ATTENTION:- This is an important message for everyone who does not read the Fairy Tail manga and only watches the anime. There is going to be some MAJOR spoilers in this chapter of things that have not yet been shown in the anime, not even in the original Japanese version that I watch. So… read on at your own risk! If you want to wait and read it spoiler-free… I suggest you wait until at least Christmas… unless you watch the English dub in which case you will have to wait longer.

Additionally, I feel the need to point out one more thing, as it is a point raised by one of my reviewers - according to the official website Pottermore, Merlin actually attended Hogwarts during its early years and was sorted into Slytherin House before then going on to help Arthur and his knights after he graduated. I am calling bull on this - Hogwarts was formed in around the 10th century whereas the legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table take place in the late 5th to early 6th century, hundreds of years before Hogwarts was founded. Therefore Merlin having gone to Hogwarts like that makes no sense at all, so I am ignoring this Potterverse fact altogether and going with the Merlin show.

Dance of the Fairies, Flight of the Phoenix

Chapter 33:- Secret Flames

"Um… Natsu…" Lisanna murmured, standing stock-still with her newfound wings folded in tightly against her back, her arms by her sides and a faint blush on her cheeks. "Have you ever heard of… personal space? Cos… you're kinda in mine."

Natsu didn't pay her words any attention, but he was paying a lot of attention to the rest of her, jumping in circles around her and leaning in close to inspect her new form from just about every angle he could manage.

"This is so cool…" he said for possibly the eighth time. "I've always wanted wings. Being carried around by Happy is great but sometimes I'd like to fly under my own power. And a tail too, that's so awesome. Igneel used to knock trees over with his, and he had a Fire Dragon tail attack that I've never really used in battle cause when I do it looks like I'm farting fire - if I had a real tail it would look awesome! And those scales look really tough, I bet you can shrug off a lot of powerful hits with those… can I touch them…?" He reached out a hand and Lisanna gasped and quickly grabbed his wrist.

"Natsu… keep moving my hands forwards… and you'll be touching my breast…" she said slowly, as if trying to explain it to a child despite the furious blush on her face.

"So? It's covered in scales now," Natsu said, looking genuinely bemused.

"That's irrelevant! You don't touch a girl's chest unless you're alone with the girl and going out with her!" Lisanna shivered. "Neither of which applies to us."

"But you always said he's the daddy and you're the mummy," Happy snickered with his paws over his mouth. "You liiiiike him."

"YOU'RE NOT HELPING!" Lisanna cried, now sure her face would stay red for the rest of her life before she guided Natsu's hand to one of her scaly vambraces. "Here… that you can touch."

"Oooh, so smooth… yet so tough, I can tell," Natsu said as he ran his hand over Lisanna's arm, gliding his fingers up one of the spikes on her vambrace to tap the sharp tip. "I can tell, you've gotten a serious power-up now, Lisanna. Wait! Does this mean you're a Dragon Slayer now, like me?"

"No, it does not," said Kilgharrah - the huge dragon was watching with mild amusement from a nearby ledge. "I do not possess the Dragon Slayer magic of your kind - my magic is quite different. It would still be quite effective against another dragon but she does not possess power akin to yours, young mage. But you are right about her scales being tough. We dragons are extremely resistant to almost all types of magic. You should find yourself able to shrug off something like a human Stunning spell with ease now, Lisanna. Possibly even several at once."

"I can feel the power brimming inside me," Lisanna said as she pulled her arm out of Natsu's grip and clenched her fist. "And it still feels like I'm only scratching the surface of this form's potential… Natsu… when we get back to London we need to find a place to train," she said firmly, a hardened resolution filling her eyes. "I want to expand my magical potential. The stronger I get, the more of this new power I'll be able to use. And if it will help protect you and everyone else then I will gladly do it, no matter how rigorous the training may be."

Natsu grinned widely, raising his own hand palm open and waiting until Lisanna grasped it firmly, a fierce glint in both their eyes as if they were about to start the training right then and there. "You betcha," Natsu nodded. "I want to see more of this magic myself. But I ain't gonna hold back on you. Igneel never held back on me."

"I wouldn't want it any other way," Lisanna nodded.

"This is going to blow the minds of the others," Happy bounced up and down a couple of times.

"It's still blowing my mind," Lisanna smiled… but that smile was promptly replaced with a frown as she turned back to Kilgharrah. "But… you said that… there was another reason you chose to teach me this power beyond your simple curiosity… what reason is that?"

Kilgharrah's golden eyes sparkled slightly. "That reason is quite a complex one. But before it can be explained to you… I must first do this…" he raised his head, his throat pulsating like a giant hose before he exhaled sharply over all three of them, wind billowing from his maw in quite a similar manner to how he'd put Lisanna's power limiter in place. Lisanna felt a little tingly as she felt his power wash over her but nowhere near as much as last time.

Suddenly Happy keeled over, his eyes closing and falling onto his back with a small thud. Lisanna looked down at him in surprise… he'd suddenly fallen asleep, prone upon the rock with a contented smile on his face that told Lisanna he was already dreaming about fish.

And Natsu… was now standing totally still… his arms falling slack to his sides, his eyes wide and unblinking, staring at Lisanna as if he was looking straight through her somehow. Lisanna blinked and moved aside a little but Natsu didn't budge an inch. He just kept staring at the rocky wall of the mountainside, even when Lisanna raised her hand up and waved it in front of his face. No response at all.

"What did you do?" she looked up at the dragon as he settled back on his haunches.

