SUMMARY:

What started as a fierce desire to prove his own strength… ends up with darker-than-Dark Guilds, mysterious connections to Zeref and Jellal, and power and control of which Natsu could never have even dreamed. But the price he pays… are the memories of the past themselves?

Somewhat dark themes. Powerful-but-antagonistic-and-yet-protagonistic Natsu (like how all the "antagonists" in canon are "protagonists" in their own right – I like how Hiro Mashima does that)

*~FIRST FANFIC!~*

DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN FAIRY TAIL. I DON'T OWN ANYTHING ELSE THAT MIGHT BE COPYRIGHTED THAT I MAKE REFERENCES TO, EITHER.

Note: There probably won't be much NatsuxLucy since the plot focuses mostly on Natsu's own adventures and stuff… there might be little implied tidbits of it here and there, but not very much.

"WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?" Natsu growled ferociously. The entire guild had become quiet, and was listening in on the exchange going on at the moment.

"You heard me," Laxus continued arrogantly and smugly. "You're a pathetic excuse for a mage. You're impulsive and you lack stuff up here-" Laxus poked Natsu in the forehead, "-and that thing about your little team being the strongest? What a load of crap." In the corner of the guild, no one noticed that Mirajane had started sobbing streams of anime tears.

The dragon slayer let out a battle cry and jumped towards the other dragon slayer. The blonde merely laughed, and held out a hand, electrocuting him to a crisp. Natsu fell to the guild floor, twitching and emitting smoke. Only a "hmph" was heard from Laxus before he turned and left. The rest of the guild slowly returned back to its normal noisy chatter, but Erza, Lucy, and even Gray kneeled down beside the pink-haired mess on the floor.

"Natsuuuuu, are you okay?" Happy asked.

"N-never b-been… bet-ter…"

Gray looked at him for a moment, then his expression turned smug. "Sheesh, Natsu, didn't expect you to be so weak. I mean, you just got KO'd by Laxus in what? One hit – "

Unfortunately, Gray never got to finish his statement, as somehow, Natsu had recovered completely from his oh-so-devastating injury and had delivered a punch to him, sending the ice mage flying across the guild.

"HAH! WHO'S KO'D IN ONE HIT NOW?"

Behind him, Lucy sweatdropped. How does he even do that!

"WANNA GO, FLAME BRAIN?"

"BRING IT ON, ICE FR – HEY!" It was Natsu's turn to be caught off guard with the sudden punch. Gray smirked. "Why you…" Immediately, he launched into a counterattack and the two of them became covered in a cloud of dust floating around the room; occasionally a leg or a head could be seen poking out of it.

"WHERE IS A MAN! NATSU AND GRAY ARE MEN! REAL MEN SPEAK WITH THEIR FISTS!" Elfman cheered on the two fighting boys' actions.

"STOP IT IMMEDIATELY YOU TWO, OR – "

However, Erza never got to finish her statement. She had, unbelievably, decided not to wear her armor today, as the weather was simply too hot. Instead, she had opted to go for normal attire that a woman would wear. Unfortunately, that didn't work out too well. Why?

One of the two quarrelers managed to accidentally rip her skirt, exposing her undergarments.

Silence filled the guild.

The silence was then replaced with the faint sounds of a few nosebleeds (loud enough to be audible) and perverted giggles.

And then a massive battle cry, and the war resumed, this time involving a requipped, armor-clad Erza as well as Natsu and Gray.

"Go Gray-sama! Juvia shall aid you in your valiant show of strength!"

"REAL MEN SPEAK WITH THEIR FISTS! LIKE THIS!"

"SHUT UP AND LET ME DRINK!"

"GO NATSU! AYE!"

"I think Erza should show us her panties again. Teehee!" Everyone sweatdropped at that. "What!" Makarov demanded, "don't pretend that you didn't like it!"

"Our guild master…"

"Master, shouldn't you try and do something to stop this?" asked Mirajane, who stood behind the counter on which Makarov was sitting.

The incident that had previously just occurred was quickly forgotten. Or at least, that's how most of the people felt. All except for one – a certain pink-haired fire mage quickly devising a plan to prove those words wrong.

Mirajane stifled a yawn. It was approaching midnight, and the guild master was the only person left other than her.

"It's getting late. I think I'm going to get going now," she informed him. He nodded sagely in response. "Yes, I think I will retire to my house as well."

The two of them walked towards the exit, Mira turning off the lights on their way. A few moments later, the entire guild was in complete and utter darkness.

All was silent. Everything was unmoving. Nothing was –

Wait. Is that the Pink Panther theme? Indeed, indeed it is!

