When did you change?

Chapter 10: Dark Return

"Ice Factor! Blizzard's Mist!" Invel announced, blowing forth a cold, white mist from his mouth. It spread quickly, engulfing the entire area around the both of them in an impenetrable shroud.

The temperature dropped several degrees. Natsu's devilish eyes darted around.

So he's going for shrouded attacks, huh? Must be desperate to avoid a straight fight. Can't blame him, not after what I did to his men...

Natsu grinned.

"You should have moved against me sooner!" Invel's voice echoed all around him.

Natsu watched around himself for an attack. A fist materialized out of the shroud, catching him in the right side of his face. He staggered back slightly, a hand drifting up to his face.

Another hit nailed him in the back of his head, then another, this time aimed at his left leg, knocking him down to a kneeling position.

Natsu ground his teeth. The attacks did little damage but it was obvious; Invel was testing him, trying to see how well he could take advantage of his mist shroud for his attacks. Eventually, he'd be switching to a more powerful magic offensive. Although Natsu tried to keep his composure, he knew the truth. He had never used these new powers he had, especially against Ice magic, which, from his experience fighting Gray, was the best counter to his Fire magic.

But then again, he wasn't using Fire magic. Or any magic for that matter.

Natsu closed his eyes, concentrating on himself. As he did so, he felt a strong energy pulse through his body. He could feel the raw darkness itself flowing through his veins. It gave him an unusual feeling. Stranger still, it was concentrating toward his head, flowing into the smaller veins connecting to his eyes. He opened his eyelids once more, but when he looked around, his vision had altered. Everything around him was blue. As he looked around, his eyes fell upon a mass of red. The red mass was shaped like a man. That's when he realized it: a heat signature! He was looking at Invel's heat signature, which was red. The blue all around him was the cold blue signature of the shroud Invel had cast.

So this must be how Invel sees me through this shroud...

But it was more than just the Ice mage's heat signature that he could see; as he focused on the details, he realized he could also see the lines through which magic flowed, and the many points on the body at which magic energy gathered; common points such as the head, the hands, the stomach, and, most important, the heart, as well as other minor points.

His thoughts turned dark as he stared at the magic points and lines. Could they be exploited? Permanently disabled if possible? He thought of the ways he could take advantage of this new revelation, but steered his attention back to the matter at hand, partly because he needed to concentrate, and partly because he was surprised at himself for immediately defaulting to such an evil train of thought; when had he ever wanted to inflict permanent damage upon anyone he had ever fought? Visibly shaking his head, he returned his focus to Invel.

With the Ice Mage now in sight, Natsu chose not to reveal that he could see him. Not yet at least. He'd wait for another attack and take advantage of it to surprise him with a counterattack of his own. He turned his head slightly more to the left, pretending to search around, whilst simultaneously keeping Invel in his peripheral.

Sure enough, Invel sprinted forward once more, confident in his concealing Ice shroud. Waiting until the very last moment, Natsu leaped up and grabbed Invel by the throat when he was closest, throwing a well-timed punch that found its mark right in the middle of Invel's face, a sickening crunch showing that his fist had broken the Ice Mage's nose. Letting go of Invel's neck, Natsu rounded off his surprise attack with a roundhouse kick to the head, sending Invel rolling away.

Caught completely by surprise, Invel quickly recovered and jumped further away from Natsu, wondering, in shock, how the demon had so quickly figured out his mist. It shouldn't even have been a matter of figuring out; the mist was impenetrable, simple as that. And it wasn't a matter of his magic energy being sensed either. He had perfected his mist shroud, pumping enough magic energy into it that the enemy couldn't possibly sense him moving within.

Countless foes, groups, and in times of war when he led the assault against the Empire's enemies, entire armies had fallen by his hand, all due to the effectiveness of his Blizzard Mist shroud. They never saw his attacks. Never saw him or his men coming. Why was this being, this mysterious demon that had attacked and destroyed his forces for a reason he had yet to decipher, able to overcome the shroud as easily as he had?

He looked up from his thoughts, blood still dripping from his nose, to find Natsu grinning at him through the mist, as if he was taking pleasure in his confusion by showing him just how well his eyes could pierce through the shroud. Anger gripped Invel. He would not be mocked by a lesser creature such as this.

