Chapter 2
A/N: Sorry this might be kinda long feel free to skip. I'm really excited that people want to see more of this story, I spent a few days on the second half of this chapter just not liking the way it came out, I don't want it to feel rushed and i think i second guessed what i wanted to do a lot but I like what the end product is it's kinda a tedious chapter and mostly just setup for the next chapter but my brain wouldn't allow me to skip this and be happy with the way I did so but none the less it is done. I also want to try to work on making my chapters longer either in detail or plot so it doesn't feel lazy but yeah i'll stop my rambling ask questions if you have any i'll try to answer them Cheers! Disc: Don't own FT or the characters
As the trio continue their trek towards the royal grounds in search of their king to inform him of his new guest the trees begin to thin and the large forest fades as the prince leads with his passenger still sleeping soundly with the dragoness's continuous purring and nuzzling into the warmth of Natsu's presence as the prince has their tails securely intertwined as they trot through the woods. Atlas Flame watches the young dragons with a ghost of a smile on his face of pure flame paying no mind to the vegetation he incinerate as he follows the new pair, the hellfire dragon is brought out of his musings as the prince stops in his tracks and he nearly runs into the young royal, seeing the prince check the clearing the elder dragon puts his head to the sky and inhales searching for any scent that would threaten the group smelling nothing Atlas Flame turns to his charge seeing him gently slide the golden dragoness from her perch on his back onto the ground being far more delicate than the adult thought the younger fire dragon was capable of, taking his eyes off the hatchlings he scans the clearing seeing a grand lake at the center with crystal clear water reflecting the moderate forest surrounding it, not smelling any lingering scents of dragons and no obvious burn marks the advisor comes to the conclusion this watering hole is mostly undiscovered to which he finds amusing considering the hundreds of dragons who've roamed this land for thousands of years he lets out a soft chuckle gaining the attention of his prince who snaps his head towards the elder fire dragon with a snarl on his lips, as if a switch flips in his mind he remembers who his companion is and turns back to the one named "Luce" as Natsu called her.
"Brat, why have we stopped shouldn't we be getting to your father?" Atlas Flame asks his charge taking a softer route if the earlier encounter was any indication of how to handle him with the dragoness near.
"Luce needs food and probably water, it's impressive she was able to run in this state let alone stand, she most likely hasn't eaten since last fall probably only consuming her element to get by." The deep growl that left the prince as he bit out his remark reminded Atlas Flame of Igneel when he was first challenged for the title of Fire Dragon King almost identical in ferocity, it took quite a bit of willpower to not step back from the child. Natsu's growl wasn't directed towards his uncle it was more at the current situation, at the world for making the golden creature before him that could put goddesses to shame into this unenviable state. Natsu shakes his head breaking his line of world cursing to turn towards the Hellfire dragon considered only second to his father and bows his head towards the elder dragon. "Please keep Lucille safe until I return, I'm going to get her food I don't want to leave her but I want to see her suffer even less. Protect her while I get her food please Atlas Flame."
The Dragon of pure fire stares at his prince in pure disbelief, Not only did the brat ask for something instead of playfully bossing him around, the prince addressed him by his name the Hatchling hasn't done that in his entire life always calling him uncle or a childish nickname to poke fun as he does with his friends. Atlas Flame is stopped in his thoughts by a whimper that came from the prince and the advisor having seen enough fo Natsus desperation walks towards his 'nephew' and nuzzles the prince's bent down head. "Of course hatchling with my very life, now raise your head that is no manner for a future Fire King to be seen in." Atlas starts gently but softly and sincerely and inches towards teasing in an attempt to bring back the fire in the son of Igneel, which seems to have done the trick as he growls and snaps at his 'uncle'.
"Whatever you walking bonfire!" Natsu snarls snapping his jaw and unfurling his wings in irritation, his tail unmoving from still being intertwined with the sleeping dragoness that lay next to him. The prince lets out a remorseful sigh as he untangles his tail from the golden goddess and stands, as he makes his way to the tree line the prince cranes his head back. "Thanks, uncle." he says softly and unfurl his wings and takes off a determination he's never felt before rises within himself as he sets off to hunt food for his dragoness.
