Natsu Dragneel couldn't believe what had happened to him. He thought he had done good enough for his father to be proud of him, to want the best for his son and train him until he was strong enough to be alone.
Apparently, he had been wrong to assume that. He had been wrong with many things in his life, but he never believed for a second that his father would abandon him so quickly without any form of goodbye or reason for his departure.
He had just left.
That's what Natsu remembered. He went to sleep one night when he was no older than seven years old and woke up the next morning to ... nothing ... just an empty cave with no other living creature inside of it save for himself.
At first, Natsu hadn't been too worried about it, believing that his father was simply hunting for food since it was normal for them to do so.
As the day passed, however, Natsu started to realise something was very wrong as his dragon-Igneel-did not come home. Igneel was a fire dragon that had found Natsu when he was a very young child, wandering the forest. Igneel took him in and trained him to become a Dragonslayer.
Natsu almost trained every day, jogging, lifting weights, learning new spells, and fighting. He had it all in his training regimen. There was no stopping him in the future.
Igneel also taught him how to hunt food if the need ever arose and Igneel couldn't do it for him. It was a useful skill that could come in handy at any moment which involved sniffing out the prey and hearing it.
Natsu, who was extremely worried at that point, decided to use those skills to find his father. It began with minutes, then it turned into hours, days and finally; months.
He had searched for his father for an entire month and there was no sign of him anywhere. He had been searching for his father so intently that he had forgotten to eat. But he always had a water bottle with him so he never ran out of water.
However, because of the lack of nutrition for an entire month, he was tired. It was then realisation hit him; his father had left him.
There was nothing he could do about it.
He had wanted to cry, shout, punch, do something but he couldn't. He just couldn't. So instead, he hunted for food which was a squirrel that he cooked for dinner with the fire magic that he had been taught by his father.
After the first bite of the squirrel, he had ravaged it like a wild beast, eating every little thing on the squirrel until there were only clean bones left.
Afterwards, Natsu had gone to sleep to allow his body to digest the food and allow his muscles to get the much-needed protein and nutrition it needed.
The next morning, he started to go on his little journey, trying to see if he could find Igneel outside of the forest and cave they lived in. He had searched the nearby mountains if there was anything there but he found nothing. There wasn't even a scent of the fire dragon to be traced anywhere.
He walked to different villages around the kingdom, hoping to find his father, however, because of the lack of money, he couldn't buy any delicious-looking foods he saw inside restaurants and shops.
Not that it mattered to him, he preferred hunting for his food anyway, so it wasn't a problem whatsoever. But the experience would have been nice.
When he reached a town that he had been to before, albeit many months ago, he noticed that they had a library. Intrigued, he made his way to the library with his eyes displaying clear interest in what he could find inside.
The town wasn't very big nor famous, but it was a town known for its fishing as well as its ancient library that Natsu only found out about recently.
He had decided to revisit the town for the sole purpose of trying to find Dragonslaying magic. He knew there was more than just fire, he knew there was metal, sky, lightning, light, and darkness.
He knew that there probably were more, but those were the ones that Igneel mentioned to him
Outside of the library, he stared at the double doors as if waiting for an invitation before he calmly walked up the staircase. Opening one of the doors, he saw that there were quite a few people inside he guessed were locals or even mages studying magic.
There was no receptionist that he could see so he made his way to the magic section of the library, hoping to find anything about Dragon Slayers.
While he and Igneel never spent any time outside of their home, it didn't mean that Igneel didn't know any of the human customs. Igneel made sure Natsu could read and write so he could get by easily because the fire dragon knew one day Natsu would need to leave on his own. Igneel taught him everything he knew about human costume and etiquette which has saved Natsu more than once.
Natsu saw one book on one of the shelves that piqued his interest. It simply said; Dark Magic.
He looked around and saw that there was no one watching him. Stealthily, he grabbed the book and made sure that he could find a secluded spot where he could read without being disturbed. The ancient library had a high ceiling with many chandeliers hanging with pristine white walls with a couple of paintings of old Fiore.
Eventually, he found a spot on a corner with a couple of chairs with no one nearby. It looked to be abandoned with cobwebs being thicker than normal and the books looked old and dusty despite the rest of the library being beautiful and cleaned thoroughly.
Natsu sat down in the chair and began opening the book, hoping he could learn a few new spells.
When he opened the book, he shivered as if it was cold despite his unnaturally warm blood. Unknowingly, the side of his mouth twitched as if to smile or smirk. He then began to read, not knowing what was in store for him.
