Quick paced, no idea what else I could add into this chapter, but it is quite an important one.
Chapter 8 Start
Shen stood outside of the house that was written on the piece of paper. He knocked on the door and waited for a minute and heard noises from the other side before the door opened and Erica was standing in the doorway.
"Shen, you're here!" She said with a smile.
"I said I would be. I always keep my word." Shen told her as she grabbed his hand and lead him inside. As soon as he stepped inside, due to his heightened sense of smell, he smelt the scents of cooking. Erica led him to the doorway of the kitchen and he saw that her mother was working at the stove.
"Mom, Shen is here." She turned and smiled at him.
"Hello again, little dragon."
Shen sighed "Are you going to call me that whenever you see me now?"
"Why wouldn't I?"
"Because I'm not a dragon, I'm a Dracian..."
"It has part of the word dragon in it."
"Yeah but...never mind." He said giving up "Call me that if you want."
She smiled "Dinner will be ready in a little bit."
Shen had no time to respond before Erica led him upstairs and into her room. She lead him to the bed and she sat down.
"Sit down." She said to him and he did.
"Why did you bring me up here?"
"So we could talk." she answered "What did you think of my father?"
"A random question, and I think you should know since he tried to kill me."
"I know, but I mean before he tried to."
"He seemed nice and protective of you, of course I never knew he beat you or I would have tried to stop him."
She smiled "So you do care about me."
"I was more foolish as a kid and wasn't aware what might get me killed, or exposed."
"But you protected me in town as well."
"Natsu is the one that saved you, I took care of the group that wanted me dead. Self-defense."
"Are you saying you don't care if anything happens to me?"
"If the group that attacks me targets you I will attack them, but only because they are involving an innocent that has nothing to do with it."
"Let me ask you a question, am I the only human that have gotten to know you?"
"Pretty much. Fairy Tail knows of my magic and what I am, but you may be the only human alive that I lived with for a while."
She smiled as Shen said that "Why did you act so rude when I arrived at Fairy Tail to see you?"
"You were getting involved with me, a mistake when I have a group of killers after me." Shen responded easily "I may have no love of pure humans, but I'm not going to stand around when they are being hurt because of me."
She nodded "Do you remember how we met?"
Shen thought back "Yeah. You were being bullied and I got your doll back and gave it back to you and dealt with the two boys that were annoying you."
"Exactly, so even then you helped me." She said. Shen stayed silent, not knowing how to respond.
"Erica, bring the little dragon down, dinner's ready!" her mother called up.
Erica giggled at that and Shen shook his head "Does she know my name?" He asked.
"Yeah she does, but don't count on her using it. Come on." Erica lead Shen downstairs.
The dinner was filling and quite delicious, and after they had the dishes done Erica's mother asked her to go to the store to pick something up. Shen wasn't sure if he should leave now or not until she spoke to him.
"Want a coffee or something?" She asked putting the dishes away.
"No thanks." he answered.
"I need to talk to you about something. Go into the living room and wait for me." He did as he was told and waited. After a bit she came out putting a cup on the table in front of Shen, before sitting down across from him.
"I made you one anyway. Now about what I need to talk to you about." She said thinking of a way to start it as Shen looked at the cup in front of him.
"Is it about Erica?" he asked.
"Yes. By now you must have noticed that she has feelings for you."
"She's kissed me twice since she came to Magnolia, so yes."
"She use to talk about you all the time once she came to live with me."
"What happened? Where were you when she was living with her father?" Shen suddenly asked.
"I was in the next town over and Erica visited me every once in a while. Imagine my surprise when I hear pounding on my door and open it to find my only child standing there, a teddy bear in her arms, bare foot, hearing a night gown, tears in her eyes and a frightened expression on her face. I get her inside and she told me of 'a boy' killing her father and when she explained it further I told her it may have been an accident or something and as the years went by she started to talk more about you, in a different way, wanting to meet you again and tell you she knew it was an accident. We kept waiting to see if we would ever hear anything about you, but every time we got close, you disappeared."
"I had to stay on the move or I would have been killed."
"I want you to understand that she loves you Shen." she said seriously, using his name.
"I understand that clearly. I believe she should not expect anything to come of it."
"You don't feel the same about her?"
"My feelings are irrelevant. I am not a human, and I refuse to love a human or any creature but what I am. If something were come of it and we were to, for example, have children they would be shunned for being of mixed blood as I have been. They would be a child of a human and a Dracian."
"Except you would be able to protect them and teach them how to act without revealing themselves."
Shen sighed "You make it sound so easy. Anyway before I could even consider giving 'love' a chance I have to take out the group that is after me, and the only way I can do that is to leave for a while and train my magic."
