Prologue

"Did you guys fight again, Natsu?" Lisanna asked with a small smile on her face. It amused her to no end the childish behavior of Natsu Dragneel, her fiance and the "father" of her little family, and Happy, the "child" that they rasied together years ago.

Natsu had proposed to Lisanna a year ago, and Lisanna accepted without hesitation. She was the only girl that made Natsu feel weird. Out of all the girls in Fairy Tail, she was the only one that Natsu did not have a Natsu-like reaction to. Unlike Erza, he did not want to fight her all the time. In fact, he never wanted to fight her. He always wanted to protect her, more so than any other guild member. There was something about her that confused Natsu. Why did he feel this way with her, but never anyone else in the guild? Sure they all considered themselves family, but Lisanna? She was special.

Unlike Mira, Natsu was not afraid of her. Well, maybe, only when she was angry, and THAT luckily for Natsu, that almost never happens. Natsu always felt calm and relaxed around her. She had an aura that just made you forget about what you were doing and just made you feel good about yourself. But whem she got angry, she was scarier than Erza and Mira combined. At least to Natsu that is.

All of this was confusing to Natsu. Was this what Igneel called "love"? Why did he get this warm feeling in his chest whenever he thought of her. Why does he feel happier than usual when he sees her? It was all confusing to Natsu. Sometimes he wished that Igneel taught more about love.

"Oh Lisanna. You came back?" Natsu asked. He was sitting cross legged, arms across his chest, with a frown on his face.

"Natsu's so mean! He ate all of my fish!" cried Happy, with his back facing Natsu.

"Don't be such a cheapskate!" cried Natsu, annoyed at how petty Happy could be.

"Sheesh Natsu, you're supposed to be the father." Lisanna replied, gatherin gthe attention of the two.

"You're still going on about that?" Natsu asked with a blush on his face, not liking where this conversation was going. Yes he is happily engaged to Lisanna, both whom are happy of finally becoming the family that they acted as in their younger years. However, that doesn't mean that Natsu is not embarassed about what he did back then. Though they were happy times, they were also embarassing times for him.

"Ne ne, what is she talking about?" Happy interjected. He knew that Natsu and Lisanna were engaged, but he had no idea what Lisanna meant when she said Natsu was supposed to be the "father."

"Nothing at all!" Natsu hastily cried, the blush getting bigger.

"Even though families may have their arguments, it still isn't nice to fight. After all, Happy is our child!" Lisanna said with a straight face.

"She just said something strange with a straight face!" Happy said, shocked at what Lisanna said and how she said it.

"Stop talking about that!" Natsu said desparately, really wanting this conversation to end,

"You're in loooooooove!" Happy interjected, clearly amused by Natsu's reactions.

"Stop saying things like that!" Natsu said, becoming more embarassed if that was possible.

"You're still as immature as ever." Lisanna said, clearly having fun with him.

"Don't call me that!" Natsu shouted as Happy and Lisanna were laughing at his expense.

After a while, Lisanna and Happy settled down, while Natsu still supported a small blush on his face. He was not amused that Lisanna and Happy had a good laugh at his expense.

"So what's up Lisanna? How was your mission?" Natsu asked, wanting to know how his fiance's day was.

"You wouldn't believe how much destruction Mira-nee and Elf-nichan can cause trying to get rid of a dark guild. It was a simple mission, just beat up some mages and collect the reward. But no, Mira-nee had to go berserk, and Elf-nichan did the same thing, because 'That's what a man does!'" Lisanna explained, clearly not amused by the events of her day.

Natsu had a big laugh, it was finally his turn to have some fun. It was typical Fairy Tail behavior to go overboard during a mission. It happens all the time, but it never gets old. If nothing got destroyed, that would be very un-Fairy Tail like, and that would be boring.

"Oh come one it couldn't be that bad, could it?" Natsu asked.

"She destroyed half the city!" Lisanna exclaimed. "She's almost as bad as you!"

"Hey!" Natsu cried indignantly.

"And Elf-nichan destroyed the mayor's house! We almost got banned from Crocus if we hadn't given them the reward money to pay for the damages. I've wasted my energy for nothing" she cried.

