Please make sure that you have read The Mages before you read this fic! A lot of the stuff in these chapters are related to the previous fanfic!
I wake up to my alarm the next morning to find that Natsu is watching me sleep. Sometime after my phone call with Makarov, Natsu woke up and I managed to climb him into bed with me for the rest of the night.
I moan and smile "Morning"
"Morning yourself." He says snuggling into me kissing me on the neck. "Why have you set your alarm?"
My eyes pop open as I look at my still buzzing phone and I check the reminder I put on my phone last night. 'Talk to Natsu'. I look up to him and take a big breath. This could go one of two ways.
"I have a proposition for you" I start. Natsu just stares at me blankly.
"Don't get mad at me but I rung Makarov last night"
That got his attention. "What! Why?"
"After last night I was so worried about you so I rung him to see if there was anything that he could do. You felt so guilty last night with how you left things with your father so I wanted to give you the opportunity to make that right now that the initial shock is over."
Natsu looked back shocked but strangely quite reserved. "Okay….."
"Makarov saw how upset you were when you left and apparently Igneel left his number with him just incase you ever changed your mind in finding him again"
Natsu starts to shake his head. "Why would he do that! After the way that I treated him, why would he even try!"
"Because I think deep down, Igneel knows that you are actually a kind hearted man who was not dealing with a difficult situation well. Anyway. I talked with Makarov and he said that he was willing to grant you today to meet Igneel to straighten things out if you wanted to. It's completely up to you. You don't need to speak with him. I can ring him or Makarov can if you want. What do you think?"
I could see that this was all milling over in Natsu's mind pretty rapidly. I could see his inner demons battling against each other as he was weighing up whether he should or should not meet Igneel. We sit there for about five minutes in silence before Natsu speaks again.
"Okay...But only if you call him. I don't want to be speaking to that bastard if I don't have to."
I nod. "Sure"
"And you have to come with me."
I look at him confused "Are you sure?"
Natsu nods. "You already know what I am like when I am around him. I want you there to calm me down if I get too pissed off and I swing for him again."
I grab my hand into his and nod "Okay." I say knowing that this was my way of supporting him.
After a long conversation over the phone, we agree for Igneel to come to my apartment. That way this proved to Natsu that Igneel really did want to talk to him. Watching the clock was the worst way to pass the time while Natsu was burning a hole in my carpet pacing up and down it manically.
"Natsu, you need to calm down."
He continues to pace. "He said that he would be here in ten minutes. I don't know what to say to him still"
I stand up from the sofa that I am sitting on and grab him hands effectively holting him in his pacing. "You will be fine. You don't need to work out what to say to him. You need to listen to him now. You have had your say. Now it is his turn"
He nods and kisses me. "I love you Luce"
I smile. "I love you too"
BANG BANG BANG. We both stop and stare at the door. Natsu starts to shake as his nerves kick in, so I sit him down on the sofa while I answer the door. I open it to find a better groomed version of the man that I met last night, except from the large black eye from where Natsu punched him. Inside I smirk thinking that he deserved it.
"Hello Mr Dragneel" I say, my manners get the best of me. There are many things that I would like to say this man and believe me that was not one of them.
He nods to me. "Good morning Lucy."
"Please come in." I gesture with my hands to welcome him in. As I shut the door, he removes his shoes and his coat to reveal a black pinstripe suit with a white shirt and black tie. I gesture for him to sit on the sofa opposite Natsu and I sit next to Natsu grabbing his hand for support. Natsu is currently looking at Igneel like he has seen a ghost. He is deathly white and is trembling from fear, but he seems to calm slightly when I start to stroke my thumb over his hand.
Igneel coughs to start his sentence. "Hello Natsu."
Natsu just nods, not sure what to say to him.
"Are you happy for me to still be here?" I ask Natsu to which he grips my hand tighter and nods his head.
"I guess that you are Natsu's girlfriend?" Igneel asks me
"Yes. We've been dating for a while. I was in the support act for Natsu's band on tour" I say trying to start some sort of conversation, knowing full well that my part of the conversation was completely pointless. This is meant to be Natsu's conversation not mine. "Also are you okay that I stay here for Natsu?" I ask. I don't even know why I am asking for his permission.
Igneel smiles. "Of course. This was never going to be easy so anything to make Natsu feel more at ease the better."
Beside me I hear Natsu scoff. "Like you care" He mutters.
"I'm sorry?" Igneel asks.
"I said like you care old man." Natsu says glaring at Igneel with almost pure hatred.
Igneel takes a deep breath. "Believe it or not Natsu I do care about you. That is why I left in the first place." Both Natsu and I look at him with disbelief.
