Crocus, Domus Flau: Grand Magic Games, July 4th, X791
The crowd was roaring with excitement at the battle that was about to begin. It was Fairy Tail's Natsu Dragneel and Gajeel Redfox vs Sabertooth's Sting Eucliffe and Rogue Cheney, all of them users of the lost art: Dragon Slayer Magic.
"And now, at long last, we've come to the battle that everybody's been waiting for."
The announcer, Chapati Lola, said.
"One guild was considered the strongest in Fiore seven years ago, and the other currently holds the title." The combatants from the two guilds began walking onto the field as he spoke, before stopping.
"This is gonna be a great match, it's Fairy Tail's Natsu and Gajeel versus Sabertooth's Sting and Rogue." The mages began to have a stare-off as they listened to the announcements.
"You're about to witness a showdown of epic proportions. These aren't just any wizards; they're Dragon Slayers!"
During this, the two guilds the fighters represented looked down at their guildmates, hoping that they would win this for them.
"Go get 'em, Sting," cheered Lector, a red exceed, which is a species of anthropomorphic felines, and the aforementioned dragon slayer's partner.
'I've been looking forward to this all my life.' Sting smirked, looking at his pink-haired idol who stared back at him.
Inside of Natsu's consciousness was the soul of his long-lost adopted father: Igneel, the Fire Dragon King. Unbeknownst to him, Igneel has been inside his son's body for a long time, waiting for the right time to come out.
"White Dragon, Weisslogia. Shadow Dragon, Skiadrum." Igneel named. "Who will emerge victorious? The Dragon Slayers you raised, or my Natsu?" He wondered.
"Have the humans surpassed dragons, or is it an unattainable dream? Soon we'll be forced to take action, the Dragon King Festival draws near."
Back in the stadium, everyone was thrilled for the fight to begin.
"The crowd is getting super hyped up, and I don't blame them," said Chapati.
"Go give them a thrashing, you guys!" cheered Gray Fullbuster, an Ice Wizard who specializes in Molding Magic, used to create anything he imagines.
"Get some hits in for us, too," asked Laxus Dreyar, one of Fairy Tail's S-Class mages who is also a Dragon Slayer of the Lightning kind.
"Win this one for Fairy Tail!"
Yelled out by Erza Scarlet, another S-Class Mage that uses Requip Magic, a power that allows her to store weapons and armors of any kind in a pocket dimension that she can use to equip herself at any time.
"He's got this, don't worry about it, Erza."
Says a man in a melancholic tone, showing no visible emotions.
This man is the 3rd strongest member of the Spriggan, a close friend of Zeref Dragneel, and the boyfriend of 2 fierce women.
The Devil Eren Yeager.
Down below in the infirmary, the other guild members who weren't watching in the stadium were down there to recover or to give their injured allies some company. Even though they couldn't see anything, they could hear the noises coming from above, so they got a pretty good idea of what was happening.
"Sounds like they're about to get started there," said Wendy Marvell, Fairy Tail's other and fourth Dragon Slayer that uses the Sky variant. She was sitting next to her teammate, Lucy Heartfilia, a Celestial Spirit mage who can summon spirits based on the Twelve Zodiac signs and other constellations to aid her in battle. She was recovering from the wounds that were inflicted on her by one of Sabertooth's strongest and cruelest wizards: Minerva Orland. Wendy was by her bedside with her exceed partner, a white cat named Carla, in her lap.
"I'm sure Natsu's gonna win, I have faith in him," Lucy spoke, a warm smile on her face, accompanied by a blush on her cheeks.
Up in the arena, Chapati was wrapping up the announcements, wanting to start the battle as soon as possible.
"This is it, ladies and gentlemen, the Dragon Slayers are on the battlefield. Now the only question is, who will be triumphant? The Fairies or the Tigers?"
"You face a formidable foe; you'll need to give it everything you've got," warned Makarov Dreyar, Laxus's grandfather, and the 6th and current guild master of Fairy Tail.
Sabertooth's own guild master, Jiemma Orland, Minerva's father, just looked ahead, not saying a word.
'All these years, I've dreamed of fighting Natsu, and now, I finally get the chance,' thought Sting excitedly as he and his partner continued staring intently at their opponents.
"Everyone's dying to find out who's gonna win this round, no pressure, remember you've got thirty minutes, LET THE MATCH BEGI-" Mato, the pumpkin-headed mascot and referee of the Grand Magic Games, was interrupted when he felt a burning, glowing sensation behind him. He turned about and was shocked to see what was happening.
A large flash of bluish white light started to envelop Gajeel's comrade. Natsu looked down, confused and shocked. The glow was starting to spread all over his body.
"Wha? What is this? What are you up to?!" Natsu demanded, glaring at his blonde-haired opponent.
"This isn't me, I swear!" Sting said, defending himself, just as stunned as everyone present.
The crowd could only stare in awe as the event continued to unfold in front of their eyes.
"What the?"
"Huh?"
"Where did that come from?"
"Is this part of the match?" murmured the crowd.
The guilds were in a similar state. As for Fairy Tail, they were wondering what was happening to their guildmate.
"What is this, a trick? That blond-haired punk was eager to start the match before it even began." Makarov said, looking down at the field with narrowed eyes.
He turned to his right to see that Mavis Vermillion, the first master of Fairy Tail who was literally with them in spirit, had a calculating look on her face, catching his attention.
"What is it, First Master?" Makarov asked, concerned.
"I don't know what it is exactly, but this isn't Sting's magic." She answered. "This is something else entirely."
Makarov couldn't believe what he was hearing, until he felt it too and realized that the light covering his son was from somewhere, something else entirely.
"Well, I might say what is going on down there?" questioned the announcer, Chapati Lola.
