Dragon Heart Natsu and Lisanna Chapter 2/2
The two young boys roughly age five, ran in circles around that giant slumbering dragon. They climbed over the dragon's tail, paws, and head in their attempt to tag each other and turn the tide of the game. The dragon that was only pretending to be asleep would occasionally open a crimson eye when he sensed the boys not looking, to quickly close it once more when they turned around. After determining that the two weren't going to get into any trouble anytime soon, he went back to his own thoughts and let them enjoy their day of from training
Natsu woke with a start, sweat clinging to his forehead and naked torso. He looked around quickly, making sure he didn't wake anyone. The soft snores of his friends filled the campsite. Oh so quietly, he crawled the rest of the way out of his sleeping bag and sat down on one of the log seats in front of the fire.
Staring at the fire in an absent minded fashion, he took deep breaths in order to calm himself, the dying fire following his breathing pattern.
Deep breath, the fire grew slightly…exhale, the fire shrank down again…deep breath, the fire grew slightly larger than last time…exhale, and the fire shrank back down. He continued like this for a few more minutes until he was calm.
Refocusing his eyes so that he was now truly looking at the fire, he cocked his head to side as he heard a friend shuffle slightly in their sleeping bag. He smiled slightly when he heard Grey mutter something about his squinty eyes in his sleep, and made a mental note to get him back later.
The fire burned with the same colors of his own flame and he looked down at his arm, where only a week ago it burned with fire of every color. Dragon Heart. Wendy explained it to him again. He kind of remembered the time when it happened to Gajeel and he saved Levy. They were a couple now. Would the same thing happen to him and Lisanna?
A shot of pain coursed through his head suddenly, and as he clutched his head another memory flashed through his mind's eye
The two boys sat in front of the dragon, eagerly awaiting the story that was to start soon. The dragon's voice boomed loud and clear
"Dragons are as old as the Earth. The Great Creator created us after she created the Earth and from our magic sprung forth all other life."
"Humans too?" the green haired boy asked
"Yes Nova, humans too. After we taught the humans ways to survive, we let them be. But the humans grew greedy. They wanted more of our power, they wanted our magic."
"So what did you do?" Natsu asked, enthralled by the history.
"Well, we refused to teach them and they got angry with us. They got so angry that they locked an innocent princess in a tower and threatened to starve her if we didn't teach them."
"That's so mean!" cried Nova.
"Why did they do that?" Natsu asked angrily.
Most would have been mad at all the interruptions but Igneel didn't mind. At least this way he knew they were paying attention and not spacing out. "They locked her up because they knew we would come to help her. They knew we wouldn't stand to see an innocent girl die because we refused to teach magic.
So we saved her, but no one knew. That first night we sent in a small black dragon to break her out. Once he returned with her, an old friend of mine who uses replica magic, made a replica of the princess in the tower to 'die'.
"Natsu?" Lisanna asked as she gently put a hand on his shoulder. "You okay?"
Her voice startled Natsu out of his flashback and caught off guard he turned to quickly and ended up falling off the log and onto his back.
Startled by his startlement, Lisanna stood there her hands cupped over her mouth as she stammered out, "I'm so sorry Natsu, you okay?"
"It's okay, I'm fine," he said as he pulled himself back up onto the log. Once seated comfortably, he patted the spot next to him.
Lisanna sat down awkwardly. For a while she ran over in her mind what she wanted to say, but she couldn't bring herself to speak up. So the two sat there in silence; Natsu watching the fire and Lisanna the stars with the occasional glance toward Natsu until the sun began to rise and their friends began to stir.
At the first signs of movement started Lisanna jumped into action, getting a breakfast started as Natsu sneaked glances at her.
The team finished the mission quickly. It was much simpler than the paper and requester said it would be, not that anyone complained about it too much. But it still struck them as odd, like the mission wasn't truly finished.
Either way, they decided that they would stay the night since it was already late afternoon and would take an entire day's travel to get back to the guild.