"I put the Exceed to sleep and young Natsu into a trance. The information you're about to receive is not for either of their ears. They are for yours alone."

"Could you have not just… sent them away?"

"No… it will help if Natsu is still here…" Kilgharrah said cryptically.

"Er… why?"

"You shall see. Now… one of the things we dragons possess, Lisanna, is some telepathic ability. Since you now have some of my strength, you can now you it too. So… stand in front of Natsu and stare into his eyes. Stretch out with your mind, like you do with your Take-Over magic, and try to make contact with his own."

"Will he hear me if he's in a trance?"

"No."

"Then why am I doing it?"

"You'll see."

Lisanna frowned - clearly she wasn't going to get any more information out of Kilgharrah. But she didn't see the harm in his suggestion so she got back in front of him and focused her eyes upon his own. Focusing her mind, she imagined something like an invisible tendril of thought wafting her body to connect with his, concentrating as hard as she could manage to open her mind and connect it to Natsu's.

Hello? she thought. Can you hear me?

Indeed I can.

Lisanna gasped - in fact she almost screamed! The voice that suddenly echoed through her mind wasn't Natsu's at all! It was much bigger, gruffer - like a constant albeit non-threatening growl. Then suddenly the world around her melted away, almost literally. Natsu, Happy and Kilgharrah vanished, and lava welled up on all sides around her, filling up the mountainous landscape that became nothing but brown rock, smoke and ash. Lisanna gasped when she realised she was standing on a small slab no less than a couple of metres squared in the middle of a lava river and hurriedly flexed her wings in preparation to take off…

But then a huge foot slammed down on the bank of the lava river before her… a reptilian foot encrusted with rust red scales and was as thick as a tree. Lisanna froze, her blue eyes slowly tracking up the legs to see it conjoined with a massive body, a pale stomach with criss-crossing scars and a heavily armoured back from which two great wings sprouted to block out the volcanoes behind it, all giving way to a long, thick neck and and immense reptilian head.

Another dragon…

And Lisanna found herself unable to do anything but gape… guessing almost immediately who this was. She'd heard Natsu describe him enough times to build up a picture in her mind of what he must have looked like, and now she was seeing him, she hadn't been that far off. The horn on his nose was a little blunter than she'd imagined, and the horns sweeping out the back of his head were a little longer, but the wing-like frills at either side of the base of his skull, the cavernous jaws, massive teeth and yellow eyes… they were all there. He even had the long scar over his right eye and the X-shaped scar a little way down the right side of his jaw.

"…Igneel… You… you're Igneel…"

For such a fearsome looking reptile, the dragon's eyes were surprisingly soft and kind. His enormously long, whip-like tail swept over to curl around his feet as he sat upon his haunches, his jaw curling up into a benevolent smile.

"I am," he said, his voice making Lisanna feel suddenly warm inside like she'd been submerged in lava that somehow didn't burn her.

"Natsu's foster father…"

"That's me," Igneel nodded. "And you are Lisanna Strauss. The first person that Natsu truly called a friend after I… disappeared… from his life."

"…Is this real?" Lisanna's eyes flicked around her to observe the volcanic scenery - she could smell the ash, sulphur and brimstone trying to clog up her nasal passages with their brittle scents. "Where… where are we?"

"It is real and yet not real," Igneel replied, shifting his wings slightly and folding them in to make himself look less imposing. "You are still standing on the mountainside staring into my foster son's eyes. And we are still communicating telepathically rather than with our real voices. But I have created this vision in your mind, one of where you would see if you really were standing right in front of me, so that we can talk face to face. I thought it would be more personal."

"You can say that again… but… where are you then? How can I be talking to you? And… is this where you've been all this time?" Lisanna suddenly flexed her own wings, her voice getting stronger as her disbelief gradually started to wane. "Is this place where you have been hiding yourself away ever since you abandoned Natsu on July 7th, year X777? And why? Why in the world would you ever do that to him? He missed you so much, why were you never there for him?"

Igneel's smile lapsed slightly, still in place but now somehow much sadder, his head lifting to stare out across the landscape above Lisanna's head. His expression was more than enough to make Lisanna stop talking - seeing heartache on the face of a dragon was a new one for her, but she could still clearly recognise that that's what it was."

"All good questions," Igneel rumbled, closing his eyes and dipping his head in what looked… very much like shame. "And I am speaking with you now to answer them all. But before we begin… I would just like to say… thank you."

"…Huh?" Lisanna swallowed. "Thank you? For… for what?"

"For being there for my son when he needed someone there for him the most. I knew that when I left it would leave him feeling vulnerable and alone… he wandered the wilderness by himself for weeks before he happened upon your guild and all that time, he felt so terrible. He thought himself a burden on me, that perhaps I had left him because I did not really care or that I thought he was not good enough for him. Nothing could be further from the truth," he rumbled, stamping his foot down and almost knocking Lisanna off her feet - wow, this was a realistic vision.

But the dragon turned his gaze upon Lisanna and smiled warmly at her. "But when he arrived at your guild and became a member to find work, you were the one who reassured him otherwise. The one that went to him, comforted him, convinced him that I must have had a reason for my actions. You were the one that reawakened his hope that one day, he and I would be reunited. I cannot tell you how grateful I was when I heard your words."

"…You were watching that?" Lisanna breathed. She could remember that well - Natsu had initially been reluctant to talk about Igneel when he'd first arrived and she'd managed to get him to. Not only had that helped them start to bond but after that he'd begun to open up to the rest of the guild too.

