Natsu 'Salamander' Dragneel the fire dragon slayer, also known as E.N.D. the strongest of the Etherious, foster son of the late Fire Dragon King Igneel and younger brother of the darkest mage of all time Zeref Dragneel … was dead.

He had just succeeded in his goal to defeat the dragon slayer turned dragon Acnologia along with his brother Zeref, both of which were seen as god level beings to the people of Earthland. Now as he drifted through the endless void that his life had become upon his death one thought stood out more than any other, 'Well this sucks, where the hell's the food! Damn it.'… Hey let it never be said that Natsu Dragneel was the smartest of the bunch.*

"Natsu," a booming voice called from the darkness.

"Igneel?!" Natsu exclaimed as a red light began to shine within the void his world had become.

"You are still needed my son, your time has yet to come to join me"

"…Dad..?"

"Acnologia was able to send a piece of himself through the void before his death, he still lives and is regaining his power in a new world."

"What does that have to do with me? If he's weak now someone else can beat his now yeah? Besides I'm dead…" Natsu glumly added the last part.

"Do not underestimate the power of a former Dragon King Natsu, or the power of those who have survived death before."

"Eh?" What was that supposed to mean? Natsu knew about Igneel once holding the title of King before Acnologia dethroned him and began the mass killing of the dragons, but who survived death? How could someone survive death? It was DEATH!

"Hello, Natsu" a familiar voice spoke from beside him.

"Master Mavis! What are you are you doing here?"

The young looking ghost giggled into her hand, "Weren't you paying attention Natsu? Your father did say those who survived death would help you, and as a spirit who wandered Earthland after the death of my body, I count as one of them." Mavis told him smiling kindly.

"That's great! With you and Igneel here this will be easy! ... Wait, 'one of them'? Who's the other?"

"That would be me, little brother. Being immortal counts does it not?"

Upon hearing that voice, one of the voices that he had hoped to never hear again, Natsu spun around to face its source. "Zeref" he growled. "What are you doing here?"

"You gave me what I wanted, little brother, you managed to kill me for good and even if I didn't get to bring the rest of Earthland with me into the void I am still grateful. So as my way of saying thanks, I will be helping Mavis and Igneel with sending you on your way to finish off Acnologia."

"Why should I trust you? You've been trying to kill my nakama (sp?) for years!"

"Be that as it may, I have never lied to you. Nor have I ever expressed a desire for anything but death, even the creation of the Etherious was for the purpose of killing me. Now that I have finally been granted my wish, by you no less, what possible ulterior motive could I have in helping you achieve your own goal?"

This gave Natsu pause. As much as he hated to admit it, what his brother said was true, Zeref may have kept things from him, such as being his brother in the first place, but he never outright lied. Looking his brother in the eyes, Natsu begrudgingly nodded, "fine," he said, "what are we going to do? Can you guys rip open a door or something? Like how we went to Edolas?"

It was Igneel that answered, "No. Unlike Earthland and Edolas, your dimension and the one Acnologia escaped to are not connected. In fact we are completely unable to send your body to the new world." He explained. "But we can send a part of you which will be more than enough."

"What are you sending? I can't live with just my brain." Natsu asked.

"Your soul," Mavis answered him, "Your soul is who you are, connected to your physical body through your brain for thought and heart for strength. By sending your soul to this new world it will naturally seek out a vessel which will become your new body."

"So, what? I'll be taking over someone's corpse or something?"

This time it was Zeref who responded, "No, as a body grows it adapts to the soul that is bound to it, the soul of an artist will have better eyes for detail for instance, while the soul of a warrior will have more muscle. In order for you to have a body that fits you and your power you will need a body that fits your soul, and the easiest way to do that is to give you a new body. A blank slate as it were."

"Meaning..?"

"You will be reborn in the most literal sense. A baby, newly conceived and with no soul yet developed will be your new vessel." Zeref explained.

"WHAT? But, but, what about Acnologia? Does he have to do this to?"

"No, by sending part of his power along with his soul, something he was only able to do just before his death, he would have recreated his body. Though it will be weak due to the transfer of worlds, he will regain his former might soon enough." Igneel spoke.

