Chapter 22: The Truth
[Previously:]
Lucy's sobs turned to sniffles, fist clenched around Natsu's ripped-coat—She threw her fists into his chest like a tantrum-child, muttering on how he left her when it's always more fun when they're together, tears silently falling. Lucy shook her head in denial, leaning forward, his lips were cold against hers… How funnily-cruel, that right now, she was the warmer one this time—As soon as Lucy connected to Natsu for a kiss, her mating mark started glowing brighter than it ever did before, surrounding them both. When it died down, both of them were clean and healed, but… Nothing else happened. Natsu still laid unmoving. However, Lucy didn't seem to notice the change, pulling her lips away for the last time. That is… until, a hand reached up and grabbed her by neck, yanking her back down for another kiss.
"Luce…"
Lucy's eyes widened, looking into familiar onyx-colored eyes that held a tint of shaded green… Natsu wiped away the tears that slid down her cheeks, waiting for Lucy to process that this was real. That HE was real.
Natsu was all healed from injuries, his scaled-scarf had faded back to its usual white—It represented how the Queen's spell came true, the fire dragon slayer believing himself to be more human than demon. It wasn't like the demon-seed was officially gone, just fused with his dragon-side. The urge to wipe Earthland's existence was no longer there; Dormant as long as he had his light.
"N-Natsu? You're alive? Oh, thank Mavis, you're alive! I-I thought… I, you—BAKA! How could you scare me like that?!" Lucy's lip trembled, practically throwing herself at him.
Natsu wrapped his arms around Lucy's waist, playing with her hair to try and calm her down, "Your such a weirdo Lucy. Who cries when they're happy?" Lucy shakily laughed, gazing up at him with the biggest teary-eyed smile. The slight dragon scales sparkling in the sunlight. Natsu grinned, the same toothy-smile that Lucy loved, but just as he was about to speak… Lucy lunged herself at him and pulled him down for a passionate kiss. The action had Natsu's entire face turning red, two small volcanoes erupting fire as it shot from the ground… The only problem? It happened to be right underneath Sting and Gray's feet.
"Hot, hot, hot! Natsu/Natsu-san—YOU HUMAN-TORCH BASTARD!" Gray and Sting shouted in the background, Natsu pulled away from Lucy's lips with a devilish grin—You didn't expect for his demon-side not to have a little fun, did you?
Igneel and Celestial decided the two had enough time to themselves, gently picking Natsu and Lucy with their teeth out of the crater. "Hey!" Both yelped, dangling from upside down a few feet off the ground, "Wait… IGNEEL?!"
Lucy and Natsu were set down, the latter staring at the fire-dragon in awe and anger that he left without so much as a good-bye. However no one had time to do anything, immediately tackled to the ground, "NATSU, LUCY!" They cried in joy.
Yelping, crashing into the dirt, Natsu struggled but finally escaped their death-grips. Only to freeze in place, eyes widening at his friends and families injuries… They looked exhausted… because of him. "I… I'm sorry." It was all Natsu could say, the Fairy Tail members stepped forward after giving one another "knowing" looks. They knew what their favorite fire-dragon slayer meant, turning to give him the biggest—
.
.
.
.
.
.
SLAP across the face, "DAMN RIGHT, YOU'RE SORRY! LOOK AT THE DAMAGES WE HAVE TO FIX AND PAY—Gramps?! No, don't go into the light!"
All the male-dragons blinked once, before bursting in laughter as the female-dragons looked bewildered.
"Did you see the look on his face?!" Weisslogia wheezed, laughing.
"I honestly thought they were going to give the poor-boy a hug," Monsoon and Chusi mumbled to themselves, Grandeeney shook her head in a done-motherly fashion at the mortals.
"Gihi, your hot-headed son JUST got slapped, tabasco-sauce," Metalicana snickered, Igneel joining in the laughter. "I know! Wait… WHAT DID YOU CALL ME, YOU IRON-LOVIN' BAG OF BOLTS!" Igneel roared, tackling the iron-dragon to the ground as the two wrestled in irritation.
…Natsu was stunned at the slap, looking over to Lucy but she merely whistled as if she didn't see anything—It was then, trying to avoid eye contact, Lucy froze and stopped on the youngest Strauss that stood awkwardly behind everyone. Lisanna shifted with uncertainty, her nerves becoming worse when Lucy straightened up with a hardened stare… The blonde is not displaying an ounce of emotion. Standing, Lucy's dragon wings folded in on themselves and unconsciously released an intense aura that screamed royalty. The dragon's and zodiac halting for a moment, instinctively bowing.
Everyone was shocked, except Natsu and Levy. Especially when the group turned to see the dragon slayers under a trance too, bowing respectfully as if it was second nature.
