Natsu couldn't help but smile as he woke up the next morning in the little house he had built for himself.
It had been a couple of months since he slept on that boat and he still remembered it strangely enough. Something about the boat just stood out to him for reasons he was unaware of. But he was sure it was nothing.
After he woke up, he left the boat and made it towards the forest to hunt for food which was easy prey as he had good hunting skills along with good cooking skills with the help of his flames.
After that, he made his way towards another town where he hoped he could learn more dark magic, as there was always something new he could learn. However, when he got there, he didn't find anything new except for a few spells that he couldn't use as they weren't Dragonslayer spells.
Disappointed, he left the town soon after and travelled a little more, coming across different towns, villages, and civilisation in general. However, whenever he was in a town that hosted a guild, he made sure to leave as quickly as possible.
He didn't want to be caught by some pathetic guild in which he would be forced to join their stupidity, go on jobs, earn money, make ... friends.
Natsu may be too young for such opinions, but friends were something he didn't want. They were useless to him unless they could help him with something which in most cases wasn't possible.
Maybe at one point in his life did he want friends, but he most certainly didn't want to have any friends anymore. They were just a distraction, the same can be said about falling in love. It was attachments that were completely unnecessary that were meaningless garbage.
He was almost caught by a guild when he visited the town of Magnolia that hosted the Fairy Tail guild.
He had been mortified when he learned that their guild was there. If he was going to be joining a guild, it would no doubt be a dark one.
Dark guilds were better because he could easily commit crimes and get away with them without even trying, especially if he found a powerful one. One that could get him the information he needed to find Igneel again which was his main priority at the moment.
Maybe he could join Raven Tail? He knew that Fairy Tail's third master, Makarov Dreyar's son, was the master of Raven Tail which is allegedly a dark guild. It would be perfect for him, he could join such a guild, earn some money, try to find Igneel, and live as an outlaw.
Natsu groaned as he realised that he was considering joining a guild now.
The Fairy Tail member that had almost caught him was a brunette-haired girl who wore an orange sundress. She had tried to approach him as he had beaten two guys in an alleyway after they had tried to rob him.
They were the ones being robbed in the end.
When she had called out to him, he had panicked and run away with the brunette running after him, pleading with him to slow down.
He had ignored her and managed to escape by using his fire magic to hover away quickly, making the poor girl stop running and only watch as he hovered away.
So after that, Natsu made sure to stay away from Magnolia.
He made it to the next town over and built himself a home in the forest where he could live quietly and not be disturbed by anyone. He smirked as he kicked off the blanket he had been sleeping in.
Getting up from his mattress he made his way over to the kitchen where he would have his "breakfast" if he could even call it that.
When he was training with Igneel, he only ate once a day, nothing more. Only one whole meal did he have and it suited him fine. That way, it made him appreciate the food a little bit more because it tasted better and made him feel productive throughout the day.
He grabbed a glass and poured some water that he had stored in his fridge inside a water bottle and enjoyed the cold drink that poured down his throat.
When he finished He decided to go ahead and do some light jogging. "Light" means that he would jog throughout the forest three times and afterwards, come back to do some weightlifting or bodyweight exercises.
He opened the door and immediately, he felt the fresh air hit his lungs in full force making him sigh contently as he began his first round.
As he was jogging, he couldn't help but wonder what it was like, to be with a guild. It would be nice to feel appreciated by someone other than himself for once, but he also would love to go on adventures while making money for doing it as well.
He smiled slightly, his mouth twitching.
It would be fun, joining a guild, going on jobs, making money, and drinking at the bar. Maybe even making some acquaintances along the way could be useful if he knew what to do with them whenever he gets in trouble.
When he was in his second round on his jog, he began thinking about the girl.
He couldn't stop thinking about her. There was something about her that made him stiff. He didn't know why. He didn't know the girl, and from the looks and sounds of it, she had wanted to talk to him.
He was sure that she wanted to reprimand him for what he did to those wannabe robbers. But her voice ... her voice said otherwise. He couldn't be sure, but it sounded like awe when she shouted for him to stop.
He would never know what she wanted. Not that he cared much anyways.
What struck out to him though, was the fact that she acknowledged his presence. Usually, people just ignored him in favour of what they are doing. So seeing her trying to make contact with him was odd for him.
Yet, he found it comforting. Why did he find it comforting?
On his third round on the jog, he continued to think about the young brunette.
He had to admit; that she was quite cute in her little dress and her large brown eyes. The way she ran after him was something he had never had anyone do to him before unless he was chased by a predator in the forest when his hunting backfired miraculously.