At this, Natsu's laughter increased tenfold. Mira-nee and Elfman destroying that much property on a simple job, and Lisanna getting nothing in the end, it was too much. He thought of this as Lisanna punishment for her laughing at him. Lisanna had a big frown on her face and was about to say something when she was interupted.

"Lisanna!"

Lisanna, Happy, and Natsu all turned to the source of the noise and saw Mirajane and Elfman walking towards them.

"We got another job to do!" Elfman shouted.

"Huh? But we just came back…" Lisanna started but was interupted.

"It's an S-Class mission. Nee chan took it and we're going to lend her our support" he explained.

"Hold on that's not fair!" Natsu exclaimed. For one thing Lisanna just got back from her mission and he wanted to spend time with her. They still had to plan their wedding, and he hadn't seen her for most of the day. Secondly, it was unfair that not only was Lisanna going to be gone again, but this time on an S-Class mission. Natsu thought that he was strong enough to go on these S-Class missions. He didn't care that he hadn't attained the S-Class status, he just wanted to go on one. The fact that Lisanna and Elfman were going on one was just unfair to him.

"What kind of job is it?" Happy asked.

"An emergency job to get rid of a monster called 'The Beast' the so-called monster king. Wanna come Natsu? It'll be a good experience for you" Mira offered. Mira was sure that she could handle this mission alone, however it didn't hurt to have backup. If Natsu came along, then there would be no chance of failure.

"Are you serious? I won't allow Natsu to come along. A man like me should be able to protect his own family." Elfman stated defiantly. He was the only man among his sisters and he wanted to prove that he could protect them, with or without a Full Body Take Over.

"All the more reason for me to come. You said it yourself, 'A man should be able to take care of his family.' What kind of man would I be if I couldn't protect Lisanna and Mira-nee from this monster thing?" Natsu asked. He wanted to go on this mission no matter what Elfman said.

"Let him come Elf-nichan! I haven't spent much time with him and if he comes along then we can get that job done a lot faster." Lisanna pleaded to her brother. She missed Natsu throughout the entire day and she was going to spend time with him no matter what! To strengthen her request, she used the most dangerous technique that all youngest siblings somehow know how to do: she fake cried. Not just that, but she made it so that her eyes were very puppy like, and even added a little pout to make look so damn cute that it was hard to say no too.

"B-but Lisanna!" Elfman tried to reason with her, but that damn look was just too much. "I… He… But I…" You got to give him credit, he's trying. But try as he might he couldn't resist. "Fine he can come!" he said with a huff.

"Yay! Thank you Elf-nichan you're the best!" Lisanna said, hugging her brother.

"Haha yeah, thank you 'Elf-nichan'" Natsu said in a mocking tone, laughing his ass off at the situation.

"Shut up Natsu!, Let's just go already" Elfman cried wanting to get this mission over with.

"Where are we going anyway?" Natsu asked curious to know the details of the mission.

"It's just a little town a few miles away from here. If we leave now, we might make it before midnight" Mira explained.

"Does that mean we have to take the train?" Natsu asked, hoping that the answer would be no.

"Of course, how else are we supposed to get there? By foot?" Mirajane said, annnoyed by Natsu's motion sickness. Natsu groaned at her response, his head hung, not looking forward to this mission at all. Maybe he should just stay behind…

"Don't worry Natsu, you can rest your head on my lap if that makes you feel better" Lisanna offered with a blush on her face. Natsu's head perked up at her offer. Maybe this trip wouldn't be so bad after all.

"Heh heh, if you insist" Natsu said with a blush of his own coming on to his face. He loved this side of Lisanna, the caring, motherly side of Lisanna. She made him feel good about himself, even on transportation. Not even Happy could do that. They looked at each other with a passion burning in their eyes. They stared at each other, lost in their own little world. Everything else disappeared from them, and only those two remained. The intensity of their love was icredible. This was true love, nothing could disrupt this.

"Can you two lovebirds get your asses into gear and get moving already?"

Then of course there was Mira. The Demon had broken the trance between the couple, sporting big red blushes on their faces. The two gave each other a small look, and with a nod from both, they set off to their mission.

"Bring back lots of fish!" Happy yelled, waving at the retreating group.

The Take Over Sibilings and Natsu had arrived at the small town of Averia a couple of hours ago. Mira and Elfman had gone into town to gather information about The Beast in order to formulate a plan of attack. Natsu and Lisanna however stayed at their hotel, finally spending some time together, discussing various things.