"I can't tell, but it seems a bright light has appeared out of nowhere and is on Fairy Tail's Natsu Dragneel's body. Is this Sabertooth's Sting's doing?' said Yajima, a member of the Magic Council, and a fellow judge.
Standing on top of the colosseum walls, we see a doppelganger of the mage known as The Devil, who is standing alongside Jellal Fernandes, an ex-member of the Wizard Saints, a group of the most powerful wizards in Fiore, consisting of ten members, now a fugitive, was stunned at the sight he was seeing. He didn't know what to make of this and couldn't tell where the energy was coming from.
"Finally, the day I've been waiting for has come at last. I've been stranded in this world for 9 years. I've become far more powerful than I could have ever imagined. I have seen so many wonderful things, made new comrades, and had amazing teachers.
Found friends who wouldn't betray me even if I were to do the Rumbling. Fallen in love with 2 girls who are even more beautiful than Mikasa and my wife, Historia. I have finally achieved the freedom I crave for living in a world free from the power of the Titan besides myself.
However, all good things must come to an end, and once this is over, my true identity will be revealed. I will need to travel back to the empire and begin the war preparations, as I will need to complete my side of the deal with Zeref.
My people need me to save them, but more importantly, my wife and my unborn child must be protected, and I won't stop moving until I've killed all my enemies."
"Things are about to get complicated really fast, aren't they, Natsu Dragneel. It seems that the day of are fated duel is about to begin, Natsu Dragneel." Eren sighed to himself.
"Eren, what are you talking about? Do you know what's going on?" Jellal asked him
"No," Eren responds mechanically.
Jellal has known Eren for 2 years; however, even after all that time, he is still unable to tell when Eren is lying, as he is just that good. Besides, trying to integrate him will do no good as he knows that this is merely a doppelganger who he's talking to; theirs nothing he could do to make his brown haired friend say more.
"Ok"
I sincerely hope you have nothing to do with this, Eren. Even though you are one of my closest friends, I will not allow you to harm Natsu even if we have to fight. Jellal thought to himself.
"Ultear, have you picked up anything?" Jellal asked his comrade.
Ultear Milkovich was sitting on top of one of the stadium's statues with her partner and foster daughter, Meredy. Both were members of the late dark guild, Grimoire Heart, but defected when the guild was defeated.
Together with Jellal, they created the independent guild known as Crime Sorciere. A couple of years after its creation, she would meet her boyfriend Eren Yeager when looking into a tip about Zeref, who would later go on to join them.
Their mission is to eradicate the remaining dark guilds in the world and to destroy Zeref, the most powerful and darkest wizard ever to exist, as a way to make up for their own misdeeds as dark wizards.
"I can't seem to recognize this power; it doesn't seem to be magic of any kind," Ultear answered, confused as to what this strange phenomenon could be.
"Will Natsu be alright?" asked Meredy.
"I don't know, this light is of an unknown origin, and as far as I can tell, he can't burn it off."
He looked over at Natsu and saw that he was unable to use his flames to get rid of the substance on him. Or, the more accurate description would be that he can't activate his magic." Jellal concluded.
"Still, we need to be on the lookout; we don't know where this power is coming from, and if the user has ill intentions, as well as searching for the origin of the strange magic that is similar to Zeref," ordered Ultear.
"Eren, you're unusually quiet. Is something wrong? I know that Natsu is a close friend of yours."
"No," he says robotically.
Upsetting Jellal, despite not getting along with Natsu at first, the blue-haired leader still wanted Natsu to be alright, as he knows what kind of person he is, and he wants him to be ok.
However, before he can do anything about it, Eren drops a major bombshell.
"My time here is about to come to an end. I will be returning to my home after today."
All of them were shocked by his announcement, and while sad, they were happy for him. Especially Ultear, as she always wanted to visit Eren's homeland and meet his family. Despite all the time they've spent together, he's never provided any information about it and has always been so mysterious.
Meredy was excited as well, as she wanted to visit Eren's family and find out more about him, as he had only briefly mentioned that he had 2 siblings and only provided the name for his sister, Mikasa Ackerman, who was also adopted like her.
Jellal has always been curious about Eren's homeland as well as Eren is one of his closest friends.
"Alone"
Both Ultear and Meredy are disappointed by this.
"How long will you be gone, Eren?" Jellal asked before the others could respond.
"Forever"
Hearing this causes a chain reaction of outrage
"What!" Jellal ask's utterly shocked
"Why," Meredy said in a sad voice, with tears beginning to form in her eyes.
However, one with the most extreme reaction was none other than his Girlfriend Ultear.
"Wait, what do you mean you're leaving Forever? Why so suddenly and out of the blue? Why are you abandoning me! If this is a joke, it's not funny, Eren!"
All she's met with is Silence.
"Answer me, you son of a bitch! I know you can hear me through your doppelganger! Don't you dare ignore me!" She screams out loudly in utter rage as her magic power begins to spike.
Jellal was instantly worried that Ultear would blow their cover and was preparing to intervene, only to see the girl he views as his sister collapse down onto the grounds with both her knees, as tears began to form in her eyes, threatening to spill out.
"Do I really mean so little to you?"
Again, she is met only with silence.
This silence crushes her, and she's no longer able to control her emotions, which causes her to start completely crying, prompting Meredy to hug her as tears pour out of her eyes.
Jellal's patience has finally snapped, seeing his sister break down, causes him to grab the doppelganger by its shirt and lift it.
"What the Hell, Eren! You piece of shit! How dare you do this! Ultear loves you more than anything. How could you do this to her?"
Again only silence
His anger increasing causes he throws the doppelganger onto the ground and begins to brutally punch its face over and over again.
"Ultear meets down in the arena where Fairy Tail is sitting, you'll find me sitting next to Erza Scarlet."
After saying this, his doppleganger begins to disappear.