Alright. I don't own Fairy Tail or the characters. Mashima does. Etc. Etc. Etc.

This is Chapter 9... and I feel like I've got a pretty good rhythm going again. I wouldn't expect back-to-back releases like this all the time, but at least this is a decent start back into updating.

I think I'll end up updating dragon slayers of fairy tail next, though i might go back and take a look at 'overcoming the shadows of the past. We'll just have to see what comes."

"This…" Natsu stood open-mouthed, staring at the unexpected form of the Fairy Heart. Though Irene knew a little about it, she had no idea what it actually was - just some powerful relic that Fairy Tail kept and Zeref wanted. He knew he was staring, but he couldn't help it. After the years with Irene this was one of the few times he actually found himself at a loss for words.

"Yep," said Mavis with a smile. "This is it. Not quite what you were expecting, eh?"

"Not really, to be honest," Natsu said. "You mentioned your true body was in some kind of stasis, but for it to actually be the Fairy Heart… What happened anyway?"

"It's a long story that I don't care to repeat," Mavis said, her green eyes flashing with sadness. "But I need a few moments to prepare. You might want to take these next few minutes to calm your mind and maximize your available magic power. Even the tiniest bit could make a difference."

With that she quickly departed from the room, leaving Natsu alone with his thoughts, and the naked body encased in crystal. Natsu glanced away, a little uncomfortable when he thought of the bubbly spirit who looked just like the frozen body. 'So that's why people generally can't come down here,' he thought. 'I guess I should give the old pervert some credit for not taking 'personal time' with it.'

