chapter 16

Just InCommunityForumMoreThe All Devouring Slayer's Flame by nobodi in particular Anime » Fairy Tail Rated: M, English, Drama & Fantasy, Natsu D., Words: 112k+, Favs: 1k+, Follows: 1k+, Published: Sep 18, 2016 Updated: Apr 26, 2018618Chapter 16

Hel- Yeah I know I fucked up.

Yes, hello everyone and welcome back to Slayer's Flame. You have no idea how long I've wanted to write that again. Yes, I have been gone since... December and... It's almost March now... Fuck. But seriously, I have just been swamped with work and stuff from school that has really limited me from keeping up to date with everything and alongside that, I have had the worst case of writer's block with this sotry for those 2 months. No joke, i have re-written this chapter 5 times... 5 FUCKING TIMES! Yea, it's a real struggle comiing up with something after the end of an arc so, I hope this is okay for you guys. Now listen, i have exams in March, like pre-publics, so if I do not upload for some time in March, that is why. I will be trying to get back to my 'Chapter every Sunday schedule starting from next week (cause this is going up on a Thursday) so... Yay for progress?

Anyway, what else? Oh yea, I just wanted to thank you all for the support this story has been recieving. We are almost at 700 followers... ... ... Just... Just... You're all mad. Thank you all so much for allowing me to entertain you with this story, seriously, thank you all.

First things first though, I just wanted to thank Lord Rikudou cause he's been a massive help with this chapter, from brainstorming ideas to helping me with the opening. Just thank you man, really, it means a lot to me.

Now then, reviews!

Chimera629: The symbol was the symbol that the Titans use that was described in an earlier chapter (an eye on fire) and yes, Silver is a Devil Slayer so they do know.

WolfGaming: Orange, Pineapple, Courgette. I needed to catch up.

TreWill91: In the Wiki article he wasn't... I mean... From my amazing knowledge of Greek mythology (shit, they know)

Guest: The Titans are weaker then the Spriggans by a significant margin, like the strongest is just as strong as the weakest Spriggan and that is still really far away from the others, as well as the other Titans not being anywhere close to as powerful as the strongest Titan. And yes, Natsu is getting much stronger.

AngryHenry: Well, I hope that I could distract you enough. No malice in that statement or anything, seriously I hope I helped you. Also, thanks for the corrections, I'm not big on grammatical scrutiny so it helps when others point it out for me... Thanks, really thank you.

Naruto: What do you have against scars? Like serious question, what's so bad with scars?

Nugueria: For the most part, the combined magic will just be his primary source of engagement but he might use is separate magics in the future if he is trying to fake people out. Also, his training with the combined magic means that the base of those magics will be stronger when he eventually uses them again. And if I'm honest, I still have no idea about the harem... I might just keep it at nine cause its simple.

TheLaughingStalkCan'tWakeUp: Heckle do, indeed.

Draco Lightning: He's there, he's just with Gajeel who we haven't really seen yet.

T-B-R: Yep, she's just resting after what happened at Tenroue.

CooperJordan: Something like that. I don't wanna spoil what will happen, but something to do with Fairy Tail and the Demons will happen.

Guest: Hey, character development is needed! Also, he hasn't been with any of the girls for 15 chapters so how could he talk to them HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!

ArinaSution5: Go, go Naruto?

Anyway, no onto chapter 16!

Glancing around the Guild, Makarov huffed.

Time for another S-Class Trial. Directing his eyes to the floor, the old Titan couldn't help but think of that disastrous event from 3 years ago, how it tore apart their Guild's sacred grounds and disgraced the memory of their ancestor, how it ripped apart the usual courage and bravery that he and his children usually felt towards challenge… How it forced one of those children to take up their own arms and leave to grow stronger.

