In the middle of the forest we see a small house and inside we see the famous Salamander, Natsu Dragneel and his flying cat companion Happy currently having a conversation.
"But why?" Happy asked Natsu shocked by what the salmon haired dragon slayer was saying
"Happy, remember that time I had you steal that S-rank quest?" Happy replied with a nod to Natsu's question "I finally realized that because of my action back then I could've put not only me but both you and Lucy in danger. And I can't forgive my self for that." Natsu then looked at his and and clenched his fist "If I continue to make the same mistake like that I would definitely put the guild in danger." Happy couldn't say anything but gave a look of understanding
"I understand but what are you going to do if master chooses you for the trial?" Happy asked
"I'll talk with him before he announces the participance. And by the way Happy you're fine with me going on a training trip alone for a few days right?" Natsu asked Happy
"I'm fine with that I can partner up with either Lucy or Lisanna for the trials I guess" Happy replied
Natsu then looked at the clock and notice it was very late "Alright Happy lets go to bed it's already late." Natsu then laid down on his bed drifting to sleep with Happy following right after
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The next day, the guild was empty with no one inside except for the guild master of Fairy Tail Makarov Dreyar who was inside having a drink. "It seems like those brats are still out on some jobs." Makarov had a slightly sad look "Welp I won't complain about some silence for once" just as Makarov said those words the he saw Natsu entering the guild through the door quietly. "I didn't expect you to be the first one to come to the guild Natsu"
"Well I need to have a talk with you" Natsu said with a serious voice that didn't match his usual self
Makarov noticed this right away "So what did you want to talk about my boy?"
"Gramps, I don't think I'm prepared to participate in the trial yet" Natsu told Makarov with a stern face while Makarov looked at Natsu shocked
"Why do you think so Natsu? You've proven to me and the guild that you've greatly improved this year." Makarov asked Natsu raising a eye brow
"Yeah, but I also proved that I have rooms for improvement." Makarov looked at Natsu with a curious look "I think I've been way too reckless this year even more than others. I never really thought of a plan while on a mission and that putted my team in many dangers already." Natsu who was looking down on the floor looked at Makarov in the eye "If I become a S-rank with the same amount of recklessness I have I'll just put my team in even bigger trouble."
Makarov looked at Natsu understating "Alright then I'll replace you with Alzack to participate this year. But I can tell that you have something else to tell me."
"I'm planning to go on a training trip alone for 5 days" Natsu told Makarov
"And does Happy know about this training trip of yours?" Makarov looked at Natsu
"Yep I've already had this talk with Happy and he decided to stay around and see if he can join someone for the trials." Natsu replied "And to be honest he earned it, Happy worked hard helping me for the trials I'll feel bad if Happy couldn't participate in the trials because of me."
"I see alright then are you going to leave now?" Makarov asked
"Yup, I want to get as much training done during my travels." Natsu replied now with a smile "Also gramps, since I'm the only one here right now and not participating in the trials can you tell me who's participating in the trials?" Natsu asked
"Well since you're the only one here I guess it won't hurt." Makarov said. He then told Natsu the name of the participants for the trial (A.N the mages will be revealed later)
"Welp I wish them luck, after all they'll need it." Natsu said while picking his things up "Welp I better get going see you in 5 days old man." Natsu then walked towards the guild door waving goodbye to Makarov
"You batter not get into any trouble brat" Makarov thought while looking at the salmon haired boy leave
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Later Makarov was currently standing in front of the group of Fairy Tail mages who has gathered for the S-rank trials. "Listen up I'll now be calling the 8 mages that will participate in the trials. Gray Fullbuster, Lisanna, Elfman, Cana Alberona, Freed Justine, Mest gryder, Alzack Connell, and Gajeel Redfox. These 8 mage with there chosen partner will be competing in the S-rank trials." Makarov said.
The said mages that were called out were being congratulated by there guildmates but one blond mage noticed something or specifically someone missing and this said mage is Lucy Heartfillia
"Uh, Happy do you know where Natsu is?" Lucy asked the flying blue cat who was currently eating his fish
"Well Natsu actually left today morning on a training trip" Happy said
"Huh? But I thought Natsu wanted to become a S-rank more than anything?" Lucy questioned Happy
"Well he apparently had a change of heart and decided to go train" Happy said
While Happy was talking with Lucy Lisanna approached Happy
"Hey, Happy" Lisanna called
"Hey, Lisanna did you need something?" Happy asked
"Yeah, I was wondering if you want to partner with me for the trial" Lisanna asked
Happy with stars in his eyes quickly nodded his head answering Lisanna's question
"Alright then lets go practice some moves we can do for the trials" Lisanna suggested
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At another side of the guild Laki, Max, and Bisca were currently congratulating Alzack who was rubbing the back of his head sheepishly
"Thank you guys" Alzack said to the three mages
"So Alzack who're you going to take for the S-rank trials?" Max asked
"Well, probably Bisca. I mean those two make a great team." Laki said Calmly
"Um actually, me and Bisca had this conversation before you guys came and Bisca said she doesn't think she should join." Alzack said shocking both Laki and Max immensely
"Huh? But why Bisca this's your chance to get recognized even more around the guild?." Max asked
"Well I thought about a few things after master named all of the members participating and I'm not sure if I'm strong enough to join yet" Bisca replied "All of the mages that are participating this year are so strong I'm not sure if I'm prepared to face them yet."
