Chapter 26: Flame Chasing

"RUN! GET OUT OF THE CITY!"

Dawn had yet to start, leaving the sky dark and ensuring that whatever was attacking the city was kept hidden. Alarm bells were going off loudly in watch towers as fire burned in the streets amidst screaming people. They ran wildly, terrified because no one knew what was happening so early in the morning darkness.

A sentry continued yelling so the people beneath his tower would have some sort of direction, "Keep moving! Get to the outskirts and-!"

BOOM!

The tower exploded as a massive objects swiped it in half, sending bricks and huge chunks of stone flying everywhere. Some crashed into houses or the streets, but a few ended up killing people who didn't see the projectiles coming their way. More screams followed, growing shrill with horror.

Whatever the enemy was, it blew over a few more houses with loud roars and crushing attacks for several more minutes before suddenly growing silent.

Two soldiers, the last survivors to evacuate, froze as they saw a huge, dark-colored maw dip down and sniff at something in a destroyed house. The air remained still-

"GGRRROOOOOAAAAAAHHHH!"

The attacker lifted it's head and bellowed at the top of its mighty lungs, then spun in a circle and unleashed a ferocious assault with huge claws. Houses were torn apart just by the shockwaves as the beast shredded everything in sight.

The two soldiers flinched instinctively and fled.

With a snarl, the beast shook its head irritably and flew skyward. It sucked in a deep breath, then unleashed a sphere of infernal energy at the ravaged city.

The damage was catastrophic. The epicenter of the attack vaporized everything around it and the resulting shockwave ripped through what remained of the city and the dead or dying people. Without even a backwards glance, the attacker flew off.

It looked as though a meteor had hit the earth. After just ten minutes, there was no sign that a human city had even existed.

Two months had passed since Phantom Lord's attack on Magnolia and the Fairy Tail Thunder.

Since then, the city had been patched up to it's former glory and any who had been injured had successfully recovered. The dragons had since settled down a bit, enjoying the peaceful days to the fullest. Totomaru, Aria, and Sol had since gone their separate ways after thanking the Fairy Tail dragons for freeing them from Jose's evil spell, but Juvia had opted to stay.

So, a now typical morning was upon the city as it woke up to a new morning. And as usual…

"Yaaaaawn…" Natsu's jaws opened wide, baring his great white fangs. He snorted slightly as if to shrug off the sleepiness and blinked lazily.

"Morning!"

He glanced towards the entrance to his cavern as Lucy walked inside with a happy smile. The teenage girl had a talent for waking up before her dragon partner, though one could argue Natsu just slept after his typical pre-dawn flight. He often grew restless in the night and would get up just before dawn frequently to fly around the sky above Magnolia.

Natsu left his head on the cavern floor and closed his eyes again, deciding to crash for just a little longer.

"Ah-ah. Get up." Lucy told him.

"Hrr."

Which pretty much meant: No.

"Come on, Natsu…" Lucy walked over and climbed onto his neck just behind the drake's skull, grabbing the black horns to balance herself. When the dragon completely ignored her, she prodded his scales with one hand. "Why are you always so stubborn?"

"Why are you always so noisy when I'm sleeping?" he growled back.

She giggled slightly. "Come on. Erza said that you'd better get breakfast now, because there's a meeting at noon."

Natsu blinked his eyes open again and rumbled in annoyance, but stood up anyways. Lucy stayed on his neck as the dragon stretched and strained every muscle in his body. She smiled as he yawned again. "Is it just me, or are your horns getting longer?"

"They do that." Natsu replied as he walked out of the cave. "Dragon's don't stop growing, remember? I'll start growing a little slower though now that I'm nearly full grown."

"It's not just your horns, the color on your neck is getting way more vibrant." Lucy remarked. "The pink marks just used to sort of blend with your red scales, but now they're just about glowing. What's that about?"

Natsu shrugged. "Dunno."

"Wow, Lucy actually managed to get you up."

That was Wendy greeting them as she padded up from her own cave. The little blue dragonelle had a happy smile on her face. "Let me guess- Lucy said there was food, right?"

"There better be food, whether she said it or not!" Natsu remarked as his belly rumbled loudly in agreement.

Erza came over at this point. "Don't worry, there is. We'll be eating at Layla's this morning. If you need more, you can catch something on the trip."

The Flame Drake blinked. "Trip? What trip?"

"You'll hear about it at breakfast, so let's hurry! We're the last ones to leave, I think." Lucy urged.

The mansion where Lucy lived was filled with people- some were actual humans, some were the dragons, but either way, it was packed, even for a mansion.

Natsu stared for several moments after he and the other dragons landed. "What's going on?"

Lucy shook her head. "Not sure, but it must be really serious…"

"I agree." Erza murmured as she transformed into a human. "There are people here from cities a good distance away. I wonder what…"

"Anyway, let's go inside." Wendy interjected.

