(A/N : I'll be writing in the dragon language then in the brackets [ ] will be Eclipse translating. In the previous chapters in the ( ) Natsu's brain in the dreams translated. He won't be able to understand very well as he's awake.)
The boy was back with his head laying on his now crossed arms. His cobalt eyes were dull and seemed to be focused on the heart in the ceiling. Ignoring the people in front of his cell and got up to shake the cage holding the exceed. The gentle sway made her curl her tail around herself. When she just curled up tighter he hummed and stuck his hand in to scratch the top of her head. Her big eyes blinked open and she looked at him and reached her little arms out to touch him.
He looked to the group of three people and one exceed in front of cell. This caught the female exceed's attention. Her eyes were red and pacific blue. Then she spoke.
"You shouldn't be here. You'll be killed if they catch you."
"Who are they?"
"The Dragon Priests."
"Dragon Priests!?"
The exceed slowly nodded. Her ears going down as Natsu exclaimed.
"What do you mean by the Dragon Priests?"
"They've gone by many names throughout the years ever since the dragons were around. The Tongues, Blades, and the Akaveri. Their mission is to destroy anything related to dragons. Even the Dragonborns themselves."
"The Dragonborns?"
"Surely you know that there are a few Dragonborns in this world. You're one in fact. One that specializes in fire right?"
"How'd you know."
The exceed laughs dryly. Then she looked to the boy standing by her cage. He was looking at the group out of the corner of his eye. When the attention was back on him he closed his eyes facing away from the group. Erza cleared her throat and looked to the boy.
"I'm terribly sorry to ask but what are the people here doing."
The boy spoke in the language as he did before. It was fluent and smooth but they didn't understand.
"I'm sorry but what was that?"
"Oh I'm sorry. Gray can understand English but when he was younger he learned to speak in the tongue of dovah. Or dragons. I'll translate for now till he relearns English."
Gray huffed and turned to the group again and restarted his statement.
"Nust fus zu'u wah lovaas wah fin heart wah drun fin strun outside ruth. Nii faaz wah lovaas without dinok just fah daar muz nahkriin.[They force me to sing to the heart to make the storm outside rage. It's painful to sing without end just for these peoples revenge.]"
With the translation the team made and 'ohh' shape with their mouths not completely understanding the significance of why Gray would have to sing. The exceed realized this and started explaining.
"You probably haven't learned anything about ice dragons. Well they're most sought out for their scales and their voices. The scales they dragon could be dead or alive. But the voice it has to be alive. And their is never a recording of their voice. They say that if you do hear a recording it would be so awfull your ears bleed."
"But why would anyone do that? What's the purpose for taking them just for their voice?"
Lucy was astounded by this knowledge and frankly disgusted as well. Who kidnaps majestic beast just to hear it sing?
"Do to the soft and chilling nature of their voices a legend was weaved around them. An ice dragon's song can make a storm around them to lure freeze their prey. Or so it's said to go."
As Natsu was about to as another question the sound of heavy boots thunk against the stone ground. Gray's eyes moved to the iron door his face showed nothing but his eyes showed horror and fear. He looked to Natsu, Lucy, Erza, and Happy. He was speaking but Eclipse wasn't translating till the footsteps got closer. Her head turned to the group and she hurriedly spoke.
"Quick you have to hide. They're coming."
"No we're going to get you out of here. Where's the key?!"
Natsu started frantically looking for a key in nearby drawers and on shelves. But Gray reached through the bars just barely reaching Natsu's arm to pull his attention. He spoke in a firm and scared tone his eyes showed fear.
"Dreh ni dreh daar just vonun uv pruzaan yu get out do het! Zu'u been zeim daar zu'u can handle nii.(Do not do that just hide or better yet get out of here! I've been through this I can handle it.)"
They only got the English words out of his speech before Eclipse translated quickly the footfalls getting closer.
"He said to hide and he means it the last people who tried to help us are strung up in the cages on the walls. Just hide please."
Tears started staining her soft looking fur. Just as the boots walked the hall to the room Erza pulled everyone to sit behind a machine. About to settle the door opened with a loud crash from hitting the stone wall. A group of people walked in two in total. An old man and a platinum blonde woman with her hair in a low ponytail.
"How's the storm work going?"
The old man spoke he had a slight lisp as he talked to the woman beside him. Her tone as she spoke was harsh and strong. And the way they spoke to each other showed they've known each other for a long time. They walked over to Gray's cage and opened the cage door. Gray stepped out without any struggle as they pulled his chains.
He was lead to the platform under the heart that still beat. He didn't look up at it in fact he seemed to be avoiding it. The woman passed the exceed to the older man who held her by the fur between her shoulder blades. Her eyes scrunched a little in pain. The blonde woman pulled Gray's head back by his midnight blue hair. His eyes closed as his head was turned to the heart.
"You will sing and make a storm. You will bury these people in snow for worshiping your so called mother. You know you should be alive. Look. Look at what's in front of you."
