XXI

Igneel had decided he just needed to keep his big, fat mouth shut. He'd gone and thought to himself that surely this mission, although S-Class, wouldn't be able to compare to the terror of fighting Lullaby, one of Zeref's Demons. Oh contraire.

They began searching the island the next day for any signs of some sort of abnormality. Natsu was still pretty hell-bent on just carrying out the villager's request of destroying the moon, but Lucy and Gray, being the sole voices of reason, convinced him to humor them and search after what the real cause of the curse was.

After exploring the surrounding jungle and coming into contact with a not-so-pleasant and rather suspicious giant rodent, they found themselves inside an ancient-looking temple. It seemed to be the most logical place to start, standing out like a sore thumb against the canopy of plants outside. Moss covered the walls and little bits of rubble trickled down from the ceiling with every step they took.

And so, of course, Natsu decided to push the limits of the temple's architecture. Igneel wanted nothing more than to conk his son right over the top of the head for being such an idiot as, without much surprise, the floor crumbled under the pressure, sending them all plunging down into a dark abyss. Gods. Igneel thought he'd taught his son better than that…

Of course, Natsu was unperturbed by the fall. Igneel could feel the excited prickle along Natsu's skin that only came with curiosity. And then, they'd stumbled upon it: Deliora.

Igneel was positive then that he should've just kept his mouth shut about Zeref's Demons. He'd gone and jinxed them, or something. He should've knocked on wood, of which there was none inside of Natsu of course, however his son's head seemed thick enough that perhaps it would've worked.

Igneel stared at the monster encased in ice, disregarding Natsu's thoughts and the slightly unnerving emotional response from Gray, and began his own analysis. Deliora was also a demon from the book of Zeref, and one of the more powerful ones at that. By the look of the ice around the monster and the odd magical properties he could sense from it, he deduced that it was perhaps being encased by the little-known spell: Iced-Shell. Igneel knew his fair share about different magics and while this one was permanent and deadly to the caster, there was a way to break it.

As the hours ticked on and they waited for the moon to rise again, Igneel's suspicions were confirmed as a glowing purple beam of light shone down into the cavern and they all watched in horror as the ice began to let off little streams of water, melting.

Rushing up to the surface, they found a circle of cult-like figures, all chanting in unison and crowded around a tower of magic circles which led up to the heavens, or rather, the moon. Ah, yes, the spell Moon Drip; it'd been so long since Igneel had seen an ancient spell such as that one. He was genuinely surprised there were people who could still use it. Or who had even heard of it, for that matter.

Hiding behind a few nearby boulders to watch the group, they were able to overhear a conversation amongst a few masked figures who seemed to be the leaders of the cult. They were aware of the Fairy Tail mages on the island –intruders as they called them- and were prepared to destroy anyone who tried to interfere.

Igneel watched both Lucy and Gray's faces and knew that they had caught on. If they wanted to protect the villagers and yet still stop the Moon Drip spell from completely releasing Deliora, they'd need to go about this strategically. After all, they were sorely outnumbered-

Igneel was jostled unexpectedly and had to brace himself. What was- His thoughts were cut off as his son quite literally bellowed at the cult to announce his presence, apparently deducing something a little different than Igneel had from the fact that their presence was known. To Natsu, if they already knew they were there, then why on Earthland were they hiding? They could just fight them outright.

Igneel slowly hit his head against the wall of Natsu's consciousness, wondering exactly where he'd gone wrong in raising the boy.

Igneel's going to have a migraine and a concussion by the time Natsu grows up, pfft. x3
I always thought of Igneel having extensive knowledge of magic and spells, so that shows up in here. Not sure if he does or not, but I feel like he would.

Sorry for the lengthy absence from this (and my other) fics! These past 18 months have been crazy but I've missed fanfiction so much so I'm so happy to get back to it!
I hope you enjoyed and I also hope you have a loverly weekend! :D

~Foxtail-chan