The Fall
Act 2
Part 5
"And now you know…" Metallicanna said once he managed to stop himself from laughing. "These dragons won't stop at nothing until every last human is dead. And you have to admit that they are doing a pretty good job in killing you all." Erza and the others just stared blankly at the dragon as he picked the last scraps of metal from the cart in front of him. "Is that all you wanted to ask little girl?"
"Yes…I…" Erza replied without thinking, barely able to comprehend the absurdity of it all.
"No, I have some questions of my own!" Gajeel yelled the moment he managed to free himself from the Iron gag and the restraints.
"We have some questions as well." Natsu added with Wendy at his side.
"Pity that I only gave my word to answer her questions…" Metallicanna mocked them as he went back to sleep.
"That's no fucking…" Natsu begun to yell angrily, flames rushing from his body but Gajeel stopped him in mid sentence with a punch at his gut.
"Gajeel you…"
"Salamander!" Gajeel said with a forceful steady voice while keeping his eyes on the dragon. "Don't raise your fist on my dragon!" Natsy stared angrily at Gajeel before turning his gaze at Metallicanna who couldn't hold back a smug smile while he faked to be sleeping.
"Fine." The fire dragon slayer relented after a few moments.
"What do you want?" Gajeel said as he walked up to the dragon.
"Who knows…" The dragon replied with a yawn while keeping his eyes closed.
"We both know that I am not in the mood for your games anymore." Gajeel said angrily. "What do you want in order to answer our questions."
"Hrmph…" Metallicanna stood back up, the smug smile now gone from his face. "You may not like the answers to those questions."
"That's for us to decide…" Gajeel replied coldly and the dragon looked away for a few moments.
"Fine… There are five of you left. I want all five of you here; I will answer your questions while she brings here the last one." The dragon said while looking at Erza.
"The last one? You mean Cobra?" Erza asked.
"Yes, bring the fifth dragon slayer here and I will answer their questions." The dragon replied. Erza looked at Gajeel and then at Laxus both nodding in agreement. As she walked away Metallicanna turned to Laxus and examined him up close.
"Do you know the name of the dragon whose power you wield?" The dragon asked, catching Laxus by surprise.
"No."
"Typical…" Metallicanna replied derisively and turned to face the other three dragon slayers. "Ask away." Gajeel looked at Natsu and Wendy.
"He is your dragon." Natsu said with Wendy's silent agreement.
"Why did you leave and why did you decide to reappear now, of all times?"
"Because you are my brat." The dragon replied.
"That's… not a daman answer!" Gajeel managed to snap back.
"It isn't my fault that you are too stupid to understand!"
"You… stop playing games and give me a straight answer." Gajeel replied while fighting to keep his anger under control.
"Fine!" The dragon looked away for a few moments before turning his gaze back at the four dragon slayers."Are you really prepared for the answer?"
"Is this going to take long?" Natsu asked impatiently.
"Stupidly impatient, just like Igneel…" Metallicanna commented derisively. "If you want an answer you will keep your mouth shut and your ears open."
"Ignore him and just get on with it." Gajeel cut in. Metallicanna studied him silently for a few moments before replying.
"Twenty eight years ago all of the surviving dragons were given a simple task, we would find a human child that was compatible with our magic and we would turn it into a dragon slayer."
"Task? What do you mean?" Gajeel asked.
"Did you honestly believe that I picked you up out of the kindness of my heart you damn brat? I was told to find a human child that could learn my magic, for years I searched and when I found you I simply took you out of your mother's arms. She screamed and your foolish father tried to fight me off with a puny spear." Metallicanna spat in front of Gajeel and looked him straight in the eyes as he continued. "They were so weak that I didn't even have to hurt them in order to take you from them. I laughed at their faces as they called your name while you cried out for your mommy. Their voices were annoying so I shut them up by giving them a hundred times your weight in gold. Your father knew that he had no choice and your mother still cried but you were mine after that." The dragon and the dragon slayer stared at each other in silence and the moment Metallicanna blinked Gajeel couldn't stop himself from punching the dragon at the head with all his strength, the dragon reeled from the hit and was pushed back a few meters.
"You bastard!" Gajeel yelled while trying to stop himself to hit the dragon again.
"You only had this chance to set things straight you stupid brat." Metallicanna said coldly while turning his attention to Natsu and Wendy. "You don't have to ask in order to get an answer for this one. One of you was an orphan and the other was so sickly and weak that only dragon magic could save you; figure out who is who on your own." He then turned his gaze back to Gajeel. "Feeling better now?" Gajeel just stared angrily at him.
"Like I care…" Metallicanna added before he continued. "We had to teach you our magic, how to read and write, how to behave and how to fend for yourselves. We did all that to the best of our abilities and then fourteen years ago we were given three choices." The dragon then raised one of his fingers. "The first choice was to abandon you to fend for yourselves. We would do this without telling you anything and we would be forbidden from contacting you ever again." Then he raised a second finger. "The second choice was a slightly simpler one. We would trick you into killing us." Then he raised a third finger. "The third choice was by far the simplest, we would just kill you ourselves." Metallicanna then looked back at Gajeel whose anger had disappeared from his face. "You know that I like simple things and you know that you were weak, stupid and slightly annoying. I could easily snuff your life away while you slept and I could easily live with the consequences. But… you are my brat. I wanted to see you fend for yourself and take your own life in your own hands. You are my brat and I knew that you wouldn't disappoint me because of that simple fact." The dragon looked at the others before he continued. "And now, at the end times, I wanted to have a firsthand look at what you managed to do with your life." Gajeel turned away from the others, not even knowing what to feel anymore.
"And now you two want to ask where your dragons are." Metallicanna said to Natsu and Wendy while ignoring Gajeel. "I don't know where they are but I do know what they are doing." He looked at Natsu at that. "Igneel like myself was a very liberal King, we both allowed our subordinates to do as they pleased and choose their own path. My dragons just wanted to fight and most of them just fought whoever annoyed them the most but a lot of the fire dragons chose to side with the human hating faction. Igneel has gone to teach them the error of their ways." He then turned at Wendy. "Grandeeney is smart enough to know what has to be done and stupid enough to go through with it. She has gone to seek allies in our fight against Acnologia, the Dragon King and the one who stands at the center of this whole mess."
