Hello and welcome to the new chapter!

Sorry for the one week delay! I've been extremely busy lately due to work as its Christmas time but I'm now off on holiday's so I should have a lot of free time to write and destress myself :)

Last chapter, I offered up some requests for this story. I'll talk about this more at the end of this chapter so please stay tuned.

For now, however, it's off with this chapter! I hope you like it!

Natsu's body crashed hard against the marble floor, twisting and thrashing like he was being possessed by some ungodly demon. Hands threaded tightly through his pink hair and loud cries of anguish spilled from his lips. There had never been a single moment in life that he had ever felt this type of physical agony. His mind pounded to a unknown beat and he felt it was on the edge of bursting into pieces or someone was smashing his brain out with a large hammer. The sensations from his skull slithered across his form, filling and twisting across every nook and cranny it could invade and fill like a harmful parasite with no cure. Before he knew it he felt like his body was ablaze like he had just hit himself directly with one of his most destructive fire attack.

"Natsu!"

The name felt like it was spoken in a foreign tone and muffled to his ears. He knew his name had just been called out but he felt like he could do nothing to bring attention to it. His mind was in a spiral of random thoughts like a raging storm was tearing apart everything just behind the soft casing of his skull. Thoughts were fleeting and hard to keep in place. Despite this, they all focused on one subject.

Lucy.

Natsu couldn't explain what was happening in his mind even if he was some world renounce vocabulary scholar. There was just no words to explain what was happening to him. Memories he had integrated in his mind from the last free months seemed to vanish into thin air leaving him with no time to grasp what was happening.

Lisanna showing his the memory of Lucy killing Elfman. Gone. Natsu believing Lisanna and accusing Lucy wholeheartedly without a second hesitation. Disappeared. His every thoughts and moments of despair thinking about Lucy killing Elfman. Nowhere.

When Natsu felt like he was at his peak, when he couldn't take the ringing in his mind any longer or the blank memories filling his thoughts, this was when the world went to a silent still. The pain stopped. His body froze. His eyes stayed wide. His breath got lodge in his chest. His mind refused to think. He was left with nothing but a single thought to caress the insides of his empty mind.

'Lucy didn't kill Elfman'

The peace of nothingness inside Natsu only last for a single second. Then, he burst. Everything in his body kicked into gear all at once making him pass the threshold of insanity. His chest heaved useless breaths that did nothing to ease the consuming despair. His body spasmed as it couldn't decipher the signals his brain was sending across. Tears, ones he couldn't stop nor did he want too, slipped down his cheeks to fall endlessly on the marble floor. Emotional pain replaced the physical one which was infinitely worse in comparison.

What had he done? What had he become? What had he caused? Igneel and Fairy Tail did not raise him this way. Natsu was never raised to hurt a friend. He was taught the importance of relationships, the loyalty and trust between comrades and the meaning of another person's love. The one point of Fairy Tail that he was most proud of was the friendships they held with one another. It's what made him fall in love with his guild as a child.

This was now gone. They hurt Lucy...No, he had hurt Lucy. He was the most adamant that she had killed Elfman. He was the front, centre and star of the hating of Lucy mob. And why? For what reason? Lucy had never committed a crime. She had done nothing wrong. He was the one who brought her in the guild and he was the one who kicked her out. He was the one who became her most close companion and was the first to turn his back on her.

The hatred for Lucy shattered only to be replaced with hatred for himself.

"Natsu!"

His name again. Natsu still couldn't register it. This time because he didn't want too. How could he ever set things right? Apologising to Lucy would never be enough to relieve the pain he had caused her for the last 3 months. Was there anything in the world that could?

"Damn it! Pinky! Snap out of it!"

That caught his attention. The voice sounded a lot more closer to him that any of the other previous callout of his name. Natsu lifted his head off the floor and caught sight of the moment before him. Ren stood in front of him, back facing Natsu, with his legs spread wide apart. Both of his arms were up in defence, in the shape of a X,as one of the dead corpses fist collided directly in the middle of Ren's right arm.

The snapping sound echoed throughout the chasms of the room.

Ren's teeth dug painfully in his bottom lip to keep himself shrieking from the pain. Tears still gathered at the bridge of his eyes yet he refused to let a single drop spill. Before the dead corpse could make another move, a large flaming fireball strike the corpse from its side. The dead individual was lifted off its feet and hurtled across the span of the room far away from Ren.

At once Ren's arms dropped lifeless at either side of his body, flopping a little at the process. Natsu let out a little wince for the water dragon slayer in the process. From his place on the floor, Natsu had the ample view of Ren's right arm. It was blowing up big at a alarming rate and turning a dark purple like a ripened grape waiting to be plucked. It didn't take a rocket scientist to know that it had been broken clean in half.