"Natsu…"

A grim expression drifted over the man's face. 3 years and not one direct message from the boy. A few hints at his whereabouts, an odd flickering fire that would last for a bit longer than anticipated or the rewards to a quest being forwarded to their Guild even though no completion was carried out or even when someone mentioned that they saw someone with freakishly bright pink hair in the streets. Every single time it filled them with false hope that he was coming back from his journey, that he was finally strong enough. A few times, around the time when he left or when it was his or Happy's birthday (they chose the day that he joined as his birthday due to the Dragon Slayer lacking any memory of his date of birth) he would hear some members talk about how 'he must be strong enough now' or 'how strong did the damn idiot need to be'. However, Makarov knew that he wouldn't be back for a while; if he needed to be the strongest he could, anyway. If he came back now, he knew that Natsu would feel like some sort of disgrace or an embarrassment to the Guild even though, in reality, he really was the heart of Guild.

Shaking his head, Makarov repeated the same few words that he had been saying to himself for those three years.

"He'll come back when he's ready,"

"Hm? What's the matter, Master?"

Twisting his head to his left, Makarov's hardened eyes softened as he gazed upon the concerned face of Mirajane. Over the past few years, she hadn't changed much. She still retained her carefree, loving attitude towards the others members of the Guild while remaining at her post as barmaid. However, she suddenly started retraining her magic one day, becoming stronger and stronger until there was a glint of the old Mira back in her, meaning that a little rivalry with Erza was going to emerge sooner or later. It hadn't happened yet, outside of a few small jabs, but the old man was waiting for it with baited breath.

"Oh, it's nothing dear, don't you worry."

Pushing himself up and off his stall, planting his feet firmly on the wooden material while picking up his glass of beer midway through, slugging it up to his maw with one firm grasp. A few seconds went by with the Straus girl just smiling at the man as he let his face be consumed by the cloudy froth of the alcohol before he stopped and confronted the barmaid once again.

"So, what do you think of my new S-Class idea then?"

The Titan had a smug grin masking his face while faint particles of red hit his cheeks as he made his request towards the woman. In response, she held her hand under her chin in a very over the top way of thinking. In her head, though, it was different. It was a complicated web of ideas about the Master's new plan for the S-Class trials. Overall, the Guild hadn't had a trial in over 3 years, not since… Not since that day when Acnologia attacked Tenroue.

Not since the day they lost Natsu…

Shaking her head free of the dark thoughts that she knew were inevitable if she continued, Mira looked back at the old man, a sway clear in his movements. However, she could also see the concern and the worry in his eyes as he gazed upon the girl.

"Mirajane, are you okay? You looked a little lost for a second there…"

He said it quietly, almost silently against the noisy backdrop of the Guild Hall. She could still hear him, though. She also knew that he had an idea of why she got so lost, she just knew it. Giving him a small smile as he held her hands to her bust, she just lightly nodded.

"Y-Yes, I'm fine. Going back to your question though, I think the idea is splendid since we can't use the Island anymore."

"Great! I knew you'd like it!"

Smiling, he lurched forward with some sort of strange, perverse glint in his eye until he looked up to see the sickly-sweet smile of a woman hellbent on punishment. He seized any further attempt to woo the woman. Coughing into his hand to purposely turn away from her piercing glare, the Titan began to stumble over to the stage to announce the potential candidates for S-Class.

After saying hello to a few of the members, he eventually made it to the stage where he stood above the whole population of the Guild. Before he spoke up, he took another look around at everyone, at how they were just enjoying life and enjoying being around each other; along the edge of the chaos at the centre, sat people like Alzack and Bisca who were caring for one another as well as their daughter, Asuka, who had only been born a few months ago yet she was so used to the Guild's noise… Then there was his grandson and the Thunder Tribe, all of them bickering about something insignificant yet being happy in the fact that they were talking at all. Looking into the centre of the mess that was his home, Makarov beamed at the fact that there were so many people just continuing to live and have fun; the remaining members of Team Natsu all sat around one table, just talking about Erza's new armour or Lucy's rent, while others like Gajeel sat alongside Levy as she went over different reading material with Shadow-Gear and darting in and out of them, Kinana and Lisanna took orders and ran them back to Mira at the bar. Overall, it was just Fairy Tail being… Well, Fairy Tail.

"Ahem. I have an announcement to make."

Almost immediately, the Tiatn's voice made everyone in the Guild stop talking in return for meeting his patient and caring stare.

