Savior of the Slayers

Revelations

Rayn's POV

I've found myself asking the same question over and over again, never actually finding an answer. What did I do to find myself in this position? Everything in my life had been planned, whether by Zeref, Acnologia, or Igneel, everything was predetermined. From me joining Fairy Tail, befriending Natsu, traveling to the Dragon Realm, joining Sabertooth, all of it. I'm tired of playing by their rules, but in attempting to break free I made mistakes. I made myself an enemy. I hurt the very people I wanted to protect. I'm lost, I don't know where to go from here, and I honestly don't know where I even can go. I can't go back to my friends, not after everything I've done, but without Igneel I have no directions. 

Acnologia did have an idea, but I'm still not sure if it's something I want to do. When I went to Tenrou, I talked to Zeref about it, but he only made me question myself more. 

Flashback to Tenrou Island

 I knew that this was it, this was the island where my friends were trapped, the island where my mother was buried, the island my father stayed, I was connected to this island whether I wanted to be or not. I'm not sure how I knew where to go, my feet just seemed to move on their own, bringing me face to face with Mavis's grave. There was nobody in sight; I didn't expect anyone to be, but I knew he would find me. I looked down at the grave of my mother, but I didn't feel any sadness, just a sense of guilt. She died and I lived. I had been causing death my entire life, and even though I had better control over it than Zeref, it was still a haunting burden I was forced to bear. I had to live with the fact that I brought nothing but death, ain't that something. 

"I knew you would come," a voice came from behind me. I turned around and came face to face with the most powerful dark mage of all time, and felt an odd sense of belonging. 

"So you know why I'm here then," I stated, knowing full well the answer. 

"It was my idea to send you to Acnologia rather than raising you myself. Your power is different than mine, more concentrated, and I'm no teacher, nor am I a father. Your life here would have been lonely, surrounded by death. You deserve better than that, better than what I could have given you, so I sent you away to someone I trusted," he explained, sitting down on a rock jutting out of the wall, dangling his legs over the edge. I leaned against a rock on the ground behind me, looking up at him. 

"What about Igneel?" I asked. Surely he knew about what Igneel did, so why didn't he stop him?

"Igneel had gone soft as soon as he took my brother in instead of killing him. If he didn't kill E.N.D, he wasn't going to kill you. Acnologia wanted to go and get you, but I told him to let you come to him instead. Igneel gave you a normal life, sent you to live around other mages and focus on things other than constant death. You were happy, I didn't want to take you away from that, I wanted to let you come back on your own terms," he answered, his eyes softer than I had expected. 

"What do you mean he didn't kill your brother? Didn't kill E.N.D? Is E.N.D. your brother?" I rambled, question after question. I came here to get answers, but I'm just coming up with more and more questions.

"After my brother died, in an attempt to bring him back I created a demon and combined the two of them. Igneel had been tasked with destroying the demon, but he hadn't been awoken yet, and Igneel couldn't kill my brother, so instead he did what he did to you. He took his memories, everything about his past and who he is, and took him in instead, trained him the secret art of dragon slaying. It also allowed Igneel to keep a close watch over him, so that he could destroy the demon as soon as it awoke," he revealed. I knew who he was talking about, but I hoped I was wrong. I hoped more than anything I was mistaken.

"This demon, E.N.D, the most powerful demon ever created is sitting idle in Natsu," I clarified, crossing my fingers that I had misunderstood, that I missed something somewhere and that this powerful demon had nothing to do with my best friend. Unfortunately, the look Zeref gave me confirmed my statement more than words ever could. 

"What do we do?" I asked, rather hopelessly. I had no answers, and I wasn't exactly sure Zeref did either. 

"If the dragons had just left me and Nastu alone, I would have been able to keep us safe, but since that didn't happen, I don't know. There are still people who know of E.N.D, people who want that power for themselves. Foolish people who think they can control him. Waking the demon is difficult, but not impossible, and I can't promise it won't happen. People are out there looking for him, and it's only a matter of time before they find him. The dragons have their own plan, or at least Igneel does. They'll kill him, that's what the original plan was and they'll follow through with it."

"Once the demon wakes up, is there any way to get rid of it, or put it back to sleep?" I asked, searching for any solution that doesn't kill Natsu.

"The demon is what's keeping Natsu alive, so the only way to get rid of it is to kill him. Putting it back to sleep, I don't know, it would take a lot of skill and the chances are extremely low, but I wouldn't say it's impossible," Zeref pondered, obviously considering the chance.

"So, it's not a matter of if the demon wakes up, it's a matter of when?" I asked, looking into his eyes. 

"Yes," he nodded, "and it'll probably be sooner than anyone is ready for." When he saw the questioning look on my face, he continued. "There is a dark guild called Corvus that is looking into E.N.D, and they've made a lot of progress. They've managed to figure out how to wake the demon, now all they need to do is find him."

"What happens then?" I wondered aloud, not talking to anyone in particular. 

"Everything, yet nothing at all."

End of Flashback

So many feelings and emotions had flooded through me after I learned all of that, and I wish more than anything I had waited before I did anything rash. I killed Igneel because he took away Natsu's chance of a safe life as soon as he took him away from Zeref, but I also know that there was more to it, there always is. Igneel kept Natsu alive when he should have killed him, he raised him and trained him when he didn't have to, and he did all of that knowing full well one day he would have to kill him. I was in a fit of rage over what he did to me and Natsu that I didn't stop and think about why. Sure, maybe he did it to monitor us and steer us down the path that benefited him, but he kept us alive. It would have been much easier to kill us, much more beneficial to everyone, yet he didn't. I'll be the first to admit I was a fool, I made a stupid mistake, and now I have to live with those consequences. 

I ended up in the same place I started, alone and surrounded by death. Acnologia mentioned that if I became a public enemy bringing death everywhere I went, maybe I would be able to take the spotlight away from E.N.D, but I'm not sure that will do much. I have to find a way to protect Natsu; find a way to keep Corvus and anyone else seeking E.N.D. off his trail. Most importantly, I need to try and figure out if there is a way to safe him, to send the demon back to sleep. As Zeref said, it's not a matter of if he awakes, but when. I guess that all really leaves me with one thing to do.

I have to go back to Fairy Tail.

Hey Guys! I'm back with another chapter! I want to thank all of you who have stuck with me and this story. I really believe that it deserves a proper ending, and while I'm back and motivated to give it just that, things are really just beginning to heat up. Let me know what you think of everything and I'll be back with another chapter as soon as I can!

AJ