"Finally we have some time to ourselves" Lisanna said as she laid down on the bed, cuddling with Natsu. "We haven't really done anything in a while."

"Really? What about yesterday? You know, when we were at my house and you started kissing me and taking off my pants and…"

"NOT LIKE THAT!" Lisanna yelled, embarassed at how casually Natsu could say such things. He was embarassed at their childhood antics, but he could talk about sex as if it were nothing? He really was a strange person, but that's what attracted him to her. It was a magical night for both of them. Their passion and love for each other defined itself that night, and it would be a night that both of them would never forget. But that's another story for another time. Especially when a certain website limits what you can write about…

"So what are you thinking about?" Lisanna asked, wanting to know why Natsu was so quiet.

"Nothing, just glad that I'm finally spending some time with you." Natsu said as he hugged her, making her blush.

"Natsu stop it" Lisanna said with a smile. She loved how Natsu acted around her. It was cute, unexpected coming from the dragonslayer who was usually as dense as a rock when it came to things like romance. "We need to start planning for the wedding" she insisted, wanting to finally plan out her dream wedding. She couldn't believe that she was the first of her siblings, and the first woman in the guild to get married, and she wanted everything to be perfect.

"Oh don't worry about things like that Lisanna. We just need to pick a place, and other stuff like that and we'll be done, how hard could it be?" Natsu asked, not exactly understanding how important this event would be to Lisanna.

"You make it sound so easy, but it really takes a lot of work" Lisanna told Natsu, annoyed at his attitude about the wedding.

"Oh come on it can't be that hard, I bet we already know where to have the wedding. Right?" Natsu asked with a smile.

"I mean, yeah of course, I mean the answer is pretty obvious. The answer was right in front of us the entire time." Lisanna agreed with a smile.

" Alright so we're gonna get married at the guild/Kardia Cathedral" Natsu/Lisanna replied at the same time. They looked at each other with a strange face after hearing each other's reply.

"The Guild/Kardia Cathedral? Why there?" They asked each other.

"The guild has been a part of our lives, it would be wrong if we didn't have a wedding there with all of our friends and family" Natsu argued.

"A church is the traditional place to get married, we are going there." Lisanna said with a frown on her face.

"Why should we go to a church? Churches are so boring, there's nothing to do there" Natsu countered using his "logic."

"It's tradition!" Lisanna stated

"It's boring!" Natsu countered.

"Really? So why would the guild be a better place than the church?" Lisanna yelled, wanting to know the reasoning behind Natsu's choice.

"We've been a part of that guild since we were kids, it would be wrong not to have it there. The only thing church goers do is talk. That's it! They just talk, do you know how boring that gets? At the guild everybody parties and fight each other!" Natsu said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"People don't have to fight all the time to have a good time. They can just talk to each other and be civil about it. Is fighting all you ever think about?" Lisanna shouted, angered at Natsu for his simple-mindedness.

"Of course not! I think of many other things like food, and making fun of Gray, and uh… food." Natsu countered, or at least tried to.

"Really, then why did you want to come to this mission? Admit it, you wanted to fight 'The Beast' as soon as those words came out of Mira-nee's lips." Lisanna said, furious at this point with Natsu.

"That's not it at all!" Natsu yelled. At this point, both got out of the bed and stood on opposite sides of it, engaged in a heated battle of words and accusations. As soon as Natsu said these words, Lisanna gave him a look that said 'Oh really?'.

"Okay fine that's one reason." Natsu said after a while. "I wanted to come because…" Natsu trailed off.

"Because of what Natsu?" Lisanna angrily said, wanting to know why he came on this mission.

"Because… because… Because I don't trust Elfman." Natsu finally said, earning a gasp from Lisanna.

"You what?" Lisanna asked, not trusting her ears.

"I don't trust Elfman." Natsu repeated. "He's a strong mage, but compared to you and Mira-nee, he's… Well he's.." Natsu did not know how to complete this sentence without hurting Lisanna even more than he had already.

"So you're calling Elf-nichan weak, is that it?" Lisanna said quietly, her hair covering her eyes.

"What! No, not at all" Natsu hastily replied.

