Lucy POV
He stopped in his tracks. For a minute, I thought he was going to turn around and listen to what I had to say but he just kept walking away. "Check the paper, Luce. Then talk to me", he growled and disappeared through the glass doors into the school. Disappointment rushed through my blood veins but I pulled out the note he had slipped to me earlier in the day. Unfolding it, I began to read through the messy handwriting:
Lucy,
It's been a while. Meet me by the entrance to the school at 2:30. Don't be late.
-Natsu
I read the first sentence over and over. So he did remember. Did I do all this damage to him? Was I the reason he was disobedient and troubled? Surely not. He wouldn't let just one person break his love of magic and people would he?
Natsu POV
I walked into the door of the private training room. Gildarts met me with a friendly grin and slapped me on the back.
"Natsu! How ya been son? Life been treating you okay today?"
I grimaced, knowing what my answer was going to get me, "Not so great. It's been a pretty bad day. I'm just glad to be able to let out my stress somewhere now." I smiled, hoping Mira hadn't talked to my other teacher and found out about my "outburst" in class and told Gildarts.
His smile dropped into a frown, "So that's how it's gonna be, huh? Just gonna pretend like nothin' happened in your physics class? Natsu, you know what their talkin' about doing right?"
I turned away from the man who had saved my life by posing as my father until two years ago. "Does it look like I care? I'm tired off all the crap people do." I took off my shirt, revealing the little device attached around my waist like a small belt. Gildarts pressed on it with a magic key, releasing it from my body and I felt magic power flow back into my body from the earth. A smile crept up and I swung my arms around to circulate the new found power surging through my veins.
Gildarts tone changed to solemn, "Natsu, it's not going well out there in the courts. If you keep having outbursts and trying to break through these barriers", he gestured to where the little belt was lying, "they're going to get fed up and put you in the military."
My ears perked at the last word. That was new. They had talked about keeping me restricted or attempting to remove some of my magic power but the military was new. I looked at him, my eyes wide. The Fiore military was nothing to mess with and they definitely wouldn't take kindly to a delinquent like me. I gulped, "The military?"
Gildarts just nodded, "You're powerful, and not to mention you're the son of the fire dragon king. If they could whip the bad out of you, you'd make a good puppet for them."
Puppet. A puppet was all I'd be to them. I looked at my destructive hands then back at Gildarts, the man who had been my father for nine years. "You wouldn't let them take me, would you?" I sounded like a little kid asking for protection from a thunderstorm.
"Well, I wouldn't want to, but if this keeps up, I won't have a choice. But that reminds me", he flashed a devious grin at me, "for your little outburst earlier, double - no triple - your normal warm up. 900 push-ups, 450 sit-ups, ninety rounds of the defense-offense routine and just for fun, fifty laps on the track. We'll talk about food after that."
I groaned and started to slowly get down to the push up position when Gildarts slapped me to the ground, "Did I say we were gonna take this at the pace you think at? Get your ass on the ground and get going!"
I quickly began to force my arms up and down, swear began to drip down my brow and creep onto the rest of my body at about 200 and my arms ached and whined for a break at 500 but Gildarts screamed obscenities and insults in my ear and kept me going. This was gonna be a long practice.
I had just reached round seventy-five of the thirty step routine when there was a knock on Gildarts door. I paused for a brief second and a foot kicked my now sore abs and knocked me halfway across the small gym. "For that, one hundred pull ups. Go!" I quickly sprinted to the pull up bar and faced the door as I began to pull myself up over and over. Gildarts answered the door and I saw our principal, Makarov, standing at the door. He laughed when he saw me, "Nice work, Gildarts! I was about to ask if you'd heard about your student's outburst!"
I groaned, "Thanks, Gramps." Scowling, I continued my punishment. Gildarts laughed and looked back to make sure I hadn't stopped. "He's already done 900 push-ups, 450 sit-ups, and he had almost gotten through his training routine seventy-five times when you knocked, and he stopped so now he's doing pullups." I rolled my eyes at his grin. "Would you like more, dragon boy?"