But Natsu continued to grin and grin away. Igniting a hand in black fire, he lifted it and allowed the temperature to increase to unbelievable levels. Slowly, the temperature around him returned to normal, and the mist began to clear.

Then, his grin dropped, and his reptilian, demonic eyes grew cold as night. He extinguished the fire at his right hand, then pointed it at Invel.

He spoke the words as smoothly as Ice, the knowledge of this particular power flowing forth almost eagerly.

"Fire Curse: Heavenly Illumination!"

Invel's eyes widened, sensing the dark intent behind what was to come. He readied himself to dodge the incoming assault, but it was nothing like he expected.

He staggered back as biting pain suddenly shot through every part of him. He looked at his arms and chest; they were engulfed in black fire. An all-consuming fire had seemingly just appeared on his body, rapidly burning through his clothes. Although he'd never seen such a spell used before, he was smart enough to know he had to stop it from spreading onto his skin. As quick as he could, he began ripping off his jacket and shirt. He was able to get the clothes off in time, but not before the heat of the black fire had already burned his chest extensively, leaving an intricate pattern of burns that would mark the skin of his chest and neck for the rest of his life.

Fortunately, due to Invel's mastery of Ice Magic, the burns only caused superficial damage to his skin, the damage unable to spread into deeper levels of the skin tissue due to being blocked by the Ice magic that flowed through his body.

Invel looked toward the clothes he'd ripped off. The black fire continued to eat away at them until there was nothing left but ash, which was also consumed. By the time the fire had completely disappeared, there was absolutely no trace of the clothing left.

Natsu smiled in amusement, partly at Invel's shock, but mostly for another reason.

Invel looked back toward Natsu, anger flaring in his eyes. He wondered if everything was a joke to this man. Lifting his now extensively marked right arm, he pointed the palm of his hand at Natsu, bracing the arm by holding the wrist with his left hand. An icy blue magic seal appeared in front of him.

"Ice Factor: Storm's Spikes!"

Hundreds of ice spikes shot forth from the seal. Natsu dodged to left, Invel running in the same direction parallel of him, the spikes continuing to spew from the seal at Natsu. Abruptly, Natsu stopped and jumped backward, lighting both hands aflame. He lifted his arms and fired two columns of fire in front of himself. The columns intersected at five feet in front of Natsu and formed into a shield, melting any spikes that hit it.

Invel stopped his magic, knowing it would be a waste of energy to continue hammering at the wall of fire. Just as he stopped, the fire in front of Natsu blazed, seemingly out of control, and Invel could no longer see Natsu in front of him. He braced for an attack.

The blazing fire parted suddenly, Natsu charging out of it. Invel took a defensive melee position, catching Natsu's attacks head-on. Natsu attacked brutally with punches and kicks, but surprisingly his seemingly disorganized style matched up well with Invel's elegant defensive melee style. That is until the Ice Mage made the mistake of trying to shift the fight into his favor. He kicked at Natsu's face, causing him to dodge, but, in truth, it was a feint; the real attack was a low kick meant to sweep Natsu's legs out from under him. When Invel's leg connected with Natsu's, however, it didn't budge an inch, the leg feeling like steel to Invel.

Caught still on the ground in the middle of a failed attack, Invel was unable to dodge in time to avoid the kick Natsu aimed at his face, which was hard enough to send Invel rolling backward. The Ice Mage staggered onto his feet, but his head swirled with dizziness as he did so. He'd taken too much trauma to the head, and now he could barely keep his balance. His sight was affected as well, as everything in front of his vision had gone blurry.

He could barely see as Natsu jumped forward, intent on pressing his advantage. Invel mustered the strength to try and defend as he'd done before, but Natsu's attack style had completely switched forms. Rather than the brutal, sloppy head on punches, jabs, and kicks he'd employed at the beginning of the melee, Natsu now attacked with a lithe, strategic style that caught Invel by surprise. A memory flashed through his mind, a memory of the Emperor's melee style. Natsu's was shockingly similar to Spriggan's.

Invel's thoughts betrayed him as he was too distracted to see an attack aimed right for his face. Before he could duck, Natsu raked his claws across Invel's face, cutting deep into the skin of the Ice Mage's left cheek and lower forehead. Blood flowed profusely from the wounds, some of it right into Invel's left eye, blinding him. Natsu gave him not a single moment to recompose himself, and attacked viciously, taking advantage of Invel's new blind spot to attack from the left, landing a solid kick that caught Invel right in the jaw, knocking him to the ground. Invel, though staggered, was not yet ready to give up, and weakly raised his hand toward Natsu, intending on attacking with something, anything that could distract Natsu long enough for him to retreat.