"All of you, quiet down please!"

That was Jude Heartfilia, whose loud voice managed to silence the din in the huge dining hall. As everyone in the room settled down, he nodded firmly. "Thank you for coming here. I'm sure at least some of you know why I called this meeting so early, and I apologize for the inconvenience, but we'll have to save breakfast until after this is addressed. Makarov, if you'd please…"

The Fairy Tail Leader stood on the table to make sure he was seen in his tiny human form. He cleared his throat and began. "I'll be frank. One week ago, there was an attack on a city sitting at the edge of the sea between our northern continent of Fiore and the southern continent of Pri-mal. According to the survivors, about ten minutes after the attack began, the city was totally annihilated. There's just rubble left, now."

Shocked gasps and murmurs filled the room. Erza shouted above the exclamations. "Master, how many were-"

"Four hundred dead in ten minutes." Makarov stated flatly.

Silence filled the room.

Mira stared at the Leader. "What could do something like that?"

Makarov shook his head. "That's the problem…we aren't sure. The attack happened in the dead of night. We don't know anything about the attacker…except for one thing. It was almost certainly a dragon."

"Well, no shit." Gajeel grunted. "We're the only creatures out there who could devastate a city that quickly."

"Even you would have trouble destroying a city of this size single-handedly." Makarov remarked. "In such a short time span and as thoroughly? There's just a crater left where a city once stood. This dragon is incredibly powerful."

Jude glanced at him. "What do you suggest we do?"

Makarov scratched his chin. "I want a team sent over to investigate the remains of the city and find whatever they can. We must know our enemy before we make a move. This dragon has shown no hesitation towards acts of genocide and must be considered extremely dangerous."

Gray cracked his knuckles. "So who's gonna go? I'd like to-"

"-Gramps, that city…was it by any chance called Rosemary?" Natsu asked.

Makarov's eyes narrowed. "Yes…how do you know that?"

…I guess it's about time I head back there. I hope that she's okay… Natsu muttered. "I know where the city is. I've been there before. I'll lead the team."

Erza glanced at him in surprise. "What? When?"

Natsu crossed his arms. "That's not something I like talking about. I've just been there before, okay?"

Makarov eyed him quietly, then nodded. "Fine. You can lead the team. I'd like this team to have at least five or six other dragons in it. We can't take this enemy too lightly, whoever it is. Any volunteers?"

"I'm going." Erza said.

Gray nodded. "Me too."

"I'll go as well." Gajeel stepped up.

"Then my brother, sister and I will round out the rest of the team." Mira suggested. Beside her, Elfman and Lisanna agreed.

Makarov grunted. "That should do. Layla, I would like to ask you to go as well. If you encounter any of the survivors, maybe you can glean something about this enemy dragon from their memories."

Layla nodded. "I agree. Lucy, you should come as well."

"I will." Lucy replied.

Natsu turned around. "Then let's go."

Erza stared at him. "Aren't you hungry?"

"We can eat on the way." the Fire Drake growled. "It'll take us a few days to get there anyway. Let's fly. Now."

(Of all people, you're the last one I expected to turn down food.) Lucy remarked.

The dragons were flying fast, with Natsu at the lead and Lucy riding on his back. Layla was on Erza, leaving the other dragons bare-backed as they flew for Rosemary.

Natsu snorted. (I can eat later. I've gone hungry before.)

(Are you thinking about that girl you helped seven years ago?) she asked.

He was quiet for a while. Natsu wasn't sure he wanted to answer that. It was in his nature to be stubborn, and he really didn't want to admit he was worried about any human. But honestly, he did care about Kagura enough to be concerned for her safety. The young girl had helped him and his mother once before, so she deserved his protection if he could provide it.

(…Kagura is a survivor, like me.) Natsu thought to Lucy. (I'm sure she's fine.)

"N-no! Please! Sto-aggghaa!"

Screams were filling the air in a small town as a huge dragon rampaged, tearing apart building after building and snarling furiously.

A man with a crossbow fired a few bolts at the monster, but after ignoring the first shots, the dragon spun and impaled its antagonizer with huge tail spikes. More screams tore out of the humans watching. With a flick of its tail, the dragon sent the body flying off of its spines and roared ferociously.

"WHERE IS HE?!"

The dragon blasted the town square with a torrent of fire, incinerating anything and everything in its range. After burning more of the humans to nothing but ashes, it glared around for anything still living and snarled when its eyes found a pair of them making a run for the nearby woods.

With a massive leap, the dragon cleared the remains of the town and landed in front of the humans, blocking their path. They screamed and tried to back up, but tripped and fell.

Any attempt to get up was stopped as the dragon shoved its head forward and pinned them with a furious glare. It bared sword-sized fangs at the horrified people and growled. "Tell me what I want to know, or I'll eat you. Do you understand me, insects?!"

