Prologue

As the story begins, we found ourselves forced to describe how the world exists here, in the wild space of imaginations. This is x784 and the immense Sunwheel Forest, where dragons have teemed for many long years. After many bloody wars against humans, the dragons started teaching the humans another kind of magic, one of the strongest and destructive magics; the Dragon Slaying magic. The moment they taught the bipeds the magic, the dragon race was as good as extinct. The dragon slayers, as the name may say, were meant to slay the ones who taught them how to use the magic. They were gathering together on certain nights to hunt down the huge reptiles. Being the only ones who were capable of slaying them, the slayers became over the years either mercenaries or members of dynasties, each of them possessing a certain dragon element. Dynasties are known for the dragon taming and breeding, as they use them for training the little slayers. However, both mercenaries and dynasty members began slaying dragons for the sake of a common objective: selling dragon parts for certain amounts of jewels. The more powerful the dragon, the more useful the organs and so they had a bigger value. The most popular parts were blood, scales, but also fangs, and saliva, in the order of usefulness. The blood is the one and only who can grant the all-desired immortality. However, there was needed a huge amount to turn a single person immortal and the liquid must be drank on certain nights when a certain star shines once in every decade. The scales are used in armors and weaponry as well as the teeth. The last, the saliva, is useful in any kinds of wounds (even fractures) with direct use on the plague. And so there are other organs with other means, but in the end, the body of a full dragon could be used in every domain the humans had knowledge of.

As dynasties of dragon slayers, the most developed was the Heartfilia's, specialized in Celestial Dragon Slaying Magic As a mercenary, we have Erza Scarlet, nicknamed "Titania", with War Dragon Slaying Magic. She's known as unbeatable and a few dragon slayers dare to challenge her, most of them trying not to even interfere with her.

On the dragons' side, Acnologia was the head of their empire, being the only one who could grant a 100% percent sure and agonizing death whoever the unfortunate target was. The dragons had a hierarchy based on the power level every member had.

Let's do not forget though two things about dragons and slayers: that the dragons could change into human forms and that the noun "mate" had a very important meaning for both slayers and dragons. A dragon could mate a dragon slayer, it's very rare though, and once its mate died, it would be marked by its mate's death for how long it would live, it was available for slayers too. However, neither of them could mate a human, as humans didn't have the senses needed to acknowledge one as his/her mate.

Sunwheel - a large forest with mountain relief which is home to countless species of plants and animals. It's the single part of the world left completely untouched by the human kind. No person lives on the vast hills of Sunwheel. Therefore, the bipeds populated every single piece of land, more or less. The humans have existed for the last centuries evolving little by little in science and other occupations. But the most rare, useful and powerful was one and only; the almighty magic. But Sunwheel's got many secrets left uncovered by the humans, or rather, unexploited; the reason why Sunwheel's the most special forest in all world and why it is not populated by human beings is one and the same. There had lived, are still living and will continue to live this planet's mightiest creatures: dragons.

It was an ordinary day, like any other, for the dragons in Sunwheel. Being the middle of summer, the temperatures exceeded 45˚C, no cloud covered the blue sky as no wind blew as to cool off a little the hot atmosphere. Because of the scorching heat, most of the flying lizards were lying wherever they found a tad of shadow or at high altitude. But as the mountains were rather small for the overgrown reptiles, some were luckier than others. And some were even luckier as the fire, ice and water dragons seemed to be the less affected of all...

And even if it was already afternoon and seemingly all dragons were up and about, a single bright red dragon with pink fire-like designs along all his body and bat-like wings which ended with claws was still sleeping in a small cave, all alone. The reptile seemed to be made out of living fire as his scales looked like were burning.

At some point, the dragon finally opened his eyes, apparently satiated of sleeping, to reveal emerald-green eyes with black sclera. He yawned, opening his mouth even more than it should have at most individuals and showing his white and sharp teeth gleaming in some stray rays of sun. He then proceeded to stretch, almost doubling his initial length and finally unfolding his large wings, of almost 15 meters in length. He took off with a powerful beat of his wings and headed right, swiftly avoiding an upcoming holey and taller than ordinary mountain.