Left in the clearing with the passed out girl Atlas lets out a heavy sigh accompanied by a small puff of fire as the walking inferno makes his way in between the treeline and the lake far enough away from the young dragoness to as not cause her discomfort from his flames, Walking in a circle incinerating the ground but also stomping out any fires before they could spread-the irony was not lost on him- as he takes a seat on his haunches in his newly scorched spot to wait for his princes return. As he sits he takes a good look at the golden creature attempting to gather more information on the dragoness that caught the princes eye, looking her over and putting aside her weakened state he decides that she is indeed a beautiful creature, her scales resembling gold may help his assessment considering fire dragons have a bit of an obsession with the precious metal, thinking on it only a few of the elements had the chance of being born with yellow scales even fewer with as much vibrancy to the scales, he stops his musings hearing a whimper coming from the subject of his thoughts as she begins to stir.
Lucille is brought out of her warm dreamscape by a striking pain in her right side, she tries to adjust only feeling pain causing a whimper to tear from her throat before she can stop it, the golden dragoness tries to think of what happened to cause her pain she remembers the orange dragons, the walking inferno and the red and pink one they called their prince, the last thing she remembers is warmth lulling her to sleep, letting out a whine at remembering the warmth and not having it as of this moment, Lucille decides to adjust and stop her pain when a voice causes her to freeze, not being the voice she expected.
"Ah, you're awake I see." Rumbles the voice of the one made of pure fire if Lucille recalls correctly, as she adjusts and attempts to stand hoping to make an escape from the elder dragon. "Relax hatchling I won't harm you, we are taking a rest, Natsu went to get you some food it appears you drastically need." Atlas Flame attempted to reassure her trying not to use demeaning terms to convey her weakened state. "I suggest you take a drink, my apologies but I will not be able to lend you aid unless you'd like to be nicely cooked." the elder dragon let out in a chuckle, as Lucille manages to get to a standing position favoring her left side as she looks at the mass of fire that looks almost laid back while not entirely facing the dragoness looking more towards the lake. The golden dragon seems tentative at first but her thirst outweighs her weariness and makes her way to the lake as to quench her thirst never taking her eyes off the hellfire dragon as she takes a drink causing the inferno to chuckle once again at her skepticism. "You might also wish to take a dip, not exactly a fire dragons preference in water at least, but it might make you feel better." The advisor comments offhandedly trying not to sound imposing as his tail flicks around lazily trying to display his attempt at indifference. The dragoness seems to ponder his words and she must have agreed as she slowly wades into the water gradually submerging herself never taking her eyes off the fire dragon leisurely sitting a ways off the shore, she reaches a depth that the water is over her shoulders and she lowers herself so that the only part above the water was the top of her snout and eyes like a giant alligator head poking out staring at Atlas Flame, who barely manages to hold back a chuckle at the sight that reminded him of the prince in the lava pools. Lucille raises a scaly brow towards the mass of raging flames asking a silent question, the larger dragon just shakes his head which she seems to accept as an answer.
Powerful beating wings draw the attention of both dragons away from their silent conversation, as a familiar pink underbelly descends into the clearing landing very close to where the dragoness had previously laid, as he surveys his immediate surrounding while setting his catch down after finding no dragoness he turns accusatory eyes onto the elder dragon. "Where's Luce? She was right here when I left." Natsu snarls out looking towards the elder dragon, caught up in his moment he fails to notice the bubbles coming from her slightly shifting snout as if she's laughing at the situation, Atlas notices her amusement and sighs. 'Great another troublemaker' he mentally states with an eye roll tuning out the young prince long ago as the son of Igneel still appears to be ranting at him, letting out a hefty sigh figuring that staring at the female isn't enough of a subtle queue for his hyperactive prince he lifts his blazing paw and gestures towards the lake. Natsu's growling comes to an abrupt halt as did his frantic state and word vomiting towards his uncle as his head snaps in the direction Atlas gestured him towards and spots a golden snout peaking above the water and he visibly relaxes, his shoulders slumping along with his wings shaking out then easing to rest against his back and his tail stops its flailing as he lets loose a sigh and mutters 'sorry' to his uncle.