"Ren!" Lucy's voice shouted causing Natsu to glance at the girl.

His heart started pounding more at the sight before him. She looked so different to the girl Fairy Tail had mercilessly kicked out. There were wisps of smoke around her stretched arm showcasing she was the one who threw the fireball. When had Lucy gotten so strong? When did she gain new powers like this? The atrocious actions Fairy Tail had committed was meant to break her down. However, now she seemed stronger than ever. Why did he never notice this before when she returned? Why was he only noticing this now?

"How does it feel fire dragon slayer?" a new voice called out followed by a swift, burst of laughter.

Natsu's heated gaze landed on the culprit, eyes narrowing in fury and lips thinning into a straight line.

"Well?" Soren, previously known as the Lord, said "Your mind is clear free from all my meddling. How does it feel knowing how wrong you were? How does it feel to know you kicked out and hurt one of your friends for no reason? Oh, well you don't really need to answer that. I can see into your mind and know how much agony you are in. Ah, how I love this."

"God damn it, you bastard! When I get my hands on you -" Ren started to growl out but was instantly interrupted by Soren

"But you can't, can you?" Soren spoke up as he raised both his hands up to make his point across "I'm far out of your reach. Yes, if I was going head to head with your master or S-Class mage there is a chance I could lose. That's why I aimed to take them out first. Distract your Master and have my pet Kyron damage your S-Class mage. I thought everything through. You cannot harm me."

As Soren spoke, the mages surrounded him only got angrier. Ren was at boiling point, Happy paws brawled into tight fist, Keahi's hair was bigger and brighter then ever before, Zolo looked like he was a second away from destroying the world, Aquarius looked seconds away from smashing her urn into bits with her bare hands, steam was coming out of every outlet in Natsu's body and Lucy looked like she wanted nothing more to see Soren pay in ten folds with all the pain and sorrow he has caused to her ex guild and her current one.

"We will see about that!" Ren yelled as he started to make his move.

Unfortunately, Soren had already anticipated this a handful of minutes beforehand. With a quick snap of his finger the dead corpses sprung into action all heading straight for Ren.

"Water Dragon Roar!"

Waves of pressurised water flew out of Ren's mouth heading straight for the group. The attack hit dead on and known a majority of the bodies back causing them to crash against the walls of the room or the numerous pillars holding the hole building up. The ones that hit the pillars caused the material to crumble at the force which made a worrying sound echo around the atmosphere.

The minimal amount of dead bodies that managed to avoid Ren's attack lunged at the blue haired boy once they were close enough to retaliate. Closed fists and sharp legs launched at the boy in a flurried of movements. The water dragon slayer twisted and ducked to avoid the attacks and left colleterial damage in the form of smashed marble.

Ren wasn't left alone to defend for too long as Keahi jumped into the battle with a stealthy ease. He made his way to behind the crowd of dead bodies that was focusing on Ren like he was greeting a long last friends. With a large grin plastered across the demons face, he formed two fireballs in each ball of his hand. A second later they were blasted off hitting two dead bodies like he was hitting a bullseye on a darts board.

It didn't take long for the two boys to clear up the dead bodies surrounding them. Water and fire, two opposing natures, worked in harmony to bring down the dead bodies like bowling pins in a rally. Once every body was down for the count did both boys pause in their attack. Ren was breathing rather heavily and his good arm clutched the elbow of his shattered one. It had gotten worse than before and was ballooning up far too quickly. Keahi was still naturally fit but just a little winded. Keahi glanced around the room for a quick few seconds and noticed the damage on the pillars. With a huge sigh, he brought his attention to Ren.

"You idiot! Be careful! If you break those pillars this whole building will be coming down!" Keahi shouted off at Ren.

"Oh, yeah, sorry." Ren spoke, voice a little croaky which didn't go unnoticed by Keahi whose expression transformed into concern

"Ren, your arm looks seriously bad. Don't push yourself."

"Please, I can handle this." Ren said as he forced a smile on his face.

Before Keahi could reply back to this a sinister snicker broke through the mini conversation. Both boys looked forwards to Soren who had his face in the palm of his hands. He seemed to be finding something funny as his shoulders shook and between the gaps of his fingers the boys could spot malicious intent in those dark eyes.

"What's so funny, you asshole?" Ren shouted at him, really hating how aggravating the man is.

"You are. Both of you. Your acting like you've won this battle when you lost the moment you entered."

