Here is chapter 4 of Forging ahead.

I do not own Fairy Tail

It took a while but Natsu and Happy finally snapped out of their shock long enough to pull the kid from the fire and true enough he didn't have one single burn mark on his body. However, he was still unconscious due to his fall and his injuries needed to be treated immediately. Natsu carried the kid bridal style away from the building.

There were many questions floating around in his head that ran along the lines of: who was this kid? Why was he in that lab? And most importantly how could he be immune to fire? Natsu decided to put these questions on hold for the time being and decided to concentrate on taking the kid to a hospital as quickly as possible. He made better time back to the town due to his increased pace and that fact that he knew where he was going this time.

He and Happy arrived at a hospital after about twenty minutes and immediately requested help for the kid. Staff from the building took the kid immediately and brought him to an intensive care room. Natsu told the doctors what happened as best he could but he left out the being immune to fire thing as he had his own theory about that.

After getting himself patched up they went to see the council official in order to obtain his reward. The official made no attempt at hiding his smugness when he heard that Natsu had failed to capture Shimo and since there was doubt over her current status, Natsu wouldn't get the extra 4 million Jewels. Although he did get the initial one million Jewels for destroying the lab so Natsu was happy overall.

They went back to the hospital afterwards and immediately went to the waiting room. The kid was being examined by a doctor in order to see the extent of his injuries. After around thirty minutes of waiting, the doctor came out of the room and spoke with Natsu. He told him that the kid had broken his right arm and his left leg, he had two broken ribs, three cracked ones, he had multiple bruises throughout his body and he also had a black eye. The doctor was also worried about the kid's obvious malnourishment.

Most of the bruises and the black eye were healed pretty quickly by the hospital's mages but the broken bones would take some time to heal. When Natsu and Happy went into the kid's room he found the boy lying down on the bed, still unconscious. His midsection was wrapped in bandages and the lower part of his left leg and entire right arm were covered in casts.

Natsu sat down beside the kid's bed and waited for him to wake up. As he was waiting he had Happy tell him everything about the kid that he knew. Natsu was concerned about the kid as he wondered what exactly Shimo was doing to him. She was a criminal because of her illegal experiments so he knew that it couldn't be good. He decided to wait until the kid wakes up in order to get some answers.

He had to wait a while because the kid didn't wake up until the next day. During that time Natsu only left his bedside in order to get food. The kid woke up with a groan as he felt some pain in his body. His eyes opened groggily as he slowly regained consciousness. His blue eyes scanned the ceiling above him and widened slightly in shock as he did not recognise this place. He turned his head to Natsu and Happy and saw them smiling down at him. His eyes changed from shock to curiosity.

'So where am I?' where the first words to come out of the kid's mouth.

'You're in a hospital room in the town of Teorann. We brought you here after the lab Happy found you in exploded. You were pretty beat up but you're mostly better now. I'm Natsu by the way and you already know happy. Do you think you can tell us why you were in the Bad Lands in the first place and why you were in that lab?'

'Oh is that all, well that's an easy question to answer. To put it simply, I was born in the Bad Lands and have lived there my entire life. As to why I was in that lab with Shimo, I don't know. She arrived in the Bad Lands about six months ago and set up shop in one of the few intact buildings left. She single handily ran out the gang that had been occupying the building. After that there was silence from her bar the odd strange noise that came from the building.

However, one day while I was out scrounging for food, I was knocked out. When I came too I was lying down in some sort of storage room. Shimo came in and I demanded she tell me what the hell is going on. Unfortunately she didn't say anything and just knocked me out again with some sort of anaesthesia. That was why I couldn't move for a while after I woke up.'

Natsu and Happy stayed silent for a moment or two as they contemplated what the kid was telling them. His information worried him because he felt uneasy with not knowing what Shimo was doing in that lab but he did have a nagging feeling with what she did to that kid. He decided to test out that theory later but first he had to find more about this kid. The fact that he was born in that wretched place indicated a harsh childhood.

'Hey, do you think you could tell us more about yourself, like for starters your name,' Natsu asked with a soft tone, 'but you don't have to if you don't want to,' he quickly added.

'Nah it's ok. You two did save my life so it's only fair that I tell you what you want to know. My name is Nathan. Just Nathan. I don't know who my parents are as they either died when I was a kid or abandoned me when I was a baby. To be honest I don't really care. For as long as I can remember I've been living with the Doc, not Shimo, and she took care of me in her own strange way. She also taught me gun magic, so I didn't die on the streets but she's gone now,' he finished with a soft tone as he unconsciously let a single tear fall down his cheek'.

Natsu empathised with this kid immensely as he went through the same thing when Igneel left him. He decided right then and there to look after this kid even if his theory was proven wrong. He didn't think it was though after he had seen Nathan's teeth. He looked around the room in order to make sure that they were alone and that there were no doctors or nurses. When he was satisfied that they were alone Natsu turned back to the kid.

'Hey Nathan open up your mouth will you' Natsu asked the blonde haired child.

The kid looked at him questionably but he eventually complied. The pink haired dragon slayer didn't seem to want to hurt him. He opened his mouth which revealed his newly elongated and pointy canines. Nathan had wondered about them when he woke up but he decided to question them later. Once his mouth was open Natsu did something shocking. He stuck two flame covered fingers into his mouth.

Happy yelled out in shock and Nathan immediately closed his mouth on Natsu's fingers. Natsu withdrew his fingers just before Nathan's jaws closed down on them but the flames that were on them were gone. Nathan, after he had snapped his jaw shut, inadvertently sucked in a breath through his nose due to shock. This motion caused the flames in his mouth to go down his throat but instead of the burning sensation that he expected, he instead felt a small burst of energy. He looked at Natsu in shock.

'Well that proves it,' Natsu said gleefully 'you're a fire dragon slayer just like I am. You're a second generation dragon slayer, that's what Shimo was doing to you. She was implanting a fire dragon lacrima into your body'.

'How could you tell?' Happy asked

'I guessed based on his immunity to fire and elongated teeth. All dragon slayers have them'.

Happy deadpanned at his explanation as his method of confirmation was still highly dangerous and could have killed the kid. Nathan, however, looked more shocked at the confirmation of the news. He was a dragon slayer, what did this mean? He figured he could still use gun magic because he used it in the lab, but what was this whole thing about eating fire. He looked to Natsu for answers.

Natsu simply smiled at Nathan and said 'if you want me to teach you everything I know about dragon slaying magic, then you're going have to come with me and join Fairy Tail'.

Nathan was shocked at the offer. He didn't know a lot about Fairy Tail and he was wary of what it might mean for him but Natsu and Happy had saved his life and he didn't feel as if they were trying to hurt him and thought himself a good judge of character. He decided to go with his gut.

'Sure, I'll join'.

Ok I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I would like to thank all my new followers, you guys motivate me as much as my one reviewer (hint, hint).

As always read and review and I will see you in a week.