His cheeks turned pink as he thought how cute it looked.
Wait ... cute?
He shook his head, trying to get rid of the thoughts that suddenly started to infest his mind. Where had that come from? Sure, she was cute in her own right but cute as in cute? That couldn't be right. He was too young to be thinking such thoughts.
After he finished his jog, he decided to go for bodyweight exercises that he easily accomplished with no hassle as he was quite used to them.
Strangely, however, he couldn't get that girl out of his head. Something was alluring and mystical about her that made him think about her.
What had she done to him? Did she secretly put a spell on him to always think about her? Or was it something he was torturing himself with?
Questions, questions, and yet no answer.
When he finished his workout, he decided to relax for the rest of the day. He had nothing important to do. He didn't feel like fishing or hunting, but he could use some meditation to try and calm his mind and maybe bring forth some more magic power that he withheld for powerful battles that he had no choice but to participate in.
The activity did interest him ... but he had a feeling that he would get invaded by the girl that was clouding his mind.
"UGH!" He let out in frustration, grabbing a handful of hair with both of his hands. "Why is she invading my thoughts!?"
On the outside, it looked comical, but inside his mind, he was seething like an angry demon. A demon that destroys everything in its path.
After he calmed down from his outburst, he sat down, cross-legged and clenched his fists as he forced himself to meditate. Almost immediately the effect took place, his anger vanished but instead as he had predicted; the girl was there running after him.
Instead of getting angry, Natsu chuckled at the sight. Something that wasn't normal for him to do. He normally gets frustrated beyond belief and punches something. But, he felt calm. He didn't want to punch something, which was weird even for him.
He allowed his mind to wander aimlessly while he thought about different memories of what happened to him when he was young. Anything ranging from his time with Igneel. The time he spent in the library, or even the time he ran away from the girl.
It was fascinating for him to explore some memories he didn't realise he still had. There were many different memories he had with Igneel he would cherish for years to come no doubt.
One of those memories was when they spoke about death and the meaning behind it. At first, Natsu had been upset. What is the point of life if everything dies at one point?
Igneel had countered that argument with something Natsu would always remember.
"What is the point of life if you live forever?" Igneel had asked. His voice sounded casual as if they were speaking about the weather.
It was just something about the way he said it that made Natsu realise how hard it must have been for Igneel. He was a dragon after all and they live for a very long period, it's nothing like humans or even mages.
Opening his eyes, he saw his "living room" and looked around. There wasn't much in his little home, but it was enough to live his life which he was proud of. He got everything by himself, chopping down the wood, and building the floors, walls, and ceiling.
He mostly used his magic to chop down the wood as it was the fastest and easiest way for him. It was also good practice. He had found a dark magic spell that could chop just about anything. Its intended purpose was much darker, but Natsu wasn't interested in killing anyone yet as he had no use for bloodshed.
But he wouldn't mind testing it out if he needed to.
Getting up from the floor, Natsu walked to his bedroom where he had a small chest where he kept his clothes, weapons, books, and anything he found useful, he stashed it there.
At the moment, he was trying to find his favourite knife that was good for cutting meat. Why did he keep it in his chest he didn't want it to be stolen by some thief who might come across his house by accident.
The chest has a lock that only Natsu could open as it recognises his magic.
When he found his knife, he pulled it out and gave it an appreciative look before locking up the chest again and walking out to the kitchen where there was a barrel pushed towards the wall while beside it was a grill of sorts. It was a place for him to cook his food so he wasn't going to complain.
He opened the barrel which was revealed to be a place where he stored his meat. The meat was dried in salt to not make it rotten.
Natsu had learned from Igneel that if you wanted to keep meat, salt was the best thing to dry age it with.
He pulled out a small piece of meat, gave it a once-over look, and grinned madly. It would do well.
He placed the meat on a cutting board and with his knife, scrapped away the salt with no effort. The salt peeled off, revealing a beautiful piece of meat that looked ready to cook. Natsu glanced at his fireplace and cast a quick spell making the flames ready to cook
He placed the meat on a small grate. Immediately, it began to cook making him grin.
The smell of food made him quite hungry and his dragon instincts were kicking in. He turned the meat over so the other side could be cooked as evenly as possible. While he was doing this, there was a man outside who was gobsmacked by the magical power he felt coming from inside the house.
When Natsu was done cooking, he placed the meat on some silverware that he had stolen from a shop that he used. Just when he was about to sit down on the floor where his coffee table was, there was a knock coming from the door.
Natsu froze. He took the knife and slowly backed out, going for his bedroom where he had built a small window he could climb out of.
