"Are you certain?" Draco asked as he glared at the sky dragon several hours later. Through the open door he could still feel the residual heat that Layla radiated it was still so hot that even the fire-resistant wood in the room was beginning to warp.
He watched her sleeping form as he silently mulled over the information he had been presented. Grandeeney had just finished her examination of Layla and had fought with the results but knew this was not something that could remain hidden any longer.
"She wouldn't have survived if it wasn't true," she said praying her words wouldn't cause too much damage.
Draco stormed out of the infirmary and down the stairs. The dragons where all with their children and grandchildren each laughing and have a good time. Only Igneel kept quiet as he was still recovering even though he was surrounded by the Dragneels. As the effervescent Ryu was telling story, one look at the boy next to the dragon made human and he knew he should have realized it sooner. The thought tearing an angered growl from the Dragon king as he marched towards the red head and slashed him across the face with his claws toppling the man over.
"Traitor," Draco hissed as Igneel clutched his face where his skin was turning into scales to stop the bleeding as he pushed his son's children behind him.
"I'd never," Igneel growled as the other dragons helped move the children away from the two dragons.
"Yes, you are. You are a traitor to your kind," the great dragon king hissed as he slammed Igneel down again.
"Draco what is the mean of this?" Brux asked as he looked between the fire dragon king and the Celestial dragon.
"He broke the law," Draco spoke his voice seething with furry.
"We don't know that for sure," Grandeeney spoke from the second floor.
"What law did I break?" Igneel growled as the adult slayers all raced to add to the barrier between the children and the great dragon king.
"The second law," Draco hissed as the dragon made humans all went shock white as the slayers looked confused.
"What's the second dragon law?" Gajeel asked, in all the training his father had never told him of the second law. He'd once asked about it but was simply told that it wasn't a matter that he needed to know.
"No dragon may take a mate who is not a dragon," Metalicana spoke never taking his eye off of Igneel.
He'd found it odd that the dragon had never taken a mate. Over two thousand years and the fire dragon king remained alone, he figured his mate had died at a younger age, but obviously Draco thought that that wasn't true.
"I never broke that law," Igneel hissed as Draco growled again.
"I know you did, because your blood runs through Layla's veins!" Draco roared as Igneel turned white as a sheet.
"Hey what are you doing?" Natsu asked as Grandeeney plucked several haired from the pinkette's head.
Dropping them into a vile with some kind of solution in it the room waited on bated breath as the liquid slowly changed into a deep purple color. "Just as I thought," Grandeeney spoke as she looked up at Draco and nodded her head.
The dragon king wrapped his hands around Igneel's throat as he slammed the red head into the nearest wall.
"I… I never broke the law," Igneel wheezed as he tried to claw at the hands cutting off his air supply.
"Then how is it that your blood runs through their veins?!" Draco growled keeping the man pinned.
"Because by the time the law was cast she was gone!" Igneel shouted as several tears fell from his golden eyes.
Draco released his hold as the man crashed to the floor in a loud thud as he greedily sucked in air before her continued. "Her name was Callia and I would've never met her had it not been for you!" The fire dragon explained as Draco growled lowly at him.
Brux moved to stand between the two males. "Igneel explain," the lighting dragon spoke.
While Draco may be the strongest of them he had long ago set up system for if he should ever lose his composer that their laws would still be upheld. The dragons each hoped what Igneel has to say was enough to calm the dragon that most likely only Layla could stop.
"Humans were new; there were only a few hundred tribes maybe a few thousand of them total. You all remember Draco asked me to interact with them. But when I tried and they all feared me. So, I transformed into their image, I lived among them for three years. As time when on Callia and I grew closer, she was the only one to know the real me," the fire dragon king said as he gulped in air. "After three years Draco had determined that the humans were necessary for balance and that we should leave them be. I came back the next day. What I didn't know was that Callia was carrying my child. My son," Igneel spoke as he felt the shadows of Skiadrum cover him.