Natsu stared down at the Ice Mage and saw an image he'd seen only just earlier: the image of Gray on the ground, pointing his hand at him, meaning to attack him just as Invel did now before Natsu grabbed his hand and stopped him. Anger took hold of him, all the emotions of betrayal, hurt, and loss flooding back in. Guided by rage, he grabbed Invel's hand and sparked a black fire in his palm, burning the Ice Mage's hand. Invel screamed out in pure agony as the pain registered. This time, his ice magic didn't help as he felt the heat of the dark fire flow through every layer of his hand, stunting the magic flow into it. Thinking only for the preservation of his hand, he braced his legs, and kicked up right into Natsu's elbow, snapping the arm at an upward angle and causing the grip to loosen just enough for him to rip his hand out. Landing back on his feet, he backed away a few feet before falling once more onto the ground, the pain swimming through him.

He looked at his hand, finding it covered in second-degree burns. The very skin on the back and sides had melted and bubbled. He tried using his Ice magic to cool the temperature of the hand down, but it wouldn't manifest at all. He poured more magic energy into the hand, but still, not a single bit of Ice magic would manifest upon his command. He felt no magic energy flowing into that hand whatsoever.

He stared at his hand in shock. Had he been permanently robbed of the ability to use magic in the hand? He couldn't imagine how he would be able to fight if that was what had happened. He leveled his gaze back toward Natsu, whose arm he had snapped at the elbow with his kick. There was no healing that. It bent upward at a sickening angle. He smiled venomously. With the bones snapped in such a way, the nerves should have been severed. That arm would never be usable again.

An eye for an eye, he thought with satisfaction. Except it wasn't as fair as an eye for an eye since in exchange for his hand, he'd taken the demon's entire arm with his kick. He was fine with an unfair exchange, it meant he would be remembered.

But as he continued to stare at Natsu, his smile faded. Why wasn't he dropping to the ground in pain? His arm had been snapped, the nerves severed, or at the least greatly damaged, which was all the more reason why he should have been wailing in pain. Yet he wasn't. A bored expression marred Natsu's face as he stared at his arm.

He slowly looked back at Invel, seeing the shocked expression on the Ice wizard's face. He lowered the snapped arm, then grabbed the elbow and pushed down with force, somehow flexing the arm upward at the same time. With a loud, nauseating crunch, it snapped back into place, Natsu still holding Invel's gaze as it did so.

He could practically smell the fear coming off Invel as he demonstrated that the arm was still very much usable. He pointed it toward him.

"Curse of Force: Subjugation of the Omnipresent God!"

Invel suddenly felt his entire body being pulled in Natsu's direction, specifically his neck. Bracing his feet on the ground, he tried to anchor himself in resistance, but the force at which he was being pulled only grew stronger, and he found himself flying toward Natsu at great speed. Just before the impact, he saw Natsu ready his other arm.

'He's going to -' before the thought could even fully register, he was pulled close enough that Natsu ran him right through with his left hand, the hand piercing him through the right side of his abdomen.

Blood quickly filled Invel's mouth, pouring down the sides of it. He stared into Natsu's cold, unfeeling eyes, now only inches from his own, and saw the shocked, fearful expression on his face reflected in them, like some mirror of death. After a few beats, he looked down at the wound. Natsu's hand had pierced through him up to his upper arm. A few more beats passed before Natsu ripped his arm out, then threw Invel down onto the ground, knocking what little air was left out of the ice mage's lungs.

Invel coughed over and over, rolling onto his side. He could feel his own life seeping out of him with each cough.

Natsu stared at Invel's now limp form, igniting a fire in the arm and hand that had pierced through Invel, and letting the heat slowly boil the blood left on him until it had completely evaporated into a red steam that drifted away.

A presence approached. Natsu looked up from Invel's dying form to acknowledge the one who had intruded on the silent moment.

His eyes met a pair of grim, dark blue eyes, full of regret.

The man stared at him silently. Then, without making a sound or moving an inch, he allowed half his body to turn midnight black.

Natsu continued to stare. Then, quiet as night yet calm as death, he asked:

"Are you going to kill me...Gray?"

