Chapter 2: Moving forward

"...Holy shit..." Gray spoke staring at the television, the room became silent minus the noise from the movie and Lucy's sobs.

"...I….can't believe it…." Levy's eyes were saucers with tears threatening to fall. Even the normally stoic Erza had been shaken to her core. Lucy couldn't take it and curled up into a ball clutching Plue as she broke down.

"Lu!" Levy rushed to her friend's side and wrapped her in a tight hug. Lucy wept uncontrollably , none of this felt real, it was all a bad dream right? She was going to wake up in the middle of calculus, but she didn't which meant that this wasn't a dream. It was real. Her best friend had just lost his father, his home, was being punished for it. It was too much for her to take in. She cried into Levy's shoulder Lucy's tears soaking her sweater. They stayed like that for what felt like hours. Juvia clung onto Gray as if he would stop existing if she were to let him go, he held her back and a few quiet teardrops fell. He might not like Natsu that much, nobody deserved this. Erza glared at the television hoping, and praying that another news report would come on and say that it was all a misunderstanding. That it wasn't Igneel who died, and it wasn't Natsu who was in custody, it was their next door neighbors...the neighbors that lived next to their isolated wood cabin in the middle of the woods...Yeah something like that.

"EVERYBODY OUT!" A loud voice shouted from downstairs shaking them out of their haze. A loud bustling could be heard growing quieter as the house must have been cleared out, the party must have ended. A knock came from the door and it was soon opened by an elderly lady in a maid outfit. Lucy took a deep breath wiping away the wetness of her eyes before shakily calling back.

"Y-Yes?"

"Miss Lucy, your father is heading out for a bit. He wanted to make sure you and your friends ate."

"Y-yeah we h-have."

"Okay...would you like to come downstairs? The living room is open, the party just ended."

"No we're fine here...t-thanks." Lucy let out a sniffle stumbling over her words.

"Okay sweetie, your father also said your friends are welcome to stay the night.."

"Did he say where he was going?" Erza asked the maid, she just shrugged.

"I'm sorry sweetie, but I have no idea." She looked around and saw the somber faces of the teens.

"Would any of you like a cake? It makes me feel better…"

"No thanks."

"Not hungry."

"Yes please, strawberry."

"Not at the moment."

"No, thank you very much though." The elderly lady sighed and put on a warm smile.

"Okay. One slice of strawberry cake for Miss Erza coming right up." She said walking out of the room. Erza just gave her thanks before they all returned to sweet silence.

"I wonder what your dad is doing Lu…" Levy attempted conversation, Lucy just shrugged and buried her face into her pillows.

"I don't know, I just wish Natsu was here right now…"

"I know sweetie." Levy hugged her friend once more.

Jude pulled his car into the police precinct and hastily got out, he nearly slipped on some ice as he ran to the doors and flung them open.

"LAHAR!" Jude shouted with his commanding voice the second that his feet were inside the building. He didn't care that he was still in an outrageous ugly sweater and jeans, he stood in the center of the precinct with an assertive presscence.

"He's currently occupied Mister Mayor." A random office sitting behind the front desk spoke. Jude just glared at his direction.

"Then where is Doranbolt?!"

"Ummmm I believe he is with Captain Lahar…" The same officer replied. Jude cursed under his breath.

"JUST GET ME ONE OF THEM!" Jude snapped slamming his hands on the counter. The poor rookie's eyes widened in fear.

"Yes sir! Right away sir! It'll just be a second sir!" With that he got out of his chair and rushed through a set of doors to the left of the desk. He returned a few seconds later with two tall men, both wearing high ranking uniforms, one was wearing the uniform of a Sergeant, the other a Captain. The one wearing the sergeant uniform had short black hair that laid flat on his forehead, three scratches were visible on his left cheek. The captain had his long jet black hair tied up in a bun that rested on top of his head. He had a pair of bifocals resting on his nose. The second he saw Jude he forced a smile, while the one with the scar just scowled.

"Ahh, a pleasure to see you as always Mister Mayor, I hope the holidays have been treating you well." The one with the glasses spoke.

"I'm not here for pleasantries Lahar. Where is he?" Jude demanded not bothering to hide the anger in his voice. Lahar was a bit taken aback, so Doranbolt chimed in.

"He's in interrogation room B. We have had him here for over a hour now and the damned brat hasn't said one word."

"He is probably in shock! The poor kid just lost his father. I demand to see him!" Jude attempted to push past them, but they didn't budge. Lahar recovered from his temporary shock.

"I'm afraid we can't let you do that."

"And just why the hell not?!" Jude snapped back.

