15 I will get him back

I will slay every monster, destroy every Dark Guild and defeat all my foes if it means bring Natsu back!" Erza was sitting in the bar that was located in the back of the guild as she slammed her mug down. Her face looked flushed and her speech was almost slurred as Mira walked over to her seat.

"Hey Erza, I think that's enough alcohol for now." She said worriedly at her best friend. Mira knew exactly what she meant, though. A few months ago, a person very important to them was lost to the Dragon of Apocalypse Acnologia. The First Master Mavis said that he was still alive but was sent somewhere that was unreachable unless they all worked together to get him back. Since then, time has passed with some of the other smaller guilds giving up, not even bothering to believe that Natsu was still alive. But the other Guilds that participated in the Grand Magic Games didn't give in to the depression and continued their work to find a way to get Natsu back.

Everyone used every resource they had about Space, Time and Teleportation Magic on hand and all pitched in their effort and money to try and help Fairy Tail get their member back. Surprisingly, the King and Princess offered their assistance by allowing them entry to their most sacred library and even sent their knights out to help on some occasions. Another shocking thing was when Crime Sorcière also handed their assistance as well, giving the members of Fairy Tail some forbidden knowledge of magic that they saw and discovered through their journeys.

Unbeknownst to the rest of the world was that Mavis was the mastermind behind everything. She sent her Guild members on missions to acquire certain items she thought would further drive their progress. Makarov has been the cover Mavis used to communicate with the outside forces because, well, she's a ghost. Levy, Lucy, Warren, Kinana and herself have been the ones reading the books and doing the research while Erza, Mira, Gray, and the rest went on missions to get the artifacts.

"No!" Erza yelled defiantly, "I need more! I just need to take my mind off things, that's all."

"I know these months have been hard on you Erza, because they've been bad for me too. But drinking as much as Cana would won't make things better." Mira explained, taking the wooden mug away from Erza who slammed her head down.

"I think I'm going to check up on Lucy." Erza's muffled voice was heard from her face that was currently resting on the table. She got up slowly and walked over to the basement door in a lazy fashion.

'She sure isn't herself when she's drunk.' Mira thought, watching Erza walk away. She walked down the stairs carefully, knowing that she was drunk, and didn't want to fall down the staircase. Getting to the bottom safely, Erza immediately saw a mountain of books that blocked the entrance as she had to maneuver herself around the pile to not have it fall on her. It proved very difficult because of her current drunken state. Finally getting around the books, Erza walked through the giant library noticing that there were much more books there than before, especially the ones on the floor as she tripped over some. Walking around another bookcase, Erza got to see Lucy and the others reading the material intently, showing their determination each page they flipped by.

"Hey, Lucy." Erza stood in her spot and called for her friend as Lucy jumped back in surprise and fell off her chair but immediately got back up and walked over to Erza, "Have you got a minute to spare?"

"Yeah, what is it Erza?" Lucy asked, standing in front of Erza.

"I just wanted to see how everything is. I know you guys have been working a lot and I feel like I'm not contributing enough, so I want to help with the research." Erza determinedly said while Lucy had a solemn look.

"Erza, if you work too hard, even a person of your standards would collapse. You've been out of the Guild countless times to get even more materials than we need to help so I think you did your part." Lucy smiled at Erza, placing a hand on her shoulder while Erza looked at Lucy with the same determined face.

"I won't stop Lucy. I need to help." Erza said sternly.

"Erza, come on, look at yourself. It's five o'clock and you already look like you did ten missions. We all want Natsu back but over working isn't the way to go," Lucy explained not backing down, "Listen... I know you thought of Natsu as your brother but you're taking this way too far."

'It's more than that... you just don't understand.'

"Fine, you've convinced me. I'll go home and rest for tomorrow, Lucy." Erza slowly turned back, waving Lucy goodbye as she started walking out of the library, leaving Lucy behind to finish her work.

'You won't stop me, Lucy... no one will. I need to get Natsu back.' Erza walked out of the Guild saying her goodbyes to her friends as she already had a devious plan set. The ironic thing is that she was doing something that her friends considered bad so what she's doing can end up being good. Hysterical.

The hours passed by, the night took over the day as the town started to close their curtains and shut their doors ready for the new day ahead of them. Fairy Tail did the same, as they cleaned and fixed everything that had transpired throughout the day and closed their doors only for them to be opened again by someone else.