Once again, Natsu was back in the library looking forward to other books that contained dark magic.
Two weeks had passed since he found his first book and he was getting better at casting spells. He learned dark Dragon Slayer magic that he could use at his disposal. What he found to be very weird but unique was the fact he didn't need to say anything while casting them.
It was weird for him. He was used to shouting out his spells when he was attacking bandits or any other criminal, so using spells that didn't require him to shout was new to him. He never practised anywhere near the town that he keeps forgetting the name of. He did it in the forest area where no one ever came because it was said to be haunted by spirits that were loyal to Lord Zeref who was the most powerful dark magic user in history and said to have been unkillable.
He used this to his advantage by casting his dark spells which made the locals even more fearful of the area and avoided it like the plague.
The spells Natsu had learned were on the fire spectrum of things. He learned how to use the fire to burn through steel and wood. He also managed to fuse his dragon fire with the dark magic fire to make explosions that the entire town heard.
This caused the town to send out a request to the many guilds across Fiore, much to Natsu's dismay.
However, he knew that it was bound to happen, he wasn't exactly subtle with his magic, he made sure that the locals heard him at night, making them terrified of the forest where the "evil spirits of Zeref waited for them."
So, when one of these guilds came to the town, Natsu made sure to stay out of their way.
He didn't want to be discovered by anyone. If they found out it was him, how else was he supposed to gather the dark magic books? Sure, he could sneak in at night, which wasn't a bad idea, he had done so a couple of nights ago because he wanted to finish the chapter he had been on, and it was childishly easy.
The guild members that had come were two blokes that came from some kind of destructive guild known as "Fairy Tail", which Natsu had read about. The guild was founded by Mavis Vermillion who was the first master while the second master was Precht Gaebolg, and the third master was Makarov Dreyar. Fairy Tail was famous for its destructive tendencies but was also quite famous for different legends that had been born out of the guild that no doubt would continue to create legends that would be remembered throughout history.
Natsu had hidden in the library while they had been there. Usually, he broke into one of the inns and slept there, but he didn't want to be discovered by the two guild members, who knew what they would do to him if they figured out it was him?
Sure, he didn't know what magic they used. For all he knew, they were pushovers, but, he didn't want to risk it. He was still a child technically and wasn't as strong as those two who had decades of experience.
So, he hid and waited for them to go away. Albeit, it took the two wizards a couple of days before they gave up and headed back to wherever their guild is located. This led to this moment, he was ready to dive right back into his studies.
He sat in his usual spot and read while occasionally, making sure he was alone and wasn't bothered by anyone. The last thing he needed was to be found by an adult who would no doubt see he was reading about dark magic and would then lecture him about how he was "too young" to read about such things.
And so, he was back to hearing nothing except for the quiet footsteps around him of different people trying to find the right book for their needs.
He had a small smile on his face as he drank in the words so he could gain more magic energy and powers that he no doubt would achieve.
His mouth twitched.
How powerful could he become? Would he be able to dethrone the council members for their stupidity? Could he become so powerful that everywhere he went, everyone bowed to him?
His mouth twitched better this time. He couldn't help but fantasize about it. How could he not? He had already learned a lot from the books he had read in the last two weeks, it was only natural he would want to know how powerful he would become.
The thought made him gleeful.
If he learned enough magic, he could take over different villages and towns, defeat anyone who stood in his way and make sure Fiore knew who he was.
His mouth twitched into a sadistic grin that would have any dark guild running with their tails in-between their legs.
'Yes, that would be good, but that is not my goal,' Natsu thought with an evil smirk.
After he finished the book, he realised that he had read every dark magic book there was and he had even learned most of the spells he found useful. Most of them were battle magic as he knew he would have run-ins with some bad people that no doubt would try to sell him to slavers or something similar.
He grinned as he walked out of the library. They could try, but they will fail just like the council fails to be useful to their citizens.
When he got out to the streets, he noticed that the people around him were mostly ignoring him as they kept running around doing errands and jobs that they had which made the young Dragonslayer smirk.
This was too easy. All he had to do was get to the end of the street that led up to the forest area. Not the same that was "haunted" but it was similar in some ways. It was used as a hunting ground for food. So there maybe were a few spirits angry that they were killed only to be used as food.
Who knows?
Walking on the path, he glanced around and saw the familiar restaurants and shops that sold different items that Natsu found completely meaningless as it held no value to him whatsoever.