Max and Laki seeing how serious Bisca was decided to drop the topic "So Alzack who're you going to take to the trials?" Max asked
"Actually Max I was hoping that you would participate in the trials with me." Alzack replied shocking Max
"Huh? Wait what me!?" Max asked Alzack who replied with a nod
"Yes, Max you're a strong mage that with enough planning could qualify as S-rank mage" Alzack said
"Well if you say it like that I guess I can't say no now can I?" Max said embarrassed by Alzacks compliment
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5 days have passed after Natsu has left for his raining trip and he was currently returning to the guild. During those 5 days Natsu Drageel has trained to control his magic in hopes of causing less damage and studied in hopes of getting a bit smarter. But Natsu just continued on his way towards the guild and so he did.
Natsu finally arrived infront of the guild door and opened the door "I'M BACK EVERYONE!" Natsu yelled. But as Natsu entered the guild he noticed how there were so little members in the guild but what shocked him the most was the sad and gloomy atmosphere around the entire guild.
"Hey guys, what's going on, where is everyone?" Natsu asked as he was expecting the Tenrou group to be back when his training was over. When he said that some of the people looked at him. "Hey Natsu, come sit down." Macao said, in a grim voice. Natsu did as he was told and sat infront of Macao and Wakaba
"So what's going on? Why're you guys feeling so down?" Natsu raised an eyebrow while questioning Macao.
"Natsu, I'll be blunt as there is no other way to tell you this, so I'm just gonna say it" Macao paused for a second with tears leaking from his eye's "Tenrou island is gone."
Natsu sat there for a moment slowly processing what Macao just told him "W-what do you mean Tenrou island is gone?"
Macao then explained to Natsu about Fairy Tail defeating Grimoire Heart and hen being attacked by Acnologia. Natsu hearing this was surprisingly quiet but many quickly noticed the small amount of tears that was slowly falling from his eye's. "S-so everyone died?" Natsu asked with a shaky voice
"No, Juvia was able to survive" Macao replied bringing Natsu a little bit of hope.
"How is she? Can we meet her!?" Natsu stood up from his chair with a desperate voice but was stopped by Wakaba "Calm down Natsu, even if she survived she's in no condition to have a conversation." Natsu stopped and sat back down looking at Wakaba "What do you mean?" Wakaba sighed "When the magic council brought Juvia back she was full of injuries and bruises coverinDog almost her entire body."
"So everyone else is dead?" Natsu asked now in the brim of tears "Why? Why is something like this always happening to us? What did we do wrong that we have to go through all of these troubles that always hurts out guild from Phantom Lord, Tower of Heaven, Oracion Seis why are all of these things always happening to us?" Natsu was now crying with tears falling like water falls.
"Natsu.." Macao spoke with a concerned voice for the dragon slayer
"I-I think I need some time for my self." Natsu stood up and left the guild building and headed towards his home
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Natsu continued walking on the dirt path towards his home.
"What am I suppose to do now?" Natsu thought to him self still continuing his way towards his home alone "Everyone of strongest mages are dead and the master is gone too without them how could Fairy Tail be itself?" Natsu continued asking him self before he noticed him self in front of his home. "Welp I guess I'll have to look for a new living" Natsu said to him self before noticing something on his door step. "What're a bunch of letters doing here?" Natsu picked up all of the letters and went into his house.
He laid himself on his hammock. "I could've really used your guidance by now Igneel." Natsu spoke to himself not knowing what to do. "Welp I guess I should think about that tomorrow." As Natsu was about to prepare going to bed he remembered about the letter and decided to check them and noticed that it didn't have anyone's name. "What kind of idiot doesn't even put there name on a letter?" Natsu opened the letter and saw several notes.
"You better have gotten stronger when I return Natsu! -Lucy"
"I'll be back so don't cause any trouble. -Erza"
"You better come back quickly so that I can brag for becoming an S-class before you flame brain. -Gray"
"Natsu when we come back can you prepare me a lot of fish? Cause with the amount of training you did I bet you got super strong! - Happy"
"Please don't feel bad that you didn't get to be in the trials Natsu-san. -Wendy"
Natsu was full of tears and realization. "That's right, what was I thinking giving up on Fairy Tail's? I must have gone mad" Natsu said almost sounding mad at himself "Everyone in Tenrou island fought till the end to come back to us and we're here all almost giving up!" Natsu now sounding determined now knew what to do.
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The next day the guild was empty with only Macao and Wakaba in the guild so early in the morning noticing Natsu who just entered the guild by the door without kicking it down which brought some questions to the two mages. "Hey Natsu is there something you need?" Macao asked.
