. Oculto .

It seemed like forever before Natsu and Lucy arrived in Oak Town - mostly because Gajeel had been abandoned to deal with the entertaining of a child as payment for the free boarding and food. Ell had apparently entrusted him to babysit her son while she went out shopping, horrified that Gajeel had invited the infamous Salamander to town.

Apparently she'd heard of his appetite.

Gajeel had recommended she bring a million or so matches back with her.

So, the next day found Gajeel grumbling as he waited at the train station for the bunny girl and her boyfriend - though she claimed that he wasn't - and their cat to arrive. His eyes were sharp, his shoulders hunched as Kenai eagerly chatted about some little adventure he'd had with his friends. One Gajeel really didn't care for.

His gloved hands were shoved into his pockets, a headband that Levy had gifted him countless months before keeping his messy dark hair out of his face. His crimson eyes searched for the train until it arrived, and when it did, he picked Kenai up by the back of his shirt and moved him out of the way so that people could get off.

It was easy enough to spot the other Fairy Tail mages. For one, people were avoiding the familiar pink-haired Natsu like the plague, all glaring at him as he eagerly raised a fire-cloaked hand into the air, his fingers curled into a fist.

Lucy put a stop to that by kicking him nastily in the shins.

"Oi!" he finally called to catch their attention, knowing that Natsu's sharp ears would hear him. "Salamander!"

Natsu's head snapped around, his onyx eyes sharp with excitement at the prospect of a challenge that never came. Lucy, however, pushed her way over when she saw the tall iron dragon slayer and squirmed past people. Her hands went to her hips as soon as she stood in front of him, her brown eyes fierce. "I got the first part. It took only a few minutes. Levy's smart though, so I couldn't figure out the last bit, but here."

She shoved a few pieces of paper into his hands, and Gajeel nearly dropped them, startled that she'd managed to get it figured out so quickly. He hadn't expected to have a good portion of it solved that fast!

But one look at the paper told him how she'd figured it out.

She'd listed each word in the riddle beneath the one before it, and then had circled the first letter of each word, spelling it out neatly at the bottom of the page.

TENROU, she'd written.

"Okay," he rumbled as Kenai ran up to Natsu and Happy and began to demand curious questions, his eyes sparkling as Natsu grinned down at him and eagerly answered. "So...those weirdos that attacked us? Grimoire Heart?"

"I don't know," she admitted. She peered over his arm at it, tapping the last three words of the riddle. "She added this in though, and the letters don't match up like Tenrou. So I was thinking that she had two parts to the riddle. Tenrou is just the first part. I'll keep messing around with it, see if I can get it solved unless you two have miraculously become sweet on each other and it's just a phrase of endearment?"

Gajeel snorted. "Gihi! Ya wish, bunny girl."

"I do," she admitted with a sigh, tucking a lock of blonde hair behind her ear. She squinted at Natsu thoughtfully before huffing and storming over. "Natsu Dragneel, don't you dare put any fire anywhere near-" A pause. "Who is this kid anyways?"

"I'm Kenai," Kenai offered unhelpfully, and Gajeel rolled his eyes.

"Kid of the lady Levy gave the riddle to. Watchin' him 'cause she's lettin' us stay with her for free and is gonna feed us. She's out shoppin' to feed Salamander."

"This lady is smart," Lucy mused, and then smiled kindly at Kenai as she crouched and offered a hand to shake. "Hey, there. I'm Lucy Heartfilia, celestial mage of Fairy Tail, and this is my partner, Natsu Dragneel."

"Fire dragon slayer," Natsu said proudly.

"...wow," Kenai breathed, and then turned to grin at Gajeel. "They're not as cool as you are though, Gajeel!" Gajeel looked a little confused by that comment, and then shrugged to himself, not about to correct him.

"Where's your cat?" he asked, expecting the bothersome blue Exceed to appear and begin making annoying comments. "He ain't here?"

