Return

When Crimson stepped into the real world his perspective of his surroundings drastically started to change and at the same time, in another location a great change had also occurred.

As boundless vegetation, mountains and such came into his sight, within his body the volcanic world where Igneel had resided, suddenly rippled.

It seemed as though space and time itself had finally become active once again. 

Igneel's body involuntarily shuddered at the mere residual effect of space and time being unfrozen. 

It was also thanks to this that made him realise the changes in his son, Crimson's, body.

"W-what..?" His shock only grew as he inspected the interior of his son's body. 

Every nook and cranny had been drastically increased in quality. It was superior and majestic, a body unbelonging to a human being.

"Did he get corrupted by his magic just like Achnologia?!" Was what Igneel first thought. 

He involuntarily muttered this thought aloud giving birth to a thunderous rumbling. 

His usual tone of voice which would often carry a fierce and unbothered feeling was now housing a completely different, singular feeling. 

Concern.

Having this feeling urged him. 

He immediately rescanned his son's entire body only to have made yet again another discovery. 

This sudden 'discovery' finally allowed him to breathe a breath in relief but there was still an odd feeling lingering within his beating heart.

A feeling of confusion. 

"His heartbeat, blood flow, bodily functions… they're all exactly like that of a dragon's.. a pure blooded one.. one bred from the sweaty work of two powerful Dragon Kings.. this.. this, how can this be…?" 

He stopped momentarily as he started to process all the possibilities. 

Finally after a hot few minutes, understandment proceeded to dawn upon him, clearing that sudden cloud of confusion immediately. 

Only then did he resume. 

"This might be crazy but.. what if-" 

"ARGH!!!!"

Through his words of newly gained knowledge Igneel had suddenly released a monstrous cry in sheer agony abruptly putting a stop to his ongoing and already processed thoughts of understanding. 

Hollowed smoke was suddenly seen being released from certain parts of Igneel's body. 

The smoke sourced from the depths of his crimson scales which made him look as though he was on the verge of melting. 

A fire dragon 'KING' on the verge of melting!

Around his coiled up body, scarlet-red flames that were so bright in color that it looked as though they could illuminate an entire world red, rose, circled and slowly started to eat away at Igneel's scales. 

Igneel's complexion changed almost immediately. 

His crimson-scaled face which always held that majestic rosy redness now wore for the first time in a long time a pale complexion. 

Not being able to resist the intensity of the scarlet-red flames, his body was immediately smothered by a bright light of white before it faded out of existence.  

Crimson, who was enjoying the scenery of the outside world, suddenly felt as if his body had been stung by several million tiny bolts of lightning. 

His body shook as he suddenly gripped his skin in annoyance. 

It was as if billions of worthless fire ants were attempting to eat away at his flesh in a pitiful manner. 

Swoosh!

At that exact moment a bright light flashed unbeknownst to Crimson and as it did, Crimson felt the uncomfortable feeling which etched itself all over his body fade out of existence almost immediately. 

As the light continued to flash throughout the area with it's figure retreating into the far distant North, Crimson caught sight of it before it could fully disappear. 

He only gazed towards the direction it headed into before turning his attention directly back onto his own path. 

Crimson had chosen to ignore it. 

Why? Because he simply thought of it as 'pointless'. 

The reason for this was simple. He saw no reason to chase after something that neither interested nor concerned him in any manner whatsoever. 

Sure a timing like that would leave many skeptical on whether it was a coincidence or not but not Crimson. 

After he had converted his race to that of a dragon's, his mental capacities were greatly raised in quality and such. 

He could now process a situation at least ten times faster than a regular human, especially ones as simple as this right now. 

Besides, even if he was wrong and it was not a coincidence he still wouldn't chase after something that attempted to do harm on him yet failed so miserably. It was laughable. 

As he walked a sudden thought jolted his mind. It was a thought which made him stop in his tracks immediately as he was once again thrown back into the realm of confusion. 

His face twisted as he internally questioned, 'H-how the hell am I supposed to know how to turn off my innate ability...?' 

His mind was almost thrown into a chaotic cycle of thoughts but thanks to his advanced mental capabilities he calmed down with a single breath in. 

He released a sigh in frustration as the scenes of the ancient voice hurriedly warping him out of the void-like world resurfaced within his mind.

He gathered the residual saliva from the back of his throat and spat onto the ground nastily.

Pitui!

"Fucking old bastard!!" He cursed aloud.

