Natsu turned his head slightly, and looked at her through the corner of his eye, his brows furrowed, and he still wore a frown on his face. He pulled his wings together, and faced forward, leaning onto his knees, "Look, Lucy…" he took a breath in, "I told you already, I want to find Igneel. He's the one who raised me, and trained me, and then… he just…"

She leaned over next to him, as his voice softened, keeping her hand in the constant rubbing of his back, "It's okay…" she began.

"Disappeared." Natsu finished, still faint, but loud enough for everyone in the room to hear. He wasn't crying, but it looked as if he was about to. The onyx eyes were glossed over, and his bottom lip was bit under his teeth as he held it, to keep it from quivering.

She stopped rubbing his back as the last syllable left his lips, "He disappeared?" she asked. Things seemed to make sense to her now, though nothing really added up, unless dragon years were longer than hers. If Igneel were his father, obviously he would had made sure his son didn't see him die, that much as true. She took a deep breath in, not exactly fond of what she was going to say next, "Natsu," she began, still in her soft voice.

"But that's why I'm gonna find him!" Natsu exclaimed, as if to stop the tears from falling from his eyes, "He's bound to be around here somewhere… I don't really recognize the place, but we'll go somewhere I do recognize, and then we'll find him!"

"Natsu," Lucy began again, as he sat up straight.

"And what's the fun in going alone? Happy'll come, and you, and Plue, too right?" he turned his attention to the white dog, "see, that's a good enough party. We can take care of those missions I saw on the board in the guilds, it'll be fun!"

"Natsu," Lucy stated, grabbing his flailing arms, as he talked, "we can go on an adventure, but you can't join a guild."

"And why not?" Natsu asked, brows furrowing as he leaned his face into hers, as if intimidating her.

She backed her face up, a little, but still kept the hold of his arms, "because you're a dragon."

"And?" Natsu replied, not getting what she was trying to imply.

"Dragons are extinct!" Lucy said leaning into his face, causing him to back away.

"I'm not dead, Luce," he answered, "Besides, how're they supposed to know I'm a dragon if we go by what you said?"

"It's Lucy. But-" she stopped herself for a moment, before continuing, "are you really gonna go ahead and cover your eyes, your mouth, and your wings?"

Natsu frowned, "Why my eyes! I won't be able to see!"

Lucy let go of his arms and grabbed his shoulder, abruptly, "But if people can see your eyes, and that mage notifies people about a dragon, your intimidation toward him, and what you look like, it's not that hard to figure out that you are the dragon!"

Natsu sighed, and pulled himself out of her grasp, before standing up, "Honestly, I don't understand what you're so worked up about, I'll cover my wings, it's always worked before, and those weird weak mages can't do anything to me once I've eaten."

Lucy folded her hands in her lap, "So you've eaten, what does that do?"

"I haven't eaten yet, but," Natsu corrected her, "it's good. Gives me a boost, ya know?"

"A boost?" Lucy questioned.

"Yeah, a boost!" Natsu replied, pointing a finger at her, "like how you make weird circles to bring in fish people, I eat fire to get a power boost!"

Lucy's eyes widened, "You saw that?" she asked.

"Saw what?" Natsu responded.

"You saw me creating the magic circle?"

"No, Happy told me," Natsu shook his head, "besides, where did you do it anyway, I didn't see a giant circle of red on the grass when I flew back."

"Oh, no where." Lucy replied, really hoping now to find some spell that allowed her to talk with animals.

"Wait!" she exclaimed, and stood up, grabbing Natsu's forearms.

"I'm not going anywhere," he replied, stiffening under her grasp.

"No, not that," she shook her head, before leaning into him, eager to hear his response to her question, "You're a beast, an animal, how come I can understand you?"

He raised a brow, "Like I know the answer to that!" he said, before pushing her hands off him with his wings, seeing as he couldn't exactly move his arms.

She gripped his wings as he pushed at her fingers, now holding onto their red scales, "But you are an animal, Natsu! Were you put under some spell that allows you to speak with humans, or did you eat some magic fruit that gives you our language?"

He pushed her away from him, his wings giving him quite the distance between them, "I didn't eat anything, I never encountered some spell, I've just always been able to do this, okay?"

"But…" Lucy stammered, before letting go of the soft scales.

"So we're gonna leave for the adventure, or what?"

"We can't go now, okay," she replied, before turning around, "we have to get prepared first." she took a breath before turning her head and correcting herself before he had a chance to do so, "I have to get prepared."

"Kay," he answered, "How long will that take?"

"I don't know, a week." she answered, shrugging, "I've never willingly went on an adventure with a freaking dragon before!"

"No duh," Natsu answered as she began walking into the hallway, "you've never met a dragon before."

She turned her head, and glared at him, before continuing into the hall, and entering her room. She collapsed onto her bed, not minding that Plue had come into the room with her. What was she supposed to do, she was a freaking witch, he was an extinct, overly powerful, red dragon. She might have gotten Aquarius back, but it's not like she can just summon her whenever she wanted to, that took power and spells, too. Plue was different, he wasn't a golden celestial being, he was just a celestial being. That didn't take much to open to her realm, and she didn't really have to do it, because he just didn't want to go back yet, not since her mom died, anyway. She needed Natsu's blood so that she could open the pathway for the others, and even Aquarius again, should she need to.

She turned over on the bed, pillowing her face, "This is so hard!" she yelled.

"Then you don't have to come with us," she heard Natsu say through the wall, at least he stayed in the main room, instead of barging into hers.

She ignored him, and turned to face her closet, she didn't even know how long they'd be gone. She sighed, they, as if she had already decided to come along with him. It would be just her, his cat, and Plue, right. There wouldn't be anyone else, it would just be her and some eighteen year old dragon boy. She flushed red into the pillow, "Is that even the same, anyway?"

"You know," Natsu said through the wall again, "We just can't take a boat."

"What?" Lucy asked, sitting up, her trail of thought disappearing, to her relief.

"We can't take a boat." Natsu repeated.

"And why not?" Lucy asked.

"Cause we can't."

"Well, in order to be at least a little more safe from the "great black demon lord" we have to get off of this land, and get to another." she explained. They were having a conversation through a wall. A thin wall, but a wall! She couldn't believe it, this kid was a complete idiot.

"Do we have to?" Natsu whined.

"Yes!" she answered, before a thought came to her, "have you been only traveling on this land?"

"What other place am I supposed to travel?"

"Well…" she couldn't believe she was saying this, it probably would get his hopes up, and then they'd end up dropping all over again, "Maybe you haven't found Igneel, cause he's not on this land."

"Oh my gosh!" Natsu yelled, and she heard his fist pound against the wall, "You're right! How come I didn't think of that?"

"Because you have a thick skull." she muttered into her pillow, too quiet for him to hear.