"Happy went with Wendy, Charle, Gray, and Erza on a job yesterday morning." Lucy winked at the happy Kenai and then stood, brushing her skirt off. "Come on, Natsu, let's get to wherever we're going. Levy was there, right?" Gajeel nodded. "Natsu can track her. Should be easy enough."

"Should be," Natsu agreed, playfully scooping the boy up and putting him on his shoulder with ease, not looking the least bit bothered by his weight. "It's gonna be a pain in the ass though. Sand screws everything up. I probably won't get further than the edge of town."

"If you two want to run around, I'll stay with Kenai," Lucy offered as they walked down the street. Natsu received more than one absolutely horrified look before the person behind it bolted for wherever their house was to protect their food, and the dragon slayer snickered proudly at himself.

"Probably a good idea." Gajeel rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. "I feel like that guardian beast thing had something to do with all of this, by the way. So for all I know, we might end up gettin' a nasty fight."

"Yes!" Natsu cheered as he pumped a fist in the air. "Just what I like to hear! C'mon, kid, let's get somethin' to eat, I'm starved after that stupid train ride!"

"Of course you are," Lucy muttered.

Gajeel clasped his hands behind his head as they walked, a heavy sigh escaping him.

What the fuck was I thinking?

It turned out that the whole situation might not have been as bad as Levy had originally thought.

With the idea that Gajeel would get Lucy to help him solve the riddle, or Erza at the very least, she was reassured that she'd soon be able to go home. If he thought she and Lily were in trouble, he'd make sure that they were quickly retrieved. He'd make sure they were safe.

The stone building that she and Lily had been working on for the past few hours wasn't too bad, she was proud to say. She and the Exceed had worked hard at it, using clay that they'd found near the water to smear in the cracks and holes, determined to seal it away from the heat of the desert and the cold of the nights. Metalicana had simply watched them curiously, most of his body submerged in the pit that he called home.

When they'd finished, she grabbed a book and settled down within the doorway of the new building they'd be staying in, Lily settling down beside her with a heavy sigh. "Soon," she murmured comfortingly. He only gave her a look before looking elsewhere. Her face fell, the smile vanishing as she said softly, "Sorry, Lily, it's my fault we're in this mess. I should have brought Gajeel along to begin with, like Mira said."

Lily shook his head, patting her leg with a paw. "It's not that," he reassured. He paused, and then explained quietly, "I'm simply worried. He doesn't take care of himself when he's set on getting something done."

Levy gave a faint smile as she said softly, "We can't do anything about that until he comes and finds us. Which'll be soon."

Metalicana suddenly made a sound in the back of his throat, his eyes lifting to a space far off. His teeth, already showed to the world, became bared as he slid from his pit and back to the sand. They both looked up to him in surprise as his footsteps made the ground tremble beneath their feet. "Wyvern," was all he said.

Understanding crossed Levy's face. So he'd been the one to chase off all living creatures in the surrounding desert. Made sense, she supposed. It kept them all away from his space and territory…

Metalicana didn't demand they stay; he didn't even tell them to not go with him. He simply lumbered off, a low roar already building in the back of his throat. There was a scream from a wyvern in the distance, as if challenging the dragon.

Levy and Lily had no doubt in their minds about who would win that little battle.

Neither did the iron dragon, who reared his large head back and roared loudly, letting the piercing metallic screech that made Levy drop her book and clamp her hands over her delicate ears ring out over the sands in response. She suddenly glanced to her cat companion, lowering her ears when he was done. "...how doesn't Gajeel hear that?"

"He might," Lily said slowly. "He has sensitive ears. Not quite as sensitive as others, but sensitive enough. Gajeel might hear it if he's in town." He climbed into her lap, scowling. "What I wouldn't give for some kiwi juice," he said, eyeing the horizon. There were storm clouds, Levy realized, and hugged him sympathetically. She knew that he was scared of thunderstorms, and vowed to do her best to protect him from them.

"Next time we go into town," she decided. "I'll get you some then; does that work?"

"Yeah." Lily purred happily and curled up in her lap as she smoothed her hand over his head. Levy listened to the sounds of frustrated screams and roars from where Metalicana was working on scaring off a wyvern, shaking her head to herself.

