Just realized there are going to be 4 Acts to this fic. Trial By Fire is done now so... That happened.

18

Call of the Wild

"Bitter rage was his, but never blind rage. In passion to rend and destroy, he never forgot that his enemy was in like passion to rend and destroy."― Jack London, The Call of the Wild

Morning dawned all too soon, a hefty yawn pulling from Natsu's throat as he shifted his weight and rolled his shoulders. After sleeping on the hard ground all night, he surprisingly didn't feel as stiff as he thought he would.

There was a curious warmth pressing against his side, huddled in close to escape the cold morning breeze. Cracking his eyes open, he quickly observed Lucy nestled in next to him.

Snoozing away without a single care in the world by the looks of it.

How rude, using him as her personal heater.

Still, he was reluctant to get up and start moving. Natsu told himself it was because Lucy would start groaning and being annoying again the moment he did.

But in actuality, he found he seemed to like the feel of her lightly pressing into him. For a second his mischievous side reared its head, the desire to jump upright and start roaring loudly just to scare her sprang to the forefront. It would be a hilarious prank! Especially so early in the morning!

But...

Her arm tightened around his middle, as if sensing the beginnings of his mischief.

She had held him similarly to this last night, when he had told her part of himself. The quiet portions of his life he kept to himself, sealed behind a stubborn tongue and bared fangs.

The portions she had coaxed it out of him so easily it was frightening. At the same time, though, it had felt strangely good to talk about it to someone. Someone who didn't offer empty platitudes or lecture him.

Someone who, more importantly, hadn't cared about the revelations. Not in the sense he was used to anyway. It was... strange.

Something warm thumped in his chest, his eyes drawing almost involuntarily to Lucy's face. Memories he hadn't thought of in years still raged within him with the tide of his powerful emotions. Emotions that had been provoked by sleeping blond.

Was it because he was in this shape? This form, so prone to bursts of passionate anger and emotion?

Ugh, this was why he preferred being all scaly and big. Then people with weirdly big hearts like Lucy couldn't pick their way under his skin. That just made his job to be a big, bad dragon all the harder.

It wasn't much later that Lucy began to stir. She didn't want to, but evil beams of sunlight reflecting off snow made it much brighter than it had any business being this early, and made it impossible to sleep in.

That didn't stop her from trying though.

She whined a little in the back of her throat and buried her face more firmly into her warm pillow only for a discordant thought to pluck at her. Since when did she have a warm pillow? There hadn't been one in the pack. Just the blanket. And shouldn't it be freezing anyway?

That was when she began to realize that her pillow was not only comfortable, and very warm, it was also firm, and smelled of fire and smoke, and was shaped suspiciously like a person. Probably the same one playing with the tips of her hair.

She lifted her head a little, blinking blearily, and managed to engage her brain enough to confirm she was, in fact, wrapped quite solidly around Natsu. And he was playing with her hair. Did he even know he was doing that?

Probably not. He'd be more likely to burn her hair than play with it if he was thinking about it.

The thought made her lips twitch into a smile and she yawned, "Hey."

He was giving her a strange look she couldn't decipher, but he didn't seem angry over the way she'd snuggled him. That was good. She didn't want an angry Natsu on her hands if she could avoid it. Especially first thing in the morning.

"Did you sleep good?" She half mumbled as she rubbed her eyes, and glanced around. Though she was disinclined to move away from him. It was cold and he was warm.

As such, her body was too lax and boneless to move away from his sturdy form. That, and it wasn't so bad having him mess with her hair. It was bound to be a rats nest anyway after having slept on the ground - and him.

It wasn't like he could make it worse.

Unless, of course, he set it on fire.

He rolled a shoulder and arched his back, stretching out enough to dislodge her. Natsu's hands curled into fists, but he relaxed a moment later, blinking sleepily at the sky.

"Yeah," He huffed and rolled out from under her, causing Lucy to squeak and scramble upright so she wouldn't land on his face. Natsu just favored her a confused, sleepy look over his shoulder as if he didn't understand why she was moving around so much.

Before he could ask her what was wrong though, Lucy saw his body stiffening.

Spine rigid and head turning up towards the sky, Natsu kicked out the fire pit they had built the night before and motioned for Lucy to hide in the trees.

All traces of exhaustion were gone as they grabbed their stuff and backed away. Natsu's arm caught Lucy and dragged her into a nearby snowbank, her body recoiling the moment it came in contact with the icy snow.

