It was the end of Fall, the day when Igneel was carrying a beat up 5-year-old Natsu in his jaws to a tall mountain. He landed in front of a huge cave and set Natsu down. "Of course, today of all days you pick a fight with a wolf!! I told you that you were going to meet my father today!!"

Natsu scrunched his nose. "It wasn't my fault! That stupid wolf stole my food away from me!!" Igneel shook his head. "Natsu, this is important! I need you to be on your best behavior! My father is very strict about dragon cultures, he might not accept you as one of us!"

"But I thought you hated your father. You said that if you ever had the chance, you would wrap your tail around his long ugly-

Igneel put his huge figure on Natsu's mouth to silence him. "I know what I said!!" He snapped. "But right now, I really need this to work. He might be able to help us with the winter storm that's coming. So, please, for me, just don't cause any trouble."

He removed his figure and Natsu nodded. "Ok, Dad! I won't!"

Igneel sighed, still unsure about this but went inside the cave with Natsu behind him. Yes, a huge winter storm was coming, one many have barely survived from. Being a dragon of fire, Igneel never had to worry about such things but now that he had Natsu who is still learning fire magic…he was sickly worried. Natsu may be very strong, but he is still so young, there's no way he can survive the storm.

Soon, the whole land will be covered in ice and snow for days but there is one place where it will remain nice and warm. It lived under this cave, the Fire dragons' chambers. Filled with red crystals that held fire dragon magic. Of course, this great place had to live under his father's cave. Igneel has not spoken to his father…he doesn't even know how long! 3000 years at least!

Igneel's father was not a kind dragon, he despises humans and everything that threatens their kind. Igneel would never dare go to him for help, but he put his pride and his anger aside for his son. He prayed and hoped that just this once…his father would put old rules aside.

"Igneel." A deep dark voice said. Natsu hid behind Igneel's leg, getting a bad feeling. Igneel looked up and saw a dark red and black dragon sitting on a ledge. His rosey eyes, glowing in the dark. The dragon sat tall, and his eyes narrowed at Igneel.

Despite his disgust for this dragon, Igneel bowed his head with respect. "Ryu. It's been…many years." The dragon flew down and stood in front of him, he was about an inch taller than Igneel. "So, it has. Have you finally come here to finish your duty?"

Igneel sighed, already getting frustrated. "No, I've come because I am desperate. I need your help." Ryu scoffed. "Never thought I would live to see the day 'the mighty Igneel' would ask for help…shows how weak you've grown. I've heard about your fight with Acnologia…all of your loyal subjects abandoned you because you were too weak to beat him."

"If you're here to ask me to help you kill him then leave. You can handle it yourself." Igneel growled under his breath. "That's not why I am here! I-I need to stay in the fire dragon champers. There is a terrible storm coming, I'm sure you've heard."

Ryu raised a brow. "Yes, I am aware. Why do you need to stay there over a little storm? Don't tell me you're so pathetic that you can't handle a little cold. I thought I taught you better."

"It's not for me!" Igneel snapped and Ryu sighed. "Then who-"

He was cut off when he suddenly caught a scent of something. "Wait, what is that?" He looked at his son. "Igneel, did you bring a human here?!"

Igneel sighed and looked behind him. "Come on out, Natsu, you've been caught." Natsu poked his head out and waved. "Uh...Hi."

Igneel looked back at his father. "Ryu…this is my son, Natsu. Natsu, this is Ryu."

"It's nice to meet you, Ryu." Natsu said, with a smile.

Ryu looked at this with disbelief and rage. "Igneel…HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND?!!!" He roared and Natsu covered his ears as the mountain shook.

"Son?! You can't be serious?! He's a human, we kill humans, they are our enemies!!" Igneel shook his head at him. "No, we used to kill humans but we're not that way anymore! Humans don't have to be our enemies, not all humans want to kill us!"

Natsu grew uncomfortable with the fight going on between his father and Ryu, he felt kind of responsible. He slipped away while the two fought and went outside.

Ryu scoffed. "So what? Is he supposed to be the next Fire Dragon King?!" Igneel glanced down. "Maybe…I haven't decided. It's mostly Natsu's choice."

"Are you mad?! A human can't be King of dragons! It was bad enough that you broke tradition but then you do this! THERE IS NO WAY I AM SHARING A PART OF MY HOME WITH A HUMAN!!!"

