XXIV

They were back to square one, pretty much. After Natsu had clambered his way out of the trap, followed by a still rather groggy Gray, Lucy apologized. She said the trap was meant for enemies, not allies, and Igneel had to smirk at exactly how hard Happy was laughing in the background. Although whether he was laughing because Natsu had fallen in, or because of how bad Lucy's trap had been, he wasn't sure.

They had no idea where the cult was, nor how long they had until Deliora was freed. Did they have a week? A day? No one knew. Igneel figured their best bet would be to go back to the ruins and wait for the moon to rise once again. However, before their little group could begin to discuss their next course of action, the cult quite literally found them.

The unnerving giant rodent they'd had a run-in with earlier returned, this time carrying a bucket of what appeared to be acid. A bit of quick thinking on Natsu's part allowed him to use his flames to burst the acid it dropped, outward and away from the villagers, much to the giant rodent's owner's dismay. Igneel gave Natsu back two of the fifty kudos points he'd lost when he'd fallen into Lucy's terrible trap.

And then they were separated again.

Two other mages from the cult, a blue-haired man with some terrifyingly bushy eyebrows and a half-dog man who didn't seem too bright, then entered the village. It was chaos and amongst that chaos two things happened. One, Lucy somehow got separated again from them, carried off by the giant rodent to who knew where. Igneel was relatively certain she could handle herself in a one on one fight, but felt a little relieved when Happy zoomed after her to help. And second, Natsu punched Gray, his only ally in the fight, unconscious.

It'd come from a place of love, ultimately, but also a place of terrible judgement. Natsu wanted Gray to rest, so he'd forced him to. That, and he also had been seriously itching to punch him since he'd gotten trapped in that god forsaken ice ball. Two birds, one stone. Or at least that's what Natsu thought.

The fight was short-lived. The man with the caterpillar eyebrows was fairly smart, and his magic was interesting in that it nullified other magics, however, he was easily overpowered through raw strength. And the one who didn't look too bright and loudly announced that his name was Toby… well… Igneel had been spot on regarding his IQ from the beginning. He was most certainly not the sharpest tool in the shed.

The village had taken quite the beating in the fight, however no villager lives were lost, so Igneel considered it to be a decent outcome. Natsu too noticed the damage and figured that the farther away he could take his fight with the cult, the better.

Igneel was impressed by the faith Natsu had in his compatriots. He was worried, yes, about Lucy and Happy, but he realized that time was of the essence and searching for them would only delay things further. It took strength of a unique kind to trust that Lucy could take care of herself and instead begin his own trek back to the ruins and site where Deliora resided.

It was a rather long and uneventful walk. Much easier than the one he'd endured the past night with Gray on his back. It was quiet, aside from the stray call of a bird or slight rumble which would cause Natsu's stomach to clench. There wasn't much doubt that those little rumbles were from whatever skirmish Lucy had going on with the giant rat. Whenever he heard one, Igneel felt his son's heart harden and convince his brain that she and Happy would be just fine. They were Fairy Tail mages, after all.

Along his journey, Natsu also hatched a plan. The Moon Drip ritual was what was putting the village in danger. Whether or not that was what was turning them into monsters, Igneel did not know, but whether they knew it or not, Deliora was what was posing them the most imminent and immediate threat. The ritual called for quite a bit of manpower and also an ideal setting in which they could channel the moon's rays directly toward the ice.

Natsu knew not of what the spell was, of course, however he had deduced that the beam of light coming down from the moon and melting the ice was the crucial part. In which case, if the moon's alignment were thrown off, the Moon Drip ritual would be useless.

There was a long period of time in which Natsu volleyed back and forth different ways he could tilt or move the moon, all of which were outrageous. However, eventually, when Natsu couldn't find a way to feasibly move the moon, he started thinking more logically. And it didn't take long for him to decide that all he needed to do was offset the balance of the temple they'd been in earlier, the one whose floor had collapsed. It was a crumbling structure after all, so it wouldn't take much to alter the whole thing entirely.

Besides, he'd get to destroy something in the process, which was always his favorite pastime.

As Natsu spotted the top of the temple in the distance, Igneel had to admit he was rather impressed. His son, the one that'd just fallen into what was probably the worst pitfall in the history of pitfalls, had just figured out a surefire way to stop the Moon Drip ritual, and all on his own, too.

He'd perhaps lost fifty kudos when he'd fallen in that hole, gained two back during his fight with the bushy eyebrow man, but now…? Igneel gave him back forty-nine. He was on the plus side now, if only by one. But still… this was more like the Natsu he'd raised. And he couldn't help but smirk at the thought.

Is it sad that I'm actually sort of learning my roman numerals through titling these little chapters? Probably. Ohwell. XD
Well, Natsu actually hatched a plan of his own and Igneel is proud for the moment... for the moment being the important part there. ;3
Thank you guys so so much for the absolutely amazing reviews! I'm so happy when I hear that someone sees Igneel the way that I do! :D

~Foxtail-chan