I pushed aside one of the branches that threatened to hit me in the face and urged Kali forward. She maneuvered us around the tree as I steered her toward the direction of the scent I was following.

We had finally caught up to Natsu and Happy in a dense forest. I hadn't found them yet, but their scents were getting stronger as I got closer.

"If you want to switch forms and take a break, you can," I offered my exceed partner. The beast made no sign that she had heard me and kept walking. She was either ignoring me or she didn't understand me.

After 30 minutes of wandering around, we came to a pond in what I assumed to be the middle of the forest. Sitting at the edge of the treeline was Natsu watching Happy as the exceed washed his paws in the water.

"Hey!" I waved cheerfully. Natsu turned around and gave me a relieved smile when his eyes landed on me. 

I dismounted Kali's saddle and the massive beast joined Happy at the pond, taking drinks of the cool fresh water. I sat down next to my father and watched as Kali's large slurps sent splashes of slobber flying at Happy who slowly scooted away.

"How's your nose?" He asked.

"My nose?" I held my fingers up to my nose and felt the burn that ran horizontally across the bridge. I could feel that it was a second-degree burn. "It stings a little, but I'll be okay. What about you?" I asked, referring to the gash Zeref left on the right side of his face.

"Nothing Wendy can't fix," He said simply.

I was trying to stay positive, but there was no joy in his voice and the forced smile on his face had faded away. There was a long pause of silence between us. Everyone finally had the chance to absorb all of the information Zeref had thrown at us. Even Kali was wearing a conflicted expression on her hard-to-read face.

"So," Natsu stated. "You knew?"

"I only knew that Zeref was your brother," I answered, not looking him in the eyes. "I didn't know any of that other stuff,"

There was a pause of silence.

"Natsu," Happy finally spoke up. We turned our attention to the blue exceed. His paws had charred black from the burns. "You and me are friends forever, aren't we?"

"Yeah," Natsu grinned. "We are,"

Happy gave no warning and he started running into the arms of his best friend. Tears started streaming down his blue face as he cried.

"You gotta find some other way. Okay? I won't let my best friend die. You hear me?"

Natsu's expression softened and I couldn't hold back my tears any longer. The tears slipped down my face and I threw my arms around Natsu's shoulders, crying into his guild mark.

"You can't just go and do stupid stuff like that," I cried. "We need you,"

Kali let out a sad moan as she joined our group hug, wrapping her long body around us. She rested her head on Natsu's lap and whined sadly. For a moment, nobody said a word, before finally, Natsu moved.

"I'm sorry," He apologized, wrapping his arms around the three of us. "We'll find another way, I promise," 

For a while, we just sat there. The only sounds were the sad cries of Natsu's family. After a while, the cries turned into sniffles as everyone tried to pull themselves together. Finally we pulled apart and wiped our tears.

"We need to get back to the guildhall," I sniffled. I wiped my eyes and accidentally rubbed the burn a little too hard, making me hiss in pain.

"That burn got really close to your eyes," Natsu pointed out. I could tell that he still felt guilty about hurting me and Happy.

"Yeah," I tried to laugh it off as no big deal. 

I stood up and walked over to the pond and stared at my reflection. Contrary to my original hypothesis, I saw that it was actually a third-degree burn. Except it didn't really look like a burn. It looked more like a precise cut that ran across my face. It arched over the bridge of my nose and stopped just underneath my eyes as it stretched across my cheeks.

"I'll be okay," I reassured with a smile. "Just another cool battle scar to add to the collection," 

I started digging through one of Kali's saddle bags and pulled out the first aid kit. I pulled out the burn cream and tossed the rest of the first aid kit to Natsu. I called Happy over to me and sat down. I gave him some burn cream and instructed him to cover his paws in it. While he did so, I started to rub the ointment on my own burn.

- - - - - -

Natsu:

As he watched Nashi and Happy rub ointment on their wounds, Natsu couldn't help but feel guilty for the pain he caused. He could tell that Nashi and Happy harbored no blame towards him, but it didn't change the fact that they were injured because of him.

No... They weren't injured because of him. He hurt them. It's as simple as that... He hurt them.

He stared down at the first aid kit in his hands. He hated that he had hurt them. More importantly, he hated the position he was in.

If he killed Zeref, he would save the world and everyone in it, but he would die and cause more pain and suffering for his loved ones. This untimely death would undoubtedly hurt them much more than a couple of burns. How was he going to find a way around it?

