Chapter One: Goodbye for now, Fairy Tail...

A/N: Well, here you have it! Chapter one for On the Path to Forgiveness! You voted on it! This begins before the S-Class trials. Enjoy! *and sorry if I don't live up to your expectations*

It seems like it's a normal day. The sun is shining, there are whisps of clouds drifting across the pale blue sky, and the sound of bird song drifts with the breeze. A beautiful day. Fairy Tail is somewhat calm, as their most destructive mage and his team are out on another mission to pay for Lucy's forever looming rent. Yep, just another day.

Everyone's just going about their day in the Fairy Tail guild hall, the soft hum of conversations filling the air as people talk about missions they recently completed and their daily lives. All is semi-normal until the doors are kicked open, some fire also spilling inside with it. There stands Team Natsu, but something is wrong, something is terribly wrong. Natu's face is screwed up in worry, terror and guilt. Erza holds a face of rage and worry alongside Gray. Happy floats above them wearing an unreadable expression, a few scorch marks littering his body, and that's when the entire guild realizes something: all of team Natsu-bar Natsu-have burn marks all over their bodies. Erza races into the guild hall, towards the infirmary. Carrying...

"Lucy!"

"What happened!?"

"Lu-chan!?"

"Bunny girl?"

"Are you guys okay?!" People shout out. She looks worse by far. Ash covering her body alongside many burns. eyes closed, breaths ragged, a thin stream of dry blood going from her mouth as well as many other places. Clothes torn up and stained black. Wendy races towards the infirmary after Erza, while the Master shakes himself out of his faze.

"Jet!" The other man turns to Makarov, eyes filled with confusion. "Go get Porlyusica!" The speed mage nods before bolting out the door, past the frozen bodies of Gray and Natsu. After Jet passes Natsu does the mage blink a few times, knocked out of his daze of sorts, before tears prick his eyes. He shakes his head at first, but a thin stream of the watery substance cascades down his cheek. He covers his eyes with his arm before turning on his heel and bolting out the door. Unlike the guild expects, neither Happy nor Gray follow after him.

"You two, my office, now." Makarov gives no room for argument as he heads up the stairs, his two 'children' (more of a grandfather for Happy) following in a slow pace. Walking into his office, he turns on the lacrima so no one will be able to hear their conversation. "Tell me what happened."

-small time skip-

Makarov had to contain himself after hearing the story. Dissmissing the two, he stays with his thoughts, trying to find a logical explanation. But it was impossible. He clenches his fists, thinking back to their retelling of the event.

"Everything was going smoothly," Gray says, clenching his fists,"we were winning against the dark guild. Happy was watching over-head, Erza was fighting one side, I had the other, and Lucy and Natsu were fighting together, side-by-side. But-I don't know exactly what happened, Lucy might-but suddenly Natsu... exploded. Flames were everywhere, and everyone in the area was hit. It was extremely hot,and everything caught on fire. Happy tried to fly higher but his wing was caught and he fell down. I covered myself in ice, and caught him, running away from the fire. Erza re-quiped into her 'Flame Empress armor' and went in. She dragged Lucy out in worse state then you saw her in-we all looked worse than we do now. She said that Natsu was too hot for her to get to. When the fire eventually died down, Natsu was unconscious, not a single scratch on him. We then went to the hospital, got healed up a bit, that's where Natsu woke up, but we didn't talk with him. We ran from there to here today. But something I have to tell you is that some of the dark mages we were fighting against, they-they're... Dead.

Natsu killed them."

It was a rule of Fairy tail: no killing. No exceptions. And although Natsu sometimes bordered that when beating his opponents to a pulp-and never without a valid reason-he never killed, even if others may think they might deserve it. Natsu just wasn't a killer. His hands had always been clean. Makarov knew what he had to do. He couldn't let this slide. And although the mere thought made a hole in his heart, he had to do it. And with a heavy heart, he exited his office and headed into the main guild hall.

He holds his hands behind his back and walks through the silent room, all eyes on him as he exits the building, ignoring all questions, one goal in mind: find Natsu. It doesn't take too long, as the old man knows Natsu's regular places; under the large tree in the park, Lucy's house, his home, the river side, and the grave he made for Lisanna.

He goes to the grave first, hearing the sobs, which pulls at the poor old mans heart. The creator of these heart-wrenching cries never sheds a single tear. And then his eyes catch sight of the pinkette.

