Chapter 11

The Truth about Natsu's Past

~Gray~

Ever since Juvia left, Gray couldn't think of anything but how upset she had been. Why did it bother him? He didn't like her or anything. He was only being truthful. He hadn't been harsh or anything… well, maybe he was a little harsh… Okay, very harsh, but how did that affect him? If she couldn't handle the truth then she was a stupid idiot.

To get his mind off things, Gray went to the bathroom to take a hot shower. It was relaxing, very relaxing, almost relaxing enough to take his mind off Juvia. He turned off the water, grabbed a towel, and stepped out of the shower.

After putting on pants (which to Gray is getting fully dressed), he laid down on his bed and stared at the ceiling. A few minutes later he got up again, unable to keep still, and walked over to his mini fridge to get a drink. That was when he noticed a purse on the table. Who did he know that owned a purse? Guys don't wear purses so it couldn't be anyone from the boy's dorm. The last girl to come in his room was Juvia, but Juvia didn't own any purses, did she?

Gray walked over to the table, picked up the purse and sat down on his bed. He slowly and carefully opened it in case something dangerous jumped out like a toy poodle or other scary things that girls carried in their bags. He looked in. There were only two items: a wallet, which was crammed with a surprisingly large amount of paper jewels, and a notebook.

Gray picked up the notebook. It said 'Juvia' on the front. So it was Juvia's purse.

He didn't want to be nosy or anything, but he couldn't help but wonder what was inside. He skimmed through the first few pages. He could easily tell that it was a journal. Each entry had something like 'today Gray-sama looked at Juvia' or 'Gray-sama said something to Juvia today.' She was quite obsessed with him. What had made her fall for him? He read all the entries until he got to a blank page. He had read them all, or so he thought. He was about to put the journal back in the purse, when his hand slipped and the journal fell the floor. He picked it up and turned it over. The book was opened on an entry he hadn't read yet; before it were a few blank pages, which must have represented the two weeks that he took care of her when she was sick. He flipped back to the hidden entry. The date was the previous day. The entry was long; very long compared to all the others. He took a deep breath and began to read.

"Dear Journal, did I ever tell you what Gray did to make me fall in love with him?

"Well, it began when Phantom attacked Fairy Tail. I had only joined phantom because I felt like I didn't belong. I was always making it rain; and people didn't like that. It was always gloomy, but that was all I knew. Then, Gray tried to fight me and he didn't seem to mind the rain as much as everyone else.

"Before I knew it, I was in love, constantly waiting for it to be returned. When I was sick, about two weeks ago, I saw a side of Gray I'd never seen before: a kind caring Gray that was concerned about me and took care of me. Even though I was sick, it was the best time of my life. It was the only time I was ever sure that he ever showed any sign of possibly loving me back, which is why I am going to try asking him out tomorrow. I feel like I finally have the confidence. Well, I'm going to try and get a good night's sleep! Wish me luck! –Juvia"

Gray closed the book. It was amazing how the one small thing he did could mean so much to her. If he couldn't return her love he could at least try to cheer her up and return her purse.

Gray put the book back in the purse, grabbed his dorm key, and headed out.

~Natsu~

"Impossible," Natsu said, "my parents left me when I was little. I had to fend for myself. Then, Igneel found me and raised me."

The woman looked sad. "So you don't remember, do you?"

"Look lady, I don't know what kind of sick joke you're pulling but it isn't working on me." Natsu grabbed Lisanna's hand and started walking in the direction of the guild. "Let's go Lisanna."

"Wait!" The lady called.

"Why should I?" Natsu gave a look of disgust.

"I'll…. I'll…" she stammered, "I'll take you and your friend out to dinner!"

~Lisanna~

Lisanna wasn't at all surprised when Natsu ate his mountain of food in less than a minute, but Elina's (the name of the lady who claimed to be Natsu's mom) eyes were a big as saucers. Lisanna guessed that she had never seen a hungry 17 year old boy. Oops, Natsu was 2o.