"I was always watching," Igneel nodded. "I saw every adventure Natsu had with you and all your guildmates. I supervised all of your games. I was there when Natsu heard that you had been killed. I felt almost as devastated as he was at the news. After all," he suddenly gave an extremely wide smirk. "If you're the mummy and Natsu's the daddy, and the Exceed is the kid, that must make me the grandpa of the family."

This time Lisanna felt as if her whole body was burning hotter than the lava itself as her face lit up with a spectacular blush. "You saw all that too?" she squeaked.

"Everything."

"But… but how…? And how are you talking to me now? Do you have some kind of… magic that allows you to see anything you want no matter where you are?"

"I do not, but I wish I had. It would have made things a lot easier in the long run if I'd had access to a power like that."

"But then how can you be talking to me? I'm in a completely different dimension to you."

"…No… you are not."

"…Eh? You're in… this world."

"Indeed. I came with you. And I am not communicating across a great distance. What you see around you may be a vision of where I am… but in reality… I am still directly in front of you."

"…What? I… I don't under… stand…" Lisanna's voice slowly trailed away as the reality of the situation kicked in. She'd stretched out her mind to Natsu's to try and communicate and instead ended up talking to his foster father. Natsu was the one right in front of her… which meant that Igneel…

"You're… inside… Natsu?" Lisanna breathed, looking around her at the volatile landscape, her heart suddenly pounding in her ears. "All this… is inside Natsu's body?"

"It's a magical container I created in which I could live for as long as I am here," Igneel nodded sagely. "A pocket dimension, if you will, one that is infinitely larger on the inside than it is on the outside. There's nothing beyond those mountains but an invisible wall but on the outside its the size of a human thumbnail. Natsu does not even notice it. And I have been here ever since, using my telepathy to piggyback on the wavelengths of Natsu's mind and of the people around him so that I could continue to watch him grow. And even though I've been stuck here in this tiny space for the last seven years, thirteen if you include being frozen in the Fairy Sphere… they've been among the happiest of my life."

Lisanna was struggling to take it all in. If she'd thought Kilgharrah's story about the days of Camelot had been an information overload, it was nothing compared to this. Every time she'd looked at Natsu she'd also been looking at Igneel. Every time Natsu had looked right back, so had Igneel.

"What about Wendy? And Gajeel? Their… their dragons… did they…?"

"You are referring to Grandine and Metalicana. The answer is yes… all five of the dragons that were raising human children by the year X777 disappeared into their bodies on July 7th."

"…Wait, five?" Lisanna blinked. "But… I only know three. Laxus was never raised by a dragon. And nor was that man from Oracion Seis that Natsu told me about."

"Indeed not. The other two are boys called Sting Eucliffe and Rogue Cheney. They were young Wendy's age when their foster parents, Weisslogia and Skiadrum, entered their bodies. But of course they weren't frozen in time so they'll be eighteen by this point. I find it very likely you'll meet them one day when you return to your world."

"But why?" Lisanna's voice seemed to find its strength again. "Why did you all do that? You say you've been watching your children grow up for seven years? Well, then you must have also seen how much they missed you! How many times they were in terrible danger and were nearly killed! You must have been watching when Acnologia was attacking us on Tenroujima! Why did you never reveal yourselves and come to their aid?"

Igneel's face twisted into a pained grimace and his foot clenched hard enough to crush a portion of the bank about three feet wide and send the pieces of rock sinking into the lava. "We wanted to," he clenched his teeth so hard it was a miracle they didn't shatter out of his jaw. "It pained us beyond measure to sit back and do nothing all those times. Grandine linked with me telepathically a couple of times wondering if we were doing the right thing to put them through that. In those moments, never before had I felt so helpless, especially when that accursed Black Dragon appeared. But we had to stay put and not interfere. We had to leave the humans be until the time was right."

Lisanna's stomach had now clenched, feeling suddenly awful for raising questions that were obviously causing Igneel great distress. She wasn't sure if dragons could cry… but in that moment it seriously looked like Igneel was going to. Her heart went out to him - she didn't even know what his reasons were yet but she couldn't help it. Especially since she knew exactly how he must have felt. She was reminded once again of the time she'd been trapped in Azuma's tree roots watching her sister fight him. And Igneel had apparently been in that position for seven straight years!

It was an unbearable thought.

"I'm sorry…" she whispered. "I… I didn't mean to upset you…"

"No. Your questions need to be asked. And they also need to be answered. And now that you have learned your new Dragon Soul… I feel I can entrust you with the truth."

"…Then you're the one who's been communicating with Kilgharrah. You're the one who told him all about us. You urged him to find me and teach me this power."

"Indeed. Grandine and Metalicana stretched out their minds to search for any intelligent dragons in this world as soon as they heard they were all supposed to be dumb beasts here. They were able to contact both Kilgharrah and Aithusa and have been communicating with them every so often ever since. I was pulled into the loop when Natsu finally unfroze from his Sphere. And I was watching at Gringotts. The fact you became a dragon… by merging your soul with its own… it got me thinking. I communicated with Metalicana and Grandine, discussed it over with them… and a wild plan began to form in our minds. One which you will play a crucial role. But for it to work, you would need to advance your magic and create a entirely new Take Over that could work on a dragon. So we reached out for Kilgharrah, imploring him to intervene and teach you in our stead."

"You're creating more questions than you're answering right now," Lisanna stated.

Igneel snorted with a puff of flame. "Sorry. Very well… I shall tell you what you need to know to understand. But in order for this story to make any sense, we will need to start four-hundred years ago."

