"Stupid Igneel...leaving me alone like this..."

A boy no older than 9 years old wearing nothing but a belt of leaves and a scaly white scarf walked through the bustling town.

He is Natsu Dragneel. Son of the Fire Dragon King, Igneel. And until recently, an orphan once more.

It has been a week since he last saw his father. No trace of him anywhere. Not a sound nor a smell. The isolation of being in a forest surrounded by powerful monsters forced him to flee his home in search of him. He doesn't know how far he traveled, but he figured he must be pretty far since everything is new to him.

But despite continuously searching, he hasn't seen Igneel anywhere! Not even the people he asked had seen them. Most of them kept making fun of his imagination. And the other humans with the big chests kept commenting on how uncivilized he looked.

Natsu grumbled before frowning as he stomped through the street, people giving him a considerable berth.

He had a feeling he heard those words somewhere before. A woman with a blonde ponytail? He tried thinking as hard as he could, by pushing the skin on his forehead together, but kept coming up blank. Someone named An-

His head swerved up and looked to the left.

Being a Dragon Slayer and as someone who was trained to fight in a forest filled with monsters since he was four, he had enhanced senses. Far more potent than everyone else in this town, that was for sure.

Which was why he noticed the powerful presence almost immediately.

There, standing at a store filled with books, a man with glittering hair and a brown robe was staring through the glass window. From his position, Natsu could see the man had dark skin, almost cocoa color. But what stood out for him was the amount of magical power radiating from the guy.

It. surpassed everything he felt in the past week. Heck, he wouldn't even be surprised if the man was as tough as Igneel.

Igneel was his dad and a dragon, he would obviously be stronger.

Still, the man unnerved him. He stood frozen as a statue, as if the books were an exotic creature. The magical power around his was vast and...and...

Familiar?

All at once, the man's head swerved to him.

Red eyes that held no brightness people had when walking down the streets stared at him.

Black marking on the right side of his face, forming 'cracks' on his body.

His right arm was also missing.

Natsu found himself frozen at the man's stare, but he quickly shook it off and cautiously approached him. If the guy was strong, he would surely know where Igneel is right? He equated strength to senses, the stronger you are, the more you can see, hear, and smell. Natsu was desperate enough to throw caution to the wind.

"You." The man said as he got close. "What do you see when you look at this town."

Natsu blinked. That was a strange question.

"It's a town?" He said, confused. "I don't think that it's that different from the last town I was in."

"That's exactly the problem." The man continued, turning back to the window glass. "It's the same. Hundreds of years of civilization and this is the best they could produce? Pathetic."

Natsu frowned. Not at the meaning of the man's words, no. He never stayed in a town long enough to get a picture. To him, a town was just a large cave where you sleep and rest after kicking *ss. What he frowned at was how the man isolated himself from everyone else, as if they were some pitiful thing to witness.

"I have watched kingdoms rise and fall, I have witnessed great monuments be built, I have even witnessed humans travel to the stars. Yet for all their ingenuity, they could never properly utilize it. Always fighting, always taking, always killing. Why couldn't they see the value of their lives?"

Natsu didn't know what else to say. "That sounds bad."

"It is." The man nodded. "So much unnecessary death...was this the world they sought?" He whispered the last sentence, but Natsu was still able to hear him. Seeing the man's expression, he decided to give his own thoughts.

"I don't see the problem with how the world is now."

The man's head snapped back to him faster than the young Dragon Slayer could track.

"Are you blind?" His tone was bland. "Humans have killed thousands of their own kind. Their lives are so short, so pitiful, they pillaged others for their own gain. They struggle every step of the way, suffering from every choice made, just to live a few more seconds. What is that if not wrong? How could anyone enjoy living a life so short? How could anyone be truly satisfied with struggling more than they have to?"

So why do people fight to live if their going to end up dying, is what he's saying? Well the answer is obvious, isn't it?

"Because they want to live."

Those words.

Those words were filled with nothing but confidence to state it as a fact.

The man went slack, his jaw was slightly opened as he struggled to get his words out, but he never had the chance.

"Even if they were to die at some point, why should they let that stop them from enjoying their day? If their lives are short, wouldn't it be better to not regret a second of it? Everyone wants to live longer." Natsu responded. "So who cares how long they live, what matters is what they do now. The future won't ever come if you keep looking in that direction. You have to look at the present now too."

This is what Natsu believed. Igneel had taught him all life was precious and shouldn't be handled so casually. People only have one life, that's why everyone should treasure it.

Going to die someday? Live now in the present.

Struggle? Challenges were part of the fun.

The man had an indescribable gaze, but Natsu noticed how glazed his eyes were. His sharp piercing red eyes were unfocused and foggy, as if trying to recall something of a distant past.

"I...I see." The man murmured. "It seems I still have much to learn about humanity." The man turned his attention back to him. "What is your name?"

Natsu gave a wide grin and proudly thumped his chest. "Natsu Dragneel! Son of the Fire Dragon King, Igneel!"

"Dragon?" The man looked at him with a sharper expression before lowering his gaze toward Natsu's chest. "I see...so that's why."

The man shook his head and focused again on the young Dragon Slayer. "My name is Goetia. May we speak again, young demon." With that, the man walked past him and into the crowd.

Natsu watched him go with curiosity before shrugging to himself and walking in the opposite direction. He still needed to find his father after all.

Wait...

"I FORGOT TO ASK HIM ABOUT IGNEEL!"