A sequel to chapter 11. Enjoy!

Natsu had been wandering for days, and still didn't find himself any closer to his goal. And he was having a hard time. Humans had issues. Some lady had gotten really mad at him when he sniffed around her skirts by way of greeting, and an angry old man chased him through the streets when Natsu ate a kabob – but it was just sitting there.

"I'm never going to find anything at this rate," he said, kicking dirt up as he walked. It was dusk, and he again had nowhere to sleep. He glared up at the sky, as if challenging it to get darker, which of course it did.

"I hate this!" he shouted suddenly, kicking stones off a wall with a flaming foot. The stone hit a hay bale, which shouted "Ouch!"

Wait, the hay bale said ouch? Natsu did a double-take and sniffed the air. There was a distinctively human smell to that hay bale.

Cautiously, Natsu approached the hay. "Hello?" he called, poking at it with a stick he'd found on the ground. The hay squirmed. "Hmm…." He poked it again, harder.

"Please stop," a childish voice called out. "That hurts."

"Sorry…" Natsu said, dropping the stick. He still wasn't sure if he was talking to a person or if the hay was some kind of magical creature.

He was relieved of trying to figure that out when a small girl, no more than five, popped her head out of the hay. She looked up at him and blinked. "You're not a farmer," she announced.

"What? Um no, I'm not…" This was the first human Natsu had ever spoken to, and he wasn't sure what to say. "You're not a bale of hay."

"Nope," she said simply. "Have you seen my mommy?"

"Your mommy?" Natsu asked. "No I don't think so."

"Oh." This appeared to upset her, because she promptly burst into tears.

"Wahhh why are you doing that?" Natsu asked, backing away quickly. "Did I make you do that?!"

"Nooo…." She whimpered. "I just…I just…can't find my mommy!"

"Oh…" Natsu stopped moving away. This girl was much smaller than him, and it didn't seem right to leave her crying by herself on a deserted road. Plus, he was looking for his own father, so their goals were similar. Tentatively, he reached out and patted her on the shoulder. "Well…what's your mom smell like?"

She immediately stopped crying and looked at him. "Smell?"

"Yeah," he said, more confident. "Tell me what she smells like and I'll sniff her out!" He rolled up his sleeves and pointed at his nose, grinning. "I've got a good nose!"

"Wow…" she said, looking at him with admiration. "You're just like a dog!"

Natsu felt a vein in his forehead pulse in annoyance. "I'm the son of a DRAGON, not a DOG," he told her indignantly.

"Dragon?" she looked confused. "You don't look like a dragon…"

"Do I look like a dog?"

"No…"

"Exactly," he said, though he wasn't sure exactly what. "Now, tell me what your mom smells like. Or better yet, do you have something she touched recently?"

She dug around in her pocket for a moment and pulled out a handkerchief. "She gave me this..." she looked up at him uncertainly. "Can you really find her with this?"

Natsu scoffed. "Of course I can. I'm the son of Igneel!" He took the cloth and sniffed it. It smelled like lavender and a few other human-like smells, which were still new to his nose. Immediately he caught whiff of the scent coming from the way he'd originally come.

"This way," he said, grabbing her wrist and pulling her along. He wasn't sure why he was doing this, but it felt good to know he was helping someone else reunite with their parent.

They walked about fifteen minutes down the road to a large building with a name over the entrance. But of course, Natsu couldn't read it. He heard voices inside though.

"I should be looking for her myself," a woman was saying.

"Ma'am, it would be better if you stayed here," an authoritative male voice was saying. "We have everyone we can spare looking for your daughter."

Natsu pushed the door open, pulling his charge into the building with him. He pointed at the woman he'd heard, confident that her scent matched the handkerchief. "There's your mom," he told the girl, grinning broadly.

"Mommy!" The girl shouted, elated.

The woman turned away from her conversation and her eyes widened.

"Kara!" she cried, sweeping the little girl into her arms. "Where have you been? I was so worried!" she smoothed her daughter's hair back and beamed. "I'm so glad you're okay!"

This was the first time Natsu had seen a human parent doting on a human child. It was different from the way he interacted with Igneel, but the expressions on their faces looked the same. Something about that made Natsu's heart swell up in his chest – he couldn't decide if he was happy or sad. Either way, he was glad he'd stopped to help the little girl. Feeling his work was done, he began to sneak back out the door, but the man with the authoritative voice saw him before he got a chance.

