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Chapter 5

The girl grabbed Natsu's hand as she said in an attempt at a strong tone, however the fear was still evident in her voice, "Uh… y-yeah, I'm fine." She looked away from the dragon slayer in shame. How could she look at someone so far above her in strength. The girl glanced back up at the dragon slayer, "Thanks…" How could I have been so weak?! I could barely make even sparks! She thought to herself. Her father had been teaching her magic, and for someone her age she thought she was advanced, but she was wrong. She clenched her fists, He… he's… strong.

"No problem! Igneel always said to use the power of magic to protect people!" Replied Natsu with a beaming smile. It was odd to the girl. He seemed too happy, unaware of the rest of the world. "What's your name?" Asked Natsu.

The fellow dragon slayer pulled on Natsu's hand for support as she struggled to move herself to her feet, legs still shaking, "Liviana, but I normally go by Livi." She wobbled slightly before her legs gave out and she almost collapsed, however Natsu caught her.

"Are you sure you're alright? It seems like you got a bit hurt earlier." Natsu looked at Livi's pained face as she grit her teeth.

"I said I'm good." In a strong tone. She couldn't be reliant on some random boy.

"Okay!" Yelled Natsu and excitement, completely ignoring Livi's condescending tone. He had never really gotten along with the other dragon slayers too well, except maybe Wendy, and this could be his first friend. "Well we gotta get back! Anna said I had to do something with these scales." The young dragon slayer scratched his head as he pondered what they could be for. Natsu ran down the alleyway, and Livi tried to follow, however she was only able to lightly limp forward before her knees buckled and she fell to the ground. Urgently running back over to her, Natsu asked, "Are you sure you're okay?" He looked over the cuts and bruises she had, "Maybe I should carry you…"

"N-No, I'm fine." Muttered Livi as she pushed herself back up, her legs still shaking.

"Alright, but at least let me help you." Responded Natsu as he grabbed one of Livi's arm's and put it over his soldier. The dragon slayer wrapped one hand around Livi's waist, causing her to blush slightly. He walked slowly forward as Livi struggled to limp with him.

Currently…

Thale looked over to see Livi being supported by Natsu. A sigh of relief rolled over him as the stress over his concern for his daughter's safety vanished. However it was a different story for the aforementioned girl, as Livi's eyes widened in horror, staring upon her father's blood covered body and the mangled near-corpse of the Queen of Dragons.

Thale grit his teeth in annoyance, however his daughter's safety was more important than the fate of Irene. He discarded her body, tossing the high enchantress to the ground, causing her to cough up a bit of blood. He ran towards the edge of the crater to make sure Livi was safe.

Irene propper herself up on one elbow as she struggled to shout towards Thale, "You cannot out run the war! It will catch you. Fate always follows the strong!" However her words fell well to deaf ears as Thale's focus completely left her.

The purgatory slayer reached Livi and knelt down in front of her as he saw a few tears fall down her face. The girl froze in shock and a bit in fear as her arms fell to her sides, limp. She knew her father would never hurt her, but she had never seen him like this, his blood soaked body was in stark contrast to the pacifist nature he had always shown. Even when dealing with thieves and rowdy customers he would never hurt them, only restrain. But to see him in such a barbaric state, covered in the blood of the queen of the nation. She felt horrified.

Thale hugged her tight as he patted her back, trying to sooth Livi, "It's alright, it's alright." He closed his eyes as he rested his head on her shoulder, a few tears of happiness falling down his face. Thale lifted his head and looked over at Natsu as he said quietly in relief, "Thank you."

"What… why… the queen… how?" Livi was confused, unsure as to what she was supposed to do, however she did know it was her father in front of her, so she embraced him.

Anna pushed her way through the dispersing crowd, which was now focused on the safety of the queen. The celestial mage reached Natsu and asked him in a scolding yet worried tone, "Where did you go?! I was worried sick about you!" She knelt down as she looked over the boy, inspecting him, and noticing large portions of his cloak had been burned off by his fire (A/N: Does Natsu wear like magic fireproof clothing in canon? If so, how much stronger is his clothing than his opponents to often have a severe lack of damage?) "What were you doing? What did you do with your magic?"

