This is the rewrite of the original Dreams of an Absolution, a story I adored a while ago but unfortunately found had many flaws. Starting with chapter one, this story and may others will be rewritten to match my writing style today, and I promise to finish it this time. Thank you everyone who stuck around and read the original :)

I hope this one meets your expectations, as I am extremely nervous. Look forward to all my other old stories being re-vamped as well!

Full Summary:

To save his friends, Natsu sacrifices himself on Tenrou, and is blown into the ocean before Tenrou vanished. He wakes up far away from Fiore, rescued by an old women. She gives him new limbs, her intelligence is vast, but nobody listens to her. Natsu is ashamed of himself, believing he failed at saving his friends from their deaths.

Because of this, Natsu decides to stay, to learn everything she has to teach him and prove to this strange country that anything is possible. He becomes a citizen of this society, a part of their world. But then she dies, and Natsu takes over her responsibilities. When Tenrou returns, what will Natsu decide to do? Where does he truly belong?

So many things had happened at once that day, Natsu could barely remember what happened. He remembered the fight, Acnologia showing up and together, all of them ready to fight. But Acnologia had been about to attack them all, Natsu saw the energy gathering in his mouth, right in front of all his friends.

No.. He couldn't let this happen!

Nastu ran, and slammed himself into them, pushing them out of the way. Then, the light blinded him, and he screamed. The pain enveloped him, he felt himself tearing apart. He could hear people, screaming in horror. He could hear Lucy, Happy, Erza, everyone screaming his name.

"NATSU!"

Suddenly, there was nothing under his feet, the pain became too intense, and everything went black.

Natsu awoke with a start, a gasp escaping his throat, and eyes snapping open. His panic faded instantly though, as he felt… Perfectly fine.

Instead of the traumatizing pain he still vividly remembered, he felt numb. Instead of the overwhelming heat of Acnologia's blast, it was actually rather cold. What's going on? He wondered. Are we back at Fairy Tail?

The dragonslayer tried to look around everything was blurry, so much so that he couldn't make out a single detail. He quickly tried to bring his hands up and rub his eyes, only to freeze at a strange feeling.

Actually, it was more about what he didn't feel.

Natsu's heartbeat began to pick up as he guided his left hand to the other side of his chest, feeling up and down. A strangled noise of shock breaking through him. His right arm… It was gone. Completely gone.

Panic exploded through him, and he quickly tried to jump off the bed he was in. But the second he stood, he fell. Why can't I stand up!?

His question was answered the second he looked down, and saw that his left leg was also completely gone.

All questions vanished, only horror remained. Memories flooded back no matter how hard he tried to keep them away.

Natsu couldn't help it, he screamed.

Seconds after he began to scream, a door slammed open. Natsu's olive eyes flickered over, catching sight of someone wearing a metal mask with yellow, glowing eyes. They quickly rushed forward, reaching out for Natsu with gloved hands.

"No!" Natsu yelled, scooting back as best he could, only the crash onto the floor once more. "Stay away from me! Or I'll… I'll burn you alive!"

The figure leaned back, and then burst out laughing. Their voice was much… higher than Natsu was prepared for. It cut off his panic, and filled the empty spot with confusion.

"Young man, I think you're in no shape to be making treats like that!" The high voice said as one of those gloved hands reaches up, yanking off the metal mask and placing it on the dresser.

Whatever Natsu had been expecting, the person behind the mask was not it. It was an old woman, with long gray hair that still had a hint of blue in it, steel blue eyes, and a pale face.

The dragonslayer frowned, tilting his head to the side. He opened his mouth, trying to process the sensory overload he had been hit with. He couldn't figure out anything to say.

The woman smiled gently, and quickly headed over. "Okay," She said,"Let's get you back on the bed, and I'll check you over once more."

She was surprisingly strong, helping Natsu hobble back over to the bed. Once he was sitting up on it, he finally found his voice.

"Who are you?" He asked,"How did I get here?"

The woman knelt down, picking up a box by the bed and placing it on the bed. "I'm Ayame, and I brought you here," She explained.

Natsu frowned. Straight to the point, aren't you? He thought, and then looked back down at his missing limbs. He swallowed the lump in his throat, nervously asking,"What happened to me?"

"I was actually hoping you could answer that for me," Ayame said,"I found you floating in the middle of the ocean, nothing and nobody in sight."

The dragonslayer tensed up, the memories flashing by him once more. His face went green, and his remaining limbs began to shake.

"I… I was on Tenrou.. Acnologia attacked.. It hurt so, so bad," He croaked,"And now… I'm here…"

"Tenrou?" Ayame repeated, eyes widening. "But Tenrou…"

Natsu quickly forgot about his missing limbs, mind jumping to thinking about his guild members. "What? What!? But Tenrou what!?" He demanded, leaning forward,"Did they get out?! Are they safe!?"

Ayame frowned, and quickly said,"I think it's better that you rest before I tell you."

"NO!" Natsu snapped,"Tell me now! I have to know! I have to know! PLEASE!"

The woman sighed, dropping her hands to her side. "Although we are not in Fiore, word traveled pretty quickly about the island that fell under Acnologia's wrath. I'm sorry… The island was destroyed… Nobody made it."

The world suddenly went cold, even Natsu's own internal flame was snuffed out. The tears welled up in his eyes, shaking his head frantically. "No.. No!" He croaked,"It can't be! They can't be dead!"

