Fallen Leaves

The Mistral Tempest Of Chelia

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-Embarkation -

"The result of this war will determine whether humankind survives or not."

.

"Are you even our Natsu?"

Natsu had his cool gaze back on his face, masking his previous anger. He turned around to look at them eying them all closely. Was there any point trying to hide the truth away from them. Should he try to act like the Natsu at this time? Nope, he'd rather die than act such humiliating moves. Mavis would surely look into this and tease him in the future.

"What are you guys doing here? I told you guys to go back without me right?"

"Natsu, you've been really weird these days," started Erza. "You act like you know things that you shouldn't know and there was also that performance during the preliminaries. And also Tenrou Island. The first told us that we were defended by Fairy Sphere but is that the truth? I am sure that you fought that dragon."

"Nonsense Erza. I did no such thing. I..." The 400 year Natsu cringed as he knew what he would do next would go totally against his character. Mavis would tease him for this for the rest of her life. "Your an idiot Erza~~~," he pouted while mentally slapping himself. "I don't even remember what happened!" He gave them a bright grin.

Erza sent him an icy glare. "Don't fool us. I can tell that the grin is totally fake." Natsu dropped his smile and his face was once again in a serious expression. Lucy stepped beside Erza to face Natsu.

"Tell us the truth. Please."

"I refuse. The truth is none of your business." Gray 'tsked' in annoyance.

"Look. I don't know who you are but this has plenty to do with us. YOU defeated that dragon for sure even though there was no way you had that much power. Your personality change right now is huge. You start gaining weird powers...it's as if you're possessed! And now, your yelling at that weird guy from Quatro and you guys are talking about Zeref and Acnologia! And Master Mavis too! Why is he calling you your majesty? WHY? AND THEN YOU SCREAM ABOUT WENDY GETTING KILLED. JUST TELL US NATSU, HOW DOES THIS HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH US?!"

By that point, Gray was practically screaming. He took a deep breath and gave him a steeled look. Natsu did not reply. Lucy whispered, "Don't you trust us?"

The wind blew stirring up some leaves on the ground. Natsu took a deep breath. "Perhaps it is time...to tell you a basic idea of what happened."

Then, he proceeded with telling the group of the basic idea of what the situation was. Natsu Dragneel was the reincarnation of the Natsu Dragneel from 400 years ago. Every single dragon slayer had was a reincarnation. Zeref, Mavis, Acnologia and Coltrane all existed back then too. The current Natsu dragon was gaining memories slowly.

"I can't tell you the memories, that's not my place to do so. Soon, once the memories have all been transferred over to Natsu, I shall merge with the current Natsu. He will have all my powers and memories but he will still be the Natsu you know. That is all." There was no reply from the group. Words could not describe how they felt.

The wind stopped as the leaves finally drifted to the floor.

The current time Natsu opened his eyes.

Another memory.

"What...what is this!" gasped a soldier from the side. There were hushed whispers around the crowd of soldiers. Zeref sent them a look of silence shutting them up.

The bodies...there were so many bodies. Torn pieces of bloody rotten arms. Decaying pieces of flesh that lay on the stone floor. Flies buzzed around picking at the pieces of their soon meal. The smell was putrid. Some of the soldiers that couldn't handle it looked away.

400 year Natsu clenched his fists while Zeref looked at him worried. Mavis had been healed but it seemed that not all was well for them. "The result of this war will determine whether humankind survives or not."

"Seriously?" gasped Zeref.

Natsu shook his head. "I am serious. This is how will end up...if we don't fight."

"I-I'll go prepare the forces right away," muttered Zeref turning away from the scene. Natsu stood there for a bit longer until he turned to the soldiers.

"We'll clean this up. I'm helping."

"B-but Y-your majesty, you don't have to-"

"It's in my responsibility. It's the least I can do for the people that weren't expecting this." The soldiers couldn't protest to the look of grief and agony in his eyes.

