These Blood-Soaked Pages (Fairy Tail) [Book 1 of Reaper's Scythe]

XIX - Natsu Dragneel

Natsu's PoV

Where... am I? My head feels... funny...

"Hiya, END!" a child's voice says.

I slowly open my eyes to see a vast expanse of white nothingness. The only color to be seen solidifies into the shape of a child... who looks just like a very young version of myself.

"Who... are you? Why do you look like me?"

The child grins. "You know who I am already. I'm Natsu Dragneel, silly!"

"Huh? But I'm Natsu Dragneel."

The tiny fake me laughs. "Kind of! I'm Natsu Dragneel, and you're Etherious Natsu Dragneel."

"I don't get it..."

Small Me looks at me with a funny expression. "Do I really grow up to be so dense? Hehe... I'm the old you, the human version. If you're aware of me, that means your memories are coming back and we'll be the same person again."

I give Small Me a blank look.

"Well, I don't completely understand either, but it's got something to do with when we... or you... were sealed into the Book of END. It was supposed to only be your Etherious powers sealed away, but I got sealed up too by accident. But now that the seal's been broken, we're going to go back to normal!"

"Normal?"

"Yeah! Don't worry though, nothing bad will happen. You'll just get back your memories of when you we me and when we were the same person."

"Ugh, this is so confusing."

"I know!" But then Small Me frowns. "I just hope we go back to normal quickly. Something bad's happening, and we're completely defenseless until we've merged!"

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The next time I open my eyes, I am standing next to Small Me in what seems to be a hallway lined with doors. Except there's no walls, ceiling, or floor. Just us, and the doors.

Small Me opens a door and pulls me inside. "C'mon, END!"

"What are you doing?"

A flash of light engulfs us and suddenly we are in a house's living room. The room's appearance... Well, the first thing I notice is how outdated everything is. It looks kinda medieval. Like the houses from a movie I watched with Lucy... what was it called? I forget... eh, whatever. I just watched it because it had something to do with dragons.

The second thing I notice is the person sitting on the floor - a black-haired boy who, if I had to guess, I would place at around six years old. He's carefully building a tower of blocks. A younger child watches him in amazement. I immediately know that the smaller child is a very young me.

Even Smaller Me watches the older boy with a look of fascination. "Zewef nii-san! That's really cool!" He exclaims after the last few blocks are added.

"Thanks, Natsu!" Small Zeref grins at Even Smaller Me.

The scene fades out to black and when color reappears, I see Even Smaller Me and Small Zeref with two adults - a man with pink hair, and a woman with black hair kept in a bun. Our parents. The four of us are sitting around a table, with a cake in the middle. "Happy birthday, nii-san!" Even Smaller Me says cheerfully. Well, more like yells. Small Zeref winces at the volume, making me chuckle.

The room fades away before my eyes, and images start to come and go faster, like a timelapse of my childhood. Zeref and my parents are in most of the memories. Then the progression of memories begins to slow down...

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"Nii-san!" I run after Zeref through the forest, nearly tripping over several roots from the many trees. "Wait for me, nii-san!"

Zeref skids to a halt and turns around, waiting for me to catch up. I stumble over to him, panting for breath.

"You're pretty fast, but you've got such tiny legs!" He remarks teasingly, ruffling my hair.

I puff out my cheeks. "I do not!"

"Yes you do!"

I charge at Zeref, knocking him over in the dirt. He tries to push me off of him to no avail. "Alright, Natsu! You win!" Zeref sighs, rolling his eyes. He looks up and winces. "We'd better head home soon, or kaa-san will be worried."

"Hai!"

I follow Zeref out of the woods, and eventually we end up at our house on the outskirts of the village.

Our mother is in the kitchen making dinner, when she sees us she smiles and waves. The present me notices once again how old-fashioned everything is, she's actually using a pot over the fireplace.

"Welcome home! Zeref, would you please help me with something? We're out of water, go draw some more from the well in the village."

"Hai!" Zeref grabs an empty bucket and runs outside.

I sit down on the floor next to my mother. The crackling sound of the fire and the smell of stew is strangely relaxing.

"So, what did you two do today? You sure were gone for a long time." Mom ruffles my hair, and I grin.

"Nii-san helped me practice magic! Watch this!" I hold out my hand and concentrate really hard. Suddenly, there is a loud popping noise, and a small flame appears in the palm of  my hand.

"Good job! You've improved a lot. If you want to keep practicing outside, I'll call you when dinner's ready."

"Okay!" I snuff out the fire and run outside, eager to practice. Magic is one of the few things I'm good at, well for my age anyway.

I've been sitting in the grass summoning and dispelling flames for a while when I hear a sound like the clapping of thunder. I stare at the sky. It's clear, with no signs of rain in the distance. Then what was that noise?

A few seconds later, there's another earth-shaking sound. Then another. And another.

And then the world goes dark.