Hello everybody and welcome back to this little project of mine! Welcome to Soul of Fire!

For those who read the previous version of this story and are confused, then allow me to clarify. I was not very satisfied with how the execution of the previous story was going, so I gave it much more thought and come up with a much better beginning, or at least one that I feel happier with. So please, give it a try.

Anyway, this is basically a Fairy Tail X Bleach crossover. This takes place before the events of Bleach and can be considered an alternate ending of Fairy Tail, so yeah. Any questions, criticism, opinions and ideas you may have are welcome, so please share. And more importantly, I hope you enjoy.

Chapter 1

"Acnologia! This is the end for you!" Shouting on top of his lungs with all of his strength, Natsu charged at the Dragon of the Apocalypse with his fist raised high in the air as it burned bright with power.

Seeing the younger Dragon Slayer approaching, Acnologia couldn't help but clench his teeth. He tried to move his body, but found the task near impossible to perform. He could barely move a single inch.

Looking back at the incoming pink-haired Dragon Slayer, he scowled and opted to block the incoming attack rather than try to avoid it.

"You fool! Have you learned nothing? No matter how much you try, magic does not work on me!" An insane smirk was plastered on Acnologia's face, knowing full well that his body would not be frozen for much longer.

"As if I give a damn! As long as I take you down, I don't care about anything else!" With a fearless roar, Natsu lunged towards the Dragon King while preparing to deliver his final attack.

The amount of power that Natsu had accumulated was so great that it would definitely obliterate anything that stands on its path.

Watching the large reptilian fist become closer, Acnologia was able to feel its vast power. The Dragon King had to admit, it was quite impressive. He would have been worried was it not for the fact that he was able to feel his own hand twitch, a clear indication that he was regaining control over his own body.

Looking at his one remaining hand, a wide grin formed on his face. Chuckling darkly, Acnologia close it into a tight fist before speaking. "Let's play, Dragon Slayer."

...

The sensation of the wind caressing his face, along with the sound of rustling leaves were the first thing Natsu registered when he first woke up. That and the immense headache that he had were enough to force a grunt of pain out of him.

He reached for his forehead, but it did little to minimize the aching. His breathing was long and heavy, with sweat running down the side of his face. Putting his hand back to his side, he blinked while opening his eyes.

He was surprised at first, as he was greeted by the sight of a smoke-covered cloudy blue sky. Blinking a couple of times, he turned his head to the side and realized that he was lying on what appeared to be a small crater with a large trail leading all the way up to where he was.

"Where…am I?" Lifting his chest, Natsu took a sitting position before looking at his own surroundings, but this did nothing but increase his already growing confusion even further. "What happen here?"

For what he was able to see, he was in what appeared to be a forest of some sort, or at the very least what used to be. The land was scorched and full of broken trees, not even leaving the grass unscathed. There was even a smoking bush, along with many other things that were still on fire.

Whatever happened here, it would seem that the place got completely wreck.

Still though, while he was far from being the smartest of the bunch, he knew that he would not get any answers by just lying down and doing nothing.

He tried to stand up, using both of his arms as support to push himself off the ground, but he only ended up hissing in pain before falling back on his rear. This caused him to let out another painful groan.

"D-Damn it! What the hell?" Looking for the source of the pain, his eyes traveled across the multiple wounds that covered his body until, they landed on what seem to be his right arm.

It was severely burned.

"Oh... How did I even forget about that?" He wondered out loud, using his other arm to rub the back of his head in embarrassment. The wound on his right arm was without a doubt very nasty, as he could swear that he even got a glimpse of some of the inner flesh in it. It was defiantly not a pretty sight. He also wasn't sure, but his body may have a few broken bones as well.

Zeref sure did quite a number on him, didn't he?

Wait, hold on… Zeref?

Natsu's process of thought suddenly halted as soon as that name came to his mind, as he did not just recall the reason behind his arm's current condition, but the events that took place soon after as well.

The war...

Alvarez...

Zeref...

Fairy Heart...

A new thought then came to Natsu's mind. A thought that by itself was terrifying enough for his eyes to take a fearful look.

Acnologia! That single word was enough to put the pinkette in a state of alert.