"How long will I have then?" Natsu asked the three gathered beings.

"Twenty years give or take I would imagine" Mavis replied "By then you will be in your late teens and have full access to the power you held in your first life maybe even more."

"Our last fight destroyed a whole kingdom… everything was leveled that didn't have high levels of magic to defend it or them and even they didn't come out unscathed." It was true, even though Natsu had tried to contain the damage, he didn't have the time to fine tune his magic to only burn his target, not at the level of the spells he was throwing around, and Acnologia just didn't care. Ironically it was Zeref, the one hailed as the bringer of death that did the least damage, mostly due to his spells effecting the body directly instead of creating things that in turn did the hurting such as Natsu with his fire, and not because he was what one would call 'weaker' than the other two.

"If that is your concern then I suggest that you either get better at controlling your magic or find a large area of unpopulated land when you inevitably fight." Zeref told him, "Which brings us to one more thing before we send you on your way. We have some gifts for you."

"What?" Natsu asked, "I thought you said you were only sending my soul?"

"We are. Luckily magic, as a spiritual thing itself, is connected to the soul and with you being an ability type and not a holder, you will have full access to your magic… along with the magic we will now give you."

"Ohhh, no. No way am I learning Death Magic or how to make freaking demons."

"I know much more than just Death Magic little brother. In fact the magic I will be giving to you is actually different Fire Magics that I learned throughout my life." Zeref assured Natsu.

Placing his hand on Natsu's head, Zeref closed his eyes and reached out to touch Natsu's mind and magic with his own, implanting all he knew about the many forms of fire magic. Flames that healed, that burned cold, that threw shadow instead of light, and many more.

As Zeref finished and stepped back, Natsu himself was amazed. He never really branched out his magic like this, he never got the chance. Sure he knew how to make his fire act like a solid and not burn, like when he climbed out of the gorge when fighting Eregor, but between Tenrue (sp?) island, the Grand Magic games, Tartarus, and everything else that happened before his final battle, he never really had the chance to do anything but get stronger and improve his Slayer magic. Now though, he could almost feel how much use these spells could be, the diversity of his chosen magic had escaped him until that moment, and it was incredible.

Next up was Mavis, who placed her hand over his heart, "I never learned fire magic beyond the basics," she said to him, "and I also never truly taught anyone my own, so I will be giving you my magic, so that it may yet live on." As she said this Natsu once more felt new knowledge enter his mind, and to his shock he found himself knowing the complete magic formula for all three of the Grand Fairy Spells, spells which, other than Master Makrove, no one could even preform even one of without the first master's help. Even Lacsus when he tried at the battle of Fairy Tail would only have been able to do minor damage to the contestants had he truly seen them as his enemies when preforming Fairy Law.

As Natsu recovered from his shock, his father spoke once more, "Unfortunately, I have no magic to give you, my son. You have long sense surpassed me in the art of Fire Dragon Slayer magic, so instead I will connect you more deeply with our element of Fire and officially claim you as my son and heir, making you the last Dragon Prince, and assuring that upon the defeat of Acnologia you will bear the title of King." As he said this, the light from where his voice came glowed brighter for several seconds, and Natsu briefly felt his body heat up and his senses flair to new heights before he adjusted to the new feelings.

Looking down at his hands, Natsu curled them into fists before looking up at the three in front of him, "Thank you" he said "I promise, I won't let these go to waste."

Zeref and Mavis smiled at the Slayer and nodded as Igneels voice rang out one last time, "I know you won't Natsu. Good luck, my son."

And with those last words the world around Natsu once more faded into darkness. It was time to start his journey.

Ok I got some decent feedback and a lot of views in a very short time, so I will be continuing this story starting with this completed prolong, the partial one will be deleted soon enough. I read all reviews and PMs but that does not mean I will listen to them, so flamers may feed Natsu if they wish and those who have ideas for this story are welcome to share, I might even use them and I will do my best to answer any questions, not all of them mind you no spoilers, but I am happy to clear up any confusion that anyone may have. R&R people. See you later!