Welcome to Chapter 3 of "Only Time Can Heal a Dragons Heart" And I made the mistake of saying that this story takes place in between the Edolas arc and the Oracion Seis arc. It takes place after Edolas and Before Tenrou. Thanks to "Natsu is Awesome" for pointing this out to me. This chapter will be the set up for meeting Ultear.
Chapter 3: Flames of Sadness
The guild was as it usually was early in the mornings (about an hour after Natsu left) except for one thing, The majority of the guild were inspecting a certain door that happened to have a melted lock on it while a few others were searching the guild to see if anything was stolen.
"How the hell does a lock melt like that?". Gray said breaking the silence of the.
"It was Natsu," Makarov said as he walked out of his office.
"He had to break into the guild to leave a note announcing of his temporary leave of the guild", this made everyone gasp at the masters statement murmuring began amongst the guild while a certain couple had a sinking feeling that they were the cause of his absence.
"Don't worry brats, he said he was going on a long term search to find his father Igneel, he also said for no one to follow him as this is something only he can do and others would only get in the way." T
his made everyone in the guild feel a little more relieved as Natsu was always going off on even the most ridiculous of leads to find his father.
"Mirajane, Erza I need to speak with you in my office", Makarov said as he started to walk back to his office followed by the two women.
"I have a bad feeling about this Gray", Lisanna said concerned for the dragon slayer whose heart she broke only the night before
"Its ok Lisanna, you heard the master, Natsu is looking for Igneel, you know how he is", gray said as he wrapped Lisanna into a hug.
"Everything will be fine, just you wait and see".
"Are you serious?" Mirajane said as she was just told the real reason behind his absence.
"I am, read the note and see for yourself", Makarov said as he handed the note to Mira as she started reading it along with Erza.
Not long after they started reading their eyes widened in shock which quickly turned to sadness. "
I…I can't believe this, I mean I understand why he left, but still", Erza started to trail off as she remembered when she told him of the girls feelings. She knew that she did the right thing by telling him, even he said so, but she still couldn't help but feel a little responsible for him leaving.
"I don't want either of you to blame yourselves or anyone for what has happened and I do not want the rest of the guild finding out the true reason, Natsu asked us to keep it a secret and so we shall", Makarov said to the young women.
"I…I just can't believe he's gone." Said both women in unison.
Somewhere in the deep into the woods several miles from Magnolia, walked a lonesome Natsu, his head hanging and his bangs coverings, he walked along a small path as Happy flew silently behind him.
Nastu had been nonstop walking ever since he left Magnolia, he was starting to feel a little light headed but he paid no attention to it as his mind was full of lasts night's events, which only made him feel worse. But he just kept trudging on, only able to pay attention to the ground directly in front of him as he was unaware of his surroundings.
As he walked along before he knew it he had come to a dead end with a sign at the end of the path, this snapped him out of his current state of mind, the sign read, "Beware of Fire Vulcans".
Now that he was aware of his senses he could smell burnt wood and leaves all around him.
Before he could tell where the smell was originating from three crimson Vulcans jumped out In front of him, the middle one started sniffing Natsu,
"Smells like food, yummy human mmmmmm…" the middle Vulcan said as he started to drool as he rubbed his stomach.
"Let's kill him", said the one to Natsu's right, "
I'm super hungry" said the one to his left.
Before they could lunge at him he shout Fire Dragon's Roar! as a vortex of fire shot from the dragon slayers mouth, but the fire had no affect thee Vulcans , in fact they seemed to quite enjoy the flames.
This did not shock him as he knew they were immune to fire as he was, but before he had any time to think of a plan he was forcefully punched and sent flying into a tree, he fell to the ground and slumped over as he tried to form a plan but the only thing he could think of was how this pain is nothing to compared to the pain he felt the other night, which only led him back into the depression he was in earlier but this time something was off the sadness was no longer confined to his broken heart and his aching soul it was spreading through his entire body, the Vulcans only laughed at seeing the boy in such pain and thought it would be fun to kick him while he's down.
The middle Vulcan approached Natsu and kicked him in the stomach but right as it connected, Natsu's body became covered in flames, but these flames weren't the bright red/crimson flames he usually wields, these were dark purple flames that flickered slowly and emitted next to no light, they seemed to emanate pure sadness and corruption,
This caught the Vulcan off guard but with no time to withdraw his foot , the flames seeped onto the Vulcan and quickly spread over its entire body but this time the flames were doing more than burning him, the flames were corrupting his mind and soul destroying the Vulcan in unimaginable ways.
The forest turned silent, the only sound you could hear was coming from the flames themselves, it was a low pitched sound that made the other two Vulcans feel uneasy so they decided to ditch their "leader" to save themselves.
The flames on Vulcan finally ceased causing the Vulcan to fall face forwards to the ground, nothing more than a vegetable as his mind was decimated.
But as the fire receded back into Natsu and he came back to his senses he realized, he was unable to move, the sadness had caused his body to fall into emotional overload and caused him a very high fever, the last thing his senses could catch before he slipped into unconsciousness was the scent of a familiar old man.
Thanks for reading guys I tried to extend this chapter a little farther, tell me what you think, or if you have any tips or advice in the reviews, I truly do love every one of your reviews. If you know where I can get the regular Japanese shouts with the English translation like you might have seen in other fan fics please tell me. Don't hesitate to PM me anytime if you have any questions about my plans for future chapters and whatnot. I'll hopefully have have the next chapter out tomorrow night or the night after. Bye and thanks for your follows and favorites.
