Ch 1: A decision of Life or Death

If you asked anyone in Fiore about their opinion of Natsu Dragneel, or what he's more widely known as the Salamander, you would hear a lot of different responses depending on who you asked. For a large group of mages the first way they would describe the dragon slayer is as a trusted ally that they could always rely on having their backs in even the worst circumstances imaginable. If you asked those that are really close to the dragon slayer you might hear words like: inspirational, brave, foolhardy, courageous, idiotic or simply enjoyable.

Now if you somehow were able to talk to the enemies of Natsu Dragneel, you would definitely not get as positive of a description. But if you shifted through the curses and other colorful language you would find more than a few things that each of them thought about the dragon slayer. And that would be that he doesn't understand the concept of giving up or staying down when he's already at death's doorstep. Along with that they would also describe him as a monster or demon when pushed too far or when his friends are in danger. One that made it his purpose to give back whatever pain you bestowed upon his friends by ten folds.

Even with all of these things said about the famous dragon slayer there is one thing that pretty much no one would say about him. And that would be describing him as someone who thinks things out or even thinks about how his actions might cause him problems later on down the line. The main reason for this was due to him being a man of action, and he was completely fine with dealing with the consequences of his actions later on if it meant that he could stop something bad from happening right then and there.

And it was because of that fact that Natsu found himself in an unimaginable situation right now, where he even actually started to think about what he just did and how it might change his whole life. Well part of the reason for him to be thinking like that right now could easily be attributed to him being the only person conscious right now as he slowly walked down a hallway littered with unconscious bodies scattered every which way. His attire was a complete wreck, with the only thing that survived from his usual outfit being his pants but only just barely.

Now you are probably wondering where in the world is his scarf, the only other thing as famous as his pink hair, which he is never seen without it being in his possession. Well it was still within his grasp but it was currently being used by someone that definitely needed it more than him at the moment. And that brings us to the rest of his appearance, which made him look like he had been fighting for his life for the last few hours if you went by all of the wounds that covered him. But what someone would notice before all of this was definitely the two feminine forms that he had slung over his shoulders or the lump of blue fur sticking out of his pink mop.

All of his passengers looking as if they too had just gone through the same hell that he had just traversed through, which might explain the prominent scowl being displayed on his mug. Due to the poor lighting and how he was carrying the two ladies it was almost impossible to distinguish who they might be. But considering how upset Natsu looked it was a safe bet to make that they were people that he cared for deeply as he finally exited the hallway into a room that had its front blown off. The additional light of the setting sun just allowed the hair color of the two women to be seen, one a golden blonde with the other having pink hair just like the man carrying them.

Six hours earlier in the nearest town:

"Is that it?" asked Natsu in a dull tone while draped across a chair, clearly bored out of his mind right now.

"Natsu!" hissed Lucy as she glared at her partner for not maintaining a professional manner while talking with their client.

"It's fine Ms. Heartfilia, one does not ask for the Salamander specifically without expecting to receive the whole package. That just so happens to include him losing interest if the conversation lasts longer than an hour like ours just did." replied the Mayor with a little smirk as he looked at Natsu. Who was still lounging about with a bored look on his face as he was now looking out the window at something.

"True, but he wouldn't be acting like this if Erza was with us." she replied with a little grin. Because just the mention of the scarlet haired knight got Natsu sitting in his chair upright and staring intently at the Mayor, who he thought looked like a younger version of Makarov.

Of course this complete one eighty twist on Natsu's part caused the Mayor to start chuckling along with Lucy at him. That only stopped after the dragon slayer figured out that she wasn't there and let out a little growl that signaled for the two that he was done with their snickering at him.

"Well to answer your first question Salamander, yes that is indeed all there is to tell you about the dark guild." stated the Mayor with a smile, having a really good feeling this time. Confident that these two would be able to handle the dark guild unlike the last three groups before them, who didn't have anyone near as famous as Salamander on their team.

"Then what in the world are we sitting around this boring place for Luce?" asked Natsu as he shoot up out of his chair.

"Aye Sir!" cheered Happy as he sprung out of Lucy's hold on him. And before Lucy or the Mayor could even say another word the two leapt out of the open window, without a second thought in their heads as they disappeared out of sight.

