Once they all believed in dragons,
When the world was fresh and young
…
"Hey, Gray!" Said male turned around, yet again missing a shirt, to answer to his female friend's call. The blonde girl finally caught up with him, panting slightly at the run she had just taken across the village. "Are you going out hunting?"
"Yeah, I thought I might as well since the food stock has gotten low." He scratched the back of his head, not noticing the looks he was getting from the many village women.
"Okay then, be careful and try to avoid running into a bear this time!" She almost started scolding, making Gray grin awkwardly as he held his hands up in a calming motion.
"It's alright Lucy, but didn't you have a date with Loke?" She seemed to have remembered that she was getting late and rushed off, calling a farewell over her shoulder. Gray shook his head, turning around to set off, before he realized he was, indeed, missing a shirt. He groaned before going back to his home to grab a couple pairs of shirts so that he wouldn't freeze unintentionally. It was midwinter so he didn't want to die by the hands of something that he worked with, as Gray was an ice sculpture maker. Lucy was a priestess, able to connect with the celestial gods, and happened to have gotten the attention of the king of the celestial gods, Loke. Gray entered the forest, waiting until he got deeper into the forest to take his bow out so that he could catch a stray deer by surprise or something, he didn't really care what. When he said his food supply was getting low, he meant that he barely had a day's worth of food left. He had a suspicion that his partner, Leon, was sneaking more food than what his share was but he didn't have any evidence so he didn't bother to call him out on it. Gray heard rustling noises off to the side, causing him to turn with his bow pulled back so that he wouldn't be caught by surprise by a wolf or a bear but also so if it was a deer or a rabbit he would have an easy meal, but the bush stopped rustling when the arrow was notched and pulled back.
…
We were woven into legends,
Tales were told and songs were sung!
…
"Whoa, put the bow down please!" A voice was definitely not what Gray expected so he didn't do what the voice asked until a few minutes had passed by. "I'm sorry if I startled you by falling into a bush but… I'm kinda stuck. Would you mind helping me?" The voice asked, Gray identified it as a boy, and Gray put the arrow away and set the bow over his shoulder as he stepped towards the bush. As he got closer he noticed the hand sticking out of the fresh fallen snow that was scattered and lessened by the moving of the bush before. Gray grabbed hold of the hand and pulled on it, causing a few branches to break as he hauled the boy out of the bush. "Thank you so much, I was beginning to think I was going to be stuck there forever!" Gray looked over the boy as he brushed snow off of himself, noticing the different things that were strange about the boy. His pinkish orange hair for starters, it was the color of a dying fire, and then his eyes were the black color of coal. It's strange how everything about the boy made him think of fire.
"Why are you dressed like that in the middle of winter? Are you trying to die?" Gray wanted to smack this idiot upside his head, why would you wear nothing but a scarf, vest, and pants in the middle of winter? Common sense didn't seem like something this kid had.
"Huh? What do you mean?" He looked down at himself as if there was nothing wrong with what he was wearing even as he brushed some snow out of his hair.
…
We were treated with obeisance,
We were honored, we were feared.
…
"These are my normal clothes." He said as he looked up at Gray in confusion, he honestly didn't know what was wrong with his outfit. "Besides, what about you? Where'd your shirt go?" Gray looked down and groaned as he realized the kid was right. He had, once again, lost a shirt and he didn't know where it went this time. He sighed as he pulled another shirt over his head.
"That's a bad habit I'm trying to break. It doesn't work though." He seemed to be annoyed with himself as he stared down at the kid. "Are those your only clothes?"
"Yeah, why?" Gray ignored the kid's question.
"Where are your parents?" The kid's eyes grew sad almost immediately.
"They're… dead. I was looking for my guardian when I got stuck in the bush." The kid informed Gray, his eyes clearing of the negative emotion. "Besides, what makes you think I can't go around the forest alone?!" Gray suddenly found himself on the receiving end of a harsh glare.
"Look, kid, you look to be about thirteen and I'm pretty sure that that's way below the age limit for the forest." As far as Gray knew, the age limit was twenty years of age for the towns around this forest.
"Well, whatever. I'm gonna go home now." Natsu seemed to be trying to escape when Gray grabbed hold of his arm.
It was heated to the point that, if Gray had not let go immediately at the shock of pain, he would have had a burn on his hand.
…
Then one day they stopped believing,
On that day, we disappeared.
…
"What…?" Gray looked at his now burning hot hand in confusion before looking at the boy. "Who are you?"
"I'm… Natsu Dragneel." He was also looking at Gray's hand, but not in confusion. Natsu met Gray's dark blue eyes. "You might want to get that treated before it becomes a burn." Gray didn't move an inch as Natsu started to walk away, until the boy disappeared into the blinding white snow, to which he turned away and started his trek back home. On the way, he caught sight of a family of rabbits and captured two of them, taking them with him so he wouldn't be able to say that he went out there for no reason. He walked through the village, ignoring any looks that were thrown his way, and went to his home so he could put the rabbits in a cage so that he would have fresh meat rather than frozen meat. After he did that, he went to the temple to ask for Lucy's help.