"Natsu wha-"

His rough hand came to clamp over her mouth, his own finger raised to his lips and he jabbed his finger upwards towards the sky.

She heard it then. The sound of wing beats. And more than one of them.

Lucy watched in horror as Mother Glare and no less than three other dragons appeared around a rocky bend. They were very firmly back in the mountains, even if the thick fir forest around them confirmed it was a different section of mountains. It made Lucy glad for the cover, but it also unnerved her with how close a quartet of dragons had gotten without being seen.

As it was they could only see as much as they could thanks to being relatively near the clearing they'd camped out in. Which, now that she thought about it, probably wasn't great for their odds of being unseen.

However, before she could work up a proper level of terror, there was a new set of wingbeats coming from a different direction, and it didn't take long to see the source of those either. In fact, the enormous metal dragon landed heavily on a rocky outcrop not too far down from them.

She watched in shock as he, she assumed it was a he, reared up, spread his wings fully, and roared deafeningly at the top of his lungs.

She flinched at the level of noise and ducked down to cover her ears. That was officially worse than even Natsu's roaring, and hurt.

She was not surprised to feel the ground rattle under the vibration.

"You are dangerously close to trespassin'!" The dragon snarled, his voice a deep, menacing, tone that made Lucy shiver against Natsu, "The river is neutral territory! Stop where you are or face me!"

Mother Glare landed hard on the opposite side, roaring back at the metal dragon from across the dividing line. Natsu grit his jaw and secured an arm around Lucy.

His body was tense to run or fight, but she would be brought with him regardless of what he did. At the very least Natsu had to make sure she survived dragon country undamaged.

"Silence you whelp!" Mother Glare howled back into the wind, massive talons digging long trenches into the stone she perched upon.

"We are chasing the half-breed that dared to step foot back into our territory! You should find yourself so honored to even speak to a full blooded dragon such as I!"

Lucy started, her breath catching in her throat as she looked at the metal dragon growling before them.

Was he like Natsu?

"Stand aside Gajeel! They must have fled into your territory, and we will not let the unclean one go again now that he is vulnerable and powerless!" A jet of light began to burn at the back of her throat.

She rose up on her hindquarters, claws scraping at the sky and wings flapping in challenge. Lucy shrank back into Natsu's secure chest.

A low oath growled in her ear, coming from Natsu. She felt his lips drop down, his hot breath whispering to her.

"Follow me, quietly," He murmured.

Lucy nodded as the metal dragon, Gajeel, roared furiously again.

"I ain't goin' anywhere!" He snarled, furious at even the thought of submitting to that self-righteous lizard, "I don't give a damn who you're chasin', or if you're Draco's own daughter! You step one talon into my territory and I'll turn you and your drakeless nest into scrap!"

He smirked a little as the light glinted off Mother Glare's scales, "In fact, I dare ya to try it! I bet your scales would taste real good!" He bared his fangs in a dark grin and snapped his jaws eagerly, "Adamantine ain't easy to find, but it makes real good eatin'!"

"You think you can take me half blood whelp?!" Mother Glare roared in outrage, "I challenge you to come prove it!"

Gajeel's smirk widened, "Do I look dumb to you?" He retorted, "I ain't puttin' one claw out of my territory. You're gonna have to intrude on mine an' face the consequences."

Intruding into another dragon's territory without permission was a cause for war between nests if they wanted to take it that way. And while he was a nest of one, he was a drake, and none of them were. Further he was spoiling for a good fight. He just wasn't stupid enough to be the one to start things. If he did there was a distinct chance whatever allies they had might come winging in to support.

He was good, but he wasn't that good.

However, it seemed he wouldn't have to. Mother Glare had clearly had enough of his impertinence and surged into the air with an enraged roar. Gajeel launched himself immediately after and cackled gleefully as she crossed the invisible barrier separating them and charged him.

Oh this was going to be good! He'd have to thank the fire brat for this

Maybe over his bloodied body after Gajeel gave him a good pounding for dragging him into his mess, but it was the thought which counted anyway.

He engaged Mother Glare, steel talons scraping deep gouges into her hind when he lifted his forearms to catch her. The two dragons crashed into the mountain with a deafening boom. Ground shaking under the force of the rolling dragons, all animals that were still awake or weren't hibernating, scattered for their lives.

Natsu, for his part, glanced over his shoulder at the struggling dragons and the other ones circling around, watching the fight with interest. His blood pounded with a natural excitement to see it unfold in its entirety, but he pulled his gaze away reluctantly.

