I'M BACK!

Sorry for the long wait. I was really busy with college and just didn't have the time to write on any of my stories. I hope you all like this chapter, I'm a little rusty on writing since it's been a while so I hope it isn't that bad!

Thank you all for the good words you all say in the reviews, its helps me want to continue to find the drive to continue this story.

A lot of you seem worried that I'll stop writing soon, but to be honest as long as I get good feedback I'm going to keep writing since I enjoy it. I will at least finish this story completely before I stop writing. I can't leave you all without a good ending with this one. But there might be long breaks due to college, life, and everything else.

Well before I bore too many people here's the story!

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Mobilization and deployment

The mansion of the fire prince was shrouded in silence as the early hours of the morning passed. The wizards of the army finally were able to win the battle over their anxiety and were able to fall into their restless sleep.

Natsu opened his eyes as he looked to the ceiling of his room. He could feel the familiar weight of Meredy resting on his chest. Her small breaths causing his mind to calm as he ran his hand through her hair gently. He looked down at her as she silently slept. A look of content happiness covered her face. Natsu almost chuckled as he found the look to be in complete contrast to the face she was making just a few hours ago.

A soft knock on the door brought him back to the present. He let out a sigh as he gently maneuvered himself out from under Meredy as to not wake the woman. A small whimper of disapproval came from the woman as the familiar warmth left her. Natsu smiled as he quickly wrapped several blankets around the pinkette. He then turned and grabbed a pair of white shorts and a white vest that was outlined in gold. He slid on the shorts and just let the vest hang form his shoulders, opened. He made his way to the door and opened it. As he suspected the one who knocked wasn't present any longer. He closed the door gingerly and the soft clicking of the lock echoed throughout the hallway. Natsu turned and began to stride down the hallway. The soft sounds of his feet hitting the marble floor filled the air as he made his way towards a familiar set of doors. 'Todays the day huh?' He thought to himself as he pushed open the door.

Immediately the sound of twenty chairs moving across the floor filled the room. Natsu looked at the war room before him. Around the projection table his twenty present generals all stood. He made his way to his chair and looked across to see the smiling form of John looking at him.

"Glad you could join us!" John said as Natsu took his seat, the rest of his generals following after him.

"I was… preoccupied." Natsu smirked as he sat down, his generals sitting after him. He reached forward and grabbed a golden cup that was before him. He took a small sip tasting the beverage. "Wine?" he asked looking towards John who was now drinking form his own cup.

"I figured that it would bring back memories from one of the previous times we worked together." John shrugged as he took another sip.

Natsu arched his eyebrow as he tasted the drink again. "Ahhh from the time we sacked Troy." He smiled and John nodded "To think that it has been so long ago when-"a grunt from Natsu's side stopped him in mid-sentence. He turned to the interruption "Yes Zancrow?"

"Sorry to interrupt you Prince but we are here to discuss the upcoming battle. I understand that you would like to reminisce with the Prince of Earth now that you are both on pleasant terms, but there are pressing matters. Zancrow said trying to sound as respectful as he could after interrupting Natsu.

Natsu let out a sigh "We will continue this at some other time then John." He turned to the table. He pushed a few buttons that were located near his seat and instantly the table hummed with life. A spiraling mass of projection filled the middle and everyone at the table watched as the spiral slowly died showing a 3-D map of Fiore and some of the surrounding countries. A blinking yellow light appeared on the map. "What are the reports form the divisions that I sent to the eastern part of Fiore?" he asked aloud. One of the generals to his side stood. He wore a set of scaled plate armor that had a purple sash running form his right shoulder to his left hip, a sword in its scabbard rested on his left hip.

