Natsu POV
I broke down and began to tell Luce everything...
"Igneel! Igneel! I'm home!" I ran into our little clearing of forest and threw my stuff on the ground, running into the clearing only to find it empty. "Igneel...? Where are you, dad?" I called to my missing father, only to find no reply. "Dad... Dad this isn't funny..." I walked aimlessly around in the cold, although the cold had never really bothered me with my fiery body temperature.
Where could a big dragon like Igneel gone? He couldn't hide very well since he was so big. He wouldn't just leave me... Would he? No. Igneel would never just leave me alone. It must be an emergency dragon meeting. But now I have no one to play with...
I looked around the field, depressed. I missed Luce... and now I missed Igneel. Would people just keep leaving me? But there's no reason to worry about Igneel. He'll be fine. He's stronger than me! And I'm always fine. He wouldn't want me sulking around. I'll do my homework and start decorating for Christmas!
The flashbacks began to flow back to me. I stopped talking for a second and looked at Luce. She was staring at me with care flowing out of her eyes. I took a deep breath and continued.
A week passed like this. I would wake myself up and go to school, but with each passing day I grew more and more worried about Igneel. He had never been away this long. When school gets out for Christmas, I'll go find Igneel. I shouldn't have to go far because I'm sure he's on his way home by now!
I got home on the last day and began packing. I would need food, blankets, maybe another coat in case the snow comes early this year. I managed to get all the stuff into my school backpack and threw it on my back.
I stood at the entrance of the forest on the side of the clearing that Igneel had told me never to go because that's the place he went. But I was big now! I know he came this way. I could smell him this way when he first disappeared. With a deep breath, I took my first step into the forbidden forest. When nothing attacked me, I kept walking, getting more confident with every step. I was seven now. What was I so scared of?
Loneliness set in over me after a week of traveling. My food supply was running low. And the green forest was now dull and lifeless as the first snow started. "Igneel! Luce! Someone... Anyone..." I yelled, hopeless, numb and shivering. My stomach growled loudly and my head was spinning violently. I have to be strong though. I'm not weak. I will find them and then my life will go back to normal. Luce can meet Lisanna and help me beat up that stupid ice princess, Gray.
I couldn't stand up any longer. My head was throbbing. I fell to my knees. I had been going without food for five days. The ground met me as gravity dragged me down. I'll just rest for a little... bit... Darkness took over my body and a calm finally released the hunger I had been feeling for so long.
I told Lucy about Gildarts and how he found me and quickly became my new father. "Gildarts saved my life and loved hearing about my time with Igneel. After a few days, though, he started to get suspicious about my schooling and where I had come from. I told him about school and the field I grew up in. Gildarts wanted to take me back..."
"No! I have to find my dad! I have to find Igneel! He's out there and I just know he needs me to save him! I bet he's testing my power. I can't go back!" I yelled at Gildarts loudly.
"Kid, you gotta go back. Soon the authorities will get involved and I don't wanna get dragged into that. I'll take you back to your school tomorrow. It's not that far from here and classes have probably started back by now..." Gildarts got up and turned around. I jumped out the window. I can't go back... I have to Igneel. I can't just give up that easily. Igneel is counting on me! I can feel it. I know he can't wait to see how I've grown. I just have to find him and he can help me find Luce!
"Hey kid! Kid! Dammit, Natsu!" Gildarts shouted at me through the open window but I didn't dare stop or turn around. I knew he was going to follow me and try to take me back to Magnolia with my school and home. Or what was my home. It was nothing without the two people I cared about most.
Tears began to sting my eyes and I realized I hadn't even cried about losing my foster father yet. It had been almost two weeks since he disappeared from home with no form of contact. Did I do something to make him leave? Was I not strong enough?
I kept running. Repeating what I had with Igneel over the past few weeks. I mean... I had been stubborn but not stubborn enough to make him leave and I got mad when he wouldn't let me train harder or miss school to learn a new magic move. We were just about to perfect my roar and then move on to what he called "Dragon's Secret Art".
Suddenly, my shin rammed into a small rock and I tripped, flipping several times over before finally stopping on my back. I looked over at my inanimate assailant. An egg with blue tiger stripes stood firmly planted in the grass, obviously not phased by its attack on me. Picking myself off the ground, I walked over the egg and picked it up. "How'd you get here little guy?"
