"There are many who are ahead of you; you are not the strongest, Natsu," The Teachings of Igneel, 3:02. (That stands for third chapter: second half.)
Yes, I'm making Igneel a book like the Bible. Is that offensive?
Probably.
My apologies for all that take offence to the above statement, I am only running out of content to write.
Happy, the cat, isn't Happy in this – just... just read it and find out.
Chapter 7: The Comrade
The sun had just rose among the peak of the tallest mountain. They sky, which had once been painted with golds, yellows and oranges, was now a bright blue colour, with small, white stains for clouds.
Natsu had already finished his training for today, and at the request of Cornelia, the woman who looked after him and was Gildarts' wife, Natsu didn't over train himself. Instead, he sat close to the house, his legs sticking out of the rails, as he watched Gildarts teach his daughter to break through as a Ninja.
It was relatively straight to say that he was bored. His mouth was turned downwards slightly, and his eyes were very dull and colourless; he was slouched like he had fallen asleep against a tree and his feet looked like stones on the ends of his legs.
He felt like a caged bird in the house, and outside in the garden felt the same. He wings had been clipped ever since he came to Gildarts' home.
He watched as Gildarts threw a small knife, smaller than Natsu's hand, towards a small target on the side of a tree. He wondered how the knife would ever hit the target on the tree because Gildarts could not control the air and had no power to physically turn the knife – it seemed rather impossible.
He watched as the knife as it slashed trough the air like a needle, and ever so slightly he saw the four pointed knife turn. It turned very slowly and gradually made its way towards the target on the side of the tree. The turn was such a delayed reaction that Natsu couldn't help but feel that Gildarts had used some magic on it.
He watched, awestruck, as the grey throwing knife sunk into the centre of the target, firmly planting itself into the wood.
Now it was Cana's turn.
Cana was particularly small to Natsu, but Natsu hadn't met any other girls apart from Cana and her mother. They both look very similar, almost like they were twins if it wasn't for the massive age gap. Both had brown hair that was silky and smooth, and both had blue eyes, that were hinted with purple slightly. Although they were both different – Cana's mother was a proper lady, she had no need for violence and the like, but Cana adores those things.
He watched as the girl through the throwing knife with vigour, and it spun, cutting through the air like a hot knife with a whistling sound. It turned a little, but not enough and fell short of the target, and the knife plunged into the dirt.
He watched as Gildarts applauded Cana, although she hadn't gotten it perfect, and he thought back to when he had trained with Igneel.
"I cannot do it," Panting, the boy said, as sweat dribbled down his face like water, "It is simply too hard to do."
"Nothing is too hard to do, my boy," The man bellowed, as he chugged down a handful of water from the crystal lake, "You simply need to hone one's body – be in control, don't let it control you."
That noon the sun had been beating down on the boy and his father like a drum, and it played them aggressively with its constant teasing. There was no breeze, and there were no clouds. It would have been a perfect day to simply run among the trees, but his father insisted they should train.
And like an obidient pet, Natsu obliged.
His father was teaching him harshly, trying to help the boy breakthrough with different techniques. In the sweltering heat, Natsu found them hard to do, and he lost his concentration when the sun began to vanish and reappear again.
But he had dedication, and he was a fire ready to burn wildly.
He focused extremely hard, just trying to move the flame his father had put in front of him a little bit. His eyes were closed tightly, and his fists were clenched into tiny, tight balls – the flame suddenly moved.
Igneel rose to his feet, and placed his hand on the boy's head, ruffling the salmon locks with a large smile on his face. Natsu looked up at him and grinned widely back.
"Well done, son." And he handed Natsu a pouch with well-earned water inside.
Natsu rubbed his eyes a little, smiling meekly at the memory, and then glaring at the floor in front of him, revenge filling his mind. He wanted to take the man who took his father and rip him, like he was paper, into a thousand pieces.
"You must be bored sitting in the garden like this, my dear," The salmon-haired boy looks to see Gildarts' wife smiling sweetly at him, "In the back garden of the manor there is an old building, and underneath it, there's something very mysterious. I was going to have Gildarts look at it, but alas he is busy. Would you mind taking a look, Natsu?"