Tap tap tap tap tap tap tap tap

The sound of hurried running echoed on the walls of a corridor within the Royal Palace. The attendant ran as fast as he could through the halls, nearly falling multiple times on the sudden twists and turns they took.

Finally seeing a pair of large doors, he slowed down considerably, catching his breath. He reminded himself that it would impolite to frantically barge into the throne room. He walked up toward the doors, hesitated a moment, then pushed them open.

Toma E. Fiore, the King of Fiore, paced the room, deep in thought. He'd been sent a message to return to the capital as soon as he could to address a pair of foreign guests. The only thing the message, sent to him by his daughter, the princess Hisui, had mentioned was that they were important. He sighed in frustration. Leave it to his daughter to keep out important details. To make matters worse, she was nowhere to be found, making it impossible for him to question her directly.

Just as he started to seriously wonder who and where the foreign guests were, an attendant opened the doors and bowed in his direction. He acknowledged the man, who appeared to be out of breath.

"Have the guests arrived?" he questioned, hoping the tense wait was finally over.

"Yes, your majesty. They are being led here by an armed escort. Three escorts to be exact. Our own, and two of theirs." the attendant replied.

"Hmm. Did they know of the ongoing invasion?" Toma asked, holding his chin in thought.

"They knew, my lord. They stated it was the reason for their arrival. You see, they are dignitaries from the neighboring countries of Isven and Bosco. Diplomats to be exact, sire." the man informed.

Toma wondered what Isven and Bosco were planning by sending diplomatic representatives. He never trusted either nation. Isven was a rich, bountiful land and its queen had always greedily eyed Fioren land, unsatisfied with her country's resources until she had Fiore under her thumb as well, either by annexing it or extracting tribute through imposing her hegemony upon it. On the other side of the coin, Bosco had a rich military past, and its duke had always seemed like he was looking to return to the glory days of the Arch-duchy of Bosco, the name the country once sported when it was more an empire than the passive regional power it was today. If there was anyone both countries tangled with more than Fiore, it was each other. They'd never seen eye to eye, and the two nations had warred multiple times in the past. On one occasion, a thousand years before, Bosco finally settled the dispute of which of the two nations was the greater when they took advantage of regional disorder and public campaigns against the monarchy to invade, conquering the nation and creating the Arch-duchy of Bosco-Isven, though the Bosconian military nobility mostly didn't bother including "Isven" in the name, preferring to call their new conquest the "Greater Bosconian Empire" and other names that made Toma want to garrison troops on the border. He hated warmongers.

The sound of armored footsteps in the hall leading to the throne room brought the King's attention back to the present situation. A small bodyguard force entered the room, two men standing in between armored Fioren soldiers. Besides the soldiers, two other groups of foreign troops stood. He recognized one group as an Isvenian royal Blue Guard force, and the other a detachment of Bosconian Krieger elites. Both types of soldiers usually only ever guarded the rulers and top nobility of their respective countries, so he figured whatever message the dignitaries were sent to deliver must be critically important.

Toma addressed the two men.

"Welcome to Fiore. What brings you to our land in such a crucial time?" He kept a measured, neutral tone, not wanting his distrust to be obvious.

The Isvenian man opened his mouth to speak, before being cut off by the Bosconian dignitary before he could even draw the breath he needed to speak.

"As you so eloquently pointed out, this is a crucial time. I want this audience to be over with and done so I can report back to my estate to help my brother, Duke Hanz, prepare his troops." the Bosconian stated, arrogantly assuming that everyone in the room cared.

Toma tilted his head to the side in wonder. It was unheard of in the Fioren nobility for close relatives of lords to be sent as diplomatic envoys to other lands, especially if this man truly was the brother of Duke Hanz. To send such close family into rival countries that were at war was considered a horrible misuse of such important family members, at least in Fioren culture.

Although, when he thought of it, he remembered something that had been taught to him long ago, when he was only just a young man being tutored in the royal palace: the only time a Bosconian Duke ever sent nobles into dangerous situations such as this was when the noble had made a grave mistake, one that meant they could never reconcile and return to their previous position again. The hope, he learned, was that the noble would be killed while delivering their message to the enemy nation, either by the enemy themselves, or, if they managed to get away unscathed...by the very men sent along to guard them.