The moment that Soren had spoken the statement did the dead bodies animate back to life. Even if some were missing limbs, bruised bodies or had chunks of them gone it did nothing to hinder their unwanted revival. In a matter of seconds all the dead bodies were once again standing facing both Ren and Keahi with lifeless eyes.

"You have got to be kidding me," Keahi exclaimed "These people just won't go down!"

"Yeah, it's seriously annoying." Ren muttered back before he gave a quick glance to his broken arm.

If they kept fighting the way they were then as much as he hated to admit it Soren was right and they were going to lose. The dead bodies were a nuisance and a barrier to Soren himself. They had to be taken care of otherwise they would never be able to attack Soren directly. If they got rid of the bodies then it would be one step closer to beating the mind mage.

Easier said then done. As Soren had clearly explained, no matter how you shot these bodies down they could and would come back to life. Despite this, Ren was a firm believer that nothing was impossible. He knew there had to be a way to get passed this. He just couldn't think of a way how. Ren really wished Kuro or Jared was here right now since they were much better at coming up with interact plans then he was. Ren always relied on his instincts to see him through battles but even he knew that their were occasions that called for intelligence rather than brute force.

This was one of them.

Okay, think Ren, think. How do you get passed these dead bodies? Well the obvious answer would be destroy what controlled them. There lay his problem. This would be Soren. And, he couldn't get to Soren because of the dead bodies. He was in a loopy conundrum and Ren didn't see a way out. Before Ren could think anymore the dead bodies started to attack again.

Ren took a deep breath before he was flung into another moment of fast reactions and swift dodges. Even though he was in the depths of battle Ren's mind did not falter in his train of thought. As he started to fight back against the group with his water punches and kicks he glanced around the room. Soren was too far away from them all for a surprise ambush. Keahi was fighting alongside him with at least 6 dead bodies pouncing on him at once only to be burned down. Happy was hovering in the air looking unsure of what to do. While he was great at back up Ren could never sent him in for a direct line of fire. Zolo was out of commission since he was too wounded from his previous battles. Lucy was...

Well, Ren wasn't entirely sure what Lucy was doing. She was staring at Zolo not moving a single inch. What was happening with Lucy? Why was she staring at Zolo like that? He wanted to call out to her but stopped himself at the last second. There was a time and place to be worried about Lucy. Ren knew she could very well handle herself so he forced the worrying sensation down his throat.

Then Ren's attention landed on the last person in the room. Natsu. He was still sprawled across the floor, skin flushed with sweat and chest heaving. He looked ill in Ren's view. Right, the mind magic on him and his guild had been reversed meaning Natsu had come to the realisation that Lucy had not killed Elfman. Ren was split being happy and frustrated about this. He was happy that Lucy's name had finally been cleared to all Fairy Tail members and her innocence was proven right however he hated how this had come about and why. It wasn't fair that Fairy Tail minds had gotten manipulated. It wasn't fair that the only reason they realised they were in the wrong was because the mind magic effects had been undone.

Ren couldn't help but think about his guild and if a similar situation happened to them. He knew very well Scarlet Destiny would be teared at the seams if a similar situation happened in his guild. So, its only natural for Natsu to be feeling this way especially since he knew how close he and Lucy had been. Damn it, why did this have to happen right now in the midst of battle? They needed every bit of help they could get in this battle and having Natsu out of commission over this was not a option.

With his mind determined with the choice the blue haired boy made, he quickly turned to Keahi.

"Do you think you can handle all dead corpses for a while on your own?"

Keahi ducked low so he could avoid a wide swipe from his opponent be he answered, "I guess I'll be fine for a while. Why?"

"Cool, I'll be right back."

"Wait! Ren!"

Before Keahi could continue, Ren had already let out another water dragon war to clear his surrounding of the dead bodies. Once the moment of freedom had been given Ren took the chance to slip out. He swiftly turned around and started to race out of the fight. A dead body must have noticed this, or rather Soren who was in control, and started to charge after him. Keahi saw this immediately and acted quickly before the dead body could close it's distance with Ren. Three carefully aimed fireballs, one hitting straight after the other, took care of the rouge body.

"Hey!" Keahi started as both his clapped both his hands together.

At the action a burst of flames sprung from the marble floor out of nowhere. The blazing fire quickly spread around enclosing Keahi and the dead bodies in a tight circle. With the heated flames in the way Keahi knew none of the dead bodies would be able to escape. Plus, he had them all in one tightly nit area for the picking which was a bonus.

"Damn it you idiot, whatever your planning to do you better do it quick! Listen up you corpses! I'm your opponent. You want Ren? You have to get through me first!"