Natsu playfully pushed Anna away as he turned away from her as she continued to look him over for any bruises or cuts, "I'm fine. I just had to hit some soldiers away from Livi over there. They used lightning magic I think… I don't quite remember…" He said as he pondered. He knew a bit, but his memory was somewhat lacking.

"Wait… You fought off the queen's guard?!" Anna's eyes widened in shock. How could Natsu have been strong enough to deal with mages of that level. It did not make sense to her. However she was more worried about the other implications of the event. "Do you realize what you've done?! You and I could be in serious trou-" However she was cut off as spears were pointed at the group of mages from all sides.

"Thale Horn and Anna Heartfillia, you are under arrest for the attempted assisination of the King and Queen along with the murder of multiple of their guards." Said the group of silver armored soldiers surrounding them. She had been seen next to Thale, therefore she was interpreted as guilty by association.

Anna stood up in a defensive position as she did her best to cover Natsu, who peered around her leg at the soldiers, "How am I guilty. Until you present proof and warrant for arrest I am not gu-" However she was cut off as Thale walked in front of her, grabbing the spear of one of the soldiers that had a bit fancier armor, and pushing it away.

"You're really going to arrest us? I thought you would understand, Commander Quintiga." Thale tried to stay calm, but he couldn't help his boiling frustration. The world was against him. "The queen and king attacks me, tries to kidnap my daughter, and you look at me and say I'm in the wrong?!" The dragon slayer stared down the commander, who lightly shook in fear as the beast of a man towered over him.

The soldiers around them lowered their weapons. Many of them had been trained by the Thale, the man that stood in front of them. "W-What are you men doing?!" Asked Commander Quintiga, as he looked around at the soldiers. "Have you forgotten your duties to the royal family?! You swore an oath!"

"Maybe you should take a lesson from your soldier and not blindly follow what that war propaganda machine tells you." Said Thale as he picked up Livi, still trying to sooth her. "Let's go, our business here is done." Said Thale as he walked past the now frozen commander. "And I'd like to know what business the greatest celestial spirit mage in the world has with me."

Anna grabbed Natsu's hand as she followed Thale through the crowd, "Well, Natsu, one of the young dragon slayers that I told you about killed his first dragon and-" However she was cut off by Thale.

"Let me guess, you want me to take the scales of the dragon and make weapons out of them?" Thale turned to look back at Anna, "You know that I gave up that a long time ago. I will not contribute to sponsoring this endless war, especially this suicide plan of yours." He glared at the celestial spirit mage, "This war has taken its toll on me and many more soldiers," He gestured to the veterans with missing limbs that stood on the streets, attempting to get the little business that passed through the slums at their stands, "I hope you can think about your mission, at least for ten minutes, before you damn five innocent children to hell."

The four of them arrived at a shop at the far edge of town, coming to stand before a small house with an awning extending from it. The house was ordinarily built, however it was rather messy, being made out of stacked uneven stones barely held together by exuberant amounts of mortar. It was peaked with a rough wooden tiled roof. It had a large door that seemed more like a chunk of iron than a door and lacked a lock. Who needed a lock if no one could move it anyways. Under the awning sat a large anvil chained down to a massive charred stump. A few feet away was a colossal furnace, accompanied by an equally large foundry, vat of oil, and a rack of multiple tools. Next to the wall of a house was a wooden rack that was littered with a variety of swords, axes, and other weapons. Intricately crafted and engraved armors stood on stands by the door of the house as if guarding it.

Thale set Livi down, who had since regained her composure, "Why don't you show that boy around the house. Aunt Anna and I have to have a little chat." Thale glared over to Anna.

Livi tried her best to force a smile onto her face, "Uh, sure…" She walked over to Natsu and said in a somewhat cheerful tone, "Come on, I wanna show you all the stuff my father works on! You said your dad was a dragon, and mine is too!" Livi grabbedd Natsu's hand and yanked him with her towards the racks of weapons.

"Wait, your dad's a dragon?!"

With Anna and Thale…

"But this is for the good of everyone! The future is plentiful with ethernano and would provide an environment for the death of Acnologia." complained Anna. Her plan with Zeref was flawless in her eyes, and the prophecies of the dragon king festival proved it so. The orical she and Zeref would consult said the future festival had moved from x777, July 7th to September of X792.