He could tell from the dust that covered the woman that she had just been into the abandoned building, and he couldn't help but feel a twinge of excitement at this short adventure. He nodded his head roughly and sharply like he wanted to give himself whiplash, and pulled his legs out from the railing.
He followed the woman through the grand house. The wooden walls and stone structure of the building was something Natsu hadn't seen before until he came here three years ago, he still found it surprising and new whenever he clearly looked at it.
The walk was short-lived as they walked out the wide doors and out into a slightly smaller garden area. Natsu saw, stood on its own, at the back was a medium sized wooden shack.
There were vines creeping up the walls, and some had seeped in through the cracks curling around and around till they reached the roof. Some areas of the wood had become damp and rotten and looked rather unsafe, and unhygienic, to live in.
He sprinted ahead of the woman, opening the door for her to come through. She smiled kindly at him, and then pointed to some stairs and said, "I found it just down there, it is rather dark so be sure to take a torch with you." And she gestured towards a stick that was lit on the wall.
"I will stay here and help you before I look at it." Natsu smiled and then frowned as he looked at all the dirt and books.
He clapped his hands together, watching as the dirt flew off of them.
In two separate piles on the floor, they had ruined and unneeded books, and a stack of scroll books and spell books. The, far off to the side, was a bunch of things that they had found that were not books or manuscripts, but little concoctions that Gildarts would need to look at. These three, huge piles towered over both Natsu and Cornelia and had taken them past dinner to make.
Natsu bounded towards the stairs, grabbing the torch on the way, and then quickly made his way down them.
When he arrived there were seven points of the floor, that were all connected to one singular point in the middle. In the middle lay large inscriptions on the floor that were written in characters he didn't recognise, but he could read them.
'Blue Pather Blood Seal.'
Natsu guessed that the only way for the blood seal to be broken was through binding it with his own blood, and for his childish heart and mind, this was quite a thrill. He picked up the nearest sharp stone he could find and began to walk aimlessly to the centre of the formation.
He stepped over the lines, looking around carefully as he did so until reaching the center of the composition. And very carefully, he made a gash that lightly penetrated his skin, drawing the oozing red liquid to the surface.
He turned his hand to the side, and then squeeze his fingers into a ball, and watched as a drop of blood fell like a stone onto the seal.
Nothing happened, at first, but the a bright, but small, blinding light appear. In that light was a cat-like creature, but looked more and more fierce as it grew. The light became dim in the room, and all that was left was a small, cute-looking, kitty.
Erratic footsteps could be heard rushing down the steps, and when they reached the bottom, Gildarts looked frantically at the torch on the floor, and at Natsu, and at the cat creature.
The small animal had a blue pelt of fur, and could seemingly adjust its size as it made its tail grow smaller and larger.
"That is a very dangerous magical beast, although just a baby of the first rank," Gildarts said, sweat dripping down his face, "And you just made a blood bond with it," He came dangerously close to Natsu, "You idiot!" And swatted him on the head.
"I do not understand what is wrong, I read the characters on the floor and thought this is what I had to do." Natsu winced, rubbing the lump that had began to form on his head.
"This is a Blue Panther, and without help, it naturally becomes a deity levelled beast, like Igneel. And like Igneel also, it is the only one of its kind," Sitting on the floor, crossed-legged in rough cut shorts, Gildarts sighed as he spoke, "I was tasked with keeping it hidden and imprisoned in that seal I had Igneel make for me. But now, it appears, that you have entered a bond of equals. So I task you with keeping the beast safe."
"Can I name him?" His wide eyes, shining like the brightest light in the world made Gildarts become at ease.
"I have no idea how fast the beast will grow, and I know very little about it. Igneel told me what I am telling you," The man chortled, and then continued his lesson, "He will be able to talk to you mentally later on in its life, but for now it is like a newborn child. It will be able to change it's complete form when it is of the seventh rank and can become a full Blue Panther."
"I am calling him Happy!" Natsu yelled in glee, picking up the blue creature and placing it on his shoulder.
"You are naming a legendary magical beast 'Happy'?!"
Told you Happy isn't the same...