"I can't believe they'd go this far..." a red-haired woman said through clenched teeth, shaking in rage and frustration. She was gripping hard a piece of paper in her left hand.

She was clad in a black armor with silver details, consisting in a black chest-plate which covered her stomach and left a rather big cleavage to be seen as well as a part of her sides. The later were protected though by the wide plates which decorated her forearms and went up her shoulder where they spiked to the sides. She wore black high-heeled and knee-length boots with black metal plates covering the tibia. Her upper-halves of her legs as well as the upper-half of her back were left uncovered, showing the white smooth skin. Her red hair flowed loose on her back and her bangs shadowed her scowling face.

"What's the matter?" asked a soft male voice from behind her. From the dark corridor emerged the silhouette of a young man with blue azure spiky hair. A strange red tattoo rested on his right part of his face. He was wearing a long blue cape with white edges atop of a black coat and a chest-plate.

These two were Erza "Titania" Scarlet, a dragon slayer and a powerful dark mage, Jellal Fernandes.

The woman stopped shaking instantly and turned her head partially to look at the man.

"They want us for the raid tonight." she said flatly. To which the blue haired raised an eyebrow. "They're declaring war again. A full-scale bloody battle." She then turned her head to look at the paper in her hand which contained the direct request from the Heartfilia's head to participate at the activity from Sunwheel. Jellal frowned at the attitude she was showing towards the mission.

"You can decline if you don't want to go." he said as he crossed his arms on his chest. Erza voiced disheartened laugh.

"Then I would be good as dead. He'll think of me as some traitor..."

"You're stronger than that." Jellal said while he leaned against a nearby wall and moved his weight to stand on a single foot. "You can manage with all his minions."

"I don't want to spend all day fighting against them. I have better things to do." she muttered with her eyes closed and crossing her arms as well. She then blinked rapidly and shook her head. "That's not it. I don't want a war at all..." she said and uncrossed her arms, one hand moving to rest on her forehead while the one with the paper on her hip.

"I thought you didn't care about those dragons. Wouldn't they be better dead?" he asked and averted his gaze from the woman. The red-haired paused and looked back at him, scowl forming on her face again.

"I'm not the one to decide that. As long as they are alive they should live as they want." she said bluntly. Se then turned around and went to exit the room, leaving a silenced Jellal alone in the dim-lighted room, pondering with closed eyes and never moving.

The red dragon started descending at some point, in a large clearing bathed in the rays of sunshine. He seated himself on the grass in a sprawling position and remained there staring in the distance to no purpose. The air finally started cooling off when something really happened around the red dragon. Somewhere to his far left, the leaves rustled. In an instant, the reptile was on his feet, looking menacingly in the direction of where he'd heard the rustling. He stood in a tensed position for what seemed to be hours for the dragon, but mere minutes in the real world, until a large black figure lunged from the bushes, mouth open to the biggest extent and claws reaching out.

The silhouette attacked the red dragon which took a fighting stance as soon as he'd seen it charging at him and the two started rolling backward from the force emanated from the attacker, as he more like landed on the red dragon, opposite the direction the black dragon came from. After continuously exchanging punches, kicks and bites without drawing the blood of the other, it seemed to be just a friendly brawl as the two weren't trying to injure the other in any way. The two though stopped when they heard a loud roar, powerful enough to shake the entire Earth, followed by the appearance of an immense blood-red dragon. It landed gracefully on the ground and looked threatening at the two.

"Stop already, you behave like two buffoons!" the huge dragon growled at them and the two looked to the ground as in shame.

To make some introductions, the bright red dragon with the pink designs was Natsu, a young but powerful dragon, being the second in command of the Dragon Army. The black dragon, an iron dragon actually, was Gajeel, being as powerful and young as Natsu. He was working more as a spy than anything for the army, being an ace at sneaking without being spotted, the opposite of the demonstration before attacking the red dragon. And lastly, Igneel, a senior fire dragon, the only one who could deal with Acnologia's wrath and commander of the Dragon Army. And also, Natsu's father.