"Oi, what's up then Master?"

"Yea, what you got to tell us?"

Smiling at their impatience, he gave out a small sigh.

"Well, if you'd actually shut your yaps for once, then maybe I'd be able to tell you." He chuckled. "Anyway, if you recall, the S-Class Trails have been put off for over 3 years at this point as a result of Tenroue and what it forced our Guild to do."

Pausing, Makarov suddenly felt the atmosphere change quite quickly. Suddenly, everyone was tense and a strange all-consuming essence of sadness washed over the entire crowd, hitting and sinking into a few more than others.

"However, today is not the day that we dwell on that decision! Today is the day that we move forward from that event, the day that we change and adapt to new conditions, to new experiences. Today is the day that Fairy Tail resumes the S-Class Trials after its hiatus!"

All across the room, the thin veil of sadness was lifted and with it came the cheers and joy of the crowd before him and Makarov couldn't be happier at their response; if he was honest, he thought that they would oppose him as a result of what happened but no, they accepted it with warm hearts and open arms. Smiling, he looked amongst the crowd of happy faces with a heightened amount of glee about his face as well.

"Now… who shall be taking the exam this year? Well, the first is Mr – "

The ground shook.

The entire Guild froze as they took in this new feeling.

"Shit… Gildarts is back."

Then? Chaos. Panic and confusion spread across the room as people rushed around to try and prepare for the cataclysmic event that was about to take place. Makarov, however, remained rooted in his spot as he thought about the situation. Gildarts had left on a random S-Class job a few days before Natsu had left, meaning that he had no idea that the idiot was gone… Sighing, he just sat down in preparation for the end of the 'Gildarts Shift.'

Eventually, the noise died down outside and for a few seconds, everything was totally calm. Then…

*BOOM*

With such explosive force that they were nearly ripped off their hinges, the doors flew open and slammed against the walls, leaving a deep indent. Out of the light, stepped out a man with his long ginger locks flowing freely in the wind as his body was coated in a long brown cloak and the clearly visible sound of clanking metal accompanied his walking.

Here, was Gildarts.

"Hey! How are you all doing?"

"GILDARTS!"

For the next few minutes, it was just a collection of happy chaos as everyone crowded around the man and began to welcome him back to the Guild, which he happily returned. All the while, Makarov just sat observing with a smile until the man came over to talk to him. And after a while, he managed to.

"How are you, Master?"

"I'm good, thank you. How about you?"

"Good, good. I've been alright, the quest wasn't too hard, it was just tracking the fuckers that proved to be irritating."

The two shared a quick laugh before Gilarts turned back to the Guild.

"Now then, where's my little girl?!"

At the bar, a heavy sigh could be made out alongside the sounds of a head colliding with the wood. This, unfortunately for the perpetrator, alerted the man to her presence.

"Cana!"

"Hey Dad."

For the next few minutes, it was just filled with Gildarts talking quite passionately to Cana about his job, to which she appeared quite bored. Once again, Makarov kept out of it. Thinking back, it too was only a few days after Gildarts left that she told everyone that he was her father, after confirming that she had told him on Tenroue. And now… Now all they could do was wait for the dreaded question.

"Hey, say… Where's Natsu? I haven't seen him about and usually, he's the first to greet me…"

Gildarts mused, taking another look around the Guild before noticing the effect that his words had on the people who occupied the hall. All around, the Guild was plunged into a place of despair and sadness as certain people gazed over at others, all of which held a massive sense of longing and pain deep within their eyes while others became physically enraged. At the sight of this, and at the memory of the brief moments of how Natsu acted when he told the man of Lisanna's death, he jumped to the worst conclusion.

"Wait, he's not fucking dead, is he?!"

His words caused Makarov to finally speak up. Coughing, he gestured for the man to follow him to his office as he stood.

"No, he's not… Come Gildarts; there is a lot for you to catch up on."

And Gildarts followed, leaving a solemn Guild to his back.

"Draconic Fire God's Bellowing Roar!"

"Ice Devil's Rage!"