"How did you find out about this boy?" The shadow dragon asked as he watched Igneel's face morph into one of torment.
"I felt her pass one day so I went to morn at her grave, and there he was. My son, my Ryu. What baffled me was that it had been nearly hundred years since I had left her. And he looked no older than ten maybe twelve," Igneel informed. "He told me who he was. As it turned out he had received my long life in the ninety eight years he'd been alive he'd barely aged. By then I had a small village of humans who lived on my lands as did the rest of you. I offered him a place there. But he turned me down saying that he would rather see the world first," Igneel spoke as his mind flashed to that day.
"How long before he returned?" Penna questioned as Igneel looked up to find Draco facing away from him.
"By then the humans had begun marking the years. So, it was the year x188 but I hadn't seen him in at least a century and a half. I went to him but he said that he didn't want any special treatment. He looked... Lucy do you have that painting of them?" Igneel asked as the blonde nodded her head. Silently she asked Virgo to bring her the photo that hung near the family portrait. Handing the framed painting Igneel looked down at it and sighed. "He looked just like this. Or well like Natsu... He always resembled his father," the fire dragon spoke as he looked up at his grandson and only seeing his Ryu.
"So, is that why you chose him to be your Slayer? He looked like your hatchling?" Draco seethed.
"No, I could sense it. Natsu was born with my magic, just like my son, he was going to be a fire dragon anyway," Igneel said as he looked over at his grandson. Natsu looked at the fire dragon too. Several minutes passed before the pink haired man spoke.
"So, should I call you dad or Gramps?" He asked as the room chuckled breaking the silence and the tension only in a way Natsu could.
"Draco, as you can see, I never broke the law. Callia died the year that Irene was born. She was long dead by the time it was passed," Igneel said firmly as he stood placing his family behind him.
"Did you say Irene?" Erza's small voice broke the silence the dragons all looked the requip mage who was clutching her husband's hand as she looked pale.
"Yes, Irene Belserion, the reason the second law exists," Metalicanna said gruffly as he watched the woman get paler and paler.
"Why is that?" Erza finally managed to ask her voice shaking.
"Irene lived on the land of a dragon. He took her as his mate. But he didn't have the ability to transform into a human so he simply placed his power into her once Acnologia began making a pest of himself, and killed the dragon. It drove her mad," Draco growled looking over the red head, his eyes narrowing as she continued to shake. There was something about her, something familiar about her magic that had always called to him but he could never figure out what it was.
"What did you do different?" Skiedum asked in genuine curiosity turning his head to Igneel.
"I simply mated with Callia, I never exchanged magic with her. But she'd been around me for three years and had absorbed much of my power. Belersion placed his power directly into a woman who had only been around his power for a year," Igneel said as he watched the red head woman collapse on to her knees.
"Erza are you okay?" Lucy asked in concern as she watched her friend shake in fear.
"I never told anyone ... I didn't want them to know," she whispered body still shaking.
"What?" Levy asked as she watched the normally composed red head shaking.
"My mother was Irene Belersion," she finally spoke as every single dragon turned their heads and stared at her in both intrigue and confusion.
"What?" Draco asked as he walked towards the woman sniffing the air but there were too many dragons around to tell it the smell was coming from her or not.
He'd always assumed that the feeling of Draconic magic that swirled around whenever he was with in the guild came from the known slayers. After all he'd never had a reason to be alone with the red head without a slayer or hatchling nearby.
"Zeref told me a few years ago when we were dealing with his son," Erza said as she felt her husband wrap his arms around her as he pulled her off the floor and into his arms.
"She's still alive?" Grandeeney asked in disbelief.
"In a manner of speaking," Lisanna said unsurely as she grabbed a cake from the cooler walking over to the require mage and placing it right beside her, knowing full well Erza would want it soon.
