Chapter 9
Natsu had lost track of the passing of time. He just knew that it had been well over a year since the dragons had left. His days passed in a high-speed blur, but he kept up with his duties as best he could. He spent his days with Gray, patrolling the village or training, while spending his nights in his dragon form, seeking out any threat to the village.
He was always exhausted. There was just no way around it. It wasn't uncommon to find him sleeping in the field, too exhausted to make the trek up the mountain before first taking a nap. He'd wake to find Gray sitting beside him often, almost like he was watching over him.
Natsu had asked him several times why he did that, and the best answer he'd gotten was that Erza had sent him to make sure Natsu was safe while he slept. He wasn't sure he believed that, though. The way Gray looked away when he answered made Natsu think there was more to it than that.
Natsu had begun to wonder whether he had less control over their bond in his sleep. Could he be calling Gray to him?
He wished Igneel was around so that he could ask him if that was possible, but they had received no word from their parents since they'd left. This in itself was not unusual, but their previous trips had only lasted for a couple of months at a time, and Natsu couldn't help but worry.
Any news they received came from people visiting the village, and they were usually grim.
Times were getting desperate. Just the previous week they'd heard of a large group of bandits that had been stealing from travelers near Talos. Erza had sent him, Gray, and Rogue to take care of it, while she and Lyon detoured the travelers through safer, lesser-known routes. The bandits hadn't put up much of a fight, and with their combined force, they had subdued them easily.
There had been no additional dragon sightings since the incident that had caused them to be teamed up by Erza. However, it wasn't unusual to see groups of people fleeing to any village that would take them after having theirs destroyed by a dragon attack. Plenty of these refugees had now made their way to Talos.
Natsu hated to see these most of all. He could almost touch the anger trickling out of Gray as he watched the survivors set up ragtag camps wherever they were allowed. It was a harsh reminder of what he had endured, and it reinforced every one of his negative feelings, making Natsu feel like screaming at the unfairness of it all.
So far they had been lucky. The village elders had not had to send anyone away. Talos was prosperous enough that it could support more people than currently lived there. Anna set about reopening the orphanage and school for the children that had settled into the village, many of whom had lost their parents. Wendy and Gray helped her in their free time, while the other dragon slayers assisted with the building maintenance whenever they could.
With more people to protect, the responsibility of the night patrols weighed even more heavily on an already burdened Natsu. He'd begun staying out later as he patrolled further, trying to identify threats before they became a problem.
It had taken several months, but Natsu had gotten stronger and more comfortable in his dragon form, flying for extended periods as his wings grew more powerful with daily use. He'd begun practicing lessons learned long ago from both his father and uncle as a way of preparing for the day when the war reached Talos. He refused to let another dragon hurt Gray or anyone else under his protection.
0-0
Gray had gotten to know Wendy better since they'd both started helping Anna at the orphanage. He'd found he really liked the youngest dragon slayer. She was sweet, kind and funny, and her cheerful attitude was contagious. The kids liked her too, rushing to her side the moment she arrived.
Usually, when they helped Anna, Wendy and Gray played with the kids or read them stories while Anna busied herself with the many tasks that always required her attention.
Today, however, they were changing bedsheets in the large bedroom all the children shared. Gray tried very hard not to count how many of the beds were being used, knowing this was the life that would have awaited him if Ur hadn't taken him in.
Gray helped out as much as he could. All the guards did, even Natsu. The kids loved to watch the two of them do tricks with their ice and fire magic, and sometimes much to their delight Natsu and Gray would put on a spar for them when Anna wasn't watching.
"You guys grew up here, didn't you?" Gray asked Wendy as he noticed her staring off into space.
She smiled at him and said. "Yeah, my bed was that one over there." She pointed to the bed that was nearest the windows. "The boys all let me have it cause I was scared of the dark."
"Ever since Natsu found out," Wendy's face shaped itself into the adoring expression she always saved for the Fire Dragon Slayer, "He always made sure all the lanterns in the cave were lit for me before I fell asleep."
Gray smiled at Wendy. That was very much the type of thing that Natsu would do. "I keep forgetting that Natsu didn't live here with you guys."
"No, Natsu grew up alone. His mother died when he was born." Wendy lowered her head.
It had always saddened her that Natsu never gotten to meet his mother. "I've heard from others in the village that she was a very talented healer. She made potent potions and used powerful healing magic."
"Apparently she was as famous for her short temper as she was for her healing ability," Wendy giggled into her hand, "I guess Natsu must take after her, huh?"
Gray silently agreed, "I guess that must be why he has healing magic."
He wanted to ask if Natsu's father had been a fire mage, but knew he couldn't betray Natsu's secret.
"You know about that?" Wendy asked, peering at him in surprise, "I didn't think he'd ever told anyone. I only know because he's had to heal me a few times since I can't heal myself."
"I didn't know it was a secret," He wasn't surprised though. There was so much about Natsu that was a mystery. "He healed me once."
"I guess that's not so surprising considering...," Wendy looked like she had been about to say more, but she only smiled and changed the subject. "Anyway, Natsu's father took her death very badly. He took Natsu and left the village, moving them to a cave in the mountains. None of us even knew he existed until Anna brought him to the school."
