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Chapter 14
Natsu's P.O.V.
The island of Sin is alive once more, alive with the pleading shouts of the many. A girl whose body is made of eternano stands among them, listening to the begging with disdain. These people beg for the life of their friend, but they didn't think about what their friend even wanted. To let live or to kill. The choice was mine alone, no one else's. The ethereal manifestation of my soul watches, leaning against the Temple. No one detects me but Zera, which is rather disappointing and surprising, given the strength of my family members. Everyone is shouting now, everyone but Zeref. I wonder why he stays silent while everyone calls out for our ancestor to save my life. He's staring at his hands with wide yes. I turn to my friends. They've never been in a situation like this before. They're a pitiful sight. They're exhausted and beaten and bruised. I haven't seen them like that since Tartaros.
"All right! That's enough!" Zera shouts over the chanting. Everyone falls silent. I watch with focused attention, ready to hear her verdict. I'm glad that she silenced them. The chanting was going to give me a headache sooner or later.
"What are you going to do ma'am?" Erza asks warily. She wipes furiously at her tears, willing away the sadness and trying to remain strong for whatever choice Zera shall voice.
"I have decided that I will give Natsu a small amount of eternano." Zera declares. I raise an eyebrow at that. "It will not be enough to save him without some effort on his part!" she yells, looking piercingly at me. I chuckle, understanding what she's doing. To let live or to kill, the decision is mine. "I will leave it up to him to decide whether or not he wants to live." she explains. She extends her left hand into the air above the empty-eyed corpse my spirit inhabited just minutes ago. Her hand begins to glow, and that glow, that tiny bit of eternano, is passed on to my body. I lean against the Temple, watching it happen. I vicariously feel that bit of eternano pulsing deep within my chest.
"What will you decide?" Zera asks. Another form of her, I suppose, this one merely an apparition, asks me. I turn my head to look at her body, glowing in a soft yellow light. Her skills are far past mine if she can do something like this with ease. She's now created herself to physical forms with which to inhabit this world, despite being dead for centuries. I commend her ability and power.
"I don't know." I reply truthfully. Zera looks at him, tilting her head curiously. "I was once a very selfish person who would've chosen death without a second thought." I explain. "I've wanted to die for a very, very long time." I say. She nods in understanding, though the physical Zera doesn't budge an inch. Her hand still hovers above my body near my chest, unmoving and as still as stone.
"Please, Natsu! Please come back to us!" I hear my friends from Fairy Tail begging.
"Come on, Natsu-nii, you can't give up on us now." Kida begs. She's kneeling on the ground in the dirt, her face stricken with tears and sadness. "I already had to put up with seeing Mom and Dad again today." she complains. I smile. I had figured that someone told Zeref about Nilvashka. "You aren't aloud to die yet." she sobs.
"Your friends need you, kiddo." Actin agrees. He's never been super emotional, but now, he's trying to keep from crying.
"I've done a lot to hurt you, but I've never wanted you dead." Eileen confesses, trying not to cry. She purses her lips in shame.
"I haven't known you for very long, but I'd like to know you longer." Konan says, the most emotional thing he's ever said in my presence.
"You can't abandon us yet, uncle." August pleads, showing an unusual soft side.
"You said that you'd come to our wedding." Larcade and Brandish say together.
"Natsu, can't you see that everyone loves you so much?" Mavis asks. "Please stick around to meet the unborn children that your sacrifice saved." she begs.
"If death is what you want, boy, I can grant you eternal rest." Zera announces. Her left hand begins to glow softly once more. There are cries of outrage and protest, but Zeref remains stoic despite the fact that Zera tells him that I wish to die.
"If death is what you wish, then I will grit my teeth and bare it!" Zeref shouts, silencing everyone. "When you were a child, alone and naïve, your guilt overwhelmed you and you killed yourself! You wanted to die so badly that you took your own life! And then I disregarded that and brought you back!" he shouts, tears blurring his vision. "I was selfish, and I hate myself for it!" he sobs. "Choose what you like! I won't betray you like that again!" he swears, and for a second, Zeref's eyes find mine. I almost think that he can see me, but I know that he can't.
"I was once selfish enough to kill myself. I hate that I made you resurrect The Six, and yet, here they are." I say softly. "I'm not so selfish anymore." I declare. I push off the wall of my Temple and stomp up to my body. I extend my left hand above myself amplify the eternano in my body. The world vanishes, and as I blink once more, I'm bombarded with hugs. My family cries to know that I am safe. They cry tears of joy. My eyes are the only ones that catch Lady Zera's smile as she disappears.
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The Beat of War Drums
FanfictionA story where Natsu has known about his heritage from the beginning. Things are about to get much more complicated than he thought. Formerly called The Way of Lyrics.