His eyes quickly scanned his surroundings, turning left and right while looking for any sign of the Dragon of the Apocalypse. But thankfully, he found none. It took him a few deep breaths, but the pinkette was slowly but surely able to calm himself down.

Letting out a sigh of relief, Natsu allowed himself to fall flat on his back. He was beyond exhausted, there was no denying it. He wanted nothing more than to just close his eyes and rest. Feeling like this was no surprise at all. After all, fighting for numerous days non-stop just like he did would surely leave anyone just as exhausted, if not more.

But he couldn't do that just yet. Not when he didn't even know if his friends were alright to begin with.

Clenching his fist tightly, Natsu mustered whatever strength he had left and pushed himself back up once again, grunting as he tried his best to endure the pain. He supported himself on one knee, releasing the air that he was holding on his lungs while stretching his muscles a little bit more, he stood back on both of his feet.

Taking a deep breath, he preceded to sniff the air with his enhanced sense of smell with the intent of searching for any trace of his friends. But that endeavor left him without results. He couldn't find even the smallest trace.

"Tch, dammit! Where the hell are you guys?" He cursed out loud, barely able to suppress the increasing frustration.

After a few more tries of sniffing the air, he was soon able to caught something. It was a human scent. It was faint, but the trace was there. And judging by it's high concentration, it would seem that it had to be a settlement of some sort not too far from where he was. "Well, I guess that's where I'll be going then."

Scratching the tip of his nose with a finger, Natsu turned to look at the direction where he knew he would be heading to. If there really was a town nearby, then there was bound to be people there as well. People who he could ask for help or that perhaps may be able to tell him where he was.

And so, with determination in his mind, Natsu Dragneel took a step forward into the smoking remains of the forest. "Just hold on guys, I'll see you all soon!"

A few hours later...

Despite his wounds, it did not take long for the Dragon Slayer to find the source of the scent that he was looking for. And must he say, he was quite surprised by what he found.

Back when he first got that scent, he was expecting to find a town or maybe a village of some sorts, but what he truly did not expected to find was an enormous settlement that was easily bigger than all of Crocus!

"Whoa…" Looking with complete awe at the vast number of wooden buildings and people around him, Natsu could not help but be impressed by the sight before him.

The streets were all overrun with the town folks, all of them busy and dealing with their daily lives. It really was a crowded place. On the other hand, though he did not fail to notice that the place didn't look too great either.

While the town sure was quite big in size and was extremely loaded with people, it also appeared to be in a really poor state. The buildings and everything around was not only old, but it all looked like it had little to no care at all. And the people did not seem to be in the best of shapes either.

Most of them, if not all, were living under very poor conditions. Almost no one wore any clothes at all, and those who did had nothing but old rags on.

It sure was a new sight for the Dragon Slayer, as never in all of his travels did he ever came across a town that looked this poor. The people at the very least appeared to be doing rather well actually. Otherwise, he would have probably been a little bit more concerned. Well, he already had others things that he needed to deal with.

Walking through the dirt road of the busy streets with people passing around him and even bumping shoulders with him more than once, Natsu looked around him in confusion. He noticed the few curious glances he got from the people, which was probably due to his exposed injures. But other than just looking at him, they did not appear to care at all. Not like he really mind the stares anyway, as right now that was the least of his worries.

He already considered asking the people around for directions, but he had no idea of who to ask first. It was the same as trying to choose your favorite flavor. There were just too many choices! He needed to make up his mind and ask anybody for information, but he was not sure of who to approach first.

However, the Dragon Slayer did catch something from the corner of his left eye. It was a group of people standing on the side of the street next to an alley.

"Hmm, maybe I should ask them, they seem nice enough." Not giving his idea much thought, he was made his way towards the group before greeting them with his cheerful attitude. "Yo guys! How's the going?"

The group of people who he called directed their attention towards him. "Who is this guy?" One of them asked to the rest of his friends, but obviously none of them had the answer. He took a step forward and gave Natsu a nasty glare. "What do you want pinkie? You lost or something?"

"I am, actually. Can you guys tell me what is this town called? Cause I have no clue at all."

