was going on around him. Usually he was fine with the insults, did his best to ignore the sharp sting of hurt that came with them. Usually it was fine .

So why did it hurt so bad today of all days? 

You know I used to be on fire

You know I used to be on fire, fire

I used to be a darling starlet, like a centerpiece

Had the whole world wrapped around my ring

I flew too closely to the sun that's setting in the East

And now I'm melting from my wings

He became strong, too strong. 

He became a tool.

And like a tool he was beginning to break down after overuse.

Cause I'd laugh and drink and talk about things

And fall in love in my backyard

Now it's my own anxiety that makes the conversation hard

He made it back to the forest and stopped. He stared at his guild mark, the symbol staining his shoulder red. Would it be better if he left? Everyone there was strong, crazy strong. 

Yeah, they didn’t need him anymore.

Cause nobody seems to ask about me anymore

And nobody ever cares about anything I think

And nobody seems to recognize me in the crowd

In the background, screaming, "Everybody, look at me"

He lifted his hand to the mark, fire licking at his fingertips.

And I'm fading away, you know I used to be on fire

And I'm fading away, you know I used to be on fire

I'm standing in the ashes of who I used to be

But I'm fading away, you know I used to be on fire

Just as he was about to burn his guild mark off, he stopped. He snarled and flung his fist out at a nearby tree. “Why can’t I do it, dammit! They don’t need me, and I want to leave!”

He blinked back tears of frustration and whispered, “Why can’t I do it?”

You know I used to be on fire

You know I used to be on fire

Well, I used to be on fire

The pinkette put his face in his hands and dropped into a crouch.

“Dammit don’t cry, it’s pathetic. Pathetic…”

You know I used to be on fire

You know I used to be on fire

You know I used to be on fire, fire

The silence that settled over the hall was fragile and deadly. 

Chapter Text

The heavy silence remained unbroken for what seemed to stretch into an eternity. Lucy, even with her usual quick thinking and wit, was struggling to wrap her head around what she had just witnessed.

Natsu and leaving the guild should have never been in the same sentence.

Natsu and the deep pain his family had caused him should never have happened.

Lucy wished Natsu wasn’t such a convincing actor.

Lucy wished Natsu never had to put on an act at all.

“Does Natsu…Does our Natsu really feel that way?” The celestial mage broke the silence tentatively.

Lucy didn’t think anyone was going to break the silence, until Gray exploded. “That IS our Natsu! Both of them are OUR Natsu, and look what we did to him! That isn’t something that just happens overnight after one bad interaction. This has probably been bothering him before you even joined the guild.” The ice mage lowered his head and clenched his fists so hard they shook. “We failed him by making him believe that his own family views him as a tool rather than a person.”

Silence descended over the mages once again and settled like a lead blanket weighing on their shoulders.

“Where does this fall in our timeline, do you think? I feel like the interaction between Natsu and his team came out of nowhere. As of now, they would never treat him in such a way.” Freed muses. “In fact, I don't recall you three ever treating him like that.”

“Of course not! He's our friend and we love him. There is no way I would ever treat him like a tool.” Lucy stood and practically shouted to everyone in the room. “Natsu is a human being. No one deserves to be treated like an object!”

Gajeel turns his attention to Lucy. He still had a hard time believing the three on the Flamebrain’s reaction to their actions. Maybe it’s because he’s newer to the guild than the others, but he’s fairly certain the whole of Fairy Tail doesn’t realize how they treat the dragon slayer. “You sure about that Bunny Girl?”

Lucy rounded on him. “Of course! Why would we want to make him feel like that?”

Gajeel folded his arms across his chest and leaned on the table. “I don’t think anyone in Fairy Tail has purposely tried to hurt Salamander but he’s been treated the same way as the projection showed since I joined this damn guild.”

“That can’t be,” Erza finally joined the conversation. “Natsu has never expressed this to us before. Wouldn’t he have said something?”

He sighed. “That idiot just puts on a smile and takes it day after day. I don’t know of anyone who can completely ignore how that makes them feel. Besides, Pinky’s heart is too big for his own good.”