The night passed by seemingly uneventfully. It wasn't until they were all ready to go that they noticed a problem.
Natsu and Lisanna were missing.
"Where on Earthland could they be?" Lucy asked looking every which way.
"Maybe they're hooking up in a closet?" Happy suggested too easily.
"Everyone considered this for a second then pushed the thought aside. Natsu was too dense to even know what hooking up meant. Still everyone split up and checked all the rooms again, closets included. No luck in finding them, but they did find a note:
I haven't forgotten you Natsu.
-Nova
"What does that mean? Who's Nova?" Grey asked knowing that most likely no one else knew.
"I don't know, but he sounds like an enemy. Maybe he was involved with Natsu and Lisanna being gone." Erza said, her finger on her chin as she thought it over.
"Umm…Fairy Tail mages…" The desk clerk of the hotel started.
"Yes?" Wendy asked politely.
"The pink haired boy who was with you, he left a note," the clerk said hesitantly as he handed the note to Wendy, who read it outloud:
You all go back to the guild, this is my problem
-Natsu
"So I guess Natsu knows Nova. But it's weird, why would he not want help?" Erza questioned. Turning to the clerk she asked roughly, "Did he say anything else?"
"No ma'am," the clerk squeaked back as the ducked behind the counter, afraid his answer would get him in trouble.
"Should we do as he says?" Grey asked.
"Well, we don't know who Nova is or where they are so we can't do much else than just trust Natsu," Lucy said.
"Nova might be the guy Natsu fought last week, the Leaf Dragon Slayer. But I don't remember Natsu ever mentioning him," Happy said thoughtfully.
"You think he came back to get revenge?" Grey stated.
"Even so, I think we can trust Natsu, so why don't we head back to the guild. If the two don't turn up within a week then we come back and Wendy can sniff them out," Lucy said.
"I don't know if I could," Wendy said hesitantly, as she mashed her index fingers to together.
"What do you mean?" Erza asked curiously. Dragon Slayers had heightened senses so she should easily be able to pick up their scents.
"Well, I couldn't pick up Natsu scent. It's nowhere. Even when I was searching his room, his scent wasn't there," Wendy blurted out so quickly it took a second for everyone to make out what she said.
"What do you mean it's not there?" Lucy asked confused.
"His scent and Lisanna's aren't anywhere around here. Someone erased it," Wendy said bravely.
"Erased? With a spell?" Grey said, surprised.
"I have heard of something like this before, it's a rare magic though," Erza said absent mindedly as she thought it all over. "Either way, Natsu asked us not to interfere, so we'll trust him. If he and Lisanna aren't back in a week, then we come back, in full force."
Natsu sniffed the air to no avail. He couldn't pick up Lisanna or Nova's scent. He looked at the map Nova had left him. It was a basic map, hand drawn with little skill. On it where two land marks: the hotel and a cave opening. A scale and a legend were in the corners.
"I think I'm getting close," Natsu said quietly to himself. "I hope the others went back to the guild."
"Finally! I found the cave," Natsu said exhausted. Turns out he went the wrong direction. "Now I know why normal get around so slowly without a good sense of smell. But seriously, why can't I smell them? Did Nova erase their scents? Only one way to find out. NOVA!" Natsu yelled as he sprinted into the cave.
"Oh, he's finally here. The dunce probably got lost," Nova said nonchalantly as he got up from the boulder he had been sitting on. A mumbled reply came from Lisanna as she stirred.
Ignoring her, the Leaf Dragon Slayer surveyed his surroundings. The cave entrance continued straight for about a mile until it came to a giant opening. The ground of the opening was roughly 100 feet below the cave tunnel Natsu was coming through and opened up into a mini forest with a small clearing. The trees were the advantage he needed; the ceiling too was an advantage. The cave opening was kept lit by giant crystals that absorbed magical energy. They then reflected that energy as different colored lights. "I've got this all planned out. Even if you use Dragon Heart again, you won't win Natsu. The crystals will absorb all your energy while this charm I stole from Igneel will protect me from their leaching," Nova said, a villainous grin that showed his extra sharp canine teeth off, decorated his slim face.
