Natsu succeeded in saving Lucy and a bunch of innocent children from Scarlet Despair and Deliora, but it might be too late to save himself. Deliora carried him off and bashed him against buildings until they came across a warehouse. Deliora dove through the roof and slammed Natsu against the floor.

"Aw!" Natsu screamed. Deliora lifted him up and slammed his claw against Natsu and he hit the ground hard. Natsu tried to get back up and fight, but he exerted a lot of his strength trying to save Lucy and those kids and he fought Reaper earlier. Scarlet Despair flew in through the opening and had a crazy satisfied grin.

"Break him." Scarlet Despair said. Natsu tried to hit Delior, but Deliora grabbed his arm and slammed Natsu against a crater. He tossed Natsu over and Natsu hit a metal support beam. Natsu used the beam to climb back on his feet, but Deliora smacked him across the face with his arm and knocked him back to the ground. Deliora lifted Natsu over him and slammed him against his knee. Natsu seemed like he had nothing left to fight with. Deliora slammed Natsu against the ground and he could barely move. Scarlet Despair jumped off her ride and walked over to him. Natsu tried to bring out whatever little strength he had so he could get back on his feet and keep fighting."Pathetic." She stomped down her foot on him and the heel made it hurt even worse as he was pinned down. "I offered you to be my friend and you swat my hand away."

"You're a monster." Natsu said as he tried to take her foot off.

"No. He's the one that looks like a monster." Irene laughed as she referred to Deliora. While they were talking, one of the windows slid open and END jumped inside. He followed the three of them here and thought this would be the best chance to kill two birds with one stone. "You fought a good fight, Salamander, but it's all over."

"I won't give up. Why are you even doing all this?" Natsu said.

"I don't see why I should explain myself to you." Scarlet Despair said. "I have my reasons and I won't allow anyone to interfere. I don't know who you are, but I intend to make sure you suffer for your constant meddling. I have my suspicions of who you are, but that doesn't matter at this point. I don't know why that girl you saved seems so important to you, but she'll be the first. Then, after your dead and I take off your mask, I'll go for the people you love and you'll never rest in peace." She taunted as she wanted Salamander to suffer both in life and in the afterlife. Natsu wasn't going to let her or anyone hurt the people he cared about. All her taunting was just fueling his fire or rage.

"That's it. Just keep talking." END said as he slid some throwing knives into his hands.

"Whoever your friends are, I'll give them the best last moments they have." Scarlet Despair said.

"No….you….won't!" Natsu shouted as he had found the strength he needed to shove her off and got back on his feet and her off of his. Deliora tried to hit him, but Natsu ducked down and landed a clear blow in his stomach and across the face.

"Why you!" Scarlet Despair fired electric shots from her fingers, but Natsu jumped and avoided her attacks and was able to kick her across the head. Natsu grabbed her by the shoulder and kneed her in the gut. Natsu used all his strength and tossed Scarlet Desapir over and she smashed through a crate.

"You next?" Natsu said as he turned to Deliora. Deliora was going to attack him, but something stopped him. He felt pain and he was growing weak. Natsu saw this happen the last time he fought Deliora.

"What's this?" END said as he was curious. Deliora's body was changing and Natsu stared carefully into what he was changing into. He saw he was transforming into a human.

"Sala….Salamander….help me!" Natsu was really confused as to why a villain is asking for help until he saw who Deliora transformed into.

"Mr. Fullbuster!" Natsu said as he couldn't believe it was him the entire time. He tried to keep his eyes from looking down. "What happened to you? Why did you do all this?"

"It wasn't me. It was her." Silver said. "She forced me to do it. She threatened to do this to my family if I didn't do what she said. I had no choice."

"She did?" Natsu said as he looked over to Scarlet Despair who was still withering in pain from his attack. "How could she? You're a kind hearted man who wouldn't want to hurt anyone."

"You've got to help me." Silver said as he raced over and grabbed Natsu by his shoulders as he was begging for his help. "She's insane. There's no telling what she'll do. You've got to help me."

"It's okay." Natsu said as he tried to keep him calm. "We'll figure this out. I'll make sure she won't hurt you or anyone." As those two were talking, END decided to go for the final blow as he was about to throw his knives. Silver spotted him behind Natsu at the last moment.

"Look out!" Silver said as he pushed Salamander out of the way as END tossed the knives. Natsu didn't get hit, but all of the knives hit the mark on Silver.

"No!" Natsu shouted.

"Darn it." END said and Natsu finally noticed him. Natsu ran over to Silver to try and help. He lifted him in his arms, but the injuries were very bad and there wasn't anything he could do.

"Protect….my wife…..and son." Silver said with the last of his breath and left in Natsu's arms.

"END!" Natsu screamed, but he saw END was already gone. He jumped to the open window that END came from, but he saw no sign of him anywhere. "END! You won't get away with this!" He turned to Scarlet Despair to deal with her, but she left the area too. It was just him and the body of Silver Fullbuster.

…..

Silver's House

With both of his worst enemies gone, Natsu had to bring Silver's body back to his house. A man like Silver Fullbuster didn't deserve to have his dead body left in some warehouse. Natsu placed the body in his bed and covered him up.

