The Tail of the Twin Dragons

10

They stopped in a nearby town known as Tuly, it had a small library an a small amount of military presence.

"There are so many people," Sting breathed as they walked through a mildly empty road.

"This is nothing, remember the cities that Skiadrum and Weisslogia used to tell us about?" Rogue asked.

"Gosh I don't know if I can handle it... so many different smells and sounds," Sting muttered.

"I think it's fun," Lector cheered as he sat on Sting's shoulder, earning them a strange look from an old woman.

"Lector," Rogue hissed.

"Hey chill, he's just excited," Sting scolded.

"That excitement may cause us trouble," Rogue hissed.

"Sorry," Lector giggled, "I'll stop talking."

"It's alright buddy, we'll be out of here soon," Sting chuckled rubbing Lector under his chin earning a purr from the latter.

"Fro hopes so," Frosch whined from Rogue's pack.

"Just stay down Frosch," Rogue chuckled.

They walked around for a bit until they found the library, they left Frosch and Lector outside with strict instructions to not wander off or be captured. They then walked in and Rogue approached the woman at the desk.

"Can I help you dearies?" the old woman asked looking at them threw half moon spectacles.

"Do you keep records here?" Rogue asked.

"Yes, in the back, most are just local family records, you boys doing some ancestry work?" the woman asked.

"Yes," Rogue answered, "Come on Sting."

The two men went to the back of the library and began to search through the many records.

"God there's nothing here about-" Sting began.

"Shh," Rogue silenced him, his message clear, 'don't say it aloud'.

Sting looked at him and then had a light bulb. He ran to another isle leaving Rogue to look concerned after him. A few minutes he came back, grabbed Rogue and dragged him over to a table. He pointed to a page in a thick book and looked proud.

Rogue leaned down and read the first few sentences.

The alliance of the Dragon Kings was the most dangerous of alliances ever forged. The strongest of the dragons joined together in an unstable system that remained dangerous until it disbanded. It was first formed by the Fire Dragon King; Igneel, The Metal Dragon Lord; Metalicana (Later would become the Metal Dragon King after the death of his uncle, Viernes the gold dragon in X30), The Queen of the Sky; Grandeeney, The King of the Nature Dragons; Aldoron, the king of the water dragons; Mercuphobia, The Queen of the celestial dragons; Selene.

"This is a history book," Rogue realized lifting it up and looking at the cover.

"Yeah," Sting said proudly, "its all made to make Acnologia look good but there's some truth in the stories."

They both continued to read.

The alliance covered up much of the discourse between dragons and humans and it wasn't until the attempted insurrection of Ignia (the first born of Igneel) against his father that the troubles showed themselves. Ignia was beaten by his younger brother Natsu who remained loyal to his father but a number of Ignia's followers went on to attempt to cause discourse and the alliance were unable to do anything. The alliance began crumbling and slowly it fell apart causing massive chaos and suffering. The sixth King of The Dragons went and killed the most violent of the dragons, Aldoron, Mercuphobia, and Selene.

"That's a lie," Rogue snarled, "those three were the most peaceful..."

"Are they talking about Acnologia?" Sting asked.

"No, his father," Rogue answered, "Another monster, one that loved chaos and death."

"Runs in the family huh?" Sting asked.

"They say that he was even worse the Acnologia," Rogue answered.

"Doubtful," Sting hissed.

The alliance fell apart but was rebuilt after the death of the sixth dragon king. The title was passed on to his only son.

"Death huh," Rogue chuckled.

"What?" Sing asked.

"Acnologia killed his father," Rogue laughed, "But they happen to keep that out of the book."

"Naturally," Sting huffed.

The alliance was rebuilt by Grandeeney, The Fire Prince; Natsu and his father Igneel, the Metal Prince; Gajeel and his father Metalicana, the Lightning king; Laxus, and the Poison wielder known as the Cobra. It too was a dangerous combination of powers that rose up to try and overthrow the Dragon King; it failed and resulted in the Dragon King destroying the alliance and become the sole leader.

"And we know where that went," Rogue said closing the book. "Igneel and Metalicana were killed and our parents were stripped of their titles."

"But what about the others?" Sting asked thinking.

"Hmm?" Rogue asked.

"Grandeeney, Laxus, Cobra, whoever those are. I've never heard of them..." Sting answered.

"Nor have I," Rogue said.

"Maybe, if we need allies, that's the way to go," Sting offered.

"Sting. We don't even know who they are or if they're even alive," Rogue sighed.

"Hey, its worth a shot," Sting shrugged. Then his stomach let out a growl. 

"I'm hungry too," Rogue concluded, "let's go catch some food."

They put the book back and on the way out Rogue went up to the old woman again.

"Do you know where there is a larger library? One with more records?" Rogue asked.

"Well the capital obviously," the old woman responded, "But if you want something closer, I recommend Magnolia, it has a decent record collection in its library."

"Thank you mam," Rogue nodded walking out wondering how far away Magnolia was.

They left the building and looked around for Frosch and Lector. They found them in front of a fish market drooling as they watched the fish get sold, their tails flicked hungrily.

"I guess we're all hungry," Sting chuckled.

Rogue looked at the setting sun and then at a tavern that smelled very good. He wished they had money.

"Let's go, we can catch something before night falls." Rogue sighed.

They caught a rabbit that night but it was hardly filling.

"Rogue," Frosch complained.

"Yeah?"

"Fro is still hungry..."

"I know," Rogue sighed. He looked to Sting, "We need to get money... somehow..."

Sting looked at him, "Sounds good to me."