Speech "This is an example"
Thoughts "This is an example"
Word Emphasis "The word in italics has emphasis"
Sounds *Sound*
Draconic Voice "This is an example"
Spells "This is an example"

A faint wind wound through the forest behind Natsu's shack that he'd moved into a few months ago, carrying the many scents and fragrances of the woodland. Natsu loved that he managed to find this run-down building outside the town, it meant he got away from the course smell of the city and made it much easier to relax.

His time at Fairy Tail, although short, has been fantastic, and he had been loving the new family he found and was excited for the new day ahead. He picked his small frame off the bed and began getting dressed, being sure to have a quick sniff test of his body odour to make sure it wasn't bad enough to warrant a lecture from Erza

"Meh, good enough I guess. She's not a dragon slayer but her nose is scary good." Natsu said to himself as he resumed his morning routine.

Stepping out into the bright sun he smiled. "Today's gonna be great again!"

So spoiler alert folks, today was not going to be great.

Natsu got lost… again. He hadn't quite mastered the route to the guild and he had followed the wrong path heading further from Magnolia. He was on the verge of turning back when he spotted 3 people in white cloaks heading his way. The people also spotted Natsu and didn't show any immediate reaction.

When the groups were closer to each other Natsu stopped and looked up to them "Hey I'm a bit lost, don't suppose you guys know the way to Magnolia?" He asked with such an innocent voice.

"I'm sorry young man, we are on important business from the council and must keep moving, however if you turn ba-" A man began explaining before one of the others cut him off.

Natsu's keen ears head their feint whispering as she reminded him they were already running late "Sorry if I was holding you guys up, I'll just keep looking around for the main road." He began to set off before one of the people put a hand on his shoulder.

"That's some excellent hearing you've got kid. Tell you what, we're heading to Magnolia but like you heard we're in a rush so if you can keep up with us then just follow suit." A woman instructed, her somewhat stoic voice didn't have much of an impact on Natsu but the challenge of keeping up certainly did.

"Haha I can keep up! I'm the strongest Dragon Slayer in Fairy Tail, I can keep up with anyone!" He boasted proudly as he puffed out his chest and let a small burst of fire flare from his nose.

Now this got the attention of all three of them. "A Dragon Slayer you say?!" This is where the tone of all three began to change. They wanted to turn and discuss their plans in secret again but the keen senses of the boy would pick up on it and they would surely be done for, so the stoic woman took the initiative, "The strongest you say? Well young man I've never see the strongest mages get lost in the forest before. And from what I hear of Fairy Tail they have several talented youngsters."

"That damn stripper isn't stronger than me, I'm telling you!" He burst back

This was her moment to strike "So, how would you like to become much stronger than that ice mage will ever be? If you come with us to the council we will boost your abilities beyond what normal mages can imagine at your age!" She rhymed off the benefits of the council department she worked for, but Natsu heard one part of that sentence and his mind was made up.

"If you really do work for the council then sure! I'll come train with you guys and then when I come back I'll pummel that frozen perv." He was already so excited for his new powers to manifest.

"Well then, don't worry about your guild, we will send work to Master Makarov that you are in our hands when we arrive at the Bureau of Magical Development." The woman said, holding out her hand, urging Natsu to take it and follow suit.

The long walk back the way they came was filled with fun conversation and details of Natsu's power, background, and abilities. Even going so far as to demonstrate some of them when they had quick breaks.

After arriving at the town 2 along from Magnolia, the council members moved to the local council building and requested to charge up their Lacrima which had transported them most of the way to Magnolia. Being high ranking members in the bureau gave them access to facilities across the Nation, and it meant they kept away from prying eyes on public transport.

After recharging the Lacrima, it was revealed to Natsu this would transport them to their base and importantly, without the use of trains. This was excellent news for the young Dragon Slayer.

Even still, travelling such a distance wasn't too easy on Natsu and he was sick just before the steps to the magic bureau, earning some sympathy from the council members.

After Natsu was done recovering and the door to the massive building opened, Natsu smelled something disturbing and it wasn't the sick at his feet. The smell gave him an uneasy feeling and instinctively he tried to channel magic to defend himself but stopped when the three members walked inside so casually. He had grown to trust them in such a short space of time, and that was his final mistake.