He then sank to the floor, assuming a stance of meditation. This room reeked of magic power, and he slowly focused his mind on nothing but absorbing that power to augment his own while he waited for the former master of Fairy Tail to return.

~~~~~~~~Guild Hall~~~~~~~~

"But Master!" Gray looked pretty upset. "We can't let Natsu of all people be alone with the former guild master! You did catch the part where he's actually a demon, didn't you?"

"Gray," Erza said, turning toward him and speaking before Makarov could answer. "First of all, that decision is Mavis's to make. And considering she's the fairy tactician, I believe she knows what she's doing."

"Whatever," Gray said. "I can't believe I actually missed that freak for a while."

"I can't believe you don't miss your clothes," Cana's voice chimed in from the bar.

"When did this happen?!" Gray instantly forgot about the dragon slayer and rushed off to find his clothes.

"I'm a little worried about Gray. He's not really acting like himself."

Erza turned to see Mirajane leaning across the bar near her. She sighed, looking back toward the ice mage. "It's a lot for him to take in. All these years he's harbored hatred for demons, and now he finds out that there was one sealed inside Natsu all along. I'm sure he'll be back to normal in a few days."

"I hope so." Mirajane said. "'Cause I'm not sure how much more abnormal I can take around here. That Wendy girl seems pretty nice, but that Irene…" She cut off for a moment, and Erza felt a sense of apprehension as a playful smirk crossed her face. "Well, this guild only has room for one ginger at a time."

"Oh, you are so dead!" Erza requipped her sword immediately, the trouble in the guild momentarily gone from her mind. She launched a strike at the silver-haired mage.

"In your dreams, ginger." Mira used satan soul take over instantly, blocking the strike with a clawed hand. "Still have time to be high and mighty eh?"

"Mighty enough to kick your hussy ass," Erza rained a flurry of blows on her now, but Mirajane continued blocking, retreating slightly behind the bar where it was harder for the requip mage to reach her.

"Now that's cheating," Erza fumed, torn between jumping over the bar and beating the shit out of the other mage and the fear of the consequences if she destroyed the alcohol stashed back there. She could only stand hesitantly while Mira taunted her from the other side.

"What? Afraid to come after me? What happened to kicking my ass, ginger?"

Erza saw red. She was just about to leap over the bar when a voice sounded from near the entryway.

"Who would've thought my daughter was such an impulsive child." She turned to see Irene, who had just come in with Wendy. Apparently it hadn't taken too long to get settled in a temporary room.

"Who's your daughter?" She retorted, in no mind to engage the older mage. "I don't care if you really did give birth to me. I don't acknowledge you as my mother."

Irene just shrugged her shoulders. "It's not like I care what you acknowledge." She said. "I just dumped you off in that village anyway - and for your own good, believe it or not."

"I don't," Erza ground her teeth. She couldn't stand the fact that this woman was her biological mother. She wanted desperately to refute it. But even she could see the striking similarities between their features. Their personalities, though - those were so completely different as night and day. She was nothing like Irene.

She had a right to not acknowledge her as a mother. After all, what kind of mother abandoned her baby in a village. If she'd been raised properly, she could've avoided it all. The deaths. The tower. Losing so many friends and finding others to be false…

She scowled, turning back to find Mirajane had already changed back to her normal form. The other mage seemed to purposely avoid looking at Irene, and Erza felt herself smirk slightly. For all their differences, the two of them could always agree on their dislike for Irene…

"So how long is this thing gonna' take anyway?" Elfman asked, plopping down at the bar near Erza. "I bet Natsu will be a real MAN when he comes out!"

"Oh, he already is a real man," Irene's voice floated over as barely more than a sultry whisper, yet somehow Erza heard every word. "If he gets any bigger, I'm not sure even I'll be able to handle him."

Her fists clenched in the metal gloves she still wore from the earlier near-fight. Coming from someone else that might've been funny. But this was the red-haired witch who stole Natsu and forcefully married him. And she had the gall to make jokes about his manhood?

But what hurt the most was that she couldn't do anything about it. Erza Scarlet was no match for Irene Belserion. And she knew it. She could fantasize smashing her face in all day, but it did little to alleviate that pain. Once again, she'd encountered an enemy she just couldn't overcome. And what's more, it seemed like Natsu was already on her side!

"Calm down Erza, don't let her bait you."

Erza tried hard, but she couldn't really appreciate Mira's encouragement. It felt a little bit like the silver-haired mage was mocking her. She doubted that was her intent. But she still found it hard to listen. She'd watched her whole world spin out of control - again - just in these last couple days. And right now she just couldn't handle it.

"I'm taking off early," she said. "Let me know if Natsu succeeds."

"Sure thing," Mira replied from behind the bar. Then she turned back to her business. Erza made a point of not looking at Irene as she walked past her and out the doors to the guild.

But after leaving, she didn't head to Fairy Hills. She made a different turn. A turn that took her to a small, hand-built shack - if it could even be called a shack - in the woods. They'd found the place when they were looking for Natsu, back when the council bounty had first been put on the dragon slayers. Normally the shoddy workmanship would've fallen apart over the past few years, but thanks to Erza, Mira, and a couple other guild members it actually looked a little better than when they'd discovered it. At least on the outside. Despite the temptation, nobody went inside to look. It felt kind of like violating Natsu's memory…

Erza sat down outside the door and looked out into the distance, her eyes unfocused. "Natsu…" She murmured. "I'm here again. All these years we've wondered how you were faring. If you were still alive. If you were the same spirited kid that started at this guild back in x777…"

"And I guess now we know a little bit. It's hard for me to imagine how Irene must've treated you over the years." She sighed, looking at the ground, before laughing at herself. "Look at me, coming out here to talk to you when you're right there at the guild. But I want to talk to you Natsu! I want you to come out of that shell you've put yourself in! Tell me what happened in the years you were away! Why did you change so much? And why are you taking her side?!"

Hot tears stung her cheeks, and she brushed angrily at them with one hand. "Ow!" she squealed, and realized she hadn't taken her gauntlet off yet. She requipped into a simple red shirt with a blue skirt, feeling her red cheek where her metal gauntlet touched. She didn't know what to think. What to do. She couldn't believe Natsu could truly be in love with Irene. She knew it couldn't be true. She'd looked so hard for him for so long!

She ignored the tears that were flowing freely now and spoke again, her voice quivering. "Natsu… I believe you're still in there. That Natsu that I know. I know somewhere… beneath that coldness… beneath that fake uncaring attitude… I know you still care about us. You're just afraid to show it. Maybe afraid of what she'll do if you care about somebody besides her." That made sense. Maybe he was just protecting them. Wendy said something to that effect after all.

She felt her anger returning as the tears began to recede. What right did that woman have to take Natsu? What right did she have to control him? Well, if she took Natsu by force, all she had to do was grow more! She could take him back. WOULD take him back. And there was nothing this woman - her so called mother - could do about it. She just needed more training.

Yes. Training. It wasn't like she could coax anything out of Natsu now. So from this point onward she would dedicate all her time to the improvement of her physical form and her magic. When she was strong enough, she'd take Natsu back from that witch by force! Worst case scenario, Natsu couldn't be held by a marriage to a dead woman. Then at least he would be back at the guild, where her only real competition was Mira.

Before she fully realized what she was doing, Erza headed out to a remote part of the forest, a determined look in her eyes. She didn't intend to return to Fairy Hills till she'd exhausted all her magic power.

~~~~~~~~Somewhere Under the Guild~~~~~~~~~

Physically, the only thing that could be seen was Natsu, sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of the crystal-encased body of the first master. But inside Natsu's mind, a different scene appeared.

Natsu stood there, a hint of trepidation on his face, staring at three seeds that were all writhing as though they would sprout at any moment. One was a simple, brown and red seed - the human seed - that represented his potential as a human. Another, dark red with bright orange cracks running all through it, was his dragon seed. The demon seed seemed more sinister, wrapped in a red haze that obscured the darker colors, so that only deep red lights shone through the cracks in the seed.