"Then what are you saying Nastu? First you're not taking our wedding plans sriously, now you're making fun of my family? How dare you!" Lisanna was positively seethng at this point. The man she had loved since childhood saying these kinds of things, it was too much for her. Her tears were building up.

"When did I not take our wedding plans seriously! And I never made fun of Elfman, I'm must saying that while he is a strong mage, he doesn't compare to you or Mira-nee. I can do a better job than him on this job!" Natsu replied back, angered at the turn of this conversation.

"This wedding means a lot to me! Ever since I was a little girl I always dreamed of how my wedding would go, and now that it's here, you're not taking it seriously. Your trampling my dreams Natsu. And if you hadn't called Elfman weak before you certainly did now!" Lisanna cried, the tears falling from her eyes at this point. "If you could just grow up and become an adult, I could die a happy woman!"

Natsu would've stopped this fight and conforted her, but this is Natsu. As a son of a dragon, he learned never to back down from a fight, and assert his dominance, no matter who his opponent was. That stubborness would cost him however.

"I can't believe you're saying these things about me! But if you're going to be like that, then maybe we shouldn't get married you crazy bitch!" Natsu yelled, not realizing the damage the words he said had caused.

Lisanna's eyes widened at his statement, and out of intense anger, she slapped him. HARD. It was so loud you could here it from their hotel to Magnolia. She was shaking from both intense anger and from sobbing.

"If that's how you feel, then maybe we shouldn't get married." She took off the ring from her hand and threw it at Natsu. It hit his chest, but he let it fall to the ground. "Get out" she said quietly, but with enough venom to bring Natsu out of his rage induced stupor. He finally realized what he had said to Lisanna, but it was too late to apologize. He called her a crazy bitch, and basically told her that they shouldn't get married. How the hell do you fix that?

"Lisanna, I…"

"Get out! I hate you!"

Those three words did it for Natsu. He picked up the ring from the floor, and quietly left the hotel. After he had left, Lisanna finally let out her sadness, and collapsed on the bed, crying her eyes out. She couldn't believe what had happened. She just wanted to spend time with Natsu, but instead, a fight broke out, and her wedding was officailly canceled. She couldn't believe it. All of a sudden, Lisanna heard the fearful cries of the townsfolk. Quickly wiping her eyes, she ran out of the hotel to see the town ablaze. Thinking quickly, she used her Animal Soul: Bird and helped the citizens evacuate. She then flew to find her sister and brother.

Natsu had retreated into a forest near the town and rested on a hill. He sat there deep in thought, the red hand print still fresh and stinging in his cheek. His mind was jumbled right now. Why did Lisanna cry? Why was she so angry at him? Did he say something wrong? Well, he obviously thought so, if she was that angry and cried that much. Natsu didn't understand it at all. Did he really make fun of her dreams, even if it was unintentional? Did he really not take the wedding seriously? It wasn't his fault. He thought that a wedding would just be a simple ceremony, listen to the priest talk, say a few things to each other, give each other rings, and seal the deal with a kiss. It couldn't be any more complicated than that could it? Maybe Natsu really did hurt Lisanna's feelings. If she cried because she thought he didn't take the wedding seriously, then there must be some truth in that. The wedding was a big deal to Lisanna, and seeing her cry broke Natsu's heart. Then there was Elfman. Lisanna thought that Natsu called him weak. He didn't mean that at all! Elfman was a strong mage, one of the strongest non S-Class members of the guild! He just couldn't understand Lisanna. Did she misinterpret his words, or did he say the wrong things to describe his thoughts? It was all confusing to Natsu. But in the end, it made Lisanna cry. Lisanna crying was like the end of the world to Natsu. He loved Lisanna, and seeing her cry, because of him, just killed him. He didn't take the wedding seriously, made fun of Elfman, intentional or not, and then called her a bitch and called off the wedding. What kind of a man was he? If Elfman were here, he would beat the everlasting shit out of him. He wondered which was worse, Elfman or Mira beating the crap out of him. Both just made him shudder in fear. Maybe Lisanna was right. Maybe he didn't take the wedding seriously, maybe he did make fun of Elfman. He hadn't ealized that the wedding was THAT important to Lisanna. Sure it was important to him, but to Lisanna, it was on a whole different level. Then there was the Elfman issue. Did Natsu really douby Elfman's abilities that much? Did he really think he was weak? He and the Talk Over Siblings were a part of Fairy Tail, a guild were everybody loves each other and pratically thought of each other as familiy. If he called Lisanna's brother weak, didn't that mean that he called him own brother weak? Lisanna was definitely right. He thought the wedding would've been a simple process and he really thought that Eflman was weak. But there were two things that bothered Natsu the most, and it was the last couple of sentences of Lisanna's tirade.

