Igneel smiled as Natsu trained with Happy. He was practicing different kinds of breath attacks as Happy cheered him on. Natsu threw his last attack, and it blew up a mountain. "Aw, yeah! Way ago Natsu!"

Natsu grinned and laughed. "That's the biggest fire ball I've ever thrown! I must be getting stronger already!"

Igneel huffed. "Very good Natsu but it's still no better than mine. Do it again." Natsu veins started to show in his forehead. "Aw, come on old man, give me a break!! That was better than last week!"

"But it's still not enough to harm Zeref or Acnologia! You asked me not to go easy on you, Natsu, remember?"

Natsu exhaled. "Yeah, I remember." Igneel put his snout close to Natus's face. "Well?" Natsu nodded and turned around before using another breath attack with all his might. This time he blew up two mountains and there was barely any trace of them left.

Igneel smiled proudly. "Well, done Natsu, it's almost getting there." Natsu grinned at him. "Thanks Dad!"

…

The day of hard work and training went on and Natsu improved greatly. It's only been a couple months since they left Magnolia and already the boy was improving greatly. Igneel thought he earned a 'break day' to have fun but Natsu refused, saying that he can't have any break days in his year of hard training. Igneel only smiled at him and agreed to train Natsu even harder tomorrow.

Now, they are sitting on top of a mountain eating dinner before turning in for the night. Igneel had barely eaten, his mind somewhere else. 'I wonder what he's doing right now. Probably waiting for the right moment to have his revenge on me.'

Natsu noticed Igneel acting weird and stopped stuffing his face to look at him. "Hey, Dad, how come you're not eating?" Happy looked at him. "Do you have a tummy ache?"

Igneel huffed at that. "The great Igneel does not get 'tummy aches!' I'm fine, I was just…thinking about something." Natsu looked at him curiously. "Yeah, like what?"

Igneel shook his head. "It's not important, Natsu. I'm going to turn in early. You get some rest as soon as you're done, you'll need it for the training I have planned for you tomorrow." He said with a smirk before going into the cave, frowning.

Happy looked at Natsu and noticed his friend was frowning. "You ok, Natsu?"

"He's hiding something." Natsu answered and Happy looked at him worriedly. "What do you mean? Hiding what?" Natsu sighed. "I don't know but I know I don't like it. He promised no more secrets."

Happy smiled. "Maybe it's a good secret! Maybe he has a surprise for you or something!" Natsu exhaled. "I don't know, Happy. I hope so."

Happy frowned that he couldn't cheer up his friend. He rubbed his chin in thought. What could Igneel possibly be hiding from Natsu and why?

…

'I hate you!! You hear me?!! I hate you!! This is all your fault!! You did this to me!! You turned me into this!! I'm going to make you pay for everything!!'

A boy's voice shouted before it suddenly stopped, and a white light appeared. 'Igneel…' A female voice called and that's when Igneel finally woke up from his dream with a gasp.

He panted and looked around. He heard the sound of snoring and looked to see Natsu laying in his tail as Happy was sleeping on Natsu's back. Igneel smiled slightly at the sight and looked outside. He sighed heavily as he got up, being careful not to wake Natsu.

He flew to the forest and drank from a lake. He sighed while looking at the stars. "Visenya…"

"Who's Visenya?" Igneel flinched when he heard a sweet voice and looked to see Happy. "Happy, I thought you were asleep."

Happy yawned. "I was but Natsu's annoying snoring woke me up."

Igneel said nothing and looked back at the stars, thoughtfully. "Is something wrong?" Happy asked Igneel. "No, I'm fine, just thinking."

Happy flew to Igneel's face and landed on his nose with a frown. "When Natsu says that it usually means that something is wrong." Igneel narrowed his eyes at him. "Why do I get the feeling that you didn't just come out here because Natsu's snoring woke you up?"

"I want to know what you're hiding from Natsu." Happy said flatly and Igneel's eyes widened a bit. "I'm not hiding anything from Natsu!"

"Natsu thinks you is." Happy told him. "He..does?"

Happy nodded. "Yeah, he's kinda upset because you promised him no more secrets." Igneel glanced down. "I know…I'm sorry, really. It's just very personal, it's something I'm not ready to talk about yet. Especially with Natsu!"

Happy glanced down as well. "I understand that, but Natsu is just going to start asking you questions if you keep secrets from him." Igneel growled. "I know, I can't believe I let myself be so obvious! What do you suppose I do?"

Happy rubbed his chin, thinking and smiled when he thought of something. "You can make it into a good secret!"

Igneel raised his scaly brow. "A good secret?" Happy nodded. "Aye! Natsu's birthday is coming up in a few weeks! We can make something special for him and just pretend that's what you've been hiding from him!"

"That's right, I almost forgot." Happy chuckled. "Wow, you really are Natsu's dad! You forget stuff as much as he does!"

Igneel growled at that. "Give me a break, I've been gone for 7 years!!" Igneel then calmed himself down. "So, what do you suppose we should surprise Natsu with?"

"I know the perfect thing!! Natsu loves lava cakes and I saw a bakery not too far from here!! I'll go get it!"

"Remind me to call you when I rob a bank." Igneel jokes. "Aye, sir!"

…

The next morning,

Natsu runs out of the cave exactly with a smile on his face. "Alright, I'm ready to train! What are we doing today, Dad?" Natsu looked around but didn't see Igneel or even Happy anywhere. "Dad? Happy? Where you guys go?"

Unwanted memories began to resurface and Natsu grew tense. "H-Hey, Dad, come on, this isn't funny! Where are you?!" He exclaimed. "Dad! Happy!"

"We're over here, Natsu!!" Natsu looked up to see Igneel and Happy flying down. They landed in front of him, and he immediately went to them. "Where were you guys?!"

They didn't answer. Happy just went to Natsu, holding a pink box. "Surprise! Happy Birthday, Natsu!!"

Natsu looked confused. "Birthday? But my birthday isn't until a few more weeks…right?"

"We know but Igneel thought we should celebrate it now! He's been planning this for days!" Happy said winking at Igneel and Igneel gave him a wink in return. Natsu looked at Igneel. "So…this is why you've been acting all weird?"

Igneel simply nodded.

Natsu grinned. "You're the best! Thanks Dad!" Igneel smiled. "You're welcome Natsu but you should thank Happy too, he helped with most of it."

Natsu smiled at Happy. "Thanks, Happy!" Happy handed him the box. "Here Natsu, it's your favorite!"

Natsu opened the box, and his eyes were in awes. "Lava cakes?! This is awesome, they're going in my belly right now!"

Natsu was about to eat the lava cakes, but Igneel hit him on the head with his tail and took the cakes away. "Ow! Hey, what was that for?!"

"You can have these after your training!" Igneel said and Natsu pouted. "But it's my birthday!"

"Technically it's not." Happy said with a shrug. Igneel looked at his son and smirked. "You told me no break days, remember? That includes your birthday."

Natsu crossed his arms and scowled. "Yeah, I remember."

"So, start doing 50 laps around the field!" Igneel ordered and Natsu immediately took off running. Working extra hard in order to get those lava cakes.