Same format as last time: I have no plan, so I'm going to put down as much random shit as I can. And I'm sorry if I come across a little grating in this chapter, I pulled something in my left hand and injured my right wrist. It kinda hurts to type. I must be insane to be doing this anyway. Sheesh, I just can't stand the thought of letting you guys down, can I?
In the morning, Gildarts was the first human to stir. He sat up with a start at the fact that he seemed to be seeing red, than relaxed when he remembered that they'd all ended up camping under Igneel's wings. The party had left their supplies on the boat that they'd come on, and Igneel had absolutely refused to go back for them. He did not want to be cold again.
It is pretty comfy under here. Gildarts smiled. He had himself wrapped up in a cloak, but had had to take off the parka. The amount of bodily heat that the Fire Dragon produced was amazing.
Igneel's scales were also surprisingly soft. Apparently, it was a weird surface tension thing. When you leaned against them, they bent slightly. But if you tried to punch them, they locked into a hard surface. He'd invited a skeptical Erza to try, and she'd come away with dents in her gauntlets. Igneel hadn't even flinched. Everyone had to give him credit for that.
The interesting part? One of the scales had shattered. But there was another one under it. Apparently, dragons had an outer and an inner layer of scales. The outer layer was diamond-hard, but also had some easy breaking points. They were dead scales, with next to no power in them. The inner layer was alive. It was three times stronger than the outer one, and was also able to be reinforced consciously by him infusing those scales with more of his magic. The fact that they were alive meant that they didn't break cleanly at any point. It also meant that it hurt when someone did break them, but Igneel had been explicit about the fact that if you weren't either a Dragon or a Dragon Slayer, breaking live scales took an enormous amount of power.
Gildarts flipped from his side onto his back. After Natsu's song, and the way that Igneel had shown his wisdom, they had all wanted to know more about him. They'd learned an incredible amount about dragons. That Dragon Slayers chipped in from time to time with nuggets of information that Igneel had either forgotten or passed over out of disinterest.
Possibly the most interesting part was the explanation of the motion sickness. Dragon and Dragon Slayer magic was filled with chaos, so when they were powerful enough, it began to leak and upset their sense of equilibrium. Wendy would never get it because Sky Dragon Slayer magic was tilted towards harmony and healing, and Natsu got it early because fire is an extremely volatile element. Igneel said that the reason that dragons didn't get sick during flight and the Slayers didn't get sick on their Exceeds was that life energy is naturally chaotic, and so using something alive as transportation allowed their magic to sync with it instead of clashing against the rigid order of, say, the train's movement. Erza, Gray and Lucy apparently got sick during the flight due to the fact that Igneel was recovering his magic power at such a tremendous rate that he leaked some chaos energy. The Slayers were immune for obvious reasons and the Exceeds had built up an immunity due to being around the Slayers 24/7.
But Gildarts had interested Igneel. He wasn't around the Slayers quite that often, and he definitely wasn't one himself. The Fire Dragon had been forced to draw the impressive conclusion that he had so much raw magical energy that a little chaos was rendered irrelevant. The Crash Mage grinned to himself. Impressing Natsu's foster-father was a good feeling. Igneel himself was so incredible, that him acknowledging you made you feel like you were powerful too.
Gildarts flipped over with a sigh. He wasn't going to get back to sleep. He was too restless for that. So the Crash mage crawled out, only to shield his eyes against the sun with a groan of annoyance. By how high the sun was, he'd guess that it was... Ten in the morning? Sheesh, they'd stayed up really late, hadn't they?
He heard a soft chuckle. "Hey look, it's a early bird. Now, where did I put that worm?" Gildarts glanced up to see that Igneel was tilting his head slightly downwards and towards him.
Gildarts huffed and sat down, crossing both his legs and his arms. "I don't want a worm, I want food!" He snapped. "I'm kind of hungry, since we don't have any supplies!"
The large dragon blew out a soft puff of smoke. "If you think that I'm going back there, you're insane." His tone was mild, but Gildarts and the others had quickly learned when Igneel was playing, and when he was stating a fact. Currently, he was telling Gildarts that thinking he would go back for the sake of mere supplies was ridiculous.
Gildarts leaned back with a sigh. "I know, I know. Sorry for snapping at you. I just want food. We had to hike a ways to get to you, then the dragonback ride..." He trailed off.
"Well, the little Sky Dragon Slayer should be recovered by today. If she casts Vernier on me, then I should be able to get you back to your guild by tomorrow morning." The Fire Dragon gave a short laugh at the dumbstruck look on Gildarts face. "Of course, I'll be completely exhausted, and will likely collapse again. But you do need to eat."
"How is that even possible?" The Crash Mage demanded. "It took us three weeks to get here! On a powered boat, no less."
"Dragon wings are amazing things. The muscles have atrophied over the years, but I have replenished my magic to a reasonable degree. Partly because of time, and partly because my little pyro has become such a powerful mage." A softness entered the dragon's eyes. "He takes after his parents in so many ways..."
Gildarts jerked upright. "What did you say?!" He nearly yelled, but remembered in time that the others were still sleeping.
The Fire Dragon realized with a sense of dread that he'd actually said that out loud instead of just thinking it. Oh hell. This is going to be interesting to explain... "I said that he takes after his parents. Is there something wrong with that?"
The Crash Mage jumped to his feet. "That you used the plural! You knew Natsu's real parents?!"
Igneel narrowed his eyes at Gildarts. "I'm as real a parent to him as any." He hissed.
Gildarts shook his head. "That's not what I meant! I mean, you knew his biological parents? Who are they? Where are they? Why the hell haven't you told Natsu?"
"To answer your questions in order: Yes. I'm not telling you that until I've told Natsu. That either. And he was twelve years old, I didn't think that he was mature enough yet to handle the story. I will tell him soon now, but nobody gets to know before he does. I think that's fair. Satisfied?"
Gildarts relaxed his stance. As long as he tells Natsu soon, I'm not going to force him. I wonder why he wouldn't be mature enough, though. Just telling him who his parents are isn't exactly going to be a traumatic experience. "Natsu's not going to be happy when he finds out that you knew and didn't tell him." Gildarts warned.
The Fire Dragon groaned. "I know that. He's going to yell at me a lot. And possibly ignore me for a few days. He'll forgive me eventually, though." He paused. "At least, I hope he will."
