FairyTail: Etherious Blood [Book 1/2]

Chapter Fourty-Nine: The Everlasting Bond

     Lucy

     Natsu rushed off the stage while everyone else in the entire guild started applauding, Natsu went out through the Infirmary door and vanished from sight. I ran after him with Lisanna by my side, Gray caught up to us along with the master and Erza. Natsu was descending down the flight of stairs, moving back down to his own isolated room of the infirmary. He slammed the door and went inside. We went through that door and opened it, Natsu was sitting on his bed with his hands covering his face.

    "Natsu, since when could you play the piano?" I asked, he sighed and lifted his head. "And what did you mean by your grandma made Towa No Kizuna?" Lisanna flinched and Erza tensed, the master looked intrigued but Gray looked accusing. Natsu chuckled.

    "Heh. Back in the time I came from a very talented family," Natsu started to explain, his voice was calm but had doses of moony longing in it. "Mom was the most powerful Dragon Slayer in the era, Tyra 'the Typhoon' Dragneel, my dad was a famous, but not very serious blacksmith. My older brother was a prodigy, he was so smart it made me look like a sack of rocks. Then there was grandma, she was a musician but she mostly did the piano, she always used to write love songs and she wrote about the importance of loyalty and family. In fact she made Towa No Kizuna for me and my brother when we were kids. I don't know how in the world I could've forgotten them, I loved them very much. My brother and I stuck together like glue even though we were opposites, he used fire magic as his first magic back then so of course I was the last one to learn anything, and I was a dumbass back then too."

    "What happened?" I asked, suddenly feeling very sorry.

    "Have you guys ever wondered why I never told anyone my birthday?" Natsu suddenly asked.

    "We did, we tried so many times to pry it outta ya, but why didn't you ever tell us?" Gray asked.

    "It was because I didn't even remember my birthday. But now that I finally remember it, I know why I never wanted to celebrate it. Igneel knew why, but that bastard never even gave me a hint," Natsu said, his tone changed quickly and he clutched his hair.

    "Why? What happened?" Lisanna asked. Natsu was silent for a few seconds his jaw was trembling, he shook his head sadly and spoke.

    "It was the day our family was torn apart. My entire family except my brother died, I was included. I have no idea how I'm still alive, but I remember watching them die," Natsu said, the room became deathly quiet now. I walked over to him and sat on his bed with him and placed my hand on his shoulder, he didn't seem to notice me.

    "It was my third birthday, we had vanilla cake for desert and we pigged out at dinner. My mom was a pig when it came to food so me and her had the entire thing gone in a heart beat. But then, mom took onii-chan to his school and my dad went to work. I remember drawing a picture of me and my family and another of me and my brother. Mom got attacked by bandits on the way home so she couldn't use magic when she got back, dad managed to get to work on time even though it was his fifteenth time being late. Grandma took mom to the basement while dad and I went to bed. Big brother didn't come back yet, he was supposed to be home by midnight. Then suddenly there was fire," Natsu said, he started sweating and breathing sharply, his body was quaking as he spoke,

    "The house was coming down and before I knew it my dad had me and was trying to save Grandma and mom from the basement. They burned to death in there, I heard their screams! Then dad tried to get me out of the house but a pillar came and it went through his head like a toothpick through an olive! I remember being scared shitless as I tried to get out of the house myself, there was fire, I couldn't see I couldn't breathe, my skin and my hair was burning! When I got out of the house it exploded behind me and soon I saw Onii-chan and his teacher there with him. I remember him telling me to hang on and that I couldn't leave him, but I felt too light and I remember seeing and feeling nothing. Before I knew it I was in some kind of lab, I saw my big brother standing across from me, he looked older than how I last saw him. He told me happy birthday then everything after that was a blurr. Hahahaha! Oh the irony is that I'm a Fire Dragon Slayer but I died to fire! Isn't it funny?! Hahaha! Aww shit my head hurts..."

     I got off the bed and stepped away from him, Natsu was shivering and he started whispering something that sounded like "fire" and "onii-chan". He looked lost, he looked insane, but he was crying as it seemed that the entire thing came flooding back to him. I looked to everyone else and they just stared at the dragon slayer sadly, Gray in particular looked at his friend with guilt and understanding, Lisanna just looked down at the floor sadly. Master and Erza looked solemn and upset.

    "You could go now," Natsu suddenly said.

    "But-" I started but he looked back at me with an enraged face.

    "I SAID GET THE HELL OUTTA HERE!" He shouted, then he sadly added. "Please... I need to be alone for a bit... Oh and don't you dare tell anyone in the guild about this, okay?"

     We didn't argue, we stepped out of the room and closed the door. Everyone else left, I was about to too when I heard Natsu sing something that sounded completely depressing to me: "Kimi ga kureta towa no kizuna wo. Omoide ni nante dekiru wake nai. Yasashisa wo kimi wa kuretakara. Tsuyosa ni kizuketanda arigato!"

     I was creeped out and confused at this point, so I turned tail and left the isolated imfirmary room. I climbed up the stairs and looked at all the injured people as I went. Evergreen was talking to Elfman who didn't really seem conscious but enough to nod at her, Kinana hasn't left Cobra's side for anything during the time they arrived here. Mirajane was unconscious and was breathing better even though she had shattered ribs. Then there was Gajeel. He wasn't doing too good, he looked dead even though he was only in a coma, Levy was having what looked like an intense-one-sided argument with him. Saying how he promised he would be okay and how he would always be there to save her, how he lied by getting himself into this mess.

     I left the guild and went straight home, I took a shower and got ready for bed. I got dressed in my pajamas and I sat down on my bed and held out my silver key and summoned Grandpa Crutx. A shining flash and a doorbell sound came then there sat the old crossed silver spirit with a sleepy expression on his face.

    "What do you need, Lucy?" He asked kindly with his eyes closed. I asked him to translate what Natsu said to English and repeated everything I've heard. Grandpa Crux nodded and went into a sleeping appearance as he searched. It was a bit after when he finally piped up.

    "Hm. That's some ancient language right there, miss. Nobody really understands or remembers it so it was crossed out of most songs, they were all changed to instrumental covers so any traces of what were left behind were nearly impossible to track. However, I did find some promising information from the ancients," The crossed spirit said. "It's the first verse of the famous song, Towa No Kizuna, by Kirima Dragneel, a famous pianist that died in a house fire in X300. The translated words are... The eternal bond you gave me is not something I could file away as a memory. Because you taught me about compassion, I discovered true strength, thank you."

-------------------------------------------

     Natsu

     I felt bad for lashing out on my friends like that, I just had to be alone for a while, I couldn't stand their pitiful eyes. In fact I couldn't stand anyone after what happened. I found myself crying while repeating the lyrics of Grandma's work. While I was singing, I reflected on what happened that night. The screams, the agonized bellows of pain, the roar of a dragon, and the images of the burning house and my dad's face. I remembered making Lisanna a gravestone when she "died", I know for a fact that I would make my parents their own when I get the chance. Dad's name is Roku Dragneel... Mom's name is Tyra Dragneel, Grandma's name was Kirima Dragneel, and it felt fitting for me to make my own soon. But then while I was rewatching the memory play before my eyes, I remembered seeing the dragon culprit fly out of the picture as everything was slowly enveloped in white. It was a black dragon with a pale underbelly and blue marks, it sounded like it was laughing in victory at the time. But then it hit me. I saw that dragon before, and I knew when I first saw him that he was out to get me from the very beginning.

     Acnologia.