The future fire king locks eyes with the dragoness and approaches the water edge slowly as to not frighten the creature within, as he reaches the grassy end he leans his head down to take a drink Natsu's onyx eyes never leaving Lucille's near golden brown. "I brought you some food, once you eat we can get going, take your time tho we're in no rush". The fire prince states offering her a soft smile before going down for his drink. At the thought of food Lucille's mouth beings to water and the golden dragoness attempts to stand only to be reminded of the sharp pain on her right side and swiftly crashes into the lake causing a large splash, for the most part, drenching the prince. Natsu swiftly enters the lake standing near the submerged dragoness as she raises her head out of the water only to avert her eyes from the prince in the embarrassment of her distressed state. After a few moments she looks back towards the prince who hasn't moved from her side and when she meets his eyes they hold a soft expression as he gestures for her to lean on him for support, Lucille mutters a soft 'thanks' and goes to stand much slower than the last time putting a large portion of her wait leaning left towards the prince sized crutch as the pair slowly wade through the water on their way towards the shore and a much needed meal for Lucille. As they reach near the large buffalo-like creature the prince come to a halt and gestures at his companion to lie down she leans her wait off Natsu's flank she shakes of what water she can, realizing her error almost immediately she turns to apologize to the young fire dragon only to see him as dry as a desert pushing aside her shock Lucille notices the steam coming off her companion and realize he just heated up and evaporated the water, realizing all is well she gradually lowers herself to the ground as Natsu goes to bring the prey over and drops it in front of her a smirk plastered on his face. "Would you like me to cook it?" Natsu asks with a cock of his head his smirk displaying the tips of his fangs, the joyfulness in his expression only increases when she gives a bashful nod while diverting her eyes away, Almost smugly Natsu happily gets to work on his task with a small beam of fire and heating up his paws he pick up the beast and rotates it to cook it evenly attempting not to burn it trying to be considerate of his new friends taste. Finishing his cooking and placing the prey at the base of her laid out paws close enough to where she can reach it but far enough it doesn't seem demeaning as to not hurt the dragoness's pride. Seeing his task complete as the magnificent dragoness before him is happily munching on her meal he walks toward his uncle to as not to appear to be hovering.
"The hatchling has spirit, even in her weakened state she keeps up her defenses, not quite distrusting but skeptical if I had to guess, this Lucille as you called her, may not be a fire dragon but she certainly has a fire within her she's a good one." Atlas Flame says to the boy as Natsu settles on his haunches next to the elder fire dragon, facing more towards Lucille than the lake but still keeping her in his line of sight. Reluctantly taking his eyes off the eating dragoness he turns to his uncle the question clear in his eyes as Natsu gazes at his to which Atlas flame just chuckles and slowly shakes his head. "I'll tell you when you're older brat. Now come on let us get going we should arrive before midday if we set out now." Atlas says attempting to corral the boy while also changing the topic, thanking the divine for Natsus short attention span as said prince heads towards his new companion.
Nawing on a bone as one would do a toothpick, Lucille hearing heavy footfalls approach her she spits out her moderate source of amusement and turns to the approaching dragon knowing it is Natsu by the lack of absurd temperature spike. When the fire dragon is in front of the girl he lowers himself to the ground turning his head to face her. "Can you get on by yourself or do you need a little help?" He asks in an carefree tone. Not uttering a word attempting to get her tail to stop flicking a nervous habit she has had since the day she hatched and limps towards the princes' body attempting to settle herself into a comfortable position being mindful of the spines on his back, all while her nervousness never fades. Sensing her state of unease Natsu moves his tail to wrap around his passengers and the golden appendage tenses before relaxing into the soothing heat as the rest of her body follows suit and begins to drift into a warmth induced trance. Seeing his passenger is settled in the prince rises carefully not to jostle her unnecessarily, reaching his standing position he resumes their trek making his way towards the royal grounds not bothering to check if his uncle is following as the dragoness resumes her previous nuzzling and soft purrs. With a certain pride in his step, the prince continues on his way his destination his den completely forgetting the original mission to explain her presence to his father, as Atlas follows the pair he can't help but smile fondly at the youngest fated mates he has seen across his entire life which is nothing to scoff at as the trio make their way deeper into the Firelands.