It was a horrid practice that had ended long ago, as far as he knew. Still, he was curious if Hanz, in his tyranny, sought to bring it back. Toma didn't know much of the inner family politics of the ruling family of Bosco, besides the fact that Hanz was not originally meant to take the throne upon his father's death. In truth, he seized power in a bloodless palace coup on the eve of his father's demise. Amusingly enough, the man originally meant to become the next Duke after the death of Duke Adolphus, the previous duke, was, apparently, the very man that stood before him now.

His name escaped Toma's memory, as he had pretty much faded into obscurity upon losing his birthright, the throne of Bosco.

He studied the young man. More a boy then a man, he kept his head high with pride and arrogance, though Toma noticed the boy seemed wary, and frequently glanced to his right where the closest Bosconian guard stood.

"By the heavens," Toma mumbled under his breath. He realized that it was true; Hanz did mean to have his brother killed. Why else would the boy be so suspicious of his own guards?

"Tell me," Toma said, pointing at the boy, "What is your name?"

The young man looked at him, momentarily surprised by the random question.

"Joran", he said, before realizing his mistake. He composed himself and bowed, repeating his name louder. "Joran of the House Laszar, Count of Contefield and official representative of his majesty, Hanz Laszar, Grand Duke of Bosco."

Toma took note of the fact that Hanz was now openly calling himself the "Grand Duke" of Bosco, a title style that hadn't been used in Bosco since time immemorial.

"And your name?" he questioned the Isvenian diplomat.

The Isvenian looked sideways at Joran. "Well, if I am not so rudely interrupted this time." He shifted his gaze toward Toma and bowed low. "Corzann Salazar, Majesty, at your service."

Toma's eyes widened. "Salazar?"

Corzann grinned slightly. "I see you've taken note of my surname. Yes, it is true. I am from the great continent of Arakitashia; the Alvarez Empire to be specific. Although, there is no cause for worry on your part. Although I trained at the great political schools of the Western Continent, I have no allegiance to the Emperor Spriggan. I have but one monarch I serve, and that is the great Queen of Isven, Natara Azul."

"I see," Toma replied, though he didn't trust the man or believe his claims one bit. Toma looked at Joran. "You said your brother, the Duke, was preparing his troops? Why would he be doing that?"

"Well that brings us to the matter at hand, does it not? Your war with the very Western Continent that my counterpart here hails from. The Alvarez Empire. It appears that your conflict with these outsiders has spilled over into our domain. We have had multiple reports of incidents wherein Fioren troops were spotted east of the border between our two nations, fighting against the soldiers of Alvarez. You do realize that to do so within the territory of a neutral nation such as ours is a grave violation of our territorial sovereignty?"

"What?! Your reports must be mistaken, Fioren soldiers have not encroached upon any Bosconian territory, war or otherwise. Such an incident has never taken place before." Toma countered, shocked by the news.

"Whether there was indeed a mistake or not does not matter. Those particular reports were not confirmed anyway. What has been confirmed, however, is that the entire territory that had originally been the border between our two countries is now under Alvarez occupation, despite there being no existing state of war between Bosco and the Alvarez Empire. The Imperial soldiers are using it as a staging post for raids into your lands, and have already butchered hundreds of Bosconian villagers, garrison troops, and patrols. I and my guard were forced to travel by way of ship. We had to make landfall at the coastline south of your meager capital, as the only respectable port you have, Hargeon, has been all but destroyed by Alvarez forces. Are you even aware of this sad state of affairs? In any case, the Duke's official position is to blame you for what has happened on the border."

"So you blame us for your own failure to stop something like this from happening?" Toma retorted, now angry at Joran's blatant disrespect. "How are we to blame for the Empire's actions against you? We are the defender in this invasion!"

"The fact that you are a target for an invasion at all puts the rest of the eastern peninsular nations of the continent at risk, as proven by the Empire's occupation of our territory."

Toma stared at him. The boy's mouth spouted disrespect and nonsense, but his eyes told a different story altogether. He could tell the boy didn't believe Fiore was at fault at all. It was simple logic. Why blame Fiore? An alliance and solidarity in times like these made more sense, though, in the context of Bosco blaming Fiore for their problems, it made sense why Hanz would blame him.

"You don't believe that, do you?" Toma replied, causing Joran to narrow his eyes. "You're trying to impress him."