"Oh my, they do realize that we're on the third floor?" asked the Mayor as he turned to Lucy with a concerned look.

All she could do was sheepishly smile back to him and respond with an honest answer. "Probably not." she replied only for a loud holler to cut her off as the other two shot past the window again but heading up even higher.

"And as you can see they're now just having some fun before the job. So I guess I better get out there and remind them that we have a job to do." said Lucy with a large smile spread across her face as she did a quick bow and then headed towards the door.

"Ms. Heartfilia, please be careful. This guild has already defeated three other groups before you with a few of them actually dying in the process." he said with a guilty look on his face. That then slowly became one of hopeful optimism at the sight of Lucy and her determined look.

"Don't worry Mr. Mayor, we're Fairy Tail mages after all and that means we won't stop until the job is done." she replied with a small smile before exiting through the door.

"I just hope you're right about that Ms. Heartfilia." he stated before going back to his paperwork.

Two hours later in the middle of a swamp:

"Now why exactly am I carrying the both of you?" asked Natsu while carrying Lucy on his back with Happy sprawled on top of his head.

"Because a real gentleman wouldn't make a woman walk through a disgusting place like this." she stated with a cheesy grin.

"And I always ride on your head!" replied Happy with his usual smile.

"Well it's going to stop as soon as we reach their guild hall." he mumbled with a slight scowl as the two riding him continued to enjoy themselves. That is until their ride suddenly came to a stop and tensed up as he started to sniff the air while scanning the area in front of them.

"Natsu what's wrong?" asked Lucy with a concerned look, as his attention seemed to lock onto something she couldn't see. But the next thing she knew she was tossed in the air screaming for her dear life as she came hurtling at a large tree only to veer out of the way and soar even higher.

"I got you Lucy!" said the blue Exceed now holding onto her shoulders as he started to maneuver them in between the trees. With shocking skill the blue Exceed dodged all of the branches and the incoming spells being thrown at the two of them.

"We need to go help Natsu!" she shouted as a large explosion went off from where they were before she was thrown into the air with no warning.

"He'll be fine, the best thing we can do is stay out of his way." Happy replied as he dove underneath a large branch that exploded only a second later from an unknown spell.

"You're right, but we can't let him do all of the work." she declared with a now stern look on her face, which was surprisingly also on Happy's face as well.

"Aye Sir!" shouted the Exceed as he launched high into the sky. Both of them now a few feet above the canopy of trees that grew out from the swamp blow them.

"OPEN GATE OF THE ARCHER: SAGITTARIUS!" shouted Lucy as she swiped a golden key through the air.

A man in a horse costume appeared and without a second of hesitation he let loose his arrows down on the area underneath them. He only did this to figure out where his real targets were, which worked as the spirit planned and he then proceeded to take out five mages that revealed their locations because of his earlier volley. The remarkable part about all of this was that the archer was able to do all of this in the time before he would have hit the ground, which didn't happen due to his gate being closed right before he possibly could have hurt himself with his landing.

"OPEN GATE OF THE LION: LEO!" she shouted as Happy gently dropped her in the area that Sagittarius had just cleared for them.

"OPEN GATE OF THE BULL: TAURUS!" she continued as the two spirits appeared to the sides of her. The one on her right being a large half man and bull with a large axe in hand and the remaining one on her left was a handsome orange haired man with glasses and in a nice suit.

"You're looking quite beautiful today Lucy." said Taurus as he leered at his celestial mage.

"Taurus we can bask in our Princess's radiant glow once no one is trying to hurt her." said Loke now a few yards ahead of them and hitting two different dark mages before they could even register what was happening.

"Moo! Nobody will get to harm my beautiful Lucy while I'm here!" bellowed Taurus with an enraged expression as he charged an unfortunate dark mage that thought this might be a good opportunity to reveal their location. It definitely wasn't since the next thing that they knew they were slammed through a few trees with an enraged spirit still coming after them.

"I'm not either of yours!" shouted Lucy as she pulled out her whip and chased after her two spirits with a snickering Happy flying over her shoulder. Knowing that Natsu expected him to keep an eye out for her and make sure nothing bad happens while the dragon slayer wasn't there to protect her.