"Four-hundred?" Lisanna asked. "Isn't that when Zeref was in power?"

"Yes. But I'm not here to talk to you about Zeref. I am here to talk to you about… Acnologia."

"…What about him?" The Take-Over Mage swallowed. The way Igneel said his name, with pure loathing… she could already tell that this story was not going to be a happy one.

"Kilgharrah's race of dragons was not the only one to go through a purge of sorts," Igneel said, his eyes shimmering as he looked up into nothingness, memories of a time long past welling up within his mind. And in Lisanna's. She could see an image of Igneel flying through the sky simply enjoying life, alongside a couple of other dragons, including one that appeared to be entirely made from fire from head to tail-tip.

"Once we were numerous, spread out right across Fiore and we were the rulers of all we surveyed. We did not live in peace with humanity as Kilgharrah's race did. To many of us they were food, to many others nothing but pests but we were far more powerful than they. There was nothing they could do to stop or even wound a single one of us. But eventually… one of our kind got to know humans on a more personal level and he proposed the radical idea that perhaps we really could co-exist with them. It sparked much controversy amongst our race. There were many who thought it ludicrous, but many other who looked into his suggestions and discovered humans were more like us than we'd thought. But the arguments raged back and forth, growing ever more heated until finally… war broke out."

Lisanna gasped as her mind was suddenly filled with images of destruction the likes of which she'd never imagine before. Entire countries burning as the dragons battled in the skies above, tearing the ground below to pieces with every wave of their mighty breath attacks, crashing their bodies together, tearing with claw and tooth, clubbing tails and beating wings.

It was carnage!

"This is horrible!" she whispered.

"And I'm showing you one of the nicer battles," Igneel snorted. "But we were at a stalemate - no clear victor in sight. Until finally we, the side in favour of joining forces with humans… chose to do just that. We began to teach Dragon Slayer magic to many humans to involve them in the war."

"… So… that's how the first Dragon Slayers came to be… of course, that makes sense… I could never work out why dragons would ever teach humans magic that would allow them to kill dragons but a war… now it all adds up."

"Yes… but it would have been better for us if we had not done so. We did not understand as much about humans as we thought. The Dragon Slayers grew to become the most powerful humans in the world in a very short space of time and the tide began to turn in our favour. But… we never stopped to think what the humans might decide to do with that power once they got it. We just assumed we would remain allies. But the humans… had other ideas."

"No…"

"To this day I do not know exactly why they turned on us. Perhaps they got drunk on the new power we had given them or perhaps it literally drove overwhelmed their minds and drove them mad. But the Dragon Slayers began to massacre all dragons on both sides of the war, strengthening constantly by bathing in the blood of those they killed. And they even began to turn upon each other until eventually… only one Dragon Slayer remained. But he was a man of immense power and he wouldn't stop. He hunted down dragon after dragon, killing them and bathing in their blood once they'd died, and in a matter of years my kind found themselves on the run from him."

And Lisanna could see him in her mind's eye. A tall, well built man with dark skin and dark blue hair that was even longer and wilder than Gajeel's, wearing a long black cloak with what looked like dragon's teeth around his neck. He had sharp eyes, which were rimmed with black, and his face and arms were adorned with long, curved markings that were light blue in colour… and which looked eerily familiar to Lisanna.

"I'll give you three guesses as to who that is," Igneel said wryly.

But Lisanna only needed one. Even though she was only seeing a vision she could practically feel this man's power. And it didn't take her long to place where she'd seen those markings before.

"Acnologia… he was originally human?!"

"As human as you are. But as he grew in power his body slowly began to change. He became more and more draconic until eventually… he had changed completely into a dragon. A dragon you have seen before. And he continued to hunt down and destroy all other dragons until eventually… they were gone. As far as I know… only the five of us that now reside within the bodies of the Dragon Slayers remain. All other dragons through our world… are gone. Just like Kilgharrah's. And in a strange way, the demise of both our races was brought about by men who were once our kin."

"I can't believe it…" Lisanna sat down on the stone slab, her breathing rapid and her brain feeling like it was about to burst. "Such a mighty race all torn down by one madman? Why? Why would he do that to those that gave him his power?"

"That I cannot answer… Acnologia's motives are unfathomable. He has the power to rule over the entire world if he so chose but for some reason he has kept to the shadows over the last four-hundred years. And so did we. We remained in hiding, communicating with each other from a distance and staying away from everyone. We all hoped for an opportunity to attack and defeat Acnologia but that opportunity never presented itself. And after almost four hundred years… our time was beginning to run out."

"Time?" Lisanna frowned. "What do you mean?"

"More or less exactly what you think it means," Igneel sighed.

"You're… dying?" Lisanna's hands flew to her mouth, her pulse quickening in absolute horror. "No! No, you can't die! Natsu… Gajeel… Wendy… they need you guys. They've spent so long hoping to reunite with you, you can't just die and leave them alone."

"We were already dying long before we even began their training."

"How? Aren't dragons from our world supposed to be immortal, just like Kilgharrah?"

"We are indeed immortal. Unless we are killed."

"…What?"

"Let me explain something else before I get to that. Because our time was running out and we still hadn't found the chance to kill Acnologia, the greatest shame of our race, we knew we needed to take drastic action. Which was why we each found… a lost human child… and began to raise them as Dragon Slayers once more. Considering the disaster of the Dragon Slayers from four-hundred years ago we had been lucky to try this again until now. But this time we were more conservative - we taught them slowly, more methodically, and we didn't teach them everything before we left. We figured if they were allowed to discover their power on their own amongst other people, many of which were stronger than them and could keep them from getting overly arrogant with their power, they could keep a better head than the previous Dragon Slayers."

