The Burn of Beginning | E.N.D.

07: Lost

Slowly out of line
And drifting closer in your sights
So play it out I'm wide awake
It's a scene about me

-You're Gonna Go Far Kid, The Offspring

~

Natsu felt empty.

Like nothing that ever happened even mattered.

He just sat there, not thinking, not talking, he was just there. His existence seemed pointless. 

Zeref was extremely concerned about the fire mage's condition. It had been two days since their encounter with the Fairy Tail mages, but his younger brother had shown no emotion since Gray had tried to run him through with that dangerously beautiful sword of ice. The cut on Natsu's chest had healed fairly quickly which was a good thing. 

Occasionally the dark mage would try to start up conversations only to end up being ignored by Natsu. This also made Zeref feel depressed. Their reunion hadn't been happy to begin with but it seemed that with the turn of events, the tension between them both had only increased. 

If he was to be all honest, Natsu had been terrified when he came across his former friends in Miyabi. He didn't expect them to be there and definitely didn't expect the meeting to turn into a potential death bed for himself.

The worst thing was...he wanted to die. Maybe that would fix things. Maybe he should end his life here and now.

Maybe that was best.

"I'll be right back. I need to be alone for a minute."  Natsu said quietly. Zeref nodded, thinking his brother might need to cry and wanted to do so in private.

The fire mage stood and strode away, walking until he felt far enough from Zeref.

So how should he die?

There were so many ways. He could go to Fairy Tail and give Gray the liberty of killing him. Or he could turn himself over to that mage that wanted him, Kuro, was it? No. Kuro didn't want Natsu dead. He only wanted Natsu's potential power.

You've become a suicidal freak eh?

Natsu gripped his head, trying to drown out that voice that obviously came from the evil part of himself. E.N.D.

You know, I can get you revenge.

Natsu didn't want revenge.

I can make the people that hurt you suffer.

He didn't want them to suffer.

I can kill them for you.

"NO!"

You just need to surrender to me. Set me free Natsu.

Natsu screams again, "NO!!!!"

"Natsu! Are you alright!!?" He heard Zeref call out.

So he ran...

Far far away. In the opposite direction of Zeref, Fairy Tail, and any chance of living happily.

He'd die.

And soon.

ו×

A loud, resounding slap echoed through the guild. Gray stood in front of Lucy, eyes downcast, one cheek becoming red.

Gray just got bitch-slapped. And part of him knew he deserved it.

Lucy felt so much fury she could barely speak, "You actually tried to kill him," her tone was soft but dangerously so, "You tried to kill Natsu," louder now, "HOW COULD YOU!!!?"

Silence. Happy cowered behind the blonde's shoulder looking dejectedly at Gray with hurt eyes.

"My father..."

Erza interrupts this time, "Look Gray, we know you're father died and that you swore to him you would kill E.N.D. But we don't care about that. And you shouldn't either. Because this E.N.D. is Natsu. He's our friend. He's helped us through so much and after all this time you turn on him. Did the past ever really happen for you? Or do you just not care that much!?"

Someone fairly new to the guild spoke up, "But Natsu is dangerous. He's a demon and could kill us any sec-"

With a flick of her wrist a small dagger flew through the air and launched into the shoulder of the person. He groaned, quickly pulling the blade out, blood dripping from the deep wound. Someone quickly lead him to the infirmary. Clearly Erza was not someone to be messed with at this point.

"Gray. Natsu was going to let you kill him, just to appease you! You betrayed him."

"No," Gray defends, "He betrayed us but not telling us what he was in the first place."

Lucy responds, "And can you really blame him!? With the way everyone reacted can you really blame him? I would not have had the courage to tell us. Gray, he's been your best friend since you were kids. He may not have shown it but it probably hurt him a lot by the fact that you were ready to murder him just because he is something that he never wanted to be. He didn't ask for this. He didn't ask to be E.N.D." she falters off before saying one last thing in a small, commanding voice, "Stop being an effing bastard Gray. And get your priorities straight."

Lucy stormed out of the guild, desperately trying to reign hold of her anger, convincing herself not to run back there and slap Gray as hard as she could across his face again, for good measure.

Natsu...

She prayed.

Stay strong.

And don't give up.

For her sake, don't give up.

~

Sorry for the late update guys. 

And just to be clear, this is a Nalu book but it focuses more on E.N.D.

I did not mean to disappoint you all if you thought this was a Gratsu book. If you were looking for Gratsu then you might want to read my other book, Poisoned Fire. I also will have another Gratsu book published soon. Thanks for reading!!

-aʟɨċɛ