Fairy Tail: You're Natsu of Fairy Tail (A NaLu Fan Fiction)

Chapter 9: The Truth Revealed

Fairy Tail: You're Natsu of Fairy Tail (A NaLu Fan Fiction) by Cryptic_Eyes, All Rights Reserved, © 2018

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When Natsu awoke, his onyx eyes were met with the low light of a small room and the glow of flames against his skin.

He sat straight up, shock filling him. "W-Where am I?!"

Natsu was in a square stone cell, thick iron bars to the left that were the color of ash. The light of flames was not in his cell unfortunately, but on a torch on the wall through the bars, out of his reach. He didn't have a window or anything, and when he tried to move his hands, his senses finally felt something cold and stiff against his wrists.

The dragon slayer looked down, seeing his wrists bound in iron shackles but with a strange crystal in the shape of a diamond in the middle.

It was Astrodite.

The dragon slayer growled, about to yell out in frustration, when he remembered how he got there. Flashes of memories went through his head, such as the sudden stiffness of his body and the haze that fell over his mind as he watched helplessly while his body moved on its own.

And attacked Lucy.

Natsu looked at his hands, remembering the feeling of his fingers wrapping around Lucy's throat. He remembered seeing her terrified expression, and recalling it then sent a wave of guilt and pain into his chest he only seemed to feel when Lucy was involved. However, he also recalled the explosion he had caused, and concern for his comrades blossomed into his heart as he wondered what had happened to them.

In the end Natsu had absolutely no control.

The concern he felt blossomed into anger. Anger at himself, at his lack of strength, and at the strange woman who had made him fight against his friends.

In his frustration he smashed his bound hands into the stone floor, feeling pain erupt into his fingers. Natsu did that over and over again, until he realized that his knuckles were beginning to bleed. As he pulled his hands away, the chains around his wrists clattered, and he stared at them with a scowl.

Finally, he pulled himself up, charging at the iron bars of the cell with his right shoulder. "Oi! Let me out of here, dammit!"

However, he choked on his words in shock when his shoulder was forced back; some kind of barrier was on the iron bars, and it was something Natsu had seen before. If it was the same thing he once encountered before, then that magic barrier was to force any blow back at the source, so Natsu would only keep being pushed back and waste his energy.

The fire dragon slayer cursed under his breath.

He tried lighting his fists on fire, but it was no use—it looked like the Astrodite in the arrows he'd seen affecting Lucy earlier was on his shackles too, keeping him from using any of his magic.

So he was stuck. He couldn't use his physical strength nor his magical strength.

Ilene really had made herself prepared.

Natsu dropped to his knees with an angered growl, suddenly tired.

"My fire dragon, I would take care. I wouldn't want you to hurt yourself."

Natsu's eyes became feral at the sound of the female voice, the pinkette instantly recognizing it. "Ilene..."

The woman revealed herself, walking from the right side of the hallway. Her movement caused the torch's flames on the wall to flicker, and the dragon slayer glanced at it longingly before returning his hard gaze to the collector who'd stopped in front of the iron bars of his cell.