Three years gone, and she felt like she knew nothing. She hoped they would finish eating soon. She couldn't wait to get back and see Miranee and Elfnii. They must have missed her very badly. How much had changed since then? Were Erza and Miranee still fighting? Had Elfnii ever mastered the full body take over? How many people had joined the guild? How many had left? All these questions would be answered when she got back. All she had to do was walk through the doors of the Fairy Tail bar, everyone would be surprised, probably celebrate for a bit, and while celebrating, they would tell her all about what she had missed.

She also had another question, more important than anything else. If she was dead, how could she have come back to life? And the most important question of all: Why?

Natsu licked his lips, patted his belly, and burped. Okay, maybe things hadn't changed as much as she though they had. She looked over at Elina, who gaped at his actions, but after noticing Lisanna looking at her, she quickly hid her expression behind a forced smile.

"Did, you enjoy your meal, Natsu, dear?" Elina asked sweetly.

"Yeah," Natsu said, "Almost enough to forget why I'm here." Natsu's expression became serious, "Alright, lady, you bribed me into a meal, so now you've got some explaining to do."

"Well, as you probably know," She began, "Your twenty-first birthday will be coming up in eight months, and I want to make sure that your transformation goes well."

Natsu raised his eyebrows in reaction to what he had just heard, "Transformation? And you expect me to believe that bull?" He got up from the table and was about to leave, when Lisanna tugged on his shirt.

"Natsu, I think we better stay." She told him, "I sense something." And she did. There was some sort of connection between Natsu and Elina. She could feel it. She didn't know why. Maybe it was the fact that she looked like a genuinely concerned mother, maybe it was because she seemed innocent, like she couldn't tell a lie, or maybe it was because the birthmark on Elina's bare right shoulder was exactly like the one Natsu had on his.

After glaring in Elina's eyes for what seemed like forever, he sat down, once again, and put on a serious expression. He looked over at Lisanna, and she assumed he meant for her to say something first.

After being gone three years, it had become hard to read what he was saying with his eyes. They had changed into older and more mature eyes, ones that had tried to experience life to the fullest, and only gotten pain and heartbreak in return.

Lisanna looked back at Elina and it seemed that she was staring at her too, like she wanted an answer to a question. "Well…"Lisanna said quietly, "I think we should listen to her, Natsu. I think she is telling the truth."

After a long pause, Natsu spoke. "Alright, I'll give you a chance to explain, but first, if you really are my mother, I'd like to know why you and my father left me to fend for myself. If it wasn't for Igneel, I probably wouldn't have survived."

Elina drew a big breath and let it all out in a long sigh. "Natsu, sweetie, we never left you. Igneel is your father."

~Wendy~

After finally getting Gajeel to leave, Wendy closed the door and locked it. She went into the mini kitchen and made two cups of hot tea, one for her and one for Levy, and set them on the dining room table.

"Levy," Wendy called, "Why don't you come out of my bedroom and sit in here? You can talk to me about what happened with Gajeel. I made tea too!"

A few minutes later, Levy was sitting at the dining room table, slowing sipping her tea.

"Well," Wendy began, "if you don't want to talk about it, that's fine, but I would like to know so I can help you feel better."

Levy put her cup down. "I just don't like it when he calls me 'Bookworm' all the time. It's like he doesn't care."

Wendy knew that levy had been crushing on Gajeel for a while now, but was too embarrassed to admit it, but, the way she had said it made it sound like they were boyfriend and girlfriend.

"And when he wrote that song he called me 'Bookworm'. It hurt a lot because I was the only one he didn't call by name."

Now what Levy was saying was a little more understandable. Mira, Natsu, and herself, had been addressed by their actual names instead of whatever nickname he had bestowed upon them. "How about this," Wendy suggested, "Why don't you go back in a little bit and tell Gajeel that you don't like it?"

"But what if he gets mad?"

"He won't get mad at you, Levy. After all, you were the one who got mad at him. He is still probably wondering what he did to make you so angry."

"True…" Levy agreed. "But, still, I think we better go ask Juvia first. She is the expert in love after all. I mean, she said she was going to ask Gray out today, and I wonder how it went." She stood up, walked over to the sink and put her empty tea cup in it. "Let's go Wendy!"

