~No One's P.O.V.~

The battle lasted for what seemed like a lifetime. Natsu used his newly-given Golden Flames to hit punch after punch, kick after kick, on the demon of pure darkness. However, none of his attacks seemed to be dealing damage as the demon would always appear unscathed after his attacks. "Are you done yet? This is getting quite boring."  Kurai dodged yet another attack attempt from Natsu by ducking his head, which made Natsu's lit fist minutely miss the demon's large goat horns by an inch.  The pitch-black demon concentrated his demonic magic energy to the palm of his right hand. A small ball of pure black energy pulsed within his hand, and he used the temporary moment of vulnerability to his advantage to slam his magic right at Natsu's abdomen.  He doubled over for a split second before the Fire Dragon Slayer hurtled through the sky, the wind fierce and filling the empty space of his ears with its whistling.  The blue Exceed on his back gritted his feline-like teeth and used his big angelic wings on his back to stop them still in the air.  The pinkette exhaled a deep breath to calm down the heartbeat that he could feel in his throat.

"Thanks Happy," he managed to smile as he gulped in large amounts of air.  Happy smiled back.

"Aye sir!" he replied with pride, but he then frowned.  "Ne Natsu, how are we going to beat this guy?  Even with your new weird yellow flames, that don't smell bad for once.."  Happy had muttered that last part to himself, but Natsu could hear him with his sensitive draconian hearing. 

"They're not those kind of flames!" Natsu growled, insulted that he had thought that his Golden Flames were of that kind.  Well, it was true that his best feline friend didn't know where he had gained such a power though...

To be quite honest, Natsu still had a million questions racing through his head, even in the midst of battle.  It was true that he had regained his memories (oh yeah, he had lost it), but it had been a spur-of-the-moment kind of thing.  He literally just remembered all of his memories, realized that he had tried to kill his comrades (and perhaps his crush) twice, and then proceeded to regain memories that he had human parents???  He knew he wasn't the sharpest tool in shed, but after this battle, he was going to have to take a really long time to make sense of all the memories floating around his head with no organization, and also from the shock that he should feel for having all these foreign memories in him.

"Natsu! LOOK OUT!"  The pinkette's eyes grew wide and he swiftly leaned to the right, dodging the attack of what seemed like black flames that had hurtled towards him.  He focused his attention down towards the demon below him.  And that was why he shouldn't and didn't feel all that confusion now.  He can't, not in the midst of a battle.  Not when he has to avenge Lucy.

"Thanks again Happy," Natsu thanked the blue feline once again.

"Man, the world must really be ending when Natsu is the one who needs saving," Happy joked. Natsu grunted in displeasure. 

"Well, in any case, if we keep pointlessly fighting like this.."

"...We'll both just run out of magic power, right?" Happy grimly finished his sentence.  Natsu nodded, and dodged another attack, this time it being a black orb of pure demonic magic power. 

"You getting tired? Shame," Kurai called from below.  His wings spread out, signalling that he was going to fly straight after the Dragon Slayer.  "I at least thought my son who holds my bloodline would be able to last longer than this!"  His wings were poised upwards before the black demon beat his wings downwards, launching him forwards and towards his so-called "son."  Happy frowned when he heard the demon call his friend such a thing, but he wasn't able to dawdle much on it much when Natsu hurriedly spat out a roar of flames that propelled both him and the fish-loving Exceed away from the demon hurling towards him.

"Do not call me your son!" Natsu furiously roared, locking his burning onyx eyes with the demon's glowing red ones at the mention of the word.  "You have no right to!"  He was going to yell more things, but his eyes grew wide when he saw the demon flinch and avoid his gaze at his yelling.  It was a slight gesture, but it was something that the salmon-haired boy saw as clear as water. 

And then, that's when it hit him.  "Hey, Happy, I have an idea," he turned his head towards the Exceed on his back.  'Natsu has an idea?' In the back of his head, Happy made such a remark, but knowing the seriousness of their situation, he just nodded and waited for what his friend's plan was.  Natsu nodded back.  "I'm going to try to talk to him," he explained in a hushed whisper.  Happy eyes immediately popped open and he shouted,  "You're going to--!?"  Natsu quickly slapped his hand over Happy's mouth to cut him off.

"Seriously?!" Natsu hissed.  He glanced over to the demonic enemy in caution.  Happy nodded, understanding, but even still, he tried his hardest to stifle a laugh. 

"Still, Natsu Dragneel is going to talk his way to victory in a battle?" Happy couldn't help but say. Natsu glared daggers at the blue cat.