She hoped that the iron creature didn't get hurt.

There was more than certainly nowhere near enough medical supplies to deal with wounds on a creature that large. She'd have to empty out Wendy's supply back home to do that.

And it was kind of the bastard trapping them there, so maybe not tending to injuries would be a good form of pay back so long as they weren't too bad.

Levy gave up on plotting against the powerful Metalicana and sighed, patting Lily's head and returning to her book.

I give up. For now.

There was a dark look on Gajeel's face as he allowed Natsu to lead him around Oak Town. The pink-haired mage was careless about what they thought of him - the residents, anyways. He was on his hands and knees, crawling around as he followed the trail Levy had left only nights before.

"Look, Natsu," Gajeel said finally, losing patience. "Do ya got anything or not?"

Natsu glared up at him, onyx eyes sharp. "You're the one who asked me for help, so shut up and let me do what you need me to." He turned his face away and went back to work before rocking back onto his haunches, scratching his head with a huff. They'd gotten to the outskirts of town and he stared towards the empty desert nearby as he thought. "They went this way. Out into the desert. No one was with 'em." His gaze slid to the iron mage's. "The hell is she doing?"

"I dunno." Gajeel inhaled sharply himself, his mouth opening to catch the tang of the iron on the air. "I don't get it. She clearly wants to be found. Why the fuck is she out there again?"

"Who knows?" Natsu hunched his shoulders so that his chin sank into his scaled scarf. "Tenrou...and the other letters were "M", "D", and "S"."

Gajeel began to mumble under his breath, thinking with a frown. "I got nothin'," he began to say, only to stop dead and squint out over the desert, listening. Natsu snapped to his feet, too, silent and listening.

But the strange screech both had heard didn't come again.

"The fuck was that?" Gajeel muttered, suspicion touching his eyes as he looked around, searching for a source. That was the second time he'd heard something...the guardian, perhaps? Levy's captors even?

"Dunno," Natsu answered. He growled softly to himself, searching the sands with his gaze and inhaling, sounding like a dog as he snuffled. "...I can't smell anything," he said suddenly, "I can't track anyone from here. The sands shift around and screw with the scents."

"Figured as much." Gajeel crossed his arms grumpily, rather angry now. Well that had been pointless…

"But I was wondering." Natsu glanced his way. "The iron. How long has that much iron been around? I can taste it, there's so much. You must have been having a field day before we came."

Gajeel shrugged heavily. "I headed out to do a bit of mining," he admitted. "Tastes better than most iron things I find. S'all over the place. Town makes a hell of a profit off of it. Sold it off for some good money when I got here with some."

Natsu didn't look at him now, dropping back down to give a last attempt at sniffing. "Gajeel," he said suddenly. "The last two letters. Levy said, 'My dear sweet.' Maybe she meant 'My dragon slayer.'"

"Maybe for that last bit, but the first word ain't makin' sense." Gajeel wrinkled his nose, thoughtful. Crimson eyes flickered over his shoulder when someone bustled past - the old man that owned the crazy deer thing he'd caught before. He was smoothing a hand over its flank as he led it, checking for injuries. "Why leave one word?"

"..." Natsu had nothing.

By the time they had gotten back, both of them were surprised to discover Lucy standing at the door with an impatient look on her face. Her expression changed into relief when she saw them, her eyes gleaming. "Natsu!" she called, "Gajeel! I have something!"

"We might, too," Natsu told her as they stopped before her. He cocked his head. "What'd you come up with, Luce?"

"The last three letters," Lucy explained, "I was running through ideas, and Kenai was helping me. Weren't you?" She smiled at the boy, who'd appeared at her side, and he grinned back at her. "Anyways, we thought that the last two letters might represent-"

"Dragon slayer," Gajeel cut her off. "Yeah, Salamander figured it out."