Mustering the courage to step inside he was met with a large reception, and then many sealed metal doors with various markings and letterings above them. He was told to wait on the seats next to reception while they spoke to the attendants at the desk, who seemed cross.

"Why are you back so soon, you only left yesterday. And where is the herb that Nel asked for, there was supposed to be a wagon of it." They asked sternly, flipping open the notebook to write down whatever response they came back with.

"Well, just outside of Magnolia we encountered a young man, just behind us there-" She pointed over her shoulder with her thumb "-who kindly told us all about his adventures in Fairy Tail."

The irritated receptionist who had been writing the conversation down stopped after writing "in Fai-" as she looked up. "Continue." They commanded. There was no intention of writing the conversation as she was far to engrossed to hear what came next.

"Well Natsu over there is a Fire Dragon Slayer, hosing a destructive ancient magic that is easily 4 tiers above what someone his age should be capable of. We have brought him back to participate in augmentation along with our other asset." The cloaked woman finished describing

The receptionist was on the verge of drooling from her mouth "Oh my, I believe this is a reasonable situation to abandon your assigned task. We will have him processed immediately." They began flicking through documents and folders pulling out enough paper to fill a library.

The receptionist looked through the gap in the trio of council members towards Natsu and asked, "Young man, can you read and write?"

Natsu had been receiving lessons from Erza but he wasn't great "Yeah, sorta. I'm not too good at punch-. Picktua-. Punctuation! That's it, yeah I don't know that stuff." But he knew enough to make these documents legal, which is good enough for the Bureau.

Natsu went over to the reception and scribbled his name down in umpteen boxes and lines agreeing to who knows what, he had no idea what was happening but he was still having a fair bit of fun. As the final signature was filled in he was escorted to his room, moving through one of the metal doors. As he stopped outside the living quarters he seen another young girl being escorted out of her room. She looked sore and was covered in bandages. As they passed by she whispered in the faintest of voices "run"

But it was too late, by the time Natsu had realised what was said he was tossed into a room that was far more resembling of a prison cell. Before the door closed a barrier of magic passed across the gap first "Welcome to the Bureau of Magical Development, Natsu. Here we will alter your body and experiment on your magic to make you into the most powerful mage you can become!" The woman pulled down her hood and the stoic face she had been wearing previously was now polluted with a hungered look, one that resembled a twisted form of lust "You'll be mine for the foreseeable future, Fire Dragon. I know we'll get along well."

Natsu felt a sinking fear in his stomach as he looked at her sadistic eyes just before the doors closed he rose to his feet and showed off a spell he hadn't shown her earlier "FIRE DRAGONS SWORD HORN" Natsu barrelled head first into the door and the small room filled with fire. But as it dissipated there wasn't even a scratch or burn mark coating the steel. He threw attack after attack at the door until his magic was empty. What had he done?

As the day moved on and Natsu sat in the room recovering his magic, a panel in the door opened and clothes slid through, they were simple brown rags with not much to them. A voice followed "You will put these on and deposit your current clothes through here. Resisting will result in you losing on your meal tonight." Natsu had very little to protest about here, he was still terrified. But there was one thing he could not let stand

"No way! This scarf was a present from Igneel! I'll do anything just let me keep this!" He almost pleaded. For a scared young man to even muster the courage to show defiance was something new to the woman on the other side of the door, and she understood then how brave this boy might be.

Natsu threw his clothes through the hole in the door and yelled back "There! That's everything apart from my scarf! You can't take this from me, I won't let you!" He continued to yell

The woman brough her eye down to the hole to peer through, and through it she saw Natsu weakly clutching his scarf, standing as best he could despite his exhaustion. She decided to concede based on his spirit alone. "Very well, you may keep the scarf. And in keeping with your promise to do anything, you will follow me calmly as soon as I open this door. You shall do exactly as I command from here on out. If you refuse then I will rip that scarf to pieces and feed it to you, are we clear?" She was again failing to hold back her sadistic tendencies as she announced his potential punishment for disobedience.