The two girls walked down the hall to Juvia's dorm. The door was open. "Juvia?" Wendy called. She walked in slowly with Levy right behind her. "Juvia?" She called again.

"I'll check the bedroom, you check the kitchen." Levy told her.

Wendy nodded in agreement. They quietly separated and began looking around. There was no sign of Juvia in the kitchen. She was about to go check the bathroom when she heard Levy give a terrified scream. Wendy ran back to the bedroom.

"Juvia's dead!" She said as she pointed to the bed, where there was a wet spot and a pile of clothes.

"Oh, no!" Wendy cried, "Juiva…"

"Oi, what's going on here?" said a voice behind them. Wendy turned around. The voice belonged to Gray.

"Juvia's dead!" Levy sobbed.

Gray looked at them, then at the wet spot on the bed. "She's not dead." He told them. "She's just very upset about something."

~Loki~

Loki sat in the cave for hours, waiting for Lucy to awake. He had checked several times to make sure she was still breathing, that she was still alive. "Please wake up, Lucy," he pleaded silently. "Please wake up."

~Elina~

Elina watched as Natsu reacted in disbelief to what he had just heard. Whether he liked it or not, she was telling the truth.

"Impossible." Natsu had said for, like, the hundredth time.

She had always known that this conversation was going to be hard to carry out. After he had lived his life thinking that he was just a dragon slayer only to tell him different.

~Flashback~

"Igneel is your father." She said.

"Then that would make me a half dragon?" Natsu said, still in disbelief.

She laughed lightly. "Natsu, did you not know that dragons can look like humans?" This is going to take a lot more explaining than I thought. "You see the mark on my right shoulder?" She asked. "It's the mark of the dragon. Only certain people can see it."

"Like me?" Lisanna said. "But I thought it was just a birthmark."

Elina watched as Natsu checked his shoulder and stared in awe as if he had never seen it before. He probably hadn't. Before a young dragon turns twenty-one, the mark only appears in when he or she is with the one they love.

"So you are a dragon too?" Natsu asked.

"What, do you think that dragons only have one form?" Elina laughed again. She was going to have a fun time explaining everything. "Dragons have two forms. A human form which they are born with, and a dragon form, which they get when they turn twenty one."

"So," Natsu began, "What this transformation thing about?"

" Around your 20th birthday, your hormones begin to activate, so if you've been really moody for the past few months, that's why. Six months before your twenty-first birthday, your dragon abilities begin to develop. You will remain half dragon and half human for those six months until your abilities fully develop. Then on your birthday, you will get your dragon form and I can teach you how to switch back and forth. Dragons usually go into hiding for those 6 months."

"Why?" Natsu asked childishly.

"Because, dragons aren't welcome in the world right now," Elina explained. "If you get found out, you'll be locked up and killed!"

"Oh." Natsu thought for a moment. "So if you're here, where is Igneel?"

So your father told you nothing, Natsu? Elina sighed. She should have been the one to raise Natsu, but no, the dragon council elected Igneel to be legal guardian, not her. "Natsu, when you were really little, your father and I got in a big fight about how you were to be raised, since you were the last dragon ever to be born –"

"Wait," Natsu interrupted. "I am the last dragon to be born? Ever?"

"Yes," She told him. "Your father, the fire dragon, was the king of all dragons."

"Then that would make you..."

"No," Elina said sadly, "I am not the queen. After the big fight, your father and I got a divorce. But, you, Natsu, are the prince of dragons and the rightful heir to the throne of Fiore."

"The throne of Fiore? There is no such thing." Natsu said in disbelief.

"Actually, there is." Lisanna, who had been quiet for quite some time, informed him. "In the previous era, Fiore was ruled justly by the Fire dragon, Julius Igneel. He was kind and loving to all his subjects, but his butler, Henry Argon, didn't like the fact that dragons were ruling over humans so he made up lies and turned the people against Julius. He only had time to save his wife, Lelia, and his son Julius II before he was captured and killed. The hatred against dragons still stands today, Natsu."