"She's in a magically induced coma," Jellal finished as he rubbed his wife's back as their daughter and son closed in and hugged their mother and father.
"How is that possible?" Igneel asked, Zeref cleared his throat gaining the attention of the room before he spoke.
"She was one of the first mages that came to Alvarez when I was beginning it. It took a while for her to trust me. But soon she did. As it turned out after the dragon wars had ended, she served as a guard to a king for many years. While in the service of the king. When it was discovered that she possessed dragon magic she was raped repeatedly by the captain of the guards. When they found out she had conceived they kicked her out and banished her from the land. It was then that she joined me. I did what I could to keep her safe but there was something odd about the pregnancy. It was moving at an extraordinary slow rate so much so that she didn't give birth until the year x763. She was pregnant for over four hundred years, but she never wanted my help. Erza was born in the palace of Alverez, Irene tried to give her away, but no one wanted or could afford to take care of her and I wouldn't let her just abandon the child in my kingdom. So, she traveled to Firoe and found a family to care for the girl. I even checked in on her when I was placing the lacrimas that Brux and Penna had left. But well we all know what happened after that," Zeref said as he watched the small family huddle together.
"What put her in the coma?" Penna asked snuggled up close to her mate.
"Sitara," Lucy spoke. "She went to Alverez to try and stop Zeref, the Spriggan twelve, attacked her," as the rest didn't need to be said.
"It's only over the last few years that they all began waking up. But Irene, Invel, August and Larcade are all still in the coma," Levy said as Zeref chuckled.
"Right by the was Igneel, you have two more great grandsons," the disembodied spirit said as the dragon made human looked confused.
"Even Zeref doesn't know how but somehow his son split into two people," Natsu joked as he thought about his two nephews that still slept.
"That's not possible," Grandeeny insisted but was cut off.
"If the child was born with the curse that was plagued his father then the soul could do it to allow at least a part of him to live a full life while the rest would live forever," Draco spoke for the first time as he turned to look at the Dragneels.
The heir of Dragons. The line of the prophecy had bothered him for centuries. It was the only one that had yet to be untangled. While the council accepted the fact the Dragneel meant heir of dragons in human tongue he hadn't, so that had to be what the prophecy was referring to, He had never though the solution would be so simple. But looking between Natsu and Igneel the reality sunk in. "She wouldn't have survived if it wasn't true," the sky dragon's words echoing in his mind. Fate knew more than he did apparently.
"We are one," Layla spoke as the group turned to look at her.
"Layla," Storm cried out as he raced up the stairs towards his mate as she leaned against the banister in exhaustion.
"You should be resting," Wendy scolded as she handed her daughter to her mother before meeting Storm at the bottom of the stairs where he had carried Layla to.
Running her glowing hands over the girl she checked again making sure that the fever was disappearing. Sighing in relief she motioned for the young couple to move towards an empty table in the guild.
"Daughter?" Draco asked as he looked at his slayer as she was fussed over by her mother, mate and Wendy.
"You told me that the only way to beat Agnologia was by using the power of one magic. I was a child and I didn't understand at the time," Layla began as she swatted away the arms of her mother and Wendy as she settled into her mate. "As I grew older, I saw that the reason Fairy Tail is so strong was because they unconsciously use one magic. So, I assumed that that was the reason for my being chosen. But it's... it's more than that,"
"You're not just a dragon slayer you are the true master of one magic," Levy offered with a smile as the group collectively rolled their eyes.
"What do you mean?" Draco asked in annoyance as he turned to look at the bluentte.
"Mom has been doing research on the mysterious one magic for years," Ren said as he moved to hold his mate.
"Look," Levy said as she pulled out a light pen and was about to draw when her mate snatched it out of her hands.
"No magic," Gajeel grunted as his mate blushed as a flicker of realization crossed her face.
"And why are we not allowed to do magic?' Canna asked one eyebrow raised knowing the answer already.