"Well, we could help you out with that." The former gave the pinkette a look and grinned soon afterwards. "But you have to give us something in exchange first."

"In exchange? Like what?" He tilted his head in confusion.

Giving the Dragon Slayer a wide grin, the man responded. "Your sandals for example."

"My sandals?" Questioned Natsu with a raised eyebrow, not sure of what to make of the weird request.

"Yeah, and that scarf of yours too. It can get very cold during this time of the year, you know?"

This statement of course earned him a dangerous frown from the pinkette, something on which the man was completely oblivious about. "Sorry, but that's not going to happen."

The man's grin vanished in an instant, replaced by a look of irritation. "Is that so? Well then, I guess we're just going to have to take them from you. Isn't that right boys?"

His response came in the form of multiples chuckles, as his friends soon took a step forward. Some of them even pulled a knife from their robes before surrounding Natsu in a semi-circle in a clear attempt of intimidation. "Alright pinky, give us everything you have!" Demanded one of the thugs while pointing a knife at Natsu's face.

Eyeing the short weapon, Natsu turned his gaze to the one holding it before looking to the rest of the group of thugs. There were only four of them. He glanced at his own wounds, knowing full well that they were rather severe, but not serious enough to threaten his life, so they shouldn't give him much trouble.

All of these information of course helped him reach a simple conclusion. He was going to kick these punks' asses to the next Wednesday!

Another one of the thugs got closer, clearly intending to snatch Natsu's scarf from his neck. But the only thing the man got in return was a fist smashing into his lower jaw, causing the man to be send flying through the street and crash into a wall.

"What the…?" One of them yelled in shock, but did not got time to finish whatever he was about to say, as he was immediately punched in the stomach. The thug desperately gasped for air before falling face-first into the ground. It took only a few more seconds before the other two could even realized what just happened.

The pinkette just took out their friends in a second.

The thug who first spoke to Natsu was able to overcome his shock and immediately growled in anger. "Y-You bastard! I'm going to make you pay, you freak!" Dashing towards Natsu with a knife at hand, the man intended to stab him. But even with that, Natsu did not flinched. If anything, the Dragon Slayer appeared disappointed.

"Man, you guys sure are weak, aren't ya?"

"S-Shut up!" He yelled while swinging his knife at Natsu's neck, wanting nothing more than to end the pinkette's life!

But then it was all over.

The next thing the man knew, he was lying on the ground and looking directly at the sky with the pinkette standing above him. He was looking at him with a deathly glare.

"Never. Try that. Again." That was the last thing the man heard before losing consciousness.

All of the bystanders on the street who were watching the whole ordeal were left astonished with what they just witnessed, not believing that the same muggers who have been causing so much trouble through the district for so many years had been handled the way they did. But it was all over before it even started, coming to an end in the blink of an eye.

"S-Stay back you freak!" Surprised by the sudden voice, Natsu glanced over his shoulder to look at the source. He found himself looking straight at the last thug standing, looking back at him with a fearful look on his eyes. The man was beyond terrified.

Taking a step closer, Natsu gave the man a curious look before speaking. "What? You want to come at me too or what? Come on! I'm itching for a good fight!"

"M-M-Monster!" The man did the smartest thing that he could have possibly do in his situation and ran away in fear as fast as he could without sparing a second thought, leaving behind the unconscious forms of his friends while screaming in terror.

"Oi! Who are you calling a monster?!" Natsu shouted back in a childish fit of anger, but the man was already too out of reach to be heard. In the end, Natsu allowed himself to relax before letting out a tired sigh. "Man, those guys were ass-holes. I mean, I bet they even..."

"GET OUT OF THE WAY!"

"Agh-! What the hell!" He was hit out of nowhere by a small body that crashed into him, causing him to fall to the ground. "Ugh! Dammit, as if I wasn't under enough pain already..."

Holding his hurting head, Natsu tried to shake off the effects of the impact that he just received, but could not prevent himself from letting another painful groan escape his throat. He opened his eyes with the intent of finding out what in the world hit him in the first place, but then he saw something that caused him to blink in surprise.

It was a small girl.

