To Kill A Dragon

Safe

Natsu's face flushed in embarrassment as he realized that they all knew what was needed for Tiamat to take his magic. If they knew, that meant others did as well.

Great, Cana probably already had a betting pool going downstairs, and he was a horrible liar. His secret would be out before the end of the day, and then Gray would find out it had been him. He couldn't have that happen.

Rogue slapped the back of Sting's head. "Idiot! Did you have to bring that up right away?"

Gajeel snickered knowing full well who would have been involved in that particular scenario. Natsu glared at him, daring him to say something.

"I don't wanna talk about it," Natsu said as he painfully repositioned himself on the bed, facing away from them and peering over at Wendy. The dragon slayers commotion had woken her up, and although she looked at him with concern, her smile felt like a ray of sunshine. His movement earned him another glare from Porlyusica.

Natsu couldn't help but think of the last words that fake Gray had said to him as he was beating him.

I could never love someone like you. You disgust me.

He tried to remind himself that it hadn't been real, but he couldn't stop the pain in his heart at the venom behind those words. Even though he knew it wasn't the real Gray saying them, it may as well have been.

Natsu had resigned himself a long time ago to the reality that Gray didn't harbor any romantic feelings towards him. Honestly, most of the time, that was fine with him. Natsu accepted it and appreciated the friendship they did have.

Being able to stand with Gray in battle as an equal and to protect him from harm was usually enough to quiet his draconic impulses. Knowing that Gray was ready to do the same for him, even if only platonically, made him feel loved. It wasn't what Natsu would prefer, but he'd learned long ago to take what he could get.

But now, after mating with the fake one, he had images and feelings that he couldn't easily forget or ignore and it hurt.

To make matters worse, someone other than his destined mate had laid a claim on him, and he didn't know if he would be able to get out of it.

He was heartbroken about that. He didn't want to be mated to a dragon goddess that hated his guts. Nor did he want to think about that five-headed avatar he'd be forced to mate with in the future or about any of the other things she might do to torture him. He felt an ache for Gray that was stronger than any he'd ever felt before, and with a start, he realized that had been her plan all along. Her cruelty shocked him.

Igneel had never really talked to him about mates before he disappeared, but maybe these guys knew something that could be helpful. Otherwise, his only hope was to somehow defeat her, and he had no idea how to go about beating a god. He'd had enough trouble going up against a God Slayer on Tenrou.

"What do you know about mates?" Natsu asked them, trying to keep himself from revealing the desperation he was feeling, "Tiamat had some...uhm... Igneel issues. She claimed me as her mate to get back at him."

The room quieted down as all the dragon slayers looked at him in horror.

"What do you mean she claimed you as her mate? What the hell happened?" Gajeel asked, his eyes burning with an intensity that surprised Natsu.

"Do you remember Zirconis telling us about the Dragon War?"

Gajeel nodded.

"Well apparently, Tiamat was in love with Igneel, but he was on the side of humans coexisting with dragons, while she most definitely wasn't. When she tried to get him to be her mate, he rejected her and then went on to teach humans dragon slaying magic and recruited others to do the same."