He had to focus on getting Lucy across the frozen river without being spotted. Sprinting off to hide in Gajeel's territory wasn't the wisest of ideas, but it was better than hiding from a nest of dragons.

Besides, Natsu was certain he could at least hide from one dragon. A nest of them though? His chances weren't that good. Natsu was sure that he could take Gajeel in a fight, even in this shape.

Probably.

Maybe.

Well maybe Lucy would help cow-tip Gajeel into another half-portal.

He took Lucy's hand and scooted across the ice, testing its thickness. He would have to hurry, since his natural body temperature could easily weaken it if he wasn't careful.

Lucy clung tightly to Natsu's hand as they slipped and slid across the ice, silently blessing Natsu's strength as it helped keep her steady while they moved.

Relatively.

It seemed that fire dragons alternated between being really good at crossing ice and sucking horribly at it.

Which was kind of impressive since, if she thought about it, she'd expected he would just suck at it thanks to his natural heat slicking everything down even more. A fact that, as soon as she thought it, had her nervously trying to move faster. The last thing she wanted was for him to accidentally melt through the ice. Aside from giving away they were there, which was something she didn't want to have happen at all, there was the rather unfortunate hazard of what would happen to them if he did.

Getting dunked into icy water and sucked who knew how far downstream under who knew how thick ice was not her idea of fun. Maybe Juvia wouldn't mind, but she sure would!

Mercifully, the dragons were all so distracted by the fight they weren't even looking in their direction, and the river wasn't that wide. They made it to the other side without much worse than a few bruises and some battered pride.

Gajeel, meanwhile, was having the time of his life. He'd managed to crawl onto Mother Glare's back, and had sunk his jaws into her scales, making her roar in pain as his teeth sliced through them like soft butter.

Of course, that was the signal for the others to wing in and interfere, but he just roared his laughter and blasted them with a point blank iron dragon roar.

Lucy cringed as Natsu dragged her behind a tree, a tinkling rain of metal shrapnel falling down around them. The radius from that attack had been enormous.

She found herself wedged against a tree and Natsu's body, the dragon mantling himself against her to keep the worst of it off her.

It wasn't the most comfortable of positions with Natsu's hot breath exhaling against the side of her face.

It tickled her neck and warmed her blood in the frigid air. Not that she was precisely cold anymore. No, the fear and adrenaline from the terrifying sight of two dragons locked in combat was more than enough to keep her flushed. But the sensation of Natsu hovering over her so closely left something else fluttering in her chest.

Natsu had one hand on her upper arm, while his right was bent over her head, elbow braced against the tree itself.

He wasn't looking at her though, instead staring up at the iron dragon overhead.

"Tch, show off," Natsu pouted.

Lucy gave him an incredulous look.

Don't tell her he actually wanted to transform and pick a fight with Gajeel himself? She peered at his eager gaze, and the intensity with which he watched the battle.

He did!

This battle hungry moron actually wanted to pick a fight with a dragon when he was tiny and stompable.

Much to her relief, and Natsu's disappointment though, the dragon's were soon driven off by Gajeel's roaring gusts of metal.

The dragon was dropping back down on the mountain, steel claws scratching into the stone like they were nothing. Red eyes glared at the retreating backs of those who had invaded his territory, and a roaring laugh burst from his throat. It was such an odd sound though, Lucy thought she imagined it.

"Gihi," He cackled, needle-sharp fangs baring into a deadly smile. His plated tail swung in a glimmering arc and twisted into the stone under his body.

"Come on out Salamander, girlie," He swung his massive head over in their direction, "You might be able to hide from Mother Glare and her hatchlings, but you can't hide from my nose."

Lucy squeaked a little and looked up only to find the dragon peering down at them with every evidence of amusement, "Um...he can smell us?" She asked, confused over how he could smell them, but the other dragons hadn't.

Of course her question went unanswered as Natsu seemed to take that as an invitation and pulled away from her to race over towards Gajeel only to crash face first into the barrier that popped up whenever he got out of Lucy's range. It was, naturally, just on the edge of the clearing where Gajeel was perched, so the metal dragon had a perfect view of his splat.

The big dragon stared incredulously at the sight for a moment before collapsing into roars of full bellied laughter. The rocks beneath him cracked ominously so he hastily began to shift down to avoid a rockslide, but that didn't stop him from being doubled over anyway.