Doing his best to not make a sound, he jumped out the window and climbed onto the roof where he crawled over to the edge where the knocking had come from. Slowly, he peeked down to see a ... very tiny man on his front door, waiting for someone to open his front door.
'I can take him,' Natsu cockily thought as he jumped down from the roof and landed behind the tiny man.
The tiny human turned quickly around to come face-to-face with a child. They stared at each other, one with a cocky glint in his eyes and the other with concealed shock.
For Natsu, the man was an easy victim that he could beat up with his magic easily. Not that he would take much pleasure from it. While he didn't care about humans, he didn't like to attack innocent victims. That was a "code" that he followed. And ... it was a promise he had made Igneel a long time ago.
For the tiny man, it was shocking to find such a young boy living by himself. Well, not truly shocking as he had met many children who had lived alone. What they had lacked though, was magical power. This child, however, didn't lack that. He was bathing in it.
"I will admit, I never thought a tiny man like you would knock on my door." He chuckled at the small-sized man. "But, sadly, I have no choice but to beat you up as I have no intentions of following you anywhere, be it to a guild or the magic council."
The hate in his eyes when he mentioned the council did not go unnoticed by the tiny man.
'What did they do to him?' He wondered with sadness.
"Young man, I do not wish to fight you. Where are your parents?" While he did suspect that they were gone, he didn't want to assume things.
Natsu barked out a laugh. His parents? For all he knew, his mother was dead and his father ... was somewhere out there.
"Both of them are gone, I think." He admitted with a grin.
"What do you mean you think?" The tiny man asked with wonder evident in his voice.
Natsu rolled his eyes at the man. He most likely was an old man who believed in happy endings. "What I mean is that I believe they are gone. The one who raised me, Igneel, left me one day for reasons I'm trying to figure out."
The tiny man became quiet. So, he was indeed alone as he'd suspected. Nonetheless, maybe he could take the young boy to his guild? He could feel the magic power radiating off from the boy. It wasn't just a little magic, it was more than he had felt in the guild.
"Young man, what is your name?" The tiny man asked.
Natsu raised a brow. "Natsu Dragneel. You?"
'Sharp one isn't he?' The tiny man chuckled.
"My name is Makarov Dreyar, I am the third master of Fairy Tail," The now named Makarov introduced.
"Huh, so that's why you seemed familiar," Natsu muttered to himself, but Makarov heard him and chuckled lightly.
"I take it you've seen me before?" Makarov questioned with a hint of sarcasm rolling off his tongue.
"Nah, I saw a few pictures of you and your guild. I learned a little bit about every guild from legal to dark and independent. Even though the last one didn't hold much information as to what they do." Natsu mumbled under his breath.
"Yes, they are quite mysterious aren't they?" Makarov conceded.
Independent guilds weren't dark by any means, but they aren't recognised as legal guilds but they aren't considered criminal guilds by the council either, so most people just leave them be.
"Oh, well, are you hungry third master?" Natsu asked politely. In all honesty, he wanted to continue the conversation. It had been ages since he had a proper conversation with someone with even a shred of intellect.
Makarov caught on to what Natsu wanted but kept it to himself.
"Sure, what are you cooking?" He asked.
"Meat, there are quite a few different animals in this part of the forest," Natsu said, stepping into his home with Makarov in tow. "I just finished cooking one, so we can share."
Natsu pulled forth the knife and cut the meat in half, giving the bigger piece to Makarov. Natsu pulled out some utensils ranging from chopsticks, fork and knife, and even a spoon. Makarov picked out the knife and chopsticks and cut the meat into pieces so he could pick them up more easily.
"So, what kind of magic do you use?" Makarov asked curiously. There was no way a young child could have power radiating off of them and not have magic power in the veins.
Natsu stopped eating briefly and looked at the third master with a puzzling look on his face.
"How do you know I can use magic?" He neutrally asked. He needed to sound as passive as possible, he didn't want to confirm nor deny that he was a mage.
"My boy, you are practically reeking of magic. I can feel it!" The tiny master smiled brightly at Natsu which was normally infectious on his guildmembers. "I must admit, you have a good cover-up. For a second, I thought I had been wrong."
Natsu was shocked. "You can ... feel my magic?" He hadn't thought that it was possible. He thought that it was a myth that other magic users could feel it. That it was something that dark mages lied about to scare the recruits.
"Why of course! That was why I was drawn to this house where I found you." Makarov explained. "But I never expected a young one such as yourself to be the one who held all this magic."