They paused to stare at him in surprise. He grinned proudly, and then laughed when Kenai cheered for him. Eyeing her partner, Lucy said, "Anyways, I started running through words. I haven't come up with anything that makes sense for that "M". Male, maybe, but we all know that out of the seven dragon slayers, only one is a girl, so that would be pretty obvious. Markings, mahogany, main, metallic...none of 'em work for the situation."

Gajeel went very, very still. "Repeat that last one."

"Metallic?" She looked bewildered. "I added that one in because of the insane amount of iron. I can even taste it."

"It didn't used to be like that," Ell told them as she came out, hands folded behind her back. Her eyes were curious. "Actually, there used to be no iron at all. It started showing up about fourteen years ago-"

"July seventh, in the year of X777," Gajeel breathed. For once, he didn't seem to have an attitude or a dark look in the back of his eyes. He looked almost like a child as he turned on his heel, a breathless laugh leaving him. "Shrimp'll be fine."

Lucy looked a little confused and just a bit concerned for his mental state, but Natsu locked on, used to looking for any sign of the father whose presence he craved. "Seriously? You think the guardian thing is a dragon? And not one of those weird ancient things, I mean a full fledged dragon."

"Yeah, thought all of the iron was weird." Gajeel grinned as he glanced over at the shocked blonde. "Looks like we're a fuckin' failure, Salamander. Can't believe that bookworm found them before we did."

"There's a dragon in the desert?" Kenai shouted in shock, his eyes showing excitement.

"Sh," Ell hushed.

"Tenrou was to clue us into the dragon," Lucy muttered. "Then the last three letters were to specify. Metalicana's dragon slayer."

Gajeel cracked another grin before glaring out over the desert, huffing. "So why the hell is that old bastard trapping Levy? Ain't like she could do any harm to him. She's like some fly that won't fuck off."

"Gajeel," Lucy warned. "There are little ears around."

"Is that Levy's headband tied to your belt?" Natsu muttered, startled but smug.

"Shut up," he told him.

"Okay, so if this is the iron dragon we're hunting down…what do we do?" Lucy asked softly. "From the sounds of it, there must be some kind of reason Levy couldn't leave more than a riddle…"

"He's a screwed up old man, who the hell knows." Gajeel shoved his hair out of his eyes impatiently, his crimson gaze fierce. At least they wouldn't have to fight to save the young woman. "They're safe for now. S'all that matters."

"Aw," Lucy cooed. "You're worried...that's so cute. Eek!" She cut her teasing off with a shriek of fear when a shard of iron struck the floor beside her feet, nearly piercing the flesh. Natsu snapped his jaws irritably in warning.

"So...she's okay?" Ell fretted. "She won't be hurt? There were slavers that headed out not too long after she did, and I was worried that they'd gotten to her…"

Gajeel remembered the blood in the sands, making a small grimace before admitting, "They ain't gonna be bothering anyone ever again, believe me. My old man dealt with them. Now." He cracked his knuckles. "The one who sent for the job needs a little chattin', 'cause there ain't no way he didn't know it was a dragon's hoard."

"I can't believe this," Lucy sighed. "I can't believe we've found a dragon, and one that isn't going to utterly demolish us the second it sees us."

"Hold on for a second there," Natsu muttered. "Just 'cause Levy's alive doesn't mean he'll let us walk off, ya know. Igneel was an awesome dad, Luce, but he fried anyone who discovered us. I know what the smell of fried flesh smells like 'cause of it. They may like their children - hatchlings, I guess - but they ain't a fan of anyone who walks in on their hoards."

"Hate to say it, but Salamander's right," Gajeel grunted. "Bastards are picky little fuckers. Can't believe he didn't kill the shrimp when she showed up. Or my cat for that matter."

"Levy's not very threatening," Lucy admitted. "Neither are we for that matter, Natsu...Gajeel, you might be. But I guess your his kid, so it doesn't matter much…" Gajeel snorted in response before the blonde decided to leave well enough alone and turned back to her partner. "Do you think you could track a dragon?"

Natsu shook his head. "They got some serious magic to hide from people."

Gajeel searched his memories for anything that might have given away where they could be, and grinned, coming up with a thought almost immediately.