"Gajeel started." Natsu finally raised his head and pointed to Gajeel. The iron dragon snapped at his friend and bared his teeth at the other young reptile.

"What'cha say, fire ass?" he said, growling and smirking at the popping vein comically appeared on Natsu's forehead.

"Ya heard me, metal scrap." the fire dragon retaliated at the metal dragon's insult, this time one of Gajeel's eyes twitching in annoyance. The next thing Igneel knew, the two 'hatchlings' were at each other's throats again, the fact annoying the senior to no end.

"WILL YOU QUIT IT ALREADY!?" he boomed over the fight. The two were again looking to the ground in shame... "Idiots" he muttered without being heard. "Come on, we have to meet up with the others." he said before unfolding his wings and taking off, followed closely by the other two.

"This comes here, this there, that here and these over there..." a small girl with deep blue hair and brown eyes was muttering to herself as she arranged a great number of chairs, pillows and blankets directly on the ground. She was wearing a green and short dress with some white details around her arms and neck. When she was finally done, she looked over the large room where the meeting would take place and couldn't help but feel pleased with herself and smile. She looked toward the entrance of the chamber when she heard the sound of flapping wings echoing. Her smile got even larger when she saw a large white and feathery dragon folding its wings before disappearing in a small tornado for it to disperse and leave standing a woman with short white hair and blue eyes. The woman wore a metallic-grey and very light armor that could barely withstand a solid hit. It covered every inch of the woman's body, having a white body swit under the protective garment. The plates of the armor were adorned by majestic designs.

The small girl, Wendy, rushed over to the woman and gave her a tight embrace. The latter smiled softly and returned the hug.

"Hello, mother! Do you like how I arranged the seats? How about you? Did you have a nice day? Is something bothering you?..." and the list of questions voiced by the overly excited little girl could still go on. The sheer speed of her talking amused the white-haired woman and she chuckled at her daughter's antics.

"Yes, my dear; you have some good tastes in the matter. And yes, my day was rather... entertaining and I can't say that something's bugging me so you don't have to worry. But dear, you talk a little bit slower; I can't comprehend what you're saying anymore and you might forget to breathe." the woman, Grandine, said softly. As soon as her mother finished her sentence, Wendy took a deep breath as she hadn't in a while too long for her comfort. Then, with a newly found excitement, she grabbed the woman by her arm and dragged her over to a certain seat, all the time the wide smile plastered on her face never leaving.

Meanwhile, other dragons started appearing for the meeting and Wendy did her best to seat everyone in the best formation. At some point, the whole chamber was getting crowded. Some hadn't even arrived and they were still waiting for their leader to appear. Grandine was looking around for seemingly someone, to no avail unfortunately as the person she was seeking for more certainly hadn't arrived yet. She looked at her daughter as to question her about the presence of the one she wanted to speak with.

"Wendy, have you seen Igneel coming here?" she asked in her usual soft tone from her seated position. Wendy looked puzzled and tried to recall the moment she had last seen the red dragon.

"No, I haven't seen him since yesterday, to be precise." she said thoughtfully with her chin resting in her right hand, while her right elbow was propped in her left hand. Grandine nodded in understanding and crossed both her arms and legs, pondering with a frown obscuring her beautiful features. Then her attention was drawn to the entry as the sound of flipping wings was heard. She saw a dark-colored dragon with steel-like scales and two red dragons, their tones differing. They disappeared in a torrent of their respective element to leave standing two young men, one with long black and spiky hair while the other with short pink, yet also spiky hair, and an older one with dark red spiky and short hair. All three of them were wearing heavy armor. Grandine smirked at the sight of the three, got up and went to greet them before Wendy did so.

"Good to see you, Igneel, Natsu, Gajeel. How was your day so far?" she asked smiling with closed eyes and intertwined hands.

"It was fine. I for one just woke up two hours or so ago." said Natsu and receiving a fist in the head from Gajeel.

Igneel frowned at the female dragon's use of words. ' 'So far?'... Something like; 'if it was, from now on it wouldn't be anymore'?'