"Shut up!" Natsu snapped with a tick mark on his head.  Meanwhile, a certain demon looked at the two with a raised eyebrow of amusement.  He had to admit, the demon of pure darkness found himself quite interested.  Should you not have a plan before the battle? Ah, but perhaps that's only for the general population of humans.  'How amusing.'  Still, he supposed that letting the battle be at a standstill for too long wouldn't be good.  If that good-for-nothing blonde brat gets reinforcements, that would prolong his plans, and he couldn't have that.  'If she hadn't saved her, if she just--' A small voice spoke longingly in the back of his mind. His eyes slightly grew wide, and he immediately shook his head. What was he thinking? It's good that she isn't alive...right? Kurai gritted his sharp teeth. There was no time to think about this now. He had a world to conquer.

"What are you two conversing about?  I would like to know," he spoke up. His dark gray wings flapped upwards for a second before flinging the demon towards the duo, black flames enveloping the demon. The voice of their opponent stopped the two's conversation. Natsu glanced over to Happy, his onyx eyes locking with the blue Exceed's.

"Trust me, 'kay Happy?" Natsu said. Happy grinned back and nodded.

"Always!" he replied happily. The pinkette smirked and pumped his fist into the air.

"Yosh! Let's go!"

"AYE!" Happy responded, his magical white wings growing larger. He threw the two to them upwards just before the black demon could hit them with his black flames. He used his draconian wings to skid himself to a halt in the air.

"Oh? Resorting to dodging? How quaint," Kurai couldn't help but smirk at such a pathetic plan. "Do you really think you have enough magical power to do that for quite a while? Because, I personally do, not sure about your..cat, though." Natsu shot a glare at the demon, but his expression then softened.

"Did you really love Mom?" he asked, his voice loud but not so much that it was shouting. Kurai's eyes grew wide at the sudden question. He felt himself asking the same question for a split second before realizing the intent. His blood-red eyes darkened and his lips curled into a scowl.

"So this is your plan? Try to pull my, what, 'heartstrings,' as you humans say?" he spat. He slammed the palms of his hands together and concentrated his magical power. A sphere of swirling black magic formed as his hands slowly separated. "It's not going to work!" he yelled a bit more furiously than he wanted it to sound. He hurled the sphere of darkness towards Natsu, but he calmly swished to the left, making the magic hit and destroy a house behind him instead.

"I think Mom loved you!" Natsu shouted particularly louder so that the demon could hear it clearly. "You just broke her heart when you betrayed her!" Something inside Kurai's chest throbbed with pain at the Dragon Slayer's words, making him cringe. He brought one hand to the part of his chest that was hurting and tightly gripped it.

"Are you trying to fool me?" he asked, his voice wavering and slightly distorted than his regular voice, the voice that he would always use to speak with-- 'No, no stop.  They're tricking you. He's, she's, no, wait..'  Kurai gripped the side of his head with the other demonic hand of his (were they his?) and ground his teeth together in an attempt to distract himself from the lingering pain.  He knew that he was falling into a trap, a lure, set up by his son (no, a mere human he meant), but even still..his heart ached-- 'No, you fool, what heart? You're a demon.'

'You're not allowed to have a heart.'

"Enough talk," the demon spoke, his voice completely distorted and deformed that it was no longer humane. He lifted his hands into the air, his palms facing the rising moon. Natsu frowned in confusion and before he could open his mouth, a scared shriek was screamed right into his sensitive ears.

"N-Natsu!" Happy squeaked in fear, his head facing downwards. Said person looked in the same direction and saw what made his feline friend shriek. Large masses of what looked like shadows were flying towards one specific point. His eyes traveled back to his enemy, and he realized that the shadows were being drawn to his hands. The two could do nothing but watch as the wisps of shadows merged together in the hands of the black demon, two distinct tornado-like whirlwinds forming as a result.

"Dusk's Tornados!" Kurai roared, unleashing the duo of cyclones.

"Uwoh!" Natsu yelped in surprise, his eyes widening at the sight of such big attacks. He lit his feet on fire and propelled him and Happy away from the vortexes of shadows. The blue cat's tail was inches away from being caught in the typhoon of darkness. "That was close.." he sighed in relief and glanced over to his blue friend. "You alright, Happy?"

"Aye," he responded with a nod. Natsu flashed a smile, but it fell into a serious expression as soon as he locked eye contact with his foe. Kurai's eyes now looked a bit deranged, and his expression was definitely no longer calm and composed. Natsu had to suppress a smirk of triumph. His plan was working.