Just then he heard laughter, making him avert his attention back to Nashi and Happy. Nashi was wrapping Happy's paws with bandages to protect his paws from further injury. 

The duo were laughing at Kali who had a bandage stuck to her nose. The massive feline was going crazy, trying to take it off with her paws and yowling in annoyance.

Natsu couldn't help but smile at the comedic scene. 

Eventually, Nashi got up and ripped the bandage off of Kali's nose to which she howled in pain and rubbed her face in the ground. Nashi laughed joyfully, making Natsu feel a pinch of anxiety.

If he was a demon, like Zeref said, then what does that make Nashi? 

He was already worried about the consequences of her dragon slayer magic, but now he had to worry about the possibility that she might be part demon as well?

The anxiety and guilt he was feeling weighed like an anchor in his stomach. In just an hour, his entire life had turned upside down.

There's no time to worry about that right now.

There's a war going on and he needed to make sure that Fairy Tail was the winner. Not only for his guild, but for his family. Natsu pushed aside his mental turmoil and joined his family at the edge of the pond. They smiled up at him and he couldn't help but return the expression.

"You missed a spot," He grinned and applied some of the ointment to Nashi's face, making her smile happily. Her smile was so pure and heartwarming. It reminded him of what he was fighting for, and it gave him a reason to stay alive.

- - - - - -

Nashi:

It had been an hour or so since we left the pond in the forest. Kali and I followed on foot while Natsu and Happy flew above us. 

I gently pulled back on the reins a little to slow down and match pace with Happy's flying. So far, we'd had no problems making our way back to the guildhall. The terrain was practically empty with the exception of a few wild animals here and there. 

But for the most part, I was lost in my own head. 

My dad is a demon... What does that make me? And why did he never tell me?

All of the stories I was told about the Alvarez War never included the part about my dad being a demon. Sure, Dad told me that he was forced to fight his long-lost evil brother, but he never mentioned this part. 

I felt betrayed. Didn't I have the right to know if I was part demon? And what am I supposed to do with this information? Do I tell the guild? Do I tell Mom? Do I tell my friends?

What do I do?

I felt Kali come to a halt, causing me to jolt forward a little bit. When I looked up, I realized we were at the base of a small mountain range. As I stared at the mountains, Kali's body began to glow and I started to fall. I suddenly hit the ground with a thud as my mount transformed into something smaller. Kali reappeared in her orange exceed form and spread her wings.

"Come on, we'll fly the rest of the way," She said. 

As she hoisted me into the air I could tell that she was bothered by the new situation we were in. Her other form concealed her facial expressions, so it had been hard to tell what she was thinking, but her exceed face said it all so clearly. Is that why she didn't want to change back until now? She didn't want me to see the distress we were all feeling?

"Do you wanna talk about it?" I asked. 

"No," She answered. As we ascended into the air I was finally able to see Magnolia not far in the distance. The sun was setting behind us and dusk would soon be upon us.

"Hey look!" Happy shouted from ahead of us. "We're almost there Natsu,"

There was no response. When I looked up ahead I noticed that Natsu had gone limp in Happy's grip.

"Natsu?" Kali called out. She flew us closer and we saw that he was unconscious.

"Natsu what's wrong? Please say something!" Happy cried. 

"Dad? Wake up!" I slapped his face as hard as I could, but he remained non-responsive. "He's burning up," I said, my hand stinging from the heat.

"We gotta get back to the guildhall, now!" Kali shouted. She and Happy took off faster towards the town. 

I just pray that we make it in time.

A few minutes passed and we had made it to Magnolia. Kali and I landed just outside the guildhall and Kali quickly transformed into her humanoid form. Happy lowered the unconscious dragon slayer and draped his arms over mine and Kali's shoulders. Kali and I trudged forward, kicking the door open and dragging Natsu inside. 

"Hey! We could use a little help over here!" Kali shouted. Everyone stared at us as we dragged Natsu further into the guildhall.

"Get him to the infirmary!" Porlyusica ordered. We nodded and dragged Natsu to the infirmary, kicking to door open on the way inside. Inside was Lucy, Brandish, and... Aquarius? I ignored the questions burning in my mind, deciding to address them later.

"Somebody help me!" Happy cried. 

"Happy?" Lucy exclaimed.

I helped Kali slump Natsu onto one of the stretchers. Lucy quickly rushed to our side with Happy right in front of her.

"What happened?" She questioned with wide eyes. 

"I don't know why, but he just stopped moving all of a sudden," Happy shrieked. "Somebody has to help him right now!"