Lucy quietly walked to Lisanna as the crowd parted, the animal-takeover couldn't help but stare at the ground in shame. However two-simple words lingered in the air, Lisanna's head snapping up with wide-eyes that swirled in disbelief. Lucy had a gentle smile on her face, the sight made Lisanna tear-up and jump into the blonde's arms with choked-apologies. By now, everyone watched with soft-eyes knowing exactly what was said between the two girls.
The celestial mage squeezed the young-Strauss in reassurance before letting go and thanking her spirits as the zodiac returned to the celestial world. It wasn't long until Celestial nudged Lucy to Levy, discussing something with the two princesses as they stared at one another nervously—Lucy and Levy took a hold of each other's hands… One glowing a dark-blue, while the other glowed a golden-yellow. Their eyes closed in concentration before a magic circle appeared and shot into the sky, creating another portal.
"Celeste wants us to go into that portal and it won't last long, so let's go," Lucy explained, sheepishly smiling as she spread her wings and flew into the sky. Natsu grinning, launching himself with a powerful flap in the air and leaving everyone in the dust. Levy didn't know how to turn into her "true-form", letting Gajeel carry her as he flew towards the portal. Wendy glanced at Grandeeney, realizing going through her as she excitedly used the wind to her advantage and followed her friends. Laxus smirked, tossing Mirajane over his shoulder and ignored her complaints as he caught up with the sky dragon slayer. The Exceeds shrugged, flying after them, all except Lector and Frosch as they stood beside their best friends.
However before anyone could question the portal, each dragon scooped a group up with their mouths. Giant-wings spread as they flew into the portal, deciding the humans were taking too long.
Yet as the portal closed, among the destruction laid a familiar book… Forgotten—Boots scraped against the fallen town, a single hand lifted the book that was in perfect shape and held it close to his chest. Jet-Black eyes narrowed in amusement, his messily dark-purple hair flowed in the breeze, "Fairy Tail, huh? Hmph, maybe it IS time to activate Face after all. But first things first… I think it's time for Tartaros to pay a visit to Mr. Crawford."
[Another Dimension:]
All the dragons made it through the portal before it closed, spitting out everyone.
"EWW! We're covered in dragon-spit!" Jenny screeched in disgust.
Rogue looked amongst the crowd, noticing his partner was missing, "Uh guys… Where's Sting?" At this point, everyone stopped worrying about themselves and began to panic. They saw Lector shaking himself dry, but no annoying blonde—Did he get left behind?
Soon enough, Weisslogia started having a coughing fit, talons banging on his chest before spatting out a traumatized Sting.
"I… can't believe… YOU ATE ME?!"
This made everyone sweatdrop, "Did you really eat your own son?" Igneel whispered to the white dragon, all the dragon listening and waiting for his answer as the black and blue dragon took the distraction to fly ahead without being noticed. "It was by accident! I forgot he was in my mouth!" Weisslogia hissed quietly.
"So this is the Dragon-Realm… It's better than I imagined," Lucy awed, with Levy in the same boat… This caught the attention of everyone as they stopped to see what the two girls were talking about.
At this, no one dared to breathe—The sky looked like a galaxy, as if they were in space, you could even see the zodiac constellations as they twinkled as if in greeting… While islands floated all around, each one had a different scenery and environment. Honestly, the islands reminded Team Natsu of Edolas.
One island was nothing but volcanoes and lava, the heat intense to melt anything that wasn't fireproof. It was odd though to see that next to that island was one that was covered in ice and snow. There was a third island that was surrounded by a water-bubble, making the inside look like Atlantis. It was amazing to see an island that held a thunderstorm, another that was covered in poisonous species and plants with a foggy mist, one that was just a giant cloud with steep winds blowing. A whole island that was covered in metal, steel, and iron pillars stabbed into the ground… Even two islands that seemed to be fused together, one side full of light and another that was completely dark with dancing shadows—But the one that stood out the most was the kingdom… Their island is bigger than the others, practically the size of Fiore. It would've looked normal if it didn't have Stellanium everywhere, a magic mineral… Which was a rainbow-colored crystal that absorbs starlight to radiate. The mages have only heard the Kingdom of Stella on Earthland to have such a thing.
The tiny island that everyone was on top had a golden-bridge connecting to that specific one. It was such a beautiful place that left them speechless. Yet their mouths dropped at what happened next; Sting, Rogue, Levy, and Wendy were glowing in their own color.
