The boat trip back to Fiore was a long and painful one. After Ember Scarlet disappeared, Gray and Lucy had instantly jumped at Natsu, wanting to take him to Fairy Tail as prisoner. Erza had instantly protested, scaring the shit out of Gray in the process, but Natsu had agreed to Lucy's and Gray's wishes, much to their surprise.

"It's for the best anyway," Natsu had said with a sad look upon his face. "I did so much to hurt you all. I'm nothing more than a monster."

Erza had been even more surprised when Natsu held his arms out toward Gray, ordering the Ice Wizard to restrain him. Gray had obliged to Natsu's wishes, creating a pair of handcuffs made out of ice. Natsu could have easily broke free from them, but he didn't.

"So what do we do now?" Lucy asked Erza, hugging her Celestial Spirit Plue hard to her. "I mean, from what your mother said, Earthland is as good as dead."

"I don't know," Erza sighed, looking over at Natsu, who looked to be in more pain then any of them. Natsu's face was bright green, his cheeks puffed out. He looked sick, which he was.

"Is he really a terrifying demon?" Lucy asked, sighing at the motion sick man. "He surely doesn't look like one."

"Natsu suffers from motion sickness!" Happy exclaimed happily, holding his paw up to the blonde. "All the dragon slayers do!"

"Is it a dragon slayer thing or do all the bad dragon slayers suffer?" Lucy asked.

"Aye! Dragon Slayers have characteristics of actual dragons, and dragons have never taken transportation before!" Happy explained. "Because of that, Dragon Slayers suffer from motion sickness! And the stronger a dragon slayer is, the more dragon-like they are, and the worse their motion sickness is!"

"Really?" Lucy muttered, eyeing the groaning and retching dragon slayer/demon with a weary eye. "I'm never learning dragon slayer magic then."

The boat went silent, except for Natsu's sick-induced noises and Happy's munching on the fish he had caught when the poor thing decided to jump out of the water right next to the cat. Gray, without Juvia around (the water wizard was enjoying the water in her water body) was finally able to relax, but he looked pained. Erza didn't blame him though. Her mother had told them that Deliora, the demon that killed everyone Gray loved, had done it in a temper tantrum. Natsu of course blamed himself: Deliora had done it because Natsu hadn't been in a destroying mood and turned down Deliora's suggestion to destroy stuff.

"I hope everyone is OK," Lucy sighed. "If what Ms. Scarlet said is true, than nearly everyone in Fairy Tail was killed."

"I guess we'll just have to wait and see," Erza sighed.

No one spoke. Lucy hugged Plue tighter, causing the small Celestial Spirit to make a little noise that was cute. Gray took his shirt off, throwing it behind him into the ocean. Juvia jumped out of the water like a dolphin, catching the shirt and disappearing underneath the surface again. The atmosphere was quiet, until Natsu threw up into the ocean.

Three hours later they had arrived back at Fairy Tail, not surprised to see it destroyed. The once lush green landscape was charred, black being seen everywhere you look. It seemed that Zeref had been enraged and rightfully so. It reminded Erza of the recurring dreams she had before she met Natsu.

"Holy shit," Gray breathed. It was the only thing he could say.

They made their way to the castle, more black passing them along the way. When they got to the castle, they were surprised to see Makarov standing at the palace gates, a look of relief on his face. That relief soon changed to confusion at seeing Natsu behind them, his hands bound by Gray's ice.

"Father!" Erza exclaimed, surprised at seeing the king. "What are you doing here?"

"I've come to meet you," Makarov answered. "First Queen Mavis told me everything." Makarov looked at Natsu again and asked, "who is that?"

"This is E.N.D," Gray answered, not meeting Makarov's eyes. Natsu's eyes were downcast.

"E.N.D?" Makarov repeated. "That's the demon?"

Before Erza could say anything to defend Natsu, the demon snapped his head up and cried, "I'm sorry!"

Makarov stared at Natsu with his mouth hanging open, eyes widened in shock. Natsu looked down again, trying to hide the tears that were threatening to spill as his shoulders shook. Erza knew that this wasn't an act.

"I'm sorry," Natsu repeated, almost in a whisper. He bought his bound hands up to his face and attempted to wipe the tears away before they fell, but it was no use as tears begun to pour down his face like a waterfall, dropping onto his scarf.

"Why are you sorry Child?" Makarov asked.

"It's because of me that your kingdom is almost dead," Natsu answered, not looking up. "Everything that happened to you all was my fault: Erza's mother died because of me; Lucy's mother died because of me; Gray's entire kingdom was lost because of me; Fairy Tail is lost because of me! If Zeref ... if Zeref didn't revive me and cursed himself, none of this would be happening! I'm the same idiot kid I was before I died!"