"Happy, SHHHHH! I don't know if they're out of earshot yet. We should stay quiet for now."

"AYE SIR!"

"Happy!"

"Aye, sir…!"

Natsu brought his hands together and looked around stealthily. "Nin-nin!" Happy declared. "I mean, nin-nin…!"

The two partners in crime looked to their right. Nothing was there. In sync, they rapidly rotated their heads to the left. Nothing was there. After a few seconds, the fire mage took a tentative step forward.

CREEEEAAAAAAKKKKKKKKKKKK.

Sweat began to form on his forehead. He took another step.

!

Natsu rushed at his max speed to the other side of the guild and up the stairs to the second floor, where all the S-class requests are located. When he got there, sweat was pouring down his face, drenching all his features. "Dang, Happy, how did you get here so quietly?"

"I flew."

Natsu faceplanted. Of course. How could he have forgotten that his best friend could fly. Heck, he probably would have been able to fly to the second floor and snatch a request a lot sooner.

"Whatever. Let's just take one of these stupid requests and be on our way. Maybe if we're lucky, we'll return by tomorrow morning." He accompanied this ludicrous statement with an equally stupid grin.

"Wait, Natsu. Maybe this isn't a good idea."

A frightening silence followed in the darkness. A bunch of thoughts were swirling in the back of Natsu's mind. Something about the last time this happened…?

Then as soon as the frightening silence came, it was gone. The two of them laughed.

"Natsu, this one looks pretty good!" Happy was pointing at one of the requests on the board while still in his winged form. "Hmm?" The dragon slayer detached the request from the board and read through it thoroughly. After a few seconds, he sweatdropped. "I can't read this…"

Happy took this opportunity to remark snidely, "ooooh, how could I have forgotten… the mighty Natsu Dragneel doesn't know how to read!" In return, he received a heated glare (heated enough to seem to glow in the pitch black guild). "You chose that one on purpose, didn't you? Just to poke fun at me?"

"No, Natsu! Here, let me (snicker snicker) read it to you:

Castle Romeo has been a long-standing monument in the kingdom of Fiore. It represents much of this land's history. Many former rulers have lived in it for their entire lives.

Unfortunately, it has fallen into a state of disrepair. Those who have been hired previously to investigate the castle and clean it up have all disappeared – never to be heard from again. There have already been attempts to take it down, but some mysterious force prevents them from ever succeeding. Due to the vastness of the castle, and the fact that many of the previously hired investigators were high-level mages, we have accordingly ranked this request as such. It is uncertain what difficulties may await those who enter the castle, but they are certain to be unsavory.

Because this castle is worth very much, and so many of the details of the mission remain unknown, the reward for this mission has been set accordingly.

By taking this mission you agree to the terms and conditions:

We are not responsible for any opposition you may meet in the castle.

We are not responsible if you –

Wait, there's a smudge here."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever; doesn't matter, it's probably not important. Tell me what the reward is!" The boy was practically jumping up and down and swaying from side to side from the excitement that he was feeling.

The flying Exceed squinted at the request. "It's so dark… I can't see it clearly… I think it says three, followed by a bunch of zeros… million? Yeah! Three million Jewel!"

Natsu was bouncing up and down so rapidly that he was just entirely a blur. "LETS GO HAPPY!"

"AYE SIR!"

(the next day)

"MASTER MAKAROV!"

The mentioned man looked up from the beer that he was drinking. He was greeted with the sight of a very anxious Mirajane.

"Hmm? What is it?"

"THE CASTLE ROMEO REQUEST!" Mira wailed.

Master Makarov suddenly got a very bad feeling about what would come next. "Castle Romeo? You mean that 7,000,000,000 (read: seven billion) Jewel reward one?"

"IT'S MISSING FROM THE HUNDRED-YEAR QUESTS BOARD!"

Everyone in the entire guild was silent. Hundred-year quests were no joke. They were serious business. Even the strongest of them, Gildarts, hadn't been able to complete the one that he had embarked on. To come back from one of those with your life was already a good enough reward.

"… AND NATSU AND HAPPY ARE GONE!"

Makarov didn't respond. Instead, he tipped over sideways and lied there on the table.

"I think you gave him a heart attack."

TO BE CONTINUED!

How do you like this so far? Don't expect this one request to define the plot though; I have much bigger plans. (MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA)

If you are reading this, please do me a favor and REVIEW.

No reviews = no motivation to continue = discontinued story = :(

and :( is :(

and :( is bad.

THEREFORE, if you don't want :( , you should review. (by the contrapositive [yay])