"Lucy!" Gray called out with a troubled expression, walking to the middle of the temple before he saw her at the altar with someone else. He could only assume that that was Loke, he certainly looked the part of a king and his hair was styled somewhat like a lion's mane. It almost looked like he had lion ears sticking out of his head but Gray wasn't quite sure if that was true.
"Gray?" Lucy asked as she turned around, away from the god, to see that it was her friend. "Didn't you just leave thirty minutes ago?"
"That's not what I'm here for." Gray dismissed her questions quickly, holding up his hand to stop her from asking any more questions. "Are there any legends or tales or rumors, whatever, about a kid who's skin feels like fire?" It seemed Lucy was more worried about the burn on his hand, the one he held up to stop her from asking questions than anything else.
"You mean a dragon?" Loke questioned, an interesting expression crossing his face. He seemed almost confused but not about the dragon part.
"Dragon? Isn't that just some old wives tale to scare young girls into behaving?" Gray asked, his mind flickering to the stories he's heard about large fire breathing lizards that fly carrying off fair maidens in their clutches then knights in shining armor going off to save them.
"No, they're real alright. Their end is near though." The lion didn't seem to realize how bad his sentence sounded as he sat down on the altar, one leg over the other.
…
Now they say our time is over,
Now they say we've lived our last.
…
"The ones who still believe in dragons hunt them down for some proof." Loke continued a far off look on his face. "What they don't realize is that dragons are humans too. Just with the ability to turn into something else, something that humans call dragons."
"The lizards that can fly and breathe fire?" Gray was still caught on the image of a dragon carrying off a blonde girl with light skin and a guy in armor waving his sword at the dragon.
"You could say that. Though, it's more 'the lizards that have strange powers' because they can use those powers even in their human form. The one you met, judging by the burn, was your fire breathing one and generally those fly around. But there's also an iron dragon, a medic dragon, there's all sorts of them. They're becoming extinct though from the brutality of humans. That's probably why the dragon burnt you."
…
Now we're treated with derision,
Where once we ruled unsurpassed.
…
"Did you happen to get a name?" Loke seemed genuinely interested to find the answer to this question as Lucy finished patching up Gray's hand.
"Yeah, why?" Gray was confused, what did the boy's name have to do with anything?
"Legend says that if the dragon gives you their name, you can call on them at any time and they will come. But there's times where someone will meet a dragon and the dragon won't give their name. But if you have the name, it's probably their actual name. Dragons don't lie; they just choose when to answer a question." Loke looked at a weird contraption on his wrist; probably something only gods have, before looking back up cheerfully. "Well, I apologize but I must leave this time. Someone is waiting for me to help them out in a different time." He winked at Lucy, causing her to blush, before disappearing with a burst of light. Gray exchanged glances with Lucy before smirking at her blush.
"You're head over heels for him." Gray shook his head before leaving again, ignoring Lucy's sputtering, walking home so he could get his work done. His tiny little shop was known all over as the best ice sculpting shop because of his master, Ur, who disappeared one day without a trace. Gray had the belief that one day she would return though so, until then, he and Lyon looked after her shop.
He played with a piece of ice that had been made into a fairy symbol he had once seen in a book in village elder Makarov's home, some story about fairies having tails, as he thought of what he had been told. If he were to say Natsu's name, the boy would come to him? Maybe that could be the proof that the boy was, in fact, a dragon as Loke said.
…
We must make them all remember,
In some way we must reveal.
…
Gray decided he'd test it, a few days later, when he realized that the boy was constantly on his mind. Besides, he had an excuse to be out there. They had run out of food just last night, due to Gray cutting the rations in half, and Lyon was constantly complaining about his hunger. He just had to hope he wouldn't be so distracted as to forget about hunting again. He had caught three deer in traps, mercifully killing them quickly so that they didn't feel as much pain from the trap, when he decided that he had to try it out. After setting the deer on a makeshift sleigh, he walked a few paces away from it. "Natsu Dragneel." He said, his voice echoing around the trees. Loke had said that he only needed to say it, not really call it out. Gray stood there for a few moments before shaking his head. Of course, dragons aren't real. Why would someone, who wasn't there, answer to their name being said? He walked back to his sled, ready to start pulling it back to the shop, when a wind picked up. A loud roar sounded from above and Gray had to cover his face so that the flurries of snow didn't get into his eyes. The wind died down and Gray could see a figure walking towards him.
Natsu grinned, making a 'peace' sign with his index and middle finger. "You called?"
…
That our spirit lives forever –
We are dragons, we are real!
…
…
…
So I got that idea from a pic that I found on a website called Funnymama or something like that, it had pictures from Fairy Tail so… of course, I had to! It was difficult not to… The poem is Once They Believed In Dragons by Jack Prelutsky… I hope you all have a pleasant day and remember, dragons live forever and they are, most definitely and without a doubt, real…
Nightmare