Natsu was bawling now, but he tried his very best to hide it. No one really spoke, deciding to let Natsu grieve for his mistakes alone. And he did. Natsu cried for everything in the past: his death, his parents' deaths, Zeref's mortality and sanity, Erza and Lucy's mothers, Gray's childhood. He cried like there was nothing else he knew how to do, cried until his eyes became red and he couldn't cry anymore.

Finally, when it seemed that Natsu had no more tears to shed, Makarov said gently, "there's nothing to forgive boy."

Natsu looked up at Makarov with surprise, eyes widening. "W-w-what?" Surely he had heard wrong ...

"I said there was nothing to forgive," Makarov repeated, turning away.

"But ..."

"You are just a victim of fate," Makarov interrupted, surprising Natsu even more. "Just like Zeref and the rest of us."

"But ..." Natsu started again, but couldn't finish his sentence. He downcast his eyes again and whispered, "can I at least spend some time in your prison chambers?"

"If that's what you want," Makarov sighed. He turned to a soldier beside him. "Take him to the prison chambers."

"Yes your majesty," the soldier answered in a monotone, walking over to Natsu and grabbing his arm and pulling him towards the castle roughly.

"Wait," Natsu says, stopping beside Makarov. "In my scarf is the Tenrou Jade. Take it."

"You keep it child," Makarov declined. "I'm sure you'll going to need it." Natsu stared at Makarov in confusion, who stepped toward him and whispered something in Natsu's ear.

Natsu's eyes widened and he asked, "how did you know?"

Makarov smiled pitifully and said, "the First told me everything," before walking away.

stood in her room in front of the person-sized mirror. The woman in the mirror didn't mirror her at all. The scarlet haired woman looked elegant and vibrant, the blue dress clinging to her figure perfectly, showing off all her curves. Her scarlet hair was tied up in an elegant bow, scarlet ringlets framing her face. Her eyes were lined with eyeliner and purple eyeshadow, making her eyes stand out more.

This woman was not Princess Erza Scarlet.

"This party is pointless," Erza murmured, fingering the ruby pendant at her throat. Ember. The demon Natsu made for her when exchanging letters with each other. The demon she had named after her mother. Erza threw the pendant into the air, a magic circle forming underneath it. The pendant materialised into a red and pink demon that resembled a baby dragon, its little horns glistening in the candlelight. Erza pulled the demon to her and hugged it against her chest, knocking the air out of its lungs.

"Oh Ember, this is going downhill," Erza whispered, sitting on her bed. The demon looked up at Erza with shiny black eyes.

"Mummy," the demon whispered. Erza jolted in shock, looking down at the demon. The last time she had seen the demon, it had repeated everything she said. It wasn't now. "What's wrong with mummy?"

Tears prickled at the sides of Erza's good eye and she pulled the small demon to her, crushing the life out of it. Tears fell down the side of her face, splashing onto Ember. Ember let Erza cry, snuggling closer to her. Erza was the demon's mother, just like how Natsu was her father.

"I don't know what's going to happen to Natsu Ember," Erza cried, stroking the demon's head. "Everyone knows that he's E.N.D. The remaining citizens have come here to celebrate his execution. I ..."

Erza trailed off as her window suddenly opened, wind blowing the curtains back and sniffing the candles out. Something green and yellow flashed into the room, crashing into Erza's chest and holding her tight.

It was Rier, Natsu's demon like Ember.

"Rier?" Erza whispered. "What are you doing here?"

"Rier was sent by his master," Rier answered, looking up at Erza with same eyes as Ember. "Master is ..."

Rier trailed off as another gust of wind blew the curtains, covering the window from sight. The wind continued to blow, as if it was manipulated by something, and when it finally died down, the curtains slowly fell to reveal someone standing at her window. Tears gathered in Erza's fake eye, the first time in ten years that she was able to cry with her fake eye.

"Natsu?"

I literally cried while writing this chapter, maybe because Natsu crying always made me cry too. There's only two chapters left to write for this story, and they're gonna be very emotional. Or I'll try to make it as emotional as it can be. So, do you want me to do the same thing I did with chapter nine? Write two versions of the chapter, a pg version and an r version? If so, it'll take longer to write because school started again and I'm gonna try and make it as passionate as I can.

That, or I can make the r version a special chapter at the end as I make a plan for the sequel. The sequel will be out in a couple of months because I'm working on my other Natza fanfic.

The story should be finished before my birthday because I wanna post the special chapter on my birthday (may 17). Writing an r18+ scene could be a celebration of me actually being 18. Anyway, it'll be your choice, but seeming as the r version of chapter nine had more views then the pg version ...