With Natsu right after throwing Lucy and Happy into the air:

The next thing that he knew it just felt as if he was hit by a train in the chest as he was launched back and tumbled through the air and hitting a few trees in the process. But just as he was about to hit another one he corrected his course and instead used it as a springboard to jump towards a different one. And just like that he was jumping from tree to tree making his way back towards his sudden assailant, but said assailant wasn't just standing around for the dragon slayer.

Far from it, because the next thing Natsu realized was that there was a large concentration of water barreling towards him as he just landed on a new tree. So the next few moments consisted of him jumping from tree to tree, only for the tree to be smashed to bits milliseconds after he jumped off of it.

"Screw this, FIRE DRAGON'S BRILLIANT FLAME!" shouted Natsu as he brought both of his flaming hands together. Resulting in a large explosion of fire that wiped out most of the swamp in a large area underneath him as he gracefully fell into it. As it cleared he was pleased to hear a few pain filled moans coming from a few directions around him, so with a grin he took off to make sure that they would all be knocked out for good.

"FIRE DRAGON'S IRON FIST!" could just barely be heard before smaller explosion would go off. The process happened a good ten more times, now leaving a fairly smug dragon slayer dusting off his hands as he scanned the area for his two partners.

"Quite impressive Salamander." said a blue haired man as he rose out of the swamp with a smug smirk spread across his lips. Just from his appearance alone Natsu could tell that he was a member of the dark guild and shouldn't be taken lightly if he expected to make it out of this alive. The man actually didn't have much clothing to speak of, which reminded the dragon slayer of someone that had a weird stripping habit. He wore dark gray pants that were tucked into his black boots, with the only other clothing being his fingerless gloves that went halfway down his forearm.

"I should be the one saying that since my last move seemed to have no effect on you." said Natsu as he inspected the man before him that emerged from the swampy waters just seconds ago.

"Why thanks, it just goes to show you that you have no chance against me." he replied only to twist out of the way of a fire ball sent at his head.

"This is going to be more entertaining than I originally thought." he said now dodging and countering the savage attacks being thrown at him by Natsu.

"I was going to say the same thing." said the dragon slayer once again sporting that grin he got when fighting an opponent for the first time. He knew that even if he was way stronger than his enemy, all it took was one stupid move and they could easily turn the tables on him.

This caused the blue haired mage's expression to become one of someone who was really amused as he stopped dodging. But rather than Natsu's fist connecting with something solid like the dragon slayer expected he swung clean through the man causing a little bit of steam to shoot out. Before he could get his head wrapped around what just happened he was slugged in the back of the head and sent flying into a nearby tree.

"See what I was talking about Salamander, you don't have a chance when I can turn my body into water. Now all of your attacks are completely useless, while mine on the other hand still can lay you out." taunted the dark mage as he then broke into laughter. That was then cut short by a barrage of fiery attacks forcing him to start dodging again or going into his water form.

"I'll be the judge of that." shouted Natsu as he continued his assault on the water mage that easily rivaled Juvia in skill. He was planning to never let the water mage go on the offense, while he tried to come up with a way to turn this around, but that was definitely going to be easier said than done.

Two hours later:

"Are you even human?" asked the blue haired water mage, now panting and leaning up against a tree. Across from him was a slightly out of breath Natsu, who also looked like he was on the receiving end of an extreme beating since his outfit was pretty torn up.

"Not completely, but that's thanks to the magic I use." he replied with a smirk. While inwardly having a panic attack since he hasn't heard or seen either of his partners since he threw them into the air at the beginning of all of this. Now usually this wouldn't have concerned him since he knew that they could take care of themselves. But after having to deal with the occasional appearance of another dark mage ever now and then it started to worry him.

"Well I guess that means it's a draw Salamander." stated the dark mage as he got off of the tree. While he on the other hand was now wondering where the hell was the rest of his guild, since two hours should have been more than enough to deal with those other two weaklings as he handled Salamander with the occasional assistance from a random member.

"I wouldn't say that, I think I've finally figured out how to deal with that water form of yours." stated Natsu as he was now completely covered in flames. But rather than being directed into an attack like he would normal do, he had them form a large pillar around him that was evaporating the surrounding water at a startling rate.

"Do you really think that's actually going to work?" he asked with a confident smirk, hoping that it would be enough to fool the dragon slayer before him. But the growing smirk on his opponent's face quickly dashed that hope to a million little pieces as he started to freak out.