A dark silhouette was watching Mira and Makarov close up, while also activating the Magical Protection Barrier around the Guild. Waiting for them to pass by, the dark figure moved in at fast speeds around the gates and easily hurdled over them. This intruder was no other than Erza Scarlet, as she walked through the backyard of the Guild.

"It's a good thing Makarov allows S-class mages to have access through the barriers, or else this would never work." Erza said to herself while moving to a giant rock that was by the back wall of the Guild, "I can't go through the doors or else it'll notify Master that I'm here... so," Lifting the rock aside, Erza looked down at where the rock was to see a hole the size of a human being. "I'll go through here."

She jumped in, descending down the dirt hole until she met the soft ground. Walking through the dark cave, Erza found herself at a dead end as she grinned, "I made it." Jumping high in the small cave, Erza surprisingly didn't hit the top of it as there was already an even bigger hole heading towards the top. She stopped when she felt something above her. Moving it aside, Erza climbed her way out, only to be in the basement storage room for food.

"I guess I have to you thank for this one, Natsu." Erza said to herself smiling as her mind went back to a certain moment in her life.

Flash Back:

"Hey, Erza." Makarov called out from the second floor, "Go find the new kid. I think he's up to something."

"Yes, Master." Erza sighed. Ever since this pink haired boy came everything's been in disorder, just the way she didn't like it. He caused fights, depletion in food and supplies, caused property damage and even managed to tick her off as well. Although there were some bad sides, there were also good ones too. She also sympathized with him because he lost his father at a young age and had to survive in the wild by himself.

So, for the whole day, Erza went looking for the little pyro in every place she could think of. Even going as far to go about town asking where he was, but got nothing. She was almost thinking of giving up, just ruling that he decided to run away but something caught her attention when she walked passed the bar. Erza heard strange noises through the door that lead to the storage room below and went to go check it out.

She walked passed the bartender and asked about what the noise was but she only said that it was the freezer acting weird again. Not believing the story, Erza wanted to check it out for herself and went to the storage room below, walking down the steps as the noise got louder.

"These definitely aren't normal noises a freezer would make," Erza said as she continued to investigate. The sound got louder and more audible the more she moved towards the sound. "Wait... that sounds like...!" Erza took a sharp turn around a box to find a crying Natsu with food surrounding him, "Natsu?"

He sniffled loudly as he looked up to Erza, "Hmm?"

"Natsu, what's wrong?" Erza asked concerned for the little boy.

"I went out to go find Igneel on a lead I found." Natsu started while sniffling, "But it just turn out to be a guy dressed in damned red Dragon costume!" Natsu yelled in fury as he took the nearest piece of food and stuffed it in his mouth vigorously.

"Are you... are you stress eating, Natsu?" Erza asked surprisingly.

"Stress eating? Is that what the thing I ate is called? If so, then I'll eat stress anytime!" Natsu said happily but that immediately went away as he started crying again, "I don't know to do. I don't think I'll ever find him Erza." Natsu brought his knees to his face covering it as he wrapped his arms around himself.

"I, uh... Natsu, I don't know..." Erza sighed. She knew she wasn't good at counseling but she also knew she had to try anyway. Natsu seemed to be going through a rough time and the authoritative instincts in her said to help this boy. Erza sat down awkwardly next to Natsu as she slowly scooted closer to him.

"Uh? Erza, what'cha doin'?" Natsu asked wondering why the redhead was so close. Not bothering to answer, Erza wrapped her arm around Natsu and brought him into the most awkward hug you could ever see in your life. His face slammed right into her armored chest as Natsu tried desperately to pry her off. It was no use, Erza has the unrefined strength of 5 elephants as Natsu started to suffer greatly from his loss of air.

'He's... warm? Even under all my armor I still feel his heat.' Erza thought to herself. 'What a strange sensation. I like it.' Erza started to pull Natsu closer to her while the poor boy already passed out. That weird moment stopped though when Erza opened her eyes to see a hole where Natsu was just sitting in front of.

"Natsu!" She screamed, waking the boy up immediately, "What is this!?" She pointed towards the hole while standing herself up from the ground.

"Oh, that..." Natsu said looking at the hole intensely, "I'll tell you Erza, but only if you promise to keep it a secret." Natsu said seriously.

"Damn it!" Erza cursed her breath while closing her eyes to think about this, "Fine I won't tell." She struggled to say.

