Incineration hissed when Atlas roughly shoved him forward, past the large walls that separated the Royals from the other Fires, "Quit dragging your talons," Atlas snapped.
"Quit shoving me, then," he snapped back at the flaming Dragon.
"I'm the only thing that will keep Igneel from killing you for trespassing. Don't test my patience."
Incineration hissed again. The only thing keeping Atlas himself from killing him was his knowledge, but if Igneel was unsatisfied with said knowledge, then Incineration was done for.
"Well well.. Look what the ash drakes dragged in. A defector," a snarly voice hissed from overhead.
"Hello, Ignia," Incineration sneered.
"That's Prince Ignia to you, lowlife," Ignia landed in front of them, and Incineration narrowed his eyes at the claw scars on his face. Another Dragon stalked around them. This second one looked like Natsu, except he had a black mane and his scales were darker.
Atlas bowed, "Ignia. Zeref," he greeted.
"Atlas," Zeref greeted in return, "And Incineration…" he hissed quietly. "Why are you bringing him here?"
"He has something to discuss with your father," Atlas explained, not giving Incineration a chance to speak.
"A damn good reason for why he disobeyed our orders, I'd hope," Ignia sneered hatefully.
"This doesn't concern you, hatchling," Incineration hissed. Ignia smirked, "We are your superiors, so try again."
Zeref narrowed his obsidian eyes–Incineration could see ruby rings starting to form around the pupils. A good indicator that he was testing the Prince's patience–then flicked his tail, beckoning the two forward, "Let's go then. Watching father tear you apart will at least be entertaining to watch, if nothing else."
Atlas didn't hesitate before roughly shoving Incineration again. Incineration refrained from hissing this time and just walked. He was surrounded by three very powerful Dragons, all of whom could kill him with ease by themselves, and they were taking him to the same Dragon that taught them their strength. The last thing he needed was to start getting testy with them.
Incineration glanced up at the palace, and worked up the will to keep himself moving forward. They have no reason to kill him, but when it came to Dragons, that didn't always mean he was in the clear.
Upon entering the main room of the large palace, he was immediately greeted by the sight of Igneel pacing around irritably. Upon hearing the door open, he turned, glaring. When his gaze landed on Incineration, he snarled, "What are you doing here? Was I not clear when I told you not to return?!"
"He claims to have information regarding.. regarding your stolen child," Atlas explained. Igneel snorted, "That'd be something, wouldn't it? Was it your idea to bring him here, Atlas?" he demanded.
"Not initially. I found him on our borders. He claims to have witnessed something strange in one of the human barrier cities."
"And just what was he doing near a human city?" Igneel demanded. "Was burning one down to the ground not good enough for you?"
"Are you still hung up on that?" Incineration demanded. Igneel glared, "We have a shaky peace with humans! The last thing we need is war with their Dragons!" He snarled impatiently, "And your orders were to SEARCH the city, not burn it to the ground!"
"If I may.. we should forget about that for now," Atlas explained. "If what he says is true, then this is the closest we'll have gotten to finding your child. I think we should take the chance."
Igneel narrowed his eyes, thinking it over, before finally saying, "Then speak."
"I was near the barrier city to the East. The Tamed that chased me off was a Sage," he paused when Igneel angrily snarled. "But that wasn't all. They also had other Dragons too, including a Poison."
"The Poison egg was stolen by the Irons! Why would the hatchling be in a human city?"
"The Sages likely framed the other Dragon elements! They stole all seven of those eggs years ago, and had us fighting each other this entire time!"
"Meaning they also likely have our missing Fire," Atlas stated. "As well as the others."
"They had a White and a Shadow there too," Incineration explained.
"But why..?" Igneel growled quietly. "Why would they do something like this? Irene was not that kind of ruler."
"And why involve the humans?" Zeref asked.
"A human city would be the last place Dragons would think to look," Ignia snorted. "The perfect place to hide the stolen eggs."
"But we checked every human city in the area!" Zeref exclaimed. "None of them had Sage Dragons or Fire eggs!"
"Who says they stopped at a close city? Apparently they traveled far towards a city that had a barrier, keeping us from getting in. None of us thought to go there because we assumed they wouldn't have been able to get in either, but apparently we were wrong," Ignia snorted.
"We can worry about their motives after we get the hatchlings back," Atlas assured.
Igneel nodded, "Let's go check out this city of yours. Boys, you stay here If anybody asks for me, tell them I'm busy."
"We'll take care of all Royal nonsense here!" Ignia assured. Igneel sent Zeref a look. Zeref nodded, "I'll keep Ignia out of trouble."