"That I do, and judging by the scent of fear now in the air I think you do too." said Natsu still completely coated in fire as he slowly walked towards the now terrified dark mage in front of him.

"But I do have a quick question before we test this theory of mine out. What happens if I evaporate all the water that used to make up your arm for example, can you replace it with different water? Or will you become a one armed mage? Actually after what I have planned for you it would be a lot better than a no-armed man." he finished with a deadly smirk, something that the other mage took notice of and didn't like one bit at all and didn't plan to find out if Natsu was serious about that threat.

"Hold on a moment Salamander, I don't really know since no one has ever tried it. But I'd like to point out that if it does work like that, then you could accidentally kill me if you aren't careful." he answered, hoping that this would stop him from even attempting it. Since he, along with the rest of the wizarding world, knew that Fairy Tail mages didn't kill under any circumstances.

"I thought of that, but then I realized it doesn't really matter since I would just evaporate the rest of you if you let me get a critical hit on you." answered Natsu as he continued to get closer.

"You're just bluffing!" he shouted back, now freaking out since the dragon slayer didn't really look like he was joking in the slightest.

"Does it look like I am?" Natsu asked back, now only a few feet away.

"What would the rest of your guild think about you killing someone?" he asked, thinking that this might cause the man staring him down right now to have second thoughts.

"The same as they always have since it would just be our little secret, and I have a feeling that you won't be telling them anything." replied Natsu as a look of horror came over the water mage's face. "FIRE DRAGON'S IRON FIST!" he shouted as he concentrated all of his flames into a punch directed at the man's head. But unlike all of the other times he attacked like this, this time his fist made contact with the man's head which resulted with him instantly being knocked out and sent soaring through the sky.

"Had a feeling that you'd be too scared to find out." he said with a little chuckle.

"Oh crap, I need to find Lucy and Happy!" he shouted out to no one in particular as he took off in the direction that their scent was coming from.

With Lucy and Happy:

"HAPPY!" screamed out Lucy as the little Exceed was blasted into a wall and fell to the floor knocked out.

"Finally got rid of that annoying pest." said a woman in a black miniskirt and tube top that had a crazed glint in her eyes. If Lucy had to make a comparison of her to someone in Fairy Tail it would have to be Mira, but not the current one that everyone has come to see as a motherly figure. No the girl in front of her right now was what apparently Mirajane used to be like when she got the title of The Demon of Fairy Tail. The girl even had white hair like Mira, but that and her current outfit is where the similarities stopped for the two.

"Lucy, I don't know how much longer I can remain here with you." stated Capricorn with a frown, since he was already using most of his own energy to stay there. Just like most of the spirits before him did while fighting with Lucy, all of them realizing right away that this was definitely going to be one of their hardest battles yet.

This comment of Capricorn snapped Lucy out of her shock and made her come to the realization that she still had a fight to win. It also let her realize that Happy was lucky to not be hit by one of the woman's blades that she could control from great distances as if she was still holding them.

"How much longer do you think we have?" she asked as she looked at the battered form of her spirit. She was surprised that he was actually still able to remain here with her after sustaining so much damage over the last few minutes fighting along with her.

"Probably five more minutes if I don't take any more hits." he replied while narrowly dodging two daggers that flew past him. Only for them to turn back and keep coming at him, each time getting closer and closer to landing a devastating hit on him.

"Did you really think I would just sit back and let the two of you chat like that?" asked the white haired woman with an amused smirk as she twirled a fancy dagger in one of her hands.

"You don't need to answer that since I don't want to wear you out any more than I already have. Right now if I had to guess it would be that you barely have any magic left in you blondie." she continued as a look of panic flashed over Lucy.

"I have more than enough to deal with someone like you!" shouted Lucy as she lashed her whip at her opponent. Who spun out of the way while letting out a little amused giggle, which she kept doing as she continued to dodge all of Lucy's attacks. She was even able to dodge the rare attack thrown at her from Capricorn, who was having a lot of trouble dealing with her other two daggers.

This game of cat and mouse continued on for a few more minutes, until Capricorn finally dissolved back into the spirit realm after taking a dagger to the back. But before he completely dissolved, the spirit was able to whisper a sorry to his Master and a goodbye along with a sad sorry.