Natsu sits there, curled in on himself, pulling at his pink-arguably salmon-locks. Shoulders shaking, tears staining the grass below him, he sits on the hill beside the grave. Mumbling incoherent words, although Makarov can guess just what the teen is saying. He walks up almost silently, before finally speaking up.

"Natsu." He begins, and the pinkette spins around in an instant to look at him. Hands holding him up as he's almost eye-level to the small man. Eyes red and puffy, cheeks flushed and chaffed, tears still in the corners of his eyes. The fire mage then looks away from the old man, turning himself fully around he sits with his legs crossed. "Do you know what you have done?" He says, the pinkette wipes his eyes with the palm of his hand, sniffles for a moment, before opening his mouth.

"I endangered my comrades and... I almost k-killed Lucy..." At this Makarov narrows his eyes for a moment, Gray said they didn't talk to Natsu after he woke up, but to not tell him that he had killed the mages during his outburst... The old man closes his eyes for a moment before reciting what he had been told by Gray.

"You hurt your comrades; family. Almost killed Lucy with your outburst. And... you killed the mages from the dark guild you were fighting." Natsu's eyes widen to an un-measurable size as his head shoots up to look his guild master in the eye.

"I... I... I killed them?" He says in a hushed whisper, squeezing his eyes shut and shaking his head in misery.

"You know what I have to do then, right?" The old man chokes out, keeping a calm face as he goes on. Natsu bites his lip, bringing the trembling in his body down as low as he can, which is to a small shake. The pinkette nods slowly, keeping his eyes trained on the ground. "Natsu..." Trembling as hard as his 'son' is, Makarov swipes his hand horizontally in front of him. "You are hereby excommunicated from this guild." Natsu knew it was coming, he knew it after Gramps had told him he had killed those mages.

This is probably how Laxus felt... Natsu thinks, wearing a sad smile, fighting back the tears in his eyes. Standing up, he rubs them away and looks down into the old mans eyes, not missing the slight shine in them.

"I understand." He says with a voice sore from crying, shaking slightly. Standing tall he spins on his heel, stopping just outside the clearing to say his final words as a Fairy Tail mage as the mark on his shoulder begins to disappear into golden flecks. "Take care of Happy for me, and all of Fairy Tail. You don't go dying anytime soon, either. You old man... Thanks, for everything..." He finishes, walking away as Makarov is brought to tears.

First my grandson, and now one of my favorite children? Just why was this happening? The old man looks out at the image Natsu was just gracing himself with. It was peaceful, serene, beautiful. Birds making the perfect noises to match the scene, crickets chirping, the wind a soft, gentle breeze. Wiping away his tear, and looking back to where Natsu disappeared through, the guild master gives a sad smile.

"Goodbye, Natsu." He says, walking back to the guild.

Needless to say, his announcement was met with an uproar of angry mages, all saying that he was wrong to do that. Erza is quick to walk out and silence them with a glare, stating that Lucy needed to rest. No one had the guts to stand up to her.

Lucy had healed in time for the S-Class trials, and decided to be a partner for Cana to help her achieve her goal. And so, the people who go to Tenroujima are:

Mirajane, Erza, Gildarts and Makarov

1. Cana and Lucy

2. Elfman and Evergreen

3. Freed and Bixslow

4. Gray and Loke

5. Juvia and Lisanna

6. Levy and Gajeel

7. Mest and Wendy

8. Warren and Max

The exams go by smoothly at first: Gildarts letting Gray and Loke pass after a short battle, Erza annihilating Juvia and Lisanna, Elfman and Evergreen getting past Mirajane, Cana and Lucy beating Freed and Bixslow, and Warren and Max beating Mest and Wendy. While a now irritated Gajeel with a blessed Levy go through the safe route.

Afterwards, the survivors (everyone not including Juvia, Freed, Mest and all of their partners) are tasked with finding the Firsts grave. Lucy being the only one to solve the problem, while everyone else seems to just run around the island. Elfman and Evergreen meeting up with a man who kills everything around him, saved as he runs back into the forest before another outburst.

And then, in the middle of the exams, Grimoire Heart attacks. The battles start up and are waged all over the island. The Fairy Tail members temporarily forgetting about the S-Class trails as they battle with one of the strongest Dark Guilds from the Balam Alliance.

The Fairy Island soon becomes akin to a living hell. But somehow, like always, Fairy Tail pulls through. With the help of the newly-arrived three exceeds and the help from their old guild member; Laxus Dreyar. Somehow defeating the dark mages.