A beautiful collision of ice and fire encompassed the whole arena as the two attacks impacted each other, shards and flickers of each element spreading across the whole field. It was like a supernova of purple and red, both colours eating away at each other until the far superior crimson overpowered the purple, smashing it into complete nothingness. On each side of the collision, stood two men, both sweating and panting but for one, it was from doing this for half an hour… The other had been doing this all day.

Smirking as he twiddled the hard chain around his hands, Natsu met the hardened gaze of Silver as the man slammed both his hands together in an attempt to create something out of Ice; to Natsu, the pose was similar and so he knew its weaknesses… After all, like father like son. Before he could dwell on the thought too much, he was alerted to the completion of the Devil Slayer's technique by the tiny clicking sound that erupted throughout the skies. Crouching, the Slayer got ready for take-off.

"Ice Devil's Sword Valley!"

From all around the battlefield, a multitude of swords and blades of pure crystallised ice began to spring up, all of them aimed towards the Heavens and slowly closing in on the pinkette. However, Natsu didn't move. Instead, he unwound the chain wrapped around his wrist and swung it backwards in an arc above him head with both hands. As he was doing so, the black molten metal of the chains began to pulse and breath fire as it moved, creating an effect of an ocean of flames in the skies. Finally, reaching the earth just as the blades reached in, Natsu let out his own cry.

"Draconic Fire God's Cataclysm Chain!"

Slamming it to the ground, the whole arena was replaced by massive amounts of heat and fire that bounced and bounded off of each wall and back into the centre of the arena, melting all the ice that was created and reducing it to water that evaporated as soon as it melted. Not finishing his strife, Natsu launched himself forward off the floor and towards the unprotected Silver. Catching the man around the neck using his chain, he began to bend the ice user of his back using the steel resulting in many harsh clicks from both parties.

"Yield?"

The pinkette spoke with a laugh. It was quiet for a few seconds.

"Y-Yield."

Sighing, Natsu relented the heat and dropped the man to the floor, allowing said man to sigh in relief and just happily lay down on the floor. Glancing back towards Silver, he smiled.

"You're getting better."

"And you're still a jackass."

He laughed.

"Well then this jackass just kicked your ass… Again."

Walking over to him, he pinkette offered his hand to the black-haired man, which was happily taken, and he was once again pulled to his feet with a grunt. Patting him on the back, Natsu walked over to the group of spectators that were watching them from the side-lines.

Along the side of the arena, sat the likes of Ezel, Jackal, Kyoka and Sayla. The first two had gone up against Natsu a few hours ago, and had ended up much like Silver, the man now using his own ice to cool down his enflamed wounds and bruises, where-as Kyoka was there to learn more leadership tactics and skills off of Natsu which he had also done a while ago. Sayla though… Sayla just sort of watched him go throughout his fights, offering him food or water throughout the day as he trained with the other members. To be honest, it felt nice, to have someone look after you in a harsh place like this.

As he looked at her, he couldn't help but admire the woman. Out of everyone at Tartaros, Sayla was easily the one that he was closest to, she had helped him out with so much, such as getting used to the grounds and the Plutogrim, as well as helping him out with some of the jobs that were needed as a Master of somewhere like Tartaros. But aside from all of that, she was just someone that he liked to be around. Sure, she had a mean streak to her, but that just sort of reminded him of Mira back at Fairy Tail and just knowing that made him feel warm inside.

When he finally reached the spectator area, he was quickly handed a bottle of water by Sayla, the Demon woman giving him a nod and a kind smile. As he drank, he just listened to the other Demons talk, relishing in their conversations as he thought about the last 6 months. In those three months, he had become attached and involved with every Demon that lived in Tartaros, both as a Master and as a friend. It made him appreciate Makarov so much more and appreciate his family back home so much more as well, because he had been along up to that point… He had been alone for almost three years.

'Three years huh?'

Finishing his drink, he threw the container to the floor as he wiped his mouth, giving the purple haired Demon a thank you for the drink.

"Hey Natsu, how long has it been since you last visited your Guild?"

Quirking an eyebrow, the pinkette turned to Silver, the man who had posed the question and as a result drew the attention of every Demon in the arena.