Keahi didn't have to wait at all for the dead bodies to rush upon him at once.

Ren, on the other hand, made it backwards to his object with no restrictions. Once he reached Natsu who was on the floor he quickly collapsed onto his knees so he was at least somewhat levelled with the pink haired boy.

"Natsu get up! We need you to help us fight." Ren said firmly as he stared at the dragon slayer.

"I know! I'm not going to let Soren get away with anything. I'm going to burn him to ashes." Natsu promised with a little growl.

"Then how come you haven't already started charging in and attacking?" Ren questioned.

This caused Natsu to falter. His eyes glanced to the side to spot Lucy who was still staring at Zolo who mimicked her actions. A little weird in his view but there wasn't any real time to think about why.

"I...I don't know what to do. I hurt Lucy. I didn't believe her. I...I should have. I don't know how to ask for her forgiveness."

There was a moment of silence between the two dragon slayers. Black eyes connected with blue as they seemed to stare into one another soles. It was Ren who first broke the stoic stare with a small smile,

"You really are a idiot, aren't you Pinky?"

"Argh, I don't want to hear that from you! And, my hair isn't pink so stop calling me that you water asshole!"

Ren let out a small much needed laugh at that.

"Look, Natsu, you've known Lucy far longer than I have. So, let me ask you do you really think Lucy wouldn't forgive you?"

Natsu's eyes widened in realisation at this,

"Lucy is one of the kindest and caring person that you could meet. Even though your guild hated, accused and hurt her over something she never did Lucy would never hold it against you. No matter what, if you apologise she would forgive you straight away. That's the kind of person she is. It's what makes her the perfect partner to me." Ren admitted.

Natsu couldn't argue a single bit against Ren because he knew it was true. Lucy would forgiven him and his guild. They may not deserve it but they were going to get it. For as long as he knew Lucy, she was exactly as Ren had explained. In this moment, Natsu finally came to terms with what had happened. Yes, he had hurt Lucy. Yes, he never believed her. And, yes maybe it might not have been his fault due to his mind and his guild members being manipulated. However to him this was no excuse. He would take full responsibility for this because this was the type of person he was. He knew exactly what he was going to do once Lucy apologised.

With a smile Natsu jumped off the ground with one fluid movement with Ren following suite not too long after.

"Let's take this guy down together." Natsu beamed as he raised up his arm with his hand enclosed in a fist.

Ren looked at the limb for a second before his eyes crinkled in mirth. He too raised his good arm with his palm in a sharp fist. Then, he pressed the back of his wrist against Natsu as he grinned ear to ear with the boy replicating the image.

"Yup!"

Both boys cut the moment short as they brought their attention to the fight. Keahi still had the fire wall up and seemed to be a great distraction for the dead bodies. A few had tried to escape with unfortunate results. Behind the flickering flames, Ren and Natsu could see Keahi in combat mode. He was certainly in his element and showing off the powers of a demon. Fire was swirling around him constantly and he seemed to becoming more with the element as the seconds ticked by. Natsu's mouth watered slightly because he knew exactly how tasty those flames really were.

"Keahi's got the dead bodies preoccupied well. I think we should go straight after Soren." Ren announced as he came up with his plan.

"I'm up for it." Natsu said as he slammed a fist against a open palm "I can't wait to pay this guy back with hundred time more pain for what he's done to my guild."

Both boys rushed forwards and made their way around the firewall. Seeing them advanced some of the dead bodies in the fire wall started to spasm out. They threw themselves against the fire to try and escape to stop Ren and Natsu in their path. They ultimately failed as Keahi's fire only got stronger and thicker by the second. He was pushing out his reserved energy in heaves. He knew his job right now was to keep these bodies at bay for as long as possible. A very critical responsibility that Keahi wasn't going to break.

Once both boys managed to pass the fire wall with no problem they came face-to-face with Soren. The mind mage didn't have a lick of panic in his form as he stared at the dragon slayers. Rather a rather large smile, ear to ear, and a maddening gaze was displayed across his face. This close the marks across the man's face looked even more horrible and Ren couldn't imagine the pain he must have been in at the time the wounds had been afflicted.

"Ready to get your ass beat?" Natsu asked as fire started to swirl around one of his hands.

His response was abrupt laughter that caused Ren to shift a little. He really hated Soren like this. Before when they had first met Soren, he had acted cold hearted but reasonable. Not with this display of unruly insanity. He remembered what Zolo had told them. The more a mind mage uses their magic the more it backfires on them. Like all powerful magic there was always a consequence or a side effect and Soren was facing this. Ren couldn't imagine what was going through the Lord of Lacus Animarium mind right now.