That grin faltered though when a memory popped into his mind:
"Now, the real princess was kept in an old abandoned farm house far enough away from other towns and villages that no one was likely to find her, or us.
The Morning after her rescue, three of us came to her and told her that because she was left to die because others were selfish, we would teach her and only her magic."
"So she was the first dragon slayer?" Natsu asked.
"Not quite. We didn't teach her dragon slayer magic, but we taught her all the other forms of magic. We called in our friends from every corner of the Earth and they gave to the princess the knowledge of their magic. But during this, the replica princess 'died' and the humans were furious. They started to hunt us down, and even though none of us got any serious injuries, it was becoming troublesome. They blamed us for the death of the princess."
"Why did that just flash through my mind? Whatever, Natsu is almost here."
Even as he said it, Natsu came to a halt at the end of the tunnel. He hadn't been expecting a forest, or the bright lights from the crystals. "What is this place?"
"This is my home Natsu. This is something you can't take from me," Nova said, his voice startling Natsu who hadn't spotted him yet.
"Nova!" Natsu growled as he lunged from the tunnel and out into the small clearing where the other dragon slater stood. "Where's Lisanna?"
"Don't worry, she's exhausted just like you'll be soon, but safe," Nova replied back casually.
Natsu heard a muffled cry come from behind Nova and he jumped over there. He found Lisanna gagged and with a bag over her head. Ripping it off her, he noticed that she did look exhausted. She had bags and dark rings under eyes that she fought to keep open. "Lisanna, stay with me, Imma get you outta here. I promise."
"Why Nova? What did she ever do to you?" Natsu roared as he turned around, flames starting to surround his clenched fist.
"She, nothing. You, everything. But kidnapping her was easy enough, even if she got that good kick to my balls in, and I knew you come save your precious little girlfriend."
"What did I steal from you?" Natsu asked, genuinely confused.
"You don't know? You stole my father from me!" Nova yelled back, his anger rising quickly. Just how long until his magic is fully drained? He doesn't even look affected.
"What do you mean?"
"Igneel, you dense dumbass! You stole him from me!"
"How? I didn-" Natsu started.
"Shaddup! It's too late to be sorry!" Nova snapped as he lunged at Natsu.
Natsu caught the oncoming fist and retaliated with an uppercut. Nova took the hit square in the jaw and flew back, but midair he straightened and unleashed his roar. Natsu caught on and unleashed his at the same time.
The blast from the two powerful roars rushed past everything in the form of a strong gust of wind that blew leaves off the nearby trees. How can he still use magic? The crystals should have drained him by now?"
The roarsended abruptly and for a minute the two dragon slayers stared at each other.
"Why did you leave?" Natsu asked finally breaking the silence. "Igneel was heartbroken. We spent days trying to find you."
Nova stared at the ground, hiding his scrunched face as he tried to suppress his anger. His fingernails dug into his palms as he clenched his fists tighter and tighter. When the first drops of blood rolled down his palm and hit the ground, he erupted. "Because he chose you dammit! Dragons can have only one student and he chose you! He chose you the moment he gave you that muffler!" The muffler! It has to be what's keeping his magical energy from being drained!
I"I…I didn't know. That's why you left?" Natsu stuttered, everything now clicking in his mind.
"Yes, you idiot! I was the first, Igneel was my father first! And then you came! You ruined everything!" Nova shouted out the accusation all the while starring down the muffler that was wrapped loosely around Natsu's neck
"I didn't ask him to choose me!" Natsu yelled back.
"It doesn't matter! Because of you, I had to find another parent, another dragon to teach me."