Thale sighed in frustration at Anna's resistance to his principles, "And what of those 5 children? Will you not see their fate in the future? I have a daughter, and I can say it is the most precious thing you will ever have in this world. I want you to think about what is more important to you and that black wizard." He hated Anna and her plans, as Thale had been a main consultant for a while, but recently started to disagree with them, "I know you take most care of Natsu, but think of the connection between some of the dragons and their slayers. Look at the relationship between Grandeeney and Wendy. Have you considered what will happen when they are separated? Could Wendy really take care of herself?"

Anna's patience was starting to thin, but she knew Thale was right. The purgatory dragon slayer, as she knew, was at least a century older than her, and he had the wisdom to prove it. However, Anna had not gained her skill as a celestial spirit mage through practice alone. She was smart, and could negotiate, "You keep trying to convince me, but you already know my mind won't be swayed. Why not make a weapon that these kids can use to protect themselves?"

Thale thought for a second. He hated Anna's plan, but if he could at least attempt to protect one of them, he would. "Fine, I'll make a weapon, but I seriously want you to reconsider. These kids are powerful. I don't like the idea, but they could help end this pointless war and save many lives. Are the lives that will be lost to Acnologia between now and the future worth your suicide plan?"

"I will think about it…" Replied Anna, causing the blacksmith to make the slight resemblance of a smile, "However right now, I would like you to get my special request finished."

"Alright. I hope you make the right decision." Thale loaded some coals into the furnace before coating his hand in a layer of black scales and blasting the furnace with crimson flames, setting it alight and loading in the earth dragon's scales "However, you know that I don't do custom work like this for free."

Anna pulled out a small pouch, "I know." She held it out to Thale and opened it, "25 fire imp scales"

Thale reached out and grabbed the bag from her hand, taking one of the scales and sniffing it, "Hmm, I'm surprised. These are awfully hard to get. Normally they would be impossible to acquire without dragon…" He looked back at Anna, "You really had Natsu do that?"

"Igneel had him do it. Just taking advantage of a situation." Anna smiled at Thale, who let out a huff of exhaustion. Anna was a difficult woman to understand.

The rest of Thale's arm gained a sheath of black scales before he pulled the earth dragon scales, which had amalgamated into a messy block, from the furnaceThe dragon slayer struck them with a hammer as the changed shape. Anna noticed a strange grin come across Thale's face as she sensed a change in his magic.

"Wait, don't tell me… you're actually a dragon?!" Asked Anna a bit in surprise. Thale had only used dragon slayer magic in front of her, and to see the change to a pure dragon's magic was a bit of a surprise.

Thale slammed down his hammer on the now somewhat rectangular block of melted scales, "How else do you think I've lived so long. I honestly hate both you humans and dragons, but humans are a bit more interesting to interact with, even though it is frustrating." He hit the block of scales again, slightly thinning it out before putting it back in the forge to reheat.

"Then why do you just stand around?! You could solve this whole war!" Yelled Anna in disbelief. Thale was incredibly strong, and if he actually used his powers, Anna had no doubt he could defeat any dragon.

"Because I swore an oath to an old friend. Now don't disturb me. I need my privacy, and this piece is special. You wouldn't want these scales to go to waste, right?" Asked Thale as he smashed the scales again with his hammer while gesturing for Anna to leave.

"But-"

"No. Leave" Thale was agitated. He didn't care that Anna knew he was a dragon, he just didn't want to explain everything to that difficult woman.

"Ok, ok, I get it. Just remember we don't have all the time in the world." Said Anna in a playful tone before walking out of the terribly constructed house.

Sup guys, it's been a while. I've been super busy with college, so I haven't had much time to write, but I tried to get this chapter out. I have like 95% of the story planned out, so I don't really have any need for new ideas, but suggestions are always welcome for the future of the story. I do want to make a note that Natsu will probably not be turning into a dragon for another few chapters, as I would love for it to happen, but Fairytail cannon makes it very apparent that it requires a dragon slayer to use their magic to an extreme degree to turn into a dragon, and Natsu hasn't even gotten close to that threshold yet. I could have him turn into a dragon against Acnologia, but that just seems too early for me, as well as i cannot have Natsu struggle with the dragonificatuon transformation, which we know is gradual, not instant. Anyway, I'm kinda tired, so I'll see y'all next time in like 3 months.