"That boy is the only witness, as well as our primary and only suspect! We can't let anyone see him until he starts talking!" Doranbolt snapped back, the two glared at each other. Lahar coughed.

"I truly am sorry Mister Heartfilia, I understand you and his father were close, so it's only natural for you to want to help him, but he really is our only lead to what happened." Jude closed his eyes and took a calming breath.

"I just request to see him. You said he isn't talking right? Maybe I can get him to."

"With all due respect sir that is highly against protocol, we can't let you in there!" Lahar replied not backing down on his stance.

"Actually Lahar….He may be onto something." Doranbolt sighed, rubbing his temples. Lahar turned his head to look at him. He let out a noise of exasperation.

"Five minutes. That's it." Lahar spoke, turning to walk through the doors, Doranbolt and Jude following close behind. They walked down the hall until they got to interrogation room B, Doranbolt and Lahar stood by the one way glass. Lahar gave a nod to Jude allowing him to go in. Jude took his que and stepped inside the dimly lit room where a lone table sat in the middle of the room, two chairs on both sides. On the side opposite to the glass a young man sat. He was nearly unrecognizable, his normally pink hair was covered in black ash, his face was also dirtied to the point of being black except the few spots of red where his skin burnt raw. If that wasn't enough to make Jude's heart plummet he looked down. Natsu's hands, his sweater, even parts of his face were red. It wasn't his though, it must have been his dear friend Igneel's blood. That moment was when it really set in, Igneel was dead, and Natsu was there holding him as the house burned around them. He saw Natsu's expression, normally so lively he was sunken, his eyes were bloodshot and puffy.

"N-Natsu?" Jude called in walking closer. He slowly looked at him, his face riddled with pain. He just looked away.

"Natsu." Jude tried again, but Natsu didn't say anything still. Jude sighed and sat on the chair across from him. Natsu turned his head again avoiding eye contact.

"...These fine men just want to find the guy responsible for Natsu, nobody blames you. We just want to know what happened." Natsu closed his eyes. His eyes burned, as a few more teardrops dripped down his cheek.

"Do you want to talk to Lucy?" Jude finally asked, reaching for his phone. Natsu looked up a little and gave a small nod. Jude smiled at him as he dialed his daughter's number. The phone rang a few times before a voice could be heard on the other side of the line.

"Hey dad…" Lucy answered her phone somberly. Natsu's ears perked up at her voice.

"Hey sweetheart, listen I'm here with Nat-"

"NATSU! IS HE OKAY?! WHAT'S GOING ON?!" Lucy shouted.

"Listen, everything is okay, I promise. He is just in shock, I was hoping you could get him to talk." Jude explained.

"Okay! Where is he? I want to talk to him!"

"He's right here. You are on speaker."

"Oh okay...Natsu?" She called out, he just looked up and opened his mouth, but nothing came out.

"Natsu are you there?" Jude watched as Natsu took a few shaky breaths.

"...Y-yeah….I am." He finally spoke, his voice was raspy, and cracking. Behind the glass the two officers watching leaned forward. Finally he said something.

"Oh thank goodness. I was so worried! Are you okay? Are you hurt?" Lucy began rambling. Jude would've sworn he saw Natsu's face lighten up.

"...I'm okay...not hurt…" Natsu answered quietly looking down at the ground. He could hear Lucy exhale. Lucy was about to say something, but apparently time was up cause Lahar had stormed into the room Doranbolt in tow.

"Time is up Mister Mayor, we will take it from here." Lahar spoke storming into the room, Natsu instantly cowered.

"O-of course…" Jude spoke slowly getting to his feet.

"Wait dad what's happening?!" Lucy called out from the phone.

"Nothing, I'll be back home soon I guess I ran out of time. That's all…"

"Is Natsu going to be okay?!"

"Yes hun..I'll be back home soon. Goodnight."

"...Goodnight dad.." Lucy spoke as he hung up his phone and stepped outside the room, him and Natsu locked eyes one last time before he stepped outside. He closed the door behind him and Lahar and Doranbolt stood across from Natsu, who took a shaky breath. His body started shaking.

"I-I...I didn't kill my dad...I swear." Natsu finally spoke out his voice, quavering a little. The two officers looked at each other.

"Then tell us what happened."

It took about ten minutes for Natsu to tell the story, it was hard for him to find his voice and remembering the events was just hard and he felt more tears slide down his face. By the time he had finished retelling the events his words became unintelligible.

