The Beat of War Drums

Chapter 4 - The History of Trauma and Despair

Author's Note: IMPORTANT, BEFORE READING THIS CHAPTER, GO BACK AND READ CHAPTER 2 AND 3, I EDITED IT A BIT. Okay, so, I'm back. I'm sure that if anyone is reading this that they're pretty happy. Let me just tell you that I'm really proud of this chapter. If you remember, Porlyusica is now triggering flashbacks for Natsu to get more accustomed to them. These are some of the things that he sees. It took a lot of work, so enjoy!

Chapter 4

Flashback(s)

A young boy with onyx hair and scarlet eyes with a black ring around the pupil walks through a small village, shopping for vegetables because his family's harvest had been small this year. There's an older girl, probably in her teenage years, walking a ways in front of the boy. Something slips from one of the girl's pockets, a gold piece. The boy, Zeref, rushes forward and picks it up off of the ground. He looks up to hand the piece to the girl, only to discover that she had moved on without noticing the fallen money. She's standing at a fruit stand, digging in her pocket for the gold piece. Zeref rushes forward and taps her on the shoulder, unaware of the black energy gathering in the air around him. The girl turns around, eyes wide, and suddenly collapses to the ground, dead.

Zeref stumbles back a step, then two, as the people turn to see the source of the thump. As they turn, they see him with wide eyes and a black aura around him. "Murderer!" they cry. Another boy pushes through the crowd as everyone tries to run the boy off. The new boy has a shock of pink hair, and innocent black eyes. Tears gather in his eyes as the second boy, Natsu, sees the people treating his big brother so badly.

"Leave my big brother alone!" Natsu shouts angrily. "He didn't mean it!" he tries. Suddenly, Natsu breaks through the crowd surrounding Zeref. His eyes immediately lock on the face of the dead girl. Akiara Azdin, from the family of vessels for the god Ankhseram.

"Natsu!" Zeref shouts in alarm as his little brother is shoved forward onto the ground.

"Get out of here, you monster!" one of the villagers shouts as he steps forward, his foot missing Natsu's side by millimeters. Zeref's eyes narrow in anger as the man nearly harms Natsu. If anyone dares to harm Natsu, well, Zeref wouldn't have a problem killing them slowly. Natsu is his most important person.

"Leave him ALONE!" Natsu screams in rage, pushing back onto his feet and shoving the man hard to the side. Natsu hadn't seen the black energy that had begun gathering around him. The man's eyes widen before he slumps over, unconscious. Natsu spins towards Zeref, his eyes wide and scarlet in color. "Zeref-nii!" Natsu cries as tears slip down his cheeks. Zeref's heart breaks at the sight of his little brother's tears. He needs to get them both home, now, before either of them do any more damage to the usually harmless villagers.

Zeref rushes forward, pulling Natsu into his arms, giving him some semblance of safety. Zeref lifts Natsu and takes off running to their home just outside the village, eyes blazing in justified anger. It had been an accident, and yet the villagers had reacted as if he had plotted Akiara's untimely death. There had once been a time when his family had been respected, despite the children's lack of control over their power. The power killed people, it's not like he could stop it.

Onyx eyes blink open uncertainly. A young boy, Natsu, rests inside a spherical object. The egg-type object cracks open, and Natsu's distorted surroundings become clear. Zeref is hovering warily towards his left, or at least, he thinks it's Zeref. Last time he checked, his big brother was eight years old, not a teenager, but there was no denying the uncanny resemblance. The boy was too young to be Natsu's eldest brother, Actin, and their father had pink hair like Natsu. There was no other option, it had to be Zeref, which means that some time must have passed since he last remembers.