"Young man, did you bring this little girl here?" He asked, not unkindly.

Natsu nodded, sizing the man up. He smelled like tobacco and gunpowder, but it wasn't an overpowering smell.

"Well that makes you the hero of the day," the man said, smiling. "What's your name, kiddo?"

"Natsu. Natsu…Dragneel," Natsu said. He knew humans were expected to have last names, so he made one up on the fly.

"Hmm…Dragneel?" The man looked at him curiously. "There's no family around these parts with that last name. Where are you from?"

Natsu shrugged. He and Igneel didn't have a fixed address – they fly all over the continent.

The man frowned. "You're a little young to be wandering around all by yourself. Do you have someone with you?"

Natsu shook his head and the man's frown deepened. "That's no good. Where are your parents?"

Natsu looked up at the man, weighing the pros and cons of telling his story to this stranger. The little girl and her mother were looking on with interest. He decided these people didn't seem too bad, so he would explain himself.

"I woke up one morning a week ago and my dad was gone," he told the man. "I've been looking for him ever since."

This made both the man and the woman look very concerned. "You've been wandering around by yourself for a week?" he asked, incredulously. "That's not right. It's a miracle you've survived!"

Natsu shrugged again. "I've got my magic so I do okay," he said. At that moment his stomach growled "But I am hungry…"

Something about what he said caused the woman to rush forward and embrace him, much to his discomfort. "You poor thing!" she said. "Come home with us and I'll feed you a home-cooked meal!"

Natsu was definitely not opposed to that. But the man had more questions for him. "You said you use magic?" he asked.

"Yup. My dad taught me." Natsu grinned with pride. "I use dragonslayer magic!"

"Dragonslayer…magic?" The man chuckled. "Kid, I hate to break it to you, but that's a lost form of magic. I seriously doubt whatever your dad was teaching you was really dragonslayer arts."

"It was!" Natsu insisted. "My dad knows dragonslaying magic because my dad is a dragon."

This caused the man to stare at him. "Okay, kid…" he said, clearly not believing him.

"It's true!" Natsu insisted. "Igneel is a dragon."

"Sweetie," the woman said gently. "Dragons are extinct. They died out centuries ago."

Natsu shook his head furiously. "You're wrong. My dad is a dragon. He has wings and scales and a great nose and breathes fire!"

"Okay, buddy," the man said. "You're probably so dehydrated you're hallucinating. "Let's get you something to drink…"

"Igneel is NOT a hallucination," Natsu said indignantly. "I'll prove it – just watch my magic!" Puffing out his chest, Natsu prepared a demonstration. "Fire dragon's ROARRRRRR"

The flames came spewing out of his mouth, melting a nearby desk into nothing but a hunk of metal. The man and woman looked sufficiently shocked.

"Mommy," the little girl called Kara said, tugging at her mother's arm. "He found you with smell." She may have been young, but the child appreciated that this was not a normal occurrence.

"Well…" the man said, regaining his composure. "I suppose there are things in this world we still don't understand…" He patted Natsu on the head. "I apologize for doubting you. But please…." He gestured at what had once been a desk. "never do that again…"

"Sorry…" Natsu said, but he was grinning, because he'd just had an idea. "Hey can I ask you something now?"

"Of course," the man said. "I'm a police officer, I'm here to help."

Natsu dropped his backpack and reached in for the piece of newspaper. He showed it to the man. "I'm looking for this place. Do you have any idea where it is?"

"Fairy Tail?" the man examined the picture. "This is a wizard's guild in Magnolia."

"Eh?" None of those words meant anything to Natsu.

"A wizard's guild is a place where mages – people who use magic, like you, come together to find work," he told Natsu. "You're a little young, but a guild is probably the perfect place for you, kiddo." He handed the paper back to him. "It just so happens the master of Fairy Tail, Makarov Dreyar, is in town on business."

"I've actually heard Fairy Tail is full of children right now," the woman added. "Seems that Makarov Dreyer has a young grandson so he isn't adverse to children in his guild."

"Really?!" Natsu's eyes shown brightly. This was the first time in a week he'd gotten anywhere in his quest to find Igneel. "Take me to him!"

The police officer chuckled. "I'm sure that can be arranged."