Gray's eye cracked open. When he was the exposed heart tears started pouring down his cheeks. And cold misty air flowed down across the floor as Gray stared at the bearing heart. Through his eyes he was blood dripping off of it dripping though the glass casing to land on his face, in his eyes and mouth. He could taste the frosty blood and feel it burn his throat even if it was cool to the touch.
They were horrible. Calling him a monster for the magic he knew and for who he called his mother. He only met them briefly in the land she liked to bring him to. The land was cold, full of mountains and pine trees. The only thing colder than them were the people he talked to while in the cities and towns. Dragons roamed the skies there and they spoke while he rode Isis. When they got back she'd add another scale to the necklace she made for him. One scale for every trip back to her home. They went twenty-six times. There were supposed to go this year. But then all this happened.
"Make a harp and sing the song. You know the one we like."
The older man dropped the exceed making her land with a thump. She quickly crawled to Gray and curled up in his lap. His head was pushed back to has towards the machine the Fairy Tail team hide behind. Natsu saw his eyes. He knew. Gray knew what happened to his dragon mother and who did it. The way he looked at the heart proved that he knew. Seeing and knowing all of this made Natsu's blood boil. These people didn't kill a dragon they killed a mother. And they didn't care.
Gray huffed shaking his head as he wove his hands around the chains clinking. An icy mist lightly enveloped his hands and an area in front of him. He whispered words and a harp made from ice in the shape of a dragon with the wings being open to for strings shimmered into existence before him. Eclipse sat in his lap facing the harp she wove her little paws around in the air and silver translucent strings filled the harp. Gray stretched forward till he looked to be hugging the dragon at the front. That's when Lucy whispered.
"Doesn't that look like the dragon form the cave?"
Before anyone could speak the strum of the harp sounded and words came from Gray's mouth.
(Now I know she isn't playing a harp but just pretend and also pretend the voice is male too. Kay thanks here's the song title Tale of the Tongues.)
Alduin's wings they did darken the sky
His roar fury's fire and his scales sharpened scythes
Men ran and they coward, and they fought and they died
They burned and they bled, as they issued their cries
Dovahkiin, Dovahkiin, naal ok zin los vahriin
Wah dein vokul mahfaeraak ahst vaal
Ahrk fin norok paal graan fod nust hon zindro zaan
Dovahkiin fah hin kogaan mu draal
(Dragonborn, Dragonborn, by his honor is sworn
To keep evil forever at bay
And the fierce foe rout when they hear triumph's shout
Dragonborn for your blessing we pray)
We need saviors to free us from Alduin's rage
Hero on the field of this new war to wage
And if Alduin wins, man is gone from this world
Lost in the shadow of the black wings unfurled
But then came the Tongues on that terrible day
Steadfast as winter, they entered the fray
And all heard the music of Alduin's doom
The sweet song of Skyrim, sky-shattering Thu'um
And so the Tongues freed us from Alduin's rage
Gave the gift of the Voice ushered in a new Age
And if Aludin's eternal, then eternity's done
For his story is over and the dragons . . . are gone
The song stops with Gray vocalizing with Eclipse who was vocalizing before this little break but Gray started singing again.
And so the Tongues freed us from Alduin's rage
Gave the gift of the Voice ushered in a new Age
And if Alduin's eternal, then eternity's done
For his story is over and the dragons . . . are gone
The song ends and Gray is holding back tears. The English words he spoke weren't as fluid as the ones he spoke in the strange language. He could speak the words in English by he seemed to have spoken in the odd language for most of his life being used to it. It was proved from when he spoke to the group earlier that he knew English but preferred to speak in the language he grew up with.
The woman pushed his head and ordered him to keep singing. As Lucy, Erza, and Happy watched Gray sing the same song over and over Natsu looked up at the heart. With each completion of the song it pumped harder. The pipes connected to it had windows on the sides and he could see the clouds of white shimmering mist passed though them and out to the top. This went on for an hour or so till Gray's words started getting grumbled and lost the smoothness they possessed.
They told Gray to stop and he seemed relived. The harp vanished into mist and he fell forward but not before he moved Eclipse from his lap so he wouldn't crush her. The woman pulled the chain connected to his throat and he lifted himself up holding Eclipse close as he was ushered back in to his cage. As he was push in the woman looked down at the ground and saw the books. She called to her partner getting his attention.
"Marquees were you doing more research in here last night?"
"No. Why do you ask?"
"Some books are laying on the floor here. I thought you might have left them here."
"Don't be silly Carlie one of the recruits must have brought them in here and left them. Just pick them up and put them on the table we need to survey the storm."
They left after picking up the six books and put them on a nearby table and left out the steel door. Natsu, Lucy, Erza, and Happy waited till they couldn't hear their boots anymore and went over to Gray's cell. Gray's eyes were lifeless and vacant as he focused his gaze on the heart in the ceiling. It continued to pump and pump sending a steady flow of ice magic out of this room and to the outside to bury the village town outside. His eyes saw nothing but the heart of his now dead dragon mother above his head.