"We set up forts on these key positions." The man said with a heavy Latin accent and pointed towards the map. On two hill tops a fortified fort appeared, glowing red. "These would cut off any mass flow of troops into the area. Our scouts were sent father to the north and east to confirm the status of the enemy." A set of arrows appeared from each fort and scattered towards the east and north respectfully. "Only two from each unit ever made it back." nearly all of the red lights vanished "what they reported was a massive army towards the north under the flag of the Sky" as he said this several white forts appeared past the boundary of Fiore, massive columns of white appeared between them. They covered a large portion of the land and seemed to be heading south.

"To the east it was much of the same story. Yet these were seen to be carrying the flag of the army of Water." The General continued as the east was suddenly cover with Blue forts as well as Blue columns of troops. "The Legions from Erath arrived last night and fortified our positions." The red forts suddenly became giant castles. "Since then the armies of Water and Sky have yet to make a move against us." He ended as he looked towards Natsu.

"Very well, thanks for the report Augustus." Natsu nodded towards the man who then took his seat. He turned to John "we did kill the princess of the Sky and Water right?"

John nodded "Yes and I remember it well. Those two are most defiantly dead."

"Then where did these forces come from?" Natsu thought as he looked to the projection.

"Could it be that they were reborn like you were Prince?" Bjorn asked from beside John.

"It is highly unlikely that that would occur." John said as he stroked his chin as he pondered the reason. "Fire can be created by simply rubbing two sticks together, but in order to create Water, Air, or Earth you have to have some to begin with." John explained "The part that bothers me is the fact that so few scouts returned. It's not natural for them to kill scouts without openly claiming to be at war with us."

"The army of Air to the north, the army of Water to the east, and Tartarus at our doorstep. I should probably stop pissing so many people off." Natsu laughed. He turned to John, "so what did the oracle say?"

"I didn't know you were superstitious Natsu?" John laughed.

"I'm not but anything that I can use to raise the moral of my men will be greatly appreciated, especially with this number of enemies." Natsu gestured to the table.

John nodded in understanding "Well I did see her before I left to come here, and she had many things to tell me." He said as he looked to Natsu "First off, she said if you just stayed how you were none of us would be in this shit hole." He took a drink "exact words too." Natsu laughed at that as he figured that much. "She also said that the wars we are about to fight are very unclear with the sudden jump in magical energy that both sides have been given."

"Both sides?" Natsu questioned.

"Yeah, it seems that Tartarus' power has also been climbing at an exponential rate. I feel that Grandfather has something to do with it. Then there are two other armies at our doorstep. We still have no idea how powerful they are, or even who is leading them at this point." John answered "she also said one thing that was quite dark."

Natsu eyebrow cocked "and what was that?"

"She said." He paused and looked up to Natsu "That fire will be snuffed out by the one who was closest to the flame." John said casually.

"Hmmm." Natsu thought as his generals began to mutter amongst themselves trying to figure out the meaning ominous omen. "Well that sucks but it looks like we don't have a sign that we are going to lose so that's good enough for me." Natsu shrugged as he dismissed the statement. "We don't have enough information right now in order to think of the correct way to move against the threat from the north and east. Continue to send scouts along the borders so that we aren't wandering in the dark and report all their finding back to me so as to organize the correct counter measures if the need arises. For now we will worry about the threat from Tartarus to the magic world. Unless there is something urgent to report then we will save the rest of the war council for a later time when we plan out with the leaders of each wizard division." Natsu stood as the rest of the generals followed suit. As Natsu turned to exit the room the majority of his generals erupted into flares of flames till only he, Zancrow and John were remaining.

"The sun will be rising soon, do you have the information to take on Tartarus yet?" John asked as he walked beside Natsu.

"One of Sayla's puppets came to deliver Tartarus' battle plans yesterday." Natsu responded as the trio made their way out into the courtyard.

"Interesting, I didn't see anyone enter the encampment yesterday." John said casually.

"Well you didn't think we climbed that cliff for fun did you?" Natsu laughed getting a shrug in response. He turned to Zancrow "Go wake up the wizard division captains. I doubt they got much sleep last night with the weight of today resting on their minds. Tell them to meet me in the war room and to send their seconds to assemble the rest of their divisions into the courtyard." Zancrow took a quick bow before turning and making his way to the barracks.