Igneel growled. "Fine! We don't need your smelly old cave anyway!! Come on Natsu we're-!" He paused when he didn't see his son. "Natsu? Natsu?!" He called and quickly went outside.

To his relief Natsu was sitting outside, building a dirt castle. He sighed and went to him. "Natsu!" The boy immediately looked at him and his father bent down to his level. "I told you to stay close to me! Why did you leave my side?!"

Natsu frowned and played with his fingers. "Why doesn't your dad love you? Is it…because of me? Because I'm not your real son."

Igneel's eyes widened, and he sat down next to Natsu, wrapping his tail around him. "Now, you listen to me, you are my real son! It doesn't matter what you are! Human, dragon, ant, you are my son and I'm proud to call you as such!"

Natsu smiled and nuzzled his father's tail. "Then what's with your dad? He's meaner than you and that's saying a lot."

Igneel growled at the comment but chose to ignore it. "I've hated him for as long as I can remember, he has caused a lot of pain for me."

"How?"

Igneel looked away. "I'm not sure if you're quite ready for that story, Natsu. You're still very young and this story is very dark." Natsu pouted. "I am not too young! Come on, tell me!!"

Igneel looked at him and his son gave him an almost begging kinda look. "Fine, but don't say I didn't warn you!" He sighed and pointed to his scar that was on his snout. "I've told you how I got this scar, right?"

Natsu nodded. "Yeah, that was the scar you got from fighting that mean dragon." He then pointed to the scar that was on his left eye. "But have I ever told you how I got this scar?"

Natsu shook his head.

"Ryu gave it to me." Natsu's eyes widened. "Long ago before I became King of the fire dragons, there used to be a law that put a lot of dragons through hell."

Natsu listens closely, growing interested. "When dragon children became of age…by law, they had to kill their parents in order to show strength." Igneel checked on Natsu before he continued to see if maybe this was too much for him, but the boy seemed to be fine. "I had five older brothers. Doryu, Irad, Ju-Long, Anguis, and Blaze…they all lost to Ryu and ended up getting killed."

Natsu bit his lip a little, but he didn't say anything, he wanted to know more. "When it was my time however, I almost succeeded in killing Ryu but when I looked at him, I could tell that he did not want to die. As I looked around the cheering elders and the young dragons who were crying for their parents…I realized that everything we have ever been taught was wrong. Even though he had killed my brothers, I knew he wasn't entirely at fault so instead of using my fire dragon roar on him, I used it on the previous fire dragon King, killing him instantly."

Igneel looked down at Natsu. "That is how I became the Fire Dragon King. Everyone immediately bowed before me, but I earned their respect and trust when I got rid of the law and every other law that caused us a lot of pain. Ryu was furious with me, he tried to get me to return to law, but I had made up my mind. He cut me in the eye, telling me that I was no longer his son and left."

Natsu looked down, thoughtfully. "Why do people enjoy hurting each other? Even their own families."

Igneel sighed. "Good question…but I'm afraid that there is no answer for it. There are bad people in this world, Natsu, whether we like it or not but not all are bad. There are some who are good and kind as well." Igneel looked at the distance, a faint smile crossing his face as he watched the sun set. "It was only when I became King was when I realized what it truly meant to be a dragon. We were raised to believe that being a dragon is all power, but I learned that it was much more than that. We dragons are loyal, we protect those we care about and everything we believe in. Dragons who seek only power, have no right to call themselves dragons at all."

Natsu smiled. "It sounds like you were a good King." Igneel smiled in return. "I'm not so sure about that Natsu. I made many mistakes." Natsu shrugged. "So? Everyone does but you learned from them, right?"

Igneel chuckled. "That's right." Natsu then frowned a little. "Do you think Ryu enjoyed killing your brothers?" Igneel frowned. "I…don't know. I don't even understand how a parent could be capable of such a thing."

'I didn't even have the strength to do it.' Igneel shook his head. "That's enough questions for one day. We should be going; I think I know of another place we can stay but it's a long journey."

Natsu hopped on his feet and grinned. "Then let's go! I'm all fired up!" Igneel laughed. "Hey, that's my line, brat."

Natsu climbed on his father's back. "Not anymore because I'm going to be the new Salamander!!"

"So, you're looking to steal my name too, huh? You're going to have to work really hard for that." Igneel said before taking to the sky. "Bring it on, I'm ready!"