'If you could just grow up and become an adult, I could die a happy woman!'

'I hate you!'

What did that mean? Natsu had heard several times from his guild members that he was an immature brat. A VERY immature brat. Despite that, people loved him for that, saying that the guild would be boring without people like him. Natsu took pride at that for that reason. He hadn't seen anything wrong with how he acted. But what Lisanna said really made him think, more so than usual. What his behavior a pain in the ass for Lisanna to handle sometimes? Was he really THAT much of an immature brat? Was she THAT annoyed by it? Well if he couldn't take their marriage seriously, then the question might answer itself.

Then the second sentence just brought a lot of guilt to Natsu's already guilt ridden mind. She hated him. She said it to him. No, she yelled it at him. That's how much she hated him. Did he really hurt her feelings that much? Did his words have a lot more weigh in them then he thought? Well, if they made her cry, then the answer was obvious. He gave out a big sigh, mad at himself for losing it. She was his fiance, his childhood friend who was there to help hatch Happy's egg. How could he do this to her? A lot of the guild members warned Natsu to never anger a woman, for it is scarier than the strongest dragon. They were right, but he didn't heed their advice. Instead, he put oil in the fire, and just made It worse. He felt like a fucking moron. He thought of ways to fix his mistakes, but only one thing came to mind, and it was a very simple solution.

He would have to apologize to Lisanna, and fast if he still wanted to get married.

As he got up, he smelled something familiar.

'What is that? It smells like sniff…sniff… Fire!' Natsu realized. Then he heard the cries of innocent people and turned to the source of the cries. It was Averia, the quiet town was ablaze. What had happened while he was gone? Then it dawned on him.

'Lisanna! The mission!' Natsu's eyes had widened in horror. He completely forgot about the mission. He was so deep in thought about his fight that the mission was the furthest thing from his mind. He got up and rushed to the town.

"Elfman! Pull yourself together!" Mira cried in pain as a giant beast approached her. She clutched her arm in pain, Elfman, or the Beast, swung his arm and it broke her arm. She sat on the ground in a valley near the town, despearelty thinking about how to subdue the monster. She was in great pain, and covered in injures, but she'll be damned if she lost her brother to this monster just because he couldn't handle the monster's overwhelming magic.

"Mira-nee!"

Mira turned to the sound of the voice and found Lisanna, using her magic to transform herself as a bird. She landed next to her and reverted back to her human form.

"I evacuated everyone in the town! What happened?" She asked, looking at the monster. It struck her as odd, this monster seemed very familiar, even though it was her first time actually seeing it. She wrapped Mira's arm around her neck to help her stand up.

"Get out of here Lisanna! I got careless. Elfman wanted to protect me and tried to Take Over the beast!" Mira explained. Her response made Lisanna gasp in realization

"Then, you mean…?"

"But that thing's magic was too powerful! Elfman lost control of himself!"

"Oh no! What are we going to do?"

"We need to get him to come back to his senses before the beast takes permanent control!"

At this point the beast was right in front of them, growling angrily. These two human females seemed familiar to him, but for some reason he couldn't remember who exactly they were. He raised his arm to strike them when…

"Karyu no Tekken!" (Fire Dragon's Iron Fist)

A fist englufed in fire can out of no where and hit the beast straight in the face. The impact was so strong that he stumbled backwards a couple of steps. Natsu had come out of no where and saved the two from certain death.

"Natsu!" The sisters cried.

"What happened? Where's Elfman!" Natsu asked, not taking the beast out of his sight.

"Natsu, THAT is Elfman! He tried to Take Over the beast, but it was just too strong, and lost control!" Lisanna quickly explained.

"That's Elfman?" Natsu asked, surprise written all over his face. "How do we get him back to normal?"

"We have to make him come back to his senses somehow." Mira explained.

"So, we beat the crap out of him?" Natsu asked, using his logic to define 'bringing him back to his senses.'