"It's going to be a long day isn't it." John let out a sigh as he looked towards the distant mountain tops.

"Aye. Everything is going to get busy starting with this." Natsu replied as the two men watched the sun slowly crawl over the horizon, casting an array of purples and deep reds across the valley.

"It's really red this morning." John commented "That's not a reassuring sign." He felt a hand clamp down on his shoulder and turned to see Natsu.

"All it means is that we make our own luck today." Natsu said in reassurance. "Now let's go back, the division captains will be there soon and we still have to discuss what we plan to do in the upcoming battle." He said as he retracted his arm and turned. John gave one last glance at the rising sun before letting out another sigh and following Natsu back into the mansion to await the captains in the war room.

From the window in the war room Natsu and John watched as the members of each division lined up in organized sections in the courtyard. A knock at the door signaled the appearance of the captains. John and Natsu turned away from the window and took their seats as Natsu nodded to Zancrow who stood near the door. At the signal Zancrow opened the heavy wooden doors and allowed the captains to enter.

Immediately Natsu noticed the changes that overcame his friends since this whole ordeal started. Gajeel walked in first, his body coated in his black plated armor. Laxus followed close behind wearing chain-link armor his coat with his symbol of status hug around his shoulders. They were the two powerhouses of the army. They have been from the start and have yet to make any believe that they weren't qualified for their titles. Following them were Erza and Mira, both dressed modestly due to the fact that they gain their armor and powers only after transforming. After them Jura walked in, he was still as much of a giant as he was the first day that Natsu met him. He still wore the simple robes only, using his spear as a walking stick. And last to enter was Makarov and Gray. The old man seemed to have aged another five years, yet still held conviction in his eyes that Natsu couldn't overlook. Then Gray was only wearing his green vest, it was the only thing he had left on his upper body, and simple jeans. His eyes that usually were full of cocky gloating were now focused on the task ahead.

Natsu couldn't contain his grin as all seven of the captains took their seats around the round table. He then stood. "I'm glad you could all get here so soon." Natsu smiled "I'm glad to see how far you all have come since this began. I know that it has been stressful, but I am beyond proud of how you all have stepped up to the-"

"Cut the shit salamander" Gajeel grunted out cutting Natsu off. "We're here to win a war not to listen to you yap on and talk to us like you're some kind of leader."

"But…. I am the leader." Natsu sweat dropped as well as the rest of the people present.

"Oh…. Yeah, forgot." Gajeel mumbled out.

"Well anyways. I guess I'll just get right to it then." Natsu said as he looked down at the table. He pushed a few buttons and pictures started to flash around the table for all to see. A few gasp were heard from the people who haven't witnessed the table before. "For those of you who don't know, so all of you, we have two informants inside of Tartarus who have been leaking information to us." He pushed another button and two of the pictures stopped rotating around the table and floated to the middle for all to see. "These are the informants. Their names are Sayla and Kyouka. In the battler they will be placed as the rear of the army so there sound be no reason for us to ever be in combat with either of them. Unless you are attacked by them, no one is to lay a finger on either of them." Natsu said looking around the table to make sure his words got through to all present.

"Fortunately due to them we know that Tartarus is on the move and we know where they are going." Natsu continued as he clicked yet another button that projected map of Fiore as well as a giant black cube. "This is what I guess you could call the flag ship of Tartarus' force. It is a mobile guild hall that it full of traps and will be carrying their guild master."

"A mobile guild hall? Where are they heading?" Mira asked as everyone looked towards the floating black cube.

"according to our information they're are heading" Natsu said as he pushed yet another button which set the cube in motion as it made its way across the map before resting over a town. "Right to Magnolia."

"What would they need in Magnolia?" Laxus asked as he studied the map.