"…From what I know that almost went wrong with Gajeel…" Lisanna sweatdropped.

Igneel snorted. "Indeed, but he came around. And my boy Natsu helped see to that. That battle was so strange to me, because I was talking to Metalicana all the way through it and we were both rooting for Natsu. Gajeel really needed some sense beaten into him at that point in his life."

"No kidding. So… is that why you taught them Dragon Slayer magic? You were hoping they would one day be able to defeat Acnologia?"

"Yes, but there is another reason. And it is that reason that will bring me to answer two more of your questions - why have we never revealed ourselves… and why did we teach you Dragon Soul."

Lisanna wet her lips with her tongue slightly. "Go on."

Igneel stretched his wings out, taking a deep breath that seemed to suck a lot of the air out of Lisanna's own lungs. She could tell he was about to unburden himself with things he'd clearly been wishing to tell people for far too long. And she was on tenterhooks waiting for him to begin.

"Firstly, we didn't want our foster children to turn out like Acnologia physically as well as mentally. We didn't want them to transform into dragons over time, as they surely would have done eventually. Grandine analysed humans from afar and thanks to experimenting with her Sky Magic she figured out a way for us to create a special antibody that would stop the dragonifying process in a human… but only in large enough quantities.

"All this time we have been inside them we have been creating those antibodies and injecting them from our pocket dimensions directly into the bodies of our hosts. And we are still doing that now. We are close to reaching the threshold that Grandine believes will probably be enough to stop them from becoming dragons ever. Weisslogia and Skiadrum have probably already reached that threshold within their own hosts since they were never put in suspended animation.

"Grandine was also the one who devised the method of allowing us to enter the bodies of the Dragon Slayers. But… it is a one time thing. The antibodies we are creating have become a double-edged Iron Dragon Sword. If we were to leave now and then we tried to re-enter their bodies later, they would reject us and force us to stay out. The only reason they haven't done that while we've been in here is because they currently associate us as being part of their bodies already, whereas we would be draconic intruders if we tried to force our way back in. So we cannot leave until we have finished the job or all our work will have been for nothing. And the process of creating the antibodies has been a slow one as we have been trying to conserve our magic for the right time. That was why, although Acnologia finally presented himself to us on Tenroujima, we could not intervene."

Suddenly Lisanna's guilt at being helpless to assist her sister… didn't seem quite as bad.

"That must… have been tearing you apart inside…" she whispered. She could only imagine how Igneel must have felt, watching from the sidelines as Acnologia threatened to not only kill his son but tear down almost everything that he held dear with him. At least with her situation, Mirajane had been putting up a good fight against Azuma and Lisanna had had the hope Mira would triumph throughout. But Acnologia had been trouncing them. Igneel must have had no hope at all, sinking into despair until Mavis had brought about the miracle that saved all their lives.

"It was not pleasant," Igneel growly grimly. "But that brings me to my final point. The final reason we decided to enter the bodies of the Dragon Slayers was to prolong our own lives."

"Because you're dying?"

"Yes. And that is why we have elected to help you learn Dragon Soul."

"…I still don't understand."

Igneel chuckled wryly. "Perhaps this will help. Try to use your newfound power on me now. Try and perform a Take-Over on me."

Lisanna's inhaled sharply. "Are you sure?"

"Of course. Go on - try."

"…Okay…" Lisanna swallowed, closing her eyes and stretching out her magic as she'd done many times before. Sure enough, she could feel Igneel's explosive power simmering before her like a bomb that was about to go off… but as she stretched deeper…

…nothing!

Lisanna's eyes shot open, her head snapping up to look Igneel dead in the eye. The dragon did nothing but smile sadly as Lisanna groped around with her magic like a blind person poking their hand into a crevice to try and feel what was inside but… there was nothing.

"Your soul…" she whispered in unmitigated horror. "You don't… have a soul."

"Correct."

"How can you not have a soul!? Everything alive has a soul… your soul is what makes you who you are! It gives your you personality, your feelings, your emotions… everything…! I've seen your emotions, I've seen how much you love Natsu… how can you possibly do that without a soul?"

"Oh, I do have a soul. It's just not inside my body anymore."

"Any… anymore?" Lisanna felt a chill creeping over her - her skin running cold even amongst this sweltering landscape. "What… happened to it?"

"Acnologia happened," Igneel growled darkly. "One of the many reasons that Acnologia became so proficient a Dragon Slayer was that he learned how to reap the souls of dragons, tearing them right out of their bodies. Much like the… Dementors… from this world can do with that Kiss technique of theirs, except Acnologia used his claws. As you probably know, if a human loses their soul then they become entirely disconnected from it. Their bodies become hollow - still alive but entirely empty of self… I believe humans describe people in this state as 'vegetables.' An odd phrase I've always found.

"But Dragons are different. When we lose our souls we are still vaguely connected to it, enough for our bodies to function without it inside them. And while a human can live without a soul until dying from the body's natural causes, a Dragon is left weakened and in a half-dead state. And as time passes, our bodies slowly die. And we were growing close to our breaking point by the time we entered the Dragon Slayers."

"…And… being in here… slows down the dying process?" Lisanna questioned.

"As a matter of fact it stops it entirely. In here, we are connected to the souls of the Dragon Slayers themselves. They can sustain us for as long as we remain here. But as soon as we leave we will be forced to detach from their souls and begin dying again. And we estimate we will have less than a day before our time finally comes if we were to do that."