The strange stretch of sunken in sand that he'd examined, where the nasty blood-caked shrapnel had rested, buried. He knew without a doubt that his father was probably hiding beneath that sand, listening with one of those nasty smirks on his face that meant trouble.

He grinned, showing off his sharpened canines as Kenai's eyes widened in shock at the sight. "Gihi. What ya guys know about sneaking up on a dragon's lair?"

There was a dark look in his eyes as he lifted his gaze to the starry night sky, his breath leaving his lips in a cloud of white. Darkened hair hung loosely at his back, swaying gently in the breeze. His fingers brushed thoughtfully over the ground, feeling the trembling of the group of people who moved past him, and a smirk suddenly encased his lips.

He stood swiftly, the cloak he wore rippling out. They were coming, he knew. And he was definitely ready to meet them.

Power began to gather around his fingers and hands, its sensation dark and menacing.

He could feel the far off power, hidden behind dozens of walls and barriers. A dragon resided elsewhere. Not one like Acnologia himself, a dragon slayer gone crazed, but a true dragon, raised from egg to adulthood by its parents.

Fangs were bared as he tilted his head back. He took a deep breath, and then he roared.

The sound rang out wildly, a terrifying scream that had the people that passed flinching in unease and looking around to try and figure out where it was coming from. He crawled out of the den that he'd been hiding in, his piercing red eyes gleaming with hatred and malicious excitement.

The people just outside of it reeled back, crying out warnings to others and getting ready for a fight that they didn't even have a chance to start.

He inhaled sharply and then opened his mouth, bellowing out a devastating attack that tore through them and the ground, sending blood flying and people screaming as they fled. A dark laugh left him as he turned and repeated his attack, watching intently as their bodies were ripped apart by the black and terrible magic he used.

A short while later, there was only silence, interrupted by the dripping of blood.

"Tch," he said in his hoarse voice. He rarely spoke anymore. What point was there in doing so? He didn't feel the need to speak to the people he was fully intent on killing…

He wanted a challenge. A good challenge, not one like this. This attempt had been pathetic.

He raked his mind for ideas, and decided on one that was possibly the only one he could come up with. He grinned viciously at the idea and cracked his calloused knuckles, the scars that decorated every inch of his flesh flashing in the moonlight. The chilly desert air filled his nose as he snorted.

The only way he'd get a decent challenge was to piss off a true dragon, or even one of the few first generations that were running around Fiore. There were five in total, he knew, plus two distant second generations. Three, actually, though they weren't aware of him. Two third generations, too.

He didn't want them though.

He wanted a dragon or one of their children.

He'd heard stories of Natsu Dragneel, the Fire Dragon King's son. He was annoying, that attitude of his, he didn't want that. Besides, Magnolia was a far off place, and he only wanted a one on one, not the annoying attack of fifty other people coming at him. With him was Wendy Marvell, Grandeeney's child, and Gajeel Redfox, that old iron bastard's son. Sting Eucliffe and Rogue Cheney of Sabertooth were closer, but they weren't first generations.

But…

There'd been rumors of a dragon slayer in the nearby Oak Town.

Perhaps he'd try there?

If that was the case, he might as well go there. It's not like he had anything better to do. He was tired of living in the desert and living off of those stupid lizards he found. He longed for the taste of some other flesh.

He remembered the flailing and screaming of the girl beneath him as he tore at her, his lips curved into a nasty grin. Her blood had been simply devine. He hadn't had anything like it since going on five years back. She'd been a petite one, that girl, with scared dark eyes and long dark hair.

And with that, the powerful black mage knew exactly how he was going to lure the good and peaceful dragon slayer out of that town full of people.

Surely there was another petite girl that would do? Besides. The blood gave him a boost of power unlike any other.

He licked his lips at the thought and grinned before starting forward.

Showtime.

Whew! Busy chapter, eh? Thanks to reviewers (Littlestme, The King of Ash and Roses, AfterWriter, and Noellesmells1!) and those who favorited and followed!