Next to him stood Mavis Vermilion - or at least her spirit. The first master gave him a reassuring pat on the shoulder - which he realized he could actually feel since they were both in spirit forms right now. She didn't say anything, but then she didn't need to. The light pat on the shoulder said everything he needed to hear.

"Well, here goes!" With a bestial roar, Natsu pushed his magic power to its limit, pushing the seeds together. They came together, all three touching each other, but seemed to struggle as the hot magic power tried to push them into the next step, breaking down their seeds and combining them. Natsu strained hard, giving them even more power. Like his last attempt, he was beginning to make a little headway, but he could easily see that the magic power he had left would be depleted well before the merging was complete.

At that moment he felt a sudden surge of hot, white magic power flood him, and another powerful will working with his own. The seeds all began to glow, first turning each to their own red and orange colors, and then finally becoming a blinding white. Natsu felt the oppressive heat and destructive force of the other magic energy inside him. He felt as though it might tear him apart, but he gritted his teeth and hung on. He could see progress was being made. The three shapes were slowly melting together, losing their individual seed appearances. Slowly they melded toward each other, approaching that level of completion.

Sweat poured down the face of Natsu's physical form, and he felt the sensation in his spirit as well. They were almost there. Just a couple more moments and all three would be fully joined! And best of all, thanks to the addition of the Fairy Heart, he still had plenty of magic left!

"And here comes the hardest part," Mavis said beside him. Natsu tensed at that. He wasn't sure what the hardest part exactly entailed, but his intuition told him it wouldn't be good. His brain wanted to say they were almost done. Already, he could see that final step being accomplished as the three melded into a single, large seed that looked similar to an acorn. Then…

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Natsu roared as sudden, intense pain permeated his whole being. It felt like every atom was being ripped apart inside him. Like tiny explosions were happening in every bone, every ligament, every blood cell in his whole body. There was intense burning pain like nothing he'd ever felt before, not even in Irene's worst torture sessions. His vision was filled with nothing but white, and he could barely focus enough to maintain the fusion.

"We're almost there, hang in there Natsu!" The first master's voice encouraged him. He couldn't see her. Couldn't see anything but hot, white oblivion. But he trusted the voice. He kept pushing, hoping to whatever gods existed that she was right.

Then finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the searing pain and white light died down, leaving him spent and exhausted. Unable to even share the good news with the guild, he slumped into a faint on the floor.

~~~~~~~~Guild Hall, 26 hours after Natsu and Mavis headed to the lower rooms~~~~~~~~~

"So how long do you think before we know if they succeeded?" Elfman asked, his chin resting on one hand as he held a tankard of beer in the other.

"Who knows?" Said Mira, and then she glared at him. "And what are you doing with the beer! How'd you even get ahold of it!"

"Just got some when you weren't looking. Drinking beer is a MAN!"

"Oh, you're really in for it this time!" Mira instantly transformed into Satan Soul.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!" A loud, terrible roar permeated the entire guild. The earth shook so hard that tables started bouncing, throwing people to the ground. Magic chandeliers crashed from the ceiling, and everyone dove for cover.

"Shit! I'm sorry Sis! I didn't mean to make you that angry!" Mira turned to see Elfman looking at her, obviously scared shitless, backing away with both hands out.

"You think I was the cause of that, dumbass?" She said, slowly releasing her Satan Soul. "That was definitely Natsu's voice."

"I hope he's ok." Levy sounded shaky as she got up from her table in the corner. "It sounded like he's in a lot of pain."

"Don't forget, first master is with him. She'll make sure nothing goes wrong," Mira said. Her heart wasn't sure that it shared the confidence in her voice though. She trusted the first master. But how could what they just heard be the result of anything working out right?

"Well, I suppose you're right…" Levy didn't look like she fully believed it either. And Mirajane could only sigh. Though the scream had died down, they could still hear faint roars of pain from somewhere beneath their feet.

Then, finally, silence descended. Mira glanced over to see Irene looking as calm and unperturbed as ever. Wendy was trying to look aloof, but it was easy to see that she was worried for the dragon slayer too. Everyone was silent, as though a spell hung over the guild and no one dared utter a noise lest they break it.

Finally Wakaba spoke up. "Should we go down there?" He asked hesitantly.

"First master said they were not to be disturbed no matter what we heard," Makarov's voice echoed through the guild hall. The master had emerged, and was now at the end of the bar by Cana. "Don't forget that she's a spirit, and can't be harmed by whatever happened to Natsu. If something were wrong, she'd be up here to tell us right away and offer instructions."

Mira breathed a sigh out. She knew Master Makarov was right. Still, her heart worried for Natsu. Though she didn't show it as much as Erza, she'd missed the dragon slayer just as much as her red-haired rival. And she'd gone to bed every night hoping that the next day would be the day they got word of him.

But who knew that when he finally showed up, he'd be such a different person. It was almost impossible to recognize his personality. But the old Natsu still remained, underneath it all. She was certain of that much. He just needed a chance to come out in the open. A chance away from that witch who stole him and beat the new personality into him.

Mira sighed again and forcibly drove those thoughts from her mind. They couldn't possibly beat Irene right now. They couldn't even take Natsu or Wendy. They could only wait till Gildarts got back from his long quest, and who knew how long that might take. The only thing she could do now was get stronger…

Of course, get stronger. "Hey Gramps, someone else will have to take care of the bar. I'm leaving." With those words she was out the door. Why didn't she think of this sooner. If she could train hard, maybe find some new takeovers, eventually she'd be able to beat the shit out of that witch from across the sea. Then they could show Natsu he could be his old, fun-loving self. Worst case scenario, she wasn't afraid to kill the bitch red-head.