The guild settled into silence once more, something that has happened too many times in the last twenty minutes.

The mist flickered to life once more.

(Hanging Tree - James Newton Howard)

The scene opens up exactly where the last one left off, except Natsu was leaning against a tree now, staring off into the forest surrounding him. Half dried tear trails shone on his cheeks, his eyes still slightly red and puffy.

“Are you, are you
Coming to the tree?”

Natsu twitches in the direction of the sound, seemingly coming back to reality. His olive green eyes shift, searching for its source.

Wendy twitched at the noise too. “What was that?”

“What was what?” Levy asked, pen at the ready. Wendy shook her head.

“It almost sounded like a lady? But it’s still hard to tell, even I could barely hear it.”

The script mage turned to her partner. “What about you Gajeel? Did you hear it too?”

Gajeel huffed. “It’s just like the kid said, sounded like a woman but hard to tell.”

Natsu seemed to have zeroed in on the direction the voice came from and stood, quickly collecting himself and using his sleeve to scrub at his eyes. His guard went up immediately.

“They strung up a man
They say who murdered three”

The pinkette began walking forward cautiously, scanning his surroundings with trained precision. The voice was louder and intelligible now.

“Strange things did happen here, no stranger would it be”

An apparition of a beautiful pink haired woman in a white, flowing robe appeared in front of Natsu, startling him. He took a step back while raising his hands and dropped into a loose fighting stance.

Mira frowned. “Who is that? She sort of looks like Natsu.”

Wendy put a finger to her chin in thought. “Could she be related to him? Natsu never talks about his past.”

“That’s because Natsu doesn’t remember anything before Igneel.” Fairy Tail’s resident ice mage interjected. “I’ve asked him about it, but Natsu doesn’t know what his human parents looked like or where he’s from.”

Levy fiddled with her pen. “That’s kind of sad though, isn’t it? Most of us at least had a little time with our parents but I can’t imagine how confused Natsu must have been waking up completely alone in the woods as a kid.”

Lucy matched Mira’s frown. She, at least, knew who her mother and father were, regardless of her relationship with her family.

Laxus rolled his eyes at the other mage’s pity. “If he doesn’t remember them, then there was never anyone to miss. If you ask me, that’s better than knowing the people who left you in the woods to die.”

The woman smiled at him and closed her olive green eyes, muttering:

“If we met at midnight in the hanging tree”

The apparition disappeared and reappeared deeper into the forest.

“Hey, wait!” Natsu called out to her, but she didn’t seem to be listening to him. He jogged after her.

“Are you, are you
Coming to the tree?”

“What are you talking about, lady?” Natsu called again while ducking between trees as he chased after the ghostly woman. She reappeared farther into the forest once more.

“Where dead man called out
For his love to flee
Strange things did happen here, no stranger would it be
If we met at midnight in the hanging tree”

Natsu burst from the forest’s foliage into a clearing where the mystery woman had now appeared.

“Are you, are you
Coming to the tree?”

The ghostly woman appeared in front of Natsu, startling a high pitched yelp out of him. In a blink, she gripped the dragon slayer's face with a surprising force. Natsu’s eyes went wide and fumbled at her wrists in his surprise.

The mages winced in sympathy at the strength in which their friend was grabbed. It looked less than pleasant.

“How is she touching him?” Levy tapped her pen against her lips. “She’s clearly an apparition and shouldn’t be able to touch anything.”

Her tone turned stern now, locking eyes with the other pinkette. She looked like she was searching for something within their guildmate, something she thought was incredibly important.

“Where I told you to run
So we'd both be free”

As the ghost woman spoke, a massive tree erupted out of the ground behind her. One branch had a rope hanging from it, its use was clear to all those who saw it. The woman’s hands dropped from Natsu’s face and gripped his wrist instead, pulling him towards the tree.

“Strange things did happen here, no stranger would it be
If we met at midnight in the hanging tree”

As she pulled Natsu along, buildings rose from the ground. What seemed to be an entire town was soon occupying the clearing. Natsu looked utterly bewildered at what was happening around him. Apprehension crawling into his eyes. He watched as people came into existence, but the people only stared at him with a look of sadness as the two of them passed.