"What the—Oi! What's going on?" Sting freaked out, but when the light dimmed… Sting was now sporting white-scales and furred-dragon wings with a thin-tail, he even had white-horns that were shaped like tree-branches. Rogue had the same transformation but with black-scales, his dragon wings radiating shadows… Even Rogue's hair now flowed like shadows from the tips. Wendy appeared like when her dragon-side took over, hair turning pink once again. And Levy had the appearances like Lucy, except her scales were blue. "Woah… We look SO badass!" Sting awed in amazement, nudging Rogue while Lector and Frosch cheered.
Lucy stared at the four, nose scrunched in thought to see all the dragon slayers showing off their own appearances, except Cobra with dragon-characteristics. "I… I think I understand. The history of this place… It's all coming back. Uh, well, let's all head to the castle and I'll explain from what I'm remembering."
Everyone agreed, even the dragon's transformed into their human-forms to walk comfortably in the kingdom. The dragon slayers got acquainted with their dragons, well some were making up for lost time… Natsu and Gajeel were both shouting at their dads for leaving—As each step was taken, the floor rippled like water, and eyes widened at seeing people talk and laugh, some looking like half-dragon while others appeared human. "Where do I start… Well, I guess you can see some of the people here look normal, but actually. They're real dragons in their human-form… and the others are called Hybrid-Dragons, a cross between appearing human with dragon-features. They aren't able to transform into full-blown dragons because one of their parents are human, or possibly have human ancestors. If I remember correctly, only royal-blooded dragons are able to carry the power to transform, even if their ancestors had traces of human-blood. Yet, sometimes… They don't even possess such a power to do it themselves if their bloodline is weak," Lucy explained, her and Levy leading the group to the castle.
Levy decided to explain the rest, remembering the books she used to read when they were children in this realm. "Lucy and I are from royal-blood… We're sisters, the Princesses of this Kingdom. However, Lu-chan is next in line to become Queen—Long ago when Lucy and I were younger… Our kingdom was attacked by demons," Natsu avoided eye-contact, shuffling anxiously, "…to save us and the future, our mother, the Queen of Dragons had performed a spell on Natsu, aka E.N.D, and sent him and Igneel to live on Earthland where magic was common. Igneel was in charge of giving Natsu a dragon soul so it could overpower the demon seed inside, as well as raising him—She even sent Wendy, Gajeel, Sting, Rogue, AND Laxus to Earthland… As well as Lucy and me. Although, soon enough, their dragon-bodies were forced to return… What? You didn't think 'dragon slayers', a rare magic that was nearly unheard of, actually existed? Well I guess, it does now... but you are actually half-dragons," Levy stated, noticing the dragon slayer's shocked faces.
"What… b-but what about Laxus? Or Cobra here, they didn't have dragons!" Sting blurted, not believing the story—It sounded absurd.
"That's true… but Laxus was sent to live with Ivan, because Chusi, the lightning dragon, gives off too much power and electricity. It would've brought unwanted attention, yet, I'm sure that Ivan was also a terrible choice… Thankfully Master took to raising him, and it certainly helped that Laxus was blonde like when he was younger—As for Cobra, well, in order to create a believable story… Pythios, the poison dragon, sent some of his magic into a lacrima. It was not a mistake, it ended with Cobra. Pythios chanted it to find the most compatible mage, so technically Cobra COULD be considered half-dragon now. Each one of us was chanted with fake memories and sent back in time to re-live a world that wasn't in the dragon-realm. It wasn't until it was broken by Natsu and Lucy, were we allowed to return. In fact, Master and Porlyusica only knew of this… I'm not sure the First-Master did…"
Levy trailed in thought after her explanation, stopping at the royal palace… The guards didn't question their appearance, well informed about the newest guests. "Well I guess we'll be staying here for the night… I assumed you all would like to get washed-up and well rested. Virgo…" Just as Lucy said the zodiac's name, she appeared, "will show you to the rooms. She'll even have clothes prepared to your size, and Grandeeney will be able to heal your wounds with her sky-magic. As for Wendy, Gajeel, Laxus, Sting and Rogue… Virgo will show you to your own rooms in the castle that you had all those years ago. Though, I'm sure Gajeel will be bunking with Levy-chan~" Lucy teased, wiggling her eyebrows at the solid-script mage, only for a blushing Levy to shove her.
"I'm just kidding… Afterward, Capricorn will fetch and escort everyone to the dining hall for a feast, before meeting the King and Queen," Lucy forced a smile, it was an odd thing to say—Everything felt weird to her being in this realm.
Picking up Happy, Lucy and Natsu walked off. While Gajeel dragged Levy off, with Virgo leading everyone to their assigned rooms. The dragons smiled, watching them until they were out of sight before turning to Makarov and Porlyusica, who understood they were going to the throne room instead.
They definitely had much to discuss with the King and Queen.