"I knew his mother had died, but I didn't realize." Gray had thought back to when they had first met.
There was so much Natsu had said that he hadn't taken seriously. He'd thought Natsu was playing make-believe. The idea of living in a cave had seemed ridiculous to someone who had grown up in a house. It had been part of Natsu's appeal. Being with him had been an adventure. One that had ended much too soon.
Natsu had been a wonderful distraction for Gray when his world had just fallen apart. There had been a few times as he got older that Gray worried he might have imagined him to ease his grief. Even so, he'd never given up hope they would meet again.
"That's right, I forgot you two already knew each other. How did that happen anyway? It must have happened before we met him." Wendy looked very interested and Gray decided he might as well tell her all he could.
"I found him in the woods, dangling in a tree when we were eight years old," Gray told her solemnly. "He was caught on his scarf."
Wendy covered her mouth, but Gray could still hear her peals of laughter. They continued to move from bed to bed, replacing the dirty sheets with clean ones.
"Once I saw what was wrong, I grabbed a knife and somehow climbed up the tree to get him down." Gray continued, enjoying the memory despite himself.
Wendy gasped in horror, "Not his scarf?"
"Yep, that was my plan." Gray agreed. "I was going to cut the scarf and set him free, except the idiot started panicking and letting go of the branch to protect the scarf. He told me it was the only thing he had of his mother."
"Poor Natsu!" Wendy exclaimed in horror. They all knew how much that scarf meant to him. He only took it off to bathe.
"Poor Natsu?" Gray feigned annoyance, "What about poor me? I had to figure out a way to free him without getting both of us killed."
"But you did." Wendy pointed out.
"Indeed, I did." Gray smiled fondly. "We traveled together for a few days, searching for the next village. It was kind of like traveling with a wild creature." He chuckled as he recalled how difficult it had been to keep Natsu under control. "He sniffed the air a lot and chased after every sound, I had to keep grabbing him and bringing him back to the path."
Wendy laughed out loud, probably able to picture it vividly. "He was like that at school too. Poor Anna, he drove her crazy!"
They both laughed together as they remembered Natsu as a child.
"Well, he drove me crazy too, but he was an excellent hunter and very warm to sleep with at night," Gray remembered how much fun they'd had until he'd screwed everything up. "Even though we were lost and scared, we still played and had fun. So it wasn't all bad."
"Why do you sound so sad?" Wendy noticed the sudden change in Gray's face and wondered what else might have happened.
"The time we spent together was the only time I didn't think about my parents' death or the destruction of our village, but we had a fight and I hurt him." Gray still struggled with the guilt of having struck Natsu in anger, "I didn't mean to, but I'd just woken up from a nightmare. Actually no, there was no excuse. He ran away from me, and his uncle found him and brought him back here."
Wendy nodded in understanding and Gray decided this was a good time to ask some of the questions he didn't feel comfortable asking Natsu.
"Can I ask you something?"
"Sure, here help me with this one. It's stuck." Wendy kept tugging at the fitted sheet and Gray lifted the mattress to help her.
"Did you really get your magic from the dragons?" Gray asked carefully, letting go of the mattress when she finished.
"Yes, we all did. They cast a spell and enchanted us with it."
"But why? Why would they do that?" Gray just couldn't wrap his head around the idea.
"From what I understand, the war had been at a stalemate for a long time, Atlas and Igneel hoped that by empowering humans to fight alongside the dragons they could help put an end to the senseless slaughter, and save more lives. Natsu was the first," Wendy explained, "He's been with the dragons the longest."
"Atlas and Igneel?" Gray repeated slowly. He knew Atlas was the dragon Erza had told him about, the one that had given Natsu his dragon magic, but the name Igneel did not sound familiar.
"Those are Natsu's dragons," Wendy revealed, "Atlas is the one who created the spell that gave us our magic."
"So, you were all really adopted by dragons?"
"Yes! The Sky Dragon Grandine adopted me. She's amazing!" Wendy's face lit up as she talked of her adoptive mother, "She taught me all the spells I use to heal you guys. A lot of defensive spells, too. I'm not as strong a fighter as the others yet, but I can help them when they fight." Wendy added proudly.
Gray smiled and ruffled her hair, having seen Wendy fight many times. She was a fierce warrior, and she'd definitely shown Lyon what she was capable of that first day. Gray still teased him about it.
"I just find that so hard to accept," Gray said honestly. How could he even begin to fathom such a thing when he could still remember what happened to his village so vividly?
"I know you had a terrible experience with a dragon, but they're not all bad, Gray." Wendy sighed, "Our dragons would never do anything to hurt humans. I miss Grandine a lot."
"She went off to fight too?" Gray asked. He'd never dared ask Natsu about the dragons, even though he was curious. It was a taboo topic for them.
"Yeah, they all did." Wendy agreed, "I wish they'd come back soon. When I see all this," She pointed at the room and at the refugee camp that was visible through the windows. "I worry. We all do."
"If even they aren't able to put a stop to this stupid war. What can we hope to do?"