"And you don't plan to tell Erica?"
"I never said that, but I don't want her to ask to come along or anything like that."
"I see."
"Anyway I'm going to head home now."
"Before Erica gets home?"
"I'm tired." Shen lied "I had a practice spar with one of the mages at the guild."
"All right I'll tell Erica that."
Shen nodded and walked to the door "Thanks for inviting me to dinner." he left.
Shen was thinking of heading home, but he decided to get some unpleasant business out of the way and headed to the Fairy Tail guild. He pushed the doors open and Natsu noticed him and got up and got in Shen's way.
"Were you really thinking of assassinating me if I didn't meet your expectations?"
"Yes." He responded simply "I was enraged that my father and his ward since he left me and my mother without teaching me what I needed to know."
"You really thought you would be able to if I wasn't alone?"
"I had the pills and I was prepared to use them if I had to."
"So you were saving them to kill me?"
"Listen Natsu, if I wanted you dead, you would be buried by now. I also, surprisingly no longer hate you as much as I did when I first got here. I also used the pills so if I tired to kill you now I would have a hard time with the rest of the guild ready to defend a family member. You don't need to sleep with one eye open because I am not going to try and kill you."
"...Okay...maybe you are not as bad as I thought."
"I'm not. I still understand human feelings, not being a pure one myself." Shen said as he left and headed for his house, which was a cheap apartment. Nightfall had come quickly and he walked briskly, his mind going through where he could go to train his skills without being interrupted as he caught a whiff of something.
"Steel...Iron...weapons." Shen muttered to himself "Nervousness, fear. Behind. Three and weak." He sighed and stopped walking "You three behind me." he heard surprised sounds "I am not aggressive unless provoked and those weapons can not hurt me. I suggest you leave and never come near me again. I know your scents now." He heard retreating footsteps "Now I'm targeted by citizens? I'm use to that." He said as he started walking again, arriving at his apartment soon after going and lying in his bed, falling asleep rather quickly.
Shen awoke in a black room. Nothing could be seen. Shen was almost instantly on his feet as is senses were jolted to life. He smelled the air, catching a faint, familiar scent that he couldn't quite place.
"Anyone here."
"So you have finally awoke." said a quiet rumbling voice.
"Who's there?" Shen said reaching for his dagger, which wasn't where it should be.
"You're weapon is not on you since this is basically a dream."
"Who are you?"
"Have you forgotten my voice child?"
Shen was about to say something when he realized something "It's you..." Anger flowed through his body "Igneel!"
"You should not call me by that name, I am your father by the way." the voice responded as out of the darkness came a huge body, a dragon's body, Igneel.
"A father that left his wife and son. Because of you my mother died!"
"Was it because of me, or was it because you were not strong enough to protect her?"
"You left before you could teach me how to hide what I was and then trained Natsu for a number of years instead of your own blood!"
"You have met Natsu, correct?"
"I have, but why does that matter?"
"Curious. Now I have bought you to this place so I could talk to you."
"Why not meet me ion person instead of in a dream?"
"Dragons are no longer going to get involved with humans again. I can not come from where I am so I must meet you here."
"Fuck off. I don't care if you are my father or not, but you have nothing to say that I want to hear."
"Not even if I know of a location where you can train and get strong enough to defeat the D.E.C?"
Shen turned to him shocked "Do you?"
"I do. If you wish to know the location say so now."
"I do wish to know."
"Then take this as an apology for leaving you and your mother, my son."
Shen suddenly awoke and images flashed through his mind of a place he had never seen before, but suddenly knew it's location.
"The Fountain of Dragons. If I want to train there I need to get there within the next 5 days or the fountain will have already begun it's process of drying up." Shen got dressed and decided to head to Fairy Tail before taking off. He walked to the guild quickly, as he kept thinking of the location, not wanting to forget it. As he walked in he saw many people were there already, including Team Natsu, along with Wendy and Carla. He walked over to them.
"I'm heading out on a training trip, I'm asking you 7 to escort me to my location just in case I run into members of the D.E.C."
"You're asking for our help?" Lucy asked.
"I am. You have proven your worth and I think having you along with me would make the trip much easier."
"Where are you heading out to?" Natsu asked.
"A 3 day journey. I'll explain it better after, but I need to be there within the next 5 days or it will be to late."
"We will escort you there." Erza said standing up, agreeing for the others as well."
"We will help all we can." Wendy added.
"I thank you. I will await you at the gates of Magnolia." Shen left the guild and headed to the gates, in a hurry to leave. As he got closer to the gates he saw two people he didn't want to see. Erica and her mother.
"Damn. This just got a lot more complicated."
Chapter 8 End