"Natsu! Ugh, there you are! What the hell was that about?!" Gildarts ran up to me and my new found friend. Forgetting my crime, I lifted up the egg.
"Look what I found, Gildarts! Its a-" I grunted as Gildarts punched me into a tree.
I laughed at the memory of me and Gildarts. Looking back, he always pushed me a lot harder then I ever would've thought of going. I looked up at Lucy who was holding back giggles at the idea of me being punched into a tree. I chuckled at her face. A red tint quickly came rushing to her cheeks. "Wh... What?" she stuttered out
Laughing I replied, "You holding back laughter! You made the funniest face!" She didn't fail to punch me in the arm, and although it didn't hurt, I noticed how strong she had become. My laughs died down but Lisanna squealing in the other room quickly brought me to my senses. How long had it been since I laughed like that? Months? Years? Definitely not since freshmen year... That's when everything got really bad.
Lucy's red face turned back to her normal color and she looked puzzled at me. "So... what happened after that?"
Her question startled me. She wanted to hear more about my life? My stupid, messed up life? "That's it." I lied, "All there is too it. Igneel disappeared and I became a wreck after that."
"What about the egg? And Lisanna said you went to jail..."
Of course she did. "That's a story for another time." I started to get off the bed but Lucy grabbed my wrist.
"At least tell me what you were trying to save yourself from!" she raised her voice, tightening her grip on me.
"Stuff. Bad stuff. Stuff that would shock you if you heard it." I growled deeply, enraged by her pushing. I could feel my dragon starting to kick in again.
"Please, Natsu... Please tell me..." I looked back and saw tears falling again. My anger subsided when I sat down beside her, her small hand still wrapped around my wrist.
With a deep breath I began the story again, "A little tiny blue cat popped out of that egg and I named him Happy. He became my best friend and went everywhere with me. After another week or so, I finally agreed to go back to Magnolia, but only if Gildarts went with me and pretended to be my father. I knew the authorities would figure out pretty fast I was lacking parents. He sluggishly agreed and we went back to Magnolia. I was okay though. Sad about losing my dad but I knew Gildarts was going to make me stronger and I had a new pet as well.
"Years passed. I had kept up my happy facade for too long and it was fading. I missed Igneel. I missed you. But I had Lisanna and Gray so I was still okay. Shit started to go down again in ninth grade..."
"Natsu! Natsu, I heard the door open, get your ass in this living room and look at this!" Gildarts yelled loudly from the couch. Groaning, I dropped my backpack and followed the sound of the TV into the den.
"What is it? I gotta lot of homework and Lisanna is coming over later with Gray and Elfman to... Oh crap." My eyes suddenly landed on the television. There was a picture of a large dragon, decaying and it had obviously been dead for a while. But it was red, and I knew that dragon anywhere.
Igneel.
I sat down on the couch next to Gildarts, intently listening to the new reporter talk. "Authorities say they've been searching for the existence of dragons for years, but all they could find were "children of the dragons" or dragon slayers. Of course, none of these slayers knew where their "parents" were either. According to our research, this is the King of the Fire Dragons, Igneel, and if the experts are correct, he did indeed raise a dragon slayer, although the location of that slayer is currently unknown.
"We are also not sure how this dragon died. A struggle is obvious but the creature must've been very large, if not another bigger dragon. I'll now go to an expert in dragons, Dr. Faust. Doctor, what do you think of this new recent discovery?"
The camera panned to an older gentleman with a shorter older gentleman beside him. Both of their eyes screamed with evil intentions and it made me shiver. I couldn't look away now though, even though I felt like he could see me through the television.
His voice was deep and slimy, like a vile rodent that had just escaped death, "Well, I believe that this is a major discovery in the history of magic. We now finally know the location of one of the dragons, and even though he might be dead, a clue has been given to us by the dragon of his dragon slayer."
The woman looked shocked as she held the microphone back to her own mouth. "Oh? And what might that be?"
Dr. Faust looked at the camera, his eyes squinting, as if he was trying to find me... the dragon slayer through the camera, then he smiled, "The dragon, Igneel, left a note in stone for his "son", Natsu Dragneel." The doctor smiled wildly at the camera, grinning like a crazed schoolboy. My stomach churned. I hadn't even begun to realize the tears, streaming down my face as the note was shown.