"Yeah there is something you guys can do for me." Natsu said Catching the two's attention
"And what is it that you want us to do for you?" Wakaba said curious about what the dragon slayer had in mind
"Can the two of you gather all of the remaining members of the guild for me?" Natsu said
"Well we can gather most of them for you except one." Macao told Natsu
"And why can't we gather that one person?" Natsu said raising an eyebrow
"Well that one person is Bisca" Wakaba said causing Natsu's eyes to open "After she heard that Alzack died she locked her self up in her room and there is no sign of her leaving anytime soon"
"I see then I'll go check on her so please gather the others from the guild." Natsu said while leaving the guild with Macao and Wakaba leaving as well to gather the others
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Natsu was now infront of Bisca's apartment and he decided to just knock on the door. "Hey Bisca you in there? It's me Natsu" Natsu waited for a few minutes before he saw the door opening slightly just to reveal a messed up Bisca with tears still visible around her eye's.
"Hey there Natsu" she said in a raspy voice. "when did you come back?"
"I came back yesterday when you weren't at the guild." Natsu replied. Natsu then suddenly got on both of his knees and bowed at Bisca surprising her but before she could say anything Natsu spoke. "I'M SORRY!" this shocked Bisca even more than she was seeing Natsu of all people being on his knee apologizing.
"N-natsu why are you apologizing?" Bisca asked Natsu who was still bowing before her
"If I didn't leave for the training trip I might've saved the others who were on the island!" Natsu said
"Natsu, you don't need to apologies the one who attacked them was Acnologia I don't think you would have been able to do much even if you were there." Bisca said with tears slowly starting to form again Natsu slowly stood up "It's just I just miss them all too much, why did this have to always happen our comrades always getting hurt." Bisca now had tears running down.
Natsu who now stood up straight suddenly hugged Bisca while rubbing the back of her head surprising her " I know what you mean Bisca I also wonder why these things always happen to us but. It's not like we're all gone." Bisca now just looked at Natsu who continued to speak "We still have the other members of the guild our family, friends, and guild is still there so please will you come with me to the guild?" Bisca seeing how sincere Natsu was agreed and followed him to Fairy Tail.
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Inside the guild everyone was gathered waiting for the fire dragon slayer who called them to arrive.
"Dang it what's taking Natsu so long?" Warren said which caused some of the other members to nod in agreement.
"Calm down all of you Natsu's trying to get Bisca to get out of her apartment and you know how she has been" Macao said causing all of the members to stop understanding the situation. But the silence didn't last long as the guild door opened revealing Natsu who entered the guild with Bisca next to him shocking several of the members.
"You son of a gun you actually did it!" Wakaba said shocked seeing Bisca standing next to Natsu
"Yeah yeah whatever." Natsu said waving off Wakaba's word and looked around the guild then asked "Did you gather everyone from the guild like I asked you?"
"Yep we gathered everyone who didn't leave the guild yet." Macao told Natsu "But some of them still seems a bit down" Natsu after listening what Macao said looked around the guild to notice the people who were apart of the guild longer still feeling down.
"Then what I'm about to do will be even more important for all of us." Natsu told Macao and suddenly jumped up to the second floor of the guild "Listen up everyone!" shouted Natsu catching everyone's full attention. "Not so long ago we lost many of our strongest member! And I know that some of you guys are still having a hard time taking that information in!" Natsu looked at the members slightly before continuing his speech "But even with everyone gone we have to continue on!"
"And how are we suppose to do that?" Vijeeter suddenly spoke "We lost our strongest members including our master how are we even suppose to continue the guild?" Natsu furrowed his eyes by Vijeeter's comment
"So are you saying that we should just give up just because we're missing some of our stronger members?" Natsu questioned the question caused some members of the guild to look down in slight shame "Listen here and listen clearly all of you! When Phantom Lord attacked us did any of us ever give up?" everyone replied with a shake of there head "Then what difference does our problem right now have a difference to that" everyone looked at the dragon slayer with a confused look "If the other members of the guild at Tenrou island saw Acnologia do you think they just gave up? Well then you're wrong because from what I heard from the ruin knights the entire guild tried there best to fight against that dragon do you wonder why? It's because they all wanted to come back to their home! The guild where there family and friends are at! And while everyone else was on that island we're here about to give up?" Everyone was now crying hearing Natsu's word "Everyone fought till the very end and we're here just giving up? Hell like I'll ever let that happen because if we give up now it'll be the great guild Fairy Tails biggest shame!" Natsu then raised his finger to the sky and made the Fairy Tail and symbol "WHO ARE WE!?"
"Fairy Tail" everyone in the guild said now filled with determination
"I CAN'T HEAR YOU!" Natsu said even louder
"FAIRY TAIL!" everyone in the guild shouted with there loudest voice
"Now that's what I'm talking about we'll keep the guild as the strongest for the ones who have passed away! Now who's with me!?"
The entire guild cheered with Macao and Wakaba giving each other a knowing look
Word count: 3084