Counter Chaotic (Nalu)

Chapter 1 - Fairy Hills

Long Time Skip:⋆꙳•̩̩͙·:*¨༺ ♱✮♱ ༻¨*:·•̩̩͙꙳⋆

Short Time Skip:༺☆༻

Natsu's POV

I have always considered my dad's friends as my aunts and uncles, and one day one of them died right before me while I could do nothing but watch as the light gradually left his once vigorous, now empty eyes. It was that day I vowed to avenge him and those who, like me, shed tears over his loss. It was that day I pledged to put everything I had into training. It was that day I had the first heartache of my life.

It was that day when the person who was my whole life left me, just like my uncle. Without a word, without a hint. Just a night and a morning, and everything changed.

That day was July 7, 777. And it was that day my journey as Natsu Dragneel, alone and independent, began.

༺☆༻

My deceased dragon uncle's name was Zirconis, the jade dragon. When he stumbled into our cave, mutilated and on the verge of death, the part of my heart that housed everything he meant for me gnawed at me from the inside. It throbbed. It stung. Everything, every thought, hurt so fricking much. And when he fell into his eternal slumber, his room in my heart turned into a bare and empty hole I could never fill.

I wonder if the hollow feeling that the death of someone close to you leaves behind ever fades away. Or if you simply get used to it over time.

The conversation I had with Acnologia as we mourned our loss was one of the last talks we had. Although it has been ages, I still remember bits and pieces of that night, our final night together. I recall asking him what happens after death and what Uncle Zirconis was going through. He was awfully descriptive when he explained the theories of heaven and hell. I blanked out on the history of the religion and weird stories, though now I wish I didn't. It would have been a pleasant memory to hold onto after his departure, however unimportant it seemed.

Maybe I would tear up each time I heard a word in one of the stories... Maybe...

...I take it back.

Anyways, I didn't forget him telling me of all the wonders in heaven, only for me to inform him I wanted to go to hell at the mention of chaos, dragons, and demons. The look on his face was precious, even though I've no idea why he had that kind of reaction.

Speaking of heaven (and hell), I feel like I am in heaven right now, between snug blankets and cotton sheets. Rubbing the drowsiness out of my eyes, I reflect upon the painful pieces of my tale that just came back to me out of nowhere.

Acnologia didn't abandon me, but he did leave before I had gotten over the first death I witnessed. They say that the day of a loved one's death is the hardest, that the agony is so much every portion of you goes numb, every sensation dulled. But for me, the second day ached the most. July 7, X777 was a rollercoaster ride of dread and pain. It taught me why heaven is preferable to hell despite the absence of dragons and chaos.

I consider our talk about the afterlife again, but something feels wrong, missing. Something is tugging at the corner of my mind, begging me to remember whatever it is.

In my memories, it was just Acnologia and me grieving in the moonlight. But in a long-forgotten part of my brain, I remember another human, a girl, sitting by my right with Acnologia curled up around us. I cannot place her features, though it feels as though I have known her my whole life. The only things that come to mind are a pair of soft brown eyes, a seraphic smile, and a divine voice that plays like music in my head. She said something that night about Zirconis living on in another place. Something about him not really dying as long as we do something. I may be unable to recall all her words, but those words left a whole world of emotions in my heart.