"I see, well I'm sorry for your loss, and I'm sorry we have kept you here for so long, you are free to go." Lahar spoke softly, helping Natsu up and showing him to the door where Jude was there waiting. Natsu immediately got pulled into a hug from Jude.

"I'm so sorry. You are welcome to stay with me and Lucy for as long as you need." He spoke leading Natsu outside to the car. Lahar and Doranbolt watched as the two exited the precinct.

"Lahar let me ask you something." Doranbolt spoke up.

"What is it?"

"If it wasn't Natsu...Then who do you think could possibly be responsible?"

"I wish I had an answer for that, for now we are too leave this case open. We shall keep a close eye on that Dragneel kid. If he raises any suspicion we will take him in."

"Aye sir." The two watched out the window as Jude drove Natsu off into the snowy night.

Natsu just stayed silent the entire car ride, he watched out the window as they drove past the familiar landmarks that led to the Heartfilia estate. After another five minutes of driving they had pulled up to the gates with a large fancy 'H' in the middle of it. Jude came to a stop and pushed the code in on the keypad, immediately the gates began to swing open. He drove up the long driveway and parked in front of the door. Jude turned the ignition off and got out of the car. Natsu didn't move, he just stared up at the large house. Jude opened his door for him. Natsu shook his head out of his thoughts and unbuckled his seatbelt. He got out and Jude wrapped an arm around his shoulders.

"I think your friends are all here, and of course I will completely understand if you don't feel up to going to school tomorrow." He gently whispered into Natsu's ear. Natsu took a deep breath.

"Igneel...never wanted me to miss school, so I will go….Maybe it will get my mind off this whole thing." Natsu replied, his voice still raw and quiet. Jude smiled though, at least he was talking again. Natsu was such a kind hearted kid, even now all he could think about was what Igneel would want for him.

"Okay, are you going to want to take a shower? I can probably find some of my old clothes that might fit you…"

"...I should probably, thank you so much for your kindness." Natsu spoke even softer looking at his blood stained hands. Jude frowned. He stopped them right before entering the house. He turned Natsu so that he was looking directly into his eyes. He placed both of his hands onto his shoulders.

"Natsu...there was nothing you could have done. It's not your fault." Jude started watching as the young boy turned his head to hide the tears that were falling.

"I-I know." Natsu replied, but his tone betrayed him, Jude sighed reaching for the door handle he pulled it open, he let Natsu in first before he stepped in and locked the door behind them. Natsu just stood in the middle of the large house.

"LUCY!" Jude caused him to jump when he yelled up the stairs. A few seconds later loud footsteps could be heard.

"Y-yeah dad?!" She yelled back, sniffing after she spoke. Finally she reached the top of the stairs and then she saw him.

"NATSU!" She sprinted down the stairs in record time, Natsu barely had time to react before he was ambushed by a blonde blur throwing her arms tightly around his waist, he stumbled but managed to brace himself enough to not fall over. He looked down and Lucy was openly crying, something that didn't happen very often. His heart ached as he hugged her back.

"Natsu...I-I w-was so worried a-about you!" She cried in between sobs, Natsu's shoulder becoming wet. He pulled her closer refusing to let go right now he needed something to show him that life was still living and here it was, a blonde writer, a massive dork, a weirdo. His best friend, his partner in crime and life. He clung to her tighter, in response she tightened her grip around him, her sobs slowly fading away as they clutched each other for dear life.

"...L-Lucy."

"Natsu." The two whispered into each other's ears just wanting to hear the others voice. The two stood there for what felt like forever, neither one of them wanting to let go of each other. They didn't care how much time had passed before they heard other voices interrupting them.

"Is that Natsu?!" Levy shrieked from the stairs, and like Lucy wasted no time barreling down the stairs to wrap her arms around him. Lucy didn't even budge from her spot. Soon Erza and Juvia were also hugging Natsu. Gray stood back a little, but when him and Natsu met eyes and he saw just how hard of a time he was going through even he joined the huddle, and that's how the six friends stayed for several minutes all of them hugging Natsu who was in the middle of the group hug. He felt his heart tingle a little and a soft smile slowly formed from his lips.

"Thanks guys, I love all of you." He closed his eyes burying his head into Lucy's shoulder.

"We love you too." Lucy spoke for all of them. About an hour later the friends were gathered in Lucy's bedroom except for Natsu who was in the bathroom showering. He watched as the blood and ash slid down his body. He involuntarily started to shake watching as the water rinsed the red and black go down the drain. He looked down at his hands.

"Natsu are you okay?" A knock on the door broke his train of thoughts.