He then gathered his thoughts and calmed himself down. Crimson closed his eyes and started to think and work his mind around all possible solutions for his current problem.

'Okay, think! Think Crimson! THINK! It's a skill! It has to have an on and off button somewhere!! Like a lamp! Yeah, a lamp! A freaking-"

"Wait.. button..? Lamp..?' Crimson felt as though a powerful bolt of lightning had lashed out towards his mind, completely obliterating the mist which clouded it. 

"THAT'S IT!!" He exclaimed with a wide grin, his sharp and alluring canines glistening as the rays of the sun reflected on it. 

Crimson dug his feet into the earth beneath him before his body blurred with a loud 'thud' resounding throughout the area.

Thud!

Crimson was suddenly in a lotus position, sitting there calmly with his eyes closed. 

He focused himself and within his mind he calmed his thoughts and started to picture a single image. 

A lamp. 

His eyelids quivered as he sunk into the pinnacle of focus within mere moments. 

Swoosh!

Within his mind a world of pure darkness materialised itself, completely coating his mind with an abyssal feeling so familiar yet, so eerie.

Soon, a single ripple formed as Crimson endlessly continued tinkering with the world's atmosphere. 

Such an occurrence made Crimson chuckle. 

He started to sweat profusely though, as he tried being more flexible with his imagination. 

A few seconds flew by and finally the lamp had been created. 

Tok!

Sounded the shallow water as Crimson appeared within his own mind in an attempt to turn off his innate ability. 

In front of the lamp Crimson looked like a tiny rock standing in front of a humongous boulder. 

Of course he was still in his human form so it was expected but if he had used his dragon form he would have been able to easily tower over the giant lamp. 

The lamp he had created through his imagination was slightly arched at its neck and from it's lens shone a silvery white light. 

At the foot of the lamp Crimson saw a single button that read two words, on and off.

He stared at the button for a short moment before he suddenly sent his fist smashing forward with a bit off his physical strength visibly seen in the approaching fist strike.

Swoosh!

Bang!

Click!

A crisp sound of a flickering light switch sounded within the abyssal landscape of his mind.

The moment he did that simple yet major action he felt an immensely strong suction force which coursed through his body disappear as though it had never existed. 

…

Slowly his eyes had opened, his face little by little gaining a small smile. However that small smile had suddenly turned into a wide grin brimming with joy and pride.

'I'M A FREAKING GENIUS!!! It's as simple as it had seemed! The concept of fooling one's mind! Take that you bastard old man!!' 

Crimson shot up from his lotus position with his hands thrown high into the air. His smile of pride and jubilance only shining brighter than it ever did.

He momentarily revisited some images of him easily solving what he had deduced to be an incredibly hard mystery in a single attempt which made him mark it as a 'prideful' moment.

After a few moments, he marched forward with big strides, joy clearly evident on his face.

---

Hours passed and soon the tall, lonesome figure of a man came into sight. 

The figure's waist length hair fluttered gracefully as he approached a ruined building which felt like it stood without purpose, aimlessly upholding itself for nothing.

However as the man looked on, his gaze never leaving the building, a bone chilling darkness suddenly overtook his face and from the depths of that darkness shone two garnet red irises. 

A menacingly cold aura swept out and suffused with the atmosphere. 

Crimson looked on with his body overwhelmed with a sudden stiffness. 

As his gaze intensified something which he had truly never accounted for played out. 

The bright blur which he had so 'carelessly' ignored was immediately spotted as it phased through the guild's ruined wall.

Seeing the same, 'pitiful' white blur flash out of the ruined Fairy Tail Crimson only stared on with his eyes widening to a horrifying degree. 

He peered through the very being of the white blur and the moment he felt the boundless fear in which it tried to cover up he narrowed his eyes dangerously.

Crimson's icy cold gaze focused with even further intensity towards the white blur and the moment it did, a circular wave of killing intent rippled out. 

Sensing the oncoming danger, the blur's speed suddenly skyrocketed but alas, how could it escape a ruthlessly driven Crimson? 

 It was simply to no avail. 

The wave of killing intent phased through the entire guild and instantly caught up with the white blur. 

It wrapped itself around it, coiling around eerily. 

An overwhelming sense of dread swallowed the blur and before it could even gain the chance to execute any other sort of movements a monstrous explosion ripped out.

It revealed itself towards the atmosphere chaotically as the white blur now shot forward with speed unmatched, simply unprecedented! 