~~~~~~~~Below the guild, some hours later~~~~~~~~

"Shit…" Natsu groaned as he sat up, rubbing the back of his head. His body ached all over, like he'd taken a hundred of Irene's worst beatings and done a harsh training session on top of it. But he could feel the change in the magic power within him. The merging had been successful! The three seeds had now joined to form one completely new seed - and sprouted as a culmination of that work. He glanced down at his body, feeling that he might have some new perks that went with his new self. He willed his arms to change, and they became tough and scaly. His hands transformed into sharp, scale-coated claws. He smirked slightly, returning them to normal. Then sprouted a pair of demonic wings from his back.

"Hell yeah! No more taking transportation ever. I'm flying anywhere I can't teleport." He felt his old exuberance come back for a moment.

But reality quickly splashed cold water all over that. "First I have to beat Zeref… and I doubt Irene will want to stick around Fairy Tail," he muttered to himself. He was able to drop his guard a little here because none of his friends were around to see him. He still held out hope that he and Irene would one day come to the guild, and of course Wendy would come with them. But for now…

"Waaaaaaa!" He was startled and interrupted by what sounded like a baby crying. He looked around, startled, and realized a few things for the first time since he returned to consciousness.

First, the Fairy Heart was gone. The crystal was nowhere to be seen.

Second, the first master's body was lying absolutely still on the ground, with no signs of life coming from her.

And third, what kept him from freaking out about the other two things, there was a freaking naked baby girl on the floor next to him. With tiny blonde and pink baby hairs all over her head.

"WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK!" Freaking out wasn't a strong enough word for it. Natsu was about to go into panic mode. What the hell happened here? Didn't Mavis say it would be mutually beneficial?! Why was she dead? And where the fuck did this baby come from?!

"Hi Natsu," he stopped and turned, to see a lacrima projection playing. It was apparently recorded by Mavis' spirit before the whole incident. "I know you've probably got a lot of questions here. So I'm going to give you the most basic answer I can…"

"If you're seeing this message, that means I was successful. So here's what will have happened. Essentially, during the process of merging your seeds, at the last moment when the magic power was at its highest, I diverted some of the magic power and some of the seed into my own eggs. After that, I continued to use the magic power to age the egg to the maximum possible before merging my consciousness into it. I won't remember any of this, because once the merger is complete I'll basically be a baby with some of my characteristics and some of yours. Oh, and don't worry - there wasn't another spirit in the baby before I merged into it. It was just a fragment of your new human-dragon-demon seed implanted in my egg, which I then used magic to accelerate time for as far as possible till I became the age I am now. I'm guessing it will be about six months, but I can't say for sure."

"So yeah, I guess in a way you could say I'm our baby now." With that the recorded Mavis giggled. "Anyway, I'm not one to go on and on. I've explained what was necessary. I'll leave figuring out how to tell Irene and the guild to you. I've recorded another lacrima and put it in Makarov's office, so he should be getting this same explanation soon."

With that she disappeared, leaving Natsu in absolute silence with the crying baby.

~~~~~~~~Guild Hall~~~~~~~~

"Hey! I think they're finally coming!" Cana blurted from the bar. Sure enough, Natsu soon came out of the corridor leading ot the guild's basement, carrying something in his arms. Necks craned as people tried to see what he was holding, but he kept whatever it was firmly hidden. Finally, when he reached a point where the whole guild could see him, he stopped and looked out at everyone.

"Well, it worked…" He said.

"That's great Natsu," Makarov was the first to speak up. "But where's Mavis?"

"Well," Natsu gulped, looking like he could hardly believe what he was saying himself as he slowly moved his arms so everybody could see what he was holding - a cute baby girl less than a year old with blonde and pink hair. "It's kinda' hard to explain, but this is Mavis…"

"NAAAAAAAAANNNIIIIIIII?!"

And that's a wrap. Don't forget to drop a review!