"Why, are you disappointed old man?" Natsu grinned as he saw the tiny man's cheeks heat up after being called old.
"Well, I can't say that I'm disappointed." Makarov relented with a sigh. It was true, he was hoping to recruit, whoever, lived in the house unless the person already was with a guild. From what he could see, the young pink-haired boy wasn't a part of any guilds as he had no guild mark anywhere.
'Well, here goes nothing,' Makarov thought before he prepared himself for any possible outcome.
"Would you be interested in joining Fairy Tail?" He asked, hoping that the boy would say yes. The magic power this boy had needed to be honed which the boy had proven to control slightly, but not enough for it to be unnoticeable. He could tell by just looking at the child that he had been through a lot and knew that if no one checked him, then he could easily follow the dark path. He refused to allow innocent minds to be tempted by the darkness.
The boy stopped when he was about to put the last piece of meat into his mouth. Slowly, he lowered it into his mouth while looking at Makarov as if trying to find anything on his face.
What was the boy trying to find?
"What is the catch?" Natsu almost growled out like a dragon.
Makarov had to admit, that was a fair question. First, he asks the boy what magic he uses and then changes the question to if he'd be interested in joining his guild. So, it wasn't surprising for the old guild master that the boy would be rightfully suspicious.
"To be honest, there isn't really a catch. I would like for you to join our guild so you can make your own money as I doubt you have any." Makarov raised a brow when Natsu looked a little sheepish.
"Is that the only benefit I'll get? That I earn my own money so I can buy food or anything else that I might need?" Natsu questioned, not sounding impressed. He would be lying though if he said that the old man hadn't interested him.
He chuckled at the boy. "No of course not, you'll have the pleasure of a guild standing behind you in times of need. You will have a family that you can count on, have friends, family even. We are all Nakama in Fairy Tail."
Natsu snorted. "I'd rather take the money thank you very much."
They laughed together at that. It was true that some wizards were simply looking for fortune within the guilds, hence the reason they are seldom there. Makarov had a feeling that Natsu would be another wizard like that.
"So I take it you aren't interested in making friends?" He asked with curiosity gleaming in his eyes. Natsu shook his head.
"Look, they can be the perfect friends for me and all, but I have no interest in making friends. I'd much rather join and do missions so I can earn good money than sit by the bar all day and wonder where all my money disappears off to."
Makarov sighed in relief. He found someone mature!
"You know, the more intelligent things you say the more I want you to join," Makarov snickered when Natsu rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, well, I'm not surprised. I've heard the rumours about your guild being destructive. It's quite funny actually." Makarov scowled at that before he laughed as he remembered the many times he felt his hair literally fall off his head because of the complaints the council sent him through the paperwork.
"Yeah, the council certainly isn't happy with me," He muttered making Natsu snicker.
"I can only imagine the paperwork being a huge pile." Natsu laughed when it looked as though Makarov's soul left his body.
"Ugh, those brats never lay off." He sighed before he smiled widely. It was a proud smile. "But I wouldn't have it any other way."
Natsu's features softened ever so slightly. "You love them, don't you? Your guild." He clarified.
Makarov nodded, the smile still on his face. "I wouldn't change anything about them, they are all their own individuals that make the guild thrive with the reputation growing with each passing day. They make me feel proud to be a master."
Natsu allowed a tear to fall, something that went unnoticed by Makarov as he thought about everything he had done for his beloved guild.
It was the first time in a very long time he had heard someone love something so much. The term love is used too lightly in his opinion, it's supposed to be used in heartwarming situations and not used as another simple word that exists in the dictionary.
"You make me want to join the guild you know ..." Natsu muttered as he trailed off. He mostly thought about the money he could earn. If he saved enough of it, he could buy several businesses and become even richer, make better jewels. Or he could invest everything with the chances of getting more money being very high.
Makarov smirked inside his mind. It hadn't been his intention to make the child want to join with his little speech, but it did. Maybe it was a good thing? If he was going, to be honest; he didn't feel comfortable with the child being isolated from the world. It'd be better if the child was isolated in a setting where he could potentially make friends if he so desired or at least have the other kids at the guild approach.
"Oh, really now? You want to join Fairy Tail and meet the hot ladies?" Makarov grinned at the boy who rolled his eyes at the man.
"Gramps, I'm more interested in money than thinking about hot chics and getting them pregnant before I run away." In response, the tiny guild master let out a burst of heartfelt laughter.
"You sure?" He grinned at the boy. "They are quite beautiful and hot,"
"I'm sure they are, but money comes first before I decide to settle down with some chic," Natsu said with a bored look on his face that made the old guild master sweat drop.