"Yes," Elina agreed. "But no one knows what happened after, except for the dragons themselves. Lelia took Julius II and gathered all the other dragons into the dragon realm and created a dragon council. When Julius II grew up, he changed his name to Igneel Dragon and went out into the world where he found a family of dragons secretly living among the people, unable to have found the gate to the dragon realm. I was among that family. Several decades later, he and I got married and then we had you. But when you were about three, we had a dispute over whether to raise you in the dragon realm or the outside world. Eventually, we grew apart and got a divorce. Igneel gained full custody of you and I'm guessing that the council erased your memories of me. Then on 7-7-7, the council summoned all dragons back to the dragon realm. He didn't have enough time to get you before the gate closed permanently, and I will forever be tied to the human world because I have remarried with a human."

Natsu sat still in his seat, processing all the information that had just come at him.

"And," Elina decided she needed to tell him one last thing before they ended the conversation. "The only way to open up the gate to the dragon realm is to become the king of Fiore and make peace with the people."

~End of Flashback~

Yes, she had told him everything, everything he needed to know, for now. She didn't tell him why she had really come. She didn't tell him that if he didn't control himself during transformation, that he would turn into a rashing, raving, and emotionless monster. She didn't tell him that her new husband was the man that had 'raised' Lisanna from the dead.

~Gray~

Gray was walking down the hallway towards Juvia's dorm when he heard someone scream. It sounded like Levy, and it was coming from Juvia's room.

"Hey, what's going on here?" He asked when he entered the room.

"Juvia's dead!" Levy sobbed.

He looked carefully at the bed. She wasn't dead. She had become water and merged with the bedspread. She was definitely upset about being rejected. "She isn't dead," he reassured them. "She is just upset about something."

The two girls glared at him. They knew what had happened. "You're so mean Gray!" Levy yelled at him.

"I know, I know." Gray decided it was best not to argue with the girls before things got worse. "I'm going to make things better."

Wendy smiled. "Alright, let's go Levy." She walked toward the door. "We will leave you two alone." And with that, he was alone, with Juvia.

"Juvia," He said softly, lowering his head near the puddle on the bed. "It's me, Gray; I would like to talk to you."

Slowly, a head, shoulders, arms, and abdomen rose from the puddle. Juvia's eyes were blue from crying. She looked at him and looked like she was about to cry again.

"Shh, Shh," Gray soothed her. "You don't have to cry anymore."

With that, Juvia fully rose from the puddle and tried to smile.

"I'm sorry for being so harsh, but I really can't return your love. I can't be your boyfriend, sorry." He apologized.

Juvia's eyes welled up with tears again.

"No, no, no, no," Gray said, "You don't have to cry again."

"But," Juvia said as the tears streamed down her face. "These aren't tears of sadness, these are tears of joy. Even though Gray-sama doesn't love me back, he atleast cares about me."

"And even if I can't love you back, I can at least make you feel better, right?"

…

Gray had never seen Juvia so happy, and seeing her happy made him smile. "You know," he said as he dug a hole for a tulip, "When I'm feeling really sad, I go out here and garden. It's my secret hobby. No one knows except you and me. Well, and Levym but that's a long story." He looked over at Juvia who was finally getting the hang of how to water plants. She had practically drowned the first group of flowers. And as he looked at her laughing and running around the flower field, he wondered if he had made a mistake. Did he really not love Juvia?

Hello, my lovely readers! I really like this chapter, but the first time I released it, someone commented on it saying that I was wrong and Igneel had raised Natsu because his parents abandoned him. Yes, I know that is true, but I changed it for the story because Elina is a main character. Plus, the dragon king stuff is like half of the story so far.

So okay. Two major comments on this chapter:

1) Now you know why Natsu's hormones were out of wack

2) Natsu's last name comes from his father's name IgNEEL DRAGON= DRAGONEEL pretty creative, eh?

Thankyou: guest, vickimouse, skylar, guest, and guest for reviewing I appreciate you reviews.

One last thing before I say goodbye for the week:

I know how my story will go and I know how to write it. I would appreciate it if I stopped getting reviews about telling me which pairing to do or what should happen. I am glad you have taken interest in my story, but please leave the writing to me. Thank you.

Tune in next Saturday for chapter 12: I Love...

-ashlieswifty