"Are you sure about being able to handle me little girl?" she asked while looking at the now panting Lucy who was clearly too drained to summon another spirit.

"I'm probably older than you!" screamed out Lucy with a disgruntled look.

"Does it really matter who's older between the two of us since I'm soon going to be killing you?" she asked still twirling that weird dagger of hers, now also having her other two spinning above each of her shoulders.

"Yes it does, because I'm not going to die here today! And I'm sick and tired of everyone thinking I'm some young and stupid blonde that can't take care of herself!" declared Lucy before once again attacking with her whip. But to her shock rather than dodging like her opponent did every time before, this time she just held up her arm and let it wrap around it as she smiled back at the celestial mage.

The next thing Lucy knew she was tossed across the already completely destroyed room and slammed into one of the few remaining pillars. But as she let out a pain filled scream she realized that this was only the start, because she was now being sent across the room and into a stone wall. Where she finally let go of her whip and fell to the floor, now in some of the worst pain she had ever been in so far.

"Oh we're not done yet little Missy." laughed the dark mage as Lucy's eyes widened in surprise at all of the random junk now floating around the woman. But before she could even ask or come up with an explanation said objects came hurtling at her and pushing the poor blonde up against the wall. Where she remained as she was continued to be assaulted until she was barely able to remain conscious.

"Is that all you have, from what I heard you were supposed to be one of the last Celestial mages out there? Not only that but you are also supposed to be the strongest, who can do things that shouldn't be possible." she asked with an amused smile as she looked down at the beaten girl in front of her. Not taking notice of the explosions that have progressively gotten closer with every passing second, something that Lucy surprisingly did which brought a small smile to her face.

So with a pain filled smile Lucy got back into a sitting position and looked directly into the other woman's eyes. "You're forgetting about my other partner, so if you hope to make it out of here in one piece I suggest running while you still have the chance." said Lucy still smiling up at her enemy.

"Oh I haven't forgotten about Salamander at all, which is why we sent our strongest water mage to deal with him." she replied with a confident smile, but was confused when Lucy actually started to laugh at hearing that.

"Do you honestly think that a normal water mage can deal with a fire dragon slayer? If you do then you really don't know who you're messing with." responded Lucy before screaming out in pain as two knives sliced her and remained floating right in front of her.

"I'm done listening to a spoiled brat who doesn't even realize how hard it is out here on your own. And even if Salamander does win against our man he'll be dealt with before he even makes it half way here. Now let's see if I can get you to do something extraordinary?" she asked before starting to slowly cut the blonde again, but this time taking notice of an ungodly roar and the large explosions that followed it.

"You really should have listened to me when you had the chance." stated Lucy with a defiant smirk as the other woman started to back away from her as another round of explosions could be heard from not that far away.

"If you run right now I won't tell him that you actually started to torture me." she finished still smirking back at the clearly terrified woman.

But the next second the white haired lady's expression turned to one of someone who was ready to do something unthinkable. "I wonder how he'll react if he finds both of his partners dead? I bet he's the kind of man to breakdown and start crying his eyes out like a little baby, which will give me the perfect opportunity to end him as well." said the dark mage now with a crazed glint in her eyes as another explosion went off closer than the last ones.

"If you do that then there is no chance of you making it out of here alive." replied Lucy, now realizing that this could truly be the end for her. And all that did was make her think about was how lucky she was to become a member of Fairy Tail and become a member of their odd family.

"Well I'm willing to take that chance." she stated as her two daggers stopped spinning and were now pointing directly at Lucy.

"I'm sorry Natsu and everyone else, I really wanted to still go on more adventures with all of you." said Lucy as she closed her eyes with a few tears escaping. She expected to feel some sort of intense pain before it all came to an end, but instead of that happening she heard a shocked gasp and a distinct voice.

"I'm sorry." apologized Aries as she now stood in front of Lucy with a giant wool wall blocking them from their opponent.

"Aries, you just saved my life." replied Lucy before finally passing out due to all her injuries.

"So it's true, her spirits will actually come here on their own free will to protect her if they can." said the woman responsible for most of Lucy's wounds.

"Yes, but that's because she's the best master any of us could ever hope for." stated Aries in a shy tone as she remained in front of Lucy.