"We don't know exactly." Natsu answered, "All we know is that they have Magnolia in their sites. And there are only three ways to get a large force to Magnolia from where they are." They can either move along the coast. "as he said this a black arrow peeled off of the cubed and started to wind its way along the coast. "The mountain pass." Another arrow peeled off and started to wind its way through the mountains before ending in Magnolia like the arrow that went along the coast. "And lastly, to march straight thought the forest and fields till they get to Magnolia's doorstep." A larger arrow peeled off and drove straight through the forest till it ended at the city.

"It would only be logical to move along the third path and march straight to Magnolia." Erza stated.

"Yes but that makes the other two paths that much more dangerous." Mira added "If we concentrate our forces on the third path then they could easily send a smaller force along either the mountains or the coast and move into Magnolia without so much as a breeze to stop them."

"According to our information it seems that they had decided to take all three paths." Natsu explained as the Captains soaked in the information.

"So their forces will be spilt, that will definitely work in our favor, especially in the mountains where we can take advantage of many bottleneck points, and if we can situate ourselves correctly we can push their backs against the water at the coast." Jura stated.

"Precisely. It will however be extremely hard for us as well. Seeing as how we ourselves will have to split our troops. That and the distance between the three battle fields could range anywhere between five miles and five hundred feet so reinforcements could be difficult." Natsu started to point towards the map "In any case this is how the forces will be spilt. Jura and Mira will take the mountain path with platoons from brown, black and gold. I recommend the black and gold platoons be those lead by Sting and Rouge. Jura's rock magic will naturally give him the advantage in the mountains and Mira's ability to fly will be irreplaceable in those conditions. Sting and Rouge will also be able to provide enough bulk to hold the majority of the bottle neck positions you are able to set up." as Natsu said all of this a large brown piece in the shape of Jura appeared on the table as well as a white figure of Mira in her Sitir takeover. Two smaller figures of Sting and Rouge appeared behind the two. "The coast region will obviously be left to Gray and Blue division I think Makarov should join him in order to give them the extra power if things get too rough and they start to move inland." A Blue figure of gray appeared on the coast along with a small purple figure of Makarov. "That will take care of the first two routes. For the third route we are expecting the largest force to converge and try to steamroll their way towards Magnolia. Here we will send out the three strongest divisions in open field combat. Red" a red figured of Erza appeared in her purgatory armor with her club slung across her shoulder. "Gold" a gold figure of Laxus with his coat billowing and what looked like electricity arching from his body appeared to the left of Erza. "And Black." A solid black figure of Gajeel in his full battle armor then appeared to Erza's right. "Any questions so far?" Natsu ended and looked up to the captains.

"Correct me if I'm wrong." Gajeel suddenly spoke up as he gained the attention of the others. "But where exactly will you and John be during this?" He gestured to the table.

"Good question." Natsu said with a smirk. "While you are all having your fun in the field me and John will be running straight into the beast." As he said this the giant cube lit up. "While you all preoccupy the main forces we will infiltrate the cube itself and figure out a way to stop their operation at its source. While there we will take out all the guard forces and clear a way for you after you finish your battles in the fields."

"Couldn't you and John, you know. Just power-up and go super sayian or whatever and take out the whole army?" Gajeel asked as he gestured to the map. "If the whole enemy force is attacking us in the battle field that you both will be done with the simple guards quickly enough."

"In honesty John and I are looking for any other alternative besides releasing anymore of our power. Since only releasing one percent more of our power has created this type of catastrophe we don't know what will happen if we increase our power anymore." Natsu explained. "Now back to the plan, John and I will infiltrate the 'cube' and after defeating the guards will take on these two." As he ended two pictures replaced Sayla's and Kyouka's. One was of a man that looked to be a relatively young man with a cocky grin with his chin resting on his hand as he sat back in a high back chair. A large black pony tail fell to his shoulders in the back. "This is the temporary guild master of Tartarus, his name is Mard Geer. He, like the other commanders of Tartarus, are all from the books of Zeref. The other one unfortunately is still an unknown." He said pointing to the other picture which was of figure whose face was completely cover except for his eyes which showed little interest. "These are the two strongest members of Tartarus."