"Good. Atlas, Incineration, you two come with me," Igneel ordered.
Incineration rolled his eyes, but kept his mouth shut, while Atlas nodded, "We'll find these Dragons, and we'll bring them home."
xXxOxXx
Natsu flew up towards the barrier, but before he could get too close, a certain Lightning flew up in front of him, "Oi! Bad idea!"
"I wasn't going to go out or anything," Natsu defended, but Laxus didn't look the least bit convinced. "Back down to the Guildhall where the rest of us can keep an eye on you," he ordered as he herded the Fire back towards the ground with an irritable sigh. Natsu had started roaming around the barrier, but fortunately had never tried to leave. However, with each passing day, his courage seemed to grow and he'd get closer and closer. It started making the others nervous, especially Erik.
"Are you just going to forget what happened to me out there?!" the Poison angrily demanded when he saw Natsu land. "Are you just going to forget that my friends almost died?!"
"I didn't leave the barrier," Natsu stated, then tried to walk away, not in the mood to be yelled at. Unfortunately for him, Erik seemed to be in a yelling mood. "No, but each day, you keep getting closer to it!" he snapped, storming in front of Natsu to prevent the Fire from leaving. "Promise us that you won't do anything stupid, Natsu."
"What kind of an idiot do you take me for?" Natsu demanded. He didn't know why everyone treated him like that. He honestly had no intention of leaving. Or.. he thought he did, at least. He thought he just needed to get close, but would he be satisfied by that? Or would he need to leave completely in order to find what was constantly calling him forward? He couldn't explain it, but something out there was calling out to him, like a Siren trying to lure him in with their death song. But it was no song that lured him closer.
"Promise us," Erik repeated, more firmly. Natsu glanced back at Laxus, who was staring at Natsu with the same intensity that Erik was, expecting a response.
Natsu sighed, "I can't promise I'll stay away from the barrier," he finally said after a long few moments, "But I promise that I won't leave."
Erik nodded, seemingly satisfied with that answer. After all, he could trust that Natsu wasn't lying thanks to his magic.
Natsu decided to confide in Lucy about it, since she likely knew the most about how he felt, so he made his way to their shared house. She constantly talked about this feeling she had the night she found their eggs abandoned outside of town. A calling she couldn't ignore.
Lucy climbed into an armchair, watching Natsu curl up next to the fireplace, and spoke, "It's hard to describe the feeling.. When I found those eggs that night, it was like I could hear someone calling out to me, or begging for help, or something along those lines.. but it wasn't actually words, just a feeling. A feeling that somebody needed help that my mind just.. put a voice to. The more I tried to ignore it, the worse it got. I knew it never would've gone away had I never acted on it."
"Do you think there's someone out there who needs me, like we needed you?" Natsu asked. Lucy shook her head, "I can't say for certain. Belserion told me that if I had a feeling like that again, to go to the adults."
Natsu didn't know how much he liked that answer. "What if I can't go to the adults for this? What if they can't help?" he sighed, wrapping his tail around himself. "I need to know what's out there calling to me.. But I promised the others I wouldn't leave the barrier.."
"You won't know if you don't try.. Maybe bring this up with Irene later. She might help you find what it is you're looking for."
He nodded, "I'll try."
xXxOxXx
The next day, Natsu woke up bright and early. Luckily for him, he didn't have to worry about sneaking around nests, or stepping over sleeping Dragons like he did in the past, as the others had all long since moved out to their own separate places, since they were all growing too big to share a room together. Natsu only stayed behind because he couldn't find it in himself to leave.
He crept out of the room, careful not to wake Lucy, and then left the house entirely. Once outside, he paused to stretch. Since he was growing larger, trying to stretch his wings in the bedroom was slowly nearing impossible.
Once he was done with that, he darted off through the city. After checking most of the spots Irene usually spends time in, he leapt up into the air and flew towards the midst of the city. The centerpiece was a circular flower bed with a statue in the middle–a woman holding her hand out to a dragon hovering over her–and instantly spotting Irene tending to the flowers.
"Irene!" Natsu called, feeling ever so slightly guilty when he saw the older Dragon flinch, "Oh goodness me! Natsu, you startled me!" she chuckled lightly.
"Sorry!" he landed nearby, then jogged up to her, "But I had something really important to ask you."
"Go on," she said, turning her attention back to the flowers. Natsu inhaled, then said, "I think something's calling out to me. Outside the barrier. I was wondering if you could-"
"No."
Natsu balked at the immediate–and admittedly quite abrasive–answer. "You didn't even let me finish!"