Gray heard the fear in Wendy's voice and hastened to comfort her.
"Don't think that way, Wendy. If trouble comes, we'll be here to fight it." Gray looked out the window at the kids playing outside, "We'll do everything we can to keep them safe."
"I just hope we're enough," Wendy said solemnly.
Gray did as well. He thought of all the people already affected with a sinking heart. For the first time, he hoped that the so-called good dragons won the war. They continued their task in silence.
0-0
Morale in the guard was at an all-time low. The refugee camps brought home the fact that the war was closing in on their doorstep. Their side was losing, and their parents hadn't returned. All the dragon slayers were worried, and with Natsu too tired to be his usual cheerful self, there was no one to keep their minds off of the uncertainty.
Erza wasn't doing much better. Her mother was also fighting and had been gone for years at this point. She had sent messages back with the dragons from time to time, but with them gone, Erza could only hope that her mother was still alive.
Gray and Lyon didn't really know how to help them, so they watched helplessly as their friends descended into deeper and deeper gloom. Until the day Lyon had an idea.
He'd been walking around the village, looking at all the changes that had transpired in the short month since the camps had been built. All the people walked around with an air of fear, as if they were merely waiting for the other shoe to drop. They all needed something to cheer them up, to make them feel alive.
"We should hold a festival," Lyon said it out loud, listening to the words to see if they sounded less insane than they did in his head.
He found nothing wrong with them, so he changed his direction and hurried to Erza's office, knowing that she would still be there. If anyone could help him do this, it was her.
Lyon burst into her office, too excited by what he had to say to think of the repercussions of such an action. Erza looked up from her desk absently, her jaw jutting out in disapproval. Lyon studied her with dismay. It's not that he wanted to be yelled at or injured in some way, but the fact that she'd barely registered his presence showed how much she had changed.
Lyon really hoped that this idea of his would help to improve things in the village. Something had to. He could feel Erza's eyes on him, and he willed himself to not sound like a complete idiot in front of the girl he liked. He wished he'd waited for Gray. He was so much better at talking to Erza.
"Can I help you in some way, Lyon?" Erza looked annoyed, and so he quickly blathered the first things that came to his mind, like he always did around her.
"I was walking through the village and noticing the new people in the camps, and it was a really nice day, but they looked sad, and so I thought we should do something to change that." Lyon kept going on and on. "Not that they aren't happy here, I'm sure they are. But you know what happened to them was sad." He screamed at himself to shut up, but he couldn't seem to stop.
Erza's eyes were piercing into him, even as she tried to be patient. He managed to stop his idiocy and was about to open his mouth again when Gray knocked on the door and entered.
"You were asking for me?" Gray asked Erza, eyebrow arched.
Ugh, why can't I talk to her like that?
"Oh, hey Lyon." Gray greeted him, "What are you doing here?"
"I think we should hold a festival for the village." Lyon finally got out, sending the words more at Gray than at Erza.
Goddamm it! Why couldn't I just say that in the first place?
"A festival?" Erza leaned forward in her desk, "I don't know Lyon, these people just lost everything. It might send the wrong message."
He could feel Gray's eyes on him and refused to meet them. He didn't need to see the smirk that he already knew his brother would not even be attempting to hide. So it surprised him when the little shit was actually supportive for once.
"I think it's a good idea," Gray said slowly, mulling the idea over after his talk with Wendy. "Everyone has been so down lately. We could have a welcome festival."
"It will give people something to do and look forward to," Lyon added, once again directing his words at his brother. "It doesn't have to be anything big."
"Of course it does!" Erza said enthusiastically. "You're both right, we've all been down of late. This could be exactly what everyone needs."
"We need a planning committee. Lyon and I can do that!" Erza smiled warmly at Lyon, and he could feel his insides melting as his lips stretched into what he hoped wasn't a creepy smile. Although Gray's snort wasn't really boosting his confidence any.
"I can help if you'd like." Gray offered, "We can all pitch in."
"I'm sure Lyon and I can handle it," Erza assured Gray. Lyon tried to hide how panicked he felt. This might be the opportunity he'd been hoping for, but now that it was here he was terrified of making a fool of himself.
"So, why did you call me?" Gray asked again. He was supposed to meet Natsu in a few minutes for a training spar at their field.
"I was wondering, have you made any progress finding out what Natsu is up to?" Erza asked.
Gray shook his head, "Gajeel always smells me coming and won't let me go any further, and the Flame Brain just clams up whenever I ask."
"Gajeel!" Erza growled, "I'll just have to have a talk with him myself."
"Yeah, good luck with that," Gray said.
They both knew that Gajeel was the only one of the dragon slayers that wasn't afraid of her. He did whatever he wanted and took his punishments without complaint. Erza would get nothing out of the Iron Dragon Slayer, and she knew it.
Gray waved goodbye to Lyon and Erza, who had begun discussing plans for the festival. He wished his brother luck in his mind. The poor guy was due a break.
A/N: Alright this is the last setup chapter, things will move on the next chapter, both in the story and with Gray and Natsu! Next update will be on June 22.