"Well that's one way to put it." Mira said after a while. She knew there were other ways of reverting Elfman back to himself, but he was just too strong. Beating him senseless was the only solution.

"Well that's just fine with me! I'll just kick this monster bastard's ass and we can go home!" Natsu said excitedly, with fire surrounding his body.

"You can't beat him Natsu! If I couldn't then you certainly can't!" Mira exclaimed, trying to reason with Natsu. However, he just wouldn't listen. He was determined to defeat this beast no matter what.

"Lisanna, take your sister and get as far away from here as possible. I'll…" Natsu never got to finish the sentence. The beast appeared in front of him, suprisingly very quickly, and knocked Natsu away from both of them. He cried in pain, he hadn't expected the beast to be this strong. The swing had enough force to break Natsu's left arm, and send him flying into the many giant rocks surrounding them.

"NATSU!" Both women cried, surpised at how the beast quickly took out Natsu.

The beast roared, and once again raised his claws into the air and brought it down, intending to crush the sisters. All of a sudden, Natsu quickly jumped at them and pushed them out of the way. However, when he did that, one of the claws of the beast's hand managed to make a huge cut over Natsu's right eye, effectively disabling it.

"!" Natsu writhed in horrible pain. It was bad enough that his left arm was broken, but losing his eye? The pain was unimaginable. He was covering his eye with his good arm and stayed on the floor.

"Natsu!" Lisanna and Mira cried in horror, unable to believe that Natsu took such a horrible blow from them.

'What the hell? This monster is so strong! Is this really Elfman? No, it can't be. Elfman wouldn't hurt his family, or me, or anybody for that matter. The beast must have a really strong effect on him.' Natsu thought to himself. He slowly got up, still covering his eye, determined to stop the , his situation was not good: his left arm is broken, his right arm is covering his now disabled right eye, and with only one eye, his depth perception deteriorated immensely. How could he fight such a beast in his state? It was unfathomable.

'What is this feeling? Why do I feel so hopeless? So weak? So…. Scared? Is this…. Fear? Am I shaking in fear of Elfman? No, I'm shaking in fear, because I'm weak. I can't protect Lisanna or Mira in my condition. Mira's injured, and Lisanna can't possibly fight this thing. This is hopeless!' Natsu thought as the weight of the situation finally dawned on him. He thought he could just charge headfirst into the situation and take care of everything like how he always handled things. Instead, his injuries and the beast's strength made him feel like an idiot. He risked his life,and the lives of his teammates, based on a reckless move. Lisanna was right, he really needed to grow up.

'No, I can't think like this! I need to distract this thing somehow. If Lisanna and Mira can get out of here safely, then I won't care if I die or not fighting this beast.' Natsu thought with resolve. He was scared that's for sure, but for the sake of his nakama, he was fearless.

The beast turned its attention to the Take Over Sisters, ready to kill them. It released a deafening roar that scared the sisters, and raised its arm to strike when…

"Karyu no Hoko!" (Fire Dragon's Roar)

A stream of fire hit the beast square in the face, fazing it momentarily.

"Natsu!" Lisanna and Mira cried, relieved and worried at the same time. Relieved that Natsu still had some fight left in him, but worried that Natsu could get hurt even more.

"Lisanna, take Mira and get out of here! I'll take care of this." Natsu ordered, determined to stop the beast and its rampage.

"No I won't leave you! We're a team, we can fight it together!" Lisanna countered not wanting to leave Natsu, her… ex-finance.

"Just go!" Natsu yelled, and then he released another attack.

"Karyu no Koen! (Fire Dragon's Brilliant Flame)" He attacked the beast in the face again, but with only one arm, the attack was only half as strong. The impact of the attack released a large cloud of smoke as Natsu waited, anticipating its next attack. Unfortunately for Natsu, due to the decreased strength of his attack, the beast was unfazed, and countered. The beast got both of its claws, and made an X mark on Natsu's chest. Natsu' s chest was on fire. And not the kind that he could eat, or the kind he was immune too. The fire burned him. But it wasn't actual fire, just overwhelming pain. 10 claws, 5 on each side, from the shoulders down to his waist, covered his mid section. A copious amount of blood came out of the marks, but the beast didn't care. He just kept attacking. The beast raised its arm again and swatted at Natsu, wanting to finally get rid of the pink haired pest. Natsu quickly reacted by raising his right leg in order to defend himself, but just like his arm, it broke under the strength of the attack. Fortunately, he stood his ground, but the pain left him unprepared for the beast's next attack. It stabbed Natsu using one of its horns into his stomach. At this point Natsu was losing an onscene amount of blood. How was he still alive? The beast then made a fierce turn of its head and sent Natsu flying. He crashed into a wall and as a result of his crash, the rocks came crashing down on to Natsu's body. One particularly large rock landed on Natsu's broken leg, intensifying the pain.

