Every gear screeched with an effort to bring the 300 ton weight to a stop next to the yellow line. By which, twenty-some people patiently waited to board. Snakes of steam hissed in relief as it relaxed from the loss of roughly 150 lbs. The owner of this burden was a man in his mid-thirties of tall stature and healthy build. One couldn't really guess that he was that old anyway, especially the way he dressed. You could barely tell under the dark red hoodie, which he had put just over the top half of his eyes, but he was hiding a pair of calming ambers despite his gaze which felt threatening even to a complete stranger. His hair had been dyed vivid red and cut slightly shaggy. On his shoulder a small burden of his own was perched: a common cat but with blue fur and a white underbelly that wouldn't stop its infuriating singing. "We're in Har-ge-ooooon. We're in Har-ge-ooooon."

"Happy."

"Aye?"

"That's getting a little annoying," he said through clenched teeth with a vein that wouldn't stop growing in his forehead.

"Sorry, I'm just so excited I had to show it."

"That's okay."

He walked briskly through the station out to the street with head held upright. Without the dark blue jeans with holes in the knees or black tennis shoes, his little swagger was comparable to a knight of King Arthur. He unintentionally deceived those around him into thinking that he knew where he was going. In truth, this was his first time to Hargeon.

The only reason he was here, was because he had caught wind of a rumor hinting that the Salamander was here and would be leaving soon. That wasn't the only reason he needed to hurry, though. Strong a magic as this was that his friend had cast on him, he could only maintain the disguise for so long. He would have had more time to find him if he hadn't worn the spell on the train, but that was unavoidable. The spell could only be cast at a maximum of ten feet from the subject of transformation and the only caster he knew had important matters to attend to so she couldn't come. Even if she could, there was no way the two could survive the train ride without this cover.

He could throw his minutes into a furnace one after another but he wouldn't be able to throw them out faster than he was right now. Stepping outside, he had to focus on each voice if he was going to pick up on Salamander's but there was nothing that could bring him back to the task at hand.

"It's him!"

Except for a giggly voice that came from no where.

"It's the Salamander!"

"Will you sign this, please?"

"I love you!"

"Aye! No way! Did you hear that? They said Salamander was over there!"

Salamander was here? Right in this part of town? It just felt too easy for something he had worked years at, but he wasn't going to ignore the possibility. If there was anything that hinted that he was here, this guy would have ran right at it. Not that he was physically running, though.

Right through the group of crowding girls, he was taking long strides past them. He didn't have push them aside because they instinctively got out of this scary-faced guy's way. He didn't have to get halfway through to get a good look at "Salamander". This wasn't the one that he knew. His hair color was all wrong, no way the Salamander he knew could have gotten this tall, this arrogant, or a tattoo on his face. All that work and wait for nothing.

He felt so disappointed to see this total stranger where a familiar face should have been. For the first time that day, he looked at the ground which he wished he could become one with. Happy wasn't feeling very well, either.

"I'm so sorry. They said he was here, so. . ."

"It's okay, Happy."

He was turning around to go back and wait for his train when the girls scrambled to get a better view, knocking his face to a stone in the center of the circle formed around this unknown "Salamander".


There was a small sound in the back of Lucy's head like a record coming to a abrupt halt, but it felt like it was slowing to a stop. Although, she had a feeling none of the other girl's here could hear it. She had some suspicions about it before. Why is it that five minutes ago she had never seen this guy and had instantly fallen in love with him? He wasn't particularly handsome and his attitude was arrogant, so it only made sense that the culprit was using a charm spell. Thank what-makes-the-earth-spin that the somberly dressed guy and that cat had fallen down and disturbed the charm's flow.

She couldn't hear much of what they were all saying, but the Salamander was scribbling his name on piece of paper and she caught words "show it off" somewhere in there. Disgusting beast. The one who fell down had gotten up on his feet and was holding his palms to him and waving them as a sign that he didn't want it. The cat was mimicking its companion. He was cut off mid-sentence by a fan girl kicking him out of the circle while shouting insults and demanding his apology to this "great wizard". Salamander told the girls to calm down but mostly faked any sympathy to this stranger they had harmed for him. He took off on a cloud he created shouting an invitation to everyone for a party on a boat. Lucy wouldn't be needing that anyway.

Mystery-guy was pushing the tip of his sleeve up against his cheek to stop the bleeding and infection of a fresh cut. The cat was just fishing around the little pouch in its backpack for a bandage.

"A real jerk, isn't he?" Lucy stated more than asked.

They looked up to see a girl who was probably teenager and blond. The guy couldn't really tell because his vision was still a little blurred.

"You feeling hungry?" She gave him a smile with it. "It'll be on me."


"So, what is the real Salamander like?" Lucy asked after finishing a sip of tea.

Happy stopped chewing his fish with a worried look up at his friend. The other one put his bowl of rice down and his eyes went from soft and reassuring to an uneasy and dull shade, "He was much nicer than the one you saw, for one thing. I met him seventeen years ago. His favorite thing to do was laugh and it was the most comforting thing in the world to me. You'd have to hear it yourself. I really miss him so when I heard he might be here I couldn't wait to jump on the next train to Hargeon."

She automatically regretted bringing up the subject. It was obviously sensitive to him, so why didn't she pick up on the negative energy of when he started his explanation? She couldn't bear looking at his dejected face so she looked at her own depressed one in the tea. "I'm so sorry. It must have been hard for you."

"Don't apologize if it isn't your fault. It was my fault if anyone's. I'm the one who lost his kid in the first place."

The cat got up to pat his shoulder in comfort.

Lucy snapped out of her self-induced spell. His kid? The Salamander was his kid?

Noticing her gaping mouth he began to clarify, "I'm his adoptive father and a lousy one at that, Miss. . . uhm. . ."

"Lucy"

"Nice to meet you, Lucy. I'm Igneel the fire dragon."

"And I'm Happy."

She blinked hoping that someone would come take this guy to a loony bin. "A fire dragon?"

"The human form is courtesy of Grandine," he clarified.


If Hiro Mashima had switched Natsu and Igneel's roles, this is what I think he would do, but that's my midnight-addled brain typing.

I hope you like it!

*EDIT*

*My little brother and I are having a little disagreement about this story.

He thinks this story would be much better if I continued making chapters for it, but I'm afraid that I'll just butcher it.

We couldn't reach a decision on our own, so we're leaving this up to you.

If ten people add this to their "alert list" and at least one person reviews saying that I should, then I will.

The deadline is March 31st.

Enjoy and please review ^_^