"speaking"
"Thinking"
On with the story
Weeks later after the little Dragon sneezing. Things in Dragnof were back to peaceful and normal
Natsu was in his castle at a certain room filled with weapons
He holds up the Dragon Shield as he hangs it up to the wall where his broadsword was hanging beside it
Natsu looks at the shield before he looks to his armor, magic gun, and to Catastoras who was within the room with him
Catastoras neigh as the Warhorse rubs his snout to Natsu who patted it
Smiling, Natsu caresses Catastoras' head before he looks a picture frame by a table. In the picture frame was a man looking identical with Natsu, a woman with long black hair with beautiful crimson eyes who was carrying an infant with salmon hair. They were his parents as they look extremely in joy in it
"it's been 3 decades since I last visit, huh?" Natsu said softly as he went and holds the picture frame up to look at his parents "time flies so fast…"
Placing the picture frame back down, Natsu got a nudge on his back as Catastoras let out a soft neigh to his master
Natsu patted Catastoras' head before he looks to the sky outside the window as it was a very clear and bright day
"let's go on a small trip, Catastoras" Natsu said as Catastoras neigh
An hour later Natsu was at the docks as the sea gate was opening
Natsu only brought a sack that is filled with a bottle of sake and a dagger. He placed the sack on Catastoras's back as he tightened its hold on the war horse's body
"are you sure you want to go alone?" Kagura asked as Kaithen and Levia stands beside her, looking at their father "maybe you should go with Atlas-san"
"no" Natsu replied as he was wearing a shirt and long pants while having fingerless gloves on "the place where I'm going….it's a bit personal for me"
"I see" Kagura said before Natsu went to her and placed a kiss on her forehead
"don't worry, I'll be back by tomorrow" Natsu told her before he kneels towards Kaithen and Levia "Kaithen, Levia. Papa have to go somewhere, so remember to look after Mama and each other, alright?"
"ok!" Kaithen said with a big huff while Levia pouted
"it's not fair that Papa gets to go out~!" Levia whined before Natsu patted her head
"I know, but once you get older, Papa promise to bring you all with me to a special place, alright?" Natsu said rubbing his hand on Levia's head, the Sea Dragon child grumbles before nodding "that's a good girl"
Natsu soon climbed on Catastoras as he holds the reins and whipped it once
Catastoras neigh as the horse's hooves ignites in flames before it started running towards the sea gate while on top of the water
"bye bye!" Kaithen waved his hands in the air, saying goodbye to his father who will return the next day, Levia waved her hands too but not with much enthusiasm
"come on, no more sulking" Kagura said patting Levia's head a few times "Papa never breaks his promise, right? Let's be patient, alright?"
Levia nodded before she holds her mother's hand, Kaithen doing the same on the other. The three soon went into the water and swims away into the kingdom's water system
Out in the ocean, Catastoras runs across the ocean's water with Natsu riding on top. The War Horse just runs as fast as the wind
Natsu looks to the front as he just watched the vast ocean's water swaying into small waves
Riding across the sea, Natsu watches as Dolphins jumps out of the ocean's water with mermaids all faster than Natsu and Catastoras
"come on Catastoras! You didn't become that old have you?!" Natsu exclaimed as he grins to go faster than the mermaids
Catastoras let out a high neigh as the War horse jumps up, it's body transforming into that of a mechanical horse bike as the wheels ignites in flames
Natsu grabs hold of the handles as he throttles them a few times before the engine bursts into flames, increasing the speed
The mermaids swims fast but Natsu with Catastoras drove pass them at an even higher speed
Natsu soon looks ahead as there was an island coming into view
"come on!" Natsu exclaimed as he throttles the handle down, the engine raging, even more, causing the motorbike's speed to increase even more than before
A few minutes later, Natsu arrives to the small island where he hits the brake hard
The engine throttles a few times before Natsu gets off
Natsu walked upon the sandy beach while Catastoras transforms back to its original form
"stay here, Catastoras" Natsu ordered his warhorse who neigh in response
Natsu started walking into the island's small jungle as he ventured in with his sack in hand
At Dragnof, Lucy was at the library with Touro who was reading a children's book
Lucy scribbles a quill pen on a scroll while wearing glasses on
As Lucy was doing her job as the librarian's keeper and manager, Warta came walking in
"oh, Warta. Fancy seeing you here" Lucy said in greeting the Dark Elf Councilmen
