This is a strange little story that I've had stuck in my head for a couple of months. Be prepared for feels.

Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy Tail.

Leathern wings beat the air, wind filling them and lifting their possessor higher and higher into the azure sky.

Below, a forest spread out. Viridian for now, though soon all the shades of sunsets would creep along the branches until the trees would form a sea of flame.

But within the middle of this vast forest lay a blight. Dark, blasted and scorched earth marked this barren spot amongst the greenery. The land twisted upon itself, death still claiming those who dared enter. At its heart, the winged guardian of this foul place knew, lay a skeleton blackened by fire and crumbling with age.

It had been a long, long time since anyone had approached the silent grave. Even the guardian could not quite recall - but then, he had difficulty following along with time's passage at all. Months and seasons flowed into each other, a blur of colour, and so passed years barely noticed.

Mostly, he just flew, and slept, and remembered. He remembered the day he became tied to this place. The day the world changed.

Sometimes it seemed like no time had passed at all.

He could still hear her. Screaming for him. Trying to keep him from becoming the monster his creator had always intended him to be.

Losing the fight against himself, and striking down evil where it stood - ready for the end. Ready for his E.N.D.

The magic he had released had been far too much for his body to handle. It began to consume him, blackening his soul to the ebon that was always its fate.

She had not accepted that.

His dying creator had seen her despair, and reminded of another young blonde - one whom he had once cherished very much indeed - he offered her three paths to take.

The first, was to kill the monster just beginning to unfurl itself from deep within her best friend's soul. Destroy the container, and the corrupted magic would spill out to join its creator's taint.

This was unacceptable to the brave, foolish girl.

The second option presented to her, was to allow the transformation to continue. Once it was complete, she would no longer be able to save him. Instead, she would be forced watch as her other friend took care of the problem, and murdered someone they both cared for.

Abhorrent, was her opinion of this.

And so, the darkest of dark mages told the one who shone brightest in the dark, the child of the stars, what she might do to save her partner's life and soul.

But even if she took this path, she would still lose him.

It wasn't much of a choice, really.

Starlight and Darkness together wound a spell to break a seal, and to force a change. To unleash what had always lurked inside - the body now matched to its heart and soul.

He had come to live with the choice they had made for him. It truly had been the best of many bad options, and he realized that. Not ready to give up his life, or friends, or family, he had come to forgive them.

Time slipped by, and those people he cared for grew older. They raised families, but always made time and room (and a great deal of room was required) in their lives and hearts and souls for him.

Though eventually they had one by one left him, they remained in his heart and soul.

And despite the impossibility of such a thing, he swore he could still hear her, laughing in the wind and screaming for him to live, to fight.

But she, along with the rest, was ash and dust.

Someday, he swore to himself, he would join them. When the evil in this place had finally drained away... when greenery overtook the lonely corpse below.

Then he join them.

His duty would lie here for now, though. With dragon wings and scales and claws, he would protect others from the death in this place.

Until the E.N.D.