"Yeah, right. As if you were really raised by a dragon! If you're going to lie at least make it believable, Slant-eyes!" A black haired boy, no older than ten, sat at a table clad in only his blue boxers.
"It's true! Igneel raised me! He taught me magic, and took care of me!" Protested a pink haired boy of about the same age.
"Then where's your ig-knee-el now, huh?" The nearly naked boy smirked smugly.
"I don't know, but I'll find him. I'll definitely, definitely find him!" The other boy looked down at his clenched fist.
"Yeah, good luck finding an extinct creature."
"They're not extinct! They're not!"
"Suuuuuuure. Keep believing that."
"You wanna go, mate?"
"I could take you any day."
"Droopy-eyes!"
"Liar!"
"STOP FIGHTING!" A twelve year old Erza came between the boy's argument.
Natsu had joined a mage guild called Fairy Tail a few days previously and this Grey kid was really starting to rile him up. No matter what Natsu did or said, nobody except Master Makarov would believe he was raised by a dragon.
"FINE! I'M LEAVING!" He stormed out of the guild with a growl.
"Natsu…" Cana, a young brunette, sighed.
"Grey! Don't bully the newbies or we'll never get new members!" Erza scolded.
"He's the one who started spouting nonsense about dragons and expecting us to just believe him. He started it."
Grey stopped talking when Erza gave him a throbbing red lump on his head.
"Apologise to him when he comes back." The scarlet haired girl commanded authoritatively.
"Okay, okay." Grey held up his hands in surrender.
The next day there was little activity in the guild as a huge thunder storm had hit so nobody was in the mood to do anything.
"…worried about him." Cana was talking to Elfman, a muscular boy in a blue suit.
"Worried about who?" Grey butted in, nosily.
"Natsu. He seemed pretty upset yesterday and he hasn't been in today at all." Cana frowned in concern.
"I have an idea." Erza said, seeming to appear out of nowhere, "Grey! Go to Natsu's home and apologise!"
"WHY ME?!"
"You did upset him in the first place." Elfman reasoned.
"Ugh. Okay, fine. Where does the brat live? Let's just get this over with." During the conversation, Grey had been losing clothes and he stood in only a pair of blue shorts.
"But first your clothes, Grey." Cana whispered.
Grey looked down and hurriedly redressed himself.
"Here's a map Master Makarov drew for you. Now go and apologise before the storm gets too bad to walk through." Erza handed over a piece of paper.
Grey just sighed and grabbed his umbrella before walking out of the door.
The map proved to be of little use once it got soaked in rain, but the ice mage remembered most of it: turn left at the square and right at the old well, then up the hill.
He finally reached a run-down little cottage with a sign outside that said 'Natsu'.
"Guess this is it." He groaned internally.
Knock knock knock.
He waited a while and when there was no answer he knocked again.
Knock knock knock.
Still no answer.
BANG BANG BANG!
He hit the door harder and there was still no answer.
"Well, I tried. He's not in, so I can just leave now. He probably went back home to his parents. As if dragons are still around." He scoffed and turned to leave.
There was an especially loud crash of thunder and afterwards he heard soft whimpering coming from inside the little cottage.
"Hey, Kid. Are you in there?"
He cautiously walked over to the unlocked window and climbed inside.
He could hear the whimpering more clearly now and walked towards the source. Grey entered a small bedroom and couldn't see much, it was incredibly dark in the cottage.
Another lightning strike illuminated the room for a moment.
In that moment Grey saw all that he needed to; Natsu was curled up as tightly as he could possibly get with tears flowing from his eyes. His face was buried in his white, scaly-looking muffler which was wrapped around as much of him as it could be. The boy was obviously trembling and Grey had never seen anything so pitiful.
"Hey there. You okay?" He broached, carefully, as if approaching a wounded animal. He was, in a way.
Grey's eyes had adjusted to the gloom by now and he could see the pitiful figure raise its head slightly. He could see tear tracks and pure, unadulterated fear. Natsu was mumbling something.
"Igneel… Where are you, Igneel? Igneel, I need you, please… I-I can't…. Help me…. The storm, it… Dad…"
Grey wasn't normally the affectionate type, preferring to stay away from all the mushy stuff but he couldn't just ignore the fire mage.
"Igneel isn't here, Natsu. It's Grey."
"G-go away, Grey."
"I'm not leaving. I'm here on threat of Erza, so I am not walking out of this house without you."
Another thunder clap and Natsu retreated back into his terrified state.
"You're not… afraid of thunder, are you?"
"N-n-no. O-of course not. W-Who would be af-f-fraid of th-that?"
"Hey, it's fine to be afraid. Everyone's scared of something… maybe not Erza."
Natsu shook his head, "I-I'm not afraid. I won't be afraid, because Igneel is still there. He's out there and I'll find hi-" Natsu cut himself off with a terrified sound when another clap of thunder sounded.
Suddenly warm arms surrounded him in an awkward hug.
"I'm sorry for not believing you. Tell me about him, your dragon." Grey murmured in a soothing tone. Ul had once told him that a distraction was often the best way to deal with fear.
A few hours later Grey had heard Natsu's entire life's story, how his parents were killed by a dark guild and he was found and raised by a fire dragon called Igneel. He told Grey about how Igneel trained him to be a fire Dragon Slayer and how he'd shelter him in his wings during storms.
The mage had fallen asleep while Grey was telling him about some of the Fairy Tail mages and the taller boy smiled down at the shock of pink hair before settling in for the night as well.
The next morning, however, they went their separate ways and things remained as they had been, though Grey never questioned Igneel's existence again and anyone who did was set straight by an icy chill down their spine.