"Well it's a shame that you're going to have to get used to someone else after I sell all of you off." she stated with a little chuckle. "WOOL SHOT!" shouted out Aries in what must have been her angry voice, which would have been everyone else's normal yelling voice.

"I won't allow that!" declared Aries as she actually glared at the woman now slightly covered in her pink wool.

"That's what I was hoping you'd say." she replied as her one unique dagger was then sent flying straight at the two. "WOOL WALL!" shouted out the spirit, confident that it was a little overkill for just a single dagger but she wasn't going to take any chances when Lucy was completely knocked out.

So when she all of a sudden felt an immense pain shoot out from her stomach she was completely caught off guard. But what even shocked her more, was that once the dagger slowly came out of her it was accompanied with her own blood. This was something that shouldn't even be possible for a celestial spirit to experience while not in the Spirit Realm.

"You're confused aren't you?" asked the white haired dark mage, who was no longer covered in pink wool and was only a few steps away from Aries.

"Well I'm more than glad to help clear a few things up for you. You're probably wondering why you haven't been sent back to your realm after receiving such a serious injury." she continued with a wicked grin while starting to twirl the knife that was covered in the spirit's blood.

"This shouldn't be possible." stated Aries as she fell to her knees clutching her gut as more of her blood continued to slowly leak out of her.

"Well it is, but it's only happening because of you also doing something that was supposed to be impossible." she replied now slowly cleaning the blade.

"This blade is rumored to be capable of killing a spirit, but every time someone tried it on one of your kind. They would just go back to your spirit realm and heal, so it was then theorized that it could only kill a spirit if they remained here in our world. But that was even a harder thing to accomplish than killing one of you." she explained with joy, once again zoning out the explosions and sounds of fighting that were drawing nearer.

"But I should still be able to go back." replied Aries only to then let out another scream of pain after being cut again by the woman.

"You would be able to if your master over there was still awake. But now that she's out you're stuck here thanks to the blade also having a sealing spell on it designed to prevent a spirit from closing their gate by themselves. Something that I initially thought was stupid when I first heard it, but after I learned about your Master and her spirits actually coming here on their own I realized how important it was." she stated while making her way around the injured spirit, but was shocked when a hand reached out and grabbed her ankle.

"You stay away from her." grunted out Aries, slightly struggling with each word.

"Well aren't you the devoted spirit, which I shouldn't be too surprised about since you wouldn't be here if you weren't. I guess I'll just have to finish you off first." she said as she slowly slid the weird blade into the side of the spirit. But rather than her grip loosening like she expected, the spirit's hold on her ankle only increased and actually started to hurt the woman.

"Why you little bitch." she hissed out as she pulled the dagger out and was ready to plunge it back into the spirit. That is until she felt a magical presence on the other side of the wall, that shocked her at how angry it was and knowing that it was all directed at her. Before she could even think of what to do the wall exploded and standing in its place was a dark figure completely covered in orange flames glaring back at her with red eyes.

"Stand back or I'll kill her!" she shouted out, now finding it really hard to breathe.

"No you're going to drop that dagger this instant, otherwise you're never going to be able to use that hand of yours again." growled out Natsu as he slowly started to walk towards her.

"I wasn't joking Salamander!" she shouted out, knowing that it had to be him since it was the only possible explanation for what she was seeing right now. Honestly she didn't really believe someone like this could be a member of a light guild, because right now she was completely terrified at what he might was capable of doing to her.

"Neither was I." he hissed in her ear, now right behind her and holding her wrist. The next thing Aries knew the woman was screaming out in pain as the weird dagger fell to the floor, as Natsu was crushing her hand while also still having his own hand on fire.

"And now that I can see what you did to my friends and planned to do to them if I hadn't shown up I think it's only right for me to take your other hand as well." he growled out while doing the same thing to the woman's other hand, only causing her to scream out in more pain as she fell to her back. She clearly didn't know what to even do with her completely broken and burnt to a crisp hands, but Natsu didn't even give her the chance to try as he delivered a swift kick to her head that stopped her screaming thanks to her being rendered unconscious.

Aries was a little scared of the Natsu that was currently standing before her right now, but the very next second she was shocked to see all the fire disappear. And along with the fire so did his overall angry aura, which was replaced with his warm and welcoming one that most of his guild members have gotten used to feeling.