Nothing more was said for a minute as Lisanna allowed all that to sink in. It truly seemed like a dead-end situation. As long as Igneel stayed in here, Natsu's heart would ache to see him. But if he left, Natsu's heart would break because he'd be forced to watch his father die.

"Can you not just… talk to Natsu from in here? Let him know what's really going on?"

"I cannot. If Natsu found out about this then his body would stop thinking of me as part of it. The antibodies would turn on me and eject me and then I would be doomed. That is why we left without telling the Dragon Slayers what we were going to do. It was crucial for their sake and our own that they didn't know where we were. And that is why, even though I am revealing all this to you, you must not tell Natsu about any of this. Not under any circumstances."

"…It's… that's… already the hardest thing I've ever had to do. I want to rush out there now and… and… tell him everything. He deserves to know all of this. They all do."

"But you understand why you must keep this secret from him?"

Lisanna nodded, tears now leaking down her face as her heart burned for both the dragon and the Dragon Slayer. It hadn't ached this much since she'd found herself in Edolas and had been forced to pretend she was the Edolas Lisanna to keep from breaking Edo-Mira and Elfman's hearts. And now, she had a whole new secret to keep. One she would ache to tell every time she so much as thought about any of the Dragon Slayers.

"However," Igneel smiled, his tone of voice changing and Lisanna looked up to see his kind smile was back in place. "There may be hope on the horizon. As I said, the main reason we trained the Dragon Slayers was that we hoped that they could carry on our legacy and one day defeat Acnologia in our stead if we failed. But… perhaps there is a way that it will not come to that. And that way… is you."

"…Me?" Lisanna's pupils shrank to the size of full stops.

"Indeed. After all, though are bodies are dying our souls are still out there, back in our own world somewhere. It was thanks to that that we were able to enter the bodies of our children. You see, our bodies and our souls, while separated, both possess a degree of magic. Neither has as much as we would have if we were whole, but both still have a high amount and the technique we used to lock ourselves in here was a technique called the Dragon Soul Seal that Grandine invented - essentially we used our soul's magic to lock our bodies away and when we emerge to kill Acnologia at last we will be using the magic from our bodies to complete that task. But once Acnologia ripped our souls from our bodies, they could not move. They are stuck in the exact same spot as they were when Acnologia attacked tore them loose. That is why we left our children on their own rather than bringing them together before we sealed ourselves away - we needed to be in the vicinity of our souls when the time came to perform the spell.

"We wish this had not been the case. We all spent quite some time searching for an alternative, trying everything that we could think of to draw our souls back into our bodies before we died but nothing any of us tried was successful. It is just not within the capabilities of Dragon magic. But it might be within yours."

"So…" everything clicked into place in Lisanna's mind. "That's why you had Kilgharrah teach me Dragon Soul!"

"Take-Over is a very interesting magic," Igneel nodded. "Humans that utilise it merge their soul with that of their target and in doing so they can also merge their bodies together. And now, you have the power to do that with dragons. I am not sure if it will work… but theoretically if you were to return home to our world, find the exact spot where we raised each of our Dragon Slayer children, where our souls should still be, and absorb them into your body…"

"…I could potentially use it to merge with your body too and… reunite them!" Lisanna finished.

"Exactly. The complete opposite to what Acnologia does. As I said, this is all theoretical but you… Lisanna Strauss… you might just have the potential within you to save our lives! And more than that… to save our race!"

Of all the bombshells Igneel had dropped on her during the conversation, this one was probably the biggest. Most likely because it was the most personal to her. But Lisanna found herself literally incapable of speech for almost a minute straight. She opened and closed her mouth a few times, her throat constricting so tightly that she could barely breathe. The sheer magnitude of what Igneel was saying… saving dragonkind from extinction at the hands of Acnologia… that alone was enormous. But now… it was something that only she had the power to do…

"Do you… really think… I can?" she said eventually, her voice barely more than a whisper.

"You're a Fairy Tail mage, aren't you?" Igneel snorted. "Based on my experiences within the guild, there's very little you guys cannot do when you put your mind to something. I believe that you definitely have the willpower to pull this off. Whether the magic will work… that remains to be seen. But to be frank, Lisanna, you're our only hope to live past the day our children finally find out where we are. A huge responsibility it may be… but it is yours. And if it can be done, I have faith you will see it through."

Images whirled through Lisanna's mind. Images of Igneel rising up out of her body - tall and proud and announcing his effective resurrection to the world with his mightiest of roars. Although she didn't know what the other dragons looked like she could see vague images of what they might look like doing the same. She felt her chest expanding, her emotions soaring at the thought that she might be able to pull that off. Yet at the same time she felt a huge weight on her shoulders as if Igneel was now literally stepping on her. If it didn't work… if she failed… she didn't think she'd ever be able to look Natsu in the eye again. It would feel like the loss of his father was just as much her own fault as it was Acnologia's.

But if she succeeded…

If she could give new life to a dynasty of magnificent creatures…

If she could properly reunite Natsu, Gajeel and Wendy with their foster parents… the joy that they would feel… it would be beyond measure. She couldn't stop picturing their faces, especially Natsu's, wearing a grin so wide it looked like it would never fade away as he hugged Igneel's enormous nose, tears of joy spilling down his cheeks…

If there was even a chance she could make that happen…

"Are you willing to give it a shot?" Igneel asked courteously.

"…Yes," Lisanna nodded, fists clenched and jaw set as she rose to her feet, eyes rising to meet Igneel's and filled with a deep, flaming determination. "Of course I will."