The two dragon slayers lunged at each other, each with a bare fist clenched tight. The impact of the fists making contact with cheeks seemed to freeze time as a memory fragment passed through the two simultaneously:
"So what happened to the real princess?" Nova asked.
"After she had learned all the magic, we told her that she was free to do as she pleased. To us she said, 'It is my fault that the humans are hunting you race, and I don't wasn't anyone else getting hurt, human or dragon. You all have bestowed upon me great knowledge, a gift I can never hope to repay. But I have one last request. May I spread the knowledge you have given me to other humans, deserving humans?'
"Most dragons didn't approve because they believe that the humans would gain an advantage against us. Others argued that id the princess returned, the humans would see that we didn't let her die and so would stop attacking. It took another month of heated arguing and debating but we finally decided that she could teach magic to other humans. But the humans had to children, under the age of twelve, and ones that held no alliance with powerful humans that may use them against others. Also, she could teach only one type or magic to each person. The princess agreed to these terms and returned to her own race. We didn't keep track of her after that, but the hunting of dragons ended.
The two boys didn't move for the first four seconds after the flash back ended. At the fifth second, they jumped back from each other. At the sixth second, they were back at each other's throats, fighting. Flames burnt skin and razor sharp leaves cut skin as they fought on. Multiple times Nova came close to grabbing the muffler, but Natsu moved at the last second, and the fabric would slip through his fingers.
"You better hurry up and save your girlfriend. If she has any more energy stolen from her, she may die," Nova said through ragged breath during one of the interludes.
"What do you mean?" Natsu demanded, glancing back at the unconscious Lisanna.
"The crystals above us drain magical energy and when you're out of magical energy, they start to drain your regular energy until you have nothing left for them to take," Nova paused for a moment to let that sink in before continuing. "The only reason we haven't has ours drained is because of our magical items. The pendant I stole from Igneel and the muffler he gave you."
Natsu turned and walked calmly back to Lisanna, shocking Nova with the unexpectedness of his next move. Natsu removed his muffler and wrapped it tight around Lisanna, causing her to stir a little.
"Wha-what are you doing? Your energy is gonna be drained now!"
"I guess that means I have to beat you up all the much faster then," Natsu said, turning around to reveal a cocky grin.
Within a blink of an eye, Natsu had crossed the space between the two of them and slammed his forehead into Nova's. As Nova fell back, Natsu followed up with a punch to the stomach and a knee to the back. Before Nova could recover, Natsu unleashed his roar, packing every last amount of magical energy that we could muster into it.
As the smoke cleared, Natsu could make out the shape of Nova, his clothes singed and burnt in some places, but for the most part unharmed. Normally Natsu would have been able to dodge the onslaught of attacks that were Nova's counterattack, but his reaction time was delayed from fatigue. Punch after punch slammed into Natsu as he stumbled backwards. When the roar filled with razor sharp leaves came, he was too exhausted to move, and took the attack head on.
The sight that Nova looked upon was a pathetic on, but to his mind, it was a cheerful one. Natsu stood, barely, with blood dripping, his shoulders hunched forward, his head hung low and his breathing labored.
"You should have kept the muffler. No, in fact, you don't deserve it. Igneel was supposed to give it to me anyway, so I'm just going to take it back," Nova said as he headed toward Lisanna.
As he came level with Natsu, a sharp pain stabbed him in his upper arm. He looked over to see Natsu's hand squeezing his arm in a death grip.
How does he still have enough energy to move?
"Don't you dare touch my muffler," Natsu said, his head moving to stare Nova in the eye. Nova shrank back at the sight before him. Natsu's pupils were slitted like a dragon's and right below his left eye was a patch of scales that slowly growing larger.
"And that is the end of the story, so bed time boys," Igneel's voice boomed.
"No, another story!" the boys whined in unison.
"Nope, bed time."
"You're no fun Igneel," the boys complained as the crawled over to the fire dragon's side to snuggle in for the night. "Sleep tight my sons," Igneel hummed as he nuzzled the two.