Lucy's own eyes widened as he shrank before their eyes into a wild looking human. He was willing to shift into his human form?

That had to mean something. Though she couldn't tell for sure what exactly. Still, it gave her the courage to creep up to the edge of the clearing herself.

Something that had the unfortunate side effect of giving Natsu enough leeway to get close.

"You think something's funny metalhead?!" The fire dragon shouted challengingly, and Gajeel grinned wickedly back, not in the least intimidated by Natsu or his yelling.

"Yeah. Your face going splat." He cackled, "Your girlie's got you on a tight leash don't she Salamander?"

"Long enough to pound your face in you overgrown tacklebox!" Natsu shouted back at him, cramming himself into the other dragon's personal space.

"Oh yeah?" Gajeel ground his forehead back into Natsu's, both of them practically headbutting one another as they tried to force each other out of their space, "Haven't seen ya in this form in centuries! You think you can take me like this? Don't make me laugh!"

Lucy didn't know how it happened, but somehow right before her eyes, Gajeel and Natsu got into a fight. A fist fight filled with flailing limbs, biting, hair pulling, and...

"You little shit! You put snow down my pants!"

"Kyahahaha! I'm the winner!"

"Like hell you are!"

Lucy cleared her throat, just as she watched Gajeel yanking hard on one of Natsu's ears, while the fire dragon had his fingers in the other's mouth and was tugging at the corner of his mouth.

"Uhm, do you two know one another?" She asked them.

It distracted both dragons long enough to pause in their scuffling, but they turned and looked at one another as a unit, and then turned in time back at Lucy.

"Sorta."

Lucy's confusion grew, though she really should be used to that, "Sorta?" She asked skeptically, and shook her head, "Okay, dragons are officially weird." She declared, "Because from over here it looks more like you two are related."

That rewarded her with two identical looks of absolute horror that had her biting her lip to keep from laughing at.

They sprang apart as if burned, "I'm not related to that jerk!" They shouted simultaneously, pointing their fingers at each other and waving for emphasis, only to turn and glare at each other again.

"Stop copying what I'm saying!"

"I'm not copying! You're the one copying!"

"Say that to my face!"

"I am saying that to your face dumbass!"

And just like that they were back in each other's faces and wrestling again. Maybe they were siblings in a past life? Because they sure acted just like brothers from what Lucy could tell.

"So!" She exclaimed, capturing their attention again, though this time Gajeel was pinching Natsu's cheek and pulling while Natsu was tugging on his hair.

"Ah, your name is Gajeel right?" She continued, "I'm Lucy. I want to thank you for helping us out back there. Even if it was unintentionally."

Gajeel looked a tad surprised, but he scoffed a bit and folded his arms over his chest. He puffed himself up to his full height and gave Natsu a superior smirk, "Ha, 'twas nothin' - but if you really wanna show your appreciation, Salamander can get on his hands and knees to thank me as the Great Lord Gajeel."

His smirk was all sharp pointed teeth, and viciously wide. Those same red, gleaming eyes, peaked out at them as he gave Natsu a look that probably would have spelled a crispy end for most people, "After all, this lameo wouldn't have been able to do much to stop those dragons, even if he could transform."

"I'd rather chew glass," Natsu deadpanned and waved a hand to dismiss the thought of thanking him.

He laughed and raised his hands, shaking his head in amusement, "Besides, I can take you, human or not!" He gave Gajeel a dark grin, "Wanna find out what a demon can do metal mouth?"

The knuckle cracking which accompanied his dark threat did not put Lucy's mind at ease and she waved her hands to stop them from breaking out into a fight.

"Ugh! Natsu would it kill you to say thank you?" She demanded.

"Maybe. I know it'll hurt."

She walked over to him and shoved a hand on top of his head, shoving his head down to his chest. He complied, but Lucy figured it was more from surprise than any real desire to thank Gajeel.

"Thank you very much Mr. Dragon," Lucy hummed, "But we have a favor to ask of you."

Natsu blinked and turned his head at her, giving Lucy a look as if she had grown a second head.

"We do?"

"You do?" Gajeel repeated, now looking very interested.

It was clear on his face, he was thinking of what he would be able to hold over Natsu's head long into the future.

Lucy didn't seem concerned about that one bit. Instead she danced from one foot to the other, clearly nervous and very cold.

"Can you please give us a ride back to Magnolia? We got separated from our friends on the mountain and we sorta got lost in this place," Lucy babbled, looking at the stone-faced dragon, "They were going to meet us back at the guild if we got separated, but it's been a day now and they're probably worried!"