"I report! The dragons are making their way through the forest. We have already finished construction of the first and second walls of our barricade. The third wall is still midway in construction. The distance between the third wall and the dragons is still at large. Your Majesty, your permission to let me continue," spoke a soldier.

"Continue."

"I suggest we ambush them around the forest area. The forest trees may hinder the moves they can use and provide more space for us to set our nets. We can slow them until we finish the construction of our third wall." Natsu smiled at him.

"Wonderful plan. What is your name?"

"Coltrane, your majesty," replied Coltrane.

"I'll promote you to lieutenant under Commander Zeref. It may seem like a big leap but I haven't had a soldier suggest me a reasonable plan in a long time. You have potential to be a great leader one day Coltrane." Coltrane gulped.

"Thank you very much your majesty!" Natsu nodded and dismissed him. He turned back to look at the sword that he held. Gajeel had finally finished crafting it's sword.

The name of the sword was Eldur. It wasn't as golden as Natsu wanted it but it was beautiful in its own right. The handle was made from a high quality mineral and when drawn from its, it would be golden orange if that color were to even exist. Orange, yet golden at the same time. And when Natsu channelled his powers into the sword, it would radiate mini fireworks. It was a master piece.

He unsheathed the sword and let it shine for a bit.

"We're going to fight together...Eldur."

Some days passed after the ambush. The ambush itself was a success and had slowed down the dragons a lot. The third wall was nearly finished its construction. However, bad luck would never leave the race known as humanity.

Mavis barged into the room quickly with tears in her eyes. Natsu immediately stood up. "What's wrong Mavis?"

"Tristan's..." she sniffed.

"Tristan...wait. When did you start calling him that? What happened to the Archbishop?"

"We had a friendly chat. But that doesn't matter anymore...he's dead."

A shatter.

Dead silence.

A dead look took over Natsu's face.

"He's...dead? I see then. He's dead... He's dead. We'll need a new Pope. Ah yes...a new pope..." muttered Natsu to himself in perished shock. Zeref rushed in looking frantic.

"Natsu! I heard the news!"

"We'll need a new pope."

"Natsu, don't worry about the new pope. The current pope already has a son. His son is Sting Eucliffe and he's 18. He's old enough to take the pledges and be our pope."

"Sting Eucliffe?"

"Yes. He's agreed to be our pope."

"When can I meet with him?"

"Two days from now, I think. I can get you a meeting."

"Thank you Zeref. And thank you Mavis for telling me this news. I will take note of it when I plan my battle plans."

Mavis nodded tearfully.

"Hey brother Zeref!" came an excited cry.

Zeref looked up tiredly. "Oh...hey Sedahi. What's going on?"

"I just wanted to talk to you brother Zeref! So how is it going for you?"

"It's war Sedahi, it's never fun."

"I know, I know! But, but! Wouldn't it be really, really fun if you suddenly betrayed Natsu and the others and rebelled against the kingdom?"

"What?" asked Zeref looked up sharply. "What did you say?!"

"Hmmmm, nothing of importance. See ya later brother!" Sedahi skipped off happily. Zeref rubbed his eyes. He must have heard wrong.

"Commander?" asked Coltrane coming out. "Ah, sorry for coming at a bad time...I just couldn't help but overhear what your brother said..."

"Ah, no it's okay. Sedahi's a bit weird sometimes but he's not usually like this. This war may be having more of an impact on him than I thought..." chuckled Zeref.

Coltrane narrowed his eyes. "I see..."

Natsu settled down on an armchair in his room. He closed his eyes and sighed. "Another person dead huh...this sucks...A lot."

Snap.

Natsu quickly sprung to the side knocking a pile of books over. "Come out!" he demanded. Where his arm chair once was, lay a knife. Natsu jerked to the side dodging more knives. "I know where you are!" he said jumping to one corner. He kicked apart the wall and dragged out a cloaked person. "Who are you?" he said.

The person struggled but didn't reply. Natsu un-hooded him to reveal a young black teenager with red eyes. He looked at Natsu would fury in his eyes. "Don't...don't even stop me from killing you King Natsu!"