As it sped through the air whilst at the same time battling against the crushing heaviness of the wind, the white blur mid way through its pitch collided with what seemed to be another half of itself as it easily merged upon contact.

From the collision and mergence birthed a resplendent array of silvery white light. 

The light bended, contorted and nastily stretched while also contracting at the same time. 

It tried it's hardest to take on a form suitable for itself but with the wind clashing against it how could it possibly achieve that? 

The blur ran out of energy to even persist and the moment it did it dropped heavily onto the ground. 

With the added speed the blur cracked and crumbled the ground as it incessantly pitched off the Earth. 

BOOM!

A massive explosion rang out in the distant area as a giant, ancient looking mountain trembled with some of it's rubble instantly getting blown to smithereens. 

At the bottom of the mountain, a giant hole a hundred meters tall was formed, and hidden deep within it was the bloodied figure of a giant dragon. 

It's wings were torn similar to Crimson's own but unlike his that looked natural, these were forcefully torn and ripped. 

The bloodied dragon, Igneel, shakingly moved his head upwards and glanced towards the open world outside of the giant hole with half closed eyes. 

They drooped with a mistiness seemingly clouding his vision. 

He muttered underneath his breath, "How strong you've grown… I'm so proud of you-"

Thud!

His head heavily fell onto the ground with his blood splattering even further than before. He laid there with his body seeming stiff, as still and calm as water. 

No one knew if he was dead or alive.

Crimson stepped forward, his gaze never straying from the direction he had sent the blur flying towards. 

He was going to search for it in order to finish it off but there was something inside of him which made him hesitate on whether he should go through with that idea. 

He shook his head, clearing his thoughts in the process and reached towards the broken doors of the guild parting them gently. 

He sniffed around and as he had expected he smelled human beings cooped up within the direction of the infirmary. 

He sighed and at that moment, a woman popped into his head. Beautiful and smart, short and gentle yet fierce when needed to be. 

Levy was all he had mostly been thinking about for the past thousands of years. 

Through these years his affection for her had only strengthened and as it did his worry for her safety also rose with it.

He shook his head again and walked toward the infirmary. 

Opening the door slowly it creaked due to its rusty hinges alerting a woman who kneeled at the side of a bed holding onto the hands of an unconscious blue haired woman. 

"Who-" "Mira." Crimson called out to the woman who was kneeling, cutting her off immediately. Hearing that deep and familiar voice, her eyes widened immensely. 

She shot up and turned towards the door as quickly as possible. 

Her eyes were moist, tears welling up without any restriction. 

She ran towards Crimson and hugged the tall and handsome young man who towered over her like a giant. *Hik* *Hik* "I'm so glad you're back!!" 

She screamed as she bawled her eyes out. Crimson lowered his head until his nose was touching the top of her head, he warmly embraced her with traces of guilt glimmering within his eyes. 

Feeling his warm embrace she tightened her arms around his torso with her tears falling even heavier than it did before. 

Five minutes had passed and finally she had stopped. She pulled herself out of Crimson's embrace and looked into his eyes. 

Her face then twisted with an anger unquenchable. She started weakly pounding his chest with her fists. 

"Where were you?! Do you have any idea what went on when you were taking your damn time out there?!" 

Mira once again started to break down, her tears falling gracefully matching her beauty with simplicity and majesticness. 

Crimson's eyes were clouded by guilt, he lowered his head and pressed his forehead against Mira's causing her to fall quiet. 

Her eyes widened as a single tear drop fell from Crimson's eyes. "I'm sorry.. I let you all suffer.. if only I'd been here earlier.." 

Mira was now thrown into a tornado of chaotic emotions, the most bugging one being guilt as she hadn't even taken the time to consider Crimson's position. 

She lowered her head and hugged him, this time she was the one apologizing. "I'm so sorry.. I made you feel like you were responsible for all of this just now.. I was being selfish, having put all of my stress and dependency on you.. I believe you've been through a lot before you were able to get here..." 

Crimson smiled and replied, "You have no idea." 

Mira laughed sweetly and as she did both her eyes and Crimson's own met, they locked themselves in each other's gazes as they saw each other's irises glisten. 

Mira had finally noticed the type of situation she was in. She and Crimson were face to face, to the point of almost kissing. 

He held her in his embrace whereas she held him in hers. 

Her heartbeat quickened as her face took on a rosy complexion. 