"Dad?!" Natsu was surprised as he didn't think anyone would be home. He looked to the door and saw a horrified Gray standing there. "What have you done? What have you done?!" Salamander didn't stick around as he went out the window. Gray followed him to the window and saw him leaving. That was all the proof Gray needed about Salamander.

…

A Week Later

Ever since his father's funeral, Gray's been distant from everyone. At the moment, he's just sitting in his room and the pain never goes away.

"Gray, Natsu is here to see you." Mika said as she let Natsu in his room.

"Hey, man." Natsu said. "Thought I stop by to check on you. I'm really sorry to hear what happened to your Dad. He was a great man."

"You have nothing to be sorry for." Gray said as he got up from his bed. "It's not your fault. It's Salamander's."

"It….It couldn't have been. He would never do something like that." Natsu said.

"I saw him standing near my Dad's body." Gray said as he stared out his window with vengeance and thinking what he'll do to Salamander. "He also ran off instead of telling me what happened. That newspaper man was right. Salamander's no hero. He's worse than a menace." Natsu really wanted to say something, but he wasn't sure what he could say. "I swear on my father's grave that Salamander will pay." He made that vow and wasn't aware the person he was after was right next to him the whole time. "Look, I'm sorry, Natsu. I don't mean to put all of that on you." He said when he realized he could be freaking Natsu out. "At least I still got good friends like you looking out for me."

"Of course. That's what friends are for." Natsu said.

"I know. I just wish this whole thing didn't happen." Gray said as he was going back to his despressed-like state.

"I think I'll leave you alone. You sound like you need it." Natsu said and was leaving. "Be careful, Gray. You never realize revenge is never worth it until it's too late."

…..

Natsu

Natsu wanted to tell the Gray the truth, but to do that would be placing him in danger. Lucy was already in danger from a suspicion and worried what could happen if he actually revealed his identity. He was also upset about what went on with Scarlet Despair and END. One of his biggest fights and all he had to show for it was a person losing their life.

"Natsu!" Natsu was on his way back home as he walked through his neighborhood. He looked ahead and saw Lucy heading his way.

"Hey, Lucy." Natsu said.

"I heard you paid Gray a visit. How's he doing?" Lucy asked.

"Still moping." Natsu said. "It's understandable. He and his dad were really close. He still believes it was Salamander that killed him."

"But you don't think he did, do you?" Lucy questioned.

"I know Salamander enough to know he wouldn't. There could have been something else entirely different than what he thinks. It's not really clear what could have happened to Mr. Fullbuster." Natsu said. "Gray can't see that. He's going with what he saw and he won't listen to anyone. He's dead set on getting revenge on Salamander even if Salamander is not the one responsible. What about you by the way?"

"Me?" Lucy questioned.

"You went through something big from what I heard." Natsu said.

"Yeah. I was thousands of feet off the ground." Lucy said. "This crazy lady and her monster were all set to drop me and a whole bunch of innocent kids. That was when he showed up."

"Salamander?" Natsu said.

"Yeah." Lucy said. "He saved my life. He saved the life of all those children. He fought off that monster while holding that bus and me on the wall. There were so many people that stood up for him when that lady was all set to finish him off. I agree with you, Natsu. I don't believe anyone who could do all that would do something so horrible. I just wish I knew who he was so I could thank him properly."

"Yeah." Natsu whispered. He was tempted to tell Lucy right there how he really felt about her, but he remembered why Scarlet Despair came after her in the first place. Scarlet Despair thought there was a thing between Salamander and Lucy. If she knew the truth, if his enemies really did know she was connected to him, it would just be a repeat of what happened a week ago.

"Natsu, your brother also mentioned there's something you might want to tell me." Lucy said. Natsu knew that Zeref was just trying to set them up still, but Natsu can't do it.

"Sorry, Lucy. I don't know what he's talking about." Natsu said as he started to walk away. Natsu headed straight home and when he got there, his brother was waiting for him.

"Hey, bro. How's Gray doing?" Zeref asked.

"Doesn't look like much has changed for him yet." Natsu said.

"I also saw you were talking to Lucy. Did you tell her how you feel yet?" Zeref asked.

"No. Not yet." Natsu said. As a hero, he needs to make sacrifices and they always say good things come to those who wait. 'I really do want to be with her, but I can't. At least not for now.' He thought.

…

Magnolia

Natsu changed into Salamander and continued his patrol through the city as he moved from one building to another. As the protector of this city, he needs to do what he can to make sure it's safe and no one is lost like Silver.

'I am needed to protect Magnolia.' Natsu narrated. 'Scarlet Despair and END are still out there. So far, they're the greatest threat to the entire city. Not to mention all those other bad guys that are out there and want my head. It's my job, my responsibility, to keep this city safe.' He climbed up one of the tallest buildings in the city. When he made it to the top, he had the entire city just below his feet and watched over it like the hero he is. 'I'm Salamander and I will fight to protect Magnolia.'

The End….

Next Time: Salamander II: Hades