"Aries are you okay? And why are you bleeding, I thought that you usually just go back to the spirit realm when you're hurt?" he asked with a very concerned look on his face as he inspected her.

"I'm fine Natsu, please make sure Lucy is okay." said Aries in a weak yet also very concerned tone.

"She's fine for now, her wounds aren't nearly as bad as yours." he replied with a slightly grim look coming over his face as he looked at her injuries now that he was right in front of her.

"That's good to hear, can you please tell her I'm sorry and I was happy to have her as a master." she said with a sad smile while just barely being able to keep her eyes open. Something that Natsu instantly took notice of, which he knew was definitely not something good after all of the times that his friends made sure he didn't go to sleep after being severely injured in a fight.

"You can tell her yourself after you go back and get healed up." he stated with his usual grin, even though he really didn't like where this conversation was heading.

"Natsu can you please do something for me?" she asked while managing to look at him with both of her eyes wide open.

"Sure, but let me start patching you up since you aren't going back to the spirit realm for some reason." he replied as he ripped off what remained of his vest and tried to make a bandage out of it. But he soon realized that it wasn't going to wrap around her chest like he needed it to, which caused him to start frantically looking around for something that would.

"Will you look after Lucy and make sure to protect her better than I did." she asked with tears starting to form in her eyes. Knowing that she didn't even need to ask the dragon slayer this since she like every other spirit saw what he would do in order to protect Lucy. So the next words out of his mouth shocked her to her very core.

"No!" he practically shouted at her as he glared back at her, which he soon realized might have been a little too much. So he switched it to a determined look as he let out a long sigh and got ready to explain himself to the spirit.

"I won't promise you that because I'm going to make sure that you can keep doing that yourself Aries. And from what I can tell it's thanks to you that Lucy is even still alive right now, meaning that you've done a better job than me." he explained with a defeated look that was quickly hidden when his head dropped down so his bangs covered most of his view.

"Natsu I.." she started to say only to be cut off by him.

"Enough, you need to save your energy." he said in soft tone as he took off his scarf and started to use it to cover her wounds. As he did this he didn't notice her eyes slowly closing until they were completely shut, possibly to never open again.

"So Aries, would you care to tell me why you aren't fading away like you usually do?" asked Natsu with a small grin, that soon became a very concerned look after getting no response from her. "Aries?" he asked while gently moving her in hopes that she would wake back up again, but he got nothing back. So he then used his enhanced senses to make sure that she was still alive, which unfortunately told him that she wasn't going to remain that way for long.

"Why in the world are you not going back?" he shouted out in rage. As he looked back down he noticed the bloody dagger that was used on her, making him believe that it had something to do with it. So he quickly picked it up in both hands and summoned the hottest flames he could, resulting in the dagger melting into a small puddle on the floor.

But as he looked back at the spirit he came to the quick conclusion that doing that was not going to be enough on its own. But something from the back of his memories came rushing back to him right then, and it was from his time with Igneel and pertained to a subject that he never really cared about for most of his life.

Flashback:

"Natsu could you come here for a moment?" asked Igneel as he sat out in front of the cave that they called their home for the past few months.

"What is it Igneel, are you going to start teaching me some sort of super strong move?" asked a young Natsu as he started to bounce around in joy as he continued to ask questions before the dragon could even respond. Igneel could already tell that this was probably going to be pointless conversation for Natsu, but it was one that he needed to have with him.

"Quiet!" he shouted while smacking Natsu into the ground with his tail and keeping him pinned with it.

"Let me go you overgrown Lizard!" hollered Natsu as he struggled in vain to get out.

"No I won't be doing that my boy, because we need to talk about the mating rituals of Dragons." he stated and was slightly surprised that his pink haired son stopped struggling and looked slightly interested.

"But I'm not a dragon so why should I care if it doesn't involve fighting?" asked Natsu with a confused expression. That unfortunately Igneel was quite accustomed to seeing from him whenever he tried to teach the boy about something other than fighting or getting stronger.

"You aren't, which I know you are upset about." replied Ingeel with a smirk.

"Not yet anyways, but I'll figure out how to become one someday so I can be just like you." declared the little boy from underneath him, which caused the dragon to start chuckling at him.