"Natsu!" both women cried for the third time. The situation there were in scared them. How one sided could this battle possibly get? Mira's injured so she can't find, Natsu's in critical condition, and while Lisanna is perfectly fine, she stood no chance against the Beast. If it defeated NatsuAND Mira effortlessly, what chance did she have? Lisanna didn't want to leave Natsu behind, no wanting to face the guilt of abandoning her nakama. The fight that she and Natsu had earlier plagued her mind. If she left and he died, her last words to him would've been "I hate you." How could she live with that? Lisanna had to think of a way for Elfman to go back to normal. If fighting didn't work, what about talking? Violence never really solved anything, so a diplomatic solution like talking should work, right?

Lisanna took a deep breath and calmly walked up to the beast.

"Lisanna, what are you doing?" Both Natsu and Mira cried. What was she doing? She wasn't going to fight it, was she?

"What's the matter, Elf-nichan?" Lisanna asked innocently. She hoped that if she talked to him, maybe he could go back to normal. Natsu and Mira were scared shitless for Lisanna. The beast beat Natsu around like a ragdoll, who knows what it could do to Lisanna. Why wasn't she running away, what is she trying to do?

"It's me Lisanna, your little sister. Have you forgotten Mira-Nee and Natsu as well?" At this the beast growled. Lisanna was getting scared, but she wouldn't back down. She was sure this plan would work.

"You 'd never really forget about us would you? After all Mira, Natsu, and I love you so much!" At this, the beast let out a ferocious roar, and raised its arm again. But Lisanna didn't care, she was not going to hurt Elf-nichan no matter what.

Lisanna then outstreched her arms. "Now let's go home, Elf-nichan!"

At this, the beast quickly swiped at Lisanna, knocking her far away into some bushes to the side. Time froze for Mira and Natsu. Lisanna, the cute Take Over Mage had just been knocked away like a ragdoll by the Beast who was controlling Elfman. They couldn't believe what had happened.

"!" They both shouted. With an attack like that, Lisanna was in critical condition, she could die! Mira got up, but as she did, she looked at Natsu, and then to the direction where Lisanna went. What could she do? Stay with Natsu, or help her little sister? Luckily, Natsu helped her with her little dilemma.

"Mira, just go! I'll handle this guy!"

"What about you? You're stuck under a rock! How could you do anything against him?" Mira yelled, desperation laced in her face.

"Don't worry I got a plan, just go!" Natsu yelled, his voice leaving no room for argument. Mira, with a little hesistation, finally left to go tend to Lisanna.

The beast watch Mira carefully, and when she left, the beast attempted to follow her, but was stopped but a tug he felt. He looked behind him and saw that Natsu had grabbed on to his tail. His grip was strong and he was not about to let go. The beast let out a ferocious roar.

"You're not going anywhere you bastard." Natsu said his anger in his voice. There was only one thing he could do to defeat the beast, but this was his last resort. If this didn't work, then everything would become hopeless. Natsu prepared to gather his fire magic in his arm that was holding on to the Beast's tail. He was preparing to unleash a forbidden spell taught to him by Igneel, used only when he was extremely desperate to save his no other option, Natsu performed the technique, and prayed that it worked.

"Metsuryu Kinjutsu: Goryuka" (Dragon Slayer Forbidden Technnique: Great Dragon Fire)

His arm emitted a bright light, and suddenly, a great pillar of flame erupted. Natsu and the beast screamed in pain, the beast for being caught in the center of the attack, and Natsu for sacrificing his arm in a powerful explosion to use the attack. Mira was tending to Lisanna's injuries when she heard the explosion. She didn't have to look anywhere for it because the pillar of flames was so tall you could see it anywhere in the little town. Even from where she was, the pillars gave off very strong heat.