"It's not good for the baby," Levy pouted looking down at her stomach. As Canna and Chance laughed in amusement as cash began to flow their way.
"Alright mom what were you going to draw?" Conner asked as he stepped forward taking the light pen in is hands. Leaning over his mother whispered into his ear as he nodded in understanding as he drew three interconnecting circles that were surrounded by a fourth.
"It started after Layla's spirit came to visit. She said that the power of one magic would keep us safe," Levy began.
"So, I got to thinking what the one magic was. With the help of Crux I got every book on One magic from the celestial realm. Come to find out the only two that existed were written by one person. I didn't recognize the name until the ledger was fixed," the solid script mage said as she stood in front of the symbol. Whispering in her son's ear he raised the light pen as he placed it in the center of the circle on the right. "Life," Levy spoke as Connor wrote the word in the circle. "Spirit or soul, and Magic" each word handing in the center of the shears as she watched her son draw a star in the center where they all connect.
"It's not enough that dragons and humans and magic exist. We all are responsible for upholding the balance that the world needs to survive. And Layla is the star in the center the pin that holds us together. Without it the world is lost," Levy motioned as she dug out a book from the pile on her table which held the mark of the Haroworth clan. "This symbol dose not just represent the Haroworth family,"
"It's a symbolic representation of the prophecy that will restore and keep balance in the world," Zeref spoke as his mind began racing at the implications
"Layla is alive," Levy says as she points to the circle meaning life, "a Haroworth, who before the Zodiac curse were known as Alroh Ghardien, which translates into meaning Soul Guardians. It was the duty of them to be the bridge between this world and the spirit world,"
"Which is why they produced Celestial and Seith mages," Saraphina said as she remembered hearing Levy mutter about it under her breath one day while she was with Ren at his parent's house.
"And the thing that gave us our power, which created the two realms," Lucy said as she pointed to the outer circle. "Draco…"
"More precisely the power of dragons," Levy said as she picked up the book. "If she were simply a dragon none of this would work. While dragons are magical creatures…"
"We don't really preform magic," Grandeeny spoke as she swayed as Gale slept in her arms.
"What?" Chance asked in confusion as he lost track of the money he was counting.
"As a magical creature we have abilities. But it's no different than say a human singing, it's more of a talent than true magic," the sky dragon continued.
"Until the powers are gifted to a human, but simply being gifted the powers is not enough. The person who is the true master of one magic must be born with them," Levy said.
"And until the dragon wars, Draco would have never considered gifting his magic to anyone," Brux spoke.
"So, fate stepped in and made my mate a human, and insured we would have a child," Igneel said as he looked over his family.
"But then shouldn't that mean that anyone of us could face off against Acnologia?" Nayla asked as she moved closer to her father, who wrapped an arm around her shoulder.
"No," Draco spoke as he looked again at his slayer.
She'd never asked for any of this. As a child she had rebelled against it. Fought him every time he tried to speak with her about it, she was a stubborn child but he would expect nothing less from the daughter of a son of Igneel and the Celestial mage that challenged a ruling by the spirit king. It wasn't until she was fourteen that she had stopped. During a job she had injured her mate because she didn't know how to control her magic once it had shifted.
"I was chosen because it wouldn't corrupt me," Layla spoke calmly as everything she had been hearing for years finally made sense. "the true mastery of one magic, gifts one with great power. But I was born humbled,"
"What?" Lexie asked in disbelief.
"Blind, I'm blind. And though I will never know the difference. There is a small part of me…. I guess a part of me that is human, feels lessened because I will never know what color is. Or really understand beauty. You all tried to make it seem like it wasn't a big deal…. But I know that there is a small part of all of you who pity me because of it." Layla sighed as she took off the glasses.
Her blank eyes staring ahead never looking at anything as she sighed. "No matter how strong I am, or if I succeed in defeating my brother… I will always be somehow less than one who can see," Layla finished as she stood and left Storm running off behind her.