The Red Dragon

Chapter 13

"Can you keep this to yourselves for now?" Natsu asked Lyon and Gajeel, "We haven't discussed how public we want to be yet."

Both guards agreed, even though Lyon scowled at Natsu. Gajeel, however, pointed out it wouldn't be a problem since he didn't care, anyway.

Natsu and Gray got ready, and Gray did his best to ignore Lyon's snickers at seeing him wearing Sting's clothes.

They headed out, letting Lyon and Gajeel take the lead while they wolfed down their food and thought about what lay ahead.

0-0

Natsu had turned quiet as soon as they'd reached the field, not looking forward to the interrogation he was sure was in his future. Something else had been bothering him, and he didn't quite know what he should do about it. He was still thinking about it when he and Gray entered Erza's office.

"Natsu," Erza greeted him, giving him a once over, "I trust you're feeling better?"

Natsu ran his fingers through his hair. "Yeah, I'm all better now, Wendy healed the last of it."

"Can you go get the others?" Erza directed the request at Gray, who left in search of the other guards.

Erza waited until he was out of earshot before asking the one question that had kept her up most of the previous night. "Was it a dragon attack?"

Natsu nodded, "A Silver Dragon attacked me, it caught me by surprise on my way home."

Erza gaped at him in horror, remembering how serious his injuries had been, while also thinking about what could have happened if Natsu hadn't encountered the dragon first.

"How are you holding up?" Erza asked, not being able to hide her concern despite how irritated she still was at him. "Wendy mentioned you had some sort of incident last night?"

"I had a pretty awful nightmare," Natsu admitted and then muttered, "At least I hope that's what it was."

Erza's eyes narrowed at his words, but she decided to wait until the others arrived. From what Wendy had told her, it had sounded like Natsu hadn't given them any details.

She cursed under her breath but asked no more questions. Pacing around her office to get some nervous energy out, she tried to determine what the dragon attack implied for the safety of the village.

One by one, all the guards arrived and took a seat. Lyon closed the door behind Gray, who was the last to enter, taking his place next to Natsu. Sting and Wendy had already begun their shift and would have to be updated later.

"Can you now tell us what you've been doing?" Erza asked Natsu, hoping he would agree.

That silver dragon had been desperate or aggressive enough to ignore his claim. Others might soon follow. For the safety of Talos, Natsu would have to put all his cards on the table, save one.

"I've been going out every night looking for evidence of any dragons in the area. I've only encountered a few, and I scared them away," Natsu avoided Gray's eyes knowing the ice mage would freak out right about then, but Natsu couldn't afford to keep them in the dark any longer.

"Dragons work off scent, and they won't encroach on another dragon's territory. So every night I mark the territory that Atlas had claimed as his, hoping it would scare others away. I've expanded on it since the refugees arrived." He added with no small amount of pride.

"I was returning home when a silver dragon attacked me from behind. It paralyzed me with a spell before attacking with its ice, but I injured him and got away." Natsu explained, "It shouldn't return, but others might."