"How!? You shouldn't have any energy left!" Nova yelled in terror and confusion. Natsu was reabsorbing the magical energy stolen by the crystals. And not just his magical energy, but all the energy stored in them. Nova looked around terrified as the crystals began to dim and turn off, casting some parts of the forest in darkness. "This isn't possible!"
A light suddenly appeared in the now almost completely dark room. A flame. A flame caught his attention. He turned toward it, and it slammed into his face. Nova went flying backwards into the forest, a memory flashing into his mind.
Nova woke first. He looked to his side and saw Natsu still snoring peacefully. Igneel's giant head, eyes closed, and bubble inflating and deflating with each breath, was wrapped up close to them. Taking this chance, Nova quietly wormed his way out of the nest, and over to the small cave where Igneel kept his books and other treasures. Nova stopped nervously at the entrance. They weren't allowed in here without his permission. Looking back once more at his sleeping companions, he took his first step in. Then another, and another, and soon he had come to the stack of books.
He picked up the first book and flipped through it, not recognizing the language it had been written in. The second book though was written in the language of humans, but it contained no useful information, same as the third, fourth, and fifth books. The sixth though talked about dragon slayers. Flipping to a random page, Nova read just one sentence:
A dragon can have only one human to teach its magic to, if taught to more, all after the first will be consumed by the magic and killed.
Nova gasped as he read this. Why would Igneel have taken in Natsu then? Unless it was to replace him? Dropping the book, the young ran out of the cave, determined to find out the truth. When he got to the cave's entrance, he saw the answer. Igneel has curled up tighter around Natsu, leaving no space for Nova.
Nova's back crashed into a tree trunk, leaving him winded as a couple tears made their way leisurely down his check. Why did that flash into my mind? I don't want to remember that day!
He looked up through blurry eyes at Natsu standing a couple feet away. "You left that day. You left us and we spent days following your scent until we lost it. Igneel was heartbroken," Natsu said, tears running down his own cheeks.
"He was going to choose you! You were my replacement! You were always better at the training than me," Nova cried, not wanting to accept the truth, wanting to keep his heart stuck in the world of darkness he made for it.
"No, you were supposed to be the fire dragon slayer, not me," Natsu replied calmly. "The muffler he gave me was supposed to be yours."
"You're lying!"
"He picked me to go to his friend, the Water Dragon, Slivaqua. She was coming to pick me up a week after you left. Igneel told her that his student disappeared, so he was going to keep me to become his new one."
"No! It's a lie! You're lying to me! Igneel choose you because you were better!" Nova yelled weakly.
"Igneel told me that if I ever met you to tell you this: I'm sorry my son. I should've told you sooner that you were my student. Because of me you left and I don't know what type of life has befallen you, but I feel like your heart has fallen into darkness. I ask that you abandon the darkness before you stray too far from the path you were destined to walk."
"No, no, no, no, I won't believe that," Nova said weakly, his heart had accepted Natsu's words; knowing deep down it was the truth, but he still couldn't let go of his dark world.
"Nova, brother, please leave this place. Come to Fairy Tail with me. Let's be friends again," Natsu asked, pleaded almost as he reached his hand out toward Nova.
Gingerly at first, but soon with more confidence, Nova grabbed Natsu's hand and allowed him to be pulled up. "Thanks for the offer, but I'm going to go my own way for now, maybe I'll stop by one day. Right now, I need to erase this darkness that still haunts me."
Natsu replied back with a childish grin that covered his whole face. Nova had an image of the young Natsu with the same grin on his face flash through his mind, and he felt his own mouth contort into a matching grin.
Erza and the rest of the gang were discussing with Master how to best go about finding Natsu and Lisanna when, speak of the devils, the two walked through the door, hand in hand. Practically the whole guild came rushing forward to great the two and ask what happened, are you okay, are you guys a couple, and many more questions. The two however, just stood there, smiles on their faces as they looked at the guild, then each other.