"Temporary master?" Makarov spoke up.

"Yes apparently their ultimate goal is to open 'The Book of E.N.D' which will resurrect their true guild master." Natsu explained.

"E.N.D? If what you say is true and you and John are going to fight these two and have even gone to making a plan like this with both of your power levels. Then they must be strong and E.N.D must be even stronger." Mira added.

"Exactly, and to be blatantly blunt. Having E.N.D called out would be a real pain in the ass. So let's try to stop that if it is at all possible. Now back to the battle plan." He said returning everyone's attention back to the table. "We also know the placements of the demon gates along the battle field. Mard Geer along with the hooded figure, Sayla, and Kyouka and some of their elite guard will be placed in the cube as it makes it way towards the battle field." The 4 figures that represented all that were mentioned then appeared standing on the cube, behind them several smaller figures stood. "On the mountain pass the demon gates Franmalth and Ezel." As he said this two pictures of a large being with tentacles and pale blue skin appeared alongside a rather round man with what appeared to be a knights helmet on his head. "Ezel is known as the tallest and most bulky of the demon gates. His four arms and four legs allows him to attack several people at once. As for abilities, his physical strength seems to be his greatest threat. As for Franmalth, he has the ability to absorb others magic so I recommend keeping your distance." The two figures then appeared before Mira's and Jura's.

"On the coast the demon gates will be the necromancer Keith as well as the Ice devil slayer" As he said this another two pictures appeared. Almost instantaneously Natsu heard the crash Gray slamming both of his fist down on the table. "Silver Fullbuster."

"W-w-w-what?! How can that be?!" Gray stuttered out as his eyes grew wide. He was standing with both hands on the table looking straight at the photo.

"Wait Fullbuster?" Mira and several other asked as they looked between the photo and Gray.

"Yes that is the body of Silver Fullbuster." Natsu nodded expecting this response. "But don't think for a second that that is your father Gray." He added, his voice turning stern causing Gray to break his gaze for the photo and turn to Natsu. "Silver Fullbuster is dead, our information tell us though that the demon Deloria has instead taken over his body and is now using it as a medium." The temperature in the room suddenly took a nosedive as frost started to roll off of Gray's shoulders.

"Deloria…."

"Yes Deloria." Natsu nodded. "And today is the day to get your revenge Gray. After this meeting you will make your way to the coast and be able to end his ghost that has been haunting your life for so long. I'm giving you the opportunity to free your father's body from being used as a tool of destruction. But for now I need you to calm down until we are finished." Natsu ended before he used his own magic to lift the chill in the air and return the room to its natural temperature. He stared at Gray and watched as reality hit the boy until he slowly sank back into his chair, his fist still coated with a small film of ice and frost.

"Now for the middle Tartarus will send out Jackal, Tempesta, and Torafusa. Jackal is best described as an explosive terrorist, Torafusa has vast physical strength that you need to watch out for as well as his black water. And as I hear we have already had an encounter with Tempesta." He said as their picture disappeared like the rest, all of the figures were then present on the table. "So to put this bluntly Tartarus is already on its way here. So as soon as the war council is adjourned all forces will move towards their positions. Due to that I had cut the powers of the reaming forces and demon gates down to the short version. Now are there any questions before we dismiss and everyone moves to their respected battle ground?"

Silence was what greeted him. He smiled as he looked to his friends for the last ten or so years. "In that case then I wish all of you the most luck in your battles. I have trained you all so that you are all giants compared to your previous selves. May your battles be swift and may we all meet at the end of this journey. You are all dismissed."