"Very boring, I'd say. Grandine, do you have something which would do things more interesting?" asked the senior male dragon of the group in a very bored manner. The white-haired smiled at his words, but wasn't given a chance to respond as her daughter appeared in a hurry from behind to welcome the new-comers.

"Oh, Natsu, Gajeel! Hello! Nice seeing you again! Come with me; I'll show you your seats." and so, the youngsters let the elders alone to speak in private. Igneel looked at Grandine expectantly.

"Well...? I know there's something you want to discuss with me; you wouldn't have come to say hello if you wouldn't." he said and crossed his arms over his large chest. The woman let out a sigh.

"Metalicana returned this morning from his mission. Guess what are the humans planning to do this time..." she said as if she were bored. Her words immediately caught Igneel's attention and he raised an eyebrow, obviously not even trying to guess but expecting her to tell him. "Tonight. They come prepared for war."

Even if Wendy took him and showed him his seat, Natsu never took his sights off his father. His reactions were to suspicious to him to just shrug them off. Gajeel didn't miss that.

"What's the matter? Something buggin'ya?" he asked more from curiosity than actual worry for his friend. Natsu remained silent in his seat, staring intently at the couple formed of Igneel and Grandine as they talked some apparently important matters.

"Doesn't it appear strange to you?" he said after a long wait from Gajeel.

"Hm?"

"The way they're talking...so flaringly." Gajeel looked at the two who were discussing. "Grandine seemed like she had been waiting for dad to arrive. And also, hasn't Metalicana returned today? Bet he's discovered something." The black-haired looked with a raised eyebrow at the fire dragon.

"You know, you can be smart sometimes." he said after staring confusedly at his friend. His little comment bringing an annoyed smile on Natsu's face along with a "Thanks". "You're welcome." Gajeel responded which earned him a hard smack in the head. Their chit-chat was cut short however, when Acnologia finally appeared from within the dark corridor. As soon as he fully emerged from the shadow, the dragons gathered in the chamber started talking, asking questions and proposing all kinds of improvements for random things. But Natsu's mind hadn't been there the whole time the meeting took to end. He awaited for the training sessions with the army when Igneel would finally share what had he been talking with the sky dragon.

Lucy was at the Heartfilia's Training Grounds where she was practicing new spells and increasing her physical condition. After telling the whole clan what her father, the head of the Heartifilia's, was planning to initiate that night, the blonde started working hard to get in a better shape. Wars were not things to go kidding around with; it was a life and death situation which many individuals won't be able to survive. Lucy hated wars, hated brawls, fights, battles, clashes, anything which consisted in injuring the other camp in any way. And above all, she hated death. The smell of decay and the sound helpless screams, the sight of pouring blood and the feeling of shivers running down your spine when you took in all the devastation and corpses just reigning the streets... Unbearable...

She was distracted from her training with the celestial dragon put at her disposal for the fulfillment of her objective when she heard the sound of steel hitting the ground repeatedly. She turned around to be greeted by the gracious silhouette of a person she was accustomed with.

"E-Erza..." she said in surprise. The female dragon slayer smiled at the blonde and stopped once she reached 5 feet away from the other female. Her face suddenly turned all serious.

"We need to talk..."

Question: What's polite to say when somebody sneezes?

a) Kind Regards!; b)Bless you!; c) Rest in Peace!; d) Break a leg!; e) Hit the road!

You can answer if you like through a PM. If you don't know the answer or answer incorrectly, then you need to study English more... I put this thing here so that you can have something funny to laugh a little...

The first chapter's done. Phew... So that you know, I didn't like how the story Casting Bonds ended up being so I took out the chapters and started the exhausting process of rewriting them... This chapter had 3,4k words (without this note). If you want me to make them longer, let me know. I hope you enjoyed the story and I'll try to update as soon as I can and hopefully I won't let you wait too much. And people, please,... LEAVE A REVIEW! It won't kill you I assure you that...

I repeat: LEAVE A REVIEW!

~WhiteTigress