But he could see the sadness and grim truth in the woman's eyes. His heart shattered into millions of pieces, and he buried his face in his hands; Breaking into loud, heart wrenching sobs.

Ayame didn't say anything else; she merely moved forward, pulling Natsu into a hug and rubbed his back. "It's alright," She whispered,"It's okay, just let it all out."

And Natsu did, screaming and crying for everyone to hear, desperately hoping someone could answer his internal questions. Why? Why did I have to fail you!? Why couldn't I save you!?

In the end, only thing that Natsu was sure about was he truly had no idea what he was going to do now…

About a week had gone by, but Natsu barely noticed. All that remained on his mind was the thought of his failure, his guild's horrible death, and his own horrific injuries. He couldn't even sleep, he had too many nightmares of their screaming faces. Any time he wasn't asleep, he'd merely stare at the wall.

Ayame tried to speak to him, to bring him food and make him eat; He always refused, he didn't want to eat. He wanted to fade away and die, he wanted to be with his family.

Ayame seemed to realize this too; After a week, she decided enough was enough.

It started off as a normal day. Natsu was sitting up, staring at the blanket, and she brought in a tray of food. "Natsu, I have some breakfast," She softly said,"So, will you please eat it this time?"

Natsu closed his eyes, and shook his head. He heard the woman sigh, a loud, frustrated noise. Usually, she would try and convince him for a few more minutes and then leave. This time, however, was different.

The tray was slammed down so hard that Natsu jumped at the noise and turned to look over at the woman. Her normal blue eyes were even more ice-like than usual, and her face was red with anger.

She pointed at him, and yelled,"Listen to me, and listen right now! You need to stop acting like this! It's pathetic, and it's not who you really are! Where's that fire I saw when you first saw me, even knowing your situation?"

"It died with my guild," Natsu hissed back, feeling frusterated by her persistence. "Besides, why should you care? Just let me die."

He looked back to the wall, and Ayame went silent. The tension was thick for several long, painful seconds, and then a soft voice asked,"Is that what your guild would want?"

Natsu's eyes widened, and he whipped back around to face her. "What?" He croaked, his voice like sandpaper against his throat.

Ayame stared down at him, arms crossed. "Your guild, would they want you to die?" She asked,"If they're watching over you from the afterlife, do you think they would be happy with the way you're acting?"

Natsu thought about it for a moment, a smile involuntarily coming onto his face. Erza and Lucy would probably kill me a second time, Gray would sucker punch me, and Gramps- He gasped. He's probably really disappointed in me right now…

The dragonslayer felt his eyes burn again, and quickly wiped away the tears. "You're right…" He admitted,"They would hate seeing me like this…"

"Exactly," Ayame agreed with a firm nod. "Natsu, they wouldn't want you to give up, they'd want you to live and keep moving forward! Not just for them, but yourself!"

No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't stop the tears. Ayame took her thumb, gently wiping them away, and taking his hand in hers. "It's okay to be sad, it's okay to mourn them, but you can't let what happened stop you from living. You can't let the past control you."

Natsu sniffled, nodding in agreement. "I know that, I do… But… How can I do anything when I'm like this?" He croaked sadly, motioning to his other side.

Her face suddenly brightened, as if she had been waiting for him to ask something like that. "That's where I come in!" She declared, hurrying out of the room. "Don't go anywhere!"

I'm pretty sure you don't have to worry about that! Natsu sarcastically remarked to himself, listening to Ayame rummage through what sounded like a desk. He heard several things clang or crash onto the ground before she released a triumphant noise.

She returned holding what looked like a large bundle of cloth; When she placed it down on his lap, he realized that it was much heavier than cloth. There was something inside it.

Natsu reached his hand out, pulling the cloth away, and revealing an arm made out of metal underneath it. He slowly ran his hand down it, marveling at how pristine it looked. Then, he reached the limp hand.

He didn't really know why, but he placed his real hand against the metal one. Then it hit him, they were the same size. It wasn't just a project Ayame had left lying around, she had made it for him.

"You made this… For me?" He whispered in awe, turning his wide eyes back to the older woman. There was a small smile on her face, and then she nodded in confirmation. The dragonslayer felt like the waterworks were about to start again, so he quickly continued,"Thank you, thank you so much."

Ayame nodded again, and said,"We can put the arm on soon, and then I want to start looking at making a leg. Shouldn't be too hard, I already have blueprints."

Natsu almost couldn't believe his ears. This woman was giving him so much, helping him in ways nobody had, and he didn't have any idea why she wanted to. His heart finally felt warm again, after going cold for the past week. He knew, he had to do something, he had to help her too, he had to return the favor.

"Can I help you make it?" He asked, watching her look back towards him in what looked like surprise. He blushed, and quickly added,"I mean, you said it shouldn't be too hard, and you've already done so much for me. I'll have that arm you made me, surely I can be a little bit of help?"

Ayame tilted her head, her eyes seeming to stare into the center of his entire being. Then, she softly asked,"Why do you want to help?"

The words came to his tongue before he could stop himself, and he replied,"Why does anyone do anything?"

The older woman looked surprised by his words; Then, a smile came over her face and her eyes filled with joy, a lot of joy. In fact, she looked as if she had just found the solution to her life's problems. "You know what, Natsu, I think I would enjoy that very much," She declared.

Natsu's face split into his own wide grin, the fire within him brimming with excitement. He couldn't wait to help his rescuer, and see just what they would create.

Little did Natsu Dragneel know, his small request was the starting point of something much, much bigger.