"Phew! I thought I would have to beat you up or something!" Natsu said in relief while Erza just scoffed, "Okay, this is my secret tunnel that I use to get around places in the city. I'm not done yet, though. I thought of what you said to me before about using my energy for something productive and I also followed Master's advice when he told me to go dig a hole to get me off his back. I'm planning to create a whole underground city called Natsumania!" He threw his arms up in the air to add effect to his explanation, but Erza just couldn't find the words to express how literal this boy was, so she just stared at him like a deer in headlights. "Or Igneelville... I was also thinking of Dragneel Paradise, but that seems too over-the-top. Don't you think?"

"I'm telling the Master about this." Erza said walking away.

"What! But you promised!" Natsu whined. Erza sighed again, rubbing her temples. She knew she made a promise and it wouldn't be very chivalry to break one.

"Fine, I won't tell. But on one condition." Erza said sternly.

"What is it?" Natsu asked curiously.

"Please don't name the city Dragneel Paradise." Erza grinned slightly at seeing Natsu's bright smile, knowing that with him around, nothing will ever be the same.

Flashback End:

Erza reminisced about her past all while walking to the library. She got to the place Lucy, Mavis and the others were working at and saw that everything was in order, just the way she liked it. Quickly she started flipping through the books while summoning Gale-Force Reading Glasses to make the task easier. All through the night, Erza looked at their work and read through the books, piecing the things together herself until she found something that might be able to help.

"You've got to be kidding me..." Erza said to herself, putting her current book down, "This can't be the only way... can it?"

"I'm afraid so, Erza." She heard a voice behind her and turned around swiftly, not to alarm to another person.

"This can't be, Master Mavis." Erza said pointing towards her work. Everything was placed all around the walls, floors, books and tables and it all came to one point...

"I'm afraid so Erza..." Mavis said softly, sitting next to her, "It all comes down to Zeref."

"But you can't expect him to help... do you?" Erza asked again.

"I think he will. After all, I did know him before."

"What? Master, this isn't making any sense." Erza rubbed her head to ease the pain she felt as Mavis put her ghostly hands on Erza's shoulder.

"Just go home Erza. I'll take care of this." Mavis said sweetly. Erza complied and went to her home still pondering about things.

'First Master really doesn't think she can commune with the Dark Wizard... right?' Erza questioned herself for the umpteenth time in one day.

On Tenroujima Island:

It was still the same blissful night. The strange creatures that roamed slept peacefully while the nocturnals crept in the night hunting for their prey and next meal. Throughout all of this, there was a man sitting in the midst of dead plants and decomposing animals that were once lively and free. The man's face had an obvious frown as he was brooding in his apparent loneliness.

He had straight, neck-length black hair with piercing crimson red eyes that had black circles around the pupil. His attire was simple. He wore a black toga-like robe that covered the entirety of his body as some gold striped lines were incorporated into the plain design. Even though he looked thoroughly mad, tears were streaming down his face, hitting the dead grass around him.

Suddenly, his demeanor changed as he looked alerted for some reason. The man calmed down just as fast when he knew who it was.

"Mavis... why do you disturb me again?" The man asked. His voice still sounded young and didn't have a deep tone for it to be considered adult. He fixed his legs to a different potion that allowed him to put his arm on top of his knee.

"Hello Zeref," Mavis greeted. She appeared in front of the man identified as Zeref as he looked away, "Don't do that Zeref. I need your help, something terrible has happened and I know you sensed it too. You wouldn't be crying if you didn't."

"What happened to Natsu?" Zeref asked dangerously as he looked at Mavis with hatred clear in his eyes, "I don't sense him anymore in our world. I just know he's still alive because his book hasn't been activated yet.

"That's the thing- he's gone from our world and was transported to another because of Acnologia." Mavis explained.

"Acnologia..." Zeref said under his breath, clearly hating the person, "Ever since I made that mistake, he's been a pain in my side for too long. But... I can't defeat him by myself. It's too risky." Zeref said to himself, "What do you want with me then, Mavis?"

"I want you to help me create a new spell- one that will bring Natsu back safely and unharmed. I already have the basics down, I just need your knowledge Zeref. That's all I'm asking of you." Mavis said hopefully.

"You want the plans on the Eclipse Gate, don't you?" Zeref said frowning.

"If that's all you will gives us... then yes." Mavis said.

"I want to get Natsu back... he still hasn't fulfilled his duty to me. He is the one person in the world that I don't want to lose to anyone or anything. That's why..." Zeref paused thinking of what he was agreeing to, "I will help you find my brother, Mavis."