"He was in the middle of fighting Zeref when he tried to do something stupid," I explained. "We forced him to retreat, but then he passed out on the way here,"

"Natsu, wake up! Say something!" Lucy shook his shoulders, but nothing happened. She leaned over the stretcher, pressing her ear against his chest. "I can't even hear his heart beating," Her eyes welled up with tears.

"Natsu! Please don't die!" Happy wailed. 

"This isn't happening," I whispered, fear settling in my stomach once again.

"Move it!" Porlyusica ordered. Everyone backed away from the stretcher as she instructed. She took a small stick of wood and pressed it against his face. Immediately, the stick began to spark and burn. "Of course he had to go off and do something as foolish as always. He's been overtaxing his magic power for years, resulting in an anti-Ether-nano tumor."

"What does that mean?" Kali asked. She was trying to stay calm, but I could tell that she was just as worried as the rest of us were.

"A malignant mass is growing inside his body, and unless it's removed he'll soon be dead."

"Can't we get somebody to take it out?" Happy cried.

"Of all the healers in Ishgar, none can do that." Porlyusica answered solemnly. 

"What about Wendy or Shelia?" Kali barked angrily.

"I'm afraid it's impossible," Porlyusica stated.

"Then what are we going to do?" Lucy pleaded. Porlyusica said nothing, her silence was the answer none of us wanted to hear. "This can't be real. Come on! Please say something, Natsu!" Lucy's tears finally slipped out of her eyes.

Even though there were tears falling down my face too, all I could feel was anger.

"No," I said. "It's gotta be something else. There's no way he went through all of that just to die like this,"

"Nashi," Lucy pleaded. She grabbed my hands and held them in hers. "You're still here, so he has to pull through right?"

I looked down, unable to meet her gaze. 

"Over the past year, my team and I figured out how time travel actually works," I started. "By changing things here in the past, we can change the future we come from. Only... the changes we make here won't take effect until we return to our own timeline,"

"What does that mean?" Happy sniffled.

"It means Natsu can die here, and if he does: Nashi will continue to exist until she gets back to X816. But as soon as she gets back to our time, she'd disappear and our future would cease to exist," Kali explained.

"So... you won't know what changes you've made until you get back," Lucy realized. "But that means you could accidentally wipe yourselves from existence and you wouldn't even know it. You could've already done it for all we know,"

"I know," I stated, finally looking her in the eyes. "But right now the best thing we can do is make sure we keep things on track the best we can," There was a pause between us as Lucy swallowed down her worries for me.

"Okay. You said you know about what happens in this war. What happens next? What are we supposed to do?" She asked.

"I don't know," I answered solemnly. "The only thing Dad told me about this part was that after fighting Zeref the first time, he passed out from exhaustion and almost slipped into a coma,"

"But he didn't die," Lucy pointed out. "We must've stopped this tumor somehow,"

"But how?" Kali questioned.

"Hey," We all turned around to see Brandish. She was blushing and holding up her wrists, which were bound by sealstone. "Take these off," She said.

We all looked at her curiously.

"Let me use my magic," She explained. "I can change the size of anything I want. So if I know the exact location of his tumor, I can make it small enough that it never poses any risk,"

"You'd really do that?" Happy sniffled.

"If you can save him, I'll do whatever you want," Lucy tearfully agreed.

- - - - - -

Later in the west:

Gale groaned in pain as she crawled across the ground, the moon illuminating her path. Her left shoulder was dislocated and her ankle was twisted. She crawled slowly toward the bag with the portable lacrima inside, praying that she wouldn't be seen. 

There was a shout of pain from behind her and she had to bite her cheek to not call out her friend's name. She looked over her shoulder and watched helplessly as Storm was tossed aside like a ragdoll. 

Tears flooded the girl's eyes as she watched Reiki struggle to his feet. He was breathing heavily, but he ran at the enemy with a furious battle cry. The enemy grabbed him by the wrist, pulling him over their body and slamming him onto the ground.

Gale felt tears stream down her face as she continued to crawl for the pack. When she finally reached it, she pulled out the communication lacrima and hit the distress signal. She tearfully collapsed onto the ground, no longer strong enough to support her own body weight.

She felt a pull on her hair as the enemy dragged her up by her purple locks. Gale shrieked and squirmed at the pain of her hair being pulled. The enemy stared into the girl's fear-stricken eyes and sneered.

"Next time, you'll stay out of my way," Lilith snarled.