Chapter 18: A Different Feeling
Lignum and Laprision take their riders to a safer place, away from that cliff that the humans had no idea about. "We're almost there." Laprision tells the group as they land in the meadows. The two dragons let the riders hop off and sits down. "So tell us. Why did you guys come here?" Lignum's voice gets their attention. "We're looking for the dragons that raised us." Wendy tells him. "So Natsu isn't the only one?" Laprision asks her. Wendy steps forwards along with Gajeel, Sting and Rogue. "We were saved by them from the Faces." Gajeel tells the dragon. Laprision and Lignum don't seem surprised about Gajeel's answer. "We were aware about Acnalogia's rein. But we didn't expect that Igneel would be killed by that bastard. I assume Igneel told you why they disappeared on July 7, 777." Lignum said to them. Natsu looks down in desspair. Lucy spots his expression and takes hold of his shoulder. "So, do you have any idea where our dragons are?" Sting asks the two dragons, trying to get to the reason.
Lignum and Laprision smiles. "Don't worry. We know where they are. However…" Laprision frowns. "Igneel is recovering from his battle. I bet he'd be happy to see you." Natsu nods with a small smile. "What about the others are they okay?" Wendy asks them. "Rest assured they're all alright. We just need to rest up because the tomorrow is when we feel at our strongest point." Laprision tells him. Wendy smiles. "That's great for us to know." Carla smiles along with Wendy. Turns out hearing this made everyone in the group smile in relief. The dragons takes them to a cottage closeby. "You guys can sleep in here." Lignum said as he opens the door with his one claw.
Inside the cottage is empty. Well there's enough space for them to move around. "We might as well get ourselves comfortable." Happy said as he takes a space by the window. Natsu follows suit and sits by him. Wendy and Carla follow Happy's advice to take a comfy spot for themselves. Everyone else found their own space to sleep. Soon enough the sky darkens with stars appearing brightly. Lucy sits by Natsu to look up the sky. The sky looks identical to the sky in Earthland. "See any familiar consellations?" Happy asks Lucy as he gets onto her shoulder. Lucy looks carefully to see any of them. "Looks like they're all there. It's nice to see them in the Celestial World." She smiles fondly, knowing that her celestial spirits are alright. She lies back down to get some sleep.
Natsu gestures Happy to come to him. Happy doesn't wastes another second and hops onto his lap. "I bet you're relieved to hear about Igneel." Happy looks up to him. Natsu sighs. "I'm not really sure if I should be relief that he's okay. Or upset about leaving me so soon after he came out of me." He lies back down with his hands behind his head. "I just hope he doesn't freak out about seeing you." Happy ssnuggles around his neck. Natsu sighs with a smile as he takes his scarf and wraps it around Happy. He looks up the stars in the sky. 'I hope so too, Happy. I hope so too.'
The sun rises over the horizon in a reddish orange color hue. Natsu feels all of sudden of power surging through his body when the sunlight hit his skin. Happy rubs his tired eyes. "Natsu what is it?" He asks him. Natsu makes his way to the door. "Go back to sleep." He simply tells him as he closes the door behind quietly not to wake up the others. Natsu looks around to see both Laprision and Lignum sleeping as well. Knowing it's best not to wake them up, he walks around the meadow to memorize the scenery. But that's not going to happen. "Natsu, you're up at this hour." Laprision spoke quietly. Natsu turns around. "Oh hi. I'm more like a morning person." He greets the dragon. "I just somehow got this urge to wake and expect the day." Natsu explains why he woke so early in the morning. Laprision stretches his body. "Well it's no surprising that fire dragons feel more powerful because the sun is the primary source of fire." Laprision explains about the Fire based dragons' nature. Natsu takes a deep breathe, feeling the warmth of the sun. "I somehow feel more powerful here than in Earthland." Natsu tells the comparisions. "Earthland may have magic energy in the air but this world feel it's full of a lot more."
Lucy wakes up to find Happy sleeping in Natsu's scarf. Knowing Natsu, he never took off his scarf. But then she noticed why he wears it constantly. She found out that there was a scar on the right side of his neck. She gets up and leaves the cottage. She finds Lignum sleeping still. But no sign of Laprision. "Morning." Lignum opens his eyes slowly. "Oh, good morning. You have such stunning sunrises here." She compliments the sights. Lignum smiles back. "Yes, it is. Is everyone else still asleep?" Lignum asks the blonde hair. Lucy nods, "Yeah. I'm not sure how much longer they sleep. The only one I found missing is Natsu. But I know why he's an early bird." She stretches her body. Laprision lowers down. "Hop on." He tells her. Lucy gets onto his back. Laprision steathly walks away from the cottage so they wouldn't wake the others.
"Where are we going?" Lucy asks the dragon. Laprision widens his enlarged wing and take off into the air. All Lucy can do is look in mixed emotions of excitement, and amazement. "I'll take you to meet Lignum and Natsu." Lignum said as they soar towards Laprision and Natsu. Lignum fly over the meadows, picking up Laprision's scent. "So how long have you and Laprision known each other?" Lucy asks curiously. Before Lignum answers the question, Laprision soars into the air above them with Natsu on his back. "How about a race?" Natsu shouts to Lucy. Lignum didn't see that coming. Laprision smiles. "Why not? We need to do a few flying." He agrees with Natu's idea. "Sure." Lignum smiles back. "Lucy. Do you wanna ride or be a stick in the mud?" Natsu said cockily to Lucy.
Lucy twitched her eye. "Oh, it's on." She smirks back to him. Natsu laughs. "Alright, let's fly." He shouts. Soon enough the two dragons soar in the air in remarkable speed.