"Well, if that is the case, then I see no problem with that. All I ask is that you can reconsider at least making one friend," Makarov pleaded slightly. 'Mavis knows that Laxus needs one,'
Natsu stared at the man with a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes before he nodded, confirming that he maybe would do what he asked. 'I'm seriously considering this?!'
"I remember that I ran away from a brunette-haired girl some time ago," Natsu confessed, not knowing why he was telling the old man this.
Makarov on his part wasn't surprised. He remembered the young child, Cana Alberona had looked sad for a better part of a few days to a week or so.
"Ah, so It was you then," Makarov confirmed making Natsu confused. "The brunette-haired girl's name is Cana Alberona, she is a wizard of Fairy Tail. She came in one afternoon and looked very sad. I had asked her in private what was wrong and she told me that she had witnessed you almost get robbed by those two dimwits. She ... also said she saw you steal their things in the end before she decided to approach you. Sadly, you hovered away."
Natsu had the decency to look sheepish.
"I ... sort of thought she was going to scold me," He admitted, still looking quite sheepish.
"Hmm, I can see and even understand why you would think that, so how many jewels did they have on them?" He curiously asked with mischief gleaming in his eyes.
Natsu huffed. "They only had a total of a thousand jewels. At least I could buy a meal,"
Makarov laughed at that. "Well, you see, there is no point in stealing or committing crimes to get by in life because it will not get you anywhere except for karma."
Natsu's eyes then started to gleam with mischief which made the Fairy Tail master worried. "That depends on the crime, doesn't it?"
Makarov quickly changed the topic with a cough. "A-anyways, are you interested in joining Fairy Tail?"
There he did it again. If Natsu was going, to be honest, he was interested in joining now. If he wasn't before, then he certainly was now. The temptation was growing inside of him, the opportunities he had with joining a legal guild had their perks along with some disadvantages which were the same if he joined a dark guild or independent guild. Everything had upsides and downsides.
"You know what?" Natsu said with a small smile. "What do I have to lose?" Making the guild master almost jump in joy.
"My boy, you will love it there!" Makarov stated with gleaming eyes.
"I'm sure I will," He said with a smile that made the tiny master hopeful that the boy would settle in.
"Alright, my boy, when do you want to leave?" He asked.
Natsu looked out the window and saw that it was getting quite late so maybe it would be best to sleep for the night, then again, maybe it would be best to start the walk right now. It wasn't that far from Magnolia anyways.
"It's getting late, but we aren't that far away from Magnolia so if you want you can either sleep here for the night or start the walk right now. As I said; it's not that far away." Natsu said, giving the master two options.
"Well, It'd probably be best if we walked right now as the guild is going to close within a couple of hours so we have plenty of time before the time comes." Makarov thought out loud.
"Well, then, let's go," Natsu said with a smile, putting the utensils in the sink, so he could wash them whenever he got back from the guild.
The two of them left the house and enjoyed the quiet stroll through the wooded area that looked quite spooky at night, but for the wizard saint and Dragonslayer, it was nothing to be afraid of.
"Hey, gramps?" Natsu asked.
"Yes, Natsu?"
"When you asked me earlier about what magic I use, well, believe it or not; I use Dragonslayer magic." He said with a small smirk as he saw the eyes of the master widen in shock.
'Dragonslayer magic?! That's one of the lost magics!' Makarov thought to himself. 'Was he raised by a real dragon?'
"Were you raised by a dragon or did you get a lacrima implanted in you?" He asked, very curious to hear the answer. But he didn't expect the laughter that came from the boy.
"HAHAHA! Oh, gramps, a lacrima implanted in me?! Gramps, that is not possible, a real dragon needs to teach you Dragonslayer magic," Natsu said in-between fits of laughter which only reaffirmed Makarov's belief that the boy was trained by a real dragon.
... It also didn't help that the boy shut down the notion that he had a lacrima implanted in him.
"Fascinating, what was your dragon's name?" He asked.
Natsu calmed himself down before he answered. "His name was Igneel, he was the fire dragon, making me the Fire Dragonslayer."
"Interesting, though I would suggest that you keep your dragon out of the discussion as I doubt anyone would believe you were raised by a dragon," Makarov suggested cautiously.
Natsu rolled his eyes. "Gramps, I will admit; I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed, but I'm not stupid enough to just walk in and say 'Oh I was raised by a fire dragon', I'm smarter than that," The old man chuckled along with him.
Makarov looked up and smiled widely. "Oh, We're almost there!" He said excitedly.
'Here goes nothing,' Natsu thought.