"Who?" Joran asked despite that he knew exactly who Toma was speaking of. The Isvenian looked at him sideways and grinned. "I don't know what you're talking about, and if you will not address my concerns, then..." Joran hesitated for a moment, his eyes looking at the floor before returning to Toma's eyes. "Then I have nothing more to say."

Toma could see clear as day the boy's fear, but he reminded himself that there was a whole other diplomat there, with his own claims to relay. He hoped the Isvenian would be more reasonable.

"And what is it you wish to discuss?" Toma said, acknowledging the Westerner.

"Well, I'm sure you'll find my news to be much more morale-boosting than that of my counterpart here. Queen Natara would like it to be known that you have Isven's full support in the invasion. She has had her own...dealings with the Western Continent in the past. To put it simply, the Empire's policies have never been in line with her own, and your war with them has given her a chance to show Alvarez just what she thinks of them. Trade relations have officially been cut off between Isven and the Empire, and an embargo on all Imperial goods has been put into effect. My queen has made it clear that she will never trade with those that threaten her friends and her continent."

If it wasn't for the shock and surprise at the news of the sudden declaration of support from Natara, Toma would've asked, "What friends?", though he knew better than to insult the only nation that was willing to stand alongside Fiore in the face of the invasion. Toma quickly noticed that his shock was mirrored in Joran's face, though Joran's brand of shock was of a different kind; one of outrage.

"You dare support the Fioren state, even after they allow these foreigners into our continent? This is -"

"An outrage?" Salazar quickly said, smoothly cutting Joran off, and earning another look of shocked anger. "If I'm not mistaken, I don't believe there was ever a time in recent history when Isven was ever so under Bosco's thumb that we would forsake our ideals to the point of mimicking you and blaming other nations for our failure to repel an unprovoked attack. Your failure to keep enough forces on the border knowing that there was an invasion underway in the neighboring nation is a product of your ineptitude. Do not blame others for it. All you're doing is insulting yourself."

Joran began to sputter, finding himself at a loss for words that could adequately convey his anger.

"Don't bother embarrassing yourself any further," Salazar stated, before returning his attention to the king. "My queen has already sent a convoy of supplies and weaponry across the border as proof of her desire for solidarity between our kingdoms, as well as proof of her good intentions. Also, she extends an offer for the use of portions of the Isvenian military as condottiere."

Toma listened in disbelief. What had driven Natara to such generosity? She had always tried to be on good terms with Fiore, but it had always been obvious to him that her previous offers were universal in one thing: they had an ulterior motive, That motive being the overarching purpose of making Fiore reliant on Isven, both economically, and, with time, politically. Toma was used to it and always responded coldly by flat out refusing every one of her attempts. If there was one thing about her attempts, however, was that although they seemed generous, they were well within the budget of such a wealthy nation as Isven.

However, to go as far as to embargo such a significant trade power as the Empire, as well as offering her military as mercenaries to Fiore...this wasn't an elaborate plot to bring Fiore into her and her kingdom's hegemony, or at least that wasn't the main objective. She truly did seem to desire an alliance. But why? It must have something to do with the apparent "dealings" that Salazar mentioned she'd had with the Alvarez.

With the political climate getting hotter and hotter, Toma could feel that something big was about to happen, and soon.

Gray stared forward with regret. He stared at what his best friend, his brother, or at least the closest he had to a brother, had become. And not just what he'd become. What he'd done.

Invel's earlier coughing only got worse and worse as time went on. There was no mistake about it; he was going to die, right there on the ground, laying in his blood.

Gray knew this. He had to move quickly if he planned on saving Invel in time. Although the Ice Mage was an enemy, they had already seen with August that not all of the Alvarez were very loyal to Zeref. Further, as Fairy Tail mages, they were taught to always show compassion to their enemies. To never inflict mortal harm upon an enemy, if possible.

That was what shocked Gray. What Natsu had done to Invel. He'd never seen his friend ever do something so cruel to anyone.

Slowly, Gray began. "Why, Natsu?"

Natsu remained silent, his earlier run-in with Gray still fresh in his mind. He would never forget the absolute hate he saw in Gray's eyes as he accused him of being a monster. To see his friend, his brother as far as he was concerned, call him that...look at him like that...it was too much. Just, too much.

Gray hoped with all his being that Natsu wasn't lost to the abyss that was the darkness surrounding him. But even as he hoped, he felt the demon that Natsu was. There was no denying it.