"No sir!" I screamed and started to pull myself up faster. The adults laughed at my sudden eagerness. "When you're done with that Natsu, start over with your reps of the routine." Gildarts spoke then began talking quietly with Makarov.
I watched them over and under the bar, getting quick glances of facial expressions and mouths between lifts. Their faces were solemn then suddenly, Gildarts erupted, "What?" He shot a glare back at me but I didn't dare stop my pull-ups. "Natsu, get your ass over here now!" Gildarts was the only human in the school that I was truly terrified of and he was now mad at me.
I knew better than to sulk so I sprinted over to the two people I referred to as master. "Yes, sir?" my voice came out unnaturally quiet for me. Fire was practically shooting from his ears as he picked me up by my ear. I winced but didn't dare speak.
"You talked back to Mira?" his voice left my ears ringing. I gulped as he released me. "One-hundred laps around the track now. My tolerance is wearing thin of these games, Natsu."
My body was threatening to give in after lap seventy-eight of the schools large track but I continued on, knowing what would happen if I stopped. Cold wind bit my bare back and chest, threatening to give me a nasty case of frost bite. The sound of my teeth chattering and my feet lightly hitting the bouncy track material were the only sounds and only the moon lit the path in front of me. Gildarts had put the belt back on before I went out so I couldn't use my magic power for light or an extra source of energy. I stumbled back into the training room and continued my pull-ups with aching lungs and a sore body.
Gildarts stepped out of his office calmly. "Ninety-four minutes for thirty miles. Not bad." My breathing was sharp and quick while my lungs gasped for the sweet oxygen that supposedly surrounded us. He came and say beside the pull up bar. "What the hell am I gonna do with you Natsu? You're back talking and having outbursts. You act like no one cares about you when you know that's not true. Just because Igneel is gone doesn't mean he'd want you to act like an ass all the time! You stand girls up and then seduce them all over again. Mira doesn't know what to do with you, Makarov is trying everything to keep you here in FTA, and I'm just trying to show you what you told me you wanted to know." Tears had begun to well up in my eyes but I swallowed the lump in my throat and continued the exercises Gildarts had thrust upon me. Suddenly, something seemed to strike Gildarts mentally. "Oh... Oh I know why you're acting out. It's today, isn't it? You're trying to prove your strength to yourself and Igneel."
My teeth clenched and I swallowed more tears. Images of Igneel began to flash in my mind. The way he would always send me off to school with a nudge from his large head and then growl protectively, reminding me to growl back when I got to school okay. The way he would comfort me when it stormed or when I had bad dreams. The way he would offer Lucy a big smile when she came over. The way he nuzzled me when Lucy disappeared.
I stopped my pull-ups and slid off the bars. "Dad..." my voice was weak and cracked softly. A tear tried to fall down my cheek but I wiped it away.
Gildarts patted my back. "Why don't you go on home, son? It's been a long night." The silence spoke for me as I got up, put on my shirt, grabbed my bag and slipped out the door.
I walked down the long hall and out the door to the outside world. I checked my phone. 11:32 p.m. Sighing, I began the walk back to my apartment. I didn't take buses or cars thanks to a lovely dragon slayer motion sickness but a walk in the cold, brisk air sounded nice tonight.
Igneel. I still don't understand why you left me at such a young age, or why you would go on such a dangerous mission and not give me any warning. All I know is you left me at the age of seven and I've struggled to go on ever since. Gildarts found me a year after you left and I was starving to death, lying in the forest outside the nest moaning with what little energy I had left. I had given up everything trying to find you and Lucy and almost died in the process, though I don't regret it. I could never regret looking for those I loved.
I swiped my key card over the apartment complex entrance and walked to my apartment building. I was about to place my key in the door when a small sob stopped me. With a gentle precision, I set my bag on the ground and followed the crying sound. Rounding the corner of the building I found the source.
Lucy?