If Natsu had to guess, he would say that she was roughly around the same age as Wendy, only that she looked much smaller in comparison. That was kind of funny though, as never did he thought that he would ever meet someone even smaller than her fellow Dragon Slayer.

"T-That hurt!" The black-haired girl couldn't help but loudly complain as she rubbed her head. Shaking off the dirt from his clothes, Natsu managed to stand back up before directing himself to the small girl.

"Hey there, are you alright?"

Hearing his voice was enough to cause the girl to jump in fright. She lifted her head to see who it was, only for her eyes to widen when they met with his. However, once she realized what was happening, her mouth twitched a little before she allowed herself to speak. "Y-Yeah. S-Sorry for that."

"Nah, no worries."

Hearing her reply was enough to make the Dragon Slayer smile as helped her get back on her feet, but not before taking notice of the bag lying on the ground next to her.

He picked the bag up and was ready to hand it over back to her when he managed to catch a glimpse of what was inside. "Oh yeah, here is your…apples?" The bag was in fact full of fresh red apples, and he could not help but be curious about it.

"Rukia!"

Hearing someone's sudden yell caused Natsu's ears to tingle in response. He and the girl turned to where the voice came from, and they were both greeted by the sight of a red-haired boy running towards them from the side of the street with a bunch of other kids following him soon after. All of them carrying similar bags to the one the girl had.

"What the hell are you doing standing there? Run!"

Having heard that, the girl's eyes widened in realization. "Oh! Right!" She snatched the bag back from Natsu and quickly joined the other kids.

"Oi! Hold on a second! Dammit, what's with those kids?" Natsu's words were left completely unheard and fell into deaf ears, but that didn't bother him as much as seeing the distress that the kids' faces had. It leaved Natsu wondering just in what kind of problem could a bunch of kids find themselves into?

His answer soon came in the form of a raging old man holding a hard stick in his hand. "You little brats! You think you can all just steal from my stand and get away with it! I'll make you all pay!"

Natsu stayed silent as he watched the old man disappear on the direction that the group of kids went to. The pinkette could not stop himself from letting out a tired sigh.

"Today isn't really my day, is it?"

This is bad! This is really, really bad! Rukia could not help but repeat those exact same words in her head over and over as she and her friends continue to flee from the angry old man that was chasing after them.

She could not say that the man's anger was not justified, after all she and her friends did stole quite a number of apples from him, but it's not like they could afford them either, especially at this part of the Rukongai.

While it's true that one can't feel hunger in the Soul Society, it does not mean that they can't enjoy the pleasure of tasting something sweet in their mouths. Still, everything would have gone according to plan had Renji not screwed things up for them!

What happen after that? Well, they all were forced to grab whatever they could and make a run for it. Which brought them to their current issue.

"Over there!" Pointing to an alley on the far corner of the street, Renji was quick to turn over without sparing a second thought while everyone else was following him. "Come on let's go!"

Having entered an alley, it didn't take long before they realized that there was a huge wall blocking their way. "What the hell Renji! You took us to a dead-end!"

"Wh-What?! But I thought this was the right way!"

Panic soon spread among the group as they began blaming each other. But luckily for them, Rukia was ready to do something about it.

Running towards the wall, she quickly threw her own bag to the other side. Before anyone could even question what was she even doing, she spun around while holding her entwined hands in front of her. "Come on! Stop wasting time and move!"

Everyone looked at Rukia in confusion, not understanding what she wanted them to do. But unlike them, Renji soon caught up to her idea. "Alright, here I go!"

With an excited grin, the redhead handed his bag to one of his friends beside him and sprinted forward. Stepping on her hands, he used them for support to get enough impulse to jump high enough so he could reach the tallest section of the wall, landing safely on the top.

"Nice Renji! Alright, who is next?"

Soon enough everyone understood and began to follow Renji's example. It was thanks to the combined efforts of both Renji and Rukia that they nearly all of them were able to get over the wall safely.

It was a simple yet efficient strategy. Rukia helped them get high enough so Renji could reach for them and pull them over. Everything was going according to plan and it continue like that until no one but Rukia remained.

"Alright Rukia! Here, take my hand, quick!"