Crimson also realised the situation, he became flustered. 

Both he and Mira separated from each other at the same time. Mira had her head down, looking towards the ground as her entire body felt heated. 

Even her ears were the color of blood. Crimson casted his gaze towards Levy. An overwhelming sense of grief and guilt flashed through his eyes.

He approached her unconscious body with quiet footsteps. 

At this point Mira who still had her head down couldn't handle the awkward silence anymore so she curiously asked, "Crimson..I noticed something. Why are your pupils shaped in such a weird way? Were they always like that?" 

However all the response she recieved was silence. 

Curious, she turned around only to see Crimson standing over the unconscious Levy. Her heart pained seeing her best friend's crush in such a way. 

But what she really didn't know was that the pain she told herself she felt for her best friend's crush was actually the pain she felt everytime she saw them act so intimate. 

She thought after giving up her chances with Crimson she was doing the right thing for Levy but in reality she was only hurting herself for the happiness of others. 

Now, after seeing Crimson show such care and affection for Levy she didn't feel pain for him but rather she felt the pain of jealousy.. yes, Mirajane was secretly filled with jealousy but with her being the kind and always smiling Mirajane that she was, her kind nature naturally misunderstood that emotion for something else. 

Crimson placed his hand on Levy's cheek. He felt a multitude of emotions flicker through his heart. 

There was rage, hatred, malice, grief, love and care. Seeing the woman he fell in love with in such a state.. it pushed him to his bottomline. 

Mirajane approached and comforted Crimson. 

Both got into a long conversation before a pained groan silenced them. 

"Urgh.." In the far corner of the room laid a young man bandaged from his head to his torso. 

His pink hair barely stuck out but it was enough to be able to discern who was it's owner.

As he attempted to move, he felt a surging pain course throughout his entire body instantly having him release a scream in agony. 

"Natsu!!" Mirajane shouted frantically as she hurried over to his side. Crimson's eyes widened immensely. 

'Natsu? Mirajane just said Natsu?! As in Natsu-nii?!' 

Crimson turned his gaze towards Mirajane's direction.

Seeing the bandaged man try to sit up yet fail so miserably it distracted him from actually verifying if that man was actually Natsu but his eyes couldn't miss that vibrant pink hair. 

Crimson's eyes glistened, his body shuddered as he approached Natsu. "Natsu..?" Crimson shakingly asked. 

His quivering hands finally reached the face of his long separated brother. 

"Urgh.. hm..?" 

Natsu looked around and saw Mirajane, he lifted an eyebrow and was about to say something when he suddenly felt a hand touch his face. 

Intrigued yet at the same time confused, he turned towards the hand's direction. 

Yet, when he saw the owner of the hand he once again raised an eyebrow. 

Crimson who saw this sensed that something was wrong. He was about to question Natsu about his memory but what Natsu said next answered all of his questions. 

"Um.. I'm sorry, who are you guys and where am I?" 

BOOM!

Both Mirajane and Crimson felt as though a bomb had just gone off in their heads. 

Though Crimson had thought of this possibility after seeing the way Natsu had acted when he saw him, it was one of many possibilities he had already think of and was also the most hated one he had in his mind so he made sure to section it out yet when he did that it actually came down to it! 

Crimson felt unwilling but through that unwillingness was his bubbling rage! "I've waited for years! Tens of fucking thousands of years to see my brother again yet this is how I find him?!" 

His voice was so destructive that the walls of the infirmary blew to bits. Mirajane covered her ears as tightly as possible. However, noticing Levy, Erza, Droy and Jet laying there defenseless against such power, it urged her. She immediately used her take over magic, transforming into her Satan Soul form. 

FWOOSH!!

Her gargoyle-like wings cut through the air as she instantly appeared next to all of them, grabbing each of them with extreme speed. Natsu reacted by pure instinct. 

His back adorned four dragon wings before he disappeared with a flash, heading towards Mirajane's direction. 

They both then quickly flew out of the room, escaping with only a few injuries as they had used their bodies to shield Levy and the rest of the injured patients. Crimson shot his gaze towards Natsu. 

He appeared next to him in a mere instant and sniffed him. 

As the scent of a familiar animal entered his nostrils his rage seemingly transcended. 

"FLARRRRRRRRRRRRRRE!!!!!" He screamed as his body morphed oddly with a black crimson light hurriedly stretching over his body. 

VMMMMM!!

FOOSHH!!

BOOOOOOOM!!