Natsu had no choice and gently wrapped the scarf around himself before standing away from the door, waiting for it to open. When it did Natsu did not act, he didn't have the strength to fight back and he was still terrified of the situation he was in

"Now, this way." She began walking and Natsu followed a few steps behind, slowly wiping tears that were forming in his eyes. The pair walked through the corridors until they arrived at another, much larger door hosting a multitude of magic seals. "Beyond this door is your future Natsu. Everything we shall use to make you into a powerful weapon!" She announced as the doors opened, and the second the powerful locks separated, his nose was filled with the smell of death. He smelled blood, sweat, harsh metal, burned flesh and many other horribly toxic scents.

His hesitation was expected as the woman dragged him inside the lab, where the young girl from before was still strapped to an operating table and hooked up to a wide array of machines. Natsu just spotted the name above the bed "Ultear"

While Natsu was sat on the table, still in a panicked daze, the woman he was with changed into her lab gear, approaching the table again. "I haven't introduced myself I don't believe, my name is Mori, and as I said before. You are mine now."

Move Forward 2 months

Natsu was in agony, his small frame was barely capable of keeping up with the horrendous treatment and experiments he was being put through. The magical enhancements weren't too bad, he could endure them for the most part. It was the physical augmentations that were the worst part. He was having his flesh stripped open to reveal his bone and deep muscle tissue, having them added to and enhanced to make his stronger and more durable. His body was having artificial organs installed to produce a new chemical that would use his magic to create a powerful healing liquid that would flow with his blood, his senses were being heightened even further, combining with his already impressive Dragon Slayer senses. He was becoming superhuman and it was only the beginning.

The magical enhancements consisted of rapidly draining his magic, and then forcible pushing Ethernano into his body and expanding his magic capacity further and further each day. It was all torture.

He had gotten to know Ultear quite well, as they would often talk during moments they were left to recover in the lab before being moved. He had heard she was an ice magic user, but she was being bound to an ancient form of time magic. She was undergoing far less physical augmentation than Natsu was enduring, seeing as Natsu already possessed ancient magic, he was technically further along the path of augmentation despite Ultear being at the facility for months more than Natsu.

Time rolled on slowly as the pair never had much of a clue of how long days lasted or what year it was. He had heard nothing of Fairy Tail and anytime he asked Mori she would give him strikes towards a punishment, something Natsu was particularly good at getting. He had not been quiet or tame these past few months, and he had been sure to attempt an escape several times. Miraculously he still had all his limbs after some of the punishments.

To the outside world Natsu was missing, no word or trace of any kind about the Dragon Slayer, meaning that the events which will follow became a true mystery to the magical world.

He had been hoping that Fairy Tail would come bursting through the doors any day and set them both free, but there was never anything other than lab staff and medics who came through the doors.

Weeks turned to Months and Months turned to years, and still he refused to die as a result of augmentation. He continued to live as he was destroyed and rebuilt over and over again. He refused to fall into despair, he refused to bend to the pain he endured. Above all else, he refused to acknowledge that the augmentation was a failure. He had been getting noticeably stronger. Sometime into the second year of his training he actually began getting lessons similar to a school life. Learning of the history of Ishgar, the benefits of the land, the allies and enemies. He was taught small amounts of economics and even worked on trading techniques. Whatever was coming for Natsu he was well prepared.

2 years, 4 months since Natsu arrived

Ultear was sitting in her cell, spinning a lacrima on her finger as she pondered her thoughts. The gleaming, metallic walls of the cell didn't do much to make her feel down. Everything was too clean. She had thought about one thing in particular this past time, Zeref.

The dark wizard that she swore had called out to her, he was there. Lurking in the darkness within her, taunting and pushing her deep desires to the surface. She thought about the boy across the hall and his future. Was he falling into the same pit as her? Was the abyss staring back at him just as it was her

The lacrima stopped spinning and fell to the floor, rolling into the nearest wall "I think I want to die now." She whispered into her hands. A whisper so soft that a drop of water would silence it.

A tremendous explosion shook the building and an immense heat rushed in from outside her door, immediately making it hard to breathe. Her chest became heavy as she finally figured that this would be the end she sought after. Would some foreign army destroy this building? A heretic cult invade and execute them for defying the natural order of magic? Whatever it was, she was going to greet death with open arms, then the door flew open from her cell and a figure stood, among fire and flames like a monster, then the fire died down.