"Y-yeah, I'll be out in a second!" Natsu replied, turning off the water and reaching to grab a towel. He dried himself careful of the various burns that covered parts of his body. He put on the clothes that Jude lent him they were pretty baggy, but it was better than the blood soaked and burnt clothes he had been wearing before. He opened the door that led into Lucy's bedroom, he saw that all his friends were asleep. Gray and Juvia were curled up on a beanbag chair on the ground. Erza laid on the floor, and Levy and Lucy were both curled up on the bed. Natsu had to smile, he walked over and turned off the television before turning to exit the room. He quietly shut the door behind him.

"Natsu?" Lucy lifted up her head as she heard the door close. Natsu made his way to the front door. He silently walked outside into the chilly air. He shivered, but continued outside. He took several steps into the snowy ground before he heard a voice from behind him.

"Where are you going?" He turned and saw Lucy hugging herself shivering.

"I just needed some fresh air...I'll be back before you know it." He replied. Lucy looked at him like he was insane.

"Natsu it's freezing out here are you sure?"

"Yeah I'm fine, promise."

"O-okay come back to bed when you're done…" Lucy realized it was probably not the best idea to try and talk him out of it, he probably just needed to be alone and she respected that, she wasn't the nicest person to be around when her mother died, but Natsu never wavered, he stayed by her side no matter what, so that was what she was going to do.

"I will, thanks Luce." He smiled softly at her, her heart fluttered a little. She quickly took several steps forward and hugged him once more. She just needed him to know that she wasn't going anywhere. He smirked and hugged her back.

"I love you Natsu, never forget that…" She spoke into his shoulder. His face flushed a bit.

"I love you too, you should go back to bed, I'll meet you there in a bit."

"Are you sure you want to be alone?" She pulled away a little so she could look him in the eyes. His face darkened a little.

"Yeah...at least for right now, I just need to be by myself. I'll be up in a bit though so don't worry too much."

"O-okay, don't stay out too long, you'll get sick…" She spoke seriously and he smiled softly at her.

"Don't worry I'll be fine, you know the cold never really bugged me…" He just shrugged.

"I know but still...I just want to be okay."

"I'll get there, I just need some time."

"Alright...I'll wait for you to come back to bed…"

"Okay I won't be long I promise."

"Goodnight Natsu…"

"You too Luce…" With that she pulled away and walked back inside leaving Natsu vulnerable to the cold air, he shivered and watched Lucy's retreating form. When she was out of sight he turned and walked down the path. He let his feet take lead, not bothering to think about where he was walking off to. He walked for what felt like hours before he came to a stop, he had been so lost in thought he didn't realize how far away he had walked from the estate. He looked around to figure out where he was when he saw a familiar sign next to a mailbox. The sign was in the shape of a cat head with the names.

"IGNEEL, NATSU and HAPPY'S HOUSE!"

His breathing hitched. Of course this is where his subconscious had dragged him to. He glanced down the gravel trail that led deeper into the woods. He slowly began to follow it. After five minutes of following the trail he found the clearing where his house was, well used to be. He felt like throwing up when he saw the spot where his house once stood was covered in burnt wood and rubble. The house was still ablaze when the custody enforcement unit had arrived so this was his first time seeing the end result. There wasn't a single wall left standing. The roof had collapsed, nothing remained, the house he had grown up in was completely gone. He stumbled over to it when something caught his eye. Something white stuck out from the clutter, when he reached down to grab it he let out a gasp.

"Dad always said you were waterproof...but I guess you're also fireproof huh? He asked the inanimate object as he pulled it free revealing a white scarf with a dragon scale pattern. A gold word was stitched on the inside, the word simply said Igneel. Natsu smiled. It was his father's favorite possession, that filled him with joy that amidst this tragedy at least he had something to remember his father, to hold onto a cherish. He wrapped the scarf around his neck, surprised by just how comfortable and warm it was. He held the end of it in his hand smiling at it with a gleam in his eye. He then heard a very familiar meow from behind him. His eyes watered as he turned.

"HAPPY!" He yelled out falling to his knees as the blue cat raced towards him and jumped into his loving embrace. Happy began purring in Natsu's arms.

"I'm so glad you're alright!" Natsu spoke to the cat who just replied with a loving meow. Natsu smiled and wrapped Happy in the scarf to warm him up. Natsu got back to his feet deciding it was probably time to head back, he began walking away but stopped and took one last look at his childhood house where he had so many memories. He looked down to Happy who was bundled up in his arms.

"I promise Happy, I will find who killed dad. I will make them pay, even if it's the last thing I do." Natsu glared up to the night sky as he spoke.

Chapter 3: The Salamander