“What in Earthland is happening? An entire town fading into existence?” The resident ice mage watched the scene skeptically.

Lucy coughed. “Maybe it’s an illusion of some sort?”

The script mage quickly interjected. “That would make sense, except for the fact that that woman is clearly interacting with Natsu. Illusions can’t do that.”

“Are you, are you
Coming to the tree?”

The woman stopped in front of the tree and turned to Natsu with a melancholy expression. She brushed a hand across his cheek affectionately.

“Wear a necklace of hope
Side by side with me”

“WHAT!” The blatant request for their fire mage to kill himself took them all off guard.

That knocked Natsu out of his stupor. “What?” He took a quick step back from the woman and the tree. “No, no, I will not be doing that, thank you.”

Another rope dropped from the tree branch next to the one already there. Natsu blinked and there was a dark haired boy with one of the ropes around his neck. “Hey!” Natsu went to move towards the boy but was stopped by the ghostly woman’s grip on his wrist. “They’re going to kill him! Let go!”

The dark haired boy cried out that “he didn’t do it”, “they died to a dragon attack”, and to “please let him go, he can’t even die.”

Laxus grunted out a gruff question. “Is he the one who “murdered three” like the ghost lady has been saying?”

“It seems pretty likely.” Mira frowned. “I feel like there’s something oddly familiar about that boy.”

The woman let go of Natsu’s wrist slowly and floated closer to the boy at the tree.

“Strange things did happen here, no stranger would it be
If we met at midnight in the hanging tree”

Natsu backed away from the woman, now seeming to realize that whatever was happening was not normal and definitely not safe.

“Oh my God, Natsu, please just get away from that place!” Lucy pleaded at the future version of her friend. “How do you always get into these situations?”

Erza shook her head. “That’s our Natsu, Fairy Tail’s resident danger magnet.” The words were fond, but the crease of her brow portrayed the worry she felt watching her friend in such an odd situation.

“Are you, are you
Coming to the tree?’

“No, nope. We are not doing this. I am not killing myself for a random ghost lady.” Natsu turned to leave but bumped into another person. The people with the sad expressions in the village were now closing in around the mage.

“Where I told you to run
So we'd both be free”

Natsu backed away from them too. “What…What are you doing?” He asked, voice wavering.

“Strange things did happen here, no stranger would it be
If we met at midnight in the hanging tree”

Natsu turned and took off through the area with the least amount of people, straight into the heart of the village. He ran as fast as he could to get away from the town’s residents. He didn’t know what was happening or what they wanted from him.

Lucy prayed to all that was holy that her friend ran as far as he could away from that horrible place. Preferably back into his family’s arms.

“Are you, are you
Coming to the tree?”

More and more voices joined the chant of the woman that had led him here. Voices which were steadily increasing in volume.

Natsu rounded a corner and came face to face with a church. He wasted no time running inside and slamming the doors shut. He fumbled with the lock hurriedly, creating a temporary safe haven.

He pressed his back against the door and huffed, collecting himself. He righted himself and looked ahead of him into the main area of the church.

“Why doesn’t the idiot just use his magic on them?” Gajeel rolled his eyes at Natsu’s attempt at hiding.

Happy’s small voice spoke from his curled position on Lucy’s lap. “Natsu doesn’t like using magic on civilians, even if they try to hurt him.”

It looked like there was some kind of funeral that had been taking place. Three open caskets laid side by side in front of the altar.

Natsu peeked inside one and found the body of the pink haired woman who had lured him here. Another had the body of a man with dark hair that spiked up in a way similar to Natsu’s own.

And in the last casket, he found himself.

The guild erupted in exclamation.

“Is that Natsu?!”

“But he’s clearly alive-”

“How could he be-”

“What in the-”

“QUIET!”

Everyone turned to Levy at her outburst. “We need to watch what’s happening to Natsu. I’m shocked too, but we have to keep our heads right now.”