Adjusting his stance, he cupped his hands around his mouth and asked, "Do you ever regret what you did?"

"Shut up!" Kurai roared, his deranged expression twisting with anger. He no longer resorted to magic attacks; instead, he hurled himself towards Natsu and started using his fists. With some help from Happy, Natsu ducked and tilted his head to dodge all of his punches, which only made Kurai furious. Natsu used that moment as an advantage and added, "I bet you still miss Mom," he paused, and couldn't help but smirk, "but I'm not sure if Mom feels the same way about you."

"SHUT UP!" Kurai screeched, now recklessly punching and kicking.  Natsu now dodged each of his attempts with complete ease, knowing that his opponent was too furious to think about his attacks.  He lit his foot aflame and kicked the demon's abdomen.  He let out a coughed groan before being sent flying quite a distance into the air.  Natsu watched him become a small dot in his vision and his body tensed up as he readied the last thing he needed to say.  His battle was drawing to a close as he knew that Happy was almost out of magic energy, and he was going to run out soon too.  However, he still had enough in him for one more attack.  One more attack to end it all.  He just needed his foe to come straight towards him.  He took in a deep breath, and hollered out the words that he was sure would snap whatever sense his "father" still had in him.

"I wonder why Mom ever loved you!" he bellowed with all his might.  He could feel his own voice reverberate throughout his throat and out his mouth, his own vocal cords vibrating with its intensity. And, just like he had predicted, something inside Kurai snapped.  His eyes turned fully red with no pupils whatsoever and he clenched his hands to the point where he could feel his claws dig into his pitch-black skin.

"SHUT UP!!!" he screeched, his voice echoing across the entirety of Seasons Village.  He flapped his wings downwards with all his strength, thrusting him towards the Dragon Slayer at an incredible speed.

"Uh..Natsu???" Happy gulped, sweat rolling down his blue fur as he watched Kurai get closer and closer to the both of them.  "When I say so, let go of me Happy," Natsu commanded. He positioned himself into a battle stance.  He moved his left foot behind his right one and moved his arm backwards.  His fist lit up with a mixture of golden and red-orange flames, and he waited for just the right moment.  By now, Kurai was only a few seconds away from them.  A barrier of black flames surrounded and swallowed him whole as he grew closer.  Natsu merely watched him grow from being a small dot to a grow silhouette. 

'Wait for it...' he told himself.  He could feel his fists itching to come in contact with rough demonic skin, but he had to wait for the right time.  The black demon now took up about 5% of his vision.

'Not yet...'  10% now.

'C'mon...' He was a couple yards away at this point.

'Almost..' Happy gulped down his own saliva as he could feel the heat from Kurai's barrier of flames.

'10..9..8..' Natsu closed his eyes as his own head counted down. In the darkness, a picture of two women flashed in his vision. One had long salmon-colored hair and dark hazel-colored eyes. The other had hair the color of gold and eyes the color of dark chocolate. A smile curled onto Natsu's lips at the sight of them. '3...2..' It soon fell, however, as the countdown was drawing to a close. He slowly drew his arm backwards.

'1.' Natsu's eyes immediately snapped open. "NOW!" Happy immediately released his grip on Natsu, making him fall through the sky towards the upcoming demon. The flames on both of his hands burned hotter as he quickly approached him.

"DRAGON SLAYER'S SECRET ART, GOLDEN CRIMSON LOTUS: EXPLODING FLAME BLADE!" Natsu yelled with all his might. Both golden and red flames enveloped around himself. He collided with Kurai, who was then caught inside the immense net of flames. The demon inaudibly screamed in pain as his entire body was engulfed in flames.

'This can't be!' he yelled in his mind. 'My skin is supposed to be impervious to fire! Is it, is it because of Sakura's..' An image of the salmon-haired woman smiling flashed in his mind, and his expression softened at such an image. 'Sakura..' As the demon's vision was blinded with white light, he couldn't help but smile. 'Haha, in the end, Sakura, you're right.'

'I guess I really do have a heart.'

The blinding white light that engulfed the town soon dissipated after a few seconds. Happy had been thrown back at the force of the impact, and was now on the ground, surrounded by rubble from the aftermath of the battle. He slowly stood up and searched his surroundings for a certain person. "NATSU!" Happy cupped his hands around his mouth and shouted. He tried summoning wings and was lucky enough to have just enough. He lifted himself up from the ground and started looking around for his best friend. Soon enough, he found Natsu standing still, his head tilted up to face the sky. His bangs covered his eyes as he gazed up at the twinkling lights up at the sky. The stars shone even more brilliantly than usual to the salmon-haired boy. The beaming white lights high up in the sky reminded him of a certain blonde.

