Chapter 17:

Black eyes stared into the burning throat of a volcano. Weird was the picture before him, he had to admit. The colors too bright and the shadows too dark. Sounds drifted through his sensitive ears – breathing, loud and steady above him. That didn't make sense. The boy gazed at the volcano closer, carefully examining the explosion in the lava before throwing a rock himself. Still, breathing reminded the only sound. It was too loud to his liking but that didn't make sense, there was nothing above him he was sure and besides, he couldn't look up. The bright colors of the lava beneath too mesmerizing.

A cough, again above him. The boy frowned and looked up. The ground spun and the black sky darkened. The boy stumbled back and was sure he would tumble down the sides of the volcano but only ended up sitting on the blackened dirt that stretched around him, volcano nowhere in sight.

The boy looked up, not questioning too much the weird change, wondering what was above him.

''Took you long enough, brat'' a dragon spoke above him, great fire dancing and covering his skin.

''Took me long enough to do what?'' the boy was confused. The dragon looked at him with dry amusement and opened its mouth. Boy's eyes widened as the burning inferno rushed at him, the roar of a fire dragon hot and searing.

The boy rolled out of the way and jumped to his feet, realizing his clothes was in shreds. He turned to the dragon, who laughed, flames replaced by shining metal scales. ''Fight!'' The dragon bellowed and slammed its clawed paw in the green grass they stood on, metal spikes shooting from the ground and rushing at the boy.

The boy jumped and spun around, ready to fight the dragon. ''Chaos dragon's wing attack!''

The attack hit the white feathers of the female dragon and she roared in anger and pain. ''Stop it, human!''

The boy landed and faced once again the fire dragon who looked at him from its lying position, the flames noticeably dimmer than they were. The boy found himself on his own knees, panting heavily. Why couldn't he breathe?

''You won'' the fire dragon informed him. ''Will you kill me like you did everyone else?''

The boy looked at the dragon in confusion but the dragon gestured to the boy to look down. The boy did as he was told, finding himself sitting on the pile of bones and rotten bodies of dragons.

''I was told to do that'' the boy informed the dragon. ''But I can't do that to you''

The dragon raised a flaming eyebrow. ''How so?''

''I can't move'' boy answered truthfully, the bones beneath him held him still like chains.

''Why?''

The boy frowned and looked at his hands, only to find himself sitting on the barren earth again.

''Because you fought well. I can't move just like you can't'' Boy realized.

''Indeed''

''Will you be my friend?'' the boy wondered.

''Will I?'' the dragon looked confused. ''I guess I will'' the dragon responded after a moment of silence.

The boy smiled slightly but the smile quickly disappeared, replaced by horror as the sneering face of the black dragon now in front of him.

''You failed!'' the dragon sneered, the birds in the trees around them scattering. It was too bright. ''I told you to kill him!''

''I couldn't do it, Father!'' The boy cried desperately. ''Please spare him! I was too weak to defeat him! He has the right to live! He's my friend!''

''A friend?'' Father scoffed. ''A reason more to kill him. Friends are a weakness, Natsu. I told you that many times''

The dragon took flight ignoring the screaming son behind him. ''Father, please! Don't kill him! Atlas Flame doesn't deserve it! He's strong!''

Natsu jerked up, panting as he did so and gripped the back of the sofa, glad to find himself back in his cottage. His vision was blurry and the cold sweat trailed down his back but he quite quickly found himself staring at Mira's concerned face, Wendy standing right behind her.

'Shit' he deduced when they kept staring at him. They must've seen him tosing around.

''Are... Are you alright?'' Wendy finally spoke as she watched Natsu's eyes focus and the panic in them disappearing like the doors have been shut between his soul and eyes. Whoever claimed eyes were the windows to the soul never met her brother, Wendy was sure.

''Of course'' Natsu said and pushed himself to his feet, Mira and Wendy taking a step back to give him enough space to do so. ''Just another nightmare''

''Another?'' Wendy frowned. He never mentioned anything about nightmares. Mira studied Natsu's face while the dragon slayer climbed to his feet. ''Do you wanna talk about it?''

Natsu stayed quiet for a moment, flabbergasted by the proposal – not that it showed in anything but a twitch of his fingers – but soon responded, his voice deadpan. ''No''

With that the dragon prince excused himself and walked to the bathroom, closing the doors behind him. Mira and Wendy exchanged a look. They wouldn't notice something was wrong if Natsu hadn't start clawing at the back of the sofa, eyes scrunched and breathing panicked. It was what woke Mira after all and she was in pain herself when she was almost knocked from the sofa she lied on when Natsu punched the hole through it.

Both girls, almost as if they were thinking the same thing looked at the sofa's damaged back. How the rest of the house didn't look like this considering it was 'another' nightmare was beyond them. The small house fell into silence for a while with only rushing water in the other room humming in the background.

''I wonder what he was dreaming about'' Mira whispered once the two settled down on the sofa since neither got anything better to do. Wendy hummed in agreement. ''He never mentioned he had nightmares''

Mira looked at the younger girl in wonder. ''But you two spent weeks on missions together, I did back before...'' Mira stopped and swallowed. ''How come you never heard or seen anything? I mean it's not like you were always sleeping in the inn with separate rooms''

Wendy shrugged. ''He somehow hid it if he ever had nightmares while we were together''

The young healer fell silent, seemingly in deep thought. ''It could be dragonification thing...''

Mira opened parted her lips to ask but closed them soon after. It was not her place to pry. The water abruptly stopped in the other room and moments later Natsu stepped out fully dressed in his usual black getup, scarf and colorful necklace around his neck.

''You ready to go back to the guild?'' Natsu asked the two as he straightened his already straight shirt – the only sign he was uncomfortable. Stoic teen stared at the two waiting for an answer as they both quickly stood and nodded.

''Yup. All ready'' Wendy grinned at her brother, unsure how but set on cheering him up. Not that he will show it but Wendy could tell when he was happy. The blue-haired girl glanced at Mira and Wendy quickly got a feeling the older female also knew Natsu's quirks quite well considering their time together was significantly shorter since Mira stopped coming with them to missions.

The two girls walked out when Natsu moved to the doors and stood back as the pink-haired teen closed the doors behind them, waiting for him to start the long walk back. The sun outside has climbed some way up the sky but not too high – it was obviously early. In the silence broken only by the sparrows in the trees, it was easy to forget their guildhall was completely demolished and that only yesterday they were in a war with another guild.

Natsu moved fluidly in front of them, still silent, his head down, one hand fingering the edge of the black scales on the muffler around his neck, eyes studying the glint of the morning sun reflected in them.

'Why I still care about you is a mystery'

Dragon prince looked up. 'Care to explain, you overgrown wizard?'

End of chapter 17.

Rewritten

For all those wondering how he got the pie – it's not all that hard to trace Mira's and Elfman's scent to a dragon slayer.

Please review and thanks for reading. :)