Nodding in response, Rukia took a few steps back with the intent of getting enough momentum so she could achieve a higher jump. But before she could even take the first step she felt someone forcefully grab her by the arm.

"Rukia!"

"I got you now, you little brat! I'll make sure to teach you a lesson that you'll never forget!"

Rukia flinched at this, knowing full well that whatever the old man was planning to do to her was certainly going to be painful. She tried to fight back, struggling but failing to get away from the man's tight grip on her arm.

It was just too strong for her to do anything other than annoy the man further. "Oh, still got some fight inside you, I see. I guess I'll just have to beat it out of you!"

Seeing the man preparing to hit her, Rukia's eyes winded fearfully before she closed them on instinct, bracing herself for what would surely be a painful beating.

The only thing she could do at the moment was raise her other arm in front of her in a desperate attempt of blocking the incoming hit. But it never came. She waited for it to happen, expecting to feel the painful hard wood of the stick hitting her at any second, but she felt nothing.

She slowly opened one of her eyes, not wanting to make any sudden movements but also feeling curious as to why was the man taking so long to hit her. However, what Rukia saw next caused her entire body to freeze in shock, her mouth hanging agape as both of her eyes went wide in surprise.

It was that same guy that she run into earlier. The one with the pink hair. And he was holding the old man's hand in place, preventing it from getting any closer to her.

"What do you think you are doing?"

"What the...? Let go of my hand you brat!"

Natsu completely ignored the older man's demand and choose to give him a serious yet threatening hard glare as he spoke. "You think beating up a little girl is alright?"

"W-What?"

The man was then taken back by the cold attitude of the pinkette, feeling himself fall under the pressure of the intense glare that he was getting from the former.

"S-She stole from me! She and and all of her stupid little friends! If anything I am the victim here! I am..."

Whatever else the old man had to say fell into deaf ears, as Natsu didn't even bothered to continue listening, having already enough of the old man's excuses. Using the grip he had on the guy's hand, he easily tossed him to the side as if he was nothing more than a rag doll, sending him crashing against a hard wall.

"Serves you right old-man." Said Natsu with a scowl before turning to face the girl that he just saved.

He realized that she was now looking at him with a mix of both surprise and confusion. Natsu honestly found that to be a rather odd response, but nonetheless, he didn't give it much thought and kneeled down so he could be at her same level. Which was really low, by the way.

Natsu gave the girl a friendly smile. "Hey there, you okay? You ain't hurt, are you?"

Somewhere in the Human world...

He couldn't move. He did not know why, but he just couldn't.

There was an intense exhaustion taking over him, causing his muscles to feel weak and tired. He growled at this in anger. He had no idea of where he was, but he honestly did not care.

He was aware that he must be somewhere close to a mayor human population, as his nostrils were hit by the foul smell of their race coming from all around him. It was sickening.

It was already nighttime and it was raining, but he couldn't care less about such things. He could feel the rain drops constantly hitting his dark skin nonstop, getting his clothes more wet every second and drenching his hair up to the point where it was starting to get heavy. But he did not care.

Glancing down at the strange chain that was attached to his chest, he could feel a strange spiritual energy coming from it, which felt quite different to the one his body was composed of ever since he got separated from his physical one.

It was strange, but not unfamiliar.

But that was not all. The other end of the chain connected to him seemed to have grew a mouth from out of nowhere and started to eat itself, slowly getting closer and closer. He wondered, what would happen once the chain reached his body?

He will find out sooner or later. But regardless of that, there were others thoughts that were currently going through his mind at the moment, but between those thoughts, there was a particular one that stood out from among the rest.

It was revenge.

Revenge against the pink haired human who humiliated him and brought him into this pathetic state.

He will have to recover his strength first, but once he does, he will hunt him down to wherever place he is hiding and he will make sure that he pays dearly. For when it comes to Acnologia, no place is safe.

CHAPTER END

Well there you go guys, my new project is finally back in action and ready to go. I hope you guys like it or at the very least are interested in knowing what is going to happen. After all, I do have a lot of things plan for this story.

Anyway, any questions or ideas you have? Don't hesitate to brought them in a review and I will answer the next chapter.

So anyway, hope you guys have a very nice day and take care! See yah!