"I was being threatened. As Natsu knows I run my own company selling coal among other more...particular things, and sometimes I had some very difficult clients. I would get robbed, beaten, you name it. I just told you, Natsu, that it was just an accident every time. After a while, I started getting threats. Normally this wouldn't bother me but they started to threaten you and say that they would kill you if I did say anything to the police. So in order to protect you, I had to disappear off the earth. You were not down as my legal son by this point so there was no connection to you. I know that I should have done things in a different way but I had no other choice. I needed to save you and for that to happen I had to disappear. To everyone that needed to know I was gone." Igneel leant forward looking directly at Natsu. "I thought about you every day. Every single day. I thought about how you were going to survive. How would you live by yourself. Were you okay? Then years later I saw you on TV. You were in this band living an amazing life. A life free of everything that was to do with me and my own troubles. For that I don't feel sorry for what I did but for the rest I feel beyond guilty. I know that you hate me now Natsu but I want a chance to part today as father and son like we always were meant to. I understand if you never want to see me again. But I thought that you should know that I followed you. I bought all of your albums, I listened to every interview you did. To anyone I looked like a crazed stalker. To me I was an immensely proud parent who's child had started this most amazing journey despite what he had to go through at a young age. I tried to get in contact with you but I didn't know how or my past would suddenly come up to haunt me again. This time I know that my past is gone. I have nothing left now except for you to know that I still care and that I was looking for you. If you need proof.." He pulls out a small book out of his jacket pocket. "Read this."
Natsu leans over slowly and opens the book. It was a diary. On each page was an interview, a quote that Natsu had said, tiny pictures of photo shoots that he had done, tour dates, everything about Natsu. Natsu just stares at the book for a while and slowly puts it down.
"I needed you." He whispered "You could have just told me and I would have helped. I would have run with you. Done anything but this." His voice was starting to get louder and louder as he carried on. "I started this band to look for you Igneel. Not because I wanted to do music for my career. I did this all for you thinking that if I got successful enough you would see me and know that I am okay."
"And I have. I have never been more proud of you"
"But I suffered so much from the moment that you left. I was almost kicked out of the apartment multiple times because of rent problems, I almost had to go hospital for malnutrition until I knew how to cook properly! If it wasn't for Gray finding out that you had gone and his mum teaching me how to live like an adult and helping me out I would be dead! Because of you!"
Tears start falling down Natsu's face as he stands up pointing between Igneel and the floor to get his point across. Igneel just sat there in a mixture of sadness, pity and shock.
"You really fucked up Igneel! If you were still here, yeah, I probably would not be in a successful band right now. I probably would not have met Lucy but most of all, I would not have gone through all of the shit that I did! I could have lived a normal life instead of working from a young age while trying to study and looking after a house! I would have had a life! I would have had friends! Maybe even better, I would not have needed someone to talk to when I almost got forced into a marriage because I knocked up my ex-girlfriend, who then proceeded to have a miscarriage, so we called the whole thing off and split up! Where the fuck were you for that Igneel! You were meant to be my Dad! You promised me many years ago that no one was going to hurt me anymore. You were going to be the parent I craved for! I needed you so much since you left you have no idea!"
Igneel stares back at Natsu with utter shock. "Wow." He said rubbing his face in my hands.
"After all of these years, that is all you have to say about the fuck up that is my life since you left!" Natsu shouts.
Igneel shakes his head. "I am..so…so….sorry Natsu. I never….I never thought that life for you would be this difficult when I left. You were very mature for a young boy so I thought that you would be okay living by yourself. Honestly I thought that I was only going to be for a short period of time away. I never envisioned that I would be away for this long, and for that I am so sorry. If I knew that you were in that much trouble, I would have risked my life to see you sooner"
I'm just sitting there stunned. Natsu and Igneel are currently having a glaring contest. Natsu's look is furious while Igneel's is one of despair. "I have no idea how I can make this up to you Natsu, but I will make sure that I will do what I can until I do."
"You can't make it up to me. The damage has been done." Natsu says quietly while he sits down back next to me.
"Can I at least try and get to know you?" Igneel asks.
Natsu looks at me and I nod at him smiling. This is his opportunity to get things right with his father. "I'm just going to go to the kitchen and make some coffee." As I get up to leave, Natsu looks at me scared about me leaving but I leave him with a peck on the cheek and that seems to calm him down slightly while I leave.
I stand in the kitchen making some coffee while I listen to Natsu and Igneel's conversation hoping that Natsu is not getting riled up.
"That is a great girl you have there Natsu" Igneel says causing me to blush. "Not many girls would do this"
"Yeah she is." I can hear Natsu's voice lighten at the sound of me and my heart flutters.
"Do you love her?" He asks
"Very much so." He answer after a pause.
"I'm glad that you are happy Natsu." I hear Igneel say.
"Thank you" Natsu says.
"So…" Natsu starts "What do you want to know?"
Well that's a lot going on there! Igneel has now met up with Natsu properly! Do you think that this was okay? Do you think that Natsu should have even talked to Igneel after the night before? Please let me know! I was hoping for more than one comment at Igneel's appearance two chapters ago since I mentioned in The Mages that he was missing so now I'm hoping for two comments for this chapter atleast lol!
Please comment, favourite, follow etc still! Us authors need to know that you all enjoy what you are reading! Even a small 'I like it' will do the trick! :P If you didn't like it please let me know what you didn't like about it and I will try and change it in the next couple of chapters!
Usual: I own nothing to do with Fairy Tail - Mashima-sensei is God when it comes to Fairy Tail and owns all rights!