How could she not? She could never in good conscience turn Igneel down, and the thought of doing so never even crossed her mind. Her path had practically been set from the moment Igneel greeted her.

"I swear I will do everything in my power to save your souls… and your lives with them! As long as we both still live, I will do whatever it takes. You have my word."

Igneel stared at her for a moment, before chuckling. "That face," he said. "You remind me of Natsu when he was getting into his training. Such fiery passion and resolve… you've clearly taken a lot from him… though thankfully not his complete bullheadedness," he chuckled. "Of course he probably gets that from me… or so Grandine says… but anyway… we put our fate in your hands now Lisanna. Just do your best. That is all we will ever ask of you."

"You don't even have to ask. Because that's exactly what I'm going to do."

"…You know, Natsu's very lucky to have a girl like you by his side," Igneel suddenly chortled. "And now you're set to become the guardian of dragons from our world - something akin to a Dragonlord from this one. A Dragon Slayer and a Dragonlord… or Dragonlady. It has a nice ring to it, I think."

"W…what?" The flames from Lisanna's eyes seemed to pass into her cheeks. "What are you… talking about…?"

"Don't play dumb, child," Igneel laughed. "I can see just as well as your friend Gildarts could back when you were growing up. Natsu may not have realised it but I'm not as blind as he. You quite clearly have strong feelings for him."

"…Um… well… well, I just… it's…" Lisanna stammered, but her blustering only seemed to amuse the Fire Dragon still further.

"I know it originated as something of a childhood crush. And to a certain extent that might still be what it is. But you can't honestly tell me that its not there."

"Well… I… um…"

"Oh, go on… you liiiiiiike him."

"…DID YOU JUST COPY HAPPY?!" Lisanna gaped incredulously, staring up at the mercilessly grinning Dragon in disbelief. "DID YOU ACTUALLY JUST COPY HAPPY?!"

"Maybe… but seriously, you can't deny you have feelings for my son. There's another human saying that I've become familiar with… 'absence makes the heart grow fonder,' I believe it is. And if I were to hazard a guess, that was definitely the case from your two year holiday to Edolas."

"…I… just…" Lisanna scrambled for an answer but… she could find none. Igneel was just gazing at her knowingly and she found her protests dying in her throat. "…Yes," she said. "Alright… yes, I… might… like him. But as you said it's probably… just a childhood crush. And besides… in the two years I was away, he met Lucy. Next to Happy, she's his best friend now. Not… not me."

"I'm not going to pretend to know much about human romance," Igneel rumbled. "But I do know this. Lucy might have filled a space that you once occupied in Natsu's life but she can never replace all the time that the two of you spent together in your youth and all the memories that come with it. And Lucy may be his best friend… but there's always room in someone's life for a best friend and… someone else special."

"…What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that we don't know what the future will hold for Natsu or for you. I am pretty sure Natsu doesn't even know what romance really is. He certainly knows what love for his friends is, but romantic love… yeah, he still needs to figure that one out. And when he does, he may settle with Lucy. Or he may go for someone else… anyone else… and based on what I've seen of your friendship with Natsu, you would have my full blessing to be with him if the person he chose happened to be you."

Lisanna's hand slowly found its way to her heart, listening and feeling it pulse within her chest for a moment. If she was totally honest with herself… she had imagined a future with Natsu. Maybe not to the exact same extent as Juvia with Gray - but Juvia had an extremely vivid imagination by all accounts - but she'd definitely imagined it. That time she'd asked Natsu if she could be his wife when they were kids really had just been a joke… but it was a joke that stuck with her over the years and she found herself envisioning a lot what it would be like if she settled down with Natsu. Despite his idiocy, his gluttony and his very quick temper… he was also sweet, committed and furiously protective. Any woman would be lucky to have him… provided they were prepared to clean up the mess he usually left behind him.

Which Lisanna was quite sure she would be prepared to do.

"Thank you," she eventually whispered.

"And then I really would be the grandpa."

"IGNEEL!"

The Fire Dragon belted out laughing. "Hey, I'm kidding, I'm kidding," he said.

Trying to cool the blush across her face, Lisanna exhaled sharply and said, "Still… who knows what the future holds, right?"

"Who indeed. But hopefully, if all goes well, Natsu's future will involve me. When you find a way back to our world… it's going to be up to you."

"Do you know how we'll find our way back?"

"Not a clue. The dragon who sent you here was certainly not one I'm familiar with. There was no dragon from our time with the ability to open rifts between dimensions. But considering that power, its likely he and the other two that were fighting that day come from an entirely different reality that's neither this one nor our own."

"That's what I figured… how many universes do you think there are?"

"Oh, an infinite amount probably. But when we go home… that's when your job begins. We're counting on you, Lisanna. But… to coin another human phrase… no pressure."

Lisanna laughed. "Majorly disagree - there is a lot of pressure. But… I'll do what I can. And I won't tell anyone about this… it'll be our secret until the time is right."

"Good," Igneel smiled. "I feel like my life is in good hands. Now I think we've spoken long enough. You need to get back to London - doubtless your Fairy Tail friends are very worried about you. And if you ever need some advice, you can always talk to myself, Grandine or Metalicana."

"Okay, I will. Goodbye for now then, Igneel. Despite everything I've learned today… it was amazing to meet you at last."

"And a pleasure to finally speak with you face to face. Farewell, Lisanna Strauss. And good luck."