"Y-yes!" One of the humans yelped as it clutched to its partner.

The beast snorted in satisfaction. "Good. I'm looking for another dragon, a red drake with salmon colored markings on his neck. He's a fire dragon like me. Sound familiar?"

"U-um…" the second human was trembling in fear, but nodded slightly.

The dragon had no patience for hesitancy. "Do you know a dragon like that or not?!"

"Eek! Y-yes! I've seen one like it!" the human shrieked.

"His name! What was his name?!" the dragon roared.

"I-I can't really-"

"ANSWER ME, YOU BLASTED INSECT!"

The screams coming from the two humans were drowned out by the dragon's bellow. There was rage and frustration emanating from the beast in a way that only a dragon could feel. It's fangs were just itching to dismember the pair, but the human's stuttering held the lethal weapons at bay.

"N-Natsu! I think that was it! A Fire Dragon called Natsu, right?!"

The dragon went still. It's eyes grew wide.

Natsu!

"When did you see him?" the dragon demanded.

The first human gulped. "H-he's been raiding this area for a while with a couple of other dragons. We were hiding from him once and heard him talking with another dragon…a big one made of steel or something. That's really all we know about him…we haven't seen him in a few months now…"

The humans had been forgotten by now. The dragon lifted its huge skull and stared skyward.

He's alive! He MUST be alive!

With a triumphant roar, the dragon jumped into the air and flew off, not even bothering to finish the job it had started on the devastated town. In fact, it failed to notice that the humans it had interrogated so viciously had messed themselves.

The dragons were in the middle of flying their second day when Natsu stopped midair and breathed in the air deeply.

Lucy tilted her head and patted his scales. "Natsu? What's up?"

Erza had flown slightly ahead and turned to glance at them. "We must be close. I can see the coast…Natsu?"

The Flame Drake sniffed the air and narrowed his eyes. "I know this scent…"

Elfman grunted. "It smells like a dragon, but I don't recognize it."

"It smells like ashes, if you ask me." Gray snorted in disgust.

Natsu ignored him and took another deep breath to get another whiff of the scent. His eyes suddenly grew wide.

Lucy frowned. "Nats-eeek!"

Without warning, Natsu spun around midair and bolted in the opposite direction, flying as fast as he could despite the protests behind him.

"Natsu!" Erza roared. "Where the hell are you going?!"

(Natsu!) Lucy tried to communicate with the dragon using telepathy, but Natsu shut her out instantly and just picked up speed. The girl on his back held on tightly and squeezed her eyes closed as wind blasted by.

Erza growled and took control. "Lisanna, Mira, go after him. Gray, Elfman, Gajeel, you're with me. We can find the city on our own by now."

"What's got him so freaked out?" Gray wondered.

Gajeel stared after his comrade. "It must be pretty serious. Salamander doesn't flip like that for no reason. Something's up, that's for sure."

On Erza's back, Layla frowned. "Let's investigate quickly and regroup with them. I have a bad feeling about this."

(Natsu!) Lucy had been trying to break through the Fire Drake's mental barrier for over ten minutes now. He'd flown for miles and miles away from the city they were supposed to be going towards. Behind them, Mira and Lisanna were just barely managing to keep up with Natsu's crazed flight.

(Hey! Listen to me!)

Natsu continued to fly and ignored her. He seemed driven to fly in this particular direction, wherever he thought he was going.

(HEY!)

"GRAHH! WHAT?!" Natsu roared, finally slowing down enough to turn his head and bellow at Lucy.

Lucy winced at the force of his roar and glared at him, puffing up her cheek in indignation. "Wanna explain what you're freaking out for?!"

"Natsu, we really need to get back to Erza!" Mira shouted as they caught up at last to the Fire Drake.

"What's wrong?" Lisanna asked.

Natsu kept on flying, though he did slow up the pace. He snorted in annoyance. "Why didn't you just ask me instead of yelling in my head, Lucy?"

Lucy did her best to smack the dragon's scales, but it only served to hurt her own hand. While she angrily nursed the sore limb, she snapped at Natsu. "Gee, maybe because I couldn't talk? You were kind of going so fast through the wind that I could barely hear myself think! What's gotten you so riled up?"

"I caught that dragon's scent." Natsu replied. "And I'm going after him."

"Natsu, that's crazy!" Lisanna gasped. "You heard Master, right? This dragon is really dangerous! He's-"

"No, he's not! I don't know why he's here, but he's not a threat to me!" he retorted.

Mira stared at him. "Wait- you know this dragon?!"

Lucy frowned. "How's that possible?"

"I know him." Natsu confirmed. "It's been over seven years, but I would recognize that scent anywhere. It's definitely him…"

"Smaug!"