A/N: Very sorry for the delay in updates! Here's the next chapter, hopefully we'll get things moving along!
Chapter 4: Dragon Scout
As much as Erza hated to admit it, she didn't particularly want to abide to Makarov's wishes when she received his request. She was very familiar with the term "Dragon Scout", but never had she ever thought, or hoped, that she would be sent to find one.
From the many things that Erza had read over her peaceful evenings, she was already quite informed of what she was being sent to look for. The Dragon Scouts were apparently frightful beings that the dragons themselves didn't like to mess with. The Scouts lived in very distant lands, far from their more reptilian counter parts. Erza had seen a few sketches of various Dragon Scouts. Each one she saw, all from different acclaimed authors and artists were very different, yet very similar.
All of the pieces were drawn very precisely, but few were noted to have actually seen the elusive Dragons. Most of the drawings depicted a very dragon-like creature with mammal-like features. Some of the captions went along and explained the beast into farther detail saying various things from, "large mammals with the scales of a dragon…" to, "snake-like" but they all had one thing in common; they depicted a creature that was half dragon, half beast.
The works of art also depicted Scouts adorning different colored scales. Some of the artists went far enough to represent elements, much like the Dragons that Erza was far more familiar with. Yet, from the drawings, Erza could see that the Scouts were far more agile, with an elongated frame, much like a snake, than the lumbering masses of Fiore's Dragons. The Dragon Scouts had long, tails with various arrangements of either protective platting, or jagged, talon-like spikes. Moral of the story, the Dragon Scouts were definitely a force to be reckoned with.
Erza Scarlet passively sighed to herself as her train slowly came to a screeching halt. She took enough time exiting the vehicle to notice that she was the only one getting off at this stop. Of course, however, that was only to be expected. In order for the skilled mage to reach her destination, she had a lot of walking to do in the dreadfully uneventful forest paths that lead to the heart of Dragon Scout territory. In all honesty, Erza didn't know how she was going to convince one to let her talk to it before it tried to kill her, nonetheless bring one back to the guild. What was Makarov thinking?
Lucy didn't consider herself someone who complained a lot, but man was she tired. After the incident the night before, Natsu quickly packed up their things and began to walk the trail again, much to Lucy's protest. The sun was well in the sky, and they hadn't stopped since they began, even Happy and Charle looked as if they could use a break. As much as Lucy wished to ask Natsu, there had been something very strange about his demeanor since they restarted their trek. He hadn't spoken a work to any of them, and there was an intense glare of determination plastered onto his face, not that Lucy could any longer see it because he was walking a good ten feet ahead of them.
It was finally Happy who broke the dense silence that had accumulated between the group, "Hey, Natsu~"
The Dragon Slayer didn't respond.
"Natsu, I'm tired,"
Still, there was no response.
"Natsu?"
When he didn't respond for the third time, Lucy became immensely suspicious. If anyone, Happy wouldn't be the one that Natsu would ignore. She began to worry that there might actually be something wrong with him. As much as her abused muscles screamed at her, Lucy ran to catch up with the distraught fire mage.
"Natsu, are you okay?" She asked, but she soon realized that she didn't need to. As soon as Lucy saw Natsu's face, she could tell. He still wore his determined face, but there were dark circles under his eyes that gave away his true condition. Yet, he refused to make eye contact with the stellar mage, which infuriated her, but she didn't have enough energy to protest. Defeated, Lucy slouched over, slowed her walk, and regained step with the rest of the group.
"Did you find out what was wrong, Lucy?" Wendy asked. She, too, seemed very concerned for the Dragon Slayer.
"No, he still isn't talking to me," Lucy sighed.
"How strange," Wendy scratched her brow.
"I know, I've never seen him like this,"
"Maybe it's a Dragon Slayer thing. Let me go try,"
"Give it your best shot,"
With newfound determination, Wendy ran to fall into step with the fire mage ahead of her. Natsu didn't acknowledge her presence, but the young mage just let it roll off of her shoulders.
"Natsu, is everything alright?" Wendy asked.
She, as well, won no response from Natsu, so she decided to try again.
"Does it have anything to do with what happened last night?"
Just like that, Natsu halted in his tracks. He looked down at the ground as if he was trying to find the right words to say. Wendy looked up at Lucy, who stopped several feet behind them, and gave her the thumbs up.
"Do you want to talk about it?"
When the words finally came, they were so quiet that Wendy had to strain to hear them, "It… smelled so much like Igneel."
Wendy nodded in understanding. Although she herself hadn't ever met the fire dragon herself, she, too, noticed the strange presence of fire aura (from the last chapter) in the area.
"But…" Natsu began again, "there was something else… there… Something… unfamiliar…"
That came as a shock to the young mage, but before she had any time to question Natsu about it, some of the underbrush ahead of the group began to shake. Natsu's head shot up to see what it was. Wendy looked nervously back at Lucy who returned her expression. A tall figure emerged from the brush within the protective shadowing of the forest, yet a familiar scent wafted into the area. As the figure stepped within sight, all became clear… for the most part
So? Did'ya hate my cliff? I can tell you that I love writing cliff hangers, so if you don't like the dying feeling of needing to read more, than this isn't the story for you.
Please R&R, I need fuel people, fuel!
