Vol1/Chapter20/Soul Shadow

## Summary

Kai is waiting around for the effects of the explosions to ebb. He is bored and decides to go explore the red threads that he had discovered when he was exploring his father's memories.

He tried once again to communicate with his father but received no response. He focused on his father's mind until he found the area he was looking for. He explored the first memory he came across.

Natsu as a young boy is running towards the woods when he is stopped by his older brother. His brother, Zeref makes Natsu promise that he will not go into the woods alone as there are dragons and he could easily get lost. Natsu claims to not be afraid of dragons.

One day Natsu's parents were arguing and he ran into the woods looking for his brother who had been collecting some herbs for their mother. He goes deeper into the woods and gets lost. He soon becomes tired and falls asleep waking up after it is already dark.

He is startled by a deep voice chastising him for being out so late on his own. Kai easily recognizes Igneel's voice and becomes even more interested. The voice introduces itself as Igneel and tells him that he has been watching over him while he slept. He asks Natsu if he knows his way back and Natsu lies. Igneel creates a makeshift torch for him so that he can light his way home.

Now that he has a torch Natsu is able to see that Igneel is a dragon and gets very nervous. Igneel tells him that not all dragons eat people and points him in the direction to get back home. Natsu introduces himself and they part company.

Natsu returns home to his family's relief. He was punished and Zeref did not believe his story. He began to sneak off into the woods once a week to try to find Igneel again wanting to proof to Zeref that the dragon did exist.

On one of these excursions he manages to find a red dragon. However it is a different one and it tries to capture him. Natsu runs back towards his house yelling for help with the dragon hot on his heels. His parents ran out of the house at his cries and were unable to protect him. They shielded his body with theirs but were all killed by the dragon's fire breath.

Zeref returns home from school to find his entire family is gone. Kai realizes that he is still seeing the scene from Natsu's perspective. He is able to feel his father's guilt, pain and longing. He becomes confused as to what happened to Natsu's soul.

Zeref carries Natsu's body inside the house and Natsu follows him. As the memory ends Kai is confused as to what he saw. He decides to pick another memory but quickly escapes it after witnessing some of Zeref's experiments and Natsu's reaction to them. Kai is looking at the threads nervously when he is once again caught by Igneel.

He asks Igneel what the red threads are and Igneel agrees to tell him if he promises to never return to them. Kai agrees readily not really wanting to experience any more of the memories that are stored there.

Igneel tells him that the red threads hold all of Natsu's memories from before he died all the way up to when he was given to Igneel to raise. He admits to being the one who severed these memories from the others and making it so that Natsu can never access them.

After Natsu died Zeref stumbled upon Igneel in the woods with Natsu trailing behind him. Igneel recognized Natsu but was suprised at how quiet he was being. Zeref tells Igneel of Natsu's death and the dragon realized that Natsu had turned into a Soul Shadow. He realizes that Natsu died because he was looking for him and he feels guilty. He tells Zeref that Natsu's soul was following him. Zeref becomes obsessed with bringing Natsu back to life. He upsets the balance of life and death inciting the wrath of the god Ankhseram () who curses him with the Contradictory Curse ().

Natsu spent years watching Zeref perform atrocities in the name of bringing him back to life. When he was finally revived Natsu was catatonic and Zeref did not know what to do with him. Igneel agreed to take care of him and teach him Fire Dragon Slayer magic.He then severed all the memories of his previous life to give him a chance at a normal life. Zeref finally got what he wanted but Natsu no longer remembered who Zeref was to him.

Due to his curse Zeref became immortal and Igneel believes that he has been driven insane by the passage of time.

Kai wonders if he will also be immortal like his mother to which Igneel claims not to have an answer. They continue training.

Tiamat checks her injuries from her fight with Fairy Tail and is frustrated that her regeneration is not working as quickly as she would like. She vows to get revenge on Gajeel next time they meet for inflicting her injury. She is unhappy with the results of her attack having failed two of her objectives.

The pain of her injuries has masked the fact that she is no longer feeling the pain from being away from her mate. She worries about the impact Igneel will have on her child recognizing that he must already be aware of his existence. She reaches out for the mating bond but can't find it. She tries several times to no avail and finds that Natsu has somehow found a way to release himself from her claim, probably with the help of his real mate. She destroys her hotel room in her fury at yet another part of her plan being unsuccessful and vows to take revenge on Igneel himself. She comes up with some plans that will involve Natsu and his mate. She decides to rest for one more night planning to begin her attack the following day.