Natsu Dragneel,
If you're reading this, I've passed on. I was trying to save you from an unknowing evil but I failed. In my last moments, I will tell you that I will see you again and I want you to always keep fighting for me. Never give up. Always look forward.
Goodbye, my son
My face was red, bangs covering my eyes, I whispered, "I'll see you again, dad." I looked back up at the TV. Faust was grinning wildly, but he wasn't done talking yet.
"Dragon slayers hold immense power and they're location and cooperation would benefit the magic community greatly." I shivered once more, not even bothering to listen to the rest of that conversation. Cooperation? More like forced participation. I glanced back up at his face, tears blurring my vision. That is one face I never want to see."
"Life continued on to my dismay, if I forgot to mention, I made my way into FTA that year but after that incident, Faust put out a reward for my location. Luckily, I wasn't very talkative and Makarov had helped me and Gildarts before, knowing of my situation and apparently knowing something I didn't know about", my voice stopped so I could collect my anger, "Dr. Faust. Makarov became like my grandfather, he always cared about me and Lisanna and Gray would never turn me in. Somehow though, they found me..."
"Natsu! Natsu hide! Run! Don't look back!" Gildarts ran into my room, panting and sweating. I looked up from my laptop where I was writing a paper on the history of Fiore.
"What's wrong? Did I do something wrong?" I was trying hard to keep up with my studies at FTA. I never got in trouble and as far as I could remember, I hadn't done anything deserving of a panic attack of this scale.
He talked between pants, "Faust... Military... Found you... Coming... Angry..." My eyes widened as fear coursed through my veins like mad bulls.
"No... No they couldn't have... I thought no one knew? Gramps was protecting my name... He tried so hard! They can't find me now!" Anger began to boil inside of me, "Let'em come! I'm stronger than they'll ever be! I'll beat the shit out of every single one of them!"
Gildarts finally stopped huffing and met my gaze, "They've got Lisanna and Gray. They aren't talking but they want to know where you are and whose been your "legal guardian". Of course, "legally" you don't have one. They could get you in a lot of trouble, kid. You've never done anything severely wrong but if I know Faust, he will stop at nothing to get you. Makarov is trying all he can but... Wait... What the hell are you doing?!"
I got up, put on my jacket and scarf before marching out the front door and walking to the police station, where Lisanna's and Gray's scent was leaking from. Gildarts helplessly called after me, "Natsu! You don't understand! They will do things to you that you can't fathom right now as a fourteen year old! Let Makarov handle it and- Crap!" I turned around to find several men in army suits tackling my foster father.
"Gildarts! Hang on I'm-" muffled speech started to escape my mouth instead of words after a hand grabbed my mouth and around my neck. "Fire Dragon Roar!" I mutely screamed and burned the hand of my captor. Snickering I turned around to gloat, but was quickly taken down, hand cuffed and held on the ground. I growled violently, "Let me go you no good, sons of bitches! I'll kill all of you for hurting my friends!" But I could feel the magic draining chains doing good work on my body as several men attempted to drag my wriggly, squirming body to the station.
"Dammit! Somebody sedate this damn kid! He's making my job way to fu-" one of the guards began to speak but was quickly interrupted by a sick voice.
"Now, the doctor wouldn't like how you're speaking to his new friend, would he?" I glanced up to see the doctor's little assistant waddling towards me and the ten men attempting to pull me away. Byro, I think his name was. I growled at him from the ground; he just stared at me like a dog, then kicked my head. I grunted, hearing him laughing maniacally. "Dragon scum. I've never liked your kind. Always trying to protect everyone and acting all high and mighty." He got down on my level and I shot daggers at him with my glare, grimacing in pain through my teeth. "I can't wait to suck you of all your power then-"
"Byro! What did I say about speaking to my favorite dragon slayer?" the deep voice of the man I had come to despise rang out across the road. I shivered, ice cold fear coursing through my veins. Was this nearing the end of my life?
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks so much for reading! Vote, comment, do whatever people do on wattpad to show they don't hate the book. Sorry for the long chapter, I got a little carried away...
~MelodyElaine
P.S. Faust and Byro are from the Edolas arc if you didn't already know. Just if you wanted to know