"You want me to escort you outside," she stated. Natsu nodded, "Yeah. This is like when Lucy found our eggs all those years ago! There's something out there that's calling out to me like we did to her! I need to find out what it is!"
"After what happened to Erik, I can't–in good conscience–take you outside the barrier," Irene explained. "It's just too dangerous. What if that Feral is still around?"
"That was weeks ago! I'm sure it's gone by now!" Natsu exclaimed. "Can you at least help me find out what it is that's calling to me?"
She paused for far longer than Natsu was expecting–to the point where he was worried she started ignoring him–before answering, "I couldn't tell you what is out there calling to you, Natsu.."
He couldn't explain it, but something about that answer bothered him. "Why can't you?"
"I.. I don't know what could be out there.."
Natsu growled quietly to himself, "I'll keep searching then.."
"Inside the barrier, I trust.."
"Yeah. I promised Erik and Laxus I wouldn't leave.."
"Good."
Natsu took off into the air. Irene watched him leave, then sighed quietly.
"Why do you keep lying to him?" Phantasmagoria demanded, stalking over to her. "Would it really be so hard to tell him the truth?"
"I can't do that and you know it," Irene shot back. "Not after what the Fires did to my Kingdom.."
"Natsu is not the Dragon you should be punishing for that-"
"I am not punishing him!" Irene snapped. Phantasmagoria narrowed her eyes. Irene sighed, "I can't.. I can't tell him where he came from.. It's not because I think he needs to be punished.. but because it hurts too much.."
"You're prioritizing your own pain over his?"
"Of course not! Besides, it's still too early to tell him.."
"If you don't tell him now, you never will," Phantasmagoria sighed, "If you truly can't do it, then let someone else. I would happily tell him."
"But what would he think?" Irene asked.
"You're overthinking this," Aceron commented from his spot, basking in the sun. Irene scoffed, "But what if I'm not? What if I'm being perfectly paranoid?"
"Paranoia is being afraid of things that won't happen," Phantasmagoria stated.
"In our world, there's a lot of things to be worried about," Irene argued.
"And you're being worried about all of the wrong things," Phantasmagoria argued back. Aceon sighed, "Oceanum, Auriones, what do you two think?"
"I think you should leave us out of this," Oceanum replied. Auriones shook her head, "Is it really the worst thing in the world that Natsu never learns of his lineage? I mean, what are the odds that he'll ever go back to the Fire Kingdom?"
"Very high," Oceanum stated bluntly. "Most Dragons that cities like ours take in often leave to find where they came from. Sure, they don't always find what they're looking for and come back, but Natsu's family is the Royal family. They're the biggest family in that Kingdom and they'll recognize him instantly. He deserves to know."
"If we tell him now, he'll try to leave," Belserion stated as he walked closer. "He is too young to make such a journey on his own."
"And none of us can go with him.." Irene sighed, then sat down next to the flowers, "It's settled then. We'll tell him when he's old enough to leave."
"He'll be furious if we wait that long," Phantasmagoria argued.
Irene grimaced and looked away, "I just have this bad feeling.. This nagging worry in the back of my mind.. If he ever found out.. something terrible will follow.." She sighed heavily, resting her head on her talons, "I can't shake the feeling that he's linked to why Igneel attacked our home.."
"A missing Royal egg would be a very good reason for war. But the Sages never stole his egg. It ended up outside the city after the two of you showed up, so I don't understand.." Aceron commented.
"My dear, I don't blame you for the suffering you've gone through," Phantasmagoria laid next to Irene. "I know you see Igneel when you look at Natsu, and I'm not going to fault you for that," she gently nuzzled Irene's face. "But Natsu isn't Igneel. He played no part in what happened. Nobody says you have to forgive the Fires for what they did. I wouldn't either if I were in your scales. All I ask is that you don't treat Natsu as if it's his fault as well."
"I'm not.. But even so.. Belserion is right. If we tell him now, he'll leave, and he can't be out there on his own at his age. And none of us can escort him, especially not Belserion or me. The Fires would attack us on sight.."
"So we're stuck," Aceron said.
"I'm afraid so," Oceanum nodded her agreement.
"Then I concede. We will tell him when he is older," Phantasmagoria nodded.
"I will tell him. If you are right and he does become angry, then I will take the brunt of his anger," Belserion offered.
"No. I will.." Irene stated, with a tone that held no room for argument, "I have to do right by him. As a fellow Royal, I am obligated to tell him about his family.."
Before anybody could respond to that, they all startled at the sounds of uproar in the city.
"Fire Dragons! FIRE DRAGONS!"