"excuse me, miss Lucy. But is our king here?" Warta asked while holding a few scrolls in hand "there's some matter that needs to be discussed"
"Natsu? No, he's not here" Lucy replied "he's more like out of the kingdom for the day. He said that he wanted to visit an island somewhere"
"an island? For what reason?" Warta asked
"I don't' really know, but he told me and the others that he was visiting it for an anniversary" Lucy replied
"an anniversary?" Warta said while raising an eyebrow
At Atlas Flame's temple
Erza and Kamika watches as Ignisia and Noir were training in releasing their breath attack with Atlas
"concentrate your magic within and unleash it" Atlas stated as he unleashes a stream of flames from his jaw, the flames hitting the temple's ceiling making it red before it slowly cools down
Ignisia and Noir growls before the two took deep breath and then unleash their breath attack that was just so small in comparison with Atlas's roar
"concentrate, do not just unleash it before it could gather" Atlas stated as he leans his head back before unleashing another stream of flames at the ceiling and then looks at the two "try again"
Ignisia and Noir nodded before the two took a deep breath while leaning their heads back, then firing out their breath attack that instantly exploded in their mouth
"this is getting troublesome" Atlas said sighing as Ignisia and Noir shakes their head from the explosion while their face was black and charred, except for Noir who had always been black due to his scales "let us try again after taking a few moments to rest"
Ignisia and Noir shrinks down to their human form before they ran to their mother who carried them up
"only Kaithen, Levia, Touro, and Eis have the capability of unleashing their breath attacks unlike them" Atlas said resting down "they would need more training now"
Ignisia let out a whimper before Erza caresses her head
"don't worry, you'll get it one day" Erza cooed to her daughter, easing her feelings
"perhaps they do not have the capability in unleashing powerful breath attack" Kamika said carrying her son while patting his back "but is there no other capabilities that they only have?"
"perhaps" Atlas said rubbing his claw to his flaming face
"Papa where?" Ignisia asked Erza who smiles before patting her head
"Papa gone somewhere but he'll be back tomorrow" Erza told her daughter
"where did he go to anyway?" Kamika asked as they were only told that Natsu was going somewhere but he didn't specify on where it is
"the king had gone to the island where he was raised during his childhood" Atlas stated knowing of where Natsu had gone to
"the island where he grew up at?" Erza said "why didn't he just tell us that?"
"the reason for that was today is the anniversary of his mother and father's death" Atlas stated as Erza and Kamika's eyes widen a bit "the King wishes that no one can ever know the location. He tells no one even to myself. it would be best that we do not speak too much of this"
"I see. the anniversary of his parent's death" Kamika said with a small frown as her mother was gone "I think…I need to go find my father for a moment"
Erza looks at Kamika as she carried Noir while heading out of the temple
"very well, we shall postpone their training for now" Atlas said before he leans his head down to rest
"yes" Erza said as she soon heads out of the temple with Ignisia in her arms
Natsu ventured in the jungle as he reached to an opening in the middle of the island
In the opening was a small log cabin that looks nearly decades old, a small plant garden where all the plants there were just wild weeds
Natsu looks at the log cabin as his eyes were filled with sadness and nostalgia
Flashback
A young Natsu was running around the cabin while holding up a small wooden sculpture of a Dragon, playing around with it. Before long the young boy sees his mother coming out of the cabin with an apron on
His mother called out to the young Natsu who smiles widely before running towards her
Flashback ends
Natsu let out a long sigh as he started going to the old cabin
Opening the door slowly as it made a loud squeaking sound, Natsu heads in and the place was seeming to have seen better time
Cobwebs at each corner, broken wooden furniture, and many wild mushrooms growing within
Natsu looks around before down to the floor where there is the same wooden sculpture of a Dragon lying there, and looking very old
He picks it up and blows off the dust on its surface
Natsu looks at the small wooden sculpture as a single tear slides down his cheeks
He sees a transparent of his young self playing around in the cabin before his younger self ran towards his mother who carried him up and gives a kiss to his forehead, making the young version of himself smile so happily
Natsu then looks to an old rusted fireplace and near it was a broken picture frame but there was still the photo in it
Picking it up, Natsu takes the photo out as a small smile formed on his lips