With that they all stood and made their way towards the door, Mira and Erza however moved towards Natsu himself.

"I'll catch up with you at the gate, don't be late." John shouted over his shoulder as he exited the room and closed the door behind him.

Natsu turned to Mira and Erza as the approached. "We don't have enough time to-"he was cut off though when a certain silver haired beauty suddenly threw herself onto him and captured his lips.

"M-mira! What do you think you're doing!?" Erza screeched as she watched Mira ferociously kiss Natsu in front of her.

Mira pulled back slowly and looked Natsu in the eyes. "It's been a long time since we left on that mission you know." She said quietly then put on a cute pout and put her finger on Natsu's chest "I've been lonely especially with all the other stories that the other girls have been saying." She then gave a quick wink and a smirk "I'll be waiting for when you get back." With that she twirled around and before Erza could say another word she was dragging the other woman out the door.

Natsu let out a sigh at the randomness he just witnessed before he turned towards his window. He looked out as he watched Gajeel and Laxus shout orders to the men. The army that was divided by color slowly started to melt into three groups that each had healers as well as plenty of man power. Natsu let out another sigh as he watched them try to organize themselves. 'It's going to be a long fight ahead.' He thought as he looked up and saw the sun just barely starting to make its way over the horizon. 'Dang that was a fast war council' he laughed to himself as he walked to the door. His body erupted in flames before dying down and revealing him to be wearing his heavy crimson armor, the twin swords resting on both his hips. He opened the door and made his way down the corridor in the opposite direction of the courtyard. The resounding taps of his boots echoed throughout the corridor and mixed in with the yells of the captains as they ordered their men. He eventually reached the end and pushed against the solid wall, only for a section of wall to give against his force to reveal a secret passage way. As he entered there could be seen the faint sign of a smirk on his face, as well as a black tint that marked his armor.

Meanwhile in the courtyard the captains were finishing up organizing their men.

"SILENCE!" Came the loud command of the one and only Erza Scarlet, quieting down the entire courtyard. "GET INTO YOUR ASSIGNED SECTIONS!" *pause* "NOW!"

Laxus and Gajeel could only watched with wide eyes and dropped jaws as Erza did what they have been trying to do in the past half hour in only a few seconds.

Erza was then suddenly engulfed in a bright light before reappearing in her Purgatory armor "Today is the day we defeat Tartarus. Today is the day we all have been training for! We have come together not for our own selfish reasons, but to save all of earthland!" She raised her club and was greeted with a thunderous roar of 4000 voices answered her. The added numbers of the council and kingdom troops that arrived just recently adding to the roar. "LET'S SHOW TARTARUS THE MISTAKE THEY HAVE MADE WHEN THEY THOUGHT TO FIGHT US! ARMY OF EARTHLAND WE MOVE TO GREET THE DARKNESS!" another even louder roar was the response as Erza heaved her club onto her shoulder and walked to the gate. Gajeel and Laxus flanking her as two thousand men and women from the wizarding army followed suit. Behind them Gray and Makarov lead another thousand, and Jura and Mira leading the last thousand.

All had a face of determination as the echoes of the cheering from their men filled the air with adrenaline and made all focused on the mission at hand.

All were covering in the light of a blood red sun.

/

As always leave a review for any questions and comments towards the story.

As to answer the questions about Wendy and Juvia I won't say much but I will tell you they will reappear soon and they do play large roles in this story.

As for how the upcoming war will be written. I will dedicate a chapter per each war front, so there will be one chapter dedicated to the fight on the coast, mountains, open field, and the cube. So in other terms this ark will last roughly another 4-5 more chapters, each between 7,000 to 12,000 words in length. That's what I'm going for at least.

I plan to start with the coast then go to the mountains and finally the open field. If anyone has any comment about the order then just leave a comment in the review or PM me.

I start my summer intern job so I don't know what my time table will look like for updates but I will update whenever I can.

Thanks for reading!