The vision of the lava landscape slowly faded away, and the last thing Lisanna saw was Igneel's kind smile radiating back at her before suddenly she was staring into Natsu's blank face again, back on the mountainside and with another Dragon watching her levelly. The Dragon Soul Mage stepped back and became aware of a dampness on her face, reaching up to feel that at some point during that conversation she'd cried a little… perhaps during the part where Igneel had described the dragon massacre or when she'd envisioned their reunion with the Dragon Slayers.

"Now you are aware of what you must do," Kilgharrah stated.

"…Yes. Yes, I am," Lisanna breathed deeply, straightening her back and feeling the urge to punch her own palm just like Natsu did. "I know it's going to be some time before I can even start this mission but… I can safely say… I'm all fired up."

Kilgharrah nodded and blew his breath across Natsu, who snapped out of his trance and instantly fell backwards with a heavy thump onto his butt, looking around him in complete bewilderment.

"Huh?" he asked, blinking like an astonishing owl. "What… what just happened?"

Every cell in Lisanna's body screamed at her to spill everything she'd just learned, to tell Natsu that his father was right here with him on this mountainside and had never abandoned him at all… but she knew she couldn't… so she swallowed the words threatening to spill out of her mouth and said, "Nothing. I just… I know what I have to do."

"What?" Natsu blinked. "What was the other reason he gave you this Dragon Soul?"

Lisanna scrambled for an answer, but Kilgarrah interrupted anything she could come up with by saying, "I believe it is time for wizard kind to find out about me once again. When the time is right, I have asked Lisanna to be my… ambassador… to introduce me to the right people for me to rejoin the wizarding world."

"Oh… cool," Natsu grinned, instantly accepting that answer. "So you're coming with us then?"

"Not for now," Kilgharrah replied. "It is not the right time. And besides, it would not be wise for me to get so close to such a busy human city, even if I can avoid being seen when I wish to. So for now… I shall be leaving you. But I am certain that our paths will cross again. Someday."

"Thank you," Lisanna smiled, putting all the heart she could into her words. "For everything."

"Your gratitude is not necessary…"

"But it is given," Lisanna said earnestly.

"Fiiiish," Happy murmured as he slowly sat up, rubbing his eyes. "Hmm… what time is it?"

"Time to get back to the others," Natsu said as he got up.

"Indeed," Kilgharrah nodded, unravelling a wing and pointing it in a south-easterly direction. "Head in a straight line that way and you'll eventually arrive straight back in London. Go forth, Fairy Tail. I look forward to our reunion."

"Thanks big guy!" Natsu waved as Happy gripped the back of his shirt and Lisanna spread her wings, ready to fly. "See ya soon!" And as one they pushed off and winged their way upwards and away, skirting the bottoms of the clouds as they flew side by side in the direction Kilgharrah had pointed. Lisanna glanced sideways at the grinning Dragon Slayer out of the corner of her eye. He truly had no idea that the dragon he'd been searching for for so long was so close to him. Lisanna had always told him Igneel would always been in his heart… but she'd been a lot more accurate than even she'd realised.

Don't worry, Natsu… Igneel… I'll let you meet again. I swear.

And as they became little dots on the horizon, even to Kilgharrah's incredibly sharp senses, the dragon spread his wings and launched himself up into the air with great powerful flaps that sent cascades of dust down the mountainside below him. He swooped low across the cliffsides, flying in the opposite direction to the departing mages and soaring low for a couple of miles before he alighted on the ground at the foot of another mountain.

Waiting for him was a man. An ancient-looking man garbed in long, red robes, with a long bushy beard that would make even Dumbledore envious and almost equally long white hair, leaning on a staff with a large, azure gemstone at the tip.

It was the same man who had been in the Forest of Dean, watching from the shadows as Evergreen took on the former leader of the Sidhe Fairies. The one who had surreptitiously used his own magic to cut her bonds and let her fight.

"It went well, didn't it?" he croaked. "I felt a change in the world… like a breath of fresh air… not too long ago. The Old Religion… it's gotten a little stronger all of a sudden."

"I felt it too," Kilgharrah agreed. "The moment young Lisanna Strauss accessed her Dragon Soul for the first time."

"That's great! And did you send them in the right direction?"

"Of course. The Old Religion is adamant that all the Fairy Tail members be reunited. Even if it is not yet time for us to directly intervene in the affairs of the wizarding world, we can still do its share to fulfil its will, as we always have."

"I hope it is not too much longer before we can start doing things again. I hate sitting on the sidelines like this."

"Patience. The time will come when you can reveal yourself once more and when that time comes, you will know about it."

The old man sighed and looked out across the horizon in the direction that the three mages had gone.

"Regardless… these offworlders… there magic is more powerful than anything I've sensed in centuries. One might think that with all their potential, they could just walk all over Voldemort and any other threat that this world might potentially throw at them. And yet… my gut is telling me that that… is not the case."

"Listen to your gut," Kilgharrah agreed. "After all… when great power rises… another great power will always rise to oppose it. Even Fairy Tail… are going to be in for a tough time, young warlock."

"I'm now half your age, Kilgharrah. You really can stop calling me 'young warlock.'"

"Call it a term of endearment. After all, Merlin… you will always be young in comparison to me."

Yes, yes, I know - you all want to know what's going to happen to Erza, Cana, Sirius, Mirajane and Elfman… but this chapter needed to happen and Lisanna's meeting with Igneel ended up being a lot longer than I expected… so I decided to cut the ending of the chapter here. The groundwork has been laid for the future and all the various events of the present will be coming to light in the next chapter.

Until then, bye for now.