Tears started to well up in his eyes. They travel down his cheeks, mixing with dried blood here and there, making the droplets of water pink as they dripped down his chin. His body was covered with wounds, injuries, cuts, scratches, and dried blood, and he felt so weak that he knew he was going to collapse in any second, but he didn't, couldn't, feel any pain worse than the one he felt deep in his chest. His entire body felt numb compared to the searing feeling he felt in his heart. He lifted his hand up and tightly clutched the tattered part of his shirt that covered where his heart was. "Natsu.." Happy murmured in pity, tears of his own streaming down his furry cheeks as he watched his friend weep.

When he was done looking at the stars, he forced himself to look away from its beauty and return to his painful reality. His eyes slowly scanned his surroundings. His vision definitely wasn't at its sharpest; it was blurred with tears, and his ears felt muffled from the grief setting in. Even so, he still looked around for what he was looking for.

Eventually, his dim and glassy onyx eyes landed on a certain lifeless corpse. The salmon-haired boy slowly trudged over to it, each of his footsteps slow and weighed. He stumbled every so often, but managed to fall to his knees right in front of his love's still body.

The features of Lucy's face made her look as if she was sleeping; as if her eyes could just flutter open and she'd smile at Natsu or scream at him to get out of her apartment. One out of hundreds of memories started to drift into Natsu's mind. He closed his eyes, letting the memory play out in his mind instead of looking at the blonde's growing-pale face.

~Flashback~

Natsu was motionlessly lying on a field of grass.  His hands were clasped behind his head as he stared up into the bright blue sky and lazily watched the wispy white clouds pass by his vision.  In his hands was a piece of paper, crumpled up and flatten by his clenched hands and buried by his spiky pink hair.  A certain blue cat flew up to him using his angel-like wings.  He looked at the pinkette with a worried expression.  "Natsu, what are we doing here?" he asked, his eyebrows pinching into a frown.  Natsu closed his eyes as a response.

        "You can leave if you want Happy, I'm just here thinking about...something," he replied.

        "Like what?" he asked, starting to get curious. The Dragon Slayer could feel his blood rush up to his cheeks at the question.

        "N-nothing special.." he stammered, moving his head away so that the blue Exceed would not be able to see his flushed face.  Happy noticed the gesture and mischievously smirked at the pinkette..

        "You're in looooove with somebody?" he asked mockingly, rolling his tongue. Natsu's face only grew redder as a response.

        "N-no I'm not!" he denied.

        "Is that piece of paper you're holding a confession note?" he snickered. He was only joking, but Natsu's face reddened to the point where it was a more brilliant red than Erza's hair.

        "N-no!" he replied with a slight stutter.

"Heehee, Natsu has a crush~ Natsu has a crush~" Happy sang. Natsu abruptly stood up, brushing off the grass on my black waistcoat.  "Why don't you just leave me alone!" he burst out yelling, suddenly very furious.  Happy was surprised when I said that.

        "S-sorry," he squeaked in fear. At first, Natsu glared at him, but after a couple seconds, his expression softened and he sighed.

        "I know, I'm just feeling..on the edge these past couple of days," he apologized.  "C'mon, let's go back to the guild and find a job!"

        "Aye!" Happy replied, well, happily. He forgot Natsu's outburst and started to head back to the guild, but turned around and frowned when he found that the pinkette wasn't following him.

"Something wrong Natsu?" Happy asked curiously. Said person shook his head.

"Nah, I'll catch up with 'ya," he replied.

"Oh, okay!" Happy shrugged it off, deciding not to question his behavior. He flew away towards the guild, and Natsu grinned at the sight of his cheerful little friend. However, his warm smile fell as he felt the crumpled piece of paper in the clenched fist by his side.

He slowly uncurled his fingers, letting the paper breathe in fresh air. It slowly uncrumpled itself, revealing a few words written in ink. The letters were a bit sloppy, and the spacing of each word varied, but one could tell someone extremely tried hard to make it neat.

'..ear Lucy,

...wish...comrades..know..me..

..love...'

Natsu cringed when he read that word. He paused his reading for a split second before continuing.

'know..don't..Mir...about..Ice Prince...kick..

ha...ignore..even...what..doing..'

Those were the words that Natsu silently read to himself. It didn't matter that he couldn't see all of it; hell, he wrote it. Of course he wasn't going to forget what he had written...not for something like this.

"Natsu??" Natsu flinched in surprise. His head shot up to see Happy giving him a weird look. "What're you looking at?"