There stood Natsu, a gleaming smile and a caring look drawn across his face "We can't die yet, I heard them say something about plans for us soon. So hang in there, we'll see the outside soon enough, Ul!" He beamed. He'd involuntarily given her that nickname, despite her initial protest

A tear almost welled up in the young girls eye as she looked at the figure in the doorway. She blanked out the sprinklers going off, the alarm blaring, the shouting from guards and the detaining weapons being charged. She only focused on Natsu and found his contagious hope spread to her "Yeah, I hope you heard right." Her smile returned

Outside Natsu stood, alone facing Mori and the umpteen guards around her. "You! How did you escape that cell without setting off any alarms until now?! That room monitors your temperature, magic output and physical movements! That shouldn't have been possible to weaken that door enough to do that to it." She declared, pointing an accusing finger towards Natsu.

"How did I weaken it?" He cast his gaze directly upon Mori, removed the smile from his face and replied solidly "I didn't weaken it, it took one shot." He was so smug it hurt

Mori realised that her suspicion of Natsu was correct, he had actually grown so much that escape would be almost easy for him, yet he stayed. Killing her during their lessons would be easy, yet she lived. This boy actually stuck to his word and became the weapon she ordered him to be, in exchange for a scarf. In this moment Natsu went from a boy to a man. A man of his word, no less.

The sprinklers put the fire out and Natsu sat back quietly in his cell, despite the door missing from it. Mori stood in the hallway looking into the charred cell, "Natsu, it's time for your first task I think. Do you feel ready?"

Natsu flared up his magic around his hands and let the words "born ready" assemble in the air in front of him.

Here would begin Natsu's career as an agent of the Bureau of Magical Development, as he slowly worked on returning to the world he was forced out of, back to Fairy Tail.

With Makarov 11 years later, at Crocus

These meetings were a drag, especially when it was almost a certainty the whole group would fail to gather. Makarov let a deep sigh out "At least there's some good bars out in the capital." He said as he pushed open the large doors to the meeting hall.

It is a very rare occasion the 10 Wizard saints are called into a meeting, and so very often people skip out because it's seldom something very important.

This one seemed to be different, 7 of the saints had showed up before the head councilman arrived to begin the meeting. "This is odd, why have so many of the Wizard Saints decided to attend this. Perhaps I should have read the whole letter after all." He would have to fish out the invitation later to see what information he missed after skim reading it.

The Head Councilman spoke up "Very well, thank you all for attending. I see many of you were able to attend, and I must say that I am sad to see some of our esteemed colleagues missing out on an occasion such as this." He lifted various papers and documents, tapping them on the desk to arrange them before examining the room.
"It is no surprise to see that the 10th Wizard Saint Mikael is absent, as he has unfortunately been politely asked to step down from his position."

Then it clicked for Makarov, there was a new member joining the ranks. Just to the left of the councilman stood a large mannequin with a fresh cloak over it, boasting the Wizard Saint medal.

"I do believe some of you have encountered this young fellow once or twice before-" his eyes shifted to Makarov with an intense heat "-some know him slightly better." The doors flew open and in walked a tall, build frame with pink flowing hair and a thick aura of magic around him "Please welcome our new 10th Wizard Saint, Natsu Dragneel."

Natsu and Makarov locked eyes, Makarov in utter disbelief and Natsu with a kind, warm look to him. A silent greeting was exchanged between the two men. A wordless heartfelt hello that meant the world to the both of them. Makarov could almost have cried there and then

You're really back?
I'm really back

A/N: So… hello again. I know many long-term readers of mine are probably going to call me out for starting a new story after I abandoned my other two, and you're perfectly entitled to do so. And in preparation for the way some of my readers may react I have currently only done this as a pilot chapter. Depending on community feedback I may or may not continue it.
However, what I will say is that I will not let this get to the same stage as Deathbringer or the Fraternity. I put way too many plot points, side characters, historical events and foreshadowing. I added so much that even me with the my story note document would get lost in what points were connected. So my response to that is that this story will not get as complicated as the previous two. So I hope you enjoyed and please let me know if you'd be interested in this story going forward.