“Oh my God!” Natsu could only stare at the perfect copy of him laying in the casket, seeming as though he was asleep. Well, an almost perfect copy. The other had no guild mark and was missing the scar he had on his neck.

“They strung up a man
They say who murdered three”

“Murdered…three? These three?” Natsu wrapped his arms around himself. “This makes no sense, I wasn’t…I couldn’t have been murdered. I’m still here-”

“Strange things did happen here, no stranger would it be
If we met at midnight in the hanging tree”

With the voices came the ominous banging on the church's wooden doors.

“You, boy, should not be here.”

Natsu whirled at the voice, only to find an old man dressed as a priest standing beside the altar. “When did you-”

The old priest pointed a shaking gnarled finger at the fire mage. “You should be dead. You are not welcome in the land of the living.” The man sighed tiredly. “You poor boy, you were never allowed to rest. You don’t even know you aren’t real.”

“What does that mean…..that Natsu’s not real?” Lucy’s voice trembled. “Of course he’s real!”

“I…do not know what that man speaks of. Natsu has been part of the guild for most of his life. We’ve watched him grow up and can touch him with our own hands. He isn’t an illusion.” Erza said, perturbed by the very notion.

“What did the priest mean by “should be dead”? Does that mean that Natsu has died before?” Wendy presented the questions timidly, horrified by the thought of yet another loved one of her’s being some sort of illusion.

“What are you talking about, old man? Of course I’m real! I don’t understand anything you people have been saying, but I’m tired of these riddles!” Natsu bit out in irritation. “Tell me what you meant plainly or we’re both going to be having a bad time.”

The old man stared. “The curse of your bloodline will haunt you soon enough. I’m sorry I couldn’t stop him from taking you away, and turning you into,” The priest gestured at all of Natsu. “This.”

“Curse of his bloodline?” Levy hastily added to her notes.

The man paused. “I’m sorry none of us were there when you needed us.” The old priest then turned and walked towards the doors that were keeping the mass of villagers at bay.

“Old man, wait! Don’t-” The doors flung open, the villagers flooding in.

“What is the old man DOING-”

“Are you, are you
Coming to the tree?”

Natsu backpedaled, feeling his spine press against the wood of the altar. He scanned for an exit and found a back door in one of the far corners of the room. He went to run in that direction but was stopped by a cold grip on his wrist.

It was his double, the one lying in the casket. “What the hell!” The other Natsu was staring at him with pitch black eyes. “We must…rest…now. We are…un..natural.” Natsu tugged at his wrist but the counterpart's grip was too strong. Black veins crawled up his arms from the other Natsu’s touch. “Let me go!”

“Where dead man called out for his love to flee”

The mages watched in horrified silence. The sight of something with the face of their loved one disturbed them greatly, especially when the ink-like tears began to fall.

Black tears streamed down this other Natsu’s face. “We are…so…tired. Please…please…put us…to rest…at last.”

Natsu pulled more frantically as the people from the village crowded into the church. A pair of strong arms wrapped around his shoulders, pulling the dragon slayer’s body close to a freezing one behind it. “It’s ok Natsu, it’s time to come home now.”

It was the man from one of the coffins. And he was wrapping a hand around Natsu’s throat.

Lucy jumped from her chair the moment the man touched Natsu. “Let go of him!”

The mages followed suit, as if their words and presence had an sway over what was happening in the projection.

“No! No, let go of me!” He choked. “Please!”

Natsu gasped as the man cut off his airway, black veins from the man’s touch spread to his collarbone and caressed his cheeks. “You are going home son, soon it’ll be over.”

Natsu ignited his free hand to try and pry at the hand suffocating him. The ghostly woman from before, however, grabbed his wrist again. The black veins from her touch snuffed the mage’s flames and joined the others creeping across the pinkette’s body. “Don’t fight us Natsu. Come home.”

Natsu was beginning to lose the fight for consciousness now as his limbs turned sluggish and heavy and his eyes fluttered and rolled.

“Strange things did happen here, no stranger would it be
If we met at midnight in the hanging tree”

His slightly blue lips whispered out a final plea as the projection went black.