But victory is celebrated too early as Acnologia, the dragon of apocalypse, arrives. Attacking the island. The mages battle, but even if they were at full strength they wouldn't have won.

The beast flies up, and using their strong bonds, the mages try to save themselves from the dragons breath attack.

After that, everything goes black. And will stay that way for another seven years.

Somewhere in some place at some time

(so specific, I know)

"I wonder how everyone's doing..." a cloaked figure asks, he had been travelling for about a week and a half. The person turns to look above the trees and to the horizon. "They should be starting the S-class trails by now... I wonder if I would've been in them..."

-A diff. place at a diff. time-

"What do you mean the island was destroyed by Acnologia!? Are they all-they can't be dead!" Fairy Tail cries out, and the members of the Magic Council leave them to mourn for the loss of their most powerful members.

They stay in a state of depression for sometime, not keeping track of the days as they pass. No one going on jobs, the guild just falling apart so easily. Days turn into weeks, weeks soon turn into months. And after four months of mourning, the doors creak open, and a cloaked figure steps inside.

All of Fairy Tail looks over, no one in the mood to interact with the person. But Macao takes it upon himself to greet them and see what's up.

"Hello." He waves from his spot at the bar. The cloaked man turns towards him. All the adults reek of alcohol, everyone smells like tears and despair.

"Wow." They say, looking this way and that, scanning the guild. "I mean, I know the loss was hard, but it's been almost five months. I remember Fairy Tail being stronger than this! No missions, no nothing! I have to say it's now just a shell of its former glory-"

"If all you came here to do was point out how wasted and broken we are, then don't waste your breath and leave!" Wakaba yells at the boy, the rest of the guild voicing their agreement.

"Well, that's not what I came here for..." The figure sighs.

"Stop giving us your pity. You don't know what it's like!" Bisca cries out, shoving her face into her partners shoulder as her tears continue to stream down her face. This seems to create a chain of events in the guild as many other members join the green haired mage in the action. The smell of tears stronger than before.

"I actually do know what it's like." The man takes off his cloak to reveal a head of pink hair. "And I didn't come to rub the loss in your face. I came to help."

"Natsu!"

"Natsu?"

"You aren't supposed to be here!" Some people cry out in relief, others in hate, confusion, distrust, happiness, you name it. The teen just stands there and soaks it all in, once the comments die down he speaks up again.

"I'm not here to join, none of you have the power to do that." And I don't deserve it... "But, I won't let Fairy Tail fall until we're just holed up in some old shack, with half the members we have now."

"And why would you want to help us?" Natsu looks down at the ground at this comment, everything silent to the point where you can hear the slightest shift on creaky floorboards. Bent and twisted from the many in-guild brawls. He then looks up, a small spark of determination in his eyes.

"Because I want to make it up to not only you, but the members who are gone." Everyone can hear the unspoken words: To my team. "And so, the only way I can think of doing that, is by making sure this place remains as Fairy Tail is supposed to."

"Natsu, you aren't supposed to step foot in this hall." Macao states, eyes covered by a shadow. The boy looks down again, knowing the older mage is right. He turns on his heel, facing the door again, but before he leaves he speaks up.

"I may leave now, but I promise you this," he turns his head and everyone can see his lovable grin,"I'll be back, and I'll give you a hand even if you want me gone for good. I'll always be here for you; for Fairy Tail."

A/N: Aaaaaand that's a wrap! First chapter up! So, is it what you expected? I have to admit, I didn't want to make Natsu a murderer, but I thought that if he just hurt his team (obviously unintentionally) that he wasn't gonna get kicked out. I thought it would just make him more distant to everybody, but he'd stay, so I had to kick it up a notch, and killing was where I decided to go. So, Natsu'll be there for Fairy Tail, huh... I won't show all the seven years after this, I'll jump right into after the time-skip because I love to do that. Sorry if you don't like it, but I think it'd be better to just show the key parts in flashbacks or telling stories. Do tell if you have ideas for this story! Thanks for reading! Until next time, see ya!

P.S. To those who voted-or didn't vote-on this story. It will interfere with how long it'll take me to update my other stories. So if I get enough PM's or reviews saying they'd rather my priorities be with my other FanFic, then I'll drop this one and pick it back up when I'm done with 7-Years with a Pink Haired Kid. If I don't, then I'll keep going with this one at the same time.

*Sorry for putting it up so late!