"We'll see if you feel that way in a few years my boy, but back to dragon mating rituals and why you need to learn about them. Since you're a dragon slayer you also take on some of the other traits that we dragons have, and one of those is how we mate." he said as he looked at Natsu who was looking right back at him.

"Now the biggest thing that sets us apart from other species is that we mate for life, which can be a blessing or a curse depending on who turns out to be your mate. Now it could be a good thing since if your mate loves you back it will only become stronger as time passes. But if your mate doesn't share that love then there is unfortunately nothing for you to do but hope that someday they will share the same feelings for you." explained Igneel, a little proud that Natsu was actually listening to him.

"So how do I get a mate?" asked Natsu as he got into a sitting position since Igneel removed his tail from on top of him.

"There's two different ways Natsu, the first and most common way is for your inner dragon to pick one for you which usually ends up with the mate having the same feelings. The other way is less common since it's less likely to have the chosen mate returning those feelings back to you." he said now wondering if he should even be telling the boy about this. But after thinking about who he was talking to he realized that the boy was definitely too kind to most likely ever even considering doing the second way.

"Both of these ways require you to bite your mate somewhere on their body and releasing your magic into them, which will give them some of your magic and make them stronger." he finished with a long sigh.

"You just said that both ways I just have to bite them." stated Natsu with an extremely confused expression on his face, once again causing the dragon to start chuckling at him.

"That I did, the difference in the two ways is that the second one you are forcibly choosing who your mate is. While the first way pretty much tells you that there is definitely a chance for the two of you becoming strong mates, were the second option is completely in the air." he explained with a grin.

"Okay, I think I get it." shouted out Natsu as he threw a fist into the air.

"Well that'll be a first." remarked Igneel in an amused tone, which Natsu completely ignored or didn't even hear.

"I've just got one more question Igneel." he stated now looking up at the dragon with a huge grin.

"And what is that Natsu?" asked Igneel with a large grin of his own.

"What's a mate?" he asked while rubbing the back of his head with his grin turning into a sheepish one. The next second he was sent flying into the forest thanks to his slightly angry father.

"You didn't understand anything." grumbled the large red dragon as he went into the cave while continuing to complain about his idiotic son.

Back to the present:

"Shit, would it even help in a situation like this?" he asked himself as he looked down at the motionless figure of Aries who looked worse with each passing second. But he then remembered all of the times that he was hurt similarly and only really needed some sleep before he was completely fine. All thanks to his enhanced healing that most people probably didn't even realize came with being a dragon slayer, something that he knew he would have died countless number of times before without it.

"Well I guess it doesn't hurt to at least give it a try." he said as he knelt down next to her, while telling the little voice in the back of his head that he would fine with not having a mate that loved him back. So long as it meant that Aries survived he would be able to deal with it, and if she didn't make it then at least he knew he tried absolutely everything he could to fix her.

"Here I go." he stated while gently lifting her up so he could bite down on her lower neck. Something that he knew would have definitely caused the spirit a lot of pain if she was awake right now as he slowly gave her some of his magic. Only to be slightly stunned when said woman let out a little moan as he finished up, he quickly pulled away to get a better look at her.

And what he saw caused a wave of relief to wash over him, because she no longer looked as if she was on death's doorstep anymore. Granted she still didn't look too good, but it was a huge improvement when compared to just a few seconds ago. So after he saw that claiming her as his mate was at least helping her some, Natsu quickly went to go and attend to his two teammates that were definitely not in the best condition either.

It took him a few minutes to get them all patched up and ready to be carried out of there, during which his most recent decision finally started to sink in on him. And how it truly could change his life in ways that he never even considered when he looked at Aries slowly dying before him. So with a small sigh Natsu started to carry all three of them out of the completely destroyed guild hall, left alone with his thoughts about how all of this could turn out for him in the future.

End of Chapter

Author's Notes:

There you go and I really hope you all enjoyed reading it. So first off this was a story that a reader of mine requested for their birthday, which I'm fairly confident that I missed by a few weeks, but better late than never I guess. Anyways I am planning on this being a mini story that only has a few chapters to it, that is unless I get a lot of feedback saying you want more. Well I guess that's it for this note so as always feel free to drop me a review or pm and I'll get reply back as soon as I can.

Oh and if you would like me to update faster or possibly start a new story I have information about my page that I set up on my profile page.

Until the next Chapter

Digem Out!