Then again, the only time he ran into other mages were those two Fairy Tail blokes who looked utterly stupid to him. How can Dreyar just allow such drunkards to join a respectable guild?
In Natsu's eyes; wizards should be the superior race. They were the superior race. They had magic and they could easily do anything they wanted with it. Allow it to grow, make it powerful enough so others would fear them, or they could enslave those without magic, see if they had any magic in their veins, if they have, then they are allowed to live, if not, they should kill them.
In his mind, he cackled like a mad man. All he cared about was his father, Igneel, and the magic he had in his veins.
His mouth twitched as he walked up the hill that would take him away from the town he had grown slightly fond of.
While he may have only been there for the library and the dark magic, he still needed a place to sleep and eat. Of course, the nutrition he got from the animals he had killed. He had also made a very tiny tent out of wood so he could sleep away from the rain on the days it poured down.
He smiled fondly.
He didn't know when he would return, but he knew he would do so one day in the future. He only had to wait a little while before he was given the opportunity.
A few days had passed since Natsu left the town and he was making his way down a dirt path that led to some small town that he would scout for any dark magic books. He was getting thirsty for the dark arts.
Ever since he laid his eyes on the first book he ever read on dark magic, he had been thirsty to learn more of the art. He needed more. It was like an addiction; it wouldn't go away so easily.
He knew this already. He didn't mind.
As he was walking, however, he failed to see the bandits that were hiding in the treeline. His dragon senses went haywire, forcing him to glance from the left to the right, trying to spot the enemy that no doubt was hiding somewhere.
He stopped dead in his tracks, his hands clenched into fists, harder than rocks. His ears were trying to pick up any movements, and his eyes were dashing all over the place.
Abruptly, someone jumped out of the tree line with his spear ready. Natsu jumped to the side, barely missing the swing for his head.
"Fire Dragon Iron Fist!" Natsu shouted landing a hit on the bandit's head, making him drop his weapon with swirls in the guy, eyes.
Natsu jerked away when someone tried to attack him from behind, making the bandit stumble forward.
"Fire Dragon's Crushing Fang!" Natsu crushed the guy's skull so badly, that blood started dripping out from him making Natsu smirk evilly at the thought of his enemies bleeding because of him.
"AAHH!" The final bandit shouted and ran so far away, that not even Natsu could hope to catch up to him even if he wanted to.
The salmon-haired Dragonslayer chuckled before he started walking away from the scene of the crime. Satisfied with what he had accomplished.
A few hours later, he came across a clearing that looked inviting. The sun was setting over the horizon and he was getting a little bit tired. Normally, he would just have woken up early the next morning and then gone to the next town but he had other plans tonight. He felt like watching a few extra miles for some odd reason.
He didn't know why, he just got the feeling that he might enjoy it so he didn't stop walking like he normally would have.
When he reached the town, he made sure that he wasn't spotted. He didn't know whether or not the Rune Knights were on his case, but he'd rather not test them if he could avoid it.
But ... maybe it would be fun?
He chuckled as he continued down the road, checking around him spotting lots of boats. Must have been a fishing village.
He grinned. He could use this. Maybe he could sleep on top of one of the boats and leave before someone made a ruckus. Grinning like a loon, he made his way to the boats, making sure he wasn't spotted by anyone before he climbed inside an expensive-looking one.
The boat was made from steel and was decorated with white and black decorum on the outside. On the inside, there were wooden walls with a few paintings of what looked to be family members of whoever owned the boat.
There was a small table inside the kitchen with a staircase leading up and another staircase leading down. Natsu wasn't going to stay here for long so he decided to go down and try to find some sleeping quarters.
His footsteps echoed as he walked down, sending shivers down his own spine as he reached the bottom. On the bottom was a bed and even what looked to be a bathtub.
Whoever owned this boat was definitively rich. There was no way someone could own something like this and not be from money!
Instead of showing an outwards reaction, however, he walked straight to the medium-sized bed and dropped down. Before he went to sleep, he stared at the ceiling and thought about everything that led up to this point.
He had to admit, it was pretty fun and adventurous. It wasn't something he was used to. He would never lie and say that the time with his father, Igneel, hadn't been adventurous, on the contrary, it was the opposite; How many people could say they had been trained by a dragon?
Not many. Hell, no one would believe him if he said he was!
He smiled softly before he closed his eyes, allowing sleep to overtake him.