Natsu let him go, letting him fall to the ground. "Who sent you?"

"N-No one sent me," stuttered the teen. Natsu eyed him and nodded.

"You have good accuracy. I'm guessing your from the town. Why do you want to kill me?"

"You...you're the reason why my dad was killed! You sent him to a post knowing that he wouldn't come back alive!" A post? Natsu suddenly realized that the post he was referring to was that incident with the rotting flesh.

"Your dad was among them?" asked Natsu quietly.

"Yeah, and it's all your fault! Without dad, Mom became a shell and died yesterday...and we ran out of money too...it's all your fault!"

"What's your name."

"Why should I tell you?"

"Fair enough. But I want a name to call you by."

"Rogue...Rogue Cheney."

"I see then...Rogue. Do you want to be our kingdom's shadow dragon slayer?"

"W-what?" spluttered Rogue. "You're asking me to join that group? The group said to be our only hope for humanity? Why?"

"Because you got potential. What happened to your father...do you think I wanted it to happen. Do you know how much I wanted to break down myself because of that? There are many people who suffered just as much, perhaps even more than you. And the worst role of that, is the King. I have to bear the burdens of all the fallen ones. And I will also bear the hate of every living one. That is my role as the king, so go on! Hate me! But please accept my invitation to you."

"I-I...I don't trust you yet. But I will accept."

Current time Natsu woke up with a gasp. "Sting and Rogue..." he muttered. "So that's how..."

"Are you awake now?" asked Erza.

"Erza? What are you doing here?" asked Natsu in panic. He looked around and saw that he was back in the lodge.

"The next day's going to start Natsu. Come on, let's go. And don't worry about your secret. Your 400 year old self told me, Lucy, Gray, Happy and Wendy. We promised to not tell anyone else."

"You know! Ah, I see."

Lucy peeked her head in. "Hurry up Natsu or we'll be late for the grand magic games!" Natsu grinned pulling himself out of bed.

"Coming~!"

"The third day of the grand magic games! We have finally entered the middle portion. What kind of fierce dramas will we be able to see today?"

"Today's guest is Lahar-san from the Magic council."

"It's been awhile."

"Lahar, your position is captain of the custody enforcement squad right?"

"Indeed..Any impropriety in the games will not be allowed."

Today's event is Pandemonium. Send one person from each team to compete!"

"I will go," stated Erza."

"I'll for team B," said Cana cheerfully.

"If Er-chan's going, let me go Kagura-chan!" exclaimed Milliana.

"I'll allow it."

"Don't do anything unnecessary Orba."

"I'll be going from Pegasus," smirked Hibiki.

"I'll go and turn everyone to lightning chili," said Orga.

"Allow me to go..."said Coltrane.

"The temple where evil monsters nest. Pandemonium. In the temple, there are 100 monsters. They are actually more like magical tools so they won't attack any of the audience. The monsters are divided into the powers of A, B, C, ,D, E and S." The pumpkin continued with his explanation.

"Please choose your numbers."

"I draw 1," said Jura smiling.

"2...che," muttered Orga.

Orba got 3.

"4." It was Coltrane.

"5," said Hibiki elegantly.

"6," said Erza frowning.

"7," said Milliana smiling.

"8," groaned Cana. "Looks like I'm in bad luck today..."

"It seems that we have all drawn our numbers. With that said...PANDEMONIUM, START!"

Hehe, looks like I made a mistake. Maybe I should have added my author's note to this story as well. In my other story with Yousei-san, I said that I did not have time to update until February. I managed to barely finish this chapter so I can post this note along with this chapter.

IMPORTANT NOTE: I have a school entry test coming up and if I don't pass, I might as well just literally die. Therefore, I cannot update until February. The specific date is in my other story.

Oh and HAPPY HALLOWEEN! SORRY I CAN'T GIVE ANY CANDY! :p

Preview:

"What a never ending competition!"

"I think we'll get along just fine, Sting."

"THE THIRD WALL HAS BEEN DESTROYED!"