"Natsu…." She said quietly, hoping that whatever Natsu did, it subdued the beast.

Back at the battlefield, an injured and burnt Elfman laid unconscious, back to his human form. Natsu was panting in exhaustion. The kinjutsu took a lot of energy out of him, and it had cost him his arm. He was in horrible pain: 10 slash marks covering his midsection, a broken leg crushed under a giant rock that he was quickly losing any feeling to, a broken arm, a arm that was completely burned off, and a missing off, in addition to massive blood loss. Natsu's eyes were becoming heavy, was he going to die here?

'At least, everyone's okay, I hope…' Were Natsu's last thoughts before he drifted into unconsciousness

"Lisanna!" Mira ran toward her sister's body as soon as she found her. Lisanna had many bruises all over her body. That attack had severely injured her, but she never thought it would be this bad.

"Mira-nee…" Lisanna said weakly.

"Don't talk Lisanna, just save your strenghth! Your big sister is here to help you!" Mira cried as see tried to tend to the wounds.

"Mira-nee, I'm sorry." Lisanna said with a weak smile.

"Sorry? What for, you did nothing wrong" Mira replied hoping that itwould get rid of whatever sadness was affecting Lisanna.

"You and Natsu told me to run, and I didn't. Now I'm here, dying" Lisanna answered, tears starting to form.

"Don't say that! You are not dying!" Mira cried. Her voice cracked due to her overwhelming sadness.

Suddenly, a large pillar of flames erupted from out of nowhere. Mira turned to the site of it, and deduced that Natsu had caused the spell, and after hearing the beast's loud roar, he figured out that Natsu had defeated the beast.

"Is that Natsu?" Lisanna asked with a quiet voice.

"Yeah. That fiance of yours did it Lisanna. He returned Eflman to normal. Now I'm going to heal you so that we can go back to the guild and prepare your wedding." Mira replied hastily, doing whatever she could to heal her sister.

"You don't have to Mira-nee, the wedding's off." Lisanna said with a sad smile.

"What? What are you talking about? The wedding's off? Why?" Mira questioned, never straying away from her task.

"Natsu and I…. had a big fight…. He must hate me so much right now" Lisanna said, breathing becoming a difficult task for had a small, but sad smile on her face, and the tears started rolling down her face. Even in her pain, she could still talk about ominous things with a straight face.

"Don't be ridiculous! Natsu wouldn't cancel the wedding for something as silly as a fight! Just stop talking so that you can feel better. After that we can go back to the guild and prepare your dream wedding." Mira deperately said. Tears were rolling down her face. She couldn't help but blame herself in this situation. She was the oldest sibling, yet because of her, the younger brother had tried to Take Over a monster too strong for him, and he attacked their youngest sibling. She was not going to let Lisanna die. If she died, then she effectively ruined her dreams of having a big wedding. She was not going to let that happen. Her sister was getting married dammit! She was going to save her. She continued to apply her healing magic when something stopped her.

A bright light covered Lisanna, scaring Mira.

"Mira-nee, I love you and Elf-nichan so much. I.. love… the guild so much! Tell… Natsu… that I'm sorry….. and that I love him… with all of my heart…." Lisanna said as the light completely enveloped her and took her body away from Mira.

"No! Lisanna you can't leave!" Mira ugged her sister as tighly, bu t as gently as she could, to prevent the light from taking her away. The light, however, had managed to slip Lisanna away from her grasp and took her with it to an unknown location.

Mira screamed in agony as her little sister was taken away from her. She failed to protect her family. Because of her, Elfman failed his Take Over. Because of her, Natsu was in severe pain. Because of her, Lisanna was…. Dead. She cried in agony, as the realization dawned on her. She failed miserably, as a mage, and as a sister. How could she face the guild? How could she face Elfman? How could she face Natsu? She couldn't save his fiance, he surely was going to hate her.

Over at the battlefield, Natsu had lost consciousness, blissfully unaware of the pain and suffering Mirajane Strauss, the oldest of the Take Over Siblings, was experiencing.

The date of Lisanna's death would haunt the three mages for the rest of their lives. But to Natsu, it would just more pain.

Time of Death: July 7,X782.