Gajeel's eyebrows rose towards his hairline. This was probably the last request he'd expected to hear. The only humans who had ever been bold enough to ask for things like that were... well, the ones like him and Natsu before they could transform on their own.

Yet apparently it didn't bother her at all. Either she was completely fearless, which wasn't out of the question when dealing with Natsu, or she was ignorant of the 'rules'. Possibly both.

Either way, it had him pausing as he considered her request. Magnolia was the center of Natsu's territory. No other dragon had seen it since he'd taken over the area, but everyone knew it was a prize with a great many elements in abundance. Who wouldn't want it?

To be invited in once, even if only temporarily, would make it easier for it to happen again. And if Natsu's condition turned out to be permanent there was no way he could properly defend it. Getting a chance to scout it would give him a leg up if he ever got the chance to fight for it.

And that didn't count the benefits of the humans that inhabited the area.

He might not personally care for humanity all that much, but as he well knew they were clever, industrious, and would surely welcome a dragon that wasn't inclined to terrorize them. Especially not for sport.

There was also that small wisp of a human he remembered…

A woman, which made him see mortals with more fondness than most dragons.

He still remembered her, and her soft, inviting, touch.

He sometimes wondered what ever had happened to her.

Besides, Gajeel preferred to fight against opponents that could fight back thank you very much, and he could probably get a fair share of that sparring with the local wizards. Another advantage for certain.

All of that ran through his mind in the few moments he took to think about it, and then smirked toothily at the blond, "Be glad to blondie."

Which of course prompted a snarl from Natsu. His expression blackened with territorial anger and he bared his fangs at Gajeel, "Back off Gajeel. Lucy may have me bound, but that's still my land. You cross into my territory and I won't need a reason to twist you into some ugly piece of lawn art."

The expression in his eyes clearly spoke volumes of what he knew Gajeel was planning. He cracked his knuckles in warning, eyes slanting furiously at the iron dragon.

"What," Gajeel smirked at Natsu mockingly, "I was just doin' Blondie over here a solid, especially since I don't hafta y'know."

"She ain't exactly wearin' stuff humans need to keep themselves cozy in this weather." The look he gave Natsu was evident that he knew Natsu couldn't refuse.

For his part, the fire dragon was pissed.

Pissed because he was right.

And there was nothing he could do.

It was shocking enough that Gajeel had actually agreed for them to ride him. Like he was some sort of steed for their convenience. Natsu would have never let anyone so much as touch his back spines, much less mount him for flight.

And Natsu hadn't ridden on a dragon's back since he was too inexperienced to transform. Igneel used to carry him wherever he needed to go...

"Come on Natsu, just this once?" Lucy pleaded at him, and gave him the most earth shattering, doe brown eyes he had ever seen in his life.

Cursing, he felt himself beginning to cave under her sweet stare.

"Ugh! Okay! Damnit!" He shouted and flung his hands into the air, "Just this once! So don't get any damn, clever ideas about poking around past your welcome!"'

Gajeel smirked triumphantly, thoroughly amused at how the mighty End had succumbed to blondie's puppy eyes. Did the Salamander even realize what he was doing?

Probably not.

He stepped back enough to transform without squashing either of them and shifted back into his dragon form. He settled down so they would have an easier time climbing aboard. Or the girl would anyway. Natsu would know how to crawl up without any problems already.

"Ready when you are." He purred, taking slightly sadistic enjoyment out of the glare Natsu shot him, and smirked when Lucy smiled happily and tentatively reached out to step up on his foreleg. He privately had to admire her courage to do that. There weren't many humans who would be brave enough to touch a dragon they'd just met. Maybe after a century or two of exposure, but they'd barely known each other for an hour.

It made him wonder what kind of dragon she might've been if she'd been trained.

He shook his head a little as he watched them get settled, Natsu holding tight to Lucy so she wouldn't fall and stood up. When that didn't dislodge either of them he spread his wings, "Hold on tight." He growled and took off.

ALRIGHT EVERYONE! We have another chapter of Parallels ready for you! Kytrin and I were talking about adjusting the update schedule. I just don't want to spam everyone with chapters of this fic and give people time to sit and really consume the chapter.

Sorry if I don't do my typical responses to your guys lovely reviews! I gotta finish my midterm project and I think you guys would have preferred the early chapter instead of my rambles

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