"Ah, nothing," Natsu waved off. He balled up the paper once again and stuffed it in his pocket. "I thought you were going back to the guild?"

"I already got there!" Happy beamed with pride.

"Whaa? That fast?" Natsu smiled.

"I've gotten faster!"

"Haha, that's good! I'm proud of 'ya buddy!" Natsu slammed the palm of his hand against Happy's back. "So, what's the job?"

"Erza said something about monsters in this village.." Happy hummed in thought. "I think it was called..Season Village or something? I don't know!" Natsu chuckled and shook his head.

"You never remember anything huh?" Natsu teased.

"Like you're any better!" Happy teased back. The two then proceeded to both laugh.

"Okay okay, we should get going; we shouldn't let the team wait for us, or else Lucy will get angry at us!" Natsu joked and pet the blue flying cat. "Monsters that were released huh? Sounds right up my alley!"

"Aye!"

~Flashback End~

Large tears brimmed and fell from the Fire Dragon Slayer's onyx eyes at the nostalgic memories. He lightly brushed Lucy's cheeks with his hand, feeling her smooth, porcelain-like skin come in contact with the rough skin on his fingers.

It was right at that moment that Erza, Gray, Wendy, and Carla all came running up to their friend.  "Natsu/Natsu-san!!" his friends and comrades cried in unison. Natsu's eyes widened at the sound of his name. He turned his head to see who it was, but at the sight of his friends smiling their bright and proud smiles, not even knowing what had happened to their blonde companion, Natsu immediately looked away. He couldn't bare to see it; to see the look on their faces when they realize what has happened.

"Natsu-san?" Wendy was the first to realize that something was wrong. Carla frowned and pursed her lips, but didn't say anything.

"Oi, Flamebrain, what's wrong?" Gray was the next to follow, a frown edging its way into the Ice-Make Mage's face. Erza followed suit and walked over to the Dragon Slayer.

"Natsu, what's the matter?" she asked as she came closer, her voice its usual firmness, but was soft and quiet, as if dread was starting to creep its way into the redhead. When she realized that the usually-boisterous boy was kneeling in front of something, she tilted her head so that she could see exactly what it was.

Her heart immediately dropped all the way down to her stomach when she saw a sliver of golden yellow. Her body started to shake with accumulating grief, but she tried to stop herself from doing so. Maybe she was assuming wrongly, maybe it wasn't their cheerful Celestial Key Mage. She turned her head over to the blue cat that was silently watching the scene play out. His wings were drooping and were barely keeping him afloat. "Is that..?" Erza asked. She tried to let her voice sound stern and hard, but her shaking voice betrayed her emotions. Happy's eyes were swollen and red and were still glassy with tears. He shook his head and didn't utter a single sound. Sweat slowly rolled down the redhead's forehead as she made her way to the kneeling Dragon Slayer.

"Natsu." She reached out her hand to touch the salmon-haired boy, but he flinched away from the touch before it could be made.

"I'm fine," Natsu croaked, his voice hoarse and utterly broken. He tried to stand up, but his legs immediately buckled when he pressed weight onto them. He stumbled into Erza, who caught him with ease. Natsu blearily blinked; his vision swam with dark spots, and he felt lightheaded. The Requip Mage's frown deepened.

"Natsu--" She tried gripping his arm, but that only made him harshly (but weakly) tug it away. He mumbled something incoherent and tried to walk back towards the blonde. His stumble distanced him away from the lifeless body, so he tried to make his way back, but Erza firmly gripped his body to prevent him from moving away.

"I said..I..." Natsu muttered words of protest. Their syllables sounded slurred together, from exhaustion if nothing else. No, he couldn't lose consciousness; what would happen to Lucy? The dark spots only grew in number and size, and it was starting to overwhelm his entire vision, or at least whatever he could make of the blurred mess in front of him that he called his vision, but even so he still tried to find the blonde, his blonde in his swimming vision. "..I..." He murmured right before all he could see what darkness.

"Natsu!" He couldn't hear Erza calling his name when she caught his falling body. He couldn't hear his other comrades rushing to his aid either. No, the only thing he could hear or see before his consciousness left him was a memory that filled the black void of his vision for a mere second.

'Lucy...' he thought to himself.

And then it all went dark.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

HA! HA SEE, I DIDN'T FORGET THAT LITTLE LETTER! I DIdn't..hehehe...um..

Dark Crystal: Yeah, but you forgot to update FOR MORE THAN 6 MONTHS...

I'm sorry!!

I hope 4000+ words make it up to you guys! T^T