In the photo was his young 3 years old self with his mother and father, the two having happy smiles with each other and with Natsu
"I only got to know my father for 2 years, and I only had my mother for another few years before both were gone" Natsu muttered out in a sad tone as he let out a long sigh before pocketing the photo away "the world is never forgiving"
Natsu looks around the cabin's interior as the place could collapse at any moment
"I might as well fix some things up before I go visit them" Natsu said as he place a hand to the wooden wall, caressing it
The sky started turn orange as Natsu now sat in the log cabin, everything was cleaned and fixed up
"just like back then" Natsu said seeing how his eyes are filled with so much nostalgia "mother would be so proud on how diligent I cleaned the place up, hehehe"
Natsu smiled before he looks to the table and on it was a small metal box that looks old and rusted
Looking at the metal box for a good minute, Natsu stands up before he went and picks it up
Natsu looks at the metal box before he grabs his sack and heads out of the cabin
Walking a few miles away from the log cabin, Natsu arrived at another opening where there were two wooden grave marks lying side to side with the addition of a small statue of a Dragon in between the two grave marks
Natsu placed his sack down before he takes out the bouquet of flowers and the bottle of sake
Placing the bouquet to one grave mark and the bottle of sake to the other, Natsu sat down in front of them and just stared at the two graves, both having the remains of his parents buried within the earth
Natsu took a deep breath before he sighs and then takes out the small metal box, placing it down to the ground
"I'm sorry that I haven't visited in a while. Mom, Dad" Natsu said in a soft voice "it's just been a tough time managing things in Dragnof. Having my mates and my kids. Protecting Dragnof just like how you protected me and mom, dad."
Natsu opened the metal box as it was an old music box that instantly played a soft lullaby melody when opened
"it must've been hard, right? Being born as a half to three races….getting disgraced and mocked like some sort of an abomination…and then having me….a more horrifying abomination. I'm sorry that both of you had to lose your lives because of having me." Natsu said looking at the music box and listens to its melody "but I guess….that's how love works, right?...you two always told me how you two were so happy to meet each other many centuries ago…..how both of you were in joy when I was born as your child….how both of you were in joy to be a family…"
Natsu takes out the photo as he looks at his parents in it before a single drips down on the photo
"how I wish…that you two were still with me…" Natsu muttered out in tears as he wiped them with his right hand, but they just keep flowing out of him "how I wish….to stay with you two…"
Flashback
In the log cabin, the music box was playing its lullaby melody
Natsu was asleep in his mother's arms as she patted his back a few times while lovingly caress his head
Igneel in his human form was sitting by as he watch his son sleeping so peacefully without a care in the world
Both parents stayed in their position with Natsu who was covered in the warmth of his parent's love
Flashback
Natsu's tears endlessly slides down his eyes as he cried to himself
The next morning soon came as Natsu had been in his position all the time, mourning his sadness to his parent's grave
The Dragon King wiped away his tears before he got up and looks to the two grave marks
"I'd better get going now" Natsu said "I'll be back and next time I'm going to bring my mates and kids so that you can meet them, alright?"
Natsu turns and started walking away before a warm breeze flies pass him
Grunting a bit from the wind that blows against his eyes, Natsu blinked a few times while rubbing his hands on them
"damn wind" Natsu said rubbing his eyes a few times before he opened them and he could see better. Natsu wipes his eyes a few more times before he realizes that he left the music box on the ground "nearly forgot about it"
Natsu went to pick the music box up as when he stands up straight, he sees his parents standing behind their graves while being shined by the morning sunlight. Both having loving smiles towards Natsu
"mom?…d-dad?" Natsu's eyes tears up as his parents slowly nodded to him before they started to fade away
Natsu watched in awe to see his parents again as he wipes his tears away and sniffles a bit
"god damnit" Natsu said as he rubs his eyes a few times to wipe away the tears "no matter how many years passed….i'm always such a crybaby"
Natsu started walking away as the man sniffles while going away
Upon the two graves, a single red flower was swaying back and forth before it bloomed while majestically glowing crimson
That's a wrap!
Bye bye