To-Be-Titled Fairy Tail Fan Fiction
The dirt settles around Natsu, his fists of fire recedes, and an listless figure lies two yards from him; thus deeming the short-lived battle ended. The foe, one that the lady Dimaria sent, had been practically beaten by the time Natsu had arrived at the location of Lucy’s scent, a mere punch sent the scumbag into a dirt nap.
Natsu smells the air, it’s saturated with Lucy’s undeniable scent. She’s close, but not in sight. “Where’s Luc--”
“Help us!” a child cries in the distance. Natsu peers to his right and sees a little raven haired boy racing towards him. “My-My little brother,” he pants and falls to Natsu’s feet, the little boy looks up at him with tears streaming down his cheeks. “and Miss Lucy! They need help!”
At mentioning Lucy, Natsu’s heart almost leaps from his chest. He reaches down and grasps the boy by his shirtfront and gets in his face. “Where is she!”
The little boy, so frightened, cries and trembles in Natsu’s grip. Amidst Natsu’s desperation for finding Lucy blinded him for considering the little boy, only further scaring him.
“Sorry, kid,” Natsu sits the boy down on his feet. “Again, where are they?” he says calmly, but still urgent.
The boy sniffles, wiping his runny nose on his sleeve. “Follow me!” he takes off running, leaving Natsu in dust.
The boy leads Natsu to a rock face, where rubble and rock block what used to be a cave. Natsu smells traces of Lucy here, but it ends just at the rubble. His throat becomes dry.
“Where are they, kid!” Natsu growls. “Stop screwing around with me!”
“Miss Lucy fought that man and almost defeated him, but my little brother came out from his hiding spot, and the man went to attack him--” the boy explains. “Lucy took the force of the attack, then she and my little brother was thrown into the cave just before the entrance collapsed!”
“So Lucy and your little brother is in there?” Natsu asks, his heart clenching at the idea that Lucy may have gotten seriously hurt or worse... The boy nods and Natsu launches himself at the rock, clawing the the rubble. “Lucy! It’s me! Can you hear me? Talk to me, Luce!” he shouts desperately, tuning his sensitive ears to whatever resides on the other side. He doesn’t hear anything...
“N-Natsu?” her voice is faint and weak, almost choked.
Natsu could cry with relief at hearing her voice. “Yes! Hang in there, Luce!” he yells. “How’s the kid with you?”
“N-Natsu, are you okay, sweetie?”
Natsu sweats a little, confused. “Sweetie? When did you start calling me that, Luce?” he scratches the back of his head, feeling awkward all of the sudden. “I guess it’s better than idiot, but you really don’t hav--”
Lucy screams out in pain, panic ceases Natsu. “Hang on, I’m coming! Stand back!”
Natsu takes a few steps back from the rubble, he begins to summon magical energy into his fists. One Fire Dragon Iron Fist should do the trick in clearing the rock. He instructs the raven haired boy to retreat to the trees for safety.
Leaping into the air, a fist pressed forward. “Fire Dragon Iron Fist!” he shouts, landing the blow to the rock blockage.
Rock spews all around, past, and over Natsu. Dust contorts his vision and he coughs from all the debris. As the dust clears, Natsu makes out two shapes in the corner of the cave: Lucy curled protectively around a child. Natsu’s heart thuds at the sight of Lucy’s condition; her clothes ragged and bloodied, bruises and gashes mar her skin. His feet is moving before he realizes and he’s at her side.
“Lucy?” Natsu whispers, half scared that she wouldn’t answer him, that seeing her here in front of him was a dream that he’ll wake from. His hand reaches out to touch her head, her eyes are winced closed and her chest rises rapidly, she’s in immense pain. “Hey, Luce, it’s me.”
With that, Lucy stirs, her eyes opening just a crack, then fully when she sees him, her eyes tear up. “N-Nats--”
“Natsu! Lucy!” the raven haired boy from before rushes up behind him, his knees skids across the cave floor to Lucy and the child’s side. “Are you hurt bad? I’m so sorry that I couldn’t help! I’m so sorry that I’m usele--”
“It’s okay, you could only do what you did, and thank you, you did help me back there.” Lucy reassures the boy, reaching out to squeeze his hand.
Natsu looks between the boy and Lucy, confused at how the boy called out his name, but he had never told him what it was. Lucy sees his confusion and her eyes dart away to the little boy against her chest.