"How long? Well… I haven't been back since I left to be honest…"

He answered, rubbing his head sheepishly as he gazed down at his Guild mark on his shoulder, before gazing down at the unofficial scar of the Tartaros mark on his chest, the scar still relevant and harsh against his skin.

"Hm… You should visit them."

Now it was Kyoka who poised the answer, the woman leaning back on her seat as she looked at her Master.

"Why? I said I'd only return when I was strong enough to protect them… And I still ain't…."

He quietly mused, looking down at his hands in disappointment. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Sayla giving him a sympathetic look.

"Did I say return to them? No, I don't think I did, ~ Master ~."

He huffed. Kyoka liked to be very… Sassy, even though he was the Master. However, he didn't use his position very often so it was to be expected.

"You know she's right, though. You haven't even left the Guild grounds in the six months that you've been here."

"Yeah, but I had to get cemented and properly set up as Guild Master first, Silver."

"And that took you six months?"

"Shut up…"

Natsu sighed, sitting down next to Sayla. Pouting, he put his head against her shoulder and murmured into her flesh.

"Sayla, they're being mean to me…"

Chuckling, the Demon began to stroke the side of his face as she looked around the group.

"Well you're the Guild Master, I'm but a lowly servant."

Laughing into her skin, and making her shiver slightly as a result, he stood back up and looked at them all.

"But seriously, why do you think I should go? I'm fine here… Plus, even if I did go, I don't think that I could find it in myself to face them right now. I made a promise so…"

Slumping against the wall, he went through the idea in his head. They were right, for the past 6 months, he hadn't left the Guilds grounds, instead sending people like Mard or Silver to collect stuff from towns. This had led to a few… Incidents, but nothing that he couldn't solve. Also… he just sorts of felt happy in Tartaros, he felt happy working with Lamy on her research or helping the guys with their training or Kyoka with her leadership training or… Just spending time with Sayla. He could happily just stay here until it was time to go to Alvarez.

Eventually, Sayla just sighed, stood up and crouched down next to his fallen form.

"The reason that you should go, Master, is to remember what you're fighting for."

Looking up, Natsu quirked an eyebrow at the woman, encouraging her to continue.

"You said it from the start of this Guild, right? That your goal was to protect your family? We know that you can do that, that you can protect us and you yourself know that you can protect us but your Guild Mates… You have no idea what they are doing. Even if you don't talk to them, just seeing them would be better than nothing, wouldn't it? Master…"

Near the end, the Demon had subconsciously gabbed a hold of Natsu's hand and began to rub and run her fingers over the hot flesh, feeling both her own body as well as the pinkette's body begin to relax and release a massive build-up of tension. This was only exemplified when the two met each other's gaze, as they felt everything else wash away with only the beautiful orbs of onyx and purple remaining. To both, it just looked so… so beautiful.

Smiling a kind smile, Natsu lightly pulled the girl forward, causing her to stumble from her crouched spot and into his warm embrace. From where he was sitting, Natsu could see the smug looks on the faces of Kyoka and Silver, but he didn't care. Shoving his face into her purple tresses, the Slayer just let her body and her scent take over his being. Meanwhile, the Demon just let her body succumb to her Master's desires and so she also began to take his body, not minding the sweat or the heat. In fact, glancing over his chest at the scar in the shape of their Guild somehow managed to make her heart flutter… He had really helped her develop over the last few months, hadn't he? Then, Natsu planted a small kiss of Sayla's forehead, effectively shutting down all of her bodily functions for a few seconds as he whispered something in her ear.

"Thank you Sayla… This means a lot."

Leaning back, he smiled at her before standing up, but he didn't let go of the girl. Instead, he dragged her up with his own body, continuing to use the wall as support. Looking up at his friends, at his allies, at his Guildmates, Natsu just smiled an even broader smile.

"Thank you all for recognising it… I'll do it. I'll go visit Fairy Tail."

And done! Thank you for reading! This will be a very short, 2-3 chapter arc of Natsu just visiting Magnolia with Sayla to break up the two fighting arcs, then its back into war and death and fighting so don't worry. So, I thank you once again and I'll see you later!

-Jack

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