Still, he'd be damned if he didn't at least try to reconcile their earlier engagement.

"Natsu, what is the first thing we are taught as Fairy Tail mages?"

Natsu stared at Gray. "Always..." he began, unsure at what Gray was getting at. "Always show compassion to others, even to your enemies."

Gray almost sighed with relief, but he knew they weren't out of the woods yet. "And the second?"

"Never kill. No matter what the enemy has done...they can be redeemed."

Gray was about to try and step forward when he was cut short.

"But it's not about what the enemy has done this time," Natsu added. "It's what he was going to do."

"What was he going to do?" Gray asked, curious at what Natsu was implying.

"I saw it. A vision. He," Natsu pointed at Invel, "would've ordered his men to kill all of the other wizards. I know it. I saw it."

Gray's eyes widened. A vision?

Natsu continued. "He wouldn't have given them mercy. So I didn't give him any mercy either. He gets what he deserves."

Gray's expression hardened. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. "What he deserved? He deserved and still deserves, a second chance. Anyone does. How could you be justifying this? This is senseless cruelty."

"No." Natsu denied, meeting Gray's hard gaze with one of his own. "It's justice."

"Dammit Natsu, this is wrong!" Gray yelled in frustration, taking a step forward. "It's not justice if he hasn't even done anything yet!"

"Not to me," Natsu countered.

Gray was shocked. Was this really what Natsu believed now?

"If he dies..." he slowly began.

"Don't," Natsu warned.

"It's murder," Gray said with finality. "If he dies, it's murder. And I won't condone it."

Natsu seethed with anger at the accusation.

Gray continued, oblivious to the grave mistake he was making.

"You've already killed, Natsu. Look at them. Look at those soldiers. Did they deserve a death so horrifying?" Gray pointed toward the charred and mangled bodies of the Alvarez soldiers.

"I SAID DON'T!" Natsu screamed, raising his right arm toward Gray.

Gray readied himself.

Abruptly, Natsu looked down. Slowly, he began to laugh. It increased in pitch as the seconds passed until was a hysterical cackle.

He looked up. The look shocked Gray so much that he took a step back.

Although Natsu laughed, his eyes were not laughing at all. In them, Gray saw fire. He saw horror and death. He saw a different being from the Natsu he knew. An ancient being.

When Natsu next spoke, it sounded as if two separate voices spoke at once at the same time.

"You will never address me like that again, fledgling." he spat with outrage on his ancient voice.

Gray suddenly felt his neck constrict as if he was being choked. His hands reflexively began to grasp at his neck, trying and failing to undo the invisible grip that held him.

"On your knees!" E.N.D. commanded.

Gray fell to his knees, seemingly no longer in control of his body, yet he continued to choke and grasp in a feeble attempt to stop what was happening to him. He felt as if something was beginning to take hold of him. Suddenly, he remembered with horror the dark magic that took over half of his body whenever he used his Devil-Slayer magic. He looked down as much he could in spite of the invisible hand that held his neck.

The darkness was spreading further and further.

"No! No, please," he begged, though he didn't know why.

"Do not insult my ears with your vile begging, fledgling," E.N.D. said, disgusted. "It is not in our place for our kind to beg."

"Our kind?" Gray croaked, the implication scaring him to his core.

But...he couldn't be, could he? He remembered his father. What he was before he died and what he became after.

Natsu ignored the question, though in his mind he was horrified at what he was doing. Why was he standing there, hurting Gray? And why did it feel so right? So good? He wanted to stop, but he also wanted to keep going.

"Now. You shall address me as superior." E.N.D. commanded.

Gray continued to claw at his throat, looking at Natsu with fear. What was happening to him? The vise grip that held him seemingly increased until he almost couldn't breathe.

Then, it happened. Something clicked within him. The darkness took over all his body, and his arms fell to his sides.

Gray spoke calmly and clearly, despite the invisible grip on his throat.

"Yes. I meant no offense, Neferat."

The grip disappeared, and Natsu lowered his arm.

"Address me." E.N.D. reiterated.

Gray quickly shifted his pose so that he was kneeling, with his left arm resting on his knee and his right hand curled into a fist that rested on the ground. He kept his head bowed, looking downward.

It was a very old pose, taken with respect to a more powerful being.

A more powerful Demon.

"What is thy bidding, my master?"