"Didn't I tell you? You can't win. I can manipulate your minds. I can do anything I want to you anytime I want. You think your S-Class mind mage can protect you? Cute. But, he can't. He's already too weak as it is and I am so much more stronger and better with mind magic then he is. Therefore, I win! Me! Me! Me!" Soren sang around the end of the sentence.

Ren mouth twitched in annoyance. He wasn't the only one as Natsu eyes narrowed in irritation at the mind. They both looked at each other for a split second before they turned their heads and charged towards Soren. However before they could even reach the mind manipulator, a new voice spoke out.

"Hey!"

Ren and Natsu stilled in their movement and spun around. Ren instantly honed in on the owner of the voice and his eyes bulged at what he saw.

Lucy.

However she wasn't where Ren had last saw her which was staring at Zolo. Instead, she was at the large gate that Soren's plan hindered on. She was standing right in the middle of the gates door with one hand outstretched and pressed firmly against it. Ren couldn't comprehend what he was witnessing. Why was Lucy at the gate? Why was she touching it? Her face was the blankest he had ever seen it before and for the first time ever, Ren couldn't read what was on Lucy's mind. He wasn't the only one to be this shocked though.

Natsu was eyes wide and jaw dropped at Lucy near the gate. Happy was with a similar expression with his eyes spinning around the room as if to take everything in at once. Soren's smile seemed to wide even more, which Ren seriously didn't think was possible, like he was going to split his face in half if he grinned any wider. Since his concentration was taken away, the dead corpse stilled in their fight against Keahi. The demon didn't release his fire wall however he turned around so he could see what had caught everyone's attention. Once he noticed Lucy, Keahi eyebrows drew together in confusion as he watched behind flickering flames.

The only ones that didn't look surprised was Zolo and Aquarius. Zolo eyes were cold as steel much like his usual self. Even though he was still on the floor he looked like a capable menacing man that could still take your life away in a matter of seconds. Aquarius too had the perfect poker face and her knuckles were white showing she was holding onto her urn rather strongly.

"This is it, isn't it?" Lucy yelled as loud as possible "This is what you want right? This is why you hurt everyone! For this...this...this gate! Right?!"

"It's not just any gate," Soren spoke back, voice eerily calm "This is my life."

Lucy didn't say a word but gulped hard. Ren was now seriously more confused than before. What was happening right now? What was Lucy planning to do? Was she going to destroy the gate? Did she figure out a way how? It was the only reason that Ren could think of that she would be so close to the gate.

"If this means this much to you then I'm going to give it to you!"

At her words, alarm bells rang out in everyone's head all at once. This was voice out quickly by everyone in the room,

"Lucy! What are you doing? Get away from the gate!" Happy screeched out not believing what he had heard.

"Seriously, Lucy this isn't a joke. Happy is right! Get away from there right now!" Keahi spoke out loudly.

"Lucy! What are you doing? You can't do it! Do not open that gate!" Natsu shouted out, confusion flooding the tone of his voice.

"Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes..." Soren repeated quickly like a parrot with no signs of ever spotting saying that single word.

"Lucy, you have to be kidding? Your not going to seriously open that gate right! Listen to us all. Do not do it! Don't open that gate!" Ren screamed as he watched with Lucy carefully trying desperately to read her face with no avail.

Lucy didn't look at anyone but her gaze was stayed strong on Ren's as if trying to convey something to him. Ren tried to read it with all his might but he couldn't make out what she was trying to tell him. She wasn't going to open the gate right? This had to be some distraction ploy. There was no way Lucy would open the gate! Ren knew it shouldn't be.

"Oh gate that lies before me! I am releasing the power you hold behind your gates...Oh Gate before me...I open thee!"

And done! Did you like the chapter? Were you expecting this? Please tell me what you think? Ah, we are so close to the end now. The next chapter would be the last chapter against Soren with the fight finishing up. After this, I have roughly 2-3 more chapters left of the story depending on how I write it. So, basically only a month left. Thank you for sticking by this story!

Please read the following...Please read the following...Please read the following:

This is for all of those who put in a request in for a one shot for me. Thank you so much for taking your time to request a story from me and I loved all the ideas! I had 11 request all together which is a lot and is amazing to see! The stories should be going out tomorrow with 1 getting posted a day (hopefully) The order of posting stories is random (literally I put all the ideas in a random generator and it picked out who goes first for me) So, please keep a eye out on my other fanfiction story 'Retelling of Scarlet Destiny' where all the one shots will be posted. This will be so much fun!

Anyway, please let me know what you think of this chapter!

Until, next time! See yh!