The brunette boy rouses, his face coming away from Lucy, his eyes winces once, twice, and then opens. His sight lands on his brother beside Natsu. “Zere!” the little boy says, reaching for him.
The raven haired boy takes his brother in his arms, embracing him hard against him. “I was so worried about you, Natsu!”
Natsu’s blood chills in his veins, he feels as if he’d boarded a train and is ready to hurl. Zere? Natsu? As Natsu studies the boy in this Zere’s arms, besides the different hair color, he strikes a resemblance to...
Natsu finds himself crawling backwards away from the boys. His realization sends him reeling, officiating all that he feared most. The raven haired boy looks exactly like Zeref in the future, just smaller, younger, and innocent. His little brother, Natsu, looks exactly like himself, just younger but with brown hair. Natsu tugs on a strand of his salmon colored hair, fairly confused why that’s different of all things.
Lucy’s cry of pain brings Natsu to his senses. She’s doubled over on her side, clutching her rib cage. He’s immediately at her side, supporting her.
“H-How can you be here?” Lucy whispers, keeping their conversation between them. “I thought the portal only took me?”
“That’s a long story that can wait until after we find you a healer.” Natsu says, placing his arms beneath her. “I’m not the only on here either; Gray, Juvia, Erza, Levy, Gajeel, Wendy, Happy, Charla, and Lily are here, too, we’re just separated at the moment.” He’s careful in lifting her from the ground, fearing that any movement could cause her more pain.
Lucy looks up to him, her eyes brimming with tears. “I thought I’d never see you again.” her hand grips his scarf, it’s a frail, weakened grip, too. Her body trembles either from pain or her overwhelming emotions. Natsu takes note that she’s in her Leo Star Dress, which means that she can do her Celestial magic here. That’s fortunate, if she couldn’t have, her fight with the Alvarez person could have ended worse than a few broken ribs.
Lucy, his Lucy, is with him now and is not a dream. Her warmth and scent is too real to be a dream. Relief flows through him with having her back. Although, he thought he’d lost her forever when Lucy was swallowed by the time portal, but in his heart, he knew that he would find her.
He gives her the smile he always reserves for her, the toothy one that he knew would lift her spirits. “I’ll always come for you, Lucy.” he chuckles. “We’re supposed to have more adventures together, aren’t we?”
“Yeah.” Lucy says, leaning her head against his shoulder. “Thank you, Na--”
A tug on Natsu’s pants takes his attention from Lucy. The raven haired boy looks up at him with a grin. “Thank you for saving my little brother, Mister Fire Mage!” he says. “I’m Zeref Dragneel and this is my younger brother, Natsu. What’s your name? Are you the Fire Mage that Miss Lucy talked about so much?”
Natsu freezes in place, unable to answer or if he should. This kid is literally the past version of his greatest enemy, the one who threatens the very existence of their future, and his older brother... What could he say? What should he say in front of Lucy? Did he want her to know about him, Zeref, and E.N.D? Had she already figured it out since she’s spent some time with these children?
“His name is Igneel.” Lucy answers for him, reading him so well like she always does. “Yes, he’s the Fire Mage that I told you about.”
“Igneel? No last name?” Zeref asks, an eyebrow quirked.
Natsu forces a grin, not sure of how he feels or what he thinks, as he stares down at Zeref and Natsu Dragneel. “Yes, just Igneel.” Even now, the mentioning of his father’s name still stings his heart, yet, he’s glad that Lucy thought to use it, it gives him strength, it gives him purpose, it gives him pride to have it... for now.
Natsu can feel Lucy’s questioning eyes on him. He guesses he must explain everything to her, the everything up until now, he didn’t entirely believe. If this part of it is true...then the other part of him being E.N.D must be true, too? Did he want Lucy to know?
A/N: This is a NaLu fan fiction that I’m going to be toying with. The main pull is that Lucy, Natsu, and the gang are pulled back in time four-hundred years prior, by Dimaria Yesta (since she is in league with the God of Time, Chronos, I thought it would kind of make sense, you know?) And it’s in the middle of the war between Fiore and Alvarez, too. So great timing, huh? But it would be so unlike Fairy Tail if they didn’t go retrieve their comrade, right?
I don’t know where it’ll go or what all will unfold just yet. I just had a gist of inspiration to start it with this snippet (